Spurs in line for titles not the limelight

They have the best record in the NBA, they have some of the best players in the history of the NBA and they have the best coach in the NBA.

However, the San Antonio Spurs are not considered the best team in the NBA.

In a technological age where every pass, dribble, fake and turnover is recorded, how can a team fly under the radar? I can’t think of a number 1 team in the last twenty years that has been less feared than the Spurs. What is it about the Spurs that denies them recognition from the basketball world?

San Antonio are what is generally referred to as a ‘small market’ team. This term has been misused a frustrating amount over the last few years; the term ‘market’ refers the relative area in which the team can draw basketball related revenue. In a state with three NBA teams, there is only so much market to share. Don’t let the term confuse you; the Spurs are a huge team. Their four NBA titles are enough to have built their brand beyond their ‘small market’.

Credit isn’t always given where credit is due, especially when it comes to Coach Popovich’s brand of solid team basketball. Of course there will always be basketball fans who appreciate the finer points of the game, and who embrace the ‘extra pass’ philosophy of many college coaches. The fact is, we don’t like ‘good’ basketball. We, as modern day fans, want to see Jamal Crawford shake someone out of their shoes or LeBron and Wade endlessly throw full-court lobs.

“Hey dude, did you see that back-pick Thiago Splitter set to free Gary Neal up for the mid-range ‘J’ last night” 

Nobody.

The Spurs current record is a product of intelligent, unselfish basketball. They rank 1st in the NBA in assists per game, which doesn’t necessarily mean what most people think. If you see that a team averages 25 assists a game, your initial thought might be that this team has no ‘stars’ to do the majority of the scoring.

Well first of all, who says one or two guys have to do all the scoring? Imagine you have five guys who score 10ppg, and one of them tears his ACL. How many points are you left with? Now imagine you have two stars averaging 25ppg, and one of them tears their ACL? Is that a terrible way of looking at basketball, or is it an honest and practical way of looking at the game? Spurs are a team full of good players who know their role. The Spurs team, although full of talented players, is more than the sum of its parts. This way of looking at sports is what the whole ‘moneyball’ philosophy was built around. It just doesn’t seem to translate well to the casual basketball fan.

Although they aren’t your conventional ‘stars’, the Spurs do have three fantastically gifted players at the heart of their organisation.

Tim Duncan is arguably the best power forward who has ever played the game, Tony Parker is a former Finals MVP, and Manu Ginobili is one of the most skilled players that the game has ever seen.

Is the NBA world bored of these guys? Is this simply a case of fan fatigue? It was only 12 months ago that people were saying that LeBron might never win a championship so, in NBA terms, the Spurs’ 2007 championship (their last) was about a century ago. You can’t deny the fact that Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili are ageing and, with that, so is the hype surrounding them.

The spine of their last two championships (Parker, Ginobili, Duncan, Popovic) remains the same, they are the only team in the top 5 on both offence and defence, they hold the best record in the NBA, but there is one thing they are not; they are not the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Thunder are another ‘small market’ team with no interest in going anywhere near the luxury tax, and the Thunder’s GM, Sam Presti, even came from the Spurs. Thunder owner, Clay Bennett, was on the Spurs board of directors in the mid-90’s. In a sense, the Spurs helped to create the team that is now threatening to extinguish their hopes of a fifth title. Unlike the Spurs, OKC are the new kids on the block. The franchise is shiny and new, with marketable and exciting players.

What if the Spurs don’t mind being under the radar, or in Oklahoma or Miami’s shadow? If you deal with incredible highs, you must deal with incredible lows; it makes sense to want to involve unnecessary drama. By building a franchise around consistency, understanding and unselfish play on both ends, the Spurs are still very much alive. They may do things a little differently over in San Antonio, but there is only one thing that matters; and they happen to already have four of them.