Do the Spurs draft well or their coaches develop these unknown stars?

It's definitely the coaching. I always wonder how good Duncan would have been if he had landed somewhere else (obviously he would have still been good, but I doubt he would be seen as better than Garnett if he didn't play for the Spurs).

 

What unknown stars?

They really only developed Parker..

 

Absolute FACT. That's the main reason, That Pops constantly rests his vets. He is more than willing to play the role players and give them valuable, hell, invaluable experience. I remember that Dan Marino kept on bringing up that in sports, there's no substitute for game speed. Forget practicing, playing in actual games is how you develop and grow as a young player.

Another major factor is Pops changed his style of play due to the changes in personnel over the years. In Duncan's earlier years, S.A. was primarily a defensive team. Defense was their calling card; every time you played the Spurs, you knew they were going to play great defense and a very slow, methodical pace on offense. After they won their 4th title in 2007, their style changed to a more offensive-minded team (because Pops knew the roster were not superb defenders from top to bottom like in those earlier years). Again, that's when they stopped playing mainly half-court on offense. Since they traded George Hill to IND for the pick that became Kawhi Leonard, Pops has re-instilled many of his defensive principles that he mastered in those earlier years, but still have that velvet-smooth offense. Their offense is not as fast as ours, or those Dantoni-Suns teams, but their tempo suits Pops players.

So All-in-All, it starts with upper management/scouting for looking into who they believe are the best fits for Pops and his system. Pops has proven his versatility by his willingness to evolve his team's style of play to utilize his players' talent to the fullest, maximizing their skills and abilities. The fact that Pops truly develops them by actually PLAYING those younger guys the whole year, gets them prepared for the postseason, all while resting his vets (and limiting their minutes when they play).

The overall stability of that franchise since 1997, still to this day, makes them year-in-year-out contenders. It always upset me (going back to 1998 when Duncan made the playoffs as a Rookie), more so to this day, that Spurs play "Boring" Basketball. Championship-winning basketball is NEVER boring. I've learned to appreciate their stability even more now that I have had the pleasure of watching them for 17 years. These fans that hate on S.A. in the NBA sure would appreciate having LEGIT annual title contenders for all these years, especially with the same franchise players and Head Coach.

 

Everybody forgot the best thing in Spurs system. It's Pop's philosophy/system or you're out. Do what you are told to do even if you're a franchise player. Just ask Duncan, Parker and Ginobili during their interviews... or Jackson for that matter...

 

I think that's the golden example of making everyone defer to the system. Rodman wouldn't defer, so he's out. Sure, he made the Bulls great, but he was a problem for the Spurs.

 

Their drafting has been very good. But I think Pop and the coaching staff still deserve the lion's share of the credit.

Example: Boris Diaw. The Spurs didn't draft him; he had shown prior to coming to San Antonio exactly what his upside was and exactly what his downside was. He hadn't had a truly excellent season since his breakout year in '06. He had a bunch of decent-ish years where he put up stats that looked like any other borderline starter. After his crazy '06 year (.149 WS/48) he just fired off a string of mediocrity (.097,.063,.082,.062,.086,.103,.082,.019,-.023 in final half-season w/ Charlotte). The Spurs picked him up. He instantly went from his worst version to one of his best over that final 20 games, adding 19 percentage points (!) to his TS% and yielding 2 and a half seasons with WS/48 of (.125,.124,.120). If that's not the definition of a team culture/staff that knows how to get the best out of average talents, I don't know what is.

 

It's not the role players or the coaching (even though I agree the team has done well on both) it's the fact that they are able to retain or attain the role players in the first place.

Look at how much money Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker have made versus comparable players. This is the key. High character guys or not, somehow they were able to sign max level players to much less. No other team has ever been able to do this. I'm surprised no one has ever done an investigation yet they did one on the nets/kirilenko.

This gives them the ability to always to get much closer to outside offers on free agents instead of having to wait for minimum guys and late season buyouts. Imagine how good the thunder and heat would be if they were able to get their stars on smaller deals.

 

combo of both.. but mainly coaching.. what other teams' coach have you seen yell at their best players.. pop has yelled at manu, td and tony so much over the years.. imagine some no-name role player seeing the best players on the team getting chewed out by the coach

 

Among the top 4 organizations in the league.

Pacers, Lakers, Spurs, and Pat Riley

Spurs has the luxury of Duncan, then it drafts well and also develops players well.

Pacers has nothing (no market, no top one picks), they always are able to rebuild through careful draft and player development.

Lakers has market, but no top picks, but they always are able to attract big talent.

Pat Riley is the one-man top organization, where-ever he goes, he is able to turn the organization around.

By the way, so far, Rox is not that a good organization. Les got lucky on Dream, other than that, nothing much to say.

 

Absolutely, Spurs knows how to make franchise players sports life longer.

 

The greatest thing Pop is able to do is get players into their roles and emphasize their strengths. Pretty much everyone on the Spurs right now has flaws. Yet, you just don't see the flaws exposed because the system just allows players to their strengths.

For example, Danny Green is a SG who can't dribble, pass or finish in the paint. So he's never asked to dribble, pass or finish in traffic.

 

Clearly both, best coaching staff in NBA, best front office in NBA, and it's not close

 

Duncan would still be great, but he will get more injury problems, and will have retired by now.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6NbJMq-QfU


Don't know if the video has been posted somewhere else or not, but its hard not to root for the spurs each year the way they play.

 

Whoops NVM it has

 

IMO it all starts with their three franchise players who absolutely buy into the team system and the coach. Especially, the fact that Parker and Ginobili have no problem playing complementary roles whenever needed.

This allows everyone else to get involved and trust their roles within the team.

 

What pick was ginobili?

 

ginobili was a very late 2nd rounder, and yes, at the time may not have been considered a household name, but he waited 2-3 years to come over and during that time he developed into a very good player (Euro MVP, champion, etc). So, it's not like he was drafted and SA turned him into this world class international player. He was well on his way by the time he finally joined them.

 

Even so, some players who play well in other leagues, flame out when they reach the NBA.

A previous poster said it - Duncan probably wouldn't have been this good without someone like Pop coaching him. The same absolutely goes for Ginobili.

 

True, but that was before the days of Popovich (the coach) and Duncan. Also, you can't bat 100%.