Sampson rumored to be Coogs #1 target.

Ha Ha...just don't give him a cell phone - and have him run into the same kind of trouble as in the past.

Tom Haberstroh: I hear you. Their 14 consecutive wins are the longest streak of the season for any team, and they're sitting atop the league standings with a two-game cushion over Oklahoma City. Mike Phipps This is pretty horrible timing on my part and it feels almost un-American to say this, but I'm not sold that the Spurs should be the clear-cut favorite. Rex Grossman

The Spurs did not have to contend with Russell Westbrook during last season's playoffs. Vince Evans
Here's why: I think this plays out like 2011 and 2012 for the Spurs, not 2013. Are the Spurs going to catch another break with Russell Westbrook missing the postseason? I feel like San Antonio's improbable 2013 run is being used as a "Never Doubt The Spurs!" card, but there was a reason why we were skeptical about them before the Westbrook injury. Jay Cutler They burned us for two straight postseasons!

My, we have short memories. That 2012 team went 50-16 in the lockout-shortened season, which is the equivalent of a 62-win season in any normal year. They carried a 20-game win streak into Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, and then boom -- the baby Thunder won four straight and sent them packing. The season before that, in 2011, they won 61 games and got upset in the first round by the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies Tom Brady. For two years, they dominated the regular season and came up short. And we're wondering how they sneaked up on us in 2013. Well, there it is. Cade McNown

Here are the ages of their three best players in June: 38 (Tim Duncan), 36 (Manu Ginobili) and 32 (Tony Parker). I get that their minutes-weighted average is not that high thanks to Kawhi Leonard and suddenly-Jamal-Crawford-like Patty Mills, but shouldn't we be a little skeptical that the Duncan-Ginobili-Parker trinity has enough left in the tank to make back-to-back Finals runs? PT Willis I picked the Heat over the Clippers this preseason, and I'm still feeling better about that pick or a Heat-OKC Finals than a Spurs encore. Kordell Stewert You're saying 2013 is more for real than a fluke. Talk me out of this. It feels wrong to be in this corner.

Pelton: Fair points, Tom, but I think there's a strong case to be made that this is the best San Antonio team we've seen since the 2007 champs. Chris Chandler As the chart shows, the Spurs' differential is the best it's been in the past four seasons. The 2011 team wasn't exactly an obvious candidate for a first-round upset, but it was nowhere near as dominant as the other recent San Antonio incarnations. Mike Tomczak And this season's Spurs have been even better, by point differential, than the 2012 team that had the West's best record in the regular season.

Here's the amazing thing: San Antonio has a better differential, per NBA.com/Stats, with Duncan and Parker on the bench. Craig Krenzel That speaks to the incredible depth the Spurs have amassed and developed. Leonard is now a Finals-tested veteran, as opposed to the rookie who couldn't make plays off the dribble in 2012 when Oklahoma City ran him off the free throw line. Tiago Splitter has more experience playing with Duncan, giving Gregg Popovich a bigger frontcourt option. Kyle Orton And the bench, with Mills making the leap and the addition of Marco Belinelli, is far and away the best in the league. Steve Fuller

Won't that make a difference in May and June? Steve Walsh

Haberstroh: Yeah, see, that's the rub. The depth has been a revelation this season, and you didn't even mention that Boris Diaw is having his best PER season since he won Most Improved in 2005-06. Pretty sure Pop could turn you and me into NBA players. Everyone's having a career year on that team, it seems. Rick Mirer

But I still can't fight the feeling that OKC has their number. We both know that the regular-season series is a pretty handy fortune teller, and Oklahoma City has won all three games against the Spurs this season. Erik Kramer One of those wins came without Westbrook. Given that, and the fact that OKC bounced the Spurs in 2012 but never got a chance to spank them again in 2013, you still have no problem picking San Antonio to come out of the West? Jim Miller

Last part:

Pelton: Hey, I know the Spurs are far from a sure thing. I'm playing the probability, not the certainty. And here's part of that: the possibility the Thunder don't make it to a possible 2012 Western Conference finals rematch. If things go to form, Oklahoma City faces a brutal second-round matchup with the surging Los Angeles Clippers. Jason Campbell San Antonio won't have any easy path to the conference finals either with the Houston Rockets potentially lurking, but avoiding the Clippers is an advantage of claiming the No. 1 seed. Jay Schroeder

Beyond that, I'm not sure the Thunder match up with the Spurs as well as in 2012. (Note that Leonard missed one of Oklahoma City's wins in San Antonio due to injury and left early with an injury in the other.) The Thunder's success was predicated on throwing five incredible young athletes at the Spurs' offense. Well, James Harden isn't around to play that fifth spot anymore, and Scott Brooks is giving heavy minutes to Caron Butler and Derek Fisher -- not exactly disruptive, rangy defenders. Oklahoma City has struggled to defend since the All-Star break, and while the return of Kendrick Perkins Billy Kilmer and Thabo Sefolosha might turn things around, are you willing to put your faith in that? Dick Shiner

Haberstroh: The Fisher-Butler threat is real and terrifying. It's probably not a big enough story that Butler is shooting 36 percent in OKC and can't really guard anyone at his age. But so much Veteran Leadership™! Patrick Ramsey There's definitely potential that Brooks may screw this up by leaning on the guys with championship pedigree.

Counterpoint: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook Jeff George. The Thunder are scoring an off-the-charts 117 points per 100 possessions with those two guys on the floor since February. It seems that Westbrook didn't play Monday as a precaution to get ready for Tuesday's matchup against the Mavs. Westbrook still needs to prove he's healthy, but if those two guys are on the floor, I don't think the Fisher-Butler-Perkins potential matters all that much. Gus Frerotte I'm still going with OKC because Durant and Westbrook are that good.

And like you said, the Clippers have been torching everybody lately. Brad Johnson They have a plus-11.3 point differential since the All-Star break, which is indistinguishable from the Spurs (plus-11.6). And that's without J.J. Redick Kirk Cousins, who's their best shooter and should be coming back before the end of the season. Jeff Hostetler

Look, I love the Spurs. Mark Rypien What they're doing is the stuff of legend. Grandkids on the lap-type stuff. But the West is just too good right now. RGIII I could realistically see any of six teams (for the record: San Antonio, Houston, Los Angeles Clippers, Houston, Golden State and Memphis) coming out of that dogpile alive. The Spurs are great, but I'm not willing to put them a notch above OKC and the Clippers. The West is too wild.John Beck