Last year’s NBA season ended with the San Antonio Spurs being crowned champions. Right now, those memories for the Spurs seem like a long, long time ago.

Mired in a slump that has seen the team lose 13 of their last 24 games, the Spurs haven’t lost like this since Tim Duncan arrived in town. And the news got worse recently with the news that point guard Tony Parker will be sidelined indefinitely with a nagging foot injury.

Things are so bad in San Antonio that they are signing Damon Stoudamire to help with the team’s point guard issues. Yes, 85-year-old Damon Stoudamire is headed to San Antonio to lend a helping hand.

Is it time to officially bury the Spurs? While they definitely appear to be circling the drain, it’d be foolish to count them out already. With the NBA season just a hair over the halfway point, the Spurs have a lot of time to turn things around.

For now, Parker will be spending a lot of quality time with Eva Longoria. However, if he’s able to fully recover from his nagging injuries, the Spurs are good enough to turn their ship around quickly. Duncan is as good as he was last season. Manu Ginobili, their Argentine sparkplug of a shooting guard, is having arguably the best season of his career.

With role players like Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley and Robert Horry, the Spurs definitely have the needed playoff experience. As long as the Big Three of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker are healthy, this Spurs team will once again be a force to be reckoned with in the playoffs.