The Down Years (1985-1989)

[Thomas82]

I don't know if it's just me, but I see it's hard to find info on the Spurs from 1985 to 1989. You really have to hunt for it, and the stuff that you do find, it's not a whole lot. I know the Spurs made the playoffs with losing records in 2 of those years. I also know that Alvin Robertson was the team's best player.

My earliest memories of the Spurs are from the 88-89 season, when I was 9 years old. I remember that team having Robertson, Vernon Maxwell, Willie Anderson, and Johnny Dawkins on it. That was the year I became a Spurs fan, and since I was living in Cleveland at that time, I only got to see them on TV twice that season when they played the Cavs. I also remember them losing both games. In doing research I noticed one other thing.............the Spurs suited up 22 players that season.

Can anybody that was old enough to remember those Spurs teams elaborate on the bad years for me? Thanks in advance!!

[baseline bum]

85-86 was a really rough season to be a Spurs fan. Their starting point guard Johnny Moore got desert fever and almost died. Ice was traded for David Greenwood before the season. The Spurs first round pick Alfrederick Hughes was an unimaginably bad bust. The arena was empty as . People would wear bags on their heads like Clipper fans. And none of the fans liked Cotton Fitzsimmons, everyone used to talk about how bad the team's coaching was that year.

86-87 got off to a really disastrous start since the team's big free agent acquisition, Mychal Thompson, was such a bust. Thankfully they traded him to LA for Frank Brickowski, who instantly became a fan favorite. And Thompson ended up a nice supporting player in LA, don't know why he was so bad here. Even though the team's record was worse, I liked the direction the team was going in way more with Brickowski and they also landed Walter Berry for Kevin Duckworth. Berry was a pretty nice player for a couple of years. And I loved the Johhny Dawkins pick.

87-88 and 88-89 were just all about waiting for David Robinson. The Spurs drastically lowered ticket prices to get people into the arena. My tickets were $7.50 a game as a member of the bums and they were great seats, much better than the bums' seats in the dome and in AT&T Center. And it was really nice to see Johnny Moore back for a few games, Spurs fans were so worried for his health and we went nuts any time Johhny showed up to a game as a fan since we could see he was doing well again. But to see him in uniform was awesome. The Johnny Dawkins injury sucked because he was developing into a really nice player, but then a Willie Anderson and Alvin Robertson backcourt with DRob the next season looked like it was going to be incredible. Of course we were all mad as when Alvin got traded, but obviously that worked out great for the team to get TC.

[Thomas82]

85-86 was a really rough season to be a Spurs fan. Their starting point guard Johnny Moore got desert fever and almost died. Ice was traded for David Greenwood before the season. The Spurs first round pick Alfrederick Hughes was an unimaginably bad bust. The arena was empty as . People would wear bags on their heads like Clipper fans. And none of the fans liked Cotton Fitzsimmons, everyone used to talk about how bad the team's coaching was that year.

86-87 got off to a really disastrous start since the team's big free agent acquisition, Mychal Thompson, was such a bust. Thankfully they traded him to LA for Frank Brickowski, who instantly became a fan favorite. And Thompson ended up a nice supporting player in LA, don't know why he was so bad here. Even though the team's record was worse, I liked the direction the team was going in way more with Brickowski and they also landed Walter Berry for Kevin Duckworth. Berry was a pretty nice player for a couple of years. And I loved the Johhny Dawkins pick.

87-88 and 88-89 were just all about waiting for David Robinson. The Spurs drastically lowered ticket prices to get people into the arena. My tickets were $7.50 a game as a member of the bums and they were great seats, much better than the bums' seats in the dome and in AT&T Center. And it was really nice to see Johnny Moore back for a few games, Spurs fans were so worried for his health and we went nuts any time Johhny showed up to a game as a fan since we could see he was doing well again. But to see him in uniform was awesome. The Johnny Dawkins injury sucked because he was developing into a really nice player, but then a Willie Anderson and Alvin Robertson backcourt with DRob the next season looked like it was going to be incredible. Of course we were all mad as when Alvin got traded, but obviously that worked out great for the team to get TC.

