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Thankyou for making the off-season shorter.
Great to hear. I wasn't sure or not if we did
Thankyou for making the off-season shorter.
...for an amazing playoff run this year. You were rumored to be the underdog at the beginning of every series you played in and you proved the doubters wrong. There's no shame in how you played in the NBA Finals....so much to be proud of. As heart-breaking as game 6 was for us fans, you all played like champions throughout these playoffs. One rebound, one second chance three missed by the Heat and we're celebrating on the Riverwalk. The Heat have the world's greatest player, but you have the world's best team. I was honored to watch a great, great season...thank you.
Thank you Tim Duncan for being who you are. Thank you for believing in your mentor David Robinson, and respecting his legacy when you showed up in San Antonio. You took what he started and made it better. Your greatness enabled David to retire on top of the basketball world and then you kept that spirit alive creating a culture in the Spurs organization that is very unique in professional sports today. Back in 2000 you were considered to be perhaps the greatest player in the world like Lebron is now. When a Florida NBA team came calling you stayed with the small market team that drafted you...that loves you. Had you said yes to Orlando back in 2000 the entire Spurs franchise might be playing in another city today....so thank you for staying. Later, as a veteran in this league you took less money to help your team sign competent role players...players who would prove valuable in the playoffs...you could have still commanded whatever salary you wanted but you put the team before yourself...again...thank you. When you suffered through knee pain and plantar fasciitis you changed your entire physical makeup/diet/workout regimen to further your career. And not only have you furthered it, you've turned back the clock. Players just don't do that...they just don't turn back time like you have...thank you. Had you not achieved the impossible with your physical health the Spurs would likely have been preparing for the upcoming lottery, not licking their wounds after an agonizing 7 game Finals defeat....thank you. You averaged 27 and 15 in the last two games of the NBA Finals...at age 37...on the road. You are the GOAT.
Thank you Manu Ginobili. Thank you for loving this team and this city. You were a crucial ingredient to 3 of our 4 championship teams. You sat out large stretches of the end of the regular season with injuries to both of your hamstrings yet you came back in the playoffs and provided some big minutes. You were asked to play at the highest level when a lot of guys your age would have simply been trying to get themselves back into playing shape. The Heat schemed to stop you, and in some ways they did, but you still delivered some great moments. I was in the arena when you gave us that memorable game 5 performance. There's more of that left in you Manu. Don't retire. Two more years...give us two more. Thank you.
Thank you Tony Parker. You had a chance to blame your hamstring for your struggles in the last two games of the playoffs...but champions don't make excuses. All of us who've seen you play the last 10 years can recognize when you are struggling to find that explosion. If you were 100%, you and the Spurs would have probably produced a different outcome in this series. Just like Tim and Manu, you stayed with the Spurs when more glamorous destinations like New York and LA came calling through the years. You stayed. You played amazing all year...your game has improved each and every year throughout your NBA career which is obviously a reflection of the time and dedication you've put into making your game better. You are in the conversation about the best players in the league. You are a leader on this team...it's now yours. It would have been impossible for Lebron to have stayed with you had you stayed healthy running through the motion offense...ahh, what might have been I suppose. Thank you.
Thank you Kawhi Leonard. You are a star in the making in the mold of the former Spurs greats...fearless, unassuming, hard working. You give me great hope that the legacy of the Spurs will continue even after the Big 3 have retired. Your play in these Finals was amazing. Your dad would obviously be so proud. Thank you.
Thank you Danny Green, Tiago Splitter, Gary Neal, Boris Diaw, Matt Bonner and the rest of the Spurs team. You each stepped up at moments in these playoffs. You are among the best players in the world, but you defer to the greatness of the Spurs core players, and the culture of playing in San Antonio. I was proud to be a Spurs fan watching each of you this post season. There is no Finals appearance without you all doing your part. This is the best supporting cast the Spurs have had in many years. Thank you.
Thank you Gregg Popovich. You are the one coach in the NBA who truly is 'Coach' in my mind. You're a throwback to the days when NBA coaches coached and players listened and respected that leader in the organization. Your philosophy is key to the success this team has enjoyed over the years. San Antonio is the only small market team...the only professional sports team...that can lay claim to the consistent success that the Spurs have enjoyed over the years, and much of that credit has to go to you. You seem to be able to construct, and re-construct a winning formula year after year. Your players want to play for you. They believe in you even if sometimes the fans don't. They actually listen...what professional coach has that type of influence on their team these days? Very few. The loyalty you create in your players is unlike anything in sports. Truly a testament to who you are and the amazing coach you are. You handle winning, and losing with grace, which is a great lesson for all of us. Thank you.
Thank you Spurstalk. It's been a fun decade, plus, that I've been around most of you. I don't get to be around much these days, but this website is still my go-to site for relief from the stress of the day-to-day. I can step into this world and be a kid for a little while. I can go back to the days when the biggest concern in life was hoping and praying for a Spurs victory. I saw the tears rolling down my son's face last night when the Spurs lost and all I could do is think back to all those years I cheered for the Spurs when they came up a little short of my hopes but I kept cheering....kept hoping. I come into this forum and I remember the days when I attended games with my Dad in the Hemisfair Arena, cheering every victory and feeling sad after every loss. From the Iceman, to the Admiral, I cheered every era until finally, 23 years after my first Spurs game, I got to savor that first of four amazing seasons when my Spurs were the last team standing when the season was done. The Tim Duncan era has been the greatest of them all. I've been here cheering with all of you this last decade, and what an honor it's been for me. Thank you Kori. Thank you LJ. Thank all of you.
