The San Antonio Spurs are moments from being awarded their championship rings by NBA commissioner David Stern tonight. Noticablly absent will be part of the staff that helped get them to their fourth title in the past nine years.

New Sonics general manager Sam Presti, a former Spurs' assistant general manager credited with getting the organization to draft 2007 Finals MVP Tony Parker; Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo, a heralded San Antonio assistant; and Brian Keefe, a former Spurs video coordinator turned Sonics player development assistant, will all have to wait until April for their rings.

The Supes don't play in San Antonio until April 11, the 80th game of the season. Presti mentioned a pre-game ceremony happening then where all will receive their rings. And hopefully the Supes are competitive by then, too, or at least a strong showing of Presti's work building a new foundation as GM coupled with Carlesimo's game-plan.

Presti said today that he's not putting a timetable on the team as far as progress by a certain date. "We've seen a great effort from our guys collectively," he said. "We're still learning about our group. We're just going to look from one game to the next and try to get better."