Good looking out Baseline Bum!! Speaking of Mychal Thompson, wasn't he the #1 pick in 1978? You can't tell by his numbers.

[JWest596]

The Alvin Robertson Years....had Alvin not self destructed afterwards, this wouldn't be known as the "dark ages" of the Spurs. It was also the times the Spurs made their most Lotto teams. The Admiral was coming and he probably saved us from Tom Benson and New Orleans. Brick was a great player.

[Thomas82]

I have vague memories of Alvin Robertson as a Spur other than him guarding Ron Harper in those Cavs games. I remember him moreso as a Buck, and I remember him being a Raptor in their expansion year. In fact, he scored the first basket in their history.

[baseline bum]

The Alvin Robertson Years....had Alvin not self destructed afterwards, this wouldn't be known as the "dark ages" of the Spurs. It was also the times the Spurs made their most Lotto teams. The Admiral was coming and he probably saved us from Tom Benson and New Orleans. Brick was a great player.

I seem to remember Nashville being the city coming most hard after the Spurs at that time. New Orleans was really pursuing the Spurs in 1998.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

Good looking out Baseline Bum!! Speaking of Mychal Thompson, wasn't he the #1 pick in 1978? You can't tell by his numbers.

1978 was in the thick of the dark age of the NBA, it really didn't matter who was picked 1st or 44th.

[baseline bum]

1978 was in the thick of the dark age of the NBA, it really didn't matter who was picked 1st or 44th.

Dude, Bird was drafted in 1978. LOL Portland passing on Bird for Thompson, Jordan for Bowie, Durant for Oden.

LOL the Blazers also traded Moses Malone to get that pick.

tlongII

[SPURt]

Dude, Bird was drafted in 1978. LOL Portland passing on Bird for Thompson, Jordan for Bowie, Durant for Oden.

LOL the Blazers also traded Moses Malone to get that pick.

tlongII

That is an epic post! It must be tough to be a Blazers fan

[Kawhi 5-0]

I remember Jon Sunvold and Hemisfair Arena. I remember going to see the Spurs play the Kings and they played "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen because the Spurs won. [Pretty ironic because not many teams were biting the dust at the hands of the Spurs in those days]. Also remember listening to a Spurs playoff series on WOAI...a first round loss to the Lakers. I don't know if it was blacked out or just not on national TV... Those were the days. Oh, and I remember going to see a game at Hemisfair and the ticket said "obstructed view." Yep, a damn concrete column right in front of the seat.

But as the Spurs got better, things changed slowly. I remember they had to add lights at Hemisfair Arena for a particular game or series because it was going to be nationally telecast (it had been ages since the Spurs had been good enough to be on TV and they didn't even have the proper lighting).

One last thing...during the "dark years" I went on a riverboat (barge) ride on the San Antonio River because some relatives had come to town. The tour guide (driver) pointed out where the Spurs play as he made a turnaround in a little dead end of the river by the convention center. He referred to the team jokingly as "the world champion San Antonio Spurs". When the Spurs actually won the le in '99 that memory came back to me. It was like the whole city was sharing a winning lottery ticket and going out on Commerce St. and getting out and hugging each other. It was surreal. That changed the course of history for the city. So unbelievable to go from a joke to champions.

[wildbill2u]

People tend to forget Alvin Robertson because the team wasn't great during those years and because of his later troubles with the law (which may still be going on I hear).

But he was our first DPOY and was all-NBA three times as a Spur. His specialty was steals and he led the league or was number 2 most years over a ten year span. He AVERAGED 2.7 steals per game for a 11 year career. To put that in perspective, our DPOY last year averaged 2.3. Alvin Was a good reliable scorer as well in the 17ppg range.

