A Generation of Winning: Why The Spurs Have DOMINATED Most of Your Life

A Generation of Winning: Why The Spurs Have DOMINATED Most of Your Life

[Applause] back of the [Applause] r what a yep once again as you can probably tell by the runtime of this video I got a little carried away like the Celtics video though it’s only because I feel I personally experienced a vast majority of the story having started watching the

NBA in 2003 originally years ago when I thought of this the line you could draw from David Robinson to kawai’s depart really fascinated me and now they’ve got Victor wi minyama it it adds a whole new Dynamic there’s so many points in this story you’ll see where none of this was

Really supposed to happen so over around the next hour we will go into detail of how the San Antonio Spurs became not only one of the luckiest franchises of all time but also one of the greatest and savviest videos like this are possible thanks to today’s sponsor SeatGeek with over 28 million downloads

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Was David Robinson’s foot injury which allowed the Spurs to luck into Tim Duncan through the draft a complete Anomaly by the way as up to the 97 season the Admiral had hardly missed any games at all helping lead San Antonio to multiple 50- win campaigns in seven

Years the other two marks were 47 and 49 wins given the random injury they’ missed the playoffs at only 20 wins for the first time since Robinson hopped on board granting them a chance at adding the first overall pick to what had been a really good squad throughout the 90s

You’ve got to venture even further back to fully understand the luck however rewinding exactly a decade to when they drafted Robinson Dawning a 14% chance at the first overall pick 1997 gave them 21% odds to which news columnist Buck Harvey quipped that San Antonio’s chances of winning a second Lottery were

The same as Vernon Maxwell’s odds of hitting an open jumper when he played point guard for the Spurs insane stray regardless there wouldn’t be too many jokes left to make about players here as Tim Duncan would would slot in perfectly to bring the Twin Tower scheme to life

Many years after their counterparts in Houston tried it this still required plenty of good fortune who was to say the duplicated production down low would produce wins who was to say he and Robinson would mesh on or off the court was it even guaranteed these 71 big

Would come back the same after a broken foot helping address at least two of the issues Greg papovich had been promoted to head coach during the off year possibly qualifying as the most important decision of the next two decades Avery Johnson would later discuss how through Duncan’s maturation he began dominating Robinson during

Practices signaling that the torch was quietly being passed in those empty gems far before anyone else knew it reportedly got so bad in fact pop wound up making them play for the same teams during scrimmages so as to not let the situation get out of hand still it

Created no issues between the two which is absolutely not the case in every scenario between Alphas Timmy was the perfect successor willing to learn from the vet simultaneously accepting Pop’s tough coaching style for years to come as you’ve probably heard through various former Spurs players everyone was not

Able to survive or roll with his ways and so the rookie season served as the perfect setup for the future where Duncan and Robinson posted disgustingly similar numbers nearly identical Tim also qualified as an All-Star right from the get-go outright winning the championship then and there though was a

Bridge to far once they ran up against the defending conference Champion Utah Jazz yet major success wasn’t too far away Way San Antonio had clearly discovered another gym 1999 May well be the strangest outing in NBA history a season forced into stoppage until early February leaving only 50 games available

To be played despite this the squad was healthier through the year and had made a key signing in Mario Ellie during the off season with Duncan now clearly taking the lead role for the world to see they would Dash through the West losing only one game on the way to the

NBA finals where they’d catch a favorable matchup against an Ewing Knicks team also of note on the way to set series they swept the Los Angeles Lakers just one season before Kobe would officially break out and he and Shaq would put it all together as a whole

Thus in just his second season Duncan had posted one of the most dominant finals ever quickly solidifying himself as a top player overall and proving in no time he was here to stay as the torch Bearer from Robinson better yet Chicago’s Dynasty had literally just

Been put to rest so the league was also open to a new team to carry the torch the Tower Duo having completed the mission so soon there was no reason they couldn’t keep it going for at least a bit well this is what the world knew at

The time anyways what they weren’t hip to was a San Antonio would absolutely be considered a dynasty in due time after waiting their turn and B they just locked into a massive part of said Dynasty through once again the draft pick 57 who the hell finds a big

Threepiece on the tail end of any draft yet alone right after winning a championship the Spurs that’s who specifically RC Buford who’ been only the director of scouting in ’99 he attended the feeble World Championship in Australia which is about all it took Manu still needed maturation however so

A few more years overseas improving and winning were in order for now their luck had run a bit dry as although a 53- win season in 2000 seemed to suggest a repeat could be well within range Duncan suffered a lateral miniscus tear during game number 78 what a gut punch oh the

Injury did not put him out officially if you’re wondering pop did back to that Monumental decision to name him head coach he was tasked with a head coach decision allow your Superstar who wants to play in the playoffs to go out on a risky knee but potentially repeat or

Personally hold him out nixing any realistic chance to protect your title on the choice quote you was young a franchise player papovich said you wasn’t just a number one pick with him you’ve got an opportunity to win multiple championships if you don’t screw it up I didn’t know if the injury

Could get worse or get chronic wow how about the foresight of a third-year coach with the best interest of his star player and franchise in mind of course it all led to them standing no chance against Phoenix in round one which we now know was well worth it read a tiny

Bit deeper here though a lost subplot of that predicament comes in the potential role it played in allowing Los Angeles to fully get off the ground in 2000 it’s seldom remembered Sacramento pushed Shaq and Kobe to an elimination game despite being an a seed despite just dominant

O’Neal had been all season long as MVP The Fringe relationship between the two co-stars is very well documented who’s to say they put it all together and Dethrone the Champs in round two if the match up materialized they had split the season series with San Antonio giving La

Two of their whopping 15 losses on the year hypotheticals aside the 2000 Lakers survived two elimination scenarios on the way to their first ever parade giving credence to Jerry West who Once Upon a Time promising Shaq he’d brought him a kid he’d win multiple championships with win multiple

Championships they did whoa whoa whoa we need to make one more turn here though one more subplot not only had the Spurs absence potentially helped Greenlight a dynasty outside of their own Tim Duncan was now a member of the Orlando Magic or so he would have been if we weren’t

