duncan228
02-21-2010, 01:39 AM
In time: The way to adjust a standard (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/In_time_The_way_to_adjust_a_standard.html)
Buck Harvey
There will come a day, in five or six years, when you will be upset with another Spurs coach. He will be losing at a rate unimaginable in the previous era, and you will want a change.
Spurs management will react, because sometimes the business of selling tickets requires it. They will fire this coach after fewer than two full seasons, and this is the way it is for most franchises.
There will come a day, in five or six years, when you will think the Spurs will never win again. Fans in Detroit, today, are beginning to feel that way after also enjoying success in the previous decade.
Then there will be a breakthrough. A lottery pick will surprise, and other talent will partner with him. You will be caught up in the ascent, attentive to every encouraging step, as the Spurs begin to show life again.
By putting together, say, a 31-22 record.
If you are younger than 30 years old, you likely don't remember when being nine games above .500 would have been worth a river parade. You don't remember Cotton Fitzsimmons or Walter Berry, or when the Spurs stuffed ballot boxes to help Alvin Robertson become an All-Star.
And if you are older, maybe you take for granted how unusual the run has been. The Spurs, in their history, have had only four seasons without a Hall of Fame lock on the roster at some point.
But now there are few indications the Spurs are the same. Sometimes Manu Ginobili appears to be back, and sometimes Tony Parker looks less hurt, and sometimes Tim Duncan could pass for the 2007 Tim Duncan. Mostly, though, a game such as the latest one in Philadelphia reminds what is fading away.
This is what happens. Rarely do teams go down quickly, as the Spurs did when David Robinson was hurt, and immediately contend with a lottery jackpot. Even the best franchises, such as the Celtics and Lakers of the '80s, eventually sag.
The Bulls needed a half-dozen seasons after Michael Jordan left to get as far above .500 as the Spurs are now. Now it is Detroit's painful turn; the same Pistons who pressed the Spurs in the 2005 Finals are currently 23 games behind Cleveland.
So a slide is inevitable for the Spurs, too, and they are currently tracking at a predictable, steady decline. From a championship to conference finals elimination to a first-round loss.
The Spurs are at the next step now, competing for a spot at the lower end of the playoff bracket. They hope for more, of course, but they need absolutely everything to go their way.
Good luck isn't enough. They need other teams to have bad luck.
San Antonio doesn't like the odds, but here's the twist: Gamblers do.
Various online better services don't like the Spurs' chances as much as they did before the season started. The Spurs' odds have dropped approximately in half, according to a blurb in the Dallas Morning News, from 15-2 to 14-1.
The Lakers are still 2-1, with Cleveland, Boston, Orlando and Denver behind. But the Spurs are next.
Granted, this is merely a betting line, and a questionable one. The Jazz, for example, are a 30-1 longshot.
Yet here's what is odd: Only five teams are considered a better bet than the Spurs, yet most in San Antonio see this team as half-empty.
Or, maybe it's not odd at all. Maybe it's natural. Maybe San Antonio, after four championships, has a standard that a 31-22 record doesn't satisfy.
But this standard won't be difficult to adjust.
There will come a day, in five or six years, when you will see things differently.
Buck Harvey
There will come a day, in five or six years, when you will be upset with another Spurs coach. He will be losing at a rate unimaginable in the previous era, and you will want a change.
Spurs management will react, because sometimes the business of selling tickets requires it. They will fire this coach after fewer than two full seasons, and this is the way it is for most franchises.
There will come a day, in five or six years, when you will think the Spurs will never win again. Fans in Detroit, today, are beginning to feel that way after also enjoying success in the previous decade.
Then there will be a breakthrough. A lottery pick will surprise, and other talent will partner with him. You will be caught up in the ascent, attentive to every encouraging step, as the Spurs begin to show life again.
By putting together, say, a 31-22 record.
If you are younger than 30 years old, you likely don't remember when being nine games above .500 would have been worth a river parade. You don't remember Cotton Fitzsimmons or Walter Berry, or when the Spurs stuffed ballot boxes to help Alvin Robertson become an All-Star.
And if you are older, maybe you take for granted how unusual the run has been. The Spurs, in their history, have had only four seasons without a Hall of Fame lock on the roster at some point.
But now there are few indications the Spurs are the same. Sometimes Manu Ginobili appears to be back, and sometimes Tony Parker looks less hurt, and sometimes Tim Duncan could pass for the 2007 Tim Duncan. Mostly, though, a game such as the latest one in Philadelphia reminds what is fading away.
This is what happens. Rarely do teams go down quickly, as the Spurs did when David Robinson was hurt, and immediately contend with a lottery jackpot. Even the best franchises, such as the Celtics and Lakers of the '80s, eventually sag.
The Bulls needed a half-dozen seasons after Michael Jordan left to get as far above .500 as the Spurs are now. Now it is Detroit's painful turn; the same Pistons who pressed the Spurs in the 2005 Finals are currently 23 games behind Cleveland.
So a slide is inevitable for the Spurs, too, and they are currently tracking at a predictable, steady decline. From a championship to conference finals elimination to a first-round loss.
The Spurs are at the next step now, competing for a spot at the lower end of the playoff bracket. They hope for more, of course, but they need absolutely everything to go their way.
Good luck isn't enough. They need other teams to have bad luck.
San Antonio doesn't like the odds, but here's the twist: Gamblers do.
Various online better services don't like the Spurs' chances as much as they did before the season started. The Spurs' odds have dropped approximately in half, according to a blurb in the Dallas Morning News, from 15-2 to 14-1.
The Lakers are still 2-1, with Cleveland, Boston, Orlando and Denver behind. But the Spurs are next.
Granted, this is merely a betting line, and a questionable one. The Jazz, for example, are a 30-1 longshot.
Yet here's what is odd: Only five teams are considered a better bet than the Spurs, yet most in San Antonio see this team as half-empty.
Or, maybe it's not odd at all. Maybe it's natural. Maybe San Antonio, after four championships, has a standard that a 31-22 record doesn't satisfy.
But this standard won't be difficult to adjust.
There will come a day, in five or six years, when you will see things differently.