Do you ever feel like the Spurs underachieved?

[HWoodNixon]

Not wanting to troll.

I know the Spurs have won 5 titles and had a long string of 50+ wins success and consecutive playoff appearances.

That said, do you feel like the Spurs should have won more titles? Duncan IMHO has been the best player since Jordan, and maybe I'm a bit biased, but I've always felt like the organization could have done more to help him. Parker and Manu were great players and all stars at times, but Duncan never really had a solid partner in the mold of a Scotty puppet or Kobe Bryant.

[Pavlov]

Not wanting to troll.

[RD2191]

All the time. Timmy should've retired with at least 7 or 8 rings imo. People forget that luck comes into play sometimes though. And the Spurs were on the shit end of the stick a couple of times.

[exstatic]

Nope. A small market team that wins 5 'ships in 15 years has overachieved.

[TimmyBuckets]

All the time. Timmy should've retired with at least 7 or 8 rings imo. People forget that luck comes into play sometimes though. And the Spurs were on the shit end of the stick a couple of times.


Nope. A small market team that wins 5 'ships in 15 years has overachieved.

[Geo210SpursSanAnto.]

I feel that the spurs should have a total of 7... Should of chippid in 06' and 13' respectively....

[Beartrucci]

Tough to say. We had some bad luck to be sure, but we also had some great luck. Horry losing his mind in game 5 in '05, the ridiculously fortunate hip check in '07, and AC issue leading to LeCramps in '14 come to mind.

[superbigtime]

Yes and no. Spurs had incredible success but as greedy fans we always want more. The Spurs had some bad breaks (Fisher, Manu foul) and no calls (Barry), which are all too well known. Would've loved a 3peat to shut up the haters. TD's greatness is indisputable.

[ThaBigFundamental21]

06 at the time really bothered me. The Spurs had that game won. But at the same time, they blew it on the court. You have to give Dallas credit.

[CitizenDwayne]

Nope. 5 rings. Small franchise.

[spurraider21]

eh. we had some unlucky breaks... ray allen shot, 0.4, manu fouling dirk. but we also lucked out with dirk getting hurt in 03, horry hipcheck, and horry going bonkers against detroit in game 5

id say we did about right

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

5 but with a repeat woulda been sweet

[cd98]

Yes, but I'm a homer. I think they should win every year.

[TheRemix]

Somewhat. I feel like the spurs should have 7 and have won back to back chips. As others have stated, for a small franchise they did more than what you could hope for. At the end of the day i'm still proud of this franchise no matter what

[szkorhetz]

2015,TBH.

[TheGreatYacht]

Yes, every time I see Manure Ginose.

[Maddog]

Hmm,
I think maybe they could have gotten one more with some breaks, of course breaks go both ways. but underachieved- no. You never know. Win in 06- do they win in 07?



While very talented, they have never had teams with multiple in their prime greats. The closest was 05, but that team struggled against a Piston team that had 3 top 10 picks in their prime.

[exstatic]

Hmm,
I think maybe they could have gotten one more with some breaks, of course breaks go both ways. but underachieved- no. You never know. Win in 06- do they win in 07?



While very talented, they have never had teams with multiple in their prime greats. The closest was 05, but that team struggled against a Piston team that had 3 top 10 picks in their prime.

Kidd was #2, Kenyon was #1, and Kittles was #8 for the 2003 Nets series. None of them were over the hill at the time.

[benefactor]

eh. we had some unlucky breaks... ray allen shot, 0.4, manu fouling dirk. but we also lucked out with dirk getting hurt in 03, horry hipcheck, and horry going bonkers against detroit in game 5

id say we did about right
Agreed...they had close misses but five rings faggot, so it's aight.

[TD 21]

People are conflating fortunate with luck. Fortune was having a foreign superstar (a country "owning" another is archaic; the reality is, he grew up in a different culture, outside the continental U.S.) and 2 foreign stars who didn't care about the typical things most homegrown ones do. Luck or in their case, bad luck, is all the instances that get mentioned ad nauseam, plus others that don't.



eh. we had some unlucky breaks... ray allen shot, 0.4, manu fouling dirk. but we also lucked out with dirk getting hurt in 03, horry hipcheck, and horry going bonkers against detroit in game 5

id say we did about right

The difference is, the former were fatal (technically, Ginobili's foul on Nowitzki wasn't, but the series was being played on the Mavericks' terms, which meant more had to go right for the Spurs to win and another 5 minutes only made that more unlikely), while the latter weren't.

