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The tendency for that to grab traction is what makes coming up here and dropping calculated bombs so profitable.
Spurs could go 75-7 in this season and you've had people with IQs under 70 still using those 7 losses to provide evidence for why the team will get swept in the first round by someone like Phoenix.
The tendency for that to grab traction is what makes coming up here and dropping calculated bombs so profitable.
2003 had Tim Duncan only. No other "great" players.
A more accurate statement, for you, would have been "someone has to step up in the post season for the team to have success". That's where superstars are born. Just like how people now use Manu and Tony to say the Spurs had all stars for the 2003 Finals, people will use Paul George for last season. He made his name in the off season, where real stars are born. That's why Kevin Love gets on by everyone other than Wolves fans. He he put those numbers up in the post season, that would change things. Dirk has established himself as the man because of his post season performance in 2011.
Yes 2003 had Tim only but he was far and away the best player in the NBA that year. You could put a series or 2 on his back and he would come thru. We didn't have a system that relied on average role players to make every shot when playoff pressure was on, no our system was Tim.
We have great players. We try to make up the negatives of aging with perhaps the best system in the league. Tony Parker might not be an All Star because he's less popular tha CP3 (and AllStar voting is a popularity contest after all), but he certainly plays like one*. Tim Duncan is still a top 3-4 bigman in the league. Gino leads one of the best benches in the NBA. We're not going to be the 2003 Spurs, but we're still a damn good team. The league isn't 2003 either. There's no young Nowitzki, Nash in his prime, dominant Shaq, T-Mac and Vince Carter, Iverson... there's still superb talent, but it's a bit watered down. The Spurs just need to be compe ive with the top teams, and in general they are.
* when not coasting
Tim was just as good in 2004 and we didn't make it. We all would like to have Lebron now, but he can only play for one team. I don't think all the other 29 teams need to pack it up. Sure, the odds might be better if you have him, but he still need role players to come through. You know, the Chalmers, Allen, Battier...
If not for .4It was Tim who only seconds prior hit the would be game winner. We had that series but we melted down. We have a good team, we have "star" talent but we don't have that one guy who can just take over a game consistently when we need to gut out a win. Parker is the closest thing we have and the elite teams know how to deal with him in the pick n roll which frustrates him. I hope that Kawhi starts putting the ball on the floor more and driving, creating contact and at least getting the respect of the refs so he can get calls but he's not quite there yet. Spurs are a great jump shooting team but OKC, Portland, Indy and Miami have the length to stay at home with the shooters and they can play small lineups which are athletic enough to switch and rotate to defend the pick n roll and alter shots.
Do you every say anything positive about the Spurs?
That being said this thread is dead on here, agreed. DMC with the GOODS.
Portland is a mirage, IMO. They're not even top 10 on defense, when the offense slows down and their hot shooting cools down, they're done. I'm not even sure they make it to the 2nd round depending on the matchup, tbh. The Spurs are working towards being as good a team as last season or better. If they can get there, then I think they can battle any of the other three. I still have a lot of questions about the non-Harden OKC. Miami is good and so is Indy, but we're only gonna play one of them for all the marbles if we get that far, so it's rather pointless to worry about both.If not for .4
Portland doesn't play a great brand of defense but they rebound very well and they pass the ball and create good shot opportunities which can help when games slow down and they have to grind it out in the half court. Can't speculate on who they could face off but if the playoffs started today they for sure beat the Nuggets and who knows how they'd fair against Houston/LAC but still difficult to win in Portland. I think the Spurs have an opportunity to get better and they will improve but some of these games they really have to treat it as if it were a playoff game, test these teams. I don't think OKC is a pretender, they shoot a lot of jump shots but if we have to play them at home, it becomes that much harder to win on the road with that crowd and the refs.
But he wasn't a one on one player.
2003: ChampionshipIf not for .4
2004: .4 bull late clock shot (Fisher)
2005: Championship
2006: Stupid Manu foul on Dirk
2007: Championship
2008: Busted airplane and Joey Crawford screwjob on Brent Barry (Fisher again)
Spurs could easily have 6 or 7 already. But, such is life in the NBA. If not for the Horry hipcheck, who knows if we get past the Suns in '07?
Yes, we Spurs fans are spoiled...we expect les every year, and forget just how freaking GOOD the Spurs have been over the past 15 seasons...especially for a small-market team. Oh, BTW, make that 16...NFW we don't win 50 games this season...we're going to at least the WCF, and probably the Finals, again.
