Another Tim Duncan

[Collins21]

I've yet to see this type of bullshit on this site but on Spurs Twitter you keep seeing Spurs fans saying "We need that high pick so we can get the next Timmy" Every time I hear that it pisses me off Duncan was a once in a lifetime talent we will never get another Duncan no matter how many years we tank it will never happen. Hell I look at my Favorite NFL franchise the New York Giants. They tried the tearing it all down and tanking strategy and you know what it's produced the equivalent of the lottery in the NFL every year. What the Spurs need to do is trade one of their "stars" and go from there. This bullshit about tanking for the next Duncan needs to stop because that's never going to happen.

[daslicer]

Agreed. Duncan is a top 5 player of all time. Spurs lucked out when they got him. Very rare a team can tank and then end up with a number 1 pick which results in a top 5 all time great. Lebron was the last top 10 all time great player to be drafted at number 1 and that was 16 years ago.

[K...]

It's funny but we drafted a top 15 all time player too but he left. I'd be fine with a top 20 anything all time. I don't know who the stars of tomorrow are. Trae young, Luka, seem ok but not all timers yet.

[sananspursfan21]

I agree with the sentiment that tanking isn’t the answer. You’re not guaranteed to land that next Duncan, Jordan, Kobe, Lebron, Durbeta er uh Durant, or anyone that will alter your franchise. I’m not sold on the Sixers, and they’ve been tanking since 2012 :lol

[sananspursfan21]

It's funny but we drafted a top 15 all time player too but he left. I'd be fine with a top 20 anything all time. I don't know who the stars of tomorrow are. Trae young, Luka, seem ok but not all timers yet.

It’s definitely too early to tell. I’ve been watching this game for 25 years and I’ve seen plenty of guys fizzle out when in their heyday it looked like they’d own the league for 15 years.

[spurspl]

dude, it wasnt about getting another duncan but just a player like him, an ALL STAR PLAYER. Doncic, trae, tatum, brown, simmons, hield, shai, fox, rj, ja morant etc. They all show their potential to be an all star and could be in a spurs but spurs didnt want to tank. They prefered to get ddr and try to be competetive lol. Thats just fcking sad.

[spurspl]

It's funny but we drafted a top 15 all time player too but he left. I'd be fine with a top 20 anything all time. I don't know who the stars of tomorrow are. Trae young, Luka, seem ok but not all timers yet.

kawhi was drafted by indiana

trae and luka, if stay healthy, they easily become a hof.

[Collins21]

kawhi was drafted by indiana

trae and luka, if stay healthy, they easily become a hof.

You can't be as dumb as your post would assert. Kawhi was drafted by the Spurs with the pick from Indiana. None of those guys you named besides Brown Or Tatum will ever lead their teams to the playoffs. I bet you that Murray and DerrickWhite make the playoffs again before any of those other dudes besides Tatum or Brown.

[Prime BEEF]

You can't be as dumb as your post would assert. Kawhi was drafted by the Spurs with the pick from Indiana. None of those guys you named besides Brown Or Tatum will ever lead their teams to the playoffs. I bet you that Murray and DerrickWhite make the playoffs again before any of those other dudes besides Tatum or Brown.

Luka and Simmons will make the playoffs this year and the spurs won’t....so that’s not a very good bet on your part

[Collins21]

Luka and Simmons will make the playoffs this year and the spurs won’t....so that’s not a very good bet on your part

Yeah I overlooked Simmons but you're confident about the Cavs being a playoff team?I bet even with the bad start in about 2 weeks the mass and Spurs will have the same record.

[Prime BEEF]

Yes, baring injuries I’m pretty confident the mavs make the playoffs.

[ZeusWillJudge]

Tanking with the expectation of drafting another Duncan is stupid. But in the Salary Cap Age it's not enough to have an exceptional player. You also have to be able to afford to keep him and still afford to surround him with talented support players (ask Cleveland). And that means you almost have to get a talent infusion through the draft once in a while.

The Spurs had the best winning percentage of any team in any major sport for two decades. And that means the lowest draft picks out of every team in the league. They drafted very well, considering. But it's undeniable that other teams picked up exceptionally talented players on cheap rookie contracts during that time. And they were only able to be successful doing that because Tim really was a generational talent (and, yes, Tony and Manu). That's been over for several years, and the team has diminished each one of those years.

They desperately need the kind of talent infusion that they can only get from a high draft pick. There's not a Tim, or a Kawhi, in most drafts. But the talent gap between the first few picks and the rest of the draft is generally pretty severe. So, no, you don't tank with the expectation of landing the next Duncan, but doing a 1-year rebuild that includes a high draft pick is a necessity now.

The year after Tim retired, the team should have done a 1-year mini-tank with the idea of picking up a Jamal Murray or Buddy Heild. If they had done that, they would be a much better team right now, for a number of reasons. They wouldn't have given out those two shit contracts to Pau and Patty.
They might even still have the Autist on the team. That opportunity passed, but they still need the talent infusion of a Top 10 pick.

