Spurs willed itself into contention for 3 extra years, and future is bright

[hitmantb]

I have watched Duncan since his first playoff games against 98 Malone, won championship as a second year player with Robinson, could not overcome the Lakers for three years after Robinson aged, and three more championships in five years with Parker/Ginobili. Seriously, he did more with less raw talent than any other player with as many rings.

In 2012, at end of game 6, Duncan went on the bench completely depressed, probably more upset than any other year except 2013's heart breaking floor slap. The commentator said how young and talented the Thunder was, that the window probably closed for good. Somehow, some way, he and the Spurs overcame all of that, overcame g6 2013's heart breaker, and got two more finals appearances, and the sweetest ring ever. We were already playing with house money in the last a few years, and father time always wins in the end.

Now I have cooled down, I honestly think Kwahi is not nearly as weak as people including myself, made him out to be. In earlier years, he was nowhere near as good as Durant and he got a ton of help from Ginobili/Duncan/Parker to compete. But this year? The GDP trio is no longer an asset, it is an liability and without a doubt weaker than Thunder role players, and he still outplayed Durant in games 1 and 3, canceled him out in game 5, and was outperformed by Durant in only 3 out of 6 games. He is only 24, if he can get help from Kobe and further improve his fade away, there is a real chance he can be ahead of Durant next year. Kwahi and Green is a historical duo on defense, one of the greatest ever and the only reason Spurs managed to ring in Duncan's twilight years.

For all the blames Aldridge and Leonard got for this series, the starting lineup just has no spacing whatsoever. Duncan/Parker/Green are all below average on offense for starters this late in the playoffs, they just did not get as much help as Durant/Westbrook did this series from Thunder role players. Next year, if Duncan/Ginobili retire, Diaw/Mills move on, if we can pick up some quality role players (Jeremy Lin to back up Tony Parker anyone?), we have a better chance than any team post retirement of its GOAT player. Kwahi is only 24! Who would have thought Curry would be back-to-back MVP even two years ago?

[cjw]

Cap situation this summer doesn't look great. Much better after next summer.

[HarlemHeat37]

Parker and Green easily did enough on offense in this series, tbh, can't see how you can say they were below average offensive starters, especially when you look around at the other teams in the playoffs(even the Warriors are starting the terrible Harrison Barnes)..

Spurs changed their entire philosophy to build around a star player that plays a tough position to build an offense around(SF, if you aren't a point-forward), and a volume-shooting, soft big man that doesn't do anything else at a high level and has made a career out of disappearing in big games..

[Mnky]

I agree on the help. It was a two man show with hardly anyone else showing up. If the role players shot decently, this was over in 5. They played historically bad. Time to upgrade.

[cascaders]

yeah i have no doubt man. The future is bright for us.. we get to build around green and leonard.. im still not sold on lamarcus if im being honest. But whateveer happens, i just hope they wont trade green.. eventhough he played pretty bad this season, i still cant imagine him playing for another club..

But OP.. point is.. It looks like this is duncans last year, and i just dont know.. its really sad you know?.. we all wanted him to go out at the top. He did so much for us. And if you look at his carreer... he really struggled and worked so hard for every single bit of success he had. Like its all blood and sweat. He never really got the chance to really enjoy being in a powerful team. Like idk if im making sense but, its always suspense with him and i guess i just wanted him to ride off with this feeling like he knew he's gonna walk off with another ring cos he is just that confident. Meh.. im talking nonsense now... but leonard is gonna develop and be something like lebron ( hopefully better than him), and he's gonna be a superstar..and it would be awesome if duncan would still be around for that.
But any who.. whatever that happens, i hope duncan comes back to coach the spurs.. imagine.. him coaching our younger guys including green and leonard.. That would be awesome.. and it will just add more to his legacy..

[Mikeanaro]

Spurs must evolve, all that passing only leads to turnovers they must fire Pop I mean Pop must fire himself and get guys who can shoot and get rid of Boris, Patty, Bonner and any other useless bum.
P.S.= Kiwi is a retard.

[SanAntonioSpurs23]

I wouldn't say the future is bright, but we do have 2 all star players on the team. Unfortunately you need superstars to win in this league and unless one comes in the offseason the Spurs are 2nd round fodder.

[Keepin' it real]

I wouldn't say the future is bright, but we do have 2 all star players on the team. Unfortunately you need superstars to win in this league and unless one comes in the offseason the Spurs are 2nd round fodder.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, especially for a small market team with no offensive superstars. I hope people aren't expecting more titles after Tim retires.

[baseline bum]

a volume-shooting, soft big man that doesn't do anything else at a high level and has made a career out of disappearing in big games..

Can't expect Aldridge to be Duncan though, if he was Portland would have a bunch of banners. The Spurs hope to rise to a contender again is all on Leonard.