Discussing an extremely lucky and Savvy franchise the stories of Duncan’s last second decision to asper Orlando are all over the place in the year 2024 Grant Hill has reiterated it was Doc Rivers telling Duncan’s girlfriend she couldn’t ride on a team plane during road trips doc himself claims the story isn’t told

Correctly stating he told her families could accompany the team from time to time which is a semi-important distinction also worthy of note families traveling on team planes wasn’t the norm yet all we’re missing is Tim’s accounts of events as another tidbit presents how he told doc he was sure he was coming

Adding that he only wanted to go see Pop face to face and give him the news personally out of respect this is where River says John KY Perry told him he up letting Duncan take said trip he might be right remember we spoke of Duncan and Robinson’s solid relationship

On and off the court Admiral allegedly cut his vacation short to be a part of the goodbye meeting helping pop plead the case for more titles if he stayed convincing him his back had more years left because you might be asking yourself why Timmy ever considered

Leaving in the first place so close to having just won a title well yeah Robinson and the team were getting older while a big three featuring Grant Hill and teamac awaited in Disneyland he shared an agent with hill by the way since restricted free agency hadn’t been

Invented he was well within his right to be leaving so soon too the entire story could have ended right there Hill went on to recount his wife telling him in the hotel later she’d seen the body language of Duncan’s girlfriend during the convo with Doc he wasn’t coming to

Orlando well the story at the Alamo lives to see another day for 2001 and 2002 the now proven Lakers became the only team a near 61 Spurs were unable to defeat obviously including O2 when Tim VP became a thing all of a sudden the NBA fandom looked up and a torch had

Indeed been passed by Chicago just not where it immediately appeared to have been going back in 99 before we move on from 2002 though let’s have another small chat about the good graces falling upon one organization during 01 their starting point guard had been Antonio Daniels who was essentially a shooting

Guard posing as PG the other options were an ancient Terry Porter and Avery Johnson as mentioned earlier age could have been a reason Duncan never had wondering eyes as good a team as they’d remained anyone could see the need for a long-term solution enter Tony Parker who

Was absolutely never supposed to Dawn a Spurs uni or a Hornet one but that’s a topic for later the thing about European point guards in the early 2000s is well they weren’t really a thing yet there’s examples here and there only teams weren’t all in on the foreign movement

Just yet it wasn’t a proven formula along those lines Parker’s first workout in front of Pop went so poorly he told the organization not to bring him back he didn’t need to see anymore after some convincing a second try commenced and although it completely changed his opinion there weren’t solid expectations

Tony would still be available at p 28 in 2001 Tony was not available at p 28 in 2001 for a few seconds he wrote in his book he’d been given a Celtics hat at the draft and told his pick was imminent Boston it was 3 minutes before the

Announcement however he was told to go back up due to the fact the Celtics owners scared at the very final moment saying quote no European point guards it’s too risky in his place Joe Forte was selected it was the year Boston would go on to reach the Conference

Finals off the backs of Pearson antoan Walker damn near Alone by the way despite these Celtics had coach and GM both badly winning Parker all of NBA history changed on a dime as San Antonio was elated to watch him slide right into their dangerously brutal point guard position it didn’t guarantee anything

Immediately however Tim Duncan was skeptical of the direction right off the bat reportedly not even speaking to Parker until the playoffs and offseason of 2002 hop however knew what he saw giving him the starting one position much sooner than later okay so back to Los Angeles quickly rattling off three

Straight titles whilst dominating the lockout Champs multiple times in the process with Shaq and coob a four P simply couldn’t be ruled out especially due to the piss poor competition routinely emerging from the East fortunately for the NBA San Antonio had absolutely cooked behind the scenes Parker immediately developed into a

Formidable PG in year two Sharpshooter Steve Smith and stonch Defender Bruce Bowen tagged along the year before alongside Steven Jackson who was now a contributing piece while monoo finished baking ready to serve in the league although Duncan to this day is widely credited with carrying in the finals by

Multiple teammates from 2003 the Los Angeles series became the first time you’d ever see Tim Tony and Manu lead a series in scoring together a trend that lasts for an eternity starting here with David Robinson continuing to play you could literally see a transition era taking place while they were winning and

Contending straight from the Twin Tower era to the big three era what franchise has ever practically Chen their future core while still winning with the old it’s likely what Boston’s plan was with Linn Bas in the80s in any case while San anonio was on its way back up La had

Been out of gas for some time now with this being the year Shaq chose to quote heal on company time for a toe injury only one of the many problems facing the organization’s foreat hopes specifically in the playoffs a gast robit Ori missed 36 of 38 three-pointers even just a few

More mix would have gone a long way including the one two potentially give Los Angeles a 32 series lead the Champs had fallen in six while repeat MVP Tim Duncan went on to post yet another all-time final stat line to help the Admiral to his second ring before

Retirement assuring there had been no mistake just because 999 was a lockout season perhaps the unit would even get their third ring of year later matching the Lakers they were definitely getting that third ring in repeating because Jason kid was now a San Antonio Spur or

He would have been if they were in even luckier franchise yeah kid who was probably the best point guard in the league had to be fed up coming out of the East just to play one of these two juggernauts so he nearly joined the Juggernaut a move which was too insane

For him to stomach even considering how badly he wanted a title kid verbally committed to the squad only to get cold feet on the way home and back out of it come on now who would ever join an elite team they just fell victim to but especially if you’ve got to stand next

To them on your ring night probably would have been even weaker than the Duran event ah this rivalry is fun ain’t it all the more when you consider Jason kid didn’t ruin it by making these birds Invincible just a couple of the best players of all time best teams of all

Time hell the legit owners of the 2000s they went at it quite a bit early on unfortunately because of creative differences 2004 served as the last time we’d get the blessing and it did not disappoint despite ory’s recent struggles RC Buford knew the five-time champ could play a role and signed him

To a 2-year deal with the ball Club another successful season ensued while jobi specifically saw a second-year jump and it’ absolutely be needed with the Lakers having pushed all their chips forward to make the pairing work Malone and Peyton had join the frey in a desperate attempt to collect the ring

