Harvey: Time For A Change Was 20 Years Ago

[duncan228]

Time for a change was 20 years ago
Buck Harvey

Gregg Popovich met the media this week. And when asked to assess this summer's changes, he paused and took a breath.

Where should he start?

To some, the Spurs have never been busier. To most, the changes have never been more dramatic.

But 20 years ago, there was another trade with Milwaukee. A draft pick was taken, and this one, too, had knee issues. Another tall athlete arrived, and it also took a daring investment to land him.

They would contend from the tip. The Spurs have had at least one Hall of Famer on their roster ever since, and over these 20 years, the franchise has put together the league's best winning percentage.

That summer — not this one — is the summer of change.

Popovich isn't sure about the details. When asked Wednesday, he again paused and took a breath. This time, he needed a few seconds to remember.

Everything was a blur to him then. He had been working in the NBA for only a year, and he didn't have much responsibility.

His joke: He and R.C. Buford were trying to fix the copier while Larry Brown and Bob Bass were huddling in the office.

Brown was being Brown, trying to get rid of players he didn't like while dreaming of those he might. This time, some of it was easy for him.

The Spurs were already waiting for David Robinson, and they had paid for this privilege. Peter Holt faces a luxury tax now, but Angelo Drossos and Red McCombs gambled, too.

Their rare agreement: They guaranteed to Robinson that he would always earn a salary equal to the average of the league's two highest salaries.

Then the Spurs traded several players to Milwaukee for a 20-point scorer. Sound familiar? Terry mings, as it is with Richard Jefferson, was both bald and in his prime.

On draft night, Sean Elliott fell to the Spurs, just as DeJuan Blair did. Elliott was not without an ACL, but he did wear a large knee brace while in college. Elliott would go third, however, not 37th.

With that, the Spurs had put together a starting frontline as if they were in a fantasy league. Robinson would become the consensus rookie of the year. mings would score 52 points in a game on his way to a 22.4 average. And Elliott would be as athletic a small forward as the Spurs have ever had until, well, Jefferson.

Twenty years ago this week, the Spurs made yet another move. They traded for Maurice Cheeks, and the Spurs thought they were finished. They had added nine new faces to the roster, after all.

But they weren't finished. They would later trade Cheeks for Rod Strickland.

Compared with then, the current Spurs have merely been tweaking their roster.

In 1989, they had instant chemistry, with a mix of youth and experience and naivety. They hadn't been together long enough to see one another's flaws. And in a Western Conference not as strong as it is now, the Spurs were suddenly as good as anyone.

Maybe better. They would lose in the second round to Portland, an athletic and deep team. But it took seven games, with the Spurs losing once in overtime and once in double overtime.

“Every year I look back,” Popovich said Wednesday, “I think of that. We hadn't even been together, and we were THERE.”

The chemistry wouldn't carry over to the next season. Brown would be gone shortly after that, and Popovich would leave before returning as the general manager. He would get someone else to fix the copier.

But the success would remain, sometimes lessening and sometimes growing, beginning with that change. Twenty years ago.

[Riverwalkman]

On draft night, Sean Elliott fell to the Spurs, just as DeJuan Blair did. Elliott was not without an ACL, but he did wear a large knee brace while in college. Elliott would go third, however, not 37th.

A damaged ACL doesn't have to be fixed—players are now competing successfully in the NBA with damaged ACLs. Anthony Daly, the Clippers' team physician, says, "You can lead a normal life without an ACL, but you can't play a cutting sport like basketball." San Antonio Spur forward Sean Elliott tore part of his ACL when he was only 14. Surgical reconstruction wasn't done at the time because it would have interfered with the growth of the bones in his knee. He still has more play in his knee than normal, but why correct that and take away a year of his promising career when he performs as well as he does?

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/show...0&postcount=16

[JWest596]

Mo Cheeks checked into the Airport Hilton and never lived anywhere else until he left San Antonio.

[VivaPopovich]

20 years ago they weren't playing SF's like Finley and Bonner at PF and Center

and i hope they never will again.

[Danny.Zhu]

Cool.

[polandprzem]

Wow so we are going to win a championship in 2020 I guess

[BWS-1994]

A few wins in the regular season from 2000 onwards was part of this deal?

[exstatic]

20 years ago they weren't playing SF's like Finley and Bonner at PF and Center

and i hope they never will again.

That particular team? No. Give them a year or three, though, and they'd be playing Walter Berrys and Sweet Peas and JR Reids, Sidney Greens and David Greenwoods. Ooops, I forgot Negele Knight.

The good old days weren't THAT good....