[Harry Callahan]

I have watched Duncan since his first playoff games against 98 Malone, won championship as a second year player with Robinson, could not overcome the Lakers for three years after Robinson aged, and three more championships in five years with Parker/Ginobili. Seriously, he did more with less raw talent than any other player with as many rings.

In 2012, at end of game 6, Duncan went on the bench completely depressed, probably more upset than any other year except 2013's heart breaking floor slap. The commentator said how young and talented the Thunder was, that the window probably closed for good. Somehow, some way, he and the Spurs overcame all of that, overcame g6 2013's heart breaker, and got two more finals appearances, and the sweetest ring ever. We were already playing with house money in the last a few years, and father time always wins in the end.

Now I have cooled down, I honestly think Kwahi is not nearly as weak as people including myself, made him out to be. In earlier years, he was nowhere near as good as Durant and he got a ton of help from Ginobili/Duncan/Parker to compete. But this year? The GDP trio is no longer an asset, it is an liability and without a doubt weaker than Thunder role players, and he still outplayed Durant in games 1 and 3, canceled him out in game 5, and was outperformed by Durant in only 3 out of 6 games. He is only 24, if he can get help from Kobe and further improve his fade away, there is a real chance he can be ahead of Durant next year. Kwahi and Green is a historical duo on defense, one of the greatest ever and the only reason Spurs managed to ring in Duncan's twilight years.

For all the blames Aldridge and Leonard got for this series, the starting lineup just has no spacing whatsoever. Duncan/Parker/Green are all below average on offense for starters this late in the playoffs, they just did not get as much help as Durant/Westbrook did this series from Thunder role players. Next year, if Duncan/Ginobili retire, Diaw/Mills move on, if we can pick up some quality role players (Jeremy Lin to back up Tony Parker anyone?), we have a better chance than any team post retirement of its GOAT player. Kwahi is only 24! Who would have thought Curry would be back-to-back MVP even two years ago?

Agree totally. LMA and Kawhi and Danny Green were very good overall. The rest of the team sucked in this series. I will give Duncan a pass, however. He competed like the Champion that he is in the last game. I'm not sure he will be able to come back given his health. Manu I think is also done.

The Spurs will be a strong contender for the playoffs next year, but I think it will be kind of another rebuilding year - in a way like this one. The big three were much more on the periphery this year. I think only Tony will be back. That is sad, but that is reality. You don't win NBA titles with a bunch of 34-40 year old guys. Basket ball is for guys in their 20s and early 30s most of the Time.

Great competitors like Duncan and Manu have been able to stretch that out to now, but the time has come for some serious, extensive retooling.

[SAGirl]

Bump on this thread for Kawhi's bright future as well as recognition of what he and Danny meant for Timmy twilight years of his career. Also TD didn't retire after 2014 but he could have. Instead we got two more seasons in which he continued to be significant and key to team success. Time caught up but we enjoyed that and Kawhi is a heck of a player and he's still young.
:flag:

[Snaq O'Meal]

The Spurs really missed bigs like Tiago and Bangers who can set hard screens to get the motion offence going. I hope they have this consideration in mind instead of persuing "high IQ" fatties like Diaw who are unwilling to do hard dirty work.

[soxxx]

Its not over though, we won 67 games this season, last time we written because of age we came back even stronger. Its not even an age thing anymore, this Spurs time wins with or with Tim and Manu this year, which is a good thing. We just lost close games in this series.

Pop focused on defense this year, to beat the Warriors, unfortunately we got undermined on the way there. We do not need to make changes, stay put, its possible Durant leaves OKC which would eliminate them on a threat, or Durant comes here, etc. This teams future is very bright, the West peaked this year, its gunna go down imo.

[tbdog]

We cannot stand put. Not at all. TD, Manu, Parker, West, Diaw are not getting better. And their decline is too much for players like Green, Leonard, Mills, Anderson, and a second training camp LMA to make up for it. We desperately need to make some change.

[DarrinS]

The game has evolved and the GSW are the epitome of how you need to build a contender. The irony is, GSW modeled their team on the style the Spurs were playing from 2012-2015. But they've taken it to another level with their backcourt and depth.

Spurs regressed this season by changing style to accommodate LMA, tbh.

[soxxx]

The game has evolved and the GSW are the epitome of how you need to build a contender. The irony is, GSW modeled their team on the style the Spurs were playing from 2012-2015. But they've taken it to another level with their backcourt and depth.

Spurs regressed this season by changing style to accommodate LMA, tbh.

It will be interesting to see if gs model holds up here. The may have revoluionalized basketball or perhaps broken/exploited the game.

If they roll through okc and Cleveland, you truly could make the case they have managed to change the game, perhaps forever.

But in all sports leagues, the league usually will copy-cat and eventually catch up, some goods years ahead of us in terms of nba historical significance.

[tbdog]

TBH it is Curry insane year. It is truly one of the all time great seasons. Better than Shaq prime dominating the league.