Fortunate Fans

[tmtcsc]

I know it's been said before but it bears repeating. We are extremely fortunate to have the San Antonio Spurs represent our city. This year especially has made me even more proud. We've seen NBA players: showboating & chewing on their mouthpieces (Steph Curry), flexing their muscles after "and 1's" (Draymond Green), acting selfish & narcissistic (Kobe Bryant, James Harden & Lebron James), juvenile (Demarcus Cousins, Okafor, DWight Howard) and childish (D'Angelo Russell)...seriously, it goes on and on.

Just knowing that we have mature players like Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard who shun the limelight, and guys like David West who sacrifice money for a chance at being Champions - is refreshing. Ginobili and Andre Miller are class-acts as are the rest of the guys. Even when there have been embarrassing issues, the team does its best to handle them in-house and avoid distractions and negative press. They aren't perfect but they do a great job of handling their dirty laundry.

Of course, the icing on the cake is that the team has given us 5, soon to be 6 Championships and almost 2 decades of 50+ winning seasons. Its truly remarkable.

GO SPURS GO!! :flag::lobt2::lobt2::lobt2::lobt2::lobt2:

[200 miles]

Well said. :clap
ST needs that reminder every now and then.

[sananspursfan21]

:whine

[DarrinS]

:bobo

[Old School 44]

Well said. Let the playoffs begin!
:bobo

[Keepin' it real]

I know it's been said before but it bears repeating. We are extremely fortunate to have the San Antonio Spurs represent our city. This year especially has made me even more proud. We've seen NBA players: showboating & chewing on their mouthpieces (Steph Curry), flexing their muscles after "and 1's" (Draymond Green), acting selfish & narcissistic (Kobe Bryant, James Harden & Lebron James), juvenile (Demarcus Cousins, Okafor, DWight Howard) and childish (D'Angelo Russell)...seriously, it goes on and on.

Just knowing that we have mature players like Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard who shun the limelight, and guys like David West who sacrifice money for a chance at being Champions - is refreshing. Ginobili and Andre Miller are class-acts as are the rest of the guys. Even when there have been embarrassing issues, the team does its best to handle them in-house and avoid distractions and negative press. They aren't perfect but they do a great job of handling their dirty laundry.

Of course, the icing on the cake is that the team has given us 5, soon to be 6 Championships and almost 2 decades of 50+ winning seasons. Its truly remarkable.

GO SPURS GO!! :flag::lobt2::lobt2::lobt2::lobt2::lobt2:

http://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder560/59745560.jpg

[tmtcsc]

Just to add to the drama that has plagued other teams this year: The butt-hurt comments made by Westbrook after the Thunder lost to Detroit were ridiculous. Westbrook constantly hits his chest, acts salty on the court and makes all sorts of faces at his opponents. So when a guy or team you don't like celebrates a little after a win, you just need to suck it up and take it. Those guys (especially Westbrook) made disparaging comments toward Jackson after the trade.

It's no secret the Spurs were not happy with Michael Finley when he wanted to be released from the team in order to play for a 'contender'. He had fallen out of the rotation due to his poor play and didn't feel like being a role player. You never heard any player say "Who?" when asked about Finley. They just handle things professionally and kept their comments out of the press or off the record.

[Old School 44]

Just to add to the drama that has plagued other teams this year: The butt-hurt comments made by Westbrook after the Thunder lost to Detroit were ridiculous. Westbrook constantly hits his chest, acts salty on the court and makes all sorts of faces at his opponents. So when a guy or team you don't like celebrates a little after a win, you just need to suck it up and take it. Those guys (especially Westbrook) made disparaging comments toward Jackson after the trade.

It's no secret the Spurs were not happy with Michael Finley when he wanted to be released from the team in order to play for a 'contender'. He had fallen out of the rotation due to his poor play and didn't feel like being a role player. You never heard any player say "Who?" when asked about Finley. They just handle things professionally and kept their comments out of the press or off the record.