Luckily enough this conglomerate was too dysfunctional and injured for much of the season to be considered unbeatable setting the stage for a fifth playoff duel in 6 years San Antonio grabbed a 20- lead out of the gate the Lakers battled back forcing another deciding game five this time when Duncan put

Through what appeared to be the dagger Derek fiser responded with possibly the most improbable gamewinner ever I mean maybe a different Derek topped him Min eons later har break what would have likely turned into a chance at repeat instead gave the Lakers a chance at their fourth championship which would

Have put distance between the two budding dynasties instead they famously flamed out against Detroit then broke up sending Shaq East and splitting the most dynamic duo to ever grace the court now for the time being there wasn’t a single doubt the most dominant team would be

The men who literally only lost to the Lakers over the past Four Seasons when healthy their big three was Rock Solid and unselfish two championship rings already decorated their Knuckles the Steady Hand of papovich guided the ship with his star players willing to take whatever coaching he dished out a tone

Set by their stoic leader job and Parker cared little enough for their personal accolades to make whatever sacrifice is necessary to win specifically monu who came off the bench as needed still showing in 2005 he could be an All-Star wi starting the West Was challenging no

Doubt yet there wasn’t a single team who could definitively claim the upper hand in a seven game series the Lakers left with scrap in the ashes of the O’Neal trade what would come next even though the dynasty had fractured playing ball out west still proved to be an extreme

Sport as nearly every team who earned a playoff spot won 50 games it was so steep in fact 59 wins by San Antonio only qualified for a second with the fast-paced Suns having gone 62 and 20 through the addition of Steve Nash though Dallas had been the team to lose

Him even they amassed nearly 60 victories while the Rockets were fresh off of Landing T-Mac to pair with Yao Ming in short there were no Shack and Kobes there were also no guarantees this helps make it all the more impressive that Duncan and Company relatively breeed through the West ultimately

Gentlemen sweeping these suns in round three I can’t bring it up without mentioning Joe Johnson’s orbital fracture however he would see no playing time until game three once Phoenix had already suffered an O2 deficit no doubt contributing to the unexpectedly easy departure not for nothing but this was

The second straight Spurs run aided by injury as in the 03 Conference Finals Durk suffered a strain knee holding him out of the rest of what was supposed to be a heated series and while he’d been playing it was it’s simply not disgust because of how many titles San Antonio

Proceeded to win then considering everyone they’d beat in the future case in point the defending Champion Detroit Pistons likely on a list for most criminally underrated final series of all time Detroit came within a hair of repeating playing as the only team to ever win a game six on the road while

Being down 3-2 in a 232 finals form M the Difference Maker as RC Buford had once said Robert Ory could serve this team when the times were right his game five dagger saved the squad from having to win two straight against a Defensive Juggernaut very much changing history by

Giving them just enough space to eek out a third NBA title in Seven Seasons the 2005 finals brought about no talks of a carry job this time the big three specifically had more of an even output while or is hot shooting from Deep anointed Buford as an absolute genius

Housing aore still in its 20s the the end wasn’t necessarily near either plus they’d beaten the best of the best multiple times now who could stop them 2006 would serve as Tony Parker’s strongest year to date where he’d lead the crew in scoring for the first time ever although unselfishness had been a

Staple of their unit he admitted in his book at some point being an All-Star was a huge deal and felt he’d already been deserving this yearning was understandable when you realize he was the only guy out of the core 3 who’ not yet achiev the honor while coming very

Close to having been replaced by kid just a few years prior this season would bring the blessing with him having specifically used summertime to hone in on his shooting which had become a known weakness to add insult the NBA champs also won some free agency sweep Stakes

For Michael Finley fresh off of a productive year with the ultra competitive Mavericks if it doesn’t sound too crazy to you take note that Dallas had been doing everything it could to trade Finley East just to keep him away from the Spurs whilst trying to avoid the luxury attacks Mike however

Was hungry for a title so after being waved with when no trade was found he spurn teams such as Miami and Phoenix because wait for it a visit from Greg papovich the soul box from Game of zones likely explains everything so the defending champs who just toppled the defending champs essentially gained an

All-Star point guard and another shooter which was the factor Dem near responsible for just having pushed them over the top in Detroit incredible yet somehow not enough another dominant season granted 60 wins with the Suns and Mavs hot on their tails having G nowhere well Phoenix had allegedly Amari stmy

Missed all but three games in ‘ 06 due to an offseason knee surgery but the unit pushed on somehow to win 54 games and appear in the Conference Finals regardless honestly it might have been another free trip to the finals had San Antonio met him there it’s just Dirk

Nitzki had other plans having lost to them twice since he was drafted one including a potential final strip lost to injury and watching them when titles as Duncan took title of best power forward nitzky felt like the little brother to his Texas counterparts not to mention they just recently grifted an

Important player off his roster alongside posting a dominant series he joined an one to Tai a game seven they were on the brink of losing you’ll notice on this play job slides over and commits a deeply boneheaded foul Dallas squeezes by in OT and the defending champs have fallen in their strongest

Most talented year thus far the foul by no reportedly sent him into a spiral taking Square blame and blowing it specifically for Michael Finley and for rcio Alberto who both partly signed with San Antonio because of their connection to him multiple players and staff alleged they routinely checked up on

Manu throughout the summer okay but you can damn near trace the 06 Spurs not finishing the job down to this exact moment as proven before there wasn’t necessarily any teams out there they flat out couldn’t be in a series knowing this a nearly identical roster set out

To reclaim the title in ‘ 07 with very much the same story Mavericks Spurs Suns everyone else the Western conference ladies and gents as anyone knew at the time it turned out the We Believe Warriors drew a spoiler card using only six games to out the 67- win Dirk MVP

Lead Mavs in their first round almost immediately the path to an NBA championship not just a finals birth became much easier for either Phoenix or San Antonio Ben Wallace was no longer a piston the defending Champion heat had been injured to Hell whilst the Cavaliers were absolutely not Championship ready regardless of what

LeBron was doing this led to Spurs brass believing if they could just win game five against the Suns they could go ahead and start printing the banner another tidbit Parker divulged in his book that’s insanely disrespectful and rightfully so when you consider we’re talking about a second round series they

