Honestly, this is irrelevant to me. He probably ****ed up, but in the end he makes the Spurs a better team, and that sucks for the Rockets.
I think it's pretty clear that this is a Rockets board, and that all of the people lapping up the #Spursway HERE COME DA SPURS" bullsh-t for the last year or so looked pretty when the Spurs lost the division to the Rockets, and got bounced out in the first round of the playoffs. Line up for your beating before you start pimping the Spurs again gaiz. And when the Spurs don't win the title again next year (it's more probable than not that they won't) we'll go through this same bullsh-t again.
So, let them be wrong and look like fools. Absolutely no reason to get all hung up on it. Don't stress yourself out.
Why is it petty to note that the Spurs were far more mediocre than anybody anticipated, particularly their panting admirers on this board, last year? Spurs sucked last year, and lost in the first round. By any definiton taht this board takes, their season was a failure. Had the Rockets finished with the 6th seed and lost in the 1st round, I shudder to think of what the reaction would have been. Instead the Spurs do it, and eveyrbody just shrugs - Oh my god popovich is such a genius, what a great organization!
We always talk about how this will be the year that the Spurs will finally go away, but they just find ways to get it done. One year isn't gonna make the Spurs that much worse when they almost made it out of the 1st round if Chris Paul didn't flop. Would be awesome if the Rockets could somehow make it out of the West, but it's gonna be fun watching the West this year which goes without saying.
Not what I was referring to. More so the "You guys were wrong about the Spurs, so you look like idiots."
Lol at living season to season. If anyone knows this league, everything can change for a team year to year. Next thing you know next year the Rockets are gonna be bounced in the first round. The Spurs have been consistent in this league for the most part. Last season should never be indicative of how the Spurs will be next year or for any team for that matter. Give credit where it's due. They've won 50 games every year and have been contending for at least a third of them. More than you can say for other teams. But petty is what petty is.
It's not like they got smoked in the first round. They lost in 7 games on the road in the final seconds. And they won 55 games which placed them only one game back of the 2nd seed. Not to mention they're a year removed from a title and 2 years removed from coming within one defensive rebound or made free throw from another title. So it's not crazy for Aldridge to be sold on the idea he's the final piece of the puzzle to the Spurs returning to the Finals. Remember, Dwight joined a Rockets team that lost in the first round. And LeBron joined a Heat team that lost in the first round and then went back to Cleveland who had been so bad, they landed the first pick in the draft 3 out of 4 years.
Well, I will just say it will be especially sweet if the Spurs *don't* win the title next year. I for one hope to help building ridiculous expectations for them to maximize their potential failings.
Spurs confirmation bias gives them credit for being much better than they actually are. Let's spin all of their failures as near-successes. Let's laud them for being selfless. Let's say Popovich has a bigger impact on a team than LeBron James. #Spursway
This just proves the Spurs are on another level as an organization. Any other organization would LOVE to have experienced the 'failures,' the Spurs have had to endure recently.
Let's turn everything they do into ****. Let's say everything they do is ****. Let's jump over the fact that they've been the most successful franchise of the last 2 decades and say they're ****. Let's hide from the truth that you would dream of having the same success, coaching stuff and players they had in the last two decades. #SamFisherWay
I'm reading an interesting book "Thinking, fast & slow" that more or less lays out the case that humans are inherently biased in terms of assigning causation to random events, especially when it's not a direct cause/effect. LeBron making your team better is a direct effect and relatively measureable by any metric you want. RC Buford and Popovich and magic Spurs dust is an indirect effect which is far more difficult to correlate with success. However we tend to, in other contexts, overattribute successes to CEOs and leaders becaus it reassures us more than deeming things to be the product of what is a random universe. This thread and generally the last year or so of unrepentant Spurs worship despite their shortcomings is a perfect example of this. Here's why the Spurs were successful, and in fact it is why most successful people are successful: They are incredibly lucky. That does not mean they do not work hard, but it means that chance has aligned in their favor more so than for others, mostly in terms of them ending up with Duncan. Eventually they will regress back to the mean, just like they did this year, except it's being ignored by Spurs worshippers because #spursway is the best way
He just has an irrational hatred for the Spurs. On every other subject he's a pretty smart dude, imo.
10-15 years is a long time to regress back to the mean. I, personally, don't even think they regressed much last year. Also, attributing more than decade of success to pure luck is ridiculous, imo.
"Eventually they will regress back to the mean..." lol then I really fear what the Rockets will regress to when they get back to their mean... mediocrity like the Stevie Franchise days and getting 14th pick for years? You're right sew, this guy is usually smart. Funny what hate can do, can dumb you down tenfold.
Look, I hate the Spurs. Always have. And I do think a couple of their titles were BS, specifically the lockout-shortened one in 1999 and the one in 2007 that only happened because Horry slammed Nash into the scorers table and caused key Suns players to get suspended for Game 5. But they've been a perennial playoff team for over a quarter century aside from the tanking season of 1997. They win 50+ games every year and consistently make deep runs in the playoffs. Getting Duncan was luck. But a franchise big man alone doesn't mean squat. Just ask the Kings. They're clearly doing something else right to have this level of success over such a long period of time. That being said, yes, eventually they will regress back to the mean as you say. It may already be happening given the age of their core outside of Kawhi and Mills. The problem is by landing Aldridge, they've all but assured they won't regress all the way to the lottery once Duncan and Manu retire. That'll likely not happen until Aldridge is over the hill and Pop quits coaching.
1. They acquired one of the greatest frontcourt players of all time during their one lotto season 2. He happened to be gifted with incredible, unseen longevity 3. He was willing to accept below-market wages in teh back half of his career Literally all of the Spurs success is due to one great tank. If it doesn't happen, none of it happens. It's funny because this is case it is even more clear-cut that success in the NBA is largely random, - IT LITERALLY IS A LOTTERY in the NBA to make your team better. It is complete chance, no skill. So then we overcompensate with Spurs worship and all the other biases/heuristics that are even seemingly stronger in this case
Why don't you credit Pop or the Spurs training staff in regards to Duncan's longevity? I agree, landing Duncan in their one lottery year was pure luck, but the Spurs developed him.
