The Spurs, like the Thunder last season, have largely stood pat the summer after winning the Western Conference title. The substitution of Marco Belinelli for Gary Neal stands as the most significant change in San Antonio, but, just as Oklahoma City was frequently overlooked in favor of the Lakers in 2012, the Spurs don't appear to be clear favorites to make it back to the Finals. The Thunder are lurking, the Rockets and Warriors have made major upgrades, while the Clippers, Grizzlies and perhaps the Nuggets could also win the West. Here's more on the Spur who got away and other news from the Western Conference:
- The Timberwolves never spoke with agent David Falk or anyone else from Neal's camp about signing the guard before he reached agreement yesterday with the Bucks, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
- Nikolaos Lotsos, the agent for Serbian-born guard Milos Teodosic, tells Sports.ru that his client rejected an offer from the Grizzlies so that he can continue his career overseas (translation via Sportando).
- Darius Miller's minimum-salary contract with the Pelicans became fully guaranteed for the coming season when the team elected not to waive him by the end of yesterday. Previously, the deal had been completely non-guaranteed.