According to Norm Hitzges

[Spurminator]

Right, so a perennial playoff team and a team that averaged 60+ wins for two years suddenly plummets to a 20 win team because one guy got hurt. David Robinson alone is a 40 game difference in record.

Yeah, I'm really convinced there was no tanking involved.

You can give your bull "sean elliot was out for half the year too!" excuse but everyone knows the Spurs tanked that year. They got dealt a bad hand that year and worked the system to get a better shot at Duncan, and it worked out for them. It's just fine and I have no problem with it. But don't go ing about other teams finding ways to work the system either.

Adding David Robinson and Sean Elliott to the Spurs in 1989 resulted in a 35 game improvement. Given that, why is it so hard to believe losing those two players would result in 40 more losses?

Look at this roster:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/SAS/1997.html

[Shank]

Breath needs to figure it out.

[ApolloCreed]

Adding David Robinson and Sean Elliott to the Spurs in 1989 resulted in a 35 game improvement. Given that, why is it so hard to believe losing those two players would result in 40 more losses?

Look at this roster:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/SAS/1997.html

Everyone knows the Spurs purposely sat David Robinson out an additional couple of months to get the number one pick.

This has been well do ented.

[ApolloCreed]

Most recently:

Speaking of blockbusters
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich evidently is unhappy with the Memphis Grizzlies for trading Pau Gasol to the Lakers for Kwame Brown's expiring contract (and career).

"What they did in Memphis is beyond comprehension," Popovich told SI.com. "There should be a trade committee that can scratch all trades that make no sense. I just wish I had been on a trade committee that oversees NBA trades. I would have voted no to the LA trade."

Gee, no kidding.

We would suggest that if they're going to have a Bad Trade Committee, maybe they should have a Bogus Injury Committee, too.

Do you suppose a few coaches might have wanted to be on that committee when David Robinson sat out the final 3 1/2 months of the 1996-97 season after having a screw put in a non-displaced fracture in his foot?

We recall Jason Kidd coming back to play effectively in the playoffs only six weeks after having three screws placed in his ankle.

Anyway, that Robinson injury meant that the Spurs wound up with Tim Duncan in the draft lottery, which is beyond comprehension.

[ChumpDumper]

Because all sportswriters are also doctors and can easily compare recovery times of completely unrelated injuries.

[ApolloCreed]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv24frDECA4

It's Barkley back in 97 in the lockerroom after a game against the Spurs.

Quote:
"It is a moral thing about sports that, you know, they cheated, and good things don't happen to people who cheat [...] Well when you rest healthy players so you get the number one pick in the draft, that's cheating. That's not the way the draft was designed. And God does not look good upon that. I think in life you get what you deserve. If you're a good person, then good things happen to you. And if you do things wrong, then bad things happen to you. I don't care about their potential, I don't even care about their team. If you cheat in sports or if you cheat in whatever you do, bad things gonna happen to you."

[Spurminator]

Let's say your franchise player has already missed two months with debilitating back issues then he breaks his foot. Even if the best case scenario is that he returns in two months, why do you risk further damage to your franchise player when you're already 12-38 after 50 games? That's not tanking, that's good risk assessment. It would have been pointless to rush Robinson back. Reckless and stupid, even.

Kidd came back for a team in the second round of the Playoffs. Robinson would have been coming back for a team that was already eliminated from contention.

[ApolloCreed]

You can't respect a team who cheats like that.

[Spurminator]

The revisionist history is interesting though... as I recall, nobody seemed to care that the Spurs were tanking until the Boston Celtics missed out on the #1 pick.

[monosylab1k]

Obviously the Spurs didn't cheat in any way. They did nothing wrong. To say otherwise is just stupid.

But is it really so bad to just admit that they realized there was no way they could contend for a championship that year, so they made the decision to tank for a top pick?

Again, nothing wrong with it. Teams do it all the time. But it's working the system to your advantage, same with with what the Mavs are doing with Stackhouse.

[Spurminator]

I think they made a decision not to risk further injuring their superstar player in a lost season. I'm sure the fact that they would probably end up with a Lottery pick was something that was considered, but I doubt it played into their decision in any way.

I mean they didn't even end up with the worst record in the NBA when it was over. If they'd decided to draft a big in the Lottery and they didn't get the #1 pick, they would have ended up with Tony Battie, Adonal Foyle or Danny Fortson.