Spurs: best franchise in NBA history?

Getting close to the last 30 years. Pretty amazing what they've built there. I wonder if they'll be able to continue the success post Pop.

 

"They are what we thought the were. And if you want to crown them, then crown them."

They are a top franchise AND they definitely know how to tank at the right time IMO.

 

I think the 17-time NBA World Champion Boston Celtics would have something to say about that. Then 16-time NBA World Champion LA Lakers. Then you have the Bulls Dynasty who had 6 NBA World Champion titles in eight years through out the 90's.
Then the 5-Time NBA World Champion Spurs.

They are a Top 5 Organization

 

You're right - since the Admiral era.

Impressive.

 

the spurs ability to find role players and integrate/develop/coach them the last 7 or 8 years has been amazing, definitely the best in the league. the fact they've seamlessly developed kawhi and then integrated lamarcus into what will be a high-60's, possible 70 win team is unbelievable, especially considering this isn't some expansion year or anything. it shows how great pop is.

and before the last 7 or 8 years, they were still good at those things but you could attribute most of their success to having the #1 overall pick when tim duncan was available. and before that having the #1 overall pick when david robinson was available. that can give you a 30 year run.

those things matter a lot. and so does great health. their big gets, duncan/parker/ginobili, have been healthy for like 13 years. what if tmac and yao were healthy for 13 years? not that the rockets are the spurs, but in the last 30 years i don't think we've had a losing record that didn't coincide with a devastating string of injuries. that's not to say we are the spurs, just that you can field decent teams over and over without being a genius organization. we somehow got from yao and tmac essentially retiring before age 30 and back to the WCF without a losing record. the difference is our decent role player teams didn't have a healthy tim duncan for 19 straight years.


now the number of 55+ win seasons is fairly amazing and does speak to just how well pop has run things and how well duncan/parker/ginobili have been willing to adapt to changing roles. everyone would want that group of 4 on their team. even teams with greats can finish around .500 (like the rockets with hakeem) if they don't do things right. their consistency has been amazing.

 

That supposed to be a shot at the Bulls record and Phil? The Sixers, current dleague Grizzlies, Lakers, Nets, Magic, TWolves, Suns all might as well be expansion teams with how garbage or young they are...

But, yes. This Spurs run is amazing.

 

i actually wasn't consciously meaning it as a shot. just that earlier this year when the spurs and warriors margin of victory was starting to get noticed, i happened to notice that the 3 biggest margin of victory seasons ever happened either during an ABA year ('71-'72 bucks, '72-'73 lakers) or during an expansion year ('95-'96 bulls). so the fact san antonio is doing this with no benefit of something like that is pretty amazing.

 

Here are the teams who won more than 2 titles in the modern era. I'd put LA on top with SA right after, and ahead of the Bulls.

Titles in the past thirty years (from 1985/1986 -- current):
LA (6)
Bulls (6)
SA (5)
Miami (3)
Detroit (3)

Titles in the past forty years (from 1975/1976 - current):
LA (10)
Boston (5)

 

7 for LA

 

Spurs deserve their due. They've missed the playoffs 4 times in team history. They even choose good years to suck. 1987 with David Robinson as the prize. 1997 with Tim Duncan as the prize. 50 wins every year since 2000. They would have had 50 easily in the 1999 season if it was a full season. They even won 50 in the 66 game season. They now have a winning record against every other team which is insane. They go from Iceman, to the admiral, to Tim to now Kawhi/Lamarcus. Even the alleged Tony Parker sleeping with Brent Barry's wife went away without much fanfare. It's arguable about which francise is the best but the Spurs are the most consistent.

 

Les trying to buy a championship... lol hhahahahahah... we're trying to Bargain our way to a championship.

 

Some people may not remember, but before being their coach, Pops was their GM. He was the one who fired Bob Hill after the atrocious start to that first season and named himself as HC for the remainder of that said season. Then they were rewarded with Duncan and, the rest, as they say, was history.

 

Interesting trivia tidbit:

The first owner of the Spurs, Red McCombs, was born in Spur, Texas.

 

Another interesting fact:

Red McCombs fired Larry Brown and his entire staff, to include Popovich and R.C. Buford in 1992. A new owner bought the team in 1994 and hired Popovich back as GM, who then hired R.C. Buford back.

So, eerily similar to what DaDakota says should happen to the Rockets. Fire Morey and JBB, and later get rid of Les Alexander. :grin:

 

Crazy thing is, they're bound for decades more of 50 win teams even when the two of the big three retire this year or next.