Didn’t think highly enough of any of the remaining teams to feel threatened which was not an incorrect sentiment still if you’re following the theme of Spurs luck even outside of their Drafting and such you can now add Robert Ory hip checking Steve Nash at the end of game four so

Maybe not just dumb luck he straight up created it however the altercation prompted Boris Di and Amari STM to leave their respective benches resulting in an automatic one-game suspension at the most pivotal point of any series STM claims no one knew the rule about stepping on the court at the time

Despite this handicap Phoenix lost game five by only three points for ever hunting their fin base over what could have been if it had only revolved around basketball regardless Apparently one side knew the rules s Antonio proceeded to lose just one game moving forward cleaning up in their first ever meeting

With LeBron James more importantly the wealth had finally been shared Tony Parker becoming the first spur player to nap finals MVP outside of Timmy on his way out Duncan correctly predicted the future in telling LeBron it’d be his League soon a horror in Prophecy for San Antonio’s story four NBA titles in eight

Seasons Dynasty sure there had been no repeats yet grabbing half the Rings available in anytime time period is nothing short of dominance that can be argued with especially while continuing to survive the West although the Lakers had come out of the gate strong these spurs had passed them up it was time for

Kobe to respond the most fascinating part of this story to me is just how long they remained together and sacrificed for each other despite eventually hitting a drought of no results and even receiving vastly disappointing ones consecutively you simply don’t see Star players foregoing Money numbers and accolades in the

Interest of competing if the winning even appears to slow down yet here it’s a key principle of how they wound up winning championships in three separate decades repeating in 2008 became unlikely from the jump as the era of freebies after emerging from the West was over given the introduction of the

Celtics big three even worse Allstar big man Pal Gasol took his spot next to Kobe Midway through the season right in San Antonio’s backyard mind you throughout their rivalry La exerted dominance losing only once in 2003 and also back in ’99 before Kobe offici officially reached superstardom ever since if Mamba

Had a co-star he usually found himself on top and despite the rewriting of History he absolutely carried his own weight when the DU took place he wasn’t just some tagal to Shaq Thea was no Shaq he was also no slouch either and complimented Bran’s skill set perfectly

Under Phil Jackson speaking of Shaq and a last ditch effort by Phoenix to clear the hurdle former spur Steve Kerr acquired him to pair next to Sodom down low and hopefully just out Talent everyone I guess meanwhile attempting Resurrection from the most disappointing playoff exit ever Dallas made a move of

Its own acquiring Jason kid who was no doubt by now regretting his choice to evade San Antonio thus this time around every Western Conference playoff team did win 50 games while hosting both League MVP Kobe Bryant and MVP runnerup Chris Paul it was a mad house even with

All the noise round three wound up as predicted adding another chapter to the Spurs Lakers rivalry only matters had reverted to the early 2000s as a terribly hungry GRE Kobe Bryant averaged nearly 30 points a game to set things straight in a close but decisive five games here it’s very relevant to mention

We are four championships into this thing um the Spurs were simply aging and we’re going to need to assemble the correct combination of pieces eventually to continue outside of the big three Brent Barry Bruce browen Michael Finley and Kurt Thomas were approaching ancient years simply unable to bridge gaps when

Say Sixth Man of the Year job’s ankle reduced him to role player production Not only was the usest unrelenting in its competition who knew how long Kobe and Gasol could keep it going the excitement and play around them was fresh as you can see with a Peak at the

09 roster management went through quite a bit trying to find a spark meanwhile job’s ankle worsened into a fracture dashing him off the roster in April Duncan’s knees were aching as well leaving Tony Parker to recapture his top scoring role with a pretty clear understanding they simply couldn’t work

Like this long term Los Angeles had progressed to 67 wins in their search for Redemption meaning even if a rematch ensued there’d be zero shot at a successful outcome the Mavericks smelled blood and took advantage sending unpacking in round one while tying the playoff series score 2010 brought along

Another year of age and roster experimentation including what was sadly regarded as one of their biggest free agent acquisitions ever in Richard Jefferson who still averaged 20 a game in 2009 this punch in theory could provide a future they desperately needed going forward although it wound up falling extremely flat other than

Richard it was more big three more random Journeymen although they were at least younger and more injury when Tony Parker hurt his hand causing him to miss 26 games of course the setback caused their lowest win total and win percentage since David Robinson’s injury set the course for the fragile despite

Settling a score with their old foes in Dallas through six Phoenix packed brooms in round two the 2010 suns are absolutely not in iteration of Nash and STM squads you hear much about yet they made it as far as to push Kobe and Gasol to the braking round three so the story

Isn’t so much how this of all their meetings was the time Phoenix flat out dominated them it was simply San Antonio’s downfall 2013 and 14 basically block out just how average they were after the 07 title the RJ signing failed to produce tangible results the roster hadn’t been able to rebuild adequately

Through drafting due to seating highly every year which left them with only a hope that whatever random assortment of players they were pushing could finally be the correct mix making matters worse at their absolute lowest point the the league as a whole would take another jump in 2010 free agency as multiple

Stars were granted an opportunity to take full control of their Futures with Kobe having recently stacked numbers four and five through a repeat potentially reclaiming Dynasty talks Miami formed their big three to get in on the action again zero freebies left for anybody who scaled the West Dallas hadn’t gone away constantly tinkering

With the roster to finally get Dirk over the Finish Line La hadn’t gone away poised to possibly three repeat the damn Thunder where a 51 team already right on the doorstep of getting KD westbr and hardened to contention an extremely young core thought to be in the mix for

Years to come a franchise you’ve heard so much about essentially dwindled to an afterthought moving into season 4 without a fresh title jino and Duncan approaching their mid-30s 2011 was probably their last shot before real talks of ending it all approached the 2011 San Antonio Spurs won 61 games

Their best marked since the 63 wins in ‘ 06 right before winning another title A year later huh how did a team which appear to be sucking in its final breaths randomly return to Mark the second best record in the entire Association well the big three were

Healthy again younger draf e such as George Hill dwan Blair and Gary Neil contributed properly and they were still the Spurs so that’s all they really required to win Games The Big Three were healthy again no no they weren’t it’s the piece you don’t really ever hear