[gambit1990]

just wish the spurs had moved on from tp years ago. spurs could've had someone much more productive, efficient, and capable of playing defense.

[Dex]

No way...Spurs had some tough breaks, but that is bound to happen when you are playing for championships for nearly two decades. Most teams would give up everything just to have a run of success that resembled the Spurs.

Yes, Duncan was a generational talent. But we have seen generation talents get truly wasted before. Karl Malone, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, Steve Nash, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady...the list goes on and on for generational talents who didn't win a single ring, let alone five. Others like Dirk, Pierce, and Garnett were lucky to squeeze one ring onto their resume. Spurs weren't perfect, but you can't say they didn't take advantage of their #1 pick.

The Spurs had great fortune in some years (Dirk going down in '03, Mavericks losing to Warriors in '07, Horry's hip check) and had bad fortune in others (0.4, Manu's foul, Ray Allen's three, getting Zaza'd, etc.)

That's why the games are played, and what makes winning a championship so damn sweet. It's never a guarantee, even for teams like the Warriors who, invincible as they seem, were on the ropes against Houston and would've gotten knocked out if the Rockets hadn't gone on a monumental choking spree from three.

Duncan was great, but he also benefitted from great coaching, a good system that has morphed over the years, and having Hall of Fame teammates surrounding him. Sure, he never had a Pippen to his Jordan or a Kobe to his Shaq...but Tony and Manu were miracle finds, and he also had the likes of David Robinson, Michael Finley, Robert Horry, Steve Kerr, Bruce Bowen, and Stupid Nephew lining up next to him.

Jordan is hard to beat with his double three-peat, but 5 in 15 is nothing to shake a stick at, especially if you consider that the Spurs had several legitimate chances to match his 6.

[Dingle Barry]

Nah, after '14 I feel fulfilled with the Duncan era. Not sure how you can really blame PATFO for roster construction.

They drafted at least two and probably three future HOFs, went hard after Kidd and damn near got him (I was and am glad they didn't); got Dick Jeff for basically free; made savvy moves to acquire perfect veteran role players who made big contributions to titles like Elie, Kerr, Speedy, Bruce, Horry, Findog, and Diaw 2.0. All while based in a small market players don't desire to live in.

Sure they went a little overboard with draft and stash in the later years and kept trash like Bonner way too long, but all in all they killed it.

[Spurs718]

The only other team to match the Spurs were the Lackers. So if the Spurs underachieved then what does that say about other teams.

[SpursDynasty85]

2012 FOR SURE. Losing to the Thunder felt as bad losing to the Lakers back in the day. Pretty sure we blew them out for most of that season and the the first two games of the series only to lose 4 straight. That one hurt.

[sananspursfan21]

They never seemed to quite have the same fight the year after winning it all. It’s like the Warriors, Lakers, even the Heat (noted the way weaker conference) seemed to still have a little hunger after winning one but sometimes I got the feeling Parker and the boys wanted to go fishing. Not TP hate, I love him and what he’s done for this team, but he didn’t always have that same fire like Manu and usually Timmy had. Although TD’s appeared complacent a time or two also

[rastaspur]

Spurstalk is turning into deep thoughts with jack hanna....

[daslicer]

It's very hard to win 5. I felt the Spurs were unlucky in '04,'06,'13. Anyways whose to say in an alternate universe where the Spurs win in '04 and '06 that the league doesn't conspire to form a super team to thwart them from winning more titles. Also whose to say chemistry problems would not have occured due to players having inflated egos from the success of repeating or threepeating. I look at the Warriors and they have the potential to 4 peat and have a total of 5 titles in this current era but downside is I feel they will be irrelevant after 2020. I can't see a team like that not having chemistry problems much like the Lakers did after after the 3 peat. I have a feeling the Spurs unity would not have been as strong as it was had they repeated or three peated which could have resulted in chemistry problems. I remember Manu saying a few years ago on the NBA tv special "Champions Revealed" that the losing is what brought them closer together.

