Ball Don't Lie: On David Robinson

[duncan228]

On David Robinson
By Kelly Dwyer
Ball Don't Lie

It would seem to smack in the face of someone's well-earned, championship, Hall of Fame legacy to try and attempt a career-defining column on the subject that deals almost entirely with how the Hall of Famer in question was unlucky to miss out on the prevailing sense of martyrdom that we tend to associate with current NBA stars in the over-exposed, Internet age.

It seems a smack in the face of all tenets of responsible journalism and storytelling to start off a column with a ridiculous lede like that, but considering what else that's been churned out this week; I figure I have a pass. At least until Monday.

David Robinson never got a break, literally and figuratively, until he broke his foot. He never got a team, either, until he was on the down side of his career. And then, not only did he get a team, but he got a teammate that was better than him. By that teammate's second season, it was enough to lead his team to the championship. With Robinson as a clear second-fiddle.

Boo-hoo, right? Blessed with a 7-2 frame, superior smarts, athleticism, hops, dexterity, flat-topness. We should feel bad for him that he had to wait a decade before winning a ring?

Well, yeah. We felt bad for Kevin Garnett, and rightfully so. Felt bad for Paul Pierce, for Allen Iverson, for Elton Brand. Even felt bad for the guys on great teams — Karl Malone, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Chris Webber — who just fell short. And we should throw a little fit for Robinson, too.

His teams weren't lottery-awful, but this brilliant, brilliant player kept these really, really substandard teams in the playoffs — deep into the playoffs — just about every year.

His second fiddle, for so long, was Sean Elliott — a clear number three if I ever saw one. In fact, I remember the first rumblings about Elliott perhaps being better served as a third-option before the 1996-97 season started, and it was almost sacrilege. Elliott's a star! A third option? Well, yeah. Nothing against Sean, he was a of a player and a dogged compe or, but he's been overrated to a point.

1996-97 didn't matter, anyway. The season started with Bob Hill as Spurs coach — it shouldn't have started with Bob Hill as Spurs coach — and GM Gregg Popovich drew deserved criticism for firing Hill the day that Robinson (on the shelf with a foot injury) came back for his first game of the season with the Spurs at 3-15. It looked pretty callous, it was, and it was Pop's great mistake to not fire Hill six months earlier. It would be his last mistake.

Robinson busted his foot again a few games later, and missed the rest of the year. The Spurs lucked into Tim Duncan, TD had to play understudy to Robinson during his rookie year, and you know the rest.

But do you remember what came before that? Before the Hill brouhaha, before the "tanking!" cat-calls. Before Tim Duncan supposedly saved David Robinson's career?

You had a center playing a ridiculous brand of basketball, on both ends. Averaging well over 25 a game. Heaps of rebounds, tons of blocks. Brilliant in all areas. , in 1994, Robinson averaged over 40 minutes a game and ... you just don't get that from centers, anymore. The genius that is The Painted Area did a fantastic job detailing this a few days ago, but it deserves to be re-read. Robinson was so, so good.

And he had so, so little help.

Avery Johnson. We love him, we admire him, but he was probably best served as a backup. Same with Vinny Del Negro, minus a bit of the love. Elliott, we've discussed. Dennis Rodman?

Look, there aren't many basketball players I miss more than D-Rod. There aren't any, actually. He knew how to play the game. He was tough as . He took elbows from Shaq to the face, and laughed. Dennis had some issues, but he won games.

But as a San Antonio Spur? Despite some jaw-dropping stats, he was also a selfish lout who was undergoing some major personal issues at a time when the Spurs needed him to focus on basketball. That's OK. We can have it both ways, here. Dennis is to be commended for working through his issues, however publically, and the Spurs are correct to expect Rodman's mind to be where it should be.

Could John Lucas, Hill, and Pop have handled him better; both on court and off? Sure. Could Dennis have handled himself better? Definitely. Meanwhile, David Robinson's over there, in his prime, tapping his foot. Waiting for the kids to figure it all out while D-Rob is saying "please" and "thank you" and dropping 30 a game.

