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How much longer do you figure to live?
Real talk.
The NBA is increasingly becoming a league of haves and have-nots (it's always been that way really, but much moreso now), and a good system/good coaching can only take you so far as last year's WCF proved.
With that being said, the harsh reality is that no significant FA has ever signed with SA (from another team). They have drafted a very good bigman (D-Rob), and the greatest PF of all-time (Duncan) and ridden those two to 25 years of compe ive basketball--and 14 years of being contenders.
The window has closed on this bunch now, and no heir apparent looms on the horizon. San Antonio is doomed to become the Atlanta Hawks for quite some time after this.
Taking all that into account, have we seen the last of the Spurs ringing?
How much longer do you figure to live?
Hopefully our front office will go into full tank mode in 2 years, and we will get Jabari Parker
I went to see the gypsy, staying in a big hotel...she smiled when she saw me coming and she said "well, well, well"
October 20th, 2051 is what I was told.
In my lifetime? yes.
39 years.
Could hit the lottery again in all that time.
Maybe not.
But down the road, the fact that RC/Pop are beasts at drafting will give the franchise a distinct advantage as long as the current FO stays around. Drafting two Hall of Famers and a handful of other high quality players without ever having a pick lower than 20 (until trading for Kawhi) is pretty disgusting if you think about it, tbh.
Rebuilding in San Antonio is going to be a difficult process but there's hope due to who will be in charge. Drafting ability plus the knowledge of how not to waste cap space might be able to make up for the small market. Guess we'll see one day.
They will be the Galveston Spurs by then. That city was once great, but they've never quite recovered from the Hurricane of 1900.
I smell a comeback
Maybe, maybe not
And the same can be said for Lakers too. Aside of Bynum with his broken knees, Lakers have no good players. The new CBA is too a disaster for them and reduces a lot their big market edge.
New York Knicks have the biggest and most attractive market for players and that hasn't really garnered them any championships. Sure, having stars is big to winning les but don't discount the Spurs just yet. They have the best organization in the league and are great at finding star players late in the draft. Also, when Duncan and Ginobili retire that will improve our draft status.
On one hand, the homer in me says that this team was so close to winning it all this year and if things go right in the offseason, they will have the same roster (hopefully minus Bonner) next season with a full training camp. It would be foolish to think that they don't have any chance to win it all next year.
On the other hand, I don't see it happening. There's no guarantee our Big 3 will be healthy all season and it looks like Matt Bonner will retire a Spur.Plus we have no true superstar in a superstar-dominant league.
So I'm hoping for the former but expect the latter. I want to see Duncan win one more before he leaves.
Unlikely but not impossible. How many teams have won multiple les since 1980 again?
Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Pistons, Spurs, Heat.
Just to play the pessimist for a bit...do you think that RC/Pops drafting abilities may be overrated a bit due to finding Parker and Ginobili? You're certainly right that finding two Hall of Famers in the draft that late is astounding, but what if that was either their peak (glass half full) or just plain luck (glass half empty)?
Since that time ('99 and '01), the Spurs have drafted a few other decent players, but nothing nearly as productive as Tony or Manu (which is, understandably, setting the bar high).
The case could be made for other successes like George Hill (productive player in his time here, and became a vital trading chip), or Kawhi Leonard (still unproven, but in a strange rookie season, showed all the promise one could hope to see from an NBA no0bie). But for every case like Hill or Leonard, there has been a James Anderson or Jack McClinton III.
Luis Scola was a great pick, but the brilliance of that selection was equally re ed by giving him up to a division rival for the financial flexibility to bring a certain ball-less Ginger who shall remain nameless on board.
Tiago Splitter seemed like a no-brainer, but the last couple seasons have highlighted a couple of the doubts that teams had about him going in (soft in the post, injury troubles, etc) and now he's found himself somewhere between being trade bait, or simply just wondering if he fits.
DeJuan Blair was a lucky pick, but apparently it wasn't just his knees that scared teams off, it was his height, and now he's another one of the players looking towards the door.
Marcus Denmon is the latest case of a question mark; seems to be a good, clutch player and a hard worker, but will his height prevent him from ever busting out of a ceiling any higher than a role player?
Maybe I'm just spoiled and/or don't follow the success of other teams drafts enough, because I suppose an argument could be made that even a 50% success rate is pretty damn good when you are constantly picking in the late 20s and late 50s. I guess my point is....if all Buford and Pop can pull out of the draft at this point is middle-ground talent, and the Spurs continue their habit of being snubbed by free-agents, doesn't that just keep them in the middle of the pack perennially (which is, debatably, the worst spot to be in with no championship hopes and no lottery picks to grow on?)
Rockets, too.
I know dis trollin, but I think Buford's talent in the draft gives them the ability to rebuild a compe ive team in a few years after Duncan retires. Whether they can win a le again though? That's a huge jump from fielding a compe ive team. That's going to require some luck in winning the lotto in a year when there's a legit franchise guy: for every Duncan, Shaq, or LeBron, there are a lot more consensus #1s like Rose, Iverson, Martin, Yao, Bibby (lol KandiAss going #1), Irving, Bargnani, Bogut, ... even Howard... who aren't taking you to a le. It's a of a hill to climb.
Lottery era no 1s who won a le AS one of the top 3 players on his team:
D-Rob
Shaq
Duncan
LeBron
Lottery no 1s who won a le as a role player:
Glenn Robinson
Lottery no 1s who led their team to the Finals but didn't win it all:
Ewing
Iverson
Howard
LeBron (Cleveland)
So yeah, the draft is a crapshoot, but stumbling on two once in a lifetime players is like rolling two 20s in a row.
And only Duncan and D-Rob won with the team that drafted them. (And D-Rob doesn't win it if he's alone as the top guy on the team.)
Yeah, even in the year the Admiral won MVP he got punked by the Dream...
It wasn't until they got Duncan that they went from excellent to dynasty.
You can't roll a 20 in craps.
Nice DnD reference, though.
I won't be alive on that day.
The Spurs will not win another le. They will ride the current core group into the ground, and they will get worse with each passing year. The city will not support a loser for long and the Spurs will end up in St. Louis.
Possible but not probable. Let's face it, the dog days of Spurs basketball are upon us, and it's going to be a loooong time before we're even contending again. It would take another golden lottery ticket or two for us to win another le cause we all know we'll never lure a tope FA here. But, we'll always have the memories..
Haven't you watched the news? Before most of us are in the ground, global warming will have raised sea level 300 feet, meaning LA, Miami, NY, Boston, Philly, Houston, New Orleans and who knows what other NBA cities will be under water. SA will still be on dry ground and wreaking havoc on such perennial wannabes as Utah, Denver and Atlanta.
How many les do the Knicks have again?
It's been our last run for 3 years in a row. I'm looking forward to another "last run" followed by a load of cap space next offseason
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