Did the Spurs tank in 1997?

[MultiTroll]

For Player of his Generation Tim Duncan.

[MultiTroll]

People change.

Gregg Popovich never thought about tanking as an option for the Spurs: ‘It’s not who I am’ (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/gregg-popovich-never-thought-about-tanking-as-an-option-for-the-spurs-e2-80-98it-e2-80-99s-not-who-i-am-e2-80-99/ar-AAW4MjO?ocid=uxbndlbing&msclkid=4c8222d1bb3a11ecbc92c8c55b83ebfd)

[KingKev]

No.

[rogcl1]

No. Robinson played only six games with foot and back injuries. Elliot missed 43 games with knee problems and Person missed the whole season. Granted this led to getting Duncan but I think the injuries and Spurs usual caution were legit.

[KingKev]

This isn’t even trolling. More representative of NOT being a Spurs fan in the 90’s

[ZeusWillJudge]

Robinson was never the same after the back injury. That was real. The fractured foot was real. And being without him was a crushing blow.

That being said, everybody knew that Tim Duncan was the lottery prize that year. Could the Spurs have won a few more than 20 games? Probably.

Boston, though? They absolutley tanked to try and get a shot at Duncan. They weren't good, but they didn't have to be a 15 win team that year. That was their attempt at the Duncan Sweepstakes. They all but said so.

[MultiTroll]

That being said, everybody knew that Tim Duncan was the lottery prize that year. Could the Spurs have won a few more than 20 games? Probably.
For purposes of this poll it's a Yes or No.

Even if only a half dozen losses were tanked, that was a few more ping pong balls.

[Thomas82]

No

[JPB]

Nah, tanking is a premeditated, planned effort from start to the end or at least most of the season... Now, if towards the end of the season you've nothing to play with, tanking a few games isn't really tanking, that's common sense with the way the draft is build.

[lefty]

The Spurs still punked the Lakers twice during that season IIRC

Vernon Maxwell hit a few 3s in Eddie Jones' face

And we had Dominique Wilkins, the GOAT Spurs 21 :lol
Fun times

[scott]

When your team is put in the position of Dominique Wilkins and Moses Malone playing heavy minutes *in 1997* you are either suffering from crazy injuries OR you are epically tanking OR your FO is incompetent. We can rule out option 3, but I see how people might think we tanked. But nah, it was the injuries.

[MultiTroll]

Nah, tanking is a premeditated, planned effort from start to the end or at least most of the season... Now, if towards the end of the season you've nothing to play with, tanking a few games isn't really tanking, that's common sense with the way the draft is build.


For purposes of this poll it's a Yes or No.

Even if only a half dozen losses were tanked, that was a few more ping pong balls.

[KingKev]

When your team is put in the position of Dominique Wilkins and Moses Malone playing heavy minutes *in 1997* you are either suffering from crazy injuries OR you are epically tanking OR your FO is incompetent. We can rule out option 3, but I see how people might think we tanked. But nah, it was the injuries.

Moses Malone wasn’t even on that team and NEVER played heavy minutes for the Spurs.

[scott]

Moses Malone wasn’t even on that team and NEVER played heavy minutes for the Spurs.

Sure enough, had my years mixed up. Remember seeing Moses sink a 3/4 court buzzer beater and thought it was that season. My B

[KobesAchilles]

Nah I think we lost 4 starters that year. Which sucked at the time bc Wilkins was a really underrated move that solved a lot of our playoff issues. I’m theory anyways he would’ve been able to relieve some pressure off of Dave, create his own shot which nobody else could do besides Dave and sometimes Sean, and give us some toughness/physicality that we sorely lacked in the post season.

Of course it worked out for the best and I’m sooooo glad we got Duncan.

[tlongII]

Obviously.

[ducks]

Yes they admitted tanking at the end

[lefty]

Wx made Brent Price look like his brother Mark that season

[MannyIsGod]

Sure enough, had my years mixed up. Remember seeing Moses sink a 3/4 court buzzer beater and thought it was that season. My B

No but we did get to watch Jamie Fieck and Monty Williams play way too many minutes that year. Team could barely field 8 players at times that year because of injuries.