Believe it or not, at 6'3" and 185 he was our enforcer. Back in the day, every team had a guy who was responsible for 'give backs' . On one of the NBA Open Court shows, Reggie Miller said when he came in as a rookie, a veteran took him aside and told him not to trash talk or mess with Alvin Robertson. Other vets there nodded. Somebody mentioned when he lifted a big from an opposing team and physically moved him out of the way. Alvin was absolutely fearless in giving another player a shove, elbow or whatever it took. And nobody wanted to mess with him.

I still have an autographed ball by him. He brought some pizazz and national recognition to the Spurs while he was here in the down years and shouldn't be forgotten.

[baseline bum]

People tend to forget Alvin Robertson because the team wasn't great during those years and because of his later troubles with the law (which may still be going on I hear).

But he was our first DPOY and was all-NBA three times as a Spur. His specialty was steals and he led the league or was number 2 most years over a ten year span. He AVERAGED 2.7 steals per game for a 11 year career. To put that in perspective, our DPOY last year averaged 2.3. Alvin Was a good reliable scorer as well in the 17ppg range.

Believe it or not, at 6'3" and 185 he was our enforcer. Back in the day, every team had a guy who was responsible for 'give backs' . On one of the NBA Open Court shows, Reggie Miller said when he came in as a rookie, a veteran took him aside and told him not to trash talk or mess with Alvin Robertson. Other vets there nodded. Somebody mentioned when he lifted a big from an opposing team and physically moved him out of the way. Alvin was absolutely fearless in giving another player a shove, elbow or whatever it took. And nobody wanted to mess with him.

I still have an autographed ball by him. He brought some pizazz and national recognition to the Spurs while he was here in the down years and shouldn't be forgotten.

I loved Alvin, but him pimping out a 14 year-old.

[Spurtacular]

87-88 and 88-89 were just all about waiting for David Robinson. The Spurs drastically lowered ticket prices to get people into the arena. My tickets were $7.50 a game as a member of the bums and they were great seats

Par for the course back then. Ticket prices are out of control, nowadays.

[wildbill2u]

85-86 was a really rough season to be a Spurs fan. Their starting point guard Johnny Moore got desert fever and almost died. Ice was traded for David Greenwood before the season. The Spurs first round pick Alfrederick Hughes was an unimaginably bad bust. The arena was empty as . People would wear bags on their heads like Clipper fans. And none of the fans liked Cotton Fitzsimmons, everyone used to talk about how bad the team's coaching was that year.

86-87 got off to a really disastrous start since the team's big free agent acquisition, Mychal Thompson, was such a bust. Thankfully they traded him to LA for Frank Brickowski, who instantly became a fan favorite. And Thompson ended up a nice supporting player in LA, don't know why he was so bad here. Even though the team's record was worse, I liked the direction the team was going in way more with Brickowski and they also landed Walter Berry for Kevin Duckworth. Berry was a pretty nice player for a couple of years. And I loved the Johhny Dawkins pick.

87-88 and 88-89 were just all about waiting for David Robinson. The Spurs drastically lowered ticket prices to get people into the arena. My tickets were $7.50 a game as a member of the bums and they were great seats, much better than the bums' seats in the dome and in AT&T Center. And it was really nice to see Johnny Moore back for a few games, Spurs fans were so worried for his health and we went nuts any time Johhny showed up to a game as a fan since we could see he was doing well again. But to see him in uniform was awesome. The Johnny Dawkins injury sucked because he was developing into a really nice player, but then a Willie Anderson and Alvin Robertson backcourt with DRob the next season looked like it was going to be incredible. Of course we were all mad as when Alvin got traded, but obviously that worked out great for the team to get TC.

