Spurs: best franchise in NBA history?

The Spurs have been dominate pretty much since I can remember. I grew up hating the Spurs, but one has to appreciate the fact that they've been able to be so competitive for such a long time. As a Rockets fan I'm a bit jealous, who wouldn't want to support a team like that?

 

What's weird is they allowed a dynasty to exist within their supposed "dynasty" (Lakers 3-peat) and never went back-to-back. Lakers have as many titles since 99. And a whole lot more overall.

So to me, no.

But right now they're the best in sports.

 

They definitely are a top franchise.

It's ****ing embarrassing that the Rockets have never won more than 58 games in their franchise existence and they only did that once. Even our 2nd ring was a bad season in which we had to overcome so much as a 6th seed, but that made it so much sweeter too.

 

A lot of it has to do with going from Gervin to David Robinson to Tim Duncan to Kawhi Leonard with minimal losing seasons in between. But, that is just part of it. They also built contenders around their stars through stellar drafts.

The Rockets lost Moses in his prime after 2 MVPs because we couldn't build a contender around him. Didn't we make the finals in 81 with a .500 record or losing record? Hakeem spent the majority of his career rotting away on terrible rosters thanks to Ralph being injured. We then put all of our eggs in one basket and got past their prime, a few years left in the tank players in Drexler, Barkley and Pippen surrounded by barely anything left in the tank old role players.
Then we got unlucky that Yao and T-Mac both couldn't stay healthy who were also surrounded by old role players. Now we have a broken down past his prime Dwight Howard and wasting away Hardens prime years surrounded by old role players and trying to force a championship team by signing other peoples stars away instead of drafting our stars and role players like the Spurs have always done.

I really think it's all on Les. Pre Les was just sad injuries and cocaine issues. Post Les is trying to buy a championship team instead of build one. We need to draft and groom our role players around Harden and hope one or two of them become all star level. Someone needs to tell Les that we aren't the Lakers. The Lakers can buy their championship because it's freaking Los Angeles. San Antonio knows who they are. Houston and Dallas are the fat girls who think they are hot and can be picky because a good looking guy got drunk and F'ed them for a one night stand and now they think they can get all the good looking guys they want.

 

I would say lakers and celtics are better.

 

We're the best franchise in the league... just not with winning records.

 

Lakers are still best despite 3 straight crap years. Spurs are right behind them. Then the Bulls.

I don't give a crap about the Celtics winning 8 straight titles in a league with 8 teams and where players had to get part time jobs in the summer, where players missed games due to army reserve duties, when nobody gave a crap about the league, when finals games were not on tv or they were on tape delay after the 10pm news. Everything before the three point line (79-80 season) is basically irrelevant.

 

Spurs prove you do not need a big market to win. The Spurs are not interested in the big name flashy players like Harden. They have become one of my favorite teams because as the bring competitive team play.

 

Definitely in the past 20 years. Lakers a close 2nd. Boston a distant 3rd.

 

But...all of Boston's titles are from Bean town.

LA took 5 of its titles from Minneapolis and George Mikan.

LA also won 1 title during the 8 teams era. Not like Boston didn't win any others. They got 2 in the 70s, 3 in the 80s and 1 in the 2K's. They might have had 1 or 2 in the 90s had Len Bias not died and Reggie Lewis not died and Larry bird not broken his back. They were built to carry on dominating in the 90s while even if Magic didn't get HIV, the Lakers were pretty much done after the Bulls beat them in the Finals while seeing many WC teams on the come up.

You could also argue Boston drafted all of it's stars. And LA having signed Kareem away from the Bucks after winning a championship there would last 20 years as a star much like Duncan for the Spurs. Wilt, Kareem, Shaq, Kobe all stolen away from other teams(In Kobe's case he would only play for the Lakers like a b****). The Lakers will eventally steal away another teams superstar and win more rings. That's just the way it works and i think that's just too easy being located in Los Angeles and being that cities team(unlike the Clippers). Boston's dominance and San Antonio's have been more impressive in terms of actually drafting and building their championship teams in small markets IMO.

 

i read somewhere with duncan, the spurs haven't had a 5+ game losing streak. and something like the most 5+ winning streaks.

 

exactly exactly exactly. the rockets have not drafted higher than 13 besides yao, hakeem, sampson in 30 freaking years. unless you count eddie griffin as drafting high.

mediocrity for mf'ing win.

 

and i suppose steve francis also

 

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Here's more proof: After beating Portland last night, the Spurs now own a winning record all-time against every single team in the NBA.
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Atlanta Hawks: 51-36 (.586%)
Boston Celtics: 49-38 (.563%)
Brooklyn Nets: 66-21 (.759%)
Charlotte Hornets: 37-14 (.725%)
Chicago Bulls: 51-32 (.614%)
Cleveland Cavaliers: 58-31 (.652%)
Dallas Mavericks: 101-66 (.605%)
Denver Nuggets: 111-64 (.634%)
Detroit Pistons: 53-33 (.616%
Golden State Warriors: 103-54 (.656%)
Houston Rockets: 103-82 (.557%)
Indiana Pacers: 51-36 (.586%)
Los Angeles Clippers: 123-36 (.774%)
Los Angeles Lakers: 83-77 (.519%)
Memphis Grizzlies: 61-20 (.753%)
Miami Heat: 38-18 (.679%)
Milwaukee Bucks: 47-36 (.566%)
Minnesota Timberwolves: 80-28 (.741%)
New Orleans Pelicans: 38-13 (.745%)
New York Knicks: 49-38 (.563%)
Oklahoma City Thunder: 87-71 (.551%)
Orlando Magic: 40-15 (.727%)
Philadelphia 76ers: 55-34 (.618%)
Phoenix Suns: 87-75 (.537%)
Portland Trail Blazers: 80-79 (.503%)
Sacramento Kings: 112-55 (.671%)
Toronto Raptors: 28-11 (.718%)
Utah Jazz: 100-76 (.568%)
Washington Wizards: 55-32 (.632%)
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I have much respect for that organization, the GM, the coach, and the team leaders in Leonard, Duncan, and Robinson. Just a grade A set of guys there. I grew up seeing the Spurs dash the hopes of my beloved Rox. But that team has managed to be on my list of orgs/teams to watch. They do things the right way. Well... minus Sean Elliot on the color commentary.

 

it just goes to show how impactful the coach/front office is to the performance and development of players & the team.

if pop doesn't start coaching in SA, they don't become 'the spurs'.

Top down - you gotta have charismatic, high-character leaders.

 

based on that list, rockets gave them the most losses