Spot Number 3 - Top 50 Spurs

SpursTalk's Top 50 Spurs
1. Tim Duncan
2. David Robinson

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To pass the time until the start of preseason, let's see how SpursTalk.com ranks the Top 50 Spurs. Those eligible for the list include all players, coaches and owners. I don't want to define "top" too narrowly, but I think the best way to do it would be to think of the list as a list of the 50 most influential people who have helped make the Spurs one of the most successful franchises in the history of sport.

For more information on what we are doing, check out this thread.

In this thread, we will vote for spot number three. Please place your vote. If you will, also explain in this thread why you voted how you did.

Thanks.



P.S.

Poll options listed in alphabetical order. If you want to vote for someone not on the list, post in the thread and I'll add the person.

Voting will end 2AM CST Tuesday morning. Please vote only once.

Gregg Popovich I really don't need to write why

This one is either Gervin, Drossos or Pop.....I love Manu but he shouldn't go above any of those three choices. I'm voting for GG even though I think Drossos might be more deserving because GG is more likely to win! :)

This one isn't as cut and dried for me. I'm down to Pop and Gervin. I'm going to wait for insight from the brilliant minds here before I choose.

This is tough.

Gervin- The inventor of the finger roll. He played with such grace and was so damn smooth hence the nickname Ice. He was before my time but I have watched plenty of videos and talked to so many sports fans that admire this guy so much. From what I hear he was humble too, and never a distraction for teammates. Without him the Spurs making all those playoffs in the day was impossible. He was a career 20K point scorer even if you don't count the ABA with a total of 26,595 scored making a career average of 25.1 making him 10th all time on the NBA stat list and lead the league in scoring 4 times. In other words he was a well oiled machine. He also played some defense too, ranking 50th all time in steals per game while also averaging a career 5 boards per contest. And Ice always stepped it up when it mattered the most- with a higher PPG average of 26.5 and also rebounds at 6.9 per. Machine, like I said. 12 straight All Star appearances, finished 2nd in the MVP voting in 78' and 79', 3rd in 80' as well. And that's just a run down.

Apart of me wants to go Pop on this one, but I can't. The winning tradition of the Spurs was started by Ice, and Pop will have to settle for a lower spot in my books.

The Iceman is the 3rd greatest Spur in the history of Spurs Basketball.

My list:
1. Robinson
2. Duncan
3. Gervin

:tu

Number3, 4 and 5 should be Gervin, Drossos and Pop. I don't know enough Gervin and Drossos to say what should be the order. I will wait to read what people have to say before choosing one.

Drossos was the savvy (and tight) businessman who kept the Spurs afloat against the odss. Gervin was the one who gave the Spurs their early NBA identity (not their ABA one, though, that was Silas) and put fans in the seats.

As far as importance for the team, it's Gervin on the basis that without the superstar, the franchise would have failed no matter how good the management was.

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Gervin- The inventor of the finger roll.

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Wilt Chamberlain was doing finger roll before George.

My vote goes for Iceman.

Ice.

Pop no question

I just voted Coach Pop

Gervin

Shoog makes my argument -- I think after Gervin, we start getting into executives who made all of this possible. But I think that all of the executive brilliance in the world wouldn't have meant much if there hadn't been these three superstar players who committed their careers to San Antonio and the organization that those executives put together.

Some newer Spurs fans don't give Ice the credit he deserves -- and whottt does a fabulous job of making the arguments to establish the disrespect that comes from arguing that any players other than Duncan and Robinson were ever better for this franchise -- but there's no doubt that he's one of the greatest players in the history of basketball and deserves to be no worse than 3rd on any list like this one.

Do you think we could have just given the 'gold' to Duncan, Robinson and Gervin? A case could be made for all 3 superstars from the different eras being each as vital as possible.

But damn, if it was a 'cool' competition, Gervin would win hands down. The man just is cool. The laugh is infectious. The smile is so broad. And from what i have seen, he is just so damn friendly and is such a 'Spur' through and through.

Plus, somethings got to be said for his ability to score. Made it look so easy! If you have ever seen the highlight of Gervin going baseline, and doing that amazing finger roll from way down low, how can you not be impressed? Such a graceful shot. Plus, isnt he generally credited with teaching Jordan how to score that last few years of his career in Chicago?

Pop???????? U people are nuts.

To me, Pop's contributions transcend what any single player could ever do. I think what Pop has done with this team in the past decade has secured their legacy and stability for a long, long time.

I think if you performed this on a Celtics board, Red Auerbach would win. While Pop is no Red at this point, in my opinion he's "our" Red... and Duncan is his Russell.

I had to go with Ice. He was the franchise in the 70's and early 80's.

Yeah, my thoughts are line with a few others here. Pop and Drossos are key figures in the big picture, but Ice (along with the first two names on the lists) were the sort of transcendent talents that when you say "San Antonio Spurs" 9 out of 10 people's first mental image is one of those three players.

Iceman. For same reasons as ones already stated.

Gervin....easily.

Iceman

Ice.

I voted for "The Iceman," George Gervin. Put us on the map.

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Originally Posted by angel_luv

Iceman. For same reasons as ones already stated.

