What's next for the San Antonio Spurs?

Boring. Old. Soft. The words which were repeatedly used by critics to describe the San Antonio Spurs last season until it blew up in their faces. The Spurs marched into the NBA finals and gave the mighty Miami Heat one of their hardest title fights ever. Though they did lose to the younger and more agile Heat, hardly anybody would actually feel too sorry for the Spurs, save themselves of course.

The reason behind this is that, the Spurs have just been too successful. They have won 4 Championship titles since their first title win in 1999. Last season, pretty much everyone had written them of and they made it to the NBA finals. It’s hard to feel sorry for this successful a team.

However, that doesn’t mean that the loss to Heat, despite extending the series to 7 games, wouldn’t sting. It will, long and hard. Just the way it will sting Duncan that he came that close to winning his 5th Championship ring. But we know one thing about the Spurs, they don’t leave unfinished business unattended.

That’s what their next season will be: attending to unfinished business.

With this sense of renewed energy, what will their plans be for next season? The collective plans of the team, as a whole however, rest on a few key people.

Gregg Popovich

The 64-year-old has been in the NBA rat race for a long time. Too long in fact. Gregg “Pop” Popovich has been the head coach of the Spurs since 1996. He has won 4 Championship titles with them and came very close to winning a 5th one. In fact, he’s had more than his fair share of “almost there”s that no one would blame him if he decided to hang up his boots.

However, Popovich insists that he’ll continue to remain the head coach of the Spurs as long as Duncan continues to play. Since Duncan hasn’t made any announcement hinting at retirement, it’s safe to assume that we’ll see this pair plotting to take down the mightiest teams for at least one more season. After all, they do have unsettled scores.

Popovich, widely considered to be the best head coach in the league right now, was one of the key reasons why the Spurs managed to reach the NBA Finals despite being older than they would like. He drew up brilliant plans to contain opponent score-machines, like LeBron James, effectively. It was his brain which enabled the Spurs to play out a long season without suffering any major injuries to their key players.

Who’s to say that he can’t do it again this season?

Tim Duncan

The focal point of their team. Their leader. The best player to have ever played for their franchise. The 37-year-old is all this and more. Here’s a man who has had every possible accolade, both individual and team, a player can collect. The only point of discussion is how many he has collected.

The American has one year left in his contract and he could opt out of it in 2014-15. Most players, at his age, would probably retire at that. But this is Mr. Fundamental we’re talking about.

At 37, he played his best season since 2008-09. He averaged 18 PPG, 9.9 RPG and 2.7 BPG. The statistics have not dropped one bit and he’s playing as well as he ever has. Who knows how much longer he has in his tank?

But then again, Popovich, the ultimate strategist, has already started grooming the next crop of players, whom he might not even coach. However, until Duncan continues to play, he’ll remain their focal point.