Bill Russell: If You Like Good Basketball, You Should Like the Spurs

[LilMissSPURfect]

Spurs Excite Me!

[easjer]

Strike, it's boring if it's not your team. Particularly if it's not your team and you are only a casual fan who doesn't really watch the game. It appeals to that fair play sense of Americana that leads people to advocate for children playing games with no winners so everyone feels good.

And you have to admit that while the Spurs have some flashy plays every now and then, most of what they do that we as fans find so engaging would be lost on someone who doesn't watch a lot of basketball. Casual fans follow the ball, so they may miss a lot of the defense that denies the ball, denies penetration or deflects the offensive intentions. They don't understand why they don't dunk it everytime, or why they just stand there and pass the ball around. They don't understand the beauty of setting up four screens and finding the open man for an uncontested layup.

So yeah, I get how people who don't watch a lot of basketball think it's boring.

I don't get people who are paid to do what many of us would find a dream job - that is, watching basketball and reporting on it - claim that the Spurs are boring. Those guys DO watch enough and should know better. For them, the boring label is applied in anger because the Spurs are consistent, they are quiet, they are blue collar. If locker room/chemistry problems exist, they never breathe a word (and their behavior leads one to suspect they don't exist). The Spurs don't play with a lot of flash and when they interview, they make bland statements largely pertinent to the game. There is no trash talking or ref baiting or anything. Where does the story come from? Because who would want to write or read a story about the Spurs doing the same thing they did last game or the game before that?

[GrandeDavid]

Well said Mike.

Wordness Uppus.

[smrattler]

True....that is why it means much more coming from a legend.

Very true. And you have to tap the brakes sometimes on how much weight you give what you think of your own team and players. Whether we believe it or not, we aren't 100% unbiased, we are probably very biased. That's why it's good to get a very qualified but outsider's unbiased opinion.

Like the beautiful baby syndrome. Everyone that has their first baby is pretty sure that they are looking at the most beautiful baby there has ever been. Side by side with the Gerber baby, the Huggies baby and other famous babies, you are sure they are no challenge, this kid's the real deal hands down. And it doesn't help that your parents, brothers, sisters and close friends tell you the same. But you later realize they aren't unbiased and neither are you.

So, you can wait for Gerber, Huggies or some Nick Jr. show producer to call you up and confirm what you're sure is the truth. Or you can say it really doesn't matter, this is my baby, it's the best ever and I don't care if anyone agrees or not.

The Spurs are my baby and I couldn't care less if outsiders agree as long as I've got my family behind me. But it's nice when Gerber stops by and confirmed what we already knew.

(Holy crap... what did I just write?)

[Displaced Spurs Fan]

Strike, it's boring if it's not your team. Particularly if it's not your team and you are only a casual fan who doesn't really watch the game. It appeals to that fair play sense of Americana that leads people to advocate for children playing games with no winners so everyone feels good.

And you have to admit that while the Spurs have some flashy plays every now and then, most of what they do that we as fans find so engaging would be lost on someone who doesn't watch a lot of basketball. Casual fans follow the ball, so they may miss a lot of the defense that denies the ball, denies penetration or deflects the offensive intentions. They don't understand why they don't dunk it everytime, or why they just stand there and pass the ball around. They don't understand the beauty of setting up four screens and finding the open man for an uncontested layup.

So yeah, I get how people who don't watch a lot of basketball think it's boring.

I don't get people who are paid to do what many of us would find a dream job - that is, watching basketball and reporting on it - claim that the Spurs are boring. Those guys DO watch enough and should know better. For them, the boring label is applied in anger because the Spurs are consistent, they are quiet, they are blue collar. If locker room/chemistry problems exist, they never breathe a word (and their behavior leads one to suspect they don't exist). The Spurs don't play with a lot of flash and when they interview, they make bland statements largely pertinent to the game. There is no trash talking or ref baiting or anything. Where does the story come from? Because who would want to write or read a story about the Spurs doing the same thing they did last game or the game before that?

Well said!