A couple of things that I remembered after reading your post:

1. Walter Berry sucked. He was a first round draft pick because he was a big star in college, but he was too slow and couldn't jump. He was a shooter with a 10=15' range and that's about it. We got rid of him after two years and he bounce to two other teams in two years and bounced out of the league. To be fair, I think he had an injury his second year in Portland so maybe he was just never fully recovered physically. We traded him for Dallas Comegys who wasn't an all-star/

2. With regard to Johnny Moore, the Spurs did something there that I've always respected. Johnny was a fan favorite and his jersey hangs in the rafters. Personally, I never thought he was that great, but his bout with Desert Fever, contracted on a game trip to Phoenix, clearly ended his career. Nasty stuff.

When it became apparent that even with his attempted rehab that the symptoms (chronic fatigue, rheumatism) were going to permanently prevent him from playing, THE SPURS RESIGNED HIM TO A CONTRACT AND LET HIM PLAY BRIEFLY IN A FEW GAMES. The reason? Under the NBA players contract, in order to qualify for a pension, a player had to be under contract for 5 years with a minimum number of games played. The Spurs let Johnny fill those requirements so he would get a pension. People say that the NBA is a business, and it is, but I've never seen another team do that for a player. This wasn't done with any publicity or with even a statement from the team about it. But it should be known and recognized by the newer fans.

[Clipper Nation]

85-86 was a really rough season to be a Spurs fan. Their starting point guard Johnny Moore got desert fever and almost died. Ice was traded for David Greenwood before the season. The Spurs first round pick Alfrederick Hughes was an unimaginably bad bust. The arena was empty as . People would wear bags on their heads like Clipper fans. And none of the fans liked Cotton Fitzsimmons, everyone used to talk about how bad the team's coaching was that year.

86-87 got off to a really disastrous start since the team's big free agent acquisition, Mychal Thompson, was such a bust. Thankfully they traded him to LA for Frank Brickowski, who instantly became a fan favorite. And Thompson ended up a nice supporting player in LA, don't know why he was so bad here. Even though the team's record was worse, I liked the direction the team was going in way more with Brickowski and they also landed Walter Berry for Kevin Duckworth. Berry was a pretty nice player for a couple of years. And I loved the Johhny Dawkins pick.

87-88 and 88-89 were just all about waiting for David Robinson. The Spurs drastically lowered ticket prices to get people into the arena. My tickets were $7.50 a game as a member of the bums and they were great seats, much better than the bums' seats in the dome and in AT&T Center. And it was really nice to see Johnny Moore back for a few games, Spurs fans were so worried for his health and we went nuts any time Johhny showed up to a game as a fan since we could see he was doing well again. But to see him in uniform was awesome. The Johnny Dawkins injury sucked because he was developing into a really nice player, but then a Willie Anderson and Alvin Robertson backcourt with DRob the next season looked like it was going to be incredible. Of course we were all mad as when Alvin got traded, but obviously that worked out great for the team to get TC.

You really are the walking encyclopedia of Spurs history.

[Silver&Black]

Dude, Bird was drafted in 1978. LOL Portland passing on Bird for Thompson, Jordan for Bowie, Durant for Oden.

LOL the Blazers also traded Moses Malone to get that pick.

tlongII

Poor Blazers fans....what could have been.

[Thomas82]

Par for the course back then. Ticket prices are out of control, nowadays.

I heard the ticket prices were the cheapest in the NBA or close to it.

[Spurtacular]

I heard the ticket prices were the cheapest in the NBA or close to it.

Probably based on the averages of all those cheap nose bleeds in the Alamo Dome. But good tickets for sporting events pre 90s often came in at under $10.

[benefactor]

Dude, Bird was drafted in 1978. LOL Portland passing on Bird for Thompson, Jordan for Bowie, Durant for Oden.

LOL the Blazers also traded Moses Malone to get that pick.

tlongII

Jesus

[Maddog]

Dude, Bird was drafted in 1978. LOL Portland passing on Bird for Thompson, Jordan for Bowie, Durant for Oden.

LOL the Blazers also traded Moses Malone to get that pick.

tlongII

Poor Blazers fans....what could have been.

