Agreed. Duncan use to be Elite superstar back in his prime but not now. It's all stars or slightly below stars now.
The part at half time where Pops was smiling and chilling with Duncan and Parker even though they were down relatively significantly. You just have to respect that. He's the type of guy that could go in a locker room full of drama queens and gain control and respect from everyone.
I still think Duncan is a superstar in terms of performance level, but I don't think he ever was a superstar in terms of fame. He's really boring to watch (my opinion) and doesn't have that cocky personality.
That makes them healthy & rested for the playoffs. It also means that their replacements have had time playing together during the regular season & gelled. Now in the playoffs their productivity doesn't drop off much when the big 3 are resting.
Since the Bull's last title, the Lakers have won it 5 times, the Spurs 4 times and four other teams have won it once. People tend to get all emotional about team rivalries etc, instead of looking at how and why other teams have been successful. For the Spurs to have accomplished this in a small market is truly remarkable. It should not take away from being a Rockets fan to show some respect to your opponent.
yeah I am not a spurs fan but they look damn good and just acknowledging that. At the same time the thing that I also find weird is they have been at the to of the list for the last 10 years at least, and yet we don't hear anything about it being a place to play. howard,melo,lebron,bosh,williams etc not a peep about SA. You would think there would be a bunch of ring chasers and 'guys that just want to win' all vying to get to SA, but not even a smidgens of this. Just think it's slightly weird and San Antonio is not that bad of a place.
Yeah, imagine if Parker had been drafted by another team with a coach that didn't get players in line. He'd probably have ended up acting like a diva. His unfortunate rap videos are a glimpse of that side of him: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-WuEJX3Ty9s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The Spurs are the model of the NBA, class from top to bottom they just know how to get talent, and they do extensive research on the players they draft I mean look at some of these guys on their roster, Gary Neal, and Danny Green both solid players The Spurs also rarely trade up in the draft, but look at last year, they trade a solid player in George Hill for an unproven rookie. And just everything else they do, it works. Kawhi Leonard is barely 20 years old. He looks to have a nice future, gonna be nice seeing him and Parsons go at it for the next couple fo years But anyways the only mistake was trading Scola, but it was Scola who didnt want to play with the Spurs( i dunno why). So he kinda forced his way into a trade
Pop uses Duncan to generate the "superstar" points, without the need for the offense to run through him 24/7. The best management of an aging star I've ever seen.
Quiet superstars are the best. You don't need to flaunt your ego for everyone to see. Rose, Durant, Duncan all have this quality about them.
I do consider Tim Duncan a superstar. The guy is going to go down in NBA history as the best PF in basketball history, you kidding me? Yeah he's not a young pup anymore, but he's in great shape and still a force. And Tony Parker is player who may not be popular like a Chris Paul, but he's every bit as effective with the Spurs, if not more. And Manu has always been great at passing, defense, and going on nice scoring runs. The thing about it is Duncan and Manu have been hurt, but are in good shape. And a lot of that has to do with a deep bench. This K.Leonard guy is legit. Gives them nice size, can score some points and play defense. Last, but not least, their coach. My goodness is he a brilliant coach. The way he had those horrible FT shooters on the line to save possessions on making a come back and guarding against a comeback, it's those moves that make him a genius. The Clippers basically gave up at that point.