[rascal]

Yes, and it was the smart move to make.

[rascal]

Nah, tanking is a premeditated, planned effort from start to the end or at least most of the season... Now, if towards the end of the season you've nothing to play with, tanking a few games isn't really tanking, that's common sense with the way the draft is build.

They tanked the last month of the season holding Robinson out so not to win meaningless games during a lost season and bettering their odds to get the top pick, Duncan.

[cd98]

The Spurs didn't start the season tanking. David got injured and that changed the equation. They lost enough games that when David could come back, and he could have, they just shut him down because they had no chance to make the playoffs. They shut all the starters down, if I remember correctly. So, I don't think tanking was the plan, like say the Thunder now, but tanking made sense when it was clear the season was lost.

This year, they should've tanked. It was clear they were not a playoff team and even if you hate DDR, and maybe he is a choker, but he at least looked more competent down the stretch than the Spurs looked last night. They were lost in crunch time, the exact opposite of how Tim, Manu, and Tony closed out games. I'm not saying we don't have good pieces, we do, and I think Vassell makes a big leap next season, but we have not gotten a number one guy and it would've at least felt more possible if we had good odds for the top 5 picks. The draft is always a crapshoot, but generally speaking, the top 3 are the ones that hit most often.

[Neo.]

absolutely they did. it was smart. anyone who says no is a homer in denial :lmao

[Biggems]

NO

[Biggems]

The Spurs didn't start the season tanking. David got injured and that changed the equation. They lost enough games that when David could come back, and he could have, they just shut him down because they had no chance to make the playoffs. They shut all the starters down, if I remember correctly. So, I don't think tanking was the plan, like say the Thunder now, but tanking made sense when it was clear the season was lost.

This year, they should've tanked. It was clear they were not a playoff team and even if you hate DDR, and maybe he is a choker, but he at least looked more competent down the stretch than the Spurs looked last night. They were lost in crunch time, the exact opposite of how Tim, Manu, and Tony closed out games. I'm not saying we don't have good pieces, we do, and I think Vassell makes a big leap next season, but we have not gotten a number one guy and it would've at least felt more possible if we had good odds for the top 5 picks. The draft is always a crapshoot, but generally speaking, the top 3 are the ones that hit most often.

Didn't they shut him down after the elbow to the temple by Karl Malone.....he hurt his knee and and back as he fell to the ground. Malone should have been suspended, the dirty piece of shit.

[Seventyniner]

Didn't they shut him down after the elbow to the temple by Karl Malone.....he hurt his knee and and back as he fell to the ground. Malone should have been suspended, the dirty piece of shit.

D-Rob got called for a defensive foul on that play iirc. Dirty ass motherfucking Malone.

[MultiTroll]

D-Rob got called for a defensive foul on that play iirc. Dirty ass motherfucking Malone.
Stern the Enabler in Chief at the time.

https://youtu.be/MrzQTm9C788

[Dex]

In the famous words of Bill Clinton, it depends on what your definition of the word "is" is.

Did the Spurs lose many games because of injuries to Robinson, Elliott, and co? Yes.

COULD they have brought Robinson back at the end of the year to play in some meaningless games after the season was already sunk? Probably.

I think the injuries led them down the path of a bad season, and then they embraced the tank realizing that there was no benefit to winning when the other option was the chance of Tim fucking Duncan.

Also worth noting that the Pop of then (25 years ago) is very different from the Pop of now.

[Biggems]

Didn't they shut him down after the elbow to the temple by Karl Malone.....he hurt his knee and and back as he fell to the ground. Malone should have been suspended, the dirty piece of shit.

My bad, this happened once we already drafted Timmy. Still. Fuck that dirty, filthy, cheap-shot, cheating, pedo POS Malone.

[Poolboy5623]

Of course they did.