Yeah...just as sad are Durant's comments today about Jackon's celebrating, calling it "bush league". I don't like Jackson either, but he must have really done a number on them when he left.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15104312/kevin-durant-oklahoma-city-thunder-says-reggie-jackson-celebration-was-bush-league

[Spur|n|Austin]

:bobo

[spurs10]

I know it's been said before but it bears repeating. We are extremely fortunate to have the San Antonio Spurs represent our city. This year especially has made me even more proud. We've seen NBA players: showboating & chewing on their mouthpieces (Steph Curry), flexing their muscles after "and 1's" (Draymond Green), acting selfish & narcissistic (Kobe Bryant, James Harden & Lebron James), juvenile (Demarcus Cousins, Okafor, DWight Howard) and childish (D'Angelo Russell)...seriously, it goes on and on.

Just knowing that we have mature players like Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard who shun the limelight, and guys like David West who sacrifice money for a chance at being Champions - is refreshing. Ginobili and Andre Miller are class-acts as are the rest of the guys. Even when there have been embarrassing issues, the team does its best to handle them in-house and avoid distractions and negative press. They aren't perfect but they do a great job of handling their dirty laundry.

Of course, the icing on the cake is that the team has given us 5, soon to be 6 Championships and almost 2 decades of 50+ winning seasons. Its truly remarkable.

GO SPURS GO!! :flag::lobt2::lobt2::lobt2::lobt2::lobt2: Can't argue with this!
:flag:

[apalisoc_9]

:lmao

[CosmicCowboy]

And what other team in the league would do the funny as hell, self deprecating HEB commercials?

[Spurtacular]

Without the Spurs, I would've likely stopped watching basketball, tbh.

[PopTheGOAT]

I can feel it, Spurs bout to pipe it up in the playoffs :lobt2:

[Hoops Czar]

I know it's been said before but it bears repeating. We are extremely fortunate to have the San Antonio Spurs represent our city. This year especially has made me even more proud. We've seen NBA players: showboating & chewing on their mouthpieces (Steph Curry), flexing their muscles after "and 1's" (Draymond Green), acting selfish & narcissistic (Kobe Bryant, James Harden & Lebron James), juvenile (Demarcus Cousins, Okafor, DWight Howard) and childish (D'Angelo Russell)...seriously, it goes on and on.

Just knowing that we have mature players like Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard who shun the limelight, and guys like David West who sacrifice money for a chance at being Champions - is refreshing. Ginobili and Andre Miller are class-acts as are the rest of the guys. Even when there have been embarrassing issues, the team does its best to handle them in-house and avoid distractions and negative press. They aren't perfect but they do a great job of handling their dirty laundry.


Do you know why this is? It's because the Spurs can't attract players with large ego's. They tend to flock to the larger markets where there are more endorsement opportunities though I highly doubt there's a Spurs fan alive that wouldn't take Curry if he wanted to play in San Antonio because he's a showoff and chews a mouth guard. Ya know who else chews on mouth guards? Blake Griffin, CP3, Gerald Wallace and Dellavedova to name a few. At least 2/3's of the fan base wouldn't mind having a narcissist like Lebron either. I mean, gimme a break! The NBA's image was created in the stylings of hip hop and rap, not smooth jazz. What did you expect?

[FromWayDowntown]

Having likable guys helps, but I don't think most fans are thrilled with having teams full of good guys who don't win.

What makes Spurs fans spoiled rotten is the fact that this organization: (1) got lightning in a bottle twice; (2) has been remarkably well-run since Pop's return as the GM in 1994, in terms of identifying talent to surround legendary players and giving each team a legitimate chance to win (other than 1997); and (3) the guys who've been here have risen to the challenge for the most part without creating too much drama.

Even if the whole thing ended tomorrow, Pop's 22 season tenure would show 20 seasons with 50 or more wins (plus the 1999 season); 16 seasons with 55 or more wins; 12 seasons with 58 or more wins (plus the 2011-12 season). They would show 6 Finals appearances and 5 titles in 22 years with 10 conference finals appearances, and 16 playoff years in which they won at least a round.

