Manu Ginobili hobbled through the Spurs' embarrassing five-game loss to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, dashing San Antonio's dreams of repeat O'Briens. And despite the wishes of an S.A. front office which would have liked to see Manu spend the summer recuperating, Ginobili got himself in shape to help Argentina defend its gold medal in Beijing. That didn't end well: Manu re-aggravated his injured ankle in the first half of Argentina's semifinal match against the United States. Argentina went on to earn bronze without Ginobili.

And now, it's gotten worse: Ginobili tells La Nacion he will need to have surgery to repair a damaged ligament, and he may miss the start of the NBA season.

I don't need to tell you how important Manu is to the Spurs. Really, he's more vital than ever. Houston stole away Brent Barry, leaving Tim Duncan and Tony Parker as the only Spurs who can score reliably. Duncan is getting up there in age, and his scoring output and efficiency sunk a bit last season. Parker's still lovely, but he's nowhere near the scorer Manu has been. Is it really up to Michael Finley to pump in threes and Fabricio Oberto to scoop up easy baskets? Are we going to be subjected to many Kurt Thomas baseline "jumpers" (more like flat-footed tosses)?

The Spurs' attempt at re-levitating to the NBA throne suffered a major blow with this one, unless Manu bounces back quickly and see no ill effects beyond his rehab time period.

The Spurs, despite having several international stars, aren't really cool with the international basketball thing. Last summer, San Antonio's bosses convinced Manu Ginobili to take a summer off from the Argentine national team, and tried to persuade Tony Parker to do the same (Parker played, France still sucked). It's an odd situation. Gregg Popovich felt snubbed (allegedly) when Jerry Colangelo passed him over for Mike Krzyzewski. Still, Pop has been mentioned as the 2009-2012 USA basketball coach.

With that being said, it's hard to imagine Pop keeping his calm when seeing Manu leave the semifinal game against the United States Friday, limping on the same ankle which limited his effectiveness in the playoffs. The Spurs pushed Manu hard to stay at home again this summer and rehab. But Manu pressed on, and eventually convinced an S.A. assistant he'd be fine. It's not surprising to find out he immediately feared the reaction of Pop after his injury.

Ginobili says he has been devastated by the recurring injury. "This is one of the worst situations in my career," he said.

Ginobili added he is "prepared" in case he needs to undergo surgery. He has also revealed that he called San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich when the game against the USA had ended because his boss was watching the game and knew that he would be worried.

Worried, breathing fire, kicking mules. Something like that.

Though members of the fanbase may think drastic upgrades are needed, it would seem that the Spurs are prepared to primarily hold the course going into next season. The Spurs re-signed veteran guard Michael Finley on Friday, according to MySA.com. Terms of the deal were not available, but his agentreported tht the deal was for more than the league minimum. Considering that Finely is 35, I wouldn't imagine it's a very long deal, either.

Finley rejected offers from the Celtics and from overseas to take another year with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and the rest of Greg Popovich's crew. The signing is another indication that the Spurs are more willing to go with an aging version of their championship squads than to pursue what they see as more risky options (*cough* Jannero Pargo).

Finley played sparingly last season, getting his usual share of big shots in the playoffs, but it's clear that the dropoff is increasing. The Spurs lost Brent Barry, who was the most productive of the older crew, while re-signing Kurt Thomas and taking their sweet time with Robert Horry. They did add Roger Mason earlier in the offseason, but one man does not a youth upgrade make. The key to the 2008-2009 season for the Spurs will not only be the health of the big three (Duncan, Parker, and Manu Ginobili), but the ability of the bench's remarkably ancient contingent to provide meaningful minutes.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Hipster Runoff, via T.K. When I think of hipsters, I most definitely think of the Spurs.

2. Blazer's Edge. Will Greg Oden win Rookie of the Year?

3. The Sporting Blog. Josh Smith: "You're nothing without a good point guard." Take that, Tyronn Lue!

4. Wages of Wins Journal. Minnesota could win 30 games without Kevin Garnett for the first time ever. Progress!

5. Ball Don't Lie. Actual North Dakotan press headline: "Wade Keeps Dwyaneing His Shots." Next up: "Michael Keeps Redding His Otis" and "Mike Keep Krzyzewskiing His Rotation."

6. Cuzoogle. The un-PC Spanish Basketball Federation sets its targets on Germany.

We told you Lithuania-Argentina might be worth staying up all night, and it lived up to the billing. The close fight ended up with Linas Kleiza of the Nuggets nailing a three with 2.1 seconds left. Argentina turned the ball over on the impending possession, lost 79-75, and now face a tough route going forward.