About when they’re lost to the eighth seated Grizzlies comes up which is rare anyways because they erased it shortly after the Spurs were healthy for 99.9% of the season in which Timmy was already looking washed finally by the way still good but good in like an old way it

Helped nothing when he sprained his knee in late March on top of jobi hurting his elbow in the final game of the season without these problems who knows if a Cinderella run would have ensued probably not the roster was definitely still missing something and so Memphis

Would go on to knock the former Dynasty out in five via the biggest upset since Golden State in ‘ 07 it was over there’s a beautiful article on Bleacher Report from May 4th 2011 which list each reason why their time was up in extreme detail Tim Duncan was old he hadn’t scored 30

Points in any game throughout the 11 season going without the mark for the first time ever in his career as an e injury typically constitutes his performance vers Memphis spelled Doom as Zack Randolph dominated him and any other excuse for big man pop offered up their draft picks had been averag as

Expected leaving no real pieces able to begin carrying the torch the big position next to Duncan never had a clear answer after Robinson hung it up Parker and Manu were losing too many steps to be able to provide what was needed to win and of course the wild

West remained wild quite literally the only way to salvage this would be some non-existent trade non-existent free agent Splash or once again getting lucky in the draft the San Antonio Spurs once again got lucky in the draft well okay this might be another incident of created luck enter kawh Leonard who we

Can now determine likely ended up being the best player selected in 2011 needing to find a long-term solution concerning their wing rotation George Hill was dealt for kawhai who’d been picked by the Pacers at number 15 in the future he could slot right into the three next to

The rest of the core and continue helping them win outstanding athleticism and size made him an ideal fit well worth the cost and during another lockout year a total of 66 games would be played of which they’d win 50 once again setting a record high win percentage since ‘ 06 meanwhile the West

Had arguably fallen off a bit with the Lakers and shambles on the heels of being swept and a failed Chris Paul trade Zebo being slowed by a knee injury from Memphis the defending Champion Mavs opting not to bring back Tyson Chandler and the Clippers not yet reaching their

Full potential in only the first year of CP3 record-wise it became Spurs Thunder then everyone else in a very weird and Rush season seeing to excessive injuries job once again included here surgery was required for a fractured metacarpal in his left hand also straining his oblique Upon returning 22 games later the lowly

34 games that injuries limited him to would have suggested real contention could once again be off the table except for the fact his unit trudged through without him putting out an array of younger support pieces to hold the forward by the time the post season approached Utah in round one provided no

Scare then they somewhat surprisingly posted a sweep against the newly minted Lob City something special was on the horizon including regular season wins dating back to April 12th San Antonio had now strung together 18 straight victories what’s more 13 of these dubs were by double digit margins I can

Vividly remember being in high school telling a friend they looked pretty unbeatable the ball movement was on point the unselfishness I didn’t consider any team worthy of the match at the time especially considering D Rose was gone and Bosch had been injured if 2012 wasn’t right for their fifth ring

When would it ever be as far as we were concerned they had already just nearly extended their life cycle after being dormant for 4 years two games in to the Conference Finals these sentiments were reinforced as they Stamped Out The Young Thunder who were Conference Finals runner-ups in 2011 having lost to the

Eventual Champion Mavs it looked as if their time still hadn’t arrived one year later then suddenly faster than anyone could realize what was happening the wi streak was over 20 straight victories into the Conference Finals without finishing the job is unheard of only so was a rise to power as quick as OKC’s

Had been credit for the turnaround surprisingly starts with Tabo sosia who took on the challenge of Defending Parker and jobble giving his team much needed switching to slow down San Antonio’s insane offense from that starting point the torch seemed to officially be passing with OKC completing an improbable reverse sweep

Over an older team who’d been desperate to add just one more Jewel to the crown how is it even possible an aging Squad which had already won multiple titles simply stuck around after multiple years of crushing defeats with Duncan and Manu quickly aging not a single soul would

Have questioned the beginning of a rebuild by now especially after Durant and and Company prove their worthiness so early on it just isn’t the way business was handled there the Baton was seamlessly passed from Robinson to Duncan then Timmy took a backseat as he aged to whoever needed it from year to

Year whether it be Tony or manu in 15 years since his drafting San Antonio never failed to reach 50 wins only falling short once on the technicality of 1999 being a 50 Game season the winning culture consistency was enough for those three to never want to play

Anywhere else if it was necessary with 2013 approaching however ever one had to ask what team has ever won multiple championships early on Lost for six straight then produced another with that same core a good start was papovich completely handing the keys to Tony Parker finally who just turned 30 and

Clearly presented the best option moving forward this involved calling more plays for him new fourth quarter looks and granting autonomy to run the team from a leadership standpoint the way he did so overseas during the summer in typical Spurs culture fashion the first thing Parker did upon receiving this request

Was ask if Duncan was okay with it of course he was 2013 marked the first time in a decade another teammate outside of the big three would infiltrate their scoring leaderboard as you’ve surely guessed this player was none other than Kawhi Leonard who narrowly edged out

Six-man monu job it wasn’t by much yet a clear sign of things to come just maybe there’d be another torch Bearer after all on the topic of the ever developing western frontier San Antonio caught multiple breaks at the right time with the super super team era in full swing

The Lakers would push all their chips in acquiring DWI Howard and longtime rival Steve Nash only to become one of the biggest failed experiments ever through multiple injuries and other issues OKC before eventually getting injured out of the postseason decided to trade James Harden prior to opening night immediately capping their potential

Regardless of what future records suggested essentially as long as they could stay healthy the Spurs would be right back in the thick of it all toward the end with a great chance at toppling their young counterparts and a rematch outside of officially promoting Parker Boris di signed on to play with him as

They’d been longtime friends dating back to their days overseas he was a bit older and surely no star however a great versatile Cog to throw on top of an offense predicated on sharing the Rock at another nearly 60 win season to the books but also an important bit of

Gamesmanship I fear no one actually recalls on November 29th Miami and San Antonio were slated to face off in South Beach for a potential finals preview after all the series was very nearly brought to reality just 5 months earlier instead after defeating Orlando one night earlier pop sent his Stars home to

