Under the Radar

[Obstructed_View]

Has nothing to do with radar. The Spurs aren't intersting to ESPN. I'm glad the '07 Finals only went four games because I was sick of hearing them about the ratings every night on Sportscenter while they talked down the series.

[jestersmash]

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime

Well, we just beat the magic and espn daily dime only give us 4 short lines. I think they won't take us seriously until we beat the lakers or the heat.

ing amazing that after defeating the team with the best record in the east and putting us alone in the top of the nba, espn prefer to talk about kobe-thibodeau connection

4 lines under a heading of "Pop's pointers" with mention of Ginobili's 25 helping the Spurs extend a league-best winning streak.

It's...it's comical.

I'd rather they say nothing at all to be honest.

They'll have 3 articles detailing and elaborating on Wade's 1-12 performance, though.

The Heat beat ty teams and ESPN goes crazy. The Heat lose to scrubs and ESPN gets even crazier.

I still find the fact that they have their own "Heat Index" featured on ESPN.com to be laughably obnoxious. The defending champion Lakers deserve their own "index" more than the Heat.

[Obstructed_View]

4 lines under a heading of "Pop's pointers" with mention of Ginobili's 25 helping the Spurs extend a league-best winning streak.

It's...it's comical.

I'd rather they say nothing at all to be honest.

They'll have 3 articles detailing and elaborating on Wade's 1-12 performance, though.

The Heat beat ty teams and ESPN goes crazy. The Heat lose to scrubs and ESPN gets even crazier.

I still find the fact that they have their own "Heat Index" featured on ESPN.com to be laughably obnoxious. The defending champion Lakers deserve their own "index" more than the Heat.

Someone probably bought that from Disney. You know the Sportscenter commercial where Wade is in there helping them edit his highlights? It's not really that far off.

[jestersmash]

Someone probably bought that from Disney. You know the Sportscenter commercial where Wade is in there helping them edit his highlights? It's not really that far off.

The only saving grace about ESPN is that they have one piece that is - by definition - immune from most subjective biases. Hollinger's rankings are fully automated and completely established by a pre-determined formula, and it looks like the Spurs have done enough to gain the throne at #1 - at least temporarily.

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings

Not that it really matters of course. I couldn't care less about the #1 ranking on a system that isn't even truly useful until many games-worth of data have poured in.

I just find it somewhat humorous that the (ranking:attention garnered) ratio for the spurs on ESPN is so relatively low compared to the other teams. High ranking but little attention. If I recall correctly there was an entire piece just recently about how strong and dangerous the 8-4 Mavericks are - which is fine, of course. I just find the relative lack of attention for the 12-1 spurs to be tacky.

At the end of the day it boils down precisely to what you said earlier - the Spurs and their small market simply aren't worth the time and effort for ESPN. That's fine - that's their prerogative.

[mingus]

Has nothing to do with radar. The Spurs aren't intersting to ESPN. I'm glad the '07 Finals only went four games because I was sick of hearing them about the ratings every night on Sportscenter while they talked down the series.

isn't it funny also that now defense isnt considered "boring"? Boston, Orlando, Cavs (last year), and Miami (this year), three teams that bank on their defense, don't get labeled "boring" because they're defensively oriented like SA did from 99-07.

[Obstructed_View]

isn't it funny also that now defense isnt considered "boring"? Boston, Orlando, Cavs (last year), and Miami (this year), three teams that bank on their defense, don't get labeled "boring" because they're defensively oriented like SA did from 99-07.

The whole "Spurs are boring" was a load of anyway. The 90s Bulls and Knicks invented the 73-69 game, and the NBA was probably never more popular.

[bigfan]

Nothing on ESPN or SI other than the AP story. What a bunch of heads. Well, we're the best the NBA right now, keep up the good work Spurs! I was just thinking even though there isnt any press on the Spurs I bet other more popular teams are starting to get pretty nervous about playing the silver and black.

[strosFan2]

I am fine with the non-publicized Spurs. I would rather fly under the radar than be in the spotlight! If we were all over espn, it would put more pressure on them to win. This way, if they lose a game or two, analyst won't be hating on the spurs!

Spurs have always flown under that radar, nothing needs to change. They will talk about us when the playoffs come around!

[mathbzh]

Your sample size is far too small, mathbzh. I'm fairly certain SRS gives a better indication of a better team than W/L, because games that are won by 2-3 points can go either way with a lucky long rebound or 28 foot three-pointer.

All the years the Spurs were winning les, they were among the best in winning margin, even though they didn't necessarily have the #1 seed. In fact, we've never won a le as the #1 seed in the West except for 1999, if memory serves.

Just a little follow-up on this.
The sample size is still too small but I didn't have time to do more.
I focused on the Western conference because I don't think you can compare teams from different conferences.

Since 1980:
- If you use W-L record to predict who makes it out of the West, you are correct 19 times.
- If you use SRS, you are correct 11 times.

I am still not saying SRS is not a good indicator... I just wonder where the idea than SRS is a better indicator than W-L record comes from.

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

Miami can't do right now. They're a bunch of sellouts, but yet, so far it's not looking good.

I can see the new "Big 3" splitting up to different teams in 2 or 3 years if Miami keeps playing like they are right now. Dwayne Wade with 3 pts in 1 game? What the ?

[JustinJDW]

I likes being under the radar. I prefer it. ESPN can keep the hype on the Lakers and Heat. We can just take care of buisness.

[Ginobilly]

The whole "Spurs are boring" was a load of anyway. The 90s Bulls and Knicks invented the 73-69 game, and the NBA was probably never more popular.

I know huh???? The bulls, heat, and the New York knicks invented those type of games in the mid to late 90's. Spurs were the Phoenix suns of the 90's at that time.

[jimo2305]

i'm fine with it too.. but i've gone out on a mission shutting people up this season who think they know about and speak negatively about spurs yet have not watched a game this season.. so far the spurs have backed me up tremendously :