Post by Tomspy77 on Sept 26, 2015 4:40:47 GMT -6
FOW-SEPT 2015
This is a reminder, a note to make you aware that yet again too many in the great state of Texas are ignoring one of the greatest sports teams in the history of the state, that right now the final chapters of a great story are being written.
Blink and you just might miss it.
I am talking about the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association.
Five time NBA champions since 1999 (the last in 2014), home of Hall of Fame caliber players like David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. The team that has a reputation for building a winning culture and still retains one of the best basketball minds in history in head coach Greg Popovich.
That however, is history….this is a reminder.
I have been writing this column for Dolphin Talk for a few years now and if you are a regular reader of this newspaper you might have read my love letters to the Spurs before. I would write them after the current NBA season had been won or lost, always thinking that this might be the end of an era, the end of a dynasty gone mostly unnoticed in the land of Texas where football is king.
A funny thing happened on the way to the history books though…the Spurs reloaded in the Summer of 2015 and looked poised once again to rise to the level of a champion.
Key returning players such as the aging yet crafty guard Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and vital piece for the future Kawhi Leonard were re-signed to complement the older but still competent core of Duncan and Parker.
Of course, the Spurs starting five being closer to retirement age then their rookie seasons was one of the reasons I kept feeling the need to write a premature obituary for the team. Despite having excellent coaching and a great team concept, the Spurs could not continue to defy time and their days as a contender seemed limited at best.
This seemed to be confirmed in the 2015 NBS Draft, where the Spurs drafted an overseas center prospect unlikely to have Texas soil under his feet for at least another couple of years as he gained more experience in his home land. Although this practice was a wise one for the long term, it meant the 2015 Spurs would not get a contributing player from the draft for next season as their core grew older.
July quickly came around along with the free agency period and what happened next flipped the script on the demise of this venerable franchise and made my old columns about their downward spiral look like a mad man predicting the end of the world from the bottom of his tea cup.
First the Spurs picked up veteran big man David West, long considered to be a serviceable and contributing big man. This however was not enough to ward off the vultures circling San Antonio.
Then they went and signed power forward LaMarcus Aldrige, a nine year veteran who was one of the biggest prizes of this years free agent market. Aldridge is a legitimate All-Star level player who has all the right skills and the right mind set to push the Spurs once again to the top tiers of the NBA.
No matter what the Spurs will be fun to watch and might just reclaim former glories.
So this is your chance to see this for yourself before it really does fade away…don’t miss it or you may miss a great tale in the lore of Texas sports.
Blink and you just might miss it.
I am talking about the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association.
Five time NBA champions since 1999 (the last in 2014), home of Hall of Fame caliber players like David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. The team that has a reputation for building a winning culture and still retains one of the best basketball minds in history in head coach Greg Popovich.
That however, is history….this is a reminder.
I have been writing this column for Dolphin Talk for a few years now and if you are a regular reader of this newspaper you might have read my love letters to the Spurs before. I would write them after the current NBA season had been won or lost, always thinking that this might be the end of an era, the end of a dynasty gone mostly unnoticed in the land of Texas where football is king.
A funny thing happened on the way to the history books though…the Spurs reloaded in the Summer of 2015 and looked poised once again to rise to the level of a champion.
Key returning players such as the aging yet crafty guard Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and vital piece for the future Kawhi Leonard were re-signed to complement the older but still competent core of Duncan and Parker.
Of course, the Spurs starting five being closer to retirement age then their rookie seasons was one of the reasons I kept feeling the need to write a premature obituary for the team. Despite having excellent coaching and a great team concept, the Spurs could not continue to defy time and their days as a contender seemed limited at best.
This seemed to be confirmed in the 2015 NBS Draft, where the Spurs drafted an overseas center prospect unlikely to have Texas soil under his feet for at least another couple of years as he gained more experience in his home land. Although this practice was a wise one for the long term, it meant the 2015 Spurs would not get a contributing player from the draft for next season as their core grew older.
July quickly came around along with the free agency period and what happened next flipped the script on the demise of this venerable franchise and made my old columns about their downward spiral look like a mad man predicting the end of the world from the bottom of his tea cup.
First the Spurs picked up veteran big man David West, long considered to be a serviceable and contributing big man. This however was not enough to ward off the vultures circling San Antonio.
Then they went and signed power forward LaMarcus Aldrige, a nine year veteran who was one of the biggest prizes of this years free agent market. Aldridge is a legitimate All-Star level player who has all the right skills and the right mind set to push the Spurs once again to the top tiers of the NBA.
No matter what the Spurs will be fun to watch and might just reclaim former glories.
So this is your chance to see this for yourself before it really does fade away…don’t miss it or you may miss a great tale in the lore of Texas sports.