did we tank in 96?

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Originally Posted by SnakeBoy

Can you imagine if we had traded that #1 pick and ended up picking like Van Horn and Antonio Daniels....ahh the horror!

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http://f1.thejournal.ie/media/2014/01/2_euuurghh.gif

TBH...

http://mlm-s1-p.mlstatic.com/1996-97...4_032014-F.jpg

Damn I forgot how fat he was....thought that was Dejuan for a second lol.

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Originally Posted by SnakeBoy

Damn I forgot how fat he was....thought that was Dejuan for a second lol.

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Every at that age at that weight with a bad wheel, he still managed to pull off a couple of head turning plays.

We didn't tank, but we didn't exactly put Elliott and Robinson back in at the end of the season either. Same as what the Lakers did for Kobe this year. Season was gone, no reason to risk further injury. No chance of playoffs.

That being said, Spurs competed as much as they could. Didn't purposely try and lose games.

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Originally Posted by lmbebo

We didn't tank, but we didn't exactly put Elliott and Robinson back in at the end of the season either. Same as what the Lakers did for Kobe this year. Season was gone, no reason to risk further injury. No chance of playoffs.

That being said, Spurs competed as much as they could. Didn't purposely try and lose games.

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No one brings back a player with a broken foot. It wasn't about having nothing to play for (see my Lopez in Brooklyn example above); it was about not turning your franchise bigman into Walton or Ilgauskas.

96 we didnt tank, but in early 97 the tank job was on like donkey kong.

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Originally Posted by SnakeBoy

No they didn't tank. Back then the Spurs organization really sucked and had put an incredibly bad team around DRob. When he went down just how bad of a team it was came to light without the Admirals coat tails to ride on. The only other good player was Sean ****** and he got injured too. Even though Avery has his jersey retired because people loved him personally, it can't be overstated just how bad of basketball player he was. In his later years playing next to DRob and TD made Avery look like he belonged in the NBA but he never really did.

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Ditto on all the Avery comments, almost. He just seemed like a turn-over machine in his career, and he seemed to dial that down only a little with age. Could be my perception, only. Seems unending, the number of fast breaks I would see him dribbling down the court, wheels falling off the whole way- bouncing the ball off his knee or someone else's foot, and out of bounds. I still have nightmares. But he wasn't a good passer. Defensive liability. Too small, and had no jump shot whatsoever. Teams would just leave him unguarded at 18 ft, I still remember the celebration when he finally made them pay for leaving him open. But, it was a great strategy for 99% of his career.

After he came back the second or third time from being traded or cut, that last time he came back from Golden State under Nelly, I think, he had improved a little it seemed. But, suffering through point guards like him for the last 30-40 years, then hearing people criticize Parker - sheesh ... We have forgotten how bad it can get. Although I am agnostic, and Tony isn't without flaw: God bless Tony Parker.

Anyone who actually thinks the Spurs tanked that season is a moron, and I really mean that. The Spurs were just flat-out non-competitive without Sean and DRob.

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Originally Posted by Spurs21Fan4Ever

Yes, but not til after the Robinson injury. In some ways, we can thank Karl Malone for Tim Duncan.

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Robinson didn't miss most of the year because of Malone. He had a sports hernia from the Olympics that summer (eventually leading to his back problems) and came back in December, only to break his foot after like 6 games, missing the rest of the season.

The Spurs set the then record for most player games missed in a season that year, so it was hardly a tank.

No and yes. Drob, Elliott, Person, Smith all missed 55 games or more. that was 4 of their 5 best players injured from the previous season.

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Originally Posted by Vito Corleone

Spurs fans are some of the dumbest fans in basketball.

No, San Antonio didn't tank, if they were tanking they would not have beaten Denver in the third to last game of the year where it moved San Antonio up one position in the lottery. I remember that season very well, San Antonio had several different lineups and we continually used Dominique Wilkins who was our leading scorer. Pop coached to win games not ping pong balls. This was a horrible team without Robinson, and it showed.

I have yet to see one shred of evidence to prove San Antonio tanked the season.

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The front office tanked by keeping Robinson out the whole season when he could have come back earlier but the players they put on the floor didn't tank and so they were able to win a game here and there.

I know I was tanked through most of that season.

It still chaps Bill Simmons' hide, and I love it! :flag: :lobt2:

Pretty bad season it was. It was just devastating injuries that landed the team in the cellar and Rodman left the past year. Hard to believe that that has been the only year the Spurs have missed the playoffs in the last quarter century.

Yes, the Spurs should have brought back Robinson early from injury so they could have gone after that coveted 10 seed.

It would have been stupid to bring him back in April even if he could play. No sportswriter in America today, and certainly no Spurs fan, would ever advocate for bringing Tim Duncan back from a serious injury if the Spurs were out of the Playoff hunt.

It's revisionist history based on the fact that we got Duncan. If we had ended up with Keith Van Horn or Ron Mercer, we never would have heard about it.

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Originally Posted by efrem1

Pretty bad season it was. It was just devastating injuries that landed the team in the cellar and Rodman left the past year. Hard to believe that that has been the only year the Spurs have missed the playoffs in the last quarter century.

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good post :tu

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Originally Posted by Beaverfuzz

It still chaps Bill Simmons' hide, and I love it! :flag: :lobt2:

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Does it chap Simmons hide that David Stern INVENTED the Larry Bird exception so the Celtics wouldn't lose him to the salary cap?

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Originally Posted by Spurminator

Yes, the Spurs should have brought back Robinson early from injury so they could have gone after that coveted 10 seed.

It would have been stupid to bring him back in April even if he could play. No sportswriter in America today, and certainly no Spurs fan, would ever advocate for bringing Tim Duncan back from a serious injury if the Spurs were out of the Playoff hunt.

It's revisionist history based on the fact that we got Duncan. If we had ended up with Keith Van Horn or Ron Mercer, we never would have heard about it.

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ok so the spurs tanked

thanks

A team with a bigman rotation of Carl Herrera - Will Perdue - Cadillac Anderson has tanked? The best player was a 60 year old who hadn't played in the NBA for years before that season. LOL @ tanking. That team without DRob and Sean was worse than this season's Sixers ffs.

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Originally Posted by travis2

Anyone who actually thinks the Spurs tanked that season is a moron, and I really mean that. The Spurs were just flat-out non-competitive without Sean and DRob.

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Kinda. I don't think they really expected to win, but I also don't think they expected to get the top pick either... that belonged to Boston, who definitely tanked.

'Nique was still good even at that point, but the Spurs missed DRob and Elliott. IMO they didn't tank, otherwise they would have the worst NBA record. Duncan was a consensus #1 pick, in the same way as LeBron. The Spurs didn't know the 3rd worst record was to land him and the worst record held by Boston had the best chances in the lottery. The lottery was implemented to prevent teams from tanking.

Apparently didn't do a very good job, 3rd worst record in the league, and winning four out of the final 14 games.