Spurs Peak After Miami.
Believe.
well said
Thanks Ed
We gave it a good run but in the end came up short. There is always next year, but I think its time to start rebuilding. I dont think we should re-sign Manu, I think we should go out and get someone else.
Manu will be back IMO, but for alot cheaper and a lesser role.
Manu said somewhere on Twitter than he was comming back
As an outsider and a newbie Spurs fan, I would like to add this:
Living in LA, it's kind of an unwritten law that you MUST be a Lakers fan. For most of my life, basketball started and ended with the Lakers due to all the success the team has had over the last 30 years. The issue of being such hometown fan is that one will over look other teams in the league that are in their own way great as well. I have never followed the Spurs before Kawhi Leonard, but I got to the point where I didn't watch much NBA basketball and preferred the college game because of the lack of team play and selfishness of the superstars in the league.
Then I found the Spurs and the team has been a true breath of fresh air for pro-basketball. Any true basketball fan has to appreciate the team play that occurs with the Spurs, the development of its players, and the fact that this is a team that's more concerned about winning than flash. You have to love a team that can bring in players widely considered as "busts" and make them into key components to a championship team. That's unheard of in the NBA and for you fortunate Spurs fans, this system is a part of your team. The Spurs raise superstars, they don't buy superstars. How can you not like a team with this system.
With this said, as this year's playoffs progressed and the realization that this may be the last big run of SA's big 3, people began to finally take notice of the team. Add that to the fact that most people did not want to see Miami and their fabricated all-star team win the Championship and I think the Spurs gained a whole lot of fans and respect during the Finals.
Yes, the Spurs did not win the Finals, but I think the team won in a huge way in many other ways. People now get that this team is ran by hugely successful mad basketball scientists, people get that this is the only team left in the NBA that plays team ball, people get to see players that were considered busts become stars in their own way.
Thank you Spurs for playing basketball the way its supposed to be played and thank you for putting together a great season for millions to enjoy this year and the many years to come.
Eloquent post and reflects the feelings of this fan. Thanks for posting.
Thank you SA Spurs for all the hard work and professionalism you bring to the sport. This team is one of the few reasons that I still watch NBA.
Thank you SPURS and thanks EJ for a great piece. As an old schooler, I've lived through it all with our Spurs. Sure I was disappointed with the outcome of Finals, but I know this is a tremendous team that carries themselves so well in both victory and defeat. Win or lose, I will continue to be a proud, life-long Spurs fan.
Chopper, thanks for posting this. I had wanted to take some time out and post something like this but you have done a better job than I could have and I just will say, I agree totally.
What you are really thanking the Spurs for is this:
-Parker proving yet again when the moment is largest, he will come up smallest (injury is no excuse, Wade looked like trash often due to age and injury in this series but when his team ABSOLUTELY needed him, he delivered, which is why they are champs.
-Pop not being able to add 2 plus 2 in the basketball terms, and taking TD out of game 6, last seconds, your best big man and defensive player, top 5 all time, hands down your smartest player, when all you need is a defensive rebound and you a re are champs. Then, Pop took game 7 off entirely, not making even the simplest adjustments, like Stern kidnapped his wife or something.
- Manu literally passing to the Heat team like his life depended on it.
And this series again proved, even at 37, if TD doesn't carry the Spurs offensively and defensively, then the Spurs are sunk
If you are thankful for this horrid display of choking and underperformance, then you will no doubt you will 'love' them even more in a few years when they'll be first round fodder for a decade. The only reason they sniffed any les at all is because of one man alone: TD. Certainly not the resident wino they call a coach, or any other scrub TD has played with.
I. Love. This. Team.
Pop is too good to need to make adjustments like other coaches.
Last edited by therealtruth; 06-29-2013 at 01:01 AM.
Great post! Thanks Ed and Thank you Spurs.
Its fans like you that this team truly needs and appreciates. Not jackasses like TheGreatYach and SA210 (just to name a few).
Just re-watched game 6 and 7. Holy , we have won that around 3 times and still lost both.
I am still crying.
just did the hardest and most painful thing for a spur to do. watched the last minutes of game 6. feels like ive just been to
Spurs win with class and lose with dignity. This team still has a good chance to make another run at a le.
Stop watching it....... You are right though we won it and lost it a few times in game 6.Why do you guys do this to yourself.just did the hardest and most painful thing for a spur to do. watched the last minutes of game 6. feels like ive just been to
Thank you Spurs
Aw, Chopper, this was beautiful. I said to a few people in the days following the loss - I have never been more proud to be a Spurs fan. I've definitely been more happy to be a Spurs fan, but never more proud than this year, with the way they played to the end.
I have to agree. Wish they would ban thegreatyatch, can't stand his posts, they are so negative and anti-Spurs! I have never used the "ignore" function before, but his posts may require me to for the first time.
Not paying much attention, are you?I have to agree. Wish they would ban thegreatyatch, can't stand his posts, they are so negative and anti-Spurs! I have never used the "ignore" function before, but his posts may require me to for the first time.
Missed this post weeks ago - thanks for that post Ed
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