Player character or not, most fans of most franchises would kill for that sort of a run. Have there been disappointments along the way? Sure, and the scary part is that inarguably, Pop's resume could be even better than that with even a couple of minor breaks.


Do you know why this is? It's because the Spurs can't attract players with large ego's.

This is likely true, though Aldridge wasn't exactly an egoless guy in Portland, and it's not like Tony Parker has shied away from embracing the NBA image and self-promotion when he gets the chance.

But there's a chicken-and-egg quality to some of it, too. The Spurs don't generally take runs at the sorts of players that you mention for a variety of reasons mostly dealing with impracticality, though Pop's insistence on players "being over themselves" as a cultural norm does play a role. I don't think they're uninterested in guys who have personality and are dynamic on and off the court -- they brought back Stephen Jackson after all, and Pop seemingly loves Kobe and Lebron and Wade, and appeared in the past to think highly of a guy like Iverson. I don't think there's any doubt that they would take on those personalities if they were available and would help.

[tmtcsc]

I wonder if Dennis Rodman made the Spurs swear off of the diva, not "over themselves" type of players. Even with all his talent, he burned the team in the playoffs by being a distraction and playing selfishly. If so, then he actually deserves some of the credit for Pop avoiding those types of guys. I think Pop got rid of him after his first year of being VP.

** For the record, I like Wade and I liked Iverson. When you're good, you don't have to draw attention to yourself with stupid antics, your play does the talking. Klay Thompson and Carmelo Anthony don't act likes ass-clowns on the floor either.

[tmtcsc]

Having likable guys helps, but I don't think most fans are thrilled with having teams full of good guys who don't win.


That's not exactly what I'm talking about.

Let's face it, Kawhi isn't the most likable guy in the world. He doesn't try to endear himself to anyone either. I'm perfectly fine with that. I'm referring more to the guys on the team being professional and not caught up in social media drama or trying to be trendy with on-court antics. Steph Curry is a great shooter and scorer but I can't stand his show-boating and mouthpiece chewing. I don't like the mouthpiece chewing from anyone.

John Stockton was a bad-ass and so was Nash but they didn't feel the need to draw attention to themselves.

[JeffDuncan]

Do you know why this is? It's because the Spurs can't attract players with large ego's. They tend to flock to the larger markets where there are more endorsement opportunities ...

Not true, about the endorsement opportunities. That might have been true at one time, years ago, but technology has changed things. Your idea is badly out of date.

For example, look at Kevin Durant's endorsements, while he's in "little" OKC. KD has deals with Nike, EA Sports, Gatorade, Panini America, Sprint and Degree Men, and I don't know if that list is up to date.

Modern media, and marketing, are national & worldwide now, and can be done from anyplace. In fact, media productions originating in the smaller market areas can be preferred now, because the production costs can be significantly less. NY and LA are high cost locations, even for a 30-second commercial.

The companies, themselves, often don't want to be associated with a particular location. They want to be known as "world" companies. They seriously don't want to be known as a "New York company" (or a "Los Angeles company" or Chicago, or whatever.)

It's surprising you would write what you did, if you're really a Cavs fan. You would know that LeBron didn't go to Cleveland because of the great endorsement opportunities Cleveland offers - or do you think LeBron expected to make a fortune by becoming the spokesman for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? LeBron went to the Cavs because they sucked so badly at the time & got the draft pick.

About the Spurs & "big name" players, two points.

The last time the Spurs had a draft pick higher than #20 was 1997, the Tim Duncan draft. You can get some excellent players while drafting later than 20, but the big names are gone by then. (Carmelo Anthony was a 3 pick, LeBron James a 1 of course, Steph Curry a 7th pick, Klay Thompson 11th, etc.) The penalty of NBA success is, no high draft picks.

The Spurs have not usually participated in the free agent market, for big name, high profile players, because of the cost of their existing roster. They had to scramble & shuffle and trade players last summer to sign Aldridge. An NBA franchise is a business, and there is always a certain point where it comes down to $.