Rest ahead of a nationally televised Marquee matchup before it was the norm in fact I don’t remember this happening much if at all before that night a move to rest his key guys who’ routinely been falling short by April and May a Revolt at the league for scheduling such a big

Game on the second night of a back toback or a chess move as to not show Miami anything they’d potentially be up against down the road in any case sper returned the favor march by sitting both Wade and James when they visited Texas except without receiving punishment Pop’s decision cost the organization

250,000 Davis Stern citing there was no fair warning of the plans and it was done early in the season which again hadn’t been the norm not only did sper still at least play Bosch and win by the way March wasn’t an unusual time to rest guys it can also be deduced proper

Channels were used to notify interested parties ahead of time so fans were given zero preview of the upcoming Final during the regular season which may also explain why some of us didn’t quite know what to make of it by June the defending chance looked as dominant as ever

Hosting the most raw talent in the league the best player in the league jotting down a 27 game win streak to cap it all off the old guys were good again but uh they were always good and they always played well in the regular season and multiple times now they didn’t press

In the playoffs only to fall flat at a specific moment good but also old and boring that’s the label they built for themselves through the waning years you couldn’t tell a whole lot from their Western Conference run either given how good they’ve been previously the cobus Lakers were quick work this young

Warriors team no one knew anything about had actually placed themselves in great position to advance early on before falling then a little get back on a Grizzlies score who’ embarrass them just two seasons before what changed defense and Tony Parker unlike the previous seasons of depending on questionable

Support pieces and older guys the current defense now held Zack Randolph to 30% as neither he nor Mark Gasol surpassed 20 points in any of the four matches with Mike connley also in a box a team mainly known for its D in the first place had no way to respond and

Yeah as mentioned earlier Parker settled into his role as the man Duncan saying quote he’s been amazing every year he gets better and better and better I told him I’m just riding his coils he’s been carrying us you see tonight he just takes over and handles the entire game

He’s awesome he was outstanding the whole series he controlled the whole series with his penetration hey look another outstanding call from papovich to put a bow on it the 12-2 Spurs throughout the Western Conference playoffs featured their biggest Point differential of any of their previous title teams at plus 10.1 the light at

The end of the tunel was blinding well especially through infrared although Parker would carry his play directly into the finals knocking down the game one dagger this Fortune would not last as long as it needed to despite a role player and Danny Green shooting well enough to possibly win Finals MVP

Despite taking a 3-2 lead back to Miami and practically winning game six where Duncan was posting another all-time Finals game in Cruel fashion they’d fall victim to one of NBA History’s Greatest Moments to this day pop is blamed withholding Tim Duncan out of the play resulting in a forfeit offensive rebound

Leading to the shot I still hold the belief it’s unfair given the goal was stopping a three-pointer however I understand the cries perhaps unsurprisingly Parker admits he knew it was all over after game six you may argue how it’s a composed Dynasty and their mental toughness never let it

Cross their mind then you just be ignoring the human element I’m not a Spurs fan and witnessing the manner in which they lost even hurt my chest after basically exhaling at the sight of Larry O Brian and the yellow ropes being able to contain their emotions and immediately turn around to win game

Seven on the road was never likely unbelievably they were only a Tim Duncan hook shot away from potentially turning the tides and finishing the job anyways but the story had been written simply making it back to the NBA finals required six seasons and numerous setbacks normal circumstances would have

Suggested a storybook ending and there was one just for LeBron and the hos at the moment the 2013 NBA finals Remains the most heartbreaking loss of all time in my opinion no injuries no suspension just raw fumbling through the lack of simple fundamentals and it wasn’t like

This specific core had too many attempts left age 40 was staring Tim and monu down having just seen their team play at statistically its highest level ever considering the new emotional toll maybe it was time to accept reality well reality presented that they were still

The best team in the west as even if they didn’t contain the raw talent and youth of others nobody could match the ball movement and smarts they possessed as so many other years in the past teams such as Oklahoma and the Clippers could play with them nobody could say what

Their chest they could flat out beat them and so San Antonio ran it back without hesitation as Pop showed his team tape of the 13 finals on the first day of camp to remind them what this campaign would be about it was all the motivation Tony and Company needed the

Atnt center would bear witness to their fourth 60 win season since acquiring Tim Duncan in one of the hungriest displays for Redemption ever and despite this feet the barebones Dallas Mavericks three years removed from being a championship team still somehow push their Rivals to the brink of elimination

As an eighth seed could you imagine history today had they suffered a second upset to a comparatively subpar team I mean it was also just compliments to how strong the West remained Dallas practically being a 50- win team whose record would have landed them third in the east no matter business as usual

With a blowout in game seven behind Tony Parker’s 32 points round two BR a much easier gentleman sweep of the young Blazers setting up a grudge match with the finally quote unquote healthy thunder without Harden winning a series such as the one at hand turned into an uphill battle regardless but not even

Having sergy Baka the man they chosen to pay guaranteed in O2 deficit to start out fittingly in OT of game six with OKC desperately trying to force a seventh it was kawhai Leonard who literally snatched their chances more or less sealing the deal and helping his guys to

Their second straight NBA Finals a sign of things to come absolutely before the rematch Duncan confidently proclaimed to the media they do it this time it was all he and Tony talked about to each other for them losing two straight to the same team was an impossibility at

Any cost the dynasty would not suffer this disservice on their watch what proceeded to take place is perhaps the greatest display of team basketball ever the passing the shooting the defense despite going back to Miami tide there hadn’t been a single way that he could outplay them for 4 full games this time

It was so pure in fact I’m convinced even had LeBron not have cramped in game one and they gone on to win San Antonio would have just won four straight it’s possibly the greatest single year comeback story ever as at long last the San Antonio Spurs were back on Top seven

Season removed from their last title with the same three guys now plus Kawai unheard of that was the most important factor by the way no teamy MVP no Manu or Tony not even Danny Green Leonard would take home the honors at age 22 with averages of 18 points and six

Rebounds shooting nearly 60% from both the field and three and possibly being the only player LeBron has ever been visibly shaken to see checked into a game oh youngest Finals MVP ever by the way this was diabolical not only had they continued to be excellent year after year despite the failures once

