Today, NBA fan Steve Schindler analyzes the red-hot Spurs and says the team is a legitimate contender in the West after shaking its soft image.

This was not supposed to be the year of the San Antonio Spurs. They didn't have what it took anymore. The Los Angeles Lakers swept them from last year's Western Conference finals, they were labeled "gutless" by the national press and the rest of the league wanted very little to do with them.

The Spurs were in disarray at season's end. David Robinson was getting older, all but four players from the '99 championship roster had either been shipped out of town or left on their own volition and Tim Duncan was surely rethinking his decision to stay. As the Spurs' future, Duncan was looking for a little help, and it seemed all he got this offseason was a little-known French guy whose main job was to deliver the morning practice pastries.

There was a lot of non-chemistry brewing on the Alamodome hardwood for the silver and black. No more magic medical mojo from retired transplant darling Sean Elliott. No more slash and dash from the dastardly Portland defector Derek Anderson. Nothing but a bad new nickname, a lot of holes to fill and a lot of questions to be answered.

In came nine new guys this offseason -- a fresh new crew to hopefully surround the Admiral and Duncan with some talent so that David could perhaps retire with one more ring and T-Dunk could have some support for championship runs in the future.

Steve Smith arrived from Portland when disgruntled Anderson bolted there. Tony Parker was French, only 19 years old and an unknown element. Bruce Bowen was brought in for some defense but wasn't known to shoot a lick. Cherokee Parks seemed to be on a mission to find some skin to plant a tattoo on, and Amal McCaskill's hair swung everywhere, knocking guys down on every transition.

Was all of this change going to be enough? Antonio Daniels came and went as the starting point guard. Danny Ferry was still couldn't jump, and Terry Porter either didn't play well because of his advanced age or was hailed as the geriatric hero of the new millennium when he sank a couple of 3-pointers.

As colorful as all of this sounds, San Antonio's new mix wasn't jelling and hadn't beaten the Lakers in their last six meetings. They barely seemed capable of splitting a home-and-home series with the resurgent Dallas Mavericks, and their ability to beat NBA teams swimming above the .500 mark appeared suspect at best.

So, the Spurs started their season with a baby-faced point guard and a 2-2 split against some tough Western Conference competition. T-Dunk and crew flashed some spark in the season's first two months, ripping off seven- and 10-game winning streaks. The young Parker exhibited some unusual poise for his age, and the perimeter shooting of Smith, Daniels and Ferry was providing some sweet contrast to the inside power of David and Tim. All seemed well and good at the time.

But critics were quick to point out that the competition had been mostly weaker teams from the East, mostly teams with losing records. And it was true. Whenever the Spurs ran up against Sacramento, Minnesota, Dallas or Philadelphia, they didn't seem to be able to finish things off. In spite of typically heroic efforts nightly from Duncan, these encounters usually ended up in the loss column.

Robinson disappeared at times, and the perimeter shooting seemed to run dry when it was needed most. Coach Gregg Popovich appeared to be in a fog, leaving the Admiral on the bench for entire quarters at a time. Parker suddenly was playing in a rookie funk. Ferry and Bowen went down with slow-healing injuries, and die-hard fans wondered what the heck was going on. What was Popovich going to about it?

Coach Pop surely wondered the same thing, but he knew that patience was a virtue in this scenario. He played roster roulette through January and February in search of floor combinations that might work. The win-loss-win-loss inconsistency of those months made most loyal San Antonio fans pull their hair out. But this extended period of roster juggling did one thing: It gave valuable playing time and experience to the entire Spurs bench.

Often suffering two or three losses between occasional wins, the Spurs could only manage sporadic three- and four-game winning runs during those two months. Nothing to write home about and surely nothing to pin your championship hopes on. But if this team was to ever manage to field its starting five again, you got the feeling it might prove much stronger and deeper than anyone had imagined.

Then came the month of March. Back came the rested and healed pair of Ferry and Bowen. Back came some starting five consistency. Back came the long-distance buckets and hard-nosed defense. And, suddenly, back came the winning. The Spurs won their first game of March against the Timberwolves and haven't looked back, rolling to 12 consecutive wins.

Where did these guys come from? Where did they learn to do this? If these Spurs are in a self-proclaimed rebuilding mode, they are doing so while on pace to win 56 games this season. They are doing so with a 19-year-old rookie point guard who can go from zero to 60 in less than 4.5 seconds.

They are doing so with a top-five defensive effort and a proven inside-outside offensive game that can roll over you. They are doing so getting consistent quality bench minutes from Italian League refugee Charles Smith and '99 holdover Malik Rose, who has stepped up his game with big-time improvement in his points (8.5 to 14) and shooting percentage (44.1 to 55.3) in the month of March.

Through all of the adversity, roster juggling and hand wringing of the first 55 games of the season, a healthy team has emerged and is indeed stronger than most would have imagined. Just ask the Mavericks and Lakers!

Take Duncan for granted, and he will burn you for 30. Give the Admiral and inch, and he'll elevate his embalmed carcass skyward and slam a few offensive boards down on you. Leave Ferry, Porter or Smith open outside, and they will burn you long distance. Let Bowen too close, and he'll steal the ball, then bury a bomb from the corner. Give Parker a 10 spot and he will run circles around you and dump sugar-glazed crullers in your face. This kid has impressed everyone with his fearlessness in crunch time.

Back-to-back monster wins against the Mavs and Lakers put the Spurs right back in the mix in the West, and they now begin a stint against many teams that could end up being in the playoffs. Where they stand at the end of this run should tell us all we need to know about what the Spurs are made of and how they will fare in this year's NBA playoffs.