How did they cheat? Did they break David Robinson's foot, Chuck Person's back, give Charles Smith an arthritic knee, AND give Sean Elliot tendinitis in his knee? Their most consistent player that year was a heavy Dominique Wilkins who was well into his late 30s by that point. Pops - the guy who is universally regarded as one of the league's best coaches fired coach Bob Hill after a poor start and took the coaching job himself and yet you say they cheated? I think there were even a few other teams with worse records - the Spurs just won the lotto. Period.
I do think the Spurs tanked to get a chance at the lottery for Tim Duncan. However, their management decisions have been fantastic. Drafting all their cornerstone players like Ginobli and Parker. Getting the right role players like Mario Elie and Robert Horry to help them win titles. also making great decisions like not trading for Jason Kidd. Maybe they have a good owner too. They didn't change their uniform after they won a championship. If it was Les that owned the Spurs, they would have a flying taco as their logo with pinstripes of alamo across the logo.
BS That team lost in the second round the year before. They were essentially a playoff team that damn near won 60 games the year before. Its funny that you put out that injury scenerio because in a sense thats exactly what they did. A few players got hurt early and they lost some games. So the Spurs, started putting everybody on the injured list for the most ridiculous injuries and they purposely kept David Robinson out for an extended period. Thats why Hill was fired because he didn't want to tank. Pop knew exactly what he was up to. The lottery was not meant to reward teams that were already contenders which what that team was. Tanking when you are already a playoff team is cheating in my book
Whether the Spurs tanked or not, they still only had a 75% chance of not getting the #1 pick. That's the risk you take when you decide to tank. If you are willing to deal with not getting the #1 pick and still tank then it's your prerogative. If you win it awesome, if not then you just wasted a season. Plus add the possibility that Duncan might not have been any good They did not cheat. Cheating is rigging the lottery, or something else. They made a choice to gamble and they won.
http://reclinergm.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/coin-flip-to-lottery-did-the-rockets-tank-to-get-olajuwon/ Sounds like exact same situation to me. Got off to not great start, so decided to throw in towel and lose on purpose. They already had franchise player in Robinson just like Houston Rockets had franchise player in Sampson. Am I missing something? Because if no, this really just seems like case of jealousy. You can say Houston Rockets were bad team the season before, but I can bet you other teams hated them just as much for cheating to get number one pick when they just had one previous year. Personally I say good for both cheaters. Paid off big time.
That's an idiotic post if there is any, if Yao gets back next year and is a shortened season, and we win because Yao didn't get hurt because of the shortened schedule (that also gave him more recovering time). Would you say we just won half a championship?
It would have been better for the Spurs if they had lost last night. They would be commited to rebuilding which is what they should do instead of thinking that they can still compete with the elite teams.
Ginobli and Parker were shots in the dark. Nobody knew they were going to be this good and most could careless because international scouting and players had a prayer stigma about them back then. If they attended American Universities/Colleges than maybe they wouldn't been so easily had by the Spurs.
It aint the same. Its a BIGGGG boost to add a lottery pick especially the TOP pick to a team thats already considered to be a contender. The Rockets sucked the year before, and they sucked even before they started to tank with Ralph. Other teams didn't care because the Rockets simply wern't on anybody's radar. The Rockets didn't have a good start, they sucked from the getgo. And it was pretty apparent by the time that Laker Game happened, they weren't a playoff team. San Antonio on the other hand, started losing early because Robinson was hurt and then started adding guys to the ir through bogus injuries and then intentionally kept David as well as others from coming back later on that season. I am old enough to remember the season--its simply not a comparison. What happened in San Antonio getting a lottery pick never happened before or since-unprecedented BTW, you do know the reason we have the lottery is because the Rockets tanked that year??
Yeah, not even close, this series is slow and grinding-it-out like, but talk about the excitement of the Mavs Warriors series.... and the 67-15 versus the 42-40.......
Yes…So cheating of Rockets obviously made people care more than you say if they changed entire system. Anyway, you cannot convince me. Cheater is cheater. Does not matter what excuse you give that makes it okay for Houston Rockets to cheat. Like, I said, I do not really care and give credit to both. Agree to disagree.
You are right You cannot see the difference between tanking when you are lottery bound team vs. tanking when you are a playoff contender Its much too confusing for you
Is there reason to be disrespectful just because you disagree? I don’t buy into your idea of honorable cheating vs. dishonorable cheating, that’s all. Whatever, I already said agree to disagree. I’m not going to stoop to level of rude person who implies other person is too stupid to understand. Peace to you, sir.
well, it seems you didnt see my previous post about this subject, so I have to repeat it: Its 4 championships, why do you say the first one only count as half? All teams played 50 games, no clearly advantage for the spurs. If the rockets won that season, I couldnt stand people saying that the title only counts as a half. If we have a lockout next season, and they dont play a full season, will you say the title only count as a half? and like other said, your statement is just as idiotic as someone who says that the rockets wouldnt won the championships if jordan didnt retired.
