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10. Avery Johnson - in many corners he's hated now, but he busted his ass and persisted at his game long enough to play in over 1000 games. I can't ever hate Avery for being such a self-made man and for helping the Spurs win so many games over the years.
9. Artis Gilmore - A quiet man, a powerful craftsman in the post, Artis deserves to be in the HOF. I thought the 1999 DVD narration was unfair when it said that the Spurs franchise "lacked the dominant big man to push them over the top". Without Gilmore on the club, the Spurs wouldn't have played the Lakers as closely as they did back in the early '80s.
8. Robert Horry - It's always great to have a hated guy join your club. I HATED Horry back in the day and always thought his "clutch" reputation was overblown; I was just hatin'.
7. Tony Parker - Every year, Tony adds something to his game. Every year, he comes back stronger. He took (necessary) abuse from Pop, his job was threatened, and yet between the lines he has always been a professional. The Eva stuff and the rap album doesn't get in the way of his bottom line.
6. Sean Elliott - Such a graceful player - the way he dribbled, the way he shot, and the way he attacked the rim were so textbook and smooth. He's always been a nice, easygoing character who seems to treat the fans with respect.
5. Malik Rose - I've always had a soft spot for underdogs. Malik's an undersized guy who could really get in there and battle for boards with a nice outside shot. He punished the Mavericks in 2003, did a better than expected job on Shaq defensively, and threw it the down on Dikembe in the Finals. I wish he was still here, and I hope he comes back to SA for his final season.
4. Manu Ginobili - When Manu gets it going, everybody better get clear. He's the most imaginative player going to the basket, he has a penchant for the spectacular with his finishes, his passes, and unexpected steals and blocks. He's got the best nose (pardon the pun) for the ball I've seen since Larry Bird. He is a bolt of lightning, and in many ways hard to define or evaluate.
3. George Gervin - What other player could score from more spots on the floor than Gervin? He could finger roll from damn near anyplace on the court, he could shoot the jumper, and he could dunk. He isn't the all around player Tim Duncan is, but kept his poise on the floor just like Duncan does. Gervin was, is, and ever shall be...the Iceman.
2. Tim Duncan - the greatest Spur of all time, Duncan is for us Spurs fans what Larry Bird or Bill Russell was for the Celtics. Magic and Mikan for the Lakers. Jordan for the Bulls. Year in, year out, Duncan scores from everywhere, grabs the rebounds, blocks the shots, finds the open man, and goes to bat for his teammates with the officials and with the coaches. Through it all, Duncan is polite with the press, never complains, and never demands attention. No player has ever epitomized "Head of the Snake" like Tim Duncan has.
1. David Robinson - if David Robinson didn't exist, it is likely that the Spurs would call another city home. Despite a revolving door of coaches (Brown, Bass, Tarkanian, Lucas, Hill), injury-plagued stars teammates (Terry mings, Willie Anderson), inept or over-the-hill supporting players (Paul Pressey, Sidney Green, David Greenwood, Vinnie Johnson, Lloyd Daniels, Tom Garrick, Sleepy Floyd...the list goes on), Robinson's all-world ability made the Spurs a very compe ve team. And it seems apparent that the ethic Robinson established rubbed off on Tim Duncan to a degree, or at least reinforced Duncan's innate personal ethic. For a franchise that was defined by instability for so many years, Robinson was the first pillar in the new blueprint for Spurs basketball. And if Patrick Ewing had been in David Robinson's shoes in 1997, Tim Duncan's development would have been compromised in the three years or so before Duncan left the club.
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