And then, yes, Robinson gets spun like a fool by Hakeem Olajuwon. The Spurs never win. Rodman leaves, and wins. Robinson gives an interview to Sports Illustrated that makes it seem as if basketball isn't the most important thing in his life (shock, horror!). Then he breaks his foot, Duncan shows up, and the legacy is defined.

That's OK. I'm cool with that sort of legacy, and I'm pretty sure Robinson is as well. As it was with John Stockton, with Michael Jordan, he just doesn't care what we think. He knows he tried, he knows how good he was, how faulty his teams (in just about every organizational facet) could be, and two rings will always help things go down a little smoother.

I'm just asking you to dig a little deeper. Don't limit your memories of the guy to that trophy he had to hoist up with TD, or that embarrassing May. Don't look at those 50-win seasons as some sort of birthright. Understand what this man had to do to get there. Understand what he put in, when few were watching.

Understand just how special a player David Robinson was. He deserves that much, from us. He's earned it.

[duncan228]

Pass the Mic: 2009 Hall of Fame honors — David Robinson
By Dime Magazine

With the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony scheduled for this Friday, we wanted to give the true diehard fans of the Dime Magazine community an opportunity to write about the 2009 class. Dime reader Ian Queliz, who has repped his San Antonio Spurs harder than anyone we know, shares his thoughts on David Robinson:

*** *** ***

“The Admiral” is by far the most important Spur to ever put on the uniform — even ahead of Tim Duncan. Why? To put it simply: Without David Robinson, there probably wouldn’t even be a team in San Antonio.

I come from a country that breathes baseball. It was the sport I watched and played until I heard my uncles talking about this player from Navy that had won a bunch of awards and was supposed to play for the Spurs when he started his NBA career. After finally being able to see Robinson play, baseball was out of my head. It only took one game. My best two memories of Admiral were: (1) back in ‘99 when he held that NBA championship trophy after 10 years of hard work and having to play with guys like Vinny Del Negro; and (2) in a game vs. Orlando in ‘95 when he took a picture with me. (I was 13, so please understand the excitement).

We all know The Admiral was for sure a Hall of Famer, and the type of man he was off the court. Winners of the NBA’s Community Assist Award even get a plaque in Robinson’s name for the work he has done. Check the rest of his resume:

* Rookie of the Year (1990)
* Scoring champ (1994)
* MVP (1995)
* Defensive Player of the Year (1992)
* All-NBA (10 times)
* All-Defensive (8 times)
* NBA champion (1999, 2003)
* Olympic gold medal (1992, 1996)
* Shot-blocking le (1992)
* 3rd in PER rating all-time (behind Jordan & Shaq)
* Rebounding le (1991)
* In a six-season span from ‘90 to ‘95, he won just about every major award you can win.

Many consider Duncan the best Spur ever, but TD can win five more rings and I would still pick Robinson as the greatest. He just didn’t have the same luck Timmy did as far as having great teammates and great coaches around him. Robinson gave basketball to a city. He carried teams full of average players and dudes that shouldn’t have even been in the League to the playoffs every year, and when he finally got that sidekick that all other ’90s superstars had (Pippen, Kevin Johnson, Drexler, Stockton, Kemp, Penny, etc.), he started winning championships.

We would probably be talking about The Admiral the way we do about Duncan had they switched positions; Have Duncan carry those teams from ‘89-97, and then add a rookie Admiral to that mix. No doubt in my mind the result is the same.

– Ian

[ShoogarBear]

That first sentence of the article by Dwyer was one of the worst I've ever seen. Rest of it was pretty good.

And that article he linked by that idiot in the OC Register was jaw-droppingly disgusting.

[duncan228]

And that article he linked by that idiot in the OC Register was jaw-droppingly disgusting.

That's my local paper.

I was shocked when I read it in the paper, the fall out from it has been big. Advertisers got pissed.

The article, and the writer's apology for it, is here:

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134722

[ambchang]

I didn't know Whott writes/blogs with under so many different names.