Again they’d apparently struck gold in the draft here was an athletic two-way Wing whose confidence wasn’t crushed in the slightest despite his missed free throw being a huge reason for the previous failure with no Western teams recently being able to handle them and a new Young Prospect getting better every

Season what was to prevent a reape giving Timmy six rings what was to prevent them from slowly passing the torch to Leonard and possibly rebuilding around him while still doing so the fans hav’t convinced Duncan to run it back during a a beautiful title parade a fresh 55 win season followed with Kawhi

Leonard officially taking the Reigns as leading scorer more importantly proving he could handle added responsibility while also winning defensive player of the year the matter was settled pop had officially found his next Superstar at long last um 55 wins qualified for fifth best in the west once again a mark which

Would have placed them second in the East instead due to whacked out division rules that thankfully no longer exist they drew a first roundout against Lob City who’ grown substantially since their original 2012 meeting in a normal world the four or five matchup would have yed a Memphis rematch which while

Still being tough was probably preferred still this series was winnable outside of the one Stroke of Luck the Clippers have ever had in the playoffs leading to the Champs dramatic exit in round one to be fair a 2015 repeat run had multiple roadblocks outside of LA with a very

Likely Western Conference Finals battle against the now 67 and 15 Warriors awaiting if they Travers ver the rest of the conference anyway as a reminder Steph and Company did damage against them in 2013 at their pup phase would have been fun to rekindle here for sure coming into 2016 with the confidence of

A champion sanan required an upgrade to compete especially considering Timmy could have retired already possessing such knowledge they’d recruit Big Man David West who could excel at a backup rooll on a stack team and then send shock waves Landing LaMarcus Aldridge yes the team only a year removed from

Post one of the best finals performances ever signed a top big man in the league to not only replace Tim but play with him and the upcoming kawhai Leonard to make the picture clear the front office had managed to hang on to its core three all this time luck into finessing Kawai

To kick off the future and sign his future dual partner while the core 3 still played and competed with them one of the only teams ever to simultaneously have its past present and future Under One Roof it even required Bruce Bowen agreeing to unretire his number 12 following the theme of unselfishness

Long set within the culture a power play so strong it immediately catapulted them to favorites in many fans eyes especially fans who were still giv Golden State Flack for winning a ring many believed theyd caught one too many breaks for the 2016 Spurs could have their own video we’re discussing a squad

Where while talks of the 72 and 10 Bulls record finally being snapped were happening it took till the end of the season to confirm San Antonio wouldn’t overtake them finishing six wins behind History’s Greatest team record-wise they remained 10 wins ahead of the next best unit in Cleveland ranked first in

Defensive rating and fourth in offensive rating kawhai took another leap qualifying for his first ever All-Star Game repeating as de and finishing second in MVP voting while aldrid posted the second highest points per game on the roster behind him clearly showing where it was all headed NBA fandom

Awaited a Clash of Titans in the Conference Finals swearing Golden State would finally meet their match only to watch yet another disappointment as this dream team would bow out in six to OKC in a semi-finals meeting what the hell could have possibly happened you ask it’s simple they played what Andre

Iguodala considers to be the best team in the playoffs long athletic Lightning Fast electric scoring San Antonio had a lot no doubt but you can’t deny the speed was lacking and Father Time finally knocked on the Duncan residents posting averages of 6 and four on 36% while kawhai shot well below his season

Average from three the Thunder took it advantage and Avenged a gut-wrenching 2014 loss in typical Timmy fashion he called it quits on a random July day with absolutely no warning after 19 Seasons five titles two MVPs three finals MVPs and an unmistakable claim to the stake of greatest power for in

History his work year was finally done he left the organization in good hands a million times better than he’ found it Kawai and alage could take it from here very likely to add at least a title or two before the 20 20s that was until Kevin Durant joined Golden State funny

Enough former teammate Kendrick Perkins revealed KD asked him before deciding and he recommended none other than the Spurs who he did take a meeting with never mind the fact Durant had once called kawhai assistant player slotting in next to him and Aldridge would have probably guaranteed a ring nearly as

Much as playing with Steph did however the warriors were no doubt an easier fit so he chose to become invincible which makes past conversations surrounding 2017 peculiar only because an Infamous injury to Kawai is where a cohort of fans still believe NBA history changed they were dominating game one kaai had

26 points in 23 minutes and the team had won 61 regular season games so yeah they were Elite no doubt I just never bought the idea that a team who caused so much commotion was about to lose a whole series based on part of one game not to

Mention as good as San Antonio was they had lost two games in both prior series to inferior teams either way Tony Parker went down against The Rock buckets via a devastating quad injury and now without Kawai the Western Conference Finals turned into a mockery of the sport it

Goes even deeper from there though to begin the 2018 campaign kawhai would miss preseason rehabbing from thigh tendonopathy with no return timetable set then it was the opener then it was mid November where pop assured we’d see him soon and finally after 27 games he debuted on a minute restriction through

A very sketchy nine appearances between December and mid January he fell back out indefinitely to continue rehab reports of a rift between his campaign the organization now servicing with kawai’s Uncle denying such allegations after receiving a second opinion elsewhere pop told the media he’d be surprised to see him return at

All even though Leonard had been cleared by their medical team their medical team keywords around March further confusion swirled as Leonard did the typical Superstar performance claiming he wanted to finish his career in San Antonio Complicated by questions of his upcoming free agency in a little over one year

Then a mid-march return was floated only to be shot down 2 days beforehand with more injury evaluations around this time David Robinson emerged from the Woodworks downplaying any tension between kaw’s camp and management although anyone could see how weird it all gotten March continued to pass and

Now Manu janob is telling reporters the team can’t keep playing with the expectation of their Superstar returning an ESPN break comes through shortly after alleging Tony Parker tried to convince Leonard to return in the playoffs that a team meeting which immediately got shot down by multiple players including Danny Green he did

However directly tell us himself he did 8 months of rehab on an injury similar to kaai but quote mine was 100 times worse he was factually correct it’s just kaai was a wear and tear injury that had no clear fix so it was a questionable comment about a recovering teammate for