[Drachen]

That particular team? No. Give them a year or three, though, and they'd be playing Walter Berrys and Sweet Peas and JR Reids, Sidney Greens and David Greenwoods. Ooops, I forgot Negele Knight.

The good old days weren't THAT good....

Don't forget Donald Royale!!! I got his autographe when Clyde "the asshole" Drexler turned me down (they were standing near eachother). He muttered something about contract and crap. But yeah, DONALD ROYALE!

[samikeyp]

Dwayne Schintzuis!

[Extra Stout]

The offseason moves in 1989 were one master stroke after another.

But the Rod Strickland trade, while it seemed to make a ton of sense at the time, was already the beginning of the end.

It was all downhill from there until the summer of 1994 when Pop became GM.

I guess it goes to show nothing is guaranteed. After the Spurs' '90 playoff run, league observers simply assumed the Spurs would be the new Western power to take the mantle from the Lakers. When that never happened, David Robinson took the blame.

[wildbill2u]

The offseason moves in 1989 were one master stroke after another.

But the Rod Strickland trade, while it seemed to make a ton of sense at the time, was already the beginning of the end.

It was all downhill from there until the summer of 1994 when Pop became GM.

I guess it goes to show nothing is guaranteed. After the Spurs' '90 playoff run, league observers simply assumed the Spurs would be the new Western power to take the mantle from the Lakers. When that never happened, David Robinson took the blame.

Strickland was a problem from the get-go because he didn't want to be in such a small town. There were discipline issues wth him as well, but I've often wondered what would have happened if we had kept him here after the disaster of the 'no look pass' in the playoffs.

He was a real talent at the height of his game. It would have been a 4 all-star lineup for years.

But I think the Spurs bowed to public pressure--and his own pressure-- to move him out.

[Extra Stout]

Strickland was a problem from the get-go because he didn't want to be in such a small town. There were discipline issues wth him as well, but I've often wondered what would have happened if we had kept him here after the disaster of the 'no look pass' in the playoffs.

He was a real talent at the height of his game. It would have been a 4 all-star lineup for years.

But I think the Spurs bowed to public pressure--and his own pressure-- to move him out.

He didn't leave after the 'no-look pass.' He played two seasons for the Spurs after that. In 1990-91, he broke his hand in a nightclub fight and missed two months, and in 1991-92, he sat out the first two months in a contract dispute. He was so disruptive that season that Bob Bass just let him walk at the end of the year. The Spurs signed Vinny Del Negro to replace him. Vinny sucked so bad as a starting point guard that John Lucas scrapped that experiment after about two weeks, and the Spurs signed Avery Johnson.

Strickland signed with Portland, hardly a 'big city,' after he left the Spurs.

Time fades the memory.

[lefty]

Sam Presti !!!

THe Gist !!!

[Gervin44Silas13]

The offseason moves in 1989 were one master stroke after another.

But the Rod Strickland trade, while it seemed to make a ton of sense at the time, was already the beginning of the end.

It was all downhill from there until the summer of 1994 when Pop became GM.

I guess it goes to show nothing is guaranteed. After the Spurs' '90 playoff run, league observers simply assumed the Spurs would be the new Western power to take the mantle from the Lakers. When that never happened, David Robinson took the blame.

I agree Remember those STUPID.. STUPID.. "WE WANT IT NOW!!!! T-shirts!!!
Thank God I never bought one!

I say it again that Complete 1990 Team WAS the team...
we could have won it all if we built around that team.... BUT NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

We get a crappy Sidney Green, zus, and P. Pressey
was to be a draft steal and GREAT "veteran leadership"

I hate F*****N Bob Bass and his chitty FO skillz

[exstatic]

I agree Remember those STUPID.. STUPID.. "WE WANT IT NOW!!!! T-shirts!!!
Thank God I never bought one!

I say it again that Complete 1990 Team WAS the team...
we could have won it all if we built around that team.... BUT NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

We get a crappy Sidney Green, zus, and P. Pressey
was to be a draft steal and GREAT "veteran leadership"

I hate F*****N Bob Bass and his chitty FO skillz

Don't blame BB. He did the best he could with the ownership group and the arena he was stuck with. By the time Holt took over in the waning years of the Alamo Dome tenancy, they had to tap a line of credit to make payroll. Holt also had to borrow $6M from Sean Elliott to build the practice facility.

[ShoogarBear]

I wasn't happy with the mings or Cheeks trades when they happened. A lineup of Robinson, Alvin, Johnny Dawkins, Willie Anderson, and Cadillac would have almost certainly been the fastest and quickest in NBA history, and I would have loved to see what that would have looked like.

In retrospect, given how everyone's careeers turned out, and given that it was better to have a veteran big man next to DRob during his rookie year, the trades were good ones.