[tbdog]

in 04, Fisher shot should have never countered. Series should have been 2-2. In 06, refs was very much against us and Spurs could not touch Dirk. Still came down to Manu brain fart to lose that series. I think Spurs win a title that year. In 12, game 6 is one of the most one sides reffering games I have seen since 02 Lakers vs Kings. This game does not get talked about because OKC never won the title and never did. Then we all know about in 13.

[TDMVPDPOY]

the years the spurs were meant to go the extra mile but fail to let the other team through, yeh through to next round to get expose.. 3rings went missing

[Coach X]

No way...Spurs had some tough breaks, but that is bound to happen when you are playing for championships for nearly two decades. Most teams would give up everything just to have a run of success that resembled the Spurs.

Yes, Duncan was a generational talent. But we have seen generation talents get truly wasted before. Karl Malone, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, Steve Nash, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady...the list goes on and on for generational talents who didn't win a single ring, let alone five. Others like Dirk, Pierce, and Garnett were lucky to squeeze one ring onto their resume. Spurs weren't perfect, but you can't say they didn't take advantage of their #1 pick.

The Spurs had great fortune in some years (Dirk going down in '03, Mavericks losing to Warriors in '07, Horry's hip check) and had bad fortune in others (0.4, Manu's foul, Ray Allen's three, getting Zaza'd, etc.)

That's why the games are played, and what makes winning a championship so damn sweet. It's never a guarantee, even for teams like the Warriors who, invincible as they seem, were on the ropes against Houston and would've gotten knocked out if the Rockets hadn't gone on a monumental choking spree from three.

Duncan was great, but he also benefitted from great coaching, a good system that has morphed over the years, and having Hall of Fame teammates surrounding him. Sure, he never had a Pippen to his Jordan or a Kobe to his Shaq...but Tony and Manu were miracle finds, and he also had the likes of David Robinson, Michael Finley, Robert Horry, Steve Kerr, Bruce Bowen, and Stupid Nephew lining up next to him.

Jordan is hard to beat with his double three-peat, but 5 in 15 is nothing to shake a stick at, especially if you consider that the Spurs had several legitimate chances to match his 6.
This

Nobody wins all the time. Look at all the dynasties and great winners in the NBA history, all of them failed several times. ALL OF THEM.

[DeadlyDynasty]

Not repeating is a stain on the legacy, but otherwise a great run. Crazy to think that only 1 time did they ever win b2b WCF titles.

[NameLess Scrub]

Yes. They should have 3peated from 2012-2014 with at least 1 more Timmy FMVP, which would have also made ESPN go broke out of depression over LeBron getting owned by a real team and all time great.

Guys like Shannon Sharpe and Nick Wright would have had experienced major differences in their lives too.

[jsandiego]

It's not that we underachieved, we just left a few on the table. But that's the way it goes.

2000 - Probably wouldn't have won but Duncan was hurt either way so never got a chance.
2001-2002 TD didn't have the supporting cast to beat Shaq
2003 - Probably the most underrated domination by a superstar in league history. TD carried the load like Hakeem in '94 or Dirk in '11.
2004 - 0.4 BS shot, would've had a shot against Pistons with a healthy roster.
2005 - Beat Pistons with Duncan on two bad ankles. I was there at Game 7 - it was amazing!
2006 - Manu foul. The most disappointing part was Mavs couldn't finish the job against Miami.
2007 - Ring / Swept Cavs
2008 - 2010 Dead Period. Couldn't compete with Lakers/Celts. Lakers had best front line in the league + Kobe, and Celts formed first superteam.
2011 - Great record but fool's gold. Timmy declined and we weren't built for the playoffs.
2012 - Won 20 in a row before inexplicably losing 4 straight to OKC. Would've had a great shot vs. Heat
2013 - Ugh. Can't talk about it.
2014 - Basketball Perfected.
2015-2018 - Warriors superteam and we got old.

So in order of slipping through our fingers, I'd go 2013, 2006, 2004, 2012 -- all with legit chances to win the title. So we win as many as 9.
But we also were fortunate in 2005 (Horry), 2007 (Horry hip check, Mavs upset). We could've been left with "only" 3.

We've been very fortunate.

