As great as Lebron is… I think his personality doesn’t fit the Spurs. And him trying to get to San Antonio is along shot. (because we are a small market team). He might choose to stay in Cleveland or maybe elsewhere to L.A. or New York…

Having said that I also love him to be in our team in future (if it happens…) if only he can be a high character guy, because right now no matter how popular he is, I don’t think he is that kind of person yet…

In basketball terms, i agree with you on this…

“I think Spurs basketball is based more on specialization and the division of labor and these players are accomplishing tasks and the lowest costs. It’s a system that allowed Bruce Bowen to specialize in defense.” (if you noticed, I erased the words ‘rather than limits’ on purpose).

Because I think it’s all about knowing and accepting your role and doing the best at it not only for yourself individualy but also for the benefit of a greater whole… (the Team).

In this article, ‘limits’ is pointed out in baskeball sense this way…

“But by limiting his ego, by holding that ugly monster in check, Gregg Popovich creates a culture of humility that is vital to what the Spurs do. This is just another way of saying that Popovich imposes a limit on the Spurs’ self-perception.

Tim Duncan is no different. He could dominate the ball. He could go for his own numbers. But he never has. Tim Duncan is happy to lose the battle of statistical inflation to see his team succeed.”

It only shows that, for a Team to totally succeed, sometimes you need to sacrifice and accept limits if in the long run it will be of great benefit.

It is also one of the reasons why the Spurs are who they are now. A model organization with lots of high character guys and class acts on and off the court…

Cheers! Go! Spurs Go!

I would have to respectfully disagree with this statement. Free market economics allow people to change their behaviors with respect to scarce resources. In the late 1700s Thomas Malthus thought there would be a large food crisis as population grew faster than the supply of food, but new innovations, created by the market led to new improvements that altered food production in unimaginable ways. I think the number of players that are involved in something as simple as a grocery store is a perfect example. Everyone takes for granted how our food gets there from different countries, different producers, etc, but it all happens without the help of a central planner.

That’s not to say humans are unncessarily wasteful; I think that’s a large problem, but rationing is not the answer.

Transitioning to basketball, I don’t see Spurs’ system based on limits but, rather, markets. I think Spurs basketball is based more on specialization and the division of labor rather than limits and these players are accomplishing tasks and the lowest costs. It’s a system that allowed Bruce Bowen to specialize in defense.

Back to limits: There is an inherent goodness in limits, as you suggested, but that goodness comes mostly from private property rights. It motivates people to conserve for the future. If you look at a lot of the world’s problems, many can be boiled down to poorly defined property rights.

Apologize for the long rant.

Drop me an email.

timothyvarner [at] gmail dot com.

I am an ecologist and sustainability expert by training, and a teacher, and a fundamental understanding of LIMITS is sadly lacking from the modern world. Free market economics, sadly the dominant cultural idea in the world today, is predicated on the idea of infinite economic growth, an obvious fallacy on a finite planet.

I had not previously linked the idea of limits to what I love about the way the Spurs play ‘ball, but you are spot on – it’s all about team, which means understanding and accepting your own limits as a player and accentuating your positives. That’s what I always tell young ‘ballas who ask me how to improve their game – do lots of the things you do well, and do them superbly, and no-one can ask any more of you.

TD for being so selfless (to the point its almost a sin, I remember Pop used to say that alot about him). Even if he can dominate, he allows TP and Manu evolve in the Spurs System… perfect example would be 2005 and 2007 championships…

particularly in ‘o7 one scout who was watching the Spurs practice shakes he’s head in awe… and said this “Its unbelievable, Tim is the greatest big man in this league and yet he lets the offense go thru Tony or Manu”

In Manu’s case, he can easily be a starter for any other team but he accepts his 6th man role with the Spurs ’nuff said.

Others (not Rick) have countered my MJ example by suggesting that he KNEW in high school how great he would ultimately become. That’s preposterous. I can go down to any pick up game in the country and find a plethora of young guns who are convinced in their respective heads that they are good enough to make the NBA, be a Hall of Famer, and maybe even be better than MJ by the end of it. 99.9% of those guys won’t even play semi-professionally, let alone professionally.

My point here is that a player’s subjective perception (or “knowledge”) of his limits often doesn’t comport with an objective assessment of his limits. I’m reminded of an image I saw one time of a regular house kitten staring into a mirror — the reflection he saw in the mirror was that of a lion! Similarly, a lot of these players are simply in denial about what their limitations really are. And that makes the notion of “playing” within those limits — let alone “embracing” them — a complete anathema to so many players. Although this point is implicit in Tim’s post, I felt like stating it explicitly.

It’s that much more of a credit to the Spurs players’ personalities and to Pop’s coaching style that he’s able to get the players to truly understand what their limits are (to see in the mirror what the rest of the world sees), work to expand those limits as much as possible, and yet embrace those limits when it’s crunch time.

Focus 80% of your effort on the things you do well and 20% on the areas you have problems and your path to success will be much smoother than if you flip those numbers.

GO LALAKERS!!!