[Gervin44Silas13]

Don't blame BB. He did the best he could with the ownership group and the arena he was stuck with. By the time Holt took over in the waning years of the Alamo Dome tenancy, they had to tap a line of credit to make payroll. Holt also had to borrow $6M from Sean Elliott to build the practice facility.

NO I do blame Bass...he was NBA excet. of the year in 1990, I mean we had youth and was so close to depth

90 Team

Brick (was not resigned gone in 91)
David

Willie (hurt in 91)

T.C.

Sean

Rod Strick. (I think he started the season Injured '91)

Wingate (Acussed of Rape let him go, didn't play much...THIS WAS BIG NEWS ALL SUMMER....they called him David Rapegate....accquitted)

Reggie Willams (Minutes depleted)



In 1991 we get REALLY BAD SCRUBS!!!!!

zus 42 games dud
Pressey 70 games old fart
Ohh yeah David Greenwood ohhhhh 63 games Old fart hurt all year
Sidney Green 66 games had bone Spurs...

Now you gotta admit that Bass screwed up BAD!!!...And I'm not talking about Peter Holt. Bass made so many bonehead choices after the 1990 season. It's a miracle our team didn't imploded, We sucked bad in the postseason in 1991 and 1992. 1993 was a turning point we got out of the 1st Round we beat the defending West Champs that year (Portland).

Retooled a bit in 1994 and in 1995 we had a great team. By this time Bass was out!!! Shame we couldn't finish Houston....but thank Dennis Rodman for blowing plays on defense...he costed us that le.

The 1990's could have been a great Spurs-Bulls Rivary

[ambchang]

Jerry Tarkanian, Lloyd Daniels, horrible draft choices, continually failing to land decent shooters or inside help for David Robinson, no decent point guard for a decade. Basically, the team was Robinson, Elliott, and bunch of scubs for the vast majority of Robinson's prime. The fact that the Spurs was churning out regular 50+ win seasons speak of the greatness of the Admiral.

[50Bestspurever]

Awesome article Buck as usual. I strongly remember if we had gotten by Portland that year we would have had to play the suns and KJ was out dealing with some stomach problems. And who did Portland get in the finals? The freaking Pistons, who the spurs matched up great against. Man o man those were awesome times. Honestly thought we were gonna get a ring that year. Still remember Big Dave calling out Duckworth. Freaking awesome. And to all of those rocket rod haters, YOU. The dude was sick with us that year. Sort of reminds me of all the Derrick Anderson hate.

[Gervin44Silas13]

Awesome article Buck as usual. I strongly remember if we had gotten by Portland that year we would have had to play the suns and KJ was out dealing with some stomach problems. And who did Portland get in the finals? The freaking Pistons, who the spurs matched up great against. Man o man those were awesome times. Honestly thought we were gonna get a ring that year. Still remember Big Dave calling out Duckworth. Freaking awesome. And to all of those rocket rod haters, YOU. The dude was sick with us that year. Sort of reminds me of all the Derrick Anderson hate.

I agree... D. Anderson had one great season then he became a D-Bag after he got hurt and wanted more money.....so much for his career with the Jailbalzers.

Rod was sick...as a PG....I remember the whole talk during that 1990's era...about getting a true PG for this team after Rod was traded!

[tmtcsc]

Rod was sick...as a PG....I remember the whole talk during that 1990's era...about getting a true PG for this team after Rod was traded!

Actually, we didn't even trade him. Bob Bass let him walk and he was immediately snapped up. We got nothing back for him at all..except years of Vinny Del Negro and Lloyd Daniels, Negele Knight a little bit of Avery Johnson, etc.

[tmtcsc]

NO I do blame Bass...he was NBA excet. of the year in 1990, I mean we had youth and was so close to depth

90 Team

Brick (Traded to Milwaukee for Paul Pressey)
David

Fixed

[newacc]

That was a horrible article.

[50Bestspurever]

I agree... D. Anderson had one great season then he became a D-Bag after he got hurt and wanted more money.....so much for his career with the Jailbalzers.

Rod was sick...as a PG....I remember the whole talk during that 1990's era...about getting a true PG for this team after Rod was traded!

Yeah man, D. Anderson was pretty ing awesome when he played with us. I honestly thought he was the answer. Still remember teams had a tough time matching up with us when we had him. Then J Howard and his ing foul ending all dreams that year. D. Anderson had million dollar talent but unfortunately a ten cent brain. Still remember his interviews with KSAT during his contract negation’s. I don’t think the dude actually understood what the Spurs were offering him and what he could get from opposing teams.

And as far as rocket rod, he was the first true point guard we had in a long while, until Porter got here but then again Porter was to late in his game.