Sustained Excellence
I heard Stephen A. Smith say this last night, and thought it was the perfect description of the NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs. A team that has won 4 titles in the last 9 years can officially now be proclaimed a dynasty, as well as being mentioned amonst the best teams (and organizations) of all time.
We all know of the singular brilliance that is Tim Duncan. Who I consider the greatest power forward of all time. Who I was happy to see has seemed to become more fiery and vocal as the elder statesman of the team. What most people don't do is give Greg Popovich and the Spurs front office enough credit. I mean, who is the second best player on the team. Ginobili or Parker, both foreign born players, who were not highly touted but were well scouted to fit into the Spurs system. Neither one of them would be involved in arguments about the best players at their positions, but they fit the system perfectly. If you look up and down that bench you see a number of foreign born players who perfectly fit that system... Oberto, Elson, Udrih as well as the already mentioned Parker and Ginobili. That really is a testament to the front office as well the new template to succeed in the NBA. This run by the Spurs has to rank right up there with the Lakers and Celtics in the 80's and the Bulls of the 90's. To be this good for so long is a rare and special treat.
The other thing that stood out for me in this series is how structured the Spurs are offensively. Which led me to wondering when the last team won that didnt have a structured offense, and I couldnt think of one. I'm a huge fan of back to the basket, and pick and roll plays. Both teams in the finals demonstrated the ability to run just such an offense. While the Suns and Mavs look like they are having fun, and get all the sexy headlines. Their motion based offenses don't yield results (as in titles, they each have been great in the regular season). A structured offense has proven results.
The other scary thing abou this series was how flawed a team the Cavs were. I say this because the rest of the NBA should be worried that Lebron was able to carry such a flawed team on his back to the NBA finals. What happens when he finally has a decent supporting cast. The results could and should be scary.
We all know of the singular brilliance that is Tim Duncan. Who I consider the greatest power forward of all time. Who I was happy to see has seemed to become more fiery and vocal as the elder statesman of the team. What most people don't do is give Greg Popovich and the Spurs front office enough credit. I mean, who is the second best player on the team. Ginobili or Parker, both foreign born players, who were not highly touted but were well scouted to fit into the Spurs system. Neither one of them would be involved in arguments about the best players at their positions, but they fit the system perfectly. If you look up and down that bench you see a number of foreign born players who perfectly fit that system... Oberto, Elson, Udrih as well as the already mentioned Parker and Ginobili. That really is a testament to the front office as well the new template to succeed in the NBA. This run by the Spurs has to rank right up there with the Lakers and Celtics in the 80's and the Bulls of the 90's. To be this good for so long is a rare and special treat.
The other thing that stood out for me in this series is how structured the Spurs are offensively. Which led me to wondering when the last team won that didnt have a structured offense, and I couldnt think of one. I'm a huge fan of back to the basket, and pick and roll plays. Both teams in the finals demonstrated the ability to run just such an offense. While the Suns and Mavs look like they are having fun, and get all the sexy headlines. Their motion based offenses don't yield results (as in titles, they each have been great in the regular season). A structured offense has proven results.
The other scary thing abou this series was how flawed a team the Cavs were. I say this because the rest of the NBA should be worried that Lebron was able to carry such a flawed team on his back to the NBA finals. What happens when he finally has a decent supporting cast. The results could and should be scary.
Labels: Sports
posted by LEV at
9:15 AM
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