[gambit1990]

06 mavs were scary. what a series. spurs would've beaten miami easily. didn't really watch the finals that year so idk how the mavs managed to lose.

[spurs10]

Spurs won 5 of 20 championships. They won the championship 25% of the time with 29 other teams in the mix. The Lakers also won 5. So that leaves 28 other teams to split up 10 championships and GSW won 3 of those. Underachieved? They were the most winning team in all team sports (football, hockey, soccer, baseball, basketball) during this 20 year period. I don’t know how to politely say go fuck yourself, so I won’t say anything.
:lobt2::lobt::lobt2::lobt::lobt2::flag:

[TDMVPDPOY]

0304 if we the spurs still had jax instead of that turd turgolue
11/12 why didnt pop play jax more, he had 4 perimeter players on the roster and he couldve used them more effectively that a combination of both players shouldve been on the court at the same time where skilllsets overlap each others weaknesses...yet there were times in that series pop just being a wanker

[venitian navigator]

in 2006 I think we were the best team by far, and imho referees played big part in our Dallas loss...and I remember very well how they completely changed the way to call fauls in the finals, where that took Dallas out of the series and made them lose the title. Dallas have been spoiled in the sense that every minimum contact wall called in his favor against us, while at the same time also referees weren't blowing the whistle when our players were fauled (I rememeber a push on Tony that was so clear that the non call was impossible...also 'cause then referee was staring just there).

[Brazil]

I'm very happy with 5 tbh

I don't feel Spurs over or under achieved

[lefty]

When Parker is your starting PG, you overachieve

[davidbowie]

we shoudlve had a 5 peat tbh. fisher shot and manu foul will always haunt us. we'd be the goat team if that happened

[davidbowie]

in all seriousness the only thing that bothers me is not winning back to back. that wouldve been nice.

even with 2013 tho if we didnt lose the way we did i truly believe 2014 doesnt happen

[kobyz]

missed opportunities:
2000 - we were the team to beat but bad luck with Timmy torn miniscus
2004 - the curse begin
2006 - the curse continue
2008 - bad luck with the flight before game 1, should have ask for a re schedule, also Joey crawford killing us in that lakers series if i remember correctly
2012 - pop got outplayed by scott brooks
2013 - Manu playing like a soft ass bitch with no heart all season which is unforgivable and pop not fouling up by 3 to win a title which is the most dumb thing ever by a coach
2015 - we were the team to beat but pop being full of himself, soft, going throw the motions with ugly coaching and gm job all season
2016 - pop got outplayed by billy donovan

[Maddog]

in all seriousness the only thing that bothers me is not winning back to back. that wouldve been nice.

even with 2013 tho if we didnt lose the way we did i truly believe 2014 doesnt happen

You have to always consider what happened the year before. If (big IF) the Fisher had mised that shot would the SPurs still win out and beat a very good Pistons team in the finals. ANd if so would they have been hungry enough the next year.

[CGD]

The only one that still gets me was 2006. I feel we beat Miami no problem. The real championship was that Mavs-Spurs series that year. Can’t say the same for beating the Pistons in 2004 had .04 not happened. That team was amazing defensively, and who knows how a loss there impacts the 2005 title.

The sneaky underrated one is 2015: who knows what happen if we win that epic series against the Clips. The Warriors still felt beatable then, and the spurs had the mental edge on them. I’m not mad through, bc 2014 was still fresh for me.

2012 was frustrating the way it ended with OKC, but Kawahi was still a pup. We also beat them on the road to 2014. Also, I don’t think there is a 2014 without the pain of 2013, honestly.

[John B]

Nope. Spurs got 5 in the era of Kobe/Shaq, LeBron. Compare that when MJ was playing at his prime.

[dbestpro]

Pop's play calling during these days were genius. His rotations were horrible. Better rotations and a few whistles like the Lakers, Bulls, and Celtics use to get would have propelled the Spurs to 5-6 years of rings in a row.

[Holden_Caulfield]

Should've won from 2003 to 2011 tbh

[MaNu4Tres]

If Spurs re sign Jax in 03 & draft Josh Howard instead of saving as much money as possible for Kidd...eeerrrr Rasho/ Horry/ Mercer- Hedo contract Spurs dont lose again til maybe 2008 or 2009.

Tim wanted them to draft Josh.