DarrinS
06-15-2007, 03:25 PM
Sorry if this was already posted.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6925566
These San Antonio Spurs will never compete with Bill Russell's Celtics. And perhaps they'll never equal the six championships won by Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. As dynasties go, they are better than Shaquille O'Neal's Lakers, who won three in a row, though still less than the Magic Johnson teams, which won five.
It doesn't really matter how bad their opponents look, either, how they can render even the prettiest offenses pretty ugly. It says here that Tim Duncan's San Antonio Spurs who last night won their fourth championship in nine years have now posted the third best run in NBA history.
A dynasty is identified by a dominant team's dominant player. This one began in 1999, when Duncan then a 23-year-old not far removed from his boyhood in St Croix won his first Finals MVP. A team deserves to be judged in the context of its era. Hence, a comparison between, say, Larry Bird's 1984 Celtics and Duncan's 2007 Spurs makes for little more than a spirited debate at the bar. All that can be proven is this: Bird has three rings, Duncan has four.
There is, however, one aspect that distinguishes the Spurs from all the great teams preceding them. This is the most unloved of dynasties, and outside of south Texas, the least appreciated team in the history of pro basketball.
The other day, in yet another homage to marketing madness, the NBA released its list of Most Popular Jerseys. Kobe Bryant, who has spent his off-season whining, sells the most officially licensed jerseys. As judged by merchandise a fair enough barometer in this culture he is the most popular player. Then again, at least Bryant has some rings three of them. Consider some others on the list, most of whom have never been to the conference finals, much less the championship round: LeBron James, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Carmelo Anthony, Stephon Marbury, Dirk Nowitzki, Gilbert Arenas, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Paul Pierce.
Behind them, all the way down at 15th place in the NBA haberdashery standings, is Tim Duncan. It's little wonder why. He suffers from a terrible deficit in charisma. His tattoo is barely visible. Despite the occasional tiff with a referee, he is modest in both speech and body language. Actually, he's downright boring unless of course, you care about basketball.
Duncan has mastered the power forward position as no one before him. Then again, one might argue that he is too efficient. His game can become monotonous. All he seems to do is win.
Last night's game, concluding a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers, was an exception. The franchise player didn't have a very good evening: 15 rebounds and 12 points on 4-15 shooting. Manu Ginobili was the high scorer, and Tony Parker, with the hottest fiancι in the Western hemisphere, earned the MVP award. But the Spurs are still Duncan's team, and as ever, terribly underappreciated.
There is some debate in Los Angeles as to whether the Lakers' run of three consecutive championships is more impressive than the Spurs' four in nine years. It is not. Humility and teamwork are talents, too. And on those counts the Lakers fell short. "I hate to say it," said Derek Fisher, the point guard for those Laker teams, "but they're probably surpassing us. ... They have become the class of the league."
"Money hurt that team," Robert Horry said of the Lakers during Wednesday's interview session. "It came down to this guy wanted this much money, that guy wanted this much money. Those two guys" he meant Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant "wanted to be the top dog and forgot about all the other guys."
Having won rings as a Laker and a Spur (not to mention as a Rocket), Horry knows of what he speaks. The Lakers' talent was exceeded only by their egos. It retarded their reign. The Spurs, by contrast, don't care who's the high scorer or the MVP. They follow Duncan's lead in that they care only about winning.
That attitude has made them more adaptable, a better team through the years. They lost three starters from their first championship team. But they got better. Then they lost their Hall of Fame center. And again, they got better.
Some years back, Tony Parker was upset when the team tried to trade for Jason Kidd. But he didn't mope. He got better. Same for Manu Ginobili, who still prefers starting to coming off the bench. Then there's Bruce Bowen. Once upon a time, he was a scrub, a marginal pro. But he got better, too, making himself into the best perimeter defender in the league.
The lack of enthusiasm for the Spurs among those who claim to be basketball fans is mystifying. No team has exploited the globalization of the game as effectively as the Spurs' front office. They selected Ginobili, of Argentina, with the next-to-last pick in the second round of the 1999 draft and Parker, from France, with the 28th pick two years later. They have become the best and most exciting backcourt tandem in the game. In 2005, the Spurs signed their starting center Fabricio Oberto, another Argentine, as a free agent.
San Antonio's roster does a lot to dispel the notion that foreign players are soft. All the Spurs, wherever they're from, play hard. They play correctly. They play with desire. What's more, the Spurs are the most versatile team in basketball, able to play any way they want. They can win as last night proved without their best player having to score. They can beat you down, and they can run you off the court.
"We generally play a faster pace than people realize," coach Gregg Popovich said just before the first game with Cleveland. "...With Manu and Tony we've really made an effort to push the basketball."
Don't believe Popovich? Ask the Phoenix Suns.
The Suns, the runningest team in the West, were run out of the playoffs by San Antonio. Of course, according to NBA sales figures, Phoenix is yet another team that sells more jerseys than the Spurs.
Then again, teams aren't to be judged by the merchandise they sell, but by the rings they wear. After all, as Tim Duncan might tell you, how many Bill Russell jerseys do you see out there?