[Millennial_Messiah]

I agree with the sentiment that tanking isn’t the answer. You’re not guaranteed to land that next Duncan, Jordan, Kobe, Lebron, Durbeta er uh Durant, or anyone that will alter your franchise. I’m not sold on the Sixers, and they’ve been tanking since 2012 :lol

Correct. This isn't football, where you can control your destiny to tank for a specific player. There could be a generational guy like Duncan or Lebron come out, you can have a 7-75 season and still only have a 25% chance to land the guy.

[Arcadian]

I have always thought tanking is a useless endeavor, and the draft is a crapshoot...but even I would not be opposed to tanking this season, not for a specific player, but just to start in the direction of purging.

[DMC]

I've yet to see this type of bullshit on this site but on Spurs Twitter you keep seeing Spurs fans saying "We need that high pick so we can get the next Timmy" Every time I hear that it pisses me off Duncan was a once in a lifetime talent we will never get another Duncan no matter how many years we tank it will never happen. Hell I look at my Favorite NFL franchise the New York Giants. They tried the tearing it all down and tanking strategy and you know what it's produced the equivalent of the lottery in the NFL every year. What the Spurs need to do is trade one of their "stars" and go from there. This bullshit about tanking for the next Duncan needs to stop because that's never going to happen.

The Spurs have to go through a rebuilding process. It won't be pretty because stars aren't climbing over each other to come here, but they are to leave. Every game changer will go to a big market. Pop will retire, then a few people will try their hands at it and fail because there's no talent on the horizon to compete with stacked NBA teams. With no legendary presence in SA, including the coaching staff, the Spurs will be little more than the Pelicans.

The Spurs FO will try some gimmicks like bringing in some retired stars to work with players, having the big 3 do promos, maybe get Manu to coach.. and then find some Euro talent again, but until the dust from the recent moves settles, (3 years at least), there won't be any love in SA.

[Extra Stout]

I’d rather watch a 22-60 team with young guys learning how to play, with hope for a talent infusion in the draft, than watch a bunch of dead-end veterans go 34-48. Does it count as tanking to blow it up under those circumstances? They suck either way.

There will never be another Duncan, and it’s really not reasonable to expect the Spurs ever to duplicate what they accomplished over the course of his career in our lifetimes, but at least the hope of getting better is something. Right now they’re just a rotting corpse.

[swrowe78]

I’d rather watch a 22-60 team with young guys learning how to play, with hope for a talent infusion in the draft, than watch a bunch of dead-end veterans go 34-48. Does it count as tanking to blow it up under those circumstances? They suck either way.

There will never be another Duncan, and it’s really not reasonable to expect the Spurs ever to duplicate what they accomplished over the course of his career in our lifetimes, but at least the hope of getting better is something. Right now they’re just a rotting corpse.
I agree with this.

[sananspursfan21]

Correct. This isn't football, where you can control your destiny to tank for a specific player. There could be a generational guy like Duncan or Lebron come out, you can have a 7-75 season and still only have a 25% chance to land the guy.

Exactly. And to go along with that, it could be my imagination but I feel like the NBA has a bigger bust rate than the other leagues. Think of how many overhyped early draft pick players ended up sucking. Jahlil Okafor, Kwame Brown, Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins (I guess he’s having a great season currently though), Nerlens Noel, Sam Bowie, Greg Oden, I could list guys for ever. And then if they don’t suck right off the bat, there’s still so many that fizzle out quickly like a Steve Francis type player. For some reason, the NBA seems to be really hard to predict talent in so there’s no point in trying to go for a full on tank. I’m as frustrated as anyone with how this season is going so far but straight up giving up isn’t the answer either. I know San Antonio isn’t a great free agent destination as is, but at least staying competitive and looking like there’s potential gives a fighting chance to land some decent talent.

[exstatic]

It's funny but we drafted a top 15 all time player too but he left. I'd be fine with a top 20 anything all time. I don't know who the stars of tomorrow are. Trae young, Luka, seem ok but not all timers yet.

When it all shakes out, he won't be top 15. He won't have played enough games or scored enough points, with all of the games that he's skipping. He sat a game on the 16th that wasn't even a B2B. Didn't play their last 2, none since the 13th. He's 28, and has only booked slightly less than 8500 points. Playing 75% of his team's games, he'll score about 16000-17000 points, not near enough to get him into the HOF. Without that, he drops like a rock in the 'all time' discussion.

[K...]

When it all shakes out, he won't be top 15. He won't have played enough games or scored enough points, with all of the games that he's skipping. He sat a game on the 16th that wasn't even a B2B. Didn't play their last 2, none since the 13th. He's 28, and has only booked slightly less than 8500 points. Playing 75% of his team's games, he'll score about 16000-17000 points, not near enough to get him into the HOF. Without that, he drops like a rock in the 'all time' discussion.

