What are the Spurs doing differently from us?

[nickagneta]

Quality drafting, smart trades and the best overseas scouting in the NBA

2007 with the 28th pick in the first round - Tiago Splitter
2008 with the 26th pick in the first round - George Hill
2009 with the 7th pick in the second round - DeJuan Blair
2010 signed from overseas - Gary Neal
2011 with the 15th pick in the first round - Kawhi Leonard

Trading for Richard Jefferson
Trading for Matt Bonner
Trading of George Hill for the Pacers 15th pick in 2011 and the rights to two European players they have scouted

Also remember Manu and Parker were overseas scouting successes of the franchise as was Luis Scola who they ended up trading to Houston(one of the few dumb trades by the franchise).

[PosImpos]

His name is Greg Popovich.

Every year Coach Pop gets the most with least amount of talent. Spurs rotation this year have 3 second round players, and 1 un-drafted player. Manu missed signifact portion of the season. Timmy's only playing 27mins a game. Greg Popovich is best Coach in the NBA.

It's not just that he gets so much out of a bunch of disposable parts, either . . . he trusts young and/or unproven players and utilizes their best talents so that they become reliable rotation players.   

[PosImpos]

Quality drafting, smart trades and the best overseas scouting in the NBA

2007 with the 28th pick in the first round - Tiago Splitter
2008 with the 26th pick in the first round - George Hill
2009 with the 7th pick in the second round - DeJuan Blair
2010 signed from overseas - Gary Neal
2011 with the 15th pick in the first round - Kawhi Leonard

Trading for Richard Jefferson
Trading for Matt Bonner
Trading of George Hill for the Pacers 15th pick in 2011 and the rights to two European players they have scouted

Also remember Manu and Parker were overseas scouting successes of the franchise as was Luis Scola who they ended up trading to Houston(one of the few dumb trades by the franchise).

Yeah.  Pop deserves a lot of credit for trusting and developing those guys, but the Spurs still have the best organization in basketball, particularly when it comes to finding value where other teams don't.

[bfrombleacher]

His name is Greg Popovich.

Every year Coach Pop gets the most with least amount of talent. Spurs rotation this year have 3 second round players, and 1 un-drafted player. Manu missed signifact portion of the season. Timmy's only playing 27mins a game. Greg Popovich is best Coach in the NBA.

It's not just that he gets so much out of a bunch of disposable parts, either . . . he trusts young and/or unproven players and utilizes their best talents so that they become reliable rotation players.   

His system also changed from an inside out game to a more run and gun I believe as Duncan got older.

Over here in Boston, we still have Ray running through screens and Paul Pierce isolating.

[jbaerg]

Tim Duncan is timeless. A player's post game never dies.

[EDWARDO]

Should be noted here though that this is really the first year in the last several that they've been ahead of us. We've been the more consistent title contender for years and would probably have  or 3 if not for the KG injury.

[stylo617617]

winning

[PosImpos]

His name is Greg Popovich.

Every year Coach Pop gets the most with least amount of talent. Spurs rotation this year have 3 second round players, and 1 un-drafted player. Manu missed signifact portion of the season. Timmy's only playing 27mins a game. Greg Popovich is best Coach in the NBA.

It's not just that he gets so much out of a bunch of disposable parts, either . . . he trusts young and/or unproven players and utilizes their best talents so that they become reliable rotation players.   

His system also changed from an inside out game to a more run and gun I believe as Duncan got older.

Over here in Boston, we still have Ray running through screens and Paul Pierce isolating.

That's a very good point.  Pop has done an amazing job switching styles to fit the roster he has now.

[Rtpas11]

simply put... they have a better point guard that fits what they're doing. Parker also fits our roster. RONDO SERIOUSLY NEEDS TO GO!!! GET'EM OUTTA HERE!!!!

[chambers]

His name is Greg Popovich.

Every year Coach Pop gets the most with least amount of talent. Spurs rotation this year have 3 second round players, and 1 un-drafted player. Manu missed signifact portion of the season. Timmy's only playing 27mins a game. Greg Popovich is best Coach in the NBA.

Pop takes a lot of credit from the Spurs scouting staff- they are the best in the business. Pop is great but they have some great players on that team too, it's not exactly a team of old bums.

[ianboyextreme]

Quality drafting, smart trades and the best overseas scouting in the NBA

2007 with the 28th pick in the first round - Tiago Splitter
2008 with the 26th pick in the first round - George Hill
2009 with the 7th pick in the second round - DeJuan Blair
2010 signed from overseas - Gary Neal
2011 with the 15th pick in the first round - Kawhi Leonard

Trading for Richard Jefferson
Trading for Matt Bonner
Trading of George Hill for the Pacers 15th pick in 2011 and the rights to two European players they have scouted

Also remember Manu and Parker were overseas scouting successes of the franchise as was Luis Scola who they ended up trading to Houston(one of the few dumb trades by the franchise).

yeah. theres a lot of talent to be found overseas. Most nba teams just dont wanna look over there for whatever reason.

[chambers]

Duncan, Manu, Jefferson, and Parker are better than Pierce, Rondo, Garnett, and Allen.

Disagree with this one.
The match ups are pretty much even, with KG having a slight edge over Duncan at this point in their careers.
Manu and Pierce are both great.
Rondo and Parker are about even, Parker has hit a hot streak as of late, but he's been average for them the past few years.
Ray>Jefferson and it's not close, Jefferson is complete garbage and I can't believe they haven't moved him by now.
In fact I'd say he's the main reason they haven't gone further with the squad.

Lets not forget we don't have Jeff Green this season which is a huge blow for us.

[EDWARDO]

There's no doubt  that SA is one of the best run teams in the league. Hats off to them for maintaining a high level for so many years. They are one of the best drafting teams and have an outstanding overseas scouting system. Both among the top handful, if not the best in the league.

However, let's not pretend they are where WE want to be. Their inability to truly contend the last few years despite solid drafting and overseas player scouting underscore that in the NBA, it takes more than solid drafting... you need to be lucky and daring as well.

Since the KG trade, we've been by far the more likely team to win a title every season since. This season, we have pretty much the same chance of winning the title. About 0%. The previous several years we've always been the team with the better chance to win it all. And that's what its all about.

Going forward, I think the Celtics have the clearer path to their next title. We've got Rondo, Pierce, some decent youngsters/picks and TONS of cap space. I think Danny's plan was to get CP3 and then Howard for the next title runs. Came pretty darn close to pulling that off as well. (How would this team look with Chris Paul and David West on board? I think our chances at DH12 at that point would be pretty good, actually.)

The Spurs are one of the best organizations in the league, but it took the lucky (in our case, extremely unlucky) bounce of the ping pong balls in the Duncan lottery to give them a legit title shot. They are as stuck as anyone right now... very good team, but not a legit title contender.

[Celtic#9]

Whoever their GM is is insanely good at drafting. Imean they have had like 1 lottery pick since they used it to draft Tim Duncan. They must have incredible scouts.

[GreenEnvy]

They are playing a more regular-season-friendly style and are going to burn themselves out. Again.

Last season was proof.

They can finish with the 1-seed and I still won't consider them contenders. OKC, LAL, LAC, DAL are all better equipped for a long series.

Apparently Memphis too.