San Antonio Spurs: Is the Dynasty’s Window to Win Closing?

In my opinion, the San Antonio Spurs are a dynasty. By winning four titles within the last eleven years, the Spurs should be considered among the elite franchises of all-time. Their four championships rank them 4th behind the Celtics, Lakers, and Bulls. The one constant on all 4 championship teams is future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan. The Spurs were good during the mid 90’s with stars like former MVP David Robinson and Sean Elliot. In the ’96-’97 season, Robinson was injured and played in only 6 games while the team finished with one of the worst records in the league at 20-62. The Spurs were stuck in NBA no man’s land of being good but not great.

The Spurs should be the model for the old adage,”You must get real bad before you can get real good.” Because of their bad record, they secured the #1 pick in the ’97 draft, in which they selected Tim Duncan out of Wake Forest University. The rest became history, since the Spurs paired Duncan with Robinson, forming a modern version of the “Twin Towers”, and won the franchises’ first title in only Duncan’s 2nd season in 1999.

Fast forward ten seasons to ’09-’10, and the Spurs could be considered the model franchise in the NBA because of the management’s willingness to surround their superstar(Duncan) with high talent role players through either free agency or the draft. San Antonio is once again one of the favorites to win another title because they went out and spent to acquire Richard Jefferson to add to an already tremendous nucleus.

But, one look at the ages of their “Big Three” reveals that San Antonio’s “window of opportunity” to win is closing. Duncan will turn 34 by season’s end. Ginobili, who has had injury problems is 32. Parker, although younger will be 28 at season’s end, has recently also had injury issues. The newly acquired Jefferson, at 29, has also had injuries and played 82 games in only 3 of his 8 seasons. It appears that management recognizes this has chosen to try and win now…………….again.

While Parker, Ginobili, and Jefferson are good players, they would be hard pressed to carry a franchise to another title without their 2 time league MVP, Duncan. While Duncan has been relatively healthy, one has to wonder when the pounding of playing 900 games over 12 NBA seasons will take it’s toll on the 11 time All-Star’s ageing knees.

A knowledgeable Spurs fan knows to savor every minute that Duncan is on the court since replacing TD with another player of his character, stature, and abilities is maybe once in 20 years occurance.

The Greatest NBA Champions Since 1980-#9 – ’05 Spurs

#9 – 2005 San Antonio Spurs

With this season’s NBA Finals behind us, I decided to take a look back and rank the greatest NBA Championship teams in the modern era(post 1980). This will be a ten part series with a new entry each week. Which teams had the most dominating seasons and playoff runs in the last 30 years? How would they stack up against each other? Which teams had the most Hall of Fame players or coaches? The rankings were limited to two teams per franchise in the top ten. Let the debate begin.

 

 

 

Starting Lineup – Bruce Bowen, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, R. Nesterovic, Tony Parker
Reg Season Record – 59-23 Playoffs – 16-7 Finals – beat Pistons 4-3
Individual Awards – Tim Duncan – All NBA 1st Team, All Defensive 1st Team, Finals MVP Bruce Bowen – All NBA 2nd Team

Although the 04′-05′ NBA season’s most memorable moment will forever be the infamous brawl between the Pistons and Pacers, the Spurs ran through the NBA with the perfect mix of efficient offense and absolute shut down defense. In the regular season, the Spurs breezed through a tough Western Conference with a record of 59-23, finishing 2nd overall behind the NBA’s highest scoring team, the Phoenix Suns. San Antonio was led by future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan who averaged a workmanlike 20.3 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks. The coming of age of a pair of 2nd and 3rd year players named Ginobili(16ppg) and Parker(16.6ppg and 6.1apg), along with Duncan, and an experienced mix of veterans off the bench like Robert Horry, Brent Barry, and Glenn Robinson was the perfect mix to roll through the playoffs as well. The Spurs allowed only a stingy 88.4 points per game ranking 1st in many defensive categories. They held teams to under 70 points a record 8 times.

Led by defense, the Spurs rolled past the Nuggets (4-1), Sonics(4-2), and in a show of defensive intensity, dominated regular season MVP Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns(4-1) setting up a showdown between the previous two NBA Champions, Spurs(03′) and defending champion Pistons(04′). In terms of competitiveness, it was regarded by many as one of the best NBA Finals match-ups in recent history by going the full 7 games. The Spurs set a NBA Finals record by holding the Pistons to under 80 points in 3 of their 4 wins in the series. In Game 5, Robert Horry hit another of his patented game winning shots which shifted momentum towards San Antonio for good. The win gave Horry his 6th NBA title tying Jordan and Pippen. It was the third time that Tim Duncan won his 3rd Finals MVP.

The trio of Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker is still one of the best trios of players to win titles in recent history by winning another in 2007. This team is considered the best of a Spurs dynasty which would go on to win 4 titles over a 9 years span(99′, 03′, 05′, and 07′) and still challenge for more titles through 2010 and beyond.

Check out thehoopdoctors.com for the final selections