If anybody ever says the Spurs tanked to get Duncan, here's some ammo

[50 cent]

Bob Hill was a god awful coach (look at his resume after he left the Spurs) that got them off to a 3-15 (.166) start before Pop fired him and took over.

Pop then went 17-47 (.265) so if he was trying to tank, he should have just left Bob Hill continue the tank job because Bob was doing it better. Additionally, the Spurs finished the season 7-15 (.318) so it doesn't really make sense that they played their best ball at the end of the season if they were really trying to tank.

The Spurs started 23 different starting lineups throughout that season because of all the injury problems. If Pop's true intentions were to tank the season, he could have just set a wonderful "tank job" starting lineup of Jamie Feick, Carl Herrera, Greg Anderson, Cory Alexander, and Avery Johnson and called it a day letting nature run it's course, but he didn't.

Meanwhile Boston was the one tanking their season away to the tune of a 15-67 record - a full 5 games worse than the Spurs. Let's not even mention Vancouver who just sucked and finished 14-68.

The fact is, karma is a beotch. Boston did the tanking and thought they "deserved" Duncan because the are "Baahstan" and it didn't work.

Incidently, the Celtics offered the Spurs their 3rd and 6th pick plus Dino Radja for the pick and some Spurs dead-wieght. I'm glad the Spurs didn't bite at that one.

The 1996-97 season was one of the most frustrating in franchise history for the San Antonio Spurs, but ultimately may turn out to be for the best.. Although the Spurs lost David Robinson to injury, managed only 20 wins and missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1988-89 season, they struck gold in the 1997 Draft Lottery, landing the first overall pick and draft rights to super prospect Tim Duncan.

Injuries decimated the Spurs, none more so than that of Robinson, who returned from back problems only to suffer a broken foot. The former MVP appeared in only nine games. Chuck Person was even less fortunate, missing the entire season following back surgery. Charles Smith missed 65 games with an arthritic right knee and Sean Elliott missed 43 games with tendinitis in the right knee. The loss of those four players, each among the top six scorers from the 1995-96 team, prompted the steepest one-year decline in NBA history, from 59 wins to only 20.

Another Spurs casualty was head coach Bob Hill, relieved of his duties after a 3-15 start, and replaced by General Manager Gregg Popovich, who posted a 17-47 record in his first stint as an NBA head coach.

In the absence of many of his regulars, Popovich relied on a veteran crew that included free agent signees Dominique Wilkins and Vernon Maxwell and the familiar backcourt duo of Vinnie Del Negro and Avery Johnson. Wilkins, one of the top scorers in NBA history, led the offensive charge with 18.2 points per game. During the season he became only the 38th player to appear in 1,000 NBA games and surpassed 26,000 points, moving into seventh place on the NBA's all-time scoring list.

All the pain of the 1996-97 season went away on May 18, when the Spurs won the Lottery and drew the top pick in the 1997 NBA Draft. That assured them the rights to Duncan, a dominant collegiate star at Wake Forest. With a dynamic duo of Robinson and Duncan up front, San Antonio was expected to return to a place among the league's elite in 1997-98.

http://www.nba.com/spurs/history/spu...ArticleList#21

[Summers]

I love when Sean Elliott says people in Boston still tell him "Duncan was supposed to be ours!" Makes me tear up a little bit.

[Allanon]

Everybody knew that Timmy was going to be GREAT, not just 1st round great but GOAT type stuff.

4 Rings later, you think Pop's ashamed of his Tank Job?

No shame in bringing out the SuperTANK

[Obstructed_View]

Pop fired Bob Hill right as Robinson was coming back from his initial injury, if memory serves, so there's a possilbility that Pop waved the white flag on the season early. If the Spurs tanked, they were tanking to get Tim Thomas or Keith Van Horn, maybe Chauncey Billups. Duncan wasn't a realistic goal.

[Pero]

Who did Boston take as the 3rd and 6th pick that year?

[Obstructed_View]

Who did Boston take as the 3rd and 6th pick that year?

Billups and Thomas. I hadn't even realized that. I just remember researching the draft and thinking how great it would be if the Spurs could get Billups. I was really worried they were going to get the second pick and have to take Van Horn. The Spurs didn't need another soft guy on that team.

[50 cent]

I remember wanting Billups as well.

Pop fired Bob Hill when Robinson was about to come back from injury hoping to make a playoff push then Robinson breaks his foot 6 games later, Elliott goes down, and the rest is wonderful history.

[remingtonbo2001]

I thought Boston picked up Billups and Mercer.

[Obstructed_View]

I remember wanting Billups as well.

Pop fired Bob Hill when Robinson was about to come back from injury hoping to make a playoff push then Robinson breaks his foot 6 games later, Elliott goes down, and the rest is wonderful history.

I always felt like Pop fired Hill before Robinson could come back and give them a better record, making it more difficult to justify the change. There was some belief among some of us that he was looking for an excuse to make himself coach from the day he became GM.