"Operation: Get the Lakers in the playoffs" has begun..

[monty4329]

If Tim went to Orlando it would have been the same situation since they had a ton of unproductive money tied up in Grant Hill. Duncan was obviously the foundation of everything the Spurs did but he's not winning five rings on some Eastern conference team drafting crap with their #25-30 pick every year. Orlando, Boston or whoever else isn't finding Manu at #57, TP at #28, and George Hill at #26 and then trading him for Kawhi at #15. And they wouldn't have the stability of a generational coach like Pop who has been able to adapt the team as times have changed. Rick Pitino or Doc Rivers wasn't coaching him to five rings. The Spurs were a perfect storm of a generational talent in Duncan, an unselfish willing and able mentor in Robinson who was still a pretty great player too, and the best organization an NBA team has ever had from GM to coach to assistants. Every part of that equation was critical to those five rings. We already saw what happens to a generational talent who doesn't have that kind of first rate front office building the team around him in David's prime.

Perfect

[Dverde]

Not getting help to make the playoffs, not getting Zion, none of it. The conspiracy theorists are just dead wrong in this thread.

LBJ spent all his capital on that D Wade All-Star spot...now he’ll have more time to ruin Space Jam 2

[BillMc]

Longer offseason, time for more hair transplants.

[Dex]

If Tim went to Orlando it would have been the same situation since they had a ton of unproductive money tied up in Grant Hill. Duncan was obviously the foundation of everything the Spurs did but he's not winning five rings on some Eastern conference team drafting crap with their #25-30 pick every year. Orlando, Boston or whoever else isn't finding Manu at #57, TP at #28, and George Hill at #26 and then trading him for Kawhi at #15. And they wouldn't have the stability of a generational coach like Pop who has been able to adapt the team as times have changed. Rick Pitino or Doc Rivers wasn't coaching him to five rings. The Spurs were a perfect storm of a generational talent in Duncan, an unselfish willing and able mentor in Robinson who was still a pretty great player too, and the best organization an NBA team has ever had from GM to coach to assistants. Every part of that equation was critical to those five rings. We already saw what happens to a generational talent who doesn't have that kind of first rate front office building the team around him in David's prime.

Bingo.

For every Tim Duncan, there is a collection of Barkleys, Webbers, McGrady's, Iverson's etc...supreme talents who never had the right pieces in the staff and team to make it work.

This generation will be no different. AD has been wasting away in New Orleans. Embiid is a great player but still hasn't won anything. The Suns ended up with both Booker and Ayton, and are still hunting ping pong balls. And then you have all the busts like Oden, Olawakandi, Bennett, Fultz, etc...

, it even took Lebron and Jordan like 7+ years to win their first ring.

The fact that San Antonio was able to instantly become an actual le contender when Duncan came, and stay there for 20 years, is a shining testament to both Timmy and the organization.

[Spurtacular]

Lebron blocked twice in the final minute of a game blown with a lead by ten with five minutes to go as the Lebron's Lakers swept in the season series by the worst team in the league.

[buttsR4rebounding]

Lebron blocked twice in the final minute of a game blown with a lead by ten with five minutes to go as the Lebron's Lakers swept in the season series by the worst team in the league.

The Lakers are going to end up with a worse record than before they got Lebron. How embarrassing that would be for him.

[GusT15]

[monty4329]

Bingo.

For every Tim Duncan, there is a collection of Barkleys, Webbers, McGrady's, Iverson's etc...supreme talents who never had the right pieces in the staff and team to make it work.

This generation will be no different. AD has been wasting away in New Orleans. Embiid is a great player but still hasn't won anything. The Suns ended up with both Booker and Ayton, and are still hunting ping pong balls. And then you have all the busts like Oden, Olawakandi, Bennett, Fultz, etc...

, it even took Lebron and Jordan like 7+ years to win their first ring.

The fact that San Antonio was able to instantly become an actual le contender when Duncan came, and stay there for 20 years, is a shining testament to both Timmy and the organization.

Absolutely.
Organizations win les, not single players. Actually, relatively bad players win les when in the right organization. Most of the times the best talent doesn't win .

If Duncan ended in Phoenix (2nd pick in 87) he would have won a big nothing until he would have run away at the first chance.

Maybe 22 years in the Playoffs mean something.

[Kobe'sAchilles]

The thing that separates Duncan from like AD is that Duncan had go to moves to finish off a game. A lot of the these new players have nothing to really go to at the end of games which makes them easy to guard in the 4th. Also Duncan was a great passer as a big man. It's really the little things that he focused on that led to winning. Allowing himself to be "coached" in front of others, staying last in practice and games. To me that what separates Duncan from today's players.

Also so I like how Silver is playing chess while the Lakers are playing checkers. He knew that ty Longo, Ingram, and Kuzma wouldn't get them AD so he quickly switched from operation "get Lakers into the playoffs" to operation "get Lakers Zion." The man is subtle that way

[Russ]

Organizations win les, not single players. . .

Try to tell that to Ivanka Buss. (Jerry West tried.)