I warned you.
Before Summer had yet started and the year was still approaching middle age I warned you that there was a Texas dynasty about to fade away into history and anyone who is a fan of Texas based sports franchises or just loved the sport of basketball at all should find the time to watch a group of sports heroes who made their name in the Lone Star State and whose accomplishments should be praised alongside such legendary names as Roger Staubach, Andre Johnson and Tom Landry.
Between 1999 and 2014 the San Antonio Spurs won five NBA championships and reached the NBA Finals as the Western Conference Champions five times in that same span of time. The last championship in 2014 stopped LeBron James (arguably the best player in the NBA today), Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh from getting their third straight NBA title.
This past Summer however, the one dead sure hall of fame caliber player who was on all four NBA Finals teams retired, power forward Tim Duncan, who was also rookie of the year the prior season to the team’s first NBA Championship.
Averaging nearly twenty points and just over ten rebounds a game while shooting fifty percent from the field for his career, Duncan was also on the All NBA team fifteen times while he played, to match his fifteen times appearing in the All Star Game and on the all NBA Defensive team.
Duncan was also the league MVP twice and the NBA Finals MVP for three of the Spurs five championship victories.
He was productive even after he was past the usual prime of an NBA player’s body and although his cool and laid back on court and off court demeanor meant he was never one of the more flamboyant superstars of his era, his work ethic and marks where it counts, in winning made him a once in a lifetime talent and a player people will be talking about for generations.
While Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili remain on the team for now, the last remnants of the glory days where every year the league would sleep on the Spurs and count them out and yet they would go to work with their white collar attitude and get to the post season year after year. But now the pair’s talents are declining and while they definitely still have a role to play on a winning NBA team, their best days are in the rear view mirror.
That is not to say that the Spurs may not have a good season this year or that there are not bright spots on the roster. One of the best coaches in the league today, Greg Popovich is still roaming the sidelines and there is the all star tandem of Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, who are two great players in their own right and Leonard continues to improve each year.
Add to that the addition of Pau Gasol, the former Chicago Bull and Los Angeles Laker who also has NBA Championships on his resume, and you have a potential playoff squad. Gasol will help offset the loss of Duncan’s offense production, but probably not his ever steady defensive presence in the post.
While the Spurs could most likely make the playoffs this year and have some assets going into the future, it is indeed the end of a great era in Texas pro sports and NBA basketball…you were warned.