GO SPURS GO!!!!!
lol people are re ed.. you guys think the system/tactics aren't a huge part of success, just players? imagine a team with leonard,green, old duncan, splitter in the hands of any other coach practically winning a ring
Honestly, in good counter. This is the first time I really put our record into perspective. While I'm really happy to be right near the top in terms of W-L, I was furious the other night when we blew it against OKC. Also all the other losses against top teams. Great post. I think we all believe San Antonio will start cooking in the last quarter of this season. It doesn't make sense for a team led by a trio of aging stars to grind out every game every night...the season is a marathon not a sprint.
Here was San Antonio's rotation in 2009..
PG: Tony Parker
SG: Roger Mason Jr.
SF: Michael Finely
PF: Matt Bonner
C: Tim Duncan
6th: Manu Ginobili* (Always injured)
7th: Drew Gooden
8th: Ime Udoka
9th: Kurt Thomas
10th: George Hill
This is pretty much what I had to deal with when I first became a fan. Sure Parker was playing like a straight-out superstar, but damn - the role players were terrible.
Think about that for a second.. Now think about adding an athletic 6'6" wing who can block shots in transition while guarding all of those pesky smaller guards (Stephen Curry would have ted on that '09 Spurs team. , the entire 2012 Warriors roster would have man-handled them.) Also, this said player can light it UP from three. Would Roger Mason ever break the record for most made threes in the finals?
Imagine having a mobile 6'11" player who can guard on the perimeter while defending shots inside. Not to mention his movement without the ball is lethal, as he sets a mean pick while getting open in the paint.
Imagine having an athletic small-forward who can guard LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, and all of the premier small-forwards in the game. But it doesn't stop there, this particular small-forward is also a good shooter, terrific rebounder, and one of the best at contesting passes. And lastly, He can step up for the big three whenever they sit out by putting up 20/10 games.
Then there's a bench where San Antonio has a play-making guard who leads the league in three-point percentage, a smart forward who has an strong post-presence both offensively and defensively (also a great passer), a back-up point guard who is extremely active on both ends, and best of all - Matt Bonner is glued to the end of the bench.
Think about how much Spurs have improved compared to 4 years ago. Then realize how stubborn all of you truly are, whining about a 22-6 record.
I believe the Spurs play at a more consistent level than any team in the league. They don't have the best players, so if another team has good fortune where injuries are concerned, and they get some luck in matchups, the Spurs are a 2nd round team. Throw in some injuries from rosters that have piss poor time management and you start tilting the scales back toward the Spurs because they manage minutes and minimize injuries because of it. They still have their share, but a 30m a night guy is 25% less likely to be injured than a 40m a night guy. Factor in fatigue and the odds are even greater the higher minute usage guy gets injured. Some injuries like that to Russell are just freak accidents. I don't think Kobe's was however, I think it was a combination of things. Same with his latest one.
So when you filter all that down you get instances where the Spurs make it through the gauntlet because the other team cannot compete at full strength. Then we get a shot at a ring. Otherwise, we are still a playoff team because the league is so bottom heavy that the top few teams can feast on them. That puts the Spurs in the mix every year, and teams that aren't there year in and year out often could have been if they didn't make moves to either cut costs or attempt to improve and sometimes it costs them. Look at these teams with long term injuries to star players that would be taking playoff spots from other teams were they healthy.
The Spurs aren't good enough to beat the best in the league, but they are good enough to draft behind those teams until one of them blows a tire.
1. Pop is great, but that doesnt excuse his ups that have costed us series/ les; and TBH he is only part of the equation; the GMs deserve credit as well, and most importantly the players; Prime Duncan carried Pop to multiple les.As a Spurs fan, here's what you have:
1. Best coach in the league: Go to the forum for any other team in the league, you'll find at least one thread called "I wish we had coach Pop". That's because Pop has done more with less, longer and better than any coach in the history of the game. Sure there are more highly decorated coaches, but they've had the benefit of assembled talent that far surpasses what the Spurs have had. Other than Phil Jackson who had the lion's share of basketball talent in the league in the past 25 years or so including the GOAT and the most dominant paint presence since Wilt, no one has had more success than coach Pop. Great players don't flock to San Antonio, except in the post season to play against the Spurs. You could have Avery Johnson or Mike D'Antoni running some hybrid junk system and ting on team chemistry. Instead you have the most respected face in the coaching game who's still coaching.
2. A 37 year old power forward who hasn't embarrassed you with his antics off the court or on the court. Couple that with being the greatest PF of all time, and top 3 PF in the game today especially if you consider the defensive end as well (which you must) and you have a serviceable big man that can give you 30 minutes a night, and if you think Tim couldn't have pulled 20 million a season for the next two years you're wrong. He just didn't. You decide why. You could have a Kevin Love who gives you huge offensive numbers but doesn't play a lick of defense, and your entire season would be spent in the trade and lottery threads.