That's nice, but doesn't really change the point, which is today we don't need a Tim Duncan level talent to compete, and while there will never be a true heir to Duncan, there is a blueprint for wannabe Kobe jordans which is what nephew wants to be. There may even be a future Kobe level talent already on the team.

[spurspl]

That's nice, but doesn't really change the point, which is [b]today we don't need a Tim Duncan level talent to compete, [\b] and while there will never be a true heir to Duncan, there is a blueprint for wannabe Kobe jordans which is what nephew wants to be. There may even be a future Kobe level talent already on the team.

u out of ur mind? we need soo badly to talented young payer who could be an all star like doncic, trae, tatum etc. We dont e any talent now in roster. How do u want to spurs be comete?? with old dudes plus murray who isnt an all star and probably wont be...

[SayTown]

Tim Duncan is a once in a 1000 year player, especially when you consider that star players don't stay in small markets for their entire career.

[Dex]

I agree with the sentiment that tanking isn’t the answer. You’re not guaranteed to land that next Duncan, Jordan, Kobe, Lebron, Durbeta er uh Durant, or anyone that will alter your franchise. I’m not sold on the Sixers, and they’ve been tanking since 2012 :lol

Even getting a "generational talent" doesn't guarantee anything.

New Orleans got Davis and couldn't put a winning team around him, and Zion still hasn't played a single NBA game.

Minnesota is still just mediocre with KAT.

OKC managed to get 3 future MVPs on the same squad and still only got one Finals appearance out of it.

Phoenix got Booker and Ayton and still have a long ways to go before they prove their hot start isn't a fluke.

The list of things that have to go right to build a contender through the draft is a lot longer than, "1. Suck for a couple years. 2. Get high draft pick."

[Cryptic Parable]

We don’t need to tank but need to face reality, the group we have isn’t good enough and it’s time to develop young talent and draft. Time to send these “stars” to contenders for some picks or young talent. Do I believe we have the talent to win, yes, do I think the leadership and mentality is in place with the right number of players, no. I’m all for rebuilding

[Kurgan]

You don't tank for another Duncan because that's never gonna happen again. But you do need to tank for some talent infusion. The Spurs finding gems late in the draft helped immensely to build around Duncan but we're currently developing role players without a real star to build around. There's already eight teams in the West taking up playoff spots at the moment. Next year, the Warriors will be back with a healthy roster AND a top 3 pick. So that's nine teams ahead of us in the pecking order. What we're doing trying to compete with castoff losers like Dumbar and Softridge isn't leading us anywhere but the treadmill...which is the worst place to be in this league. I don't like tanking but the strategy of rebuilding on the fly went out the window with Kawhi's departure.

[spurspl]

You don't tank for another Duncan because that's never gonna happen again. But you do need to tank for some talent infusion. The Spurs finding gems late in the draft helped immensely to build around Duncan but we're currently developing role players without a real star to build around. There's already eight teams in the West taking up playoff spots at the moment. Next year, the Warriors will be back with a healthy roster AND a top 3 pick. So that's nine teams ahead of us in the pecking order. What we're doing trying to compete with castoff losers like Dumbar and Softridge isn't leading us anywhere but the treadmill...which is the worst place to be in this league. I don't like tanking but the strategy of rebuilding on the fly went out the window with Kawhi's departure.

exactly

[Genovaswitness]

multiple things need to happen. we aren't winning shit this year and it looks like we probably won't even be in the playoffs. one or (preferably) both of DDR and LMA need to go. we need to run with our youth movement and have them showcase what they bring to the table. then we end up getting whatever draft pick we get and rebuild. pop has got to go too. he's too sentimental

[dbreiden83080]

Well we had a guy that was pretty good.. A guy you can build a championship team around.. Seemed coachable, played great defense, offensive game coming around like a monster. Team was back in contention.. Seemed too good to be true. Then his leg (Cough) starting hurting, and his Uncle was making phone calls to Cali constantly..

[dbreiden83080]

Agreed. Duncan is a top 5 player of all time. Spurs lucked out when they got him. Very rare a team can tank and then end up with a number 1 pick which results in a top 5 all time great. Lebron was the last top 10 all time great player to be drafted at number 1 and that was 16 years ago.

It is so rare.. So many guys come in with that hype.. Another one in Zion this year, yet to hit the court.. How many really become legends?

[dbreiden83080]

I agree with the sentiment that tanking isn’t the answer. You’re not guaranteed to land that next Duncan, Jordan, Kobe, Lebron, Durbeta er uh Durant, or anyone that will alter your franchise. I’m not sold on the Sixers, and they’ve been tanking since 2012 :lol

I agree with the 76ers.. On paper they look like monsters. But still just 8-5..

[dbreiden83080]

Tim Duncan is a once in a 1000 year player, especially when you consider that star players don't stay in small markets for their entire career.

I Hope that Giannis does.. Would be great for the league if he wins chips with the Bucks..