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Same here

Iceman. How many guards do you know who can shoot 50%+ in their careers? Beautiful mid-range game, and his creativity at the rim is rivaled only by Dr. J and Jordan. Iceman would go nuts in today's league with how much the refs handcuff perimeter defenders. He's probably second only to Jordan in scoring ability in this league's history. The curse of the small market has ensured that Ice will be perhaps the most underrated star this league has ever had.

If Gervin had won the #1 Spur poll I wouldn't have been offended....3rd is as low as George should go.

Gervin is at worst a top 5 shooting guard in NBA history...I consider him the second best.

I would say it's a tossup between Gervin and Pop. I'm gonna give it to Pop though just because I'm admittedly too young to have seen Gervin play and Pop has been a huge reason for the 4 championships and the class and no-nonsense attitude he has given the team since he joined.

Un freaking believable some people still trying to put Manu, TP in this high.

Gervin easliy.

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Originally Posted by jcrod

Un freaking believable some people still trying to put Manu, TP in this high.

Gervin easliy.

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The Church of Manu has a much larger congregation than Ice's.

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Originally Posted by jcrod

Un freaking believable some people still trying to put Manu, TP in this high.

Gervin easliy.

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Yeah it's embarrassing for Manu or Tony to even get any votes in the Top 5. But they even got votes for #1 :lol

Yeah, I'm going with Gervin. He was the superstar the Spurs needed to survive early on. He helped the team go from the ABA to the NBA. He helped draw crowds early in the NBA days to keep San Antonio a viable place to play.

And really, his career stats are amazingly impressive. Even compared to Michael Jordan, Gervin's numbers aren't far off. They played almost the exact same amount of game (Jordan played 12 more career games). Jordan scored 5,697 more points in his career but he took 3,954 more shots. If Gervin was more of a chucker early in his career, he likely could have been right there with MJ in terms of career points.

The rest of their numbers are pretty close. In fact, Gervin shot better from the field, shot better from the line, had more had more offensive rebounds and more blocked shots. Jordan is the better player because he was a better defender and a better passer but Gervin can at least compare statistically ... unlike just about any other shooting guard in NBA history. And Gervin did that while playing for one of the poorest franchises in the NBA, without a Hall of Fame sidekick (Pippen) and he also didn't have the best coach of all-time helping him out (Jackson).

To show how good Gervin was, comparing Kobe's first 12 seasons to Gervin's first 12 seasons is a joke. Gervin dominates him in just about every category. In less minutes per game, Gervin averaged more points and more rebounds, while shooting more than 5% better from the floor. And again, Gervin never played with a player close to as good as Shaq.

Only one player in history has averaged 25 points per game for their career, while shooting over 50% from the field and 75% from the free throw line. George Gervin. And he shot damn near 85% from the line.

Pop should be #4 now then...

Spot 4 is going to be really interesting. I think it should be Pop or Drossos but I fully expect a big push from the Manu backers. We'll see how it plays out.

It took some consideration, but I had to go with Gervin.

Coach Pop is the other hard choice. But I still have to stick with my guns that players deserve higher consideration than coaches/management, and without Gervin there is no Robinson, without Robinson there is no Duncan, and without Duncan there is no Pop (at least, not as we know him).

Gervin was the first player to make the Spurs sparkle; the first face of the franchise. He deserves top 3 consideration for that.

He almost dropped a spot because of those awful Ancira commercials, but I decided to let it slide. :lol

I'm going Pop with #4.

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Originally Posted by whottt

I'm going Pop with #4.

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Ditto. I think Drossos will make 5, if enough people will actually recognize the name.

It will really start getting interesting to see if the old school (AJ/Elliott/Elie) will beat out the new school (Tony/Manu/Bowen), how the Rafter Jerseys will rank, and where Robert Horry or Steve Kerr will end up.

Silas for 4. Without him, does the experiment of moving the Chaps to San Antonio succeed? Or do they go back to Dallas and end up as a footnote in basketball history like teams such as the Oakland Oaks, Utah Stars, Miami Floridians, and so on? It's doubtful they'd even make it to the '75-'76 season, much less survive the merger in Dallas. On top of that, he was All-ABA first Team in '75 and '76, and our first superstar.

I have a hard time figuring out where to put the non players on the list. Drossos, Pop, McCombs, Holt, have all had a huge impact on the franchise (arguably larger than any player) so I'm interested in seeing how each of them gets slotted.

My top 5 Spurs Players- (on the court)

Duncan
Robinson
Gervin
Ginobili
Parker

I'm wondering though, since this is more about the impact on the franchise and who best embodies the characteristics that have become synonymous with being a "Spur", will players like Sean and Avery be slotted above players like Manu and Tony?

I think it's pretty clear cut that Manu and Tony are better players, but Sean and Avery(yes, the traitor :lol) you could argue have had a bigger impact on the team with what they've done on and off the court. The standard they set in the community (along with Robinson and others) helped to define what being a "Spur" is.

Gervin gets my vote at 3, but after that I have no idea which way I'm going to go. Do I vote for the best player, a lesser player who had more of an impact on the community, and how should I weigh the on/off contributions of each player?

It should be interesting to see how it all plays out. :toast