Manu Ginobili wasn't so hot, as Pete Thamel of the New York Times tells it.

Manu Ginobili led all scorers with 19 points, but didn't play particularly well. He gave a referee an earful after the final buzzer, pleading again for a call late in the game.

Manu, complaining about a call? No! That's not possible! Great ... now the Spurs have ruined the sanctity of international competition as well.

Lithuania isn't quite on the fast track to a pool win -- Russia awaits on Thursday, and if the Lithuanians slip up against Croatia or Australia they could find themselves tied or behind Argentina anyways. But drawing a top two seed in Group A is a priority: the #3 and #4 finishers can expect to face the United States and Spain in the quarterfinals. Lithuania is in good position, with one big win under the belt and the best fans in Beijing behind them.

Starting you off on the long road to divorce and estrangement from your family is New Orleans at Orlando at noon. So after opening presents, enjoying your Christmas morning coffee, and inevitably calling your sister to ask why she hated you enough to buy your kid that obnoxious talking Monk doll or plotting to return the sweater that your grandmother got you for an iPod charger, you can sit back, relax, and watch Tyson Chandler and Dwight Howard beat the crap out of each other.

Then the blood rivalry resumes with San Antonio traveling to Phoenix at 2:30PM EST for what should be a warm and happy holiday greeting between the two teams as Amare Stoudemire tries to go Silent Night, Deadly Night on the team that's bounced him from the playoffs two years in a row, while Bruce Bowen attempts to give Steve Nash the gift he's never wanted, two severed Achilles' and a partridge in a pear tree.

For those of you wondering, we ask that you keep an eye on that tongue of ours which is firmly tongue in cheek on this list we're compiled. It's not like we're waiting on LeBron James to say "Nah, thanks. I hear Moscow's lovely this time of year." But it's an interesting story, and really, it's the slow part of the offseason. Plus, it definitely looks like there's interest from the clubs overseas in at least exploring offers, even if they're not all being accepted with Josh Childress' zeal. Here's a little review.

Okay, so like we said, Machine (Sasha Vujacic) no want Europe dollar. He like America, with shoes and parties and McDonalds.

We find this morning over at the Sporting News that a European club "that's been in the news a lot lately" had its eyes on veteran Spurs shooter Michael Finley. Finley declined however, as it was "not something Michael wants to do at this point in his career" according to his agent. So mark another one off the list, but note the Euroclub approaching a veteran.

Robert Horry has said that he would like to be back for his 17th season, but it appears the Spurs don't share the same sentiment. Horry was asked about the possibility of returning to San Antonio next season, and let's just say he was less than optimistic when discussing the topic:

"I don't think so," Horry said when asked if he was coming back to the Spurs. "I think it will be a cold day before that happens. I think they are involved in their youth movement and I think it's a 99 percent chance that I won't be coming back."

Oh right, the Spurs' youth movement. Or not. Horry can tell himself whatever he needs to in order to sleep at night, but the reality is that his diminished skill set prevented him from contributing much at all to the Spurs' success last season. (And yes, getting to the Conference Finals is considered a successful season, even by a defending champion's standards.)

Horry played in just 45 regular season games for the Spurs, and while he was clearly there to provide veteran post-season help, he didn't do much of that either: he played in 15 of the team's 17 playoff games, but managed to score more than three points in just two of them. At this point I'd say it's a stretch that Horry will find any takers for his services next season, although a young team (like a New Orleans) looking for some veteran locker room leadership might want to consider giving him their final roster spot.

[via SLAM]

The logical action when seeking to make your team younger is to sign one of the oldest players in the league, right? Those San Antonio Spurs and their tricky math ...

The Associated Press reports the Spurs have come to an agreement with 35-year-old Kurt Thomas, who played for the team for a few months last season after a wink-nod-wink deal with the SuperSonics involving Brent Barry and Francisco Elson. (The Spurs sent Barry and Elson to Seattle, who is run by former Spurs exec Sam Presti. Presti cut Barry, who returned to San Antonio. Also, it has been alleged Presti left a better deal from Orlando on the table in order to gift Thomas to his old buddies. Sam Presti is one shady milkman.)

The Spurs of 2007-08 were the oldest team in the NBA since at least 2004 (and quite possibly the mid-1990s). Adding Roger Mason to the backcourt made things a little less creaky, sure. And Thomas is nothing to sneeze at: few big men, no matter their age, defend like Kurt. But the 'Spurs get younger' narrative just isn't coming together here. This is still a historically old team, one which got knocked out by the Lakers in five this year.