The Spurs hit the wall recently by losing six straight games. In that span, the Los Angeles Lakers stayed hot and closed to within two games of the Western Conference lead. But the Spurs key players recovered from their injuries, got back in the lineup and the Spurs have now won three straight.

Even so, not many people believe the Spurs can win an NBA Championship this year. It’s not that they aren’t good enough to beat some of the weaker teams they’ll face in the first or second round of the Western Conference playoffs, it’s just that most people have little faith that they can beat the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in a seven-game series.

The Spurs are an elderly team, and as the season has worn on, their players have started to play their age a little bit – players such as Tim Duncan. The fact of the matter is that unless he is elite, the Spurs won’t win as a team. And while he’s been good, he hasn’t been dominant.

Coach Gregg Popovich is really monitoring Duncan’s minutes and trying to keep them to a minimum to keep him fresh for the playoffs. Duncan has averaged 28.4 minutes per game this season, which is the lowest of his career.

The Lakers are younger virtually across the board, and the tandem of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are still in their prime. Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are all past it.

The Spurs have a shot, but not many people believe they will actually be crowned champions for the 2010-11 season.

Spurs Right The Ship…But For How Long? from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Rajon Rondo, the six-foot point guard for the Boston Celtics, has captured the worlds attention. The publicity he is getting is both positive and negative. The positive side being his performance with the Celts. In four seasons with Boston, Rondo has played in 239 games and has a .481 FG%, .271 3PT%, and a .635 FT%. However, he has recently been the target of criticism for being late to practice and for his overly physical play.

Whether troubled or not, the Celtics have decided that they want Rondo in their future and have signed him to a 5-year, $55 million extension. Rondo is often compared to San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker. Here is how Rondo stacks up to Parker:

Rajon Rondo (2006-Present) – 239 G, .481 FG%, .271 3P%, .635 FT%, 1396 Assists, 416 Steals, 32 Blocks, and 2294 Points

Tony Parker (2006-Present) - 221 Games, .519 FG%, .315  3P%, .795 FT%, 1343 Assists, 206 Steals, 19 Blocks, and 4354 Points

Parker is slated to make $12.6 million this season and $13.5 million next season.

Ron”dough” Cashes In from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

When will the social network bubble burst? Has it already been popped? I do not really know anybody who uses any social friending site other than Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace or possibly Plaxo, on a frequent basis. That surely has not deterred CAA, MLB Advanced Media, and a company called Pequot Ventures to form a new youth sports social network. WePlay.com is geared towards athletes between the ages of 6-16, their parents, and their coaches.

WePlay.com’s mission: to enable and enhance the joy of sports for kids, families, coaches and fans both online and on the field. What the hell does that mean? Oh wait…read down a couple of paragraphs on the press release: young athletes can create profiles, blogs and fan clubs, play games, connect with friends and create a highlight reel. How innovative! Children are already doing all of this on MySpace.

Their business platform is to find revenue in advertisements on the WePlay.com site (how innovative…sarcasm). It seems like 5,000 new social networks sprout up every day with this same goal in mind. Create a social network for a niche group of people, don’t make them pay to be members, and make money off of advertisements. My guess is that most of the sites fizzle out after making pennies. Why do CAA, MLB Advanced Media and this Pequot group believe that WePlay.com will be any different?

For one, Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning, LeBron James, and Tony Parker are among its athlete founders. Will the endorsement of those athletes and whatever equity they have in the venture be enough to make it successful? It seems that their backing has allowed WePlay.com to generate a bunch of buzz thus far, even making a story on SportsAgentBlog.com! But what about longterm? When the hype dies in a week, will the site survive?

It definitely has strong financial backing behind it. The site has already been financed with $4.5 million dollars. Personally, I do not care how much money you have behind something, if the idea stinks and is not innovative, it is destined to fail (or at least not be profitable). Like my colleague Jason Peck over at Take a Peck, I took WePlay.com for a short test drive. I understand that it is only in Beta, but I was thoroughly unimpressed. I agree with Jason, it is early on in the game for WePlay.com and I should wait a little while before I get too critical. But from what I see as their mission and their original product, I think this is a wrong move by all parties involved in its success (however, there is no loss to the athletes that do not invest any money into it).

WePlay…No, YouPlay…Without Me from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules