Empires fall. The history books are littered with them. The Greeks. The Romans. Spain. Britain. Maybe someday even America. The same holds true for nearly every major power that’s ever risen to the top, be it nation, corporation, or basketball team. Especially basketball teams. After all, unlike nations or corporations, basketball teams rely solely on [...]
Much of the offseason player movement has trickled to a halt, so barring another point guard that David Kahn just has to have, a final destination for Shaq, or another scathing LeBron column from Adrian Wojnarowski, the majority of the summer’s story lines have played out to their finish. For the most part, as has [...]
The day that Dell Demps was announced as the new General Manager of the New Orleans Hornets, a friend sent me a text message wondering digitally if teams were hoping to harness San Antonio Spurs culture when they hired away members of the Gregg Popovich & RC Buford braintrust. I’m reminded of the Nigerian weapons [...]
I’m a lucky guy. I’m fortunate enough to have witnessed what is arguably a franchise’s most important shot. Time was winding down and fans were nervous. All I can remember clearly was pure elation when the shot hit the net. Three weeks ago, those words would’ve solely described being a 12-year-old at the Alamodome, watching [...]
The greatest seventh seed in NBA history? Not exactly a compliment in the eyes of Tim Duncan. Certainly the San Antonio Spurs are the first seventh seed to eliminate a second seed since the NBA Playoffs switched formats to a first round best-of-seven series. But Duncan and the rest of the world will have to [...]
The NBA playoffs open up with the San Antonio Spurs in their lowest playoff seeding of the Tim Duncan Era. But to understand why the Spurs are not discouraged about opening on the road in Dallas, instead of the friendly confines of the AT&T Center, there must first be an understanding of their philosophy. San [...]
The Orlando Magic are reeling. After a tough loss to the Lakers last night the Magic have now dropped seven of their past nine games. What does this have to do with the Spurs? Well, among the contenders no one overhauled their roster over the summer more than Orlando and San Antonio. That both teams [...]
The Spurs are often cast in the role of league bore. Implicit to this claim is the frequently smuggled-in connotation that the Spurs represent an older school of basketball, that they’re a tiny band of staid traditionalist. One hears jokes, for example, about Gregg Popovich’s disapproval of the dunk shot or his controlling, deeply-repressed fears [...]
I have no doubt that Gregg Popovich exhorts all his young pivots in the virtues of “getting their work done early.” It’s common advice. The San Antonio Spurs target players who incline their eye toward the wisdom of common advice. Antonio McDyess gets his work done early, and his numbers and teammates benefit from it. [...]
Coach Popovich, Listen, we know you hate doing in-between quarter interviews during televised games. Who wouldn’t? You’re concerned about winning a game and some suit with a microphone hits you with “Coach, how will your team stop Kobe Bryant in the second half?” There is