In the Duncan/Parker/Ginobili Era: Is this year's Spurs team the best ever?

Rashmon · May 18, 2012

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Classic · May 18, 2012

The Cat said: ↑

Icehouse hit the nail on the head... you can't just look at names. Way too much of an oversimplification. You can make any player look great if you pick and choose one game, as you did with Robinson. The reality was in the '03 playoffs, Robinson averaged 7.8 points and 6.6 boards per game in 23 minutes. Part-time role player hanging on. Parker was young and still learning to be a point guard - averaged a whopping 3.5 assists/game on 40% shooting. Routinely pulled in crunch time. Ginobili was a rookie posting the only sub-15 PER of his career. They lost a pair of games to an extremely weak Nets team (by conference champion standards) in the Finals. Never won a series in fewer than six games.

I'd honestly say the 2003 Spurs were the worst of the four SA championship teams. Think most Spurs fans would admit that, too. They had the most "names" on that year's group, but names mean nothing without the context of how they actually played that year.

The most dominant Spurs team was the 1999 one. That's who this year's team would be competing with. Had both MVP-level Duncan (23.2 regular season PER, 25.1 playoffs) and the last season of near-peak Robinson (24.9, 23.3 PER). They were suffocating around the basket. Johnson was the ideal veteran floor general and Elliott a solid No. 3 option. Romped through the playoffs at 15-2, including sweeps of the Lakers and Blazers. The 2012 group has a chance to be that dominant, but hard to say much until they line up with OKC.
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legit analysis

The Cat · May 18, 2012

Ziggy said: ↑

A lot of their depth is inexperienced in playoff situations. Last year they had a pretty damn good team as well but they still lost. Its tough to gauge the Spurs. They fooled me last year, yet I am still confident they had a good team then. Just old and beat.
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Duncan and Ginobili were beaten up last year. That's essentially what it came down to. Tim badly sprained an ankle in late March, which led to overcompensating and aggravating his chronic knee tendinitis. Averaged just 12 points/game on sub-50% shooting and a PER of around 15. Compare that to this year's 17 points/game on 53% shooting and an incredible PER of 25+. Meanwhile, Ginobili missed Game 1, which SA lost, and that put the Spurs behind the eight ball for the whole series.

The Spurs do have strong role players, but it's a league of stars and what happened last year wasn't all that shocking, when you think about it. Popovich did a masterful job this year of having them rested for the postseason... we'll see if it lasts another month.

Easy · May 18, 2012

I think the '05 team was the best. They were #8 on offense and #1 on defense. Duncan and Ginobili were in their prime. Parker was starting to get it together. Barry and Horry could still contribute.

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In the Duncan/Parker/Ginobili Era: Is this year's Spurs team the best ever?

In the Duncan/Parker/Ginobili Era: Is this year's Spurs team the best ever?

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In the Duncan/Parker/Ginobili Era: Is this year's Spurs team the best ever?

In the Duncan/Parker/Ginobili Era: Is this year's Spurs team the best ever?

Yes

Nah

Rashmon Member

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The Cat Member

Easy Boban Only Fan Supporting Member

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