Mark Kriegel is a national columnist for FOXSports
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6925566
These San Antonio Spurs will never compete with Bill Russell's Celtics. And perhaps they'll never equal the six championships won by Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. As dynasties go, they are better than Shaquille O'Neal's Lakers, who won three in a row, though still less than the Magic Johnson teams, which won five.
It doesn't really matter how bad their opponents look, either, how they can render even the prettiest offenses pretty ugly. It says here that Tim Duncan's San Antonio Spurs who last night won their fourth championship in nine years have now posted the third best run in NBA history.
A dynasty is identified by a dominant team's dominant player. This one began in 1999, when Duncan then a 23-year-old not far removed from his boyhood in St Croix won his first Finals MVP. A team deserves to be judged in the context of its era. Hence, a comparison between, say, Larry Bird's 1984 Celtics and Duncan's 2007 Spurs makes for little more than a spirited debate at the bar. All that can be proven is this: Bird has three rings, Duncan has four.
There is, however, one aspect that distinguishes the Spurs from all the great teams preceding them. This is the most unloved of dynasties, and outside of south Texas, the least appreciated team in the history of pro basketball.
The other day, in yet another homage to marketing madness, the NBA released its list of Most Popular Jerseys. Kobe Bryant, who has spent his off-season whining, sells the most officially licensed jerseys. As judged by merchandise a fair enough barometer in this culture he is the most popular player. Then again, at least Bryant has some rings three of them. Consider some others on the list, most of whom have never been to the conference finals, much less the championship round: LeBron James, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Carmelo Anthony, Stephon Marbury, Dirk Nowitzki, Gilbert Arenas, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Paul Pierce.
Behind them, all the way down at 15th place in the NBA haberdashery standings, is Tim Duncan. It's little wonder why. He suffers from a terrible deficit in charisma. His tattoo is barely visible. Despite the occasional tiff with a referee, he is modest in both speech and body language. Actually, he's downright boring unless of course, you care about basketball.
Duncan has mastered the power forward position as no one before him. Then again, one might argue that he is too efficient. His game can become monotonous. All he seems to do is win.
Last night's game, concluding a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers, was an exception. The franchise player didn't have a very good evening: 15 rebounds and 12 points on 4-15 shooting. Manu Ginobili was the high scorer, and Tony Parker, with the hottest fiancι in the Western hemisphere, earned the MVP award. But the Spurs are still Duncan's team, and as ever, terribly underappreciated.
There is some debate in Los Angeles as to whether the Lakers' run of three consecutive championships is more impressive than the Spurs' four in nine years. It is not. Humility and teamwork are talents, too. And on those counts the Lakers fell short. "I hate to say it," said Derek Fisher, the point guard for those Laker teams, "but they're probably surpassing us. ... They have become the class of the league."
"Money hurt that team," Robert Horry said of the Lakers during Wednesday's interview session. "It came down to this guy wanted this much money, that guy wanted this much money. Those two guys" he meant Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant "wanted to be the top dog and forgot about all the other guys."
Having won rings as a Laker and a Spur (not to mention as a Rocket), Horry knows of what he speaks. The Lakers' talent was exceeded only by their egos. It retarded their reign. The Spurs, by contrast, don't care who's the high scorer or the MVP. They follow Duncan's lead in that they care only about winning.
That attitude has made them more adaptable, a better team through the years. They lost three starters from their first championship team. But they got better. Then they lost their Hall of Fame center. And again, they got better.
Some years back, Tony Parker was upset when the team tried to trade for Jason Kidd. But he didn't mope. He got better. Same for Manu Ginobili, who still prefers starting to coming off the bench. Then there's Bruce Bowen. Once upon a time, he was a scrub, a marginal pro. But he got better, too, making himself into the best perimeter defender in the league.
The lack of enthusiasm for the Spurs among those who claim to be basketball fans is mystifying. No team has exploited the globalization of the game as effectively as the Spurs' front office. They selected Ginobili, of Argentina, with the next-to-last pick in the second round of the 1999 draft and Parker, from France, with the 28th pick two years later. They have become the best and most exciting backcourt tandem in the game. In 2005, the Spurs signed their starting center Fabricio Oberto, another Argentine, as a free agent.
San Antonio's roster does a lot to dispel the notion that foreign players are soft. All the Spurs, wherever they're from, play hard. They play correctly. They play with desire. What's more, the Spurs are the most versatile team in basketball, able to play any way they want. They can win as last night proved without their best player having to score. They can beat you down, and they can run you off the court.
"We generally play a faster pace than people realize," coach Gregg Popovich said just before the first game with Cleveland. "...With Manu and Tony we've really made an effort to push the basketball."
Don't believe Popovich? Ask the Phoenix Suns.
The Suns, the runningest team in the West, were run out of the playoffs by San Antonio. Of course, according to NBA sales figures, Phoenix is yet another team that sells more jerseys than the Spurs.
Then again, teams aren't to be judged by the merchandise they sell, but by the rings they wear. After all, as Tim Duncan might tell you, how many Bill Russell jerseys do you see out there?
Mark Kriegel is a national columnist for FOXSports