3. One of the craftiest point guards in the league, and the best PG the Spurs have ever had. He's got his niche and it's scoring the ball. He's also got his flaws and that's court vision and developing trust in his teammates, but he will put his body on the line time in and time out to get to score or get to the line. He's the closest thing the Spurs have to a tabloid guy, and that's because he got inadvertently hit in the face with broken glass from an altercation he wasn't even involved in. Sure he has history that's not pretty with Brent, a former teammate, but that's about the depth of the drama for the entire roster. You could have Collison or Harris, playing a cheap, bas ized version of Parker/Rondo, and you'd probably be 15 - 20 games a year poorer. Sounds like a lot, but Tony is the engine for the team. There's no one else who can run it as easily.
4. You have an Argentinian guy name Manu who could still be a starter for any team in the league but he's accepted a 6th man role for almost his entire NBA career. He's not perfect, and he's aged as well, but compare him to what you could have as the 6th man. You could have a Nick Young, taking 9 threes a game and digging a deeper hole instead of filling it. He's the main reason the Spurs have the 2nd best bench in the league.
5. You have the 2nd best bench in the league. Forget the talk about the "plug and play" system. That's all bull . You have to have guys who can do what you need them to do, and who will do it. You have to have the front office talent to recognize those guys out of thousands of players in the world, and who can get those guys to come to your team, despite all naysayers. You have to be able to develop raw talent to be an asset to your team. You have to be able to get that one piece of gold from that huge chunk of otherwise useless rock, the same gold other teams couldn't mine. You have that ability and you've had it for 15 years. Don't take it for granted that it's your birthright. Your bench beat a 2nd round playoff team a couple nights ago, on their home floor.
6. You've never missed a playoffs, probably in your time as a Spurs fan. Some of you have, if you've been around a long time, but you've not missed many. You've always had a post season to discuss, good or bad, you've had it. Your team has been there so often that they are ignored by the media just as the rising of the sun isn't reported as "news". Still, you lament about the lack of coverage you get, as if you'd prefer to miss a few post seasons, get a good lottery pick, another coach who gets the CotY award for going from a 15 win season to a 50 win season again just to see him fired a couple years later ala Avery Johnson.
7. You've ushered in and out the Lakers era, and you've introduced the King to the Finals in the proper manner. You showed him again, years later, that the same core could still take his super "not one, not two..." team to a nervous hair thin finish. All this with the same anchor and the same captain. You did this against all pundit prediction, since you've been dismissed for at least 4 years as a serious contender, every year you're too old again.
You've had it all. It's going to end sooner or later, but you've had it all.
2. Agreed
3. Best PG in the SPurs history; I agree; but it's not like the SPurs had grat PG's before; Tony is a beta male who cost us games by Kirbying; he is at his best when he plays his beta male role
TDMVPDPOY got banned from here because people couldn't handle the thermonuclear truth bombs
4. Agreed (still, him for game 6)
5. Agreed
6. Agreed
7. Agreed
Why the would a cavs fan comment on anything basketball related? High pick after high pick bynum. You still suck balls and always will.
Only agree with 1, Pop is amazing in hiding the weakness of his roster and producing results, and thanks to Danny Green possessed and turned into finals MVP candidate for five games, Spurs almost had it. But all things being equal you need talent to win. The Spurs roster is way overrated.
Duncan is nowhere near Love at this stage of his career. Heck Love, Aldridge and Nowwitsky are all better than him at this point. He is much much better than Robinson in 2003 of course, but unfortunately he doesn't have the luxury of playing along side #1 player in the league at the time to carry him, he has Splitter . . . The fact that Spurs need him to score consistently against the likes of Ibaka in the post to open up shooters does not bode well. Game 6 I had tears in my eyes seeing him turning back into 2003 Duncan for a half, but it is simply not sustainable at this point and Spurs is asking way too much from a 37 years old.
Tony Parker is the best player Spurs have, consider all positions he is not even top 10 in the league and that is not what you can win a le with against Lebron/Durant in their prime.
The reality is just not enough talent to win it all if every team is at full strength. Unless we get another Danny Green type of break out this year, Spurs won't make it past second round with decline to Duncan and Parker.
Last edited by hitmantb; 12-25-2013 at 10:23 PM.
I said...
Wow. Gold-plated, made bads, all up in this thread.
Was this part of the throw everything at the wall so you're never wrong shtick?
Small part
Nice edit
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