Um, DRob was still great in 97-98, Duncan's rookie year. He had a freaking 27+ PER. And north of 24 PER the next few seasons. He was still very very good, even if not what he once was. Moreover it's different when a Ayer ready has a chip, IMO. Lebron left because He basically had no chance in Cleveland and was going backwards. I won't fault great players from joining other great players when they weren't blessed to have them on their team. Great players are judged by championships. Can't fault them for doing what they need to do to get those chips.
There is a big difference between rising to contend and already contending. If I were a betting man I would still take the Spurs over any of those teams. With Spurs you know what you will be getting. With the other teams there are a lot of uncertainties. OKC screwed themselves by letting Harden go. They still have to make a decision on Martin and even with him I dont think they are better than the Spurs. Spurs with the emergence of Leonard are the better team. The future of the other two teams you mentioned is still uncertain.
they need prime manu. a two guard who can create shots for others, put the ball on the floor and take it to the rack (both of which will ease parker's load) while also being a good enough shooter to keep the floor spread when they dump it down to timmy. Timmy and tony by themselves isnt enough, even with great complimentary players like kawhi and green (the defender and shooter)..and yes kawhi has grown into even more which is all the better for them.
So true, it would be the biggest choke in history. Can you imagine a 'TD chokes again!!' thread? The guy is humble and pure class. Really goes to shows how much pressure Lebron has to deal with based on expectation, but aside from being the NBA icon etc, it is self-inflicted with all the smugness in the past, proclaiming not 7, not 8... 'ships etc, where as the Spurs weren't even meant to come out of the west.
It's going to be hard for every guy except for Green, Leonard to carry on when the Heat are blocking their way year in year out. I just do not see Parker dominating every year like he did this year so when he is not dominating the Spurs are still Second or Third round fodder. Memphis happened to be playing subpar this WC finals because no way they are sweep material even against the Spurs. They were Spurs killers not long ago.
I haven't read through this thread, but am I the only one that thinks Duncan could play 3 more strong years if he wants to? By strong, I mean no worse than Garnett has been the past few years. Duncan's game relies on zero athleticism, and with Pop's substition patterns and not overusing him, why not?
And the Spurs were much better this year than in 2011. Parker's better, Kawhi's better than Jefferson, Splitter is better than old McDyess, Diaw is better than Blair ( who is oddly overrated by a lot of non-Spurs fans - Blair is basically an inferior Chuckwagon, and Chuck is barely a rotation player on a championship team), so on, and so on. It wasn't a sweep in that San Antonio dominated Memphis, because there were a lot of close games, but San Antonio is clearly better.
Maybe it's good they didn't win, I think that would've increased chance of him and Pop retiring. Who doesn't want to retire a championship? Then again, he's only 37! People who say that's old are just ignorant, especially if you look at how Duncan performed. The guy has easily 3 to 5 years left.
