All good things must come to an end. Even dynasties in sports. The San Antonio Spurs were convincingly, and surprisingly, swept by the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night, effectively ending their season and their run as an elite team in the Association. The Spurs have been the nemesis of the Suns for years; eliminating them from the playoffs the past handful of years in a row.
There has been much debate over the course of the past decade on whether or not the Spurs actually were a dynasty. The argument is that they never won back to back titles, and you must do so in order to be a true dynasty. I used to side with that rationale, but lately I’ve decided that that isn’t the case. They are (or were) in fact a dynasty. Four championships in 13 years is definitely worthy of that distinction.
For as long as we can remember, we saw Tim Duncan dominate the block, Tony Parker speed recklessly up and down the court, and Manu Ginobili dazzle us with his extremely unorthodox, but effective, lefty game. Lost in all of this has been the quiet leader, head coach Gregg Popovich. Pop has seldomly received any love when the “Who is the best coach in the game?” debate surfaces. He is usually an after thought and doesn’t usually come to mind first.
Spurs fans have nothing to hang their heads about. Thirteen consecutive playoff appearances is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s safe to say that this ship has sailed. Duncan is 34 years old, Ginobili has quietly reached 32 and, is it me, or does Tony Parker not seem to have the same effect he had a few years ago (his hand injury this year notwithstanding)? Simply put: they’re an old team.
They just extended Ginobili earlier this year, which is a smart move, but they need to start to get younger immediately. Their days of acquiring 30-something free agents in the summer such as Brent Barry, Jacques Vaughn, and Robert Horry of years past, need to be no longer. That recipe won’t work anymore. The future of the team lies with Tony Parker, George Hill, DeJuan Blair and still Ginobili to a degree. They should not be afraid to draft, or trade for, Duncan’s replacement because despite being an All-NBA 3rd teamer, the day where he is no longer relevant isn’t that far off. His multiple missed layups in Sunday’s Game 4 clincher were evidence of that (Although he proved that his elbows are still just as sharp as they’ve ever been. Ask Nash). I would even go as far as saying that listening to offers for Duncan should be something they should consider as well. Let’s face it. Loyalty in sports is a foregone conclusion, so let’s not act as if Spurs brass hasn’t at least thought about dealing the aging Duncan in the coming years.
As presently constituted, and as stacked as the West is each year, the Spurs could stand to miss the playoffs next year. That’s not saying much since they won 50 games this year, but there are plenty of up and coming younger teams with comparable talent at this point. The Duncan-led Spurs are easily one of the top 5 dynasties the NBA has seen, but being swept by the Suns is evidence that it is time to officially rule this dynasty done.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe too for free on iTunes.
