Spurs running a clinic on winning without superstars....Rockets need to take a lesson

The no superstar comment is hard to swallow...but i have a bigger problem with the OP implying all it takes is collecting the players with the right skills. You're completely disregarding the experience and character those 3 guys have, and of course the coaching, which has been mentioned numerous times.

Those three have been around for a long time and have a lot of playoff experience, including championship experience. That's what has allowed them to build great chemistry, leadership, and allowed them to keep believing in what's basically the only system and environment they have ever known. It's highly uncommon for one star to stick around, even less common for 2 others to join in.

Where do the Rockets find 3 players like that?

 

Agreed. If there were more than that, they wouldn't qualify as "super"stars.

 

28th isn't so bad when there are 150 starters in the league.

 

Ban...deepest team in the league, best coach, Timmy, Parker, Manu, Jackson, Kawhi, Green,...perfect unit.

Sometimes the basketball knowledge/judgement is plain horrible on this board.

 

Sometimes a couple of borderline superstars in Duncan and Manu plus a legit superstar in Tony could do it.

 

You can't fault Maory for trying though... Guys sulked or went injury prone

Brooks - Poor man's Parker
MacGrady - Some kind of Manu
Yao - taller mechanical Duncan

 

Still a one-star thread, but the OP has a point, in that the Thunder shouldn't be getting steam-rolled this badly, just based on talent.

The system, buy-in, and total b-ball IQ for this spurs group are just sky high. Probably a pretty rare alignment. Thrown in some great talent and experience, with one all-star quality guy having his best season as a pro, and it could easily be championship time again. (sigh.)

But the Rockets aren't going to be taking any lessons from this. Sorry. (insert McHale image.)

 

If The Spurs get to the Finals I will root HARD for The Heat (I hate the Heat) just because of this thread.

 

The Spurs are not running anything unusual. They are just running the offense to perfection.

The Rockets and every other team will be trying to find players that disciplined.

And the spurious, uncalled for, disingenuous, and false comments about McHale still continue. He had no off season and a handful if practices in season to work with.

 

The Thunder have lost 2 games on the road to the Spurs - the first of which they had a chance to win. The second in which they were still in the game with 2 minutes left to play. That's hardly getting steamrolled.

Until the Thunder go down 3-0 I think it's way too presumptive to judge this series.

SA has experience going for it, and honestly, The spurs are shooting the ball incredibly well right now. That won't hold up.

Series are about adjustment, Brooks has a very young and inexperienced team fighting against a playoff savvy team stacked with vets who are or were former perennial all-stars playing at their peak right now.

Yesterday we saw the best the Spurs played. The BEST. It's nearly impossible for them to play even better. And yet, they only won by 9 points at home. They should have won by double digits. OKC has taken the Spurs best punch. And they are now going home to a crowd that is going to be extremely loud.

I think SA will win this series - OKC lacks the experience needed to bump of a team like SA. But steamrolled? Please.

 

The Spurs are currently playing exactly how they have played for the last 2 months. I would not expect a drop off any time soon. The question is whether OKC can elevate their game.

 

To a certain extent, the OP is right. They don't have a superstar. They have 3 stars and a bunch of role players that work amazing together. And as much as i'm sure we all hate the Spurs, watching a TEAM (as compared to a few superstars taking turns scoring) play is a lovely site. Just sucks that out of all the teams in the league, it had to be the Spurs lol.

 

Dude. Seriously - you need to think more before you post.

System trumps talent? Ha. Yes, because of the past 20 NBA champions, how many had Grade B talent? How many? I'm seeing an oval buddy.

Let's take your ridiculous argument though about taking a lesson from the spurs.

How did they build this team? Let's see, they had David Robinson injured for a season and a bunch of good role players and wash-upd players...and they finished with the worst record in the league! 20 Games. Then they drafted a guy named Tim Duncan and the next season won +36 for the biggest turnaround in NBA history!

Dude, they didn't build their team by accumulating efficient good players. They did it by getting the number one pick in the draft, having superstars and then building around them. And they got blessed with being the first to really mine the Euroleagues. They got three of the best international players out there in Duncan, Parker, and Manu. That was a one-time thing. Can't be repeated.

If we were to take a page from the Spurs the lesson is, we should tank hard, get a superstar, and then build around them with complementing players that are really efficient and good.

Wow! Brilliant!

 

Please name the last NBA team to win a championship without at least one HOF'er on the roster.

 

OP does have a point. Championship is won by accumulated overall talent. Superstars really help but a bunch of allstars can still do it. Or if you have 12 starting quality players you can have a shot as well.

Spurs as of now doesn't have a single 'superstar' if you ask people before the season(or even the postseason) starts. However, they have starting quality players on the bench(20+ PER Splitter from bench, and Blair can't even get off the bench). Of course that helped a lot to keep the aged stars rested and fresh in important games and time.

Nevertheless, Spurs just simply use picknroll so effortlessly without thinking. Thunders need to study how to defend it teamwise and it's just a learning experience.

 

While they did get very fortunate in luck boxing the #1 pick to get Duncan, to dismiss the Manu and Parker picks as a "blessed" occurrence is insulting to their amazing front office/scouting department. They were ahead of the curve then, and they have been ever since (see their drafts/trades) Outside of the Scola deal, they have been magnificent.