Jesus

Even more fun- Portland traded Jermaine O'Neil to Indy for Dale Davis in 2000
Davis had one decent season in Portland 9.5/8.8 while O'neil had a run of 6 straight all star appearences a season after being traded.

[toki9]

People tend to forget Alvin Robertson because the team wasn't great during those years and because of his later troubles with the law (which may still be going on I hear).

But he was our first DPOY and was all-NBA three times as a Spur. His specialty was steals and he led the league or was number 2 most years over a ten year span. He AVERAGED 2.7 steals per game for a 11 year career. To put that in perspective, our DPOY last year averaged 2.3. Alvin Was a good reliable scorer as well in the 17ppg range.

Believe it or not, at 6'3" and 185 he was our enforcer. Back in the day, every team had a guy who was responsible for 'give backs' . On one of the NBA Open Court shows, Reggie Miller said when he came in as a rookie, a veteran took him aside and told him not to trash talk or mess with Alvin Robertson. Other vets there nodded. Somebody mentioned when he lifted a big from an opposing team and physically moved him out of the way. Alvin was absolutely fearless in giving another player a shove, elbow or whatever it took. And nobody wanted to mess with him.

I still have an autographed ball by him. He brought some pizazz and national recognition to the Spurs while he was here in the down years and shouldn't be forgotten.

Didn't he have a quad-double once? Anybody remember Johnny Dawkins and why he didn't work out?

[Ocotillo]

86-87 got off to a really disastrous start since the team's big free agent acquisition, Mychal Thompson, was such a bust. Thankfully they traded him to LA for Frank Brickowski, who instantly became a fan favorite.

In addition to Brick, the Spurs got Petur Gudmonsson a big stiff from Iceland who was huge and a draft pick that became Cadillac Anderson. The Lakers fans felt like they got over on the Spurs on that trade but it worked out well for both teams.

[bigfan]

At the time I was stationed in the DC area and one time I went to a Spurs/Bullets game. There was a lull in the game and I yelled at the top of my lungs "One more year!" to coach Bob Weiss and he knew I was referring to Robinson, who was drafted but doing his Navy time. Weiss laughed and smiled. As for that time period, man, I remember there was a photo run in te newspaper and Johnny Moore was like unconscious on a stretcher going into the ER and everyone thought he was dead, Im so glad he pulled thru and the guy I still tink was the second best PG we ever had. Somebody brought up Fitzsimmons, man I hated that asshole. He replaced Albeck (who was great) and started the era of "Rotten Ball".

[Maddog]

Didn't he have a quad-double once? Anybody remember Johnny Dawkins and why he didn't work out?

Dawkins had injury issues- I can't remember the details, but they plagued him the rest of his career. In his 3rd year Larry Brown took over. Brown wanted a more traditional point guard and traded him for Mo Cheeks. To some extent it worked out as Cheeks was then traded for Strickland- That sort of work out.... While Dawkins had one decent season after that.

[baseline bum]

At the time I was stationed in the DC area and one time I went to a Spurs/Bullets game. There was a lull in the game and I yelled at the top of my lungs "One more year!" to coach Bob Weiss and he knew I was referring to Robinson, who was drafted but doing his Navy time. Weiss laughed and smiled. As for that time period, man, I remember there was a photo run in te newspaper and Johnny Moore was like unconscious on a stretcher going into the ER and everyone thought he was dead, Im so glad he pulled thru and the guy I still tink was the second best PG we ever had. Somebody brought up Fitzsimmons, man I hated that asshole. He replaced Albeck (who was great) and started the era of "Rotten Ball".

Haha Bob Weiss. I was a little kid and went with my dad to the Spurs draft party when they drafted Johnny Dawkins, and I saw Bob walking by and asked "Why did you bring back MIKE BRITTAIN!?!" He just kind of threw a hand up in the air and said "eh" while giving me a look like it wasn't his idea.