Sure timing also certainly didn’t help speaking of timing on April 1st papovich presented any potential return being a matter of Leonard and quote his group you’ll have to ask why in his group that question okay Admiral you can say the tension is no big deal but you can’t

Change the tone coming from within the organization for anyone who was in denial or couldn’t read between the lines Leonard’s rehab took place thousands of miles away in New York while his team began its playoff Journey with a gleaming disconnect looming dangerously close to a contract year

After a predictable first round exit to Golden State with their star nowhere to be found even in a suit behind the bench the next predict event transpired kawai’s trade request just like that two decades of stability and tradition had been broken as their current torch Bearer Abandoned Ship only two seasons

After accepting it in the end his quad situation had simply eroded trust and connection between the two camps causing an irreparable Rift with free agency looming wasting no time to oblige he was sent North along with Danny Green in return for yaka purle a 2019 protected

First and dear D rozan okay well it wasn’t a terrible Salvage job given the situation there was also just no chance in hell this new Duo was competing with the Warriors when it’s not even guaranteed their MVP candidate could have gotten it done as if kawai’s premature departure wasn’t a sign of the

Times Manu janoi announced his retirement and Tony Parker left to the Hornets for him it was simply a matter of ending his career on his own terms after such a devastating injury over the summer papovich notified him he’d be demoted to third streaking point guard if he returned which Parker simply

Wasn’t willing to accept he wanted to go out playing remember this information it’ll be important later their winning ways continued though yet the record spoke volumes as it became the first sub 50 win season win fully healthy since 1997 even worse this squad only improved by one win over the 2018 team which

Basically never even had Kawai again they were definitely out of Championship talks for the foreseeable future and a narrow first round exit to the Nuggets did nothing to spark confidence if it hadn’t been clear in this first sample 2020 officially brought a long- winning franchise face to face with reality

Their luck had run dry they’d need to rebuild sooner or later like anybody else with what though D rozan was already 30 and clearly not the number one on a title team Lamarcus alich had roached his mid-30s four years of the plan for him to be a super second option

Having gone to waste already and there wasn’t a kawhai like torch Bearer on the roster to help them contend while developing in a leftover bit of luck from their draft savviness though the jonte Murray was already on the roster from the 2016 Draft when he was selected

29th yet another diamond in the rough kind of with the 29th pick in the 2019 draft they found Kellin Johnson who would later show flashes worthy of giving him a real try after a below 500 season before the bubble ever kicked off this routine winner had finally been

Brought to its knees suffering their first playoff Miss since David Robinson’s foot snapped with that however they could get a decent pick in the draft which turned out to be Devon Vel at 11 ald appeared to be over the hill pushing the two parties towards a buyout then near the conclusion of the

21 campaign de Mar Rosen was sent to Chicago bringing back a couple of role players a protected first and two second rounders right on Q de jonte Murray broke out into an All-Star during 2022 you might already notice the issue here though being drafted six seasons ago he

Was 25 years old on a roster nowhere near ready to compete with one of his earlier seasons of development going down the drain due to a torn ACL also he’ already been signed to an extension back in October of 2019 with the next few seasons not necessarily having gone

Anywhere for real NBA Watchers this was enough to know his future lay elsewhere but the way he spoke of the Spurs post- departure pretty unheard of after being traded to Atlanta in the summer he’ later revealed he believed the organization played mind games with him concerning his playing time was mad

About Tony Parker leaving to waste a year in Charlotte rather than mentoring him as PG basically called them lucky for drafting Tim Duncan Alle the entire core 3 including pop ignored him when he was drafted and took an unrelated shot saying the Spurs were boring to him as a

Kid revealing he’ wanted to be traded early in his career he isn’t the only former spur to take shots at the franchise since moving on in life as Tony Parker and many of the stars have admitted it ain’t for everyone still you couldn’t ignore how the recent Trend was

Diverging outside of those three they’d alienated two recent Star players in some way commencing another deal in a relatively short time period San iio sent Murray to ATL for Danilo galinari three first round picks and a pick swap wisely so by the way notice how the front office knew they weren’t and

Were never going to be with him they simply acted accordingly unlike some franchises as if there were ever a time to be bad in the league 2023 was it with yet another generational Prospect set to hit the hardwood a year out after drafting David Robinson Tim Duncan finding monu job very narrowly looking

Into Tony Parker through a Draft Day mishap and pulling off a deal for kawh Leonard who had no business going straight to a solidified team what were the chances this same franchise could possibly be enabled to select a Flatout unicorn an alien a player so ridiculously gifted with physicals he

Could one day break basketball 14% those were the chances along with Houston and Detroit it’s just Houston and Detroit combined might match the luck of the San Antonio Spurs and so with the first overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft Victor wanyama every bit as good as advertised even with the first portion

Of the Season being almost complete Randomness in the offense with no guarantee his teammates would pass to him the tape has come out as wicked as you thought it would and even on minutes restrictions the numbers are ridiculous Devon Vel recently got his big contract extension and I’ve Got a Feeling plenty

Of fans just learned who he was as a result of tuning into one of many national TV games they’ve now been afforded the team as a whole sucks the franchise has SP spent years overcoming hurdles that been virtually unknown to them however they’ve also got pop locked

Up for the for stable future who you can now see should be credited with multiple critical decisions throughout the course of their winning history in basketball nothing is guaranteed even knowing so one has to look at Vic and believe there’s just very few ways anybody could

Mess this up much less the man who steered the ship of five NBA titles across three decades was he lucky of course he’s never denied as much he’s also renowned and win guys by the results speak for themselves wimy at least by what he says has bought into

The style pop remains cordial even with those who maybe hadn’t as when Leonard most recently returned to San Antonio he took it upon himself to grab the mic and attempt to quiet a booing crowd he felt was disrespecting a franchise Legend they’ve got plenty of years ahead another all-time talent and all the

Knowledge to make it work who knows if luck will roll out with the basketball this time but if you made it this far you now understand what’s made San Antonio not only one of the luckiest but greatest and savviest franchises of all [Applause] [Applause] Time

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The San Antonio Spurs have been one of the luckiest, and greatest franchises over the past few decades. Here’s the story of how they went from David Robinson to Victor Wembanyama.