timvp...Reaction to Drafting Duncan.

[BanditHiro]

I was obviously too young to understand the enormity of the situation, and tbh i was still a Jordan fan. I digress, what was your reaction and did it rank higher than the birth of your first born?

[timvp]

The drafting of Duncan? That was the easiest decision the franchise ever made.

Now if you're talking the ping pong ball magic, that was surreal, tbh. I just remember the Holt fist pump and imagining Robinson and Duncan together.

Good Times. ©

[lefty]

i was obviously too young to understand the enormity of the situation, and tbh i was still a jordan fan. I digress, what was your reaction and did it rank higher than the birth of your first born?
wgaf

[Slomo]

I was obviously too young to understand the enormity of the situation, and tbh i was still a Jordan fan. I digress, what was your reaction and did it rank higher than the birth of your first born?

You don't have kids, do you?

:)

[xellos88330]

^
+1

[Small Fundamental]

You don't have kids, do you?

:)Yes he does. And they're all named Manu.












You know what? I'm sorry, that joke sounded better in my head.

[jag]

I think it ended up being a good decision. Although I sometimes wonder if Keith Van Horn would have been a better pairing with Robinson.

[lefty]

I think it ended up being a good decision. Although I sometimes wonder if Keith Van Horn would have been a better pairing with Robinson.
:lol

[Rapper]

I was obviously too young to understand the enormity of the situation, and tbh i was still a Jordan fan. I digress, what was your reaction and did it rank higher than the birth of your first born?

My man Timmy is the best NBA player of all time and also the best Number 1 pick of last 3 decades.

In my opinion. Duncan is more valuable than MJ. he is second to none. none!!

[cd98]

Draft day wasn't a big deal. It was the moment we won the lottery. We were watching a playoff game at half time, not sure if it was the Bulls or what, but when the Spurs won teh lottery, we went crazy. High fives.

There are not a lot of sure things. We knew Duncan would be. Of course, there were some calls for drafting Keith Van Horn...

[Mark in Austin]

I remember watching the lottery while talking on the phone to my oldest friend (& huge Spurs fan) and just remember running around the house yelling into the phone "we got Duncan!" over and over while he was doing the same thing.

[manufan10]

http://static.themetapicture.com/media/funny-gif-black-guy-reaction.gif

[BanditHiro]

http://static.themetapicture.com/media/funny-gif-black-guy-reaction.gif

speechless??

[iManu]

When that ping pong ball dropped and then they eventually opened the Spurs' envelope and put it at #1, I jumped around the house screaming and stared at the draft-order: burning the image into the back of my skull.

I thought maybe we'd draft a Dominique.

:toast

[baseline bum]

The drafting of Duncan? That was the easiest decision the franchise ever made.

Now if you're talking the ping pong ball magic, that was surreal, tbh. I just remember the Holt fist pump and imagining Robinson and Duncan together.

Good Times. ©

Exciting day for sure; I had watched tons of Wake Forest games the last couple of years and knew Duncan was an absolute certain Hall of Famer. Man, it would drive me crazy when I'd hear people talk about trading down to get Van Horn instead; I used to tell them you don't trade Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for fucking Keith Van Horn.

[Nathan Explosion]

Drafting Duncan was the biggest no brainer in franchise history. It was an even easier decision than drafting DRob because of Robinson's Navy obligations and the worry he would go to LA after that.

I don't even remember the lottery that year. When DRob went out, I kind of tuned out. I was in high school and high a lot so I don't remember being that interested in a crappy Spurs season. And I actually didn't watch college basketball at the time for some weird reason (it was a strange sports time in my life).

But when I saw Duncan highlights, all I could think was "Could it be possible that my team might win it all some day?"

Two years later, I just remember staring at the TV in disbelief as Sean Elliott jumped up and down at the buzzer and the Spurs bench just emptying.

[pjjrfan]

I was excited about as excited as when we got David, but I understood that the potential was there and though I saw almost all the games I went ga ga crazy in Tim's first playoff when he ran off like 7 or 8 baskets in a row on the Suns in Phoenix, in a pivotal 4th qtr, I remember tellling my 12 year old son, this is the Guy. I knew then we would win at least one title but 4 wow.

[therealtruth]

Exciting day for sure; I had watched tons of Wake Forest games the last couple of years and knew Duncan was an absolute certain Hall of Famer. Man, it would drive me crazy when I'd hear people talk about trading down to get Van Horn instead; I used to tell them you don't trade Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for fucking Keith Van Horn.

Why would anyone suggest that? However, Van Horn's ceiling was probably being as good as Dirk which is not bad. An almost 7ft power forward that could shoot 3's, score, and rebound.

[pgardn]

When Stern pulled the NJ card out of one of the envelopes remaining I ran around the house screaming. My wife and young daughter thought I was on fire.

So when I run around the house screaming, thats a good thing. I remember Duncan at Wake scoring on Texas at will in the NCAA tourney while he was ill.

Clearly a "where were you moment" for Spurs fans.

[Drachen]

never even thought about the fact that I missed that event. I was living in Germany as an exchange student and missed that whole season (probably a good thing). I am sure I heard about it but I had other things going on and probably reacted like "oh that's awesome", but no more. It wouldn't have been fair for me to realize its significance and really feel the excitement over there anyway since I didn't have to suffer through that season.

[baseline bum]

Why would anyone suggest that? However, Van Horn's ceiling was probably being as good as Dirk which is not bad. An almost 7ft power forward that could shoot 3's, score, and rebound.

The media was all over trading Duncan for Van Horn + crap, saying he and David couldn't play together, and so on. People who I guess never watched Duncan would repeat that garbage all the time in SA around then. What a disaster trading HOF Duncan for the original Matt Bonner would have been.

[Obstructed_View]

When Stern pulled the NJ card out of one of the envelopes remaining I ran around the house screaming. My wife and young daughter thought I was on fire.

So when I run around the house screaming, thats a good thing. I remember Duncan at Wake scoring on Texas at will in the NCAA tourney while he was ill.

Clearly a "where were you moment" for Spurs fans.

It was Russ Granik.

[Obstructed_View]

Draft day wasn't a big deal. It was the moment we won the lottery. We were watching a playoff game at half time, not sure if it was the Bulls or what, but when the Spurs won teh lottery, we went crazy. High fives.

There are not a lot of sure things. We knew Duncan would be. Of course, there were some calls for drafting Keith Van Horn...

It was the Knicks and Heat. Game 7.

[ffadicted]

Been trying to find a video of the lottery to no success ]]:

[therealtruth]

The media was all over trading Duncan for Van Horn + crap, saying he and David couldn't play together, and so on. People who I guess never watched Duncan would repeat that garbage all the time in SA around then. What a disaster trading HOF Duncan for the original Matt Bonner would have been.

Van Horn had a pretty good all around game unlike Bonner. He could even play small forward. The ironic thing now is with Pop's love for small ball he would probably prefer Van Horn because he spaces the floor.

[mudyez]

never even thought about the fact that I missed that event. I was living in Germany as an exchange student and missed that whole season (probably a good thing). I am sure I heard about it but I had other things going on and probably reacted like "oh that's awesome", but no more. It wouldn't have been fair for me to realize its significance and really feel the excitement over there anyway since I didn't have to suffer through that season.

I wasn't even aware of time and date of the draft lotterie...and it caught me by surprise. some weeks earlier I was joking around, that we would get Timmy and form Twintowers while playing in a pickup game with my fellows. then some mornung before school (guess it was a monday) I turned on the TV (yeah, I was watching TV prior to school at about 5:30am coz my parents left for work around that time)...a european NBC or CNN was running (they also showed NHL and NCAA some days of the week) and they showed them presenting the top three teams...guess I had a great day in school :)

[Russo21]

My man Timmy is the best NBA player of all time and also the best Number 1 pick of last 3 decades.

In my opinion. Duncan is more valuable than MJ. he is second to none. none!!

Agree with that. MJ won six championships and that was all, he never came close any other time.

Duncan has won 4 championships which very nearly could have been 7!

2000 a duncan knee injury derailed our hopes of repeating.
2004 the infamous Fisher 0.4
2006 Manu's brainfart foul on Dirk

How easily 4 championships could have been at least 7! But oh well. The drive for 5 continues.

Additt. MJ was egocentric, a teammate who amoungst other things, had a fist fight with steve kerr and treated other teammates like dirt occassionally, yelling abuse at them. I've never heard a Spur say anything negative about Duncan.

[100%duncan]

Best thing for the Franchise

[pgardn]

It was Russ Granik.

Ahhh...

Well hell.

That ruins the entire ordeal for me.

[Thomas82]

agree with that. Mj won six championships and that was all, he never came close any other time.

Duncan has won 4 championships which very nearly could have been 7!

2000 a duncan knee injury derailed our hopes of repeating.
2004 the infamous fisher 0.4
2006 manu's brainfart foul on dirk

how easily 4 championships could have been at least 7! But oh well. The drive for 5 continues.

Additt. Mj was egocentric, a teammate who amoungst other things, had a fist fight with steve kerr and treated other teammates like dirt occassionally, yelling abuse at them. I've never heard a spur say anything negative about duncan.


+1

[TVI]

I think it ended up being a good decision. Although I sometimes wonder if Keith Van Horn would have been a better pairing with Robinson.

LMAO!!

I'm dating myself here, but back before sites like Spurstalk, we had Usenet newsgroups like rec.sport.basketball.pro as our discussion forum.

I got in a long argument with a poster about Duncan vs. KVH! It was funny seeing him try to defend his position that KVH was as good as Duncan.

Good times...

[therealtruth]

I think it ended up being a good decision. Although I sometimes wonder if Keith Van Horn would have been a better pairing with Robinson.

Van Horn wasn't a franchise player. He was more of a second/third fiddle.

[Obstructed_View]

LMAO!!

I'm dating myself here, but back before sites like Spurstalk, we had Usenet newsgroups like rec.sport.basketball.pro as our discussion forum.

I got in a long argument with a poster about Duncan vs. KVH! It was funny seeing him try to defend his position that KVH was as good as Duncan.

Good times...

Yeah, someone asked about video of that. It was so long ago from a technology standpoint that I had the audio of it on my computer for years. I'd listen to it periodically. That was way before you could download video. I think the audio file took a half an hour to get.

[wildbill2u]

Drafting Duncan was big, we had a bad season and got lucky with a #1 ball. But it wasn't as big as the pick on David Robinson.

The Gervin era was over and we were in the doldrums. There was a real possibility that the Spurs would leave SA. Then we won the lottery and took Robinson. There was only one problem. He still had a two year commitment to the Navy--and our pick wasn't legally binding for 1989 when he got out. For two years, the town was abuzz with rumors about dROB and his future with the Spurs. It was a roller-coaster ride of fear and hope for two years. Shit, we were even scared he'd get maimed or killed while on duty.

I remember that when he came to town for a look-see, the town went crazy over him everywhere he went. He was such a handsome affable guy and had that physique that made body-builders cry. We knew he was our savior and there was wild jubilation when he decided to honor the draft pick.

By the time Duncan was drafted, the fans were a little less excited. We'd already had the thrill of a #1 pick and the anxiety for two years about whether it was going to be wasted. And Duncan never had as much publicity in college as Robinson. He was quieter and DRob was a freak of nature from a military academy.

[Drom John]

I was a Demon Deacons season ticket holder.
My dad was a Spurs season ticket holder.
We talked sports as our common ground.
Ever since that first game when the third best rookie center on the Deacons was forced to start when the NCAA banned Ndiaye and Peral, and "who is that guy" Duncan dominated Eric Montross, our phone conversations were all about Duncan and the Spurs.
Too bad that Duncan was going to the Celtics....

Lottery day, and the Spurs jumped from #2 on my list to #1.

[210Max]

Is it true that there were talks on trading either Robinson or Duncan for Kemp?

[timvp]

LMAO!!

I'm dating myself here, but back before sites like Spurstalk, we had Usenet newsgroups like rec.sport.basketball.pro as our discussion forum.

I got in a long argument with a poster about Duncan vs. KVH! It was funny seeing him try to defend his position that KVH was as good as Duncan.

Good times...

The Village Idiot? Usenet legend, you were :toast

[maverick1948]

My best remembrance of the draft of Duncan was the HEB comercial when DRob and Duncan were working out in the driveway at DR's house. Out of bounds became the discussion. "No the gnomes are out of bounds" I laughed because even tho it was only a commercial, I could see the two of them coexisting on the court. I knew great times were coming.

[Obstructed_View]

My best remembrance of the draft of Duncan was the HEB comercial when DRob and Duncan were working out in the driveway at DR's house. Out of bounds became the discussion. "No the gnomes are out of bounds" I laughed because even tho it was only a commercial, I could see the two of them coexisting on the court. I knew great times were coming.

I hate to continue correcting people in this thread, but that was an Edge shaving cream commercial.

And it was the roses that were out of bounds, not the daisies. :lol

[Thomas82]

My best remembrance of the draft of Duncan was the HEB comercial when DRob and Duncan were working out in the driveway at DR's house. Out of bounds became the discussion. "No the gnomes are out of bounds" I laughed because even tho it was only a commercial, I could see the two of them coexisting on the court. I knew great times were coming.

Actually, that was an Edge Shaving Gel Commericail, but I see your point.

[Drachen]

I wasn't even aware of time and date of the draft lotterie...and it caught me by surprise. some weeks earlier I was joking around, that we would get Timmy and form Twintowers while playing in a pickup game with my fellows. then some mornung before school (guess it was a monday) I turned on the TV (yeah, I was watching TV prior to school at about 5:30am coz my parents left for work around that time)...a european NBC or CNN was running (they also showed NHL and NCAA some days of the week) and they showed them presenting the top three teams...guess I had a great day in school :)

LOL, I just never found NBA coverage over there so most of my news came from my buddy Ryan via email.

[houston spurs fan]

The drafting of Duncan? That was the easiest decision the franchise ever made.

Now if you're talking the ping pong ball magic, that was surreal, tbh. I just remember the Holt fist pump and imagining Robinson and Duncan together.

Good Times. ©
Cannot believe you are not in here at a time like this.

[callo1]

I had been a Spurs fan all of my life, but heartbreak only came when I thought they really had a chance of winning it all, but came up short.

I remember exactly how I felt when Timmy was drafted in '97. Being a Spurs fan that had felt heartbreak seeing them lose to Portland in 1990, then again, falling to Houston in 1995. I had a total calmness come over me when TD was drafted, I absolutely knew the Spurs would win a championship. I told my girlfriend at the time, present day wife, the Spurs were guaranteed to win a championship.

Even when the Spurs lost to the Jazz 4-1 in 1998, instead of feeling let down, I was all the more certain that the Spurs would ring. TD was already showing the beast within in that series. Unfortunately, that was the series when Sean was having bad tendonitis in his quads, and Pop would not let him play.