MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Manu Ginobili had some unfortunate injury problems the last few seasons, but he remained healthy and repaid the Spurs for re-signing him to a lucrative deal after last season. Coach Gregg Popovich ended his use of Ginobili as the sixth man and Ginobili provided scoring and facilitating as the starting shooting guard. He averaged 17.4 points, second-highest average of his career, and 4.9 assists. However, his season ended disappointingly. He sprained his right elbow in the regular-season finale and missed Game 1 of the playoffs, a Memphis victory.

MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER
The Spurs were hoping for big things from Brazilian power forward Tiago Splitter, who had played the last several seasons in Europe. San Antonio needed him to help ease the scoring and rebounding burden on the aging front line of Tim Duncan and Antonio McDyess and undersized center DeJuan Blair. But early injuries stunted Splitter's progress, and he never made his way into coach Gregg Popovich's rotation. Splitter played in 60 games, averaging 4.6 points and 3.4 rebounds.

BIGGEST NEEDS
With Antonio McDyess eyeing retirement and Tim Duncan getting another year older, the Spurs have to figure out a way to get bigger and stronger inside. They were no match for the Memphis Grizzlies, who rode big men Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol to a first-round upset of the No. 1 seed. The Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks presented challenges in the middle as well.

FREE AGENT FOCUS
The Spurs have locked up their starters and key reserves. The only free agents on the team are two inconsequential reserves, guard Chris Quinn and forward Steve Novak.

PLAYER NOTES

--F Richard Jefferson opted out of his contract last season to allow him to sign for a longer term, but for less money annually with the Spurs. Still, his contract calls for him to be paid between $9.2 million and $11 million over the next three seasons, the last of which is a player option. That's a lot of money for a player who has been little more than a role player, even as a starter. He finished with a career-low 11.0 scoring average -- worse than last season, when he was widely criticized.

--C Tim Duncan finished the regular season having played fewer minutes than at any point in his illustrious career (except the strike-shortened 1998-99 season) as a way to preserve him for the playoffs. But it didn't pay off. Duncan had a poor series battling inside against Memphis Grizzlies big men Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. Duncan averaged just 12.3 points and 10.5 rebounds. Duncan had not averaged fewer than 19.0 points in any postseason, which he did in 2009-10.

--G Tony Parker had an unremarkable playoff series when he had to be sensational for the Spurs to move on. He got off to a horrible start shooting the ball (15-of-44 from the floor) and uncharacteristically turned into a turnover machine, coughing it up 13 times combined in Games 3 and 4 as the Spurs fell to a 3-1 deficit in the series.

MEDICAL WATCH

--No significant injuries.

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