The San Antonio Spurs have been the model of consistency in the NBA for many years. The Minnesota Timberwolves have improved their roster, however, and hope to catch the Spurs in a down year.
The San Antonio Spurs have been a model franchise for as long as anyone can remember. With a future Hall of Fame coach, Gregg Popovich, roaming the sidelines with future Hall of Fame players, you are bound to put up the kind of results the Spurs do.
Coach Pop has only missed the playoffs one year in his 21-year career. Ever since that horrid 17- win season, he has never dipped below a 61 percent winning percentage in any season. To put that into perspective, the Minnesota Timberwolves, regardless of what coach they had, have not been over .500 since the 2004-05 season. (Of course, having all time great players like Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard helps as well.)
The amount of talent that has been brought in by San Antonio over the last two decades is amazing. It started out with a guy by the name of George “Iceman” Gervin. An all-time great for both Spurs and the NBA as a whole, he averaged 27.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. The scoring number becomes even more impressive when you realized he shot less than one 3-pointer per game in his nine-year career in the NBA with the Spurs. Iceman even went over the 30-point per-game plateau twice.
San Antonio went on to get guys like Alvin Robertson and David Robinson before finding Tim Duncan. The Big Fundamental is considered by many to be the best power forward to ever play the game. Duncan averaged 19 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game on his way to five titles.
The Spurs’ current roster is full of talent, headlined by Kawhi Leonard. LaMarcus Aldridge, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Danny Green, and Pau Gasol dot a solid lineup that is expected to contend for a top-four spot in the Western Conference playoffs.
With all that being said, the Spurs look to be in for a bit of a slide this season. They will still make the playoffs, but it doesn’t appear if they will be as good as they have been in previous years.
In come the Minnesota Timberwolves. A much improved roster with playoff experience and very, very good young players. While they might not have a player the caliber of Leonard, it looks as if their roster stacks up nicely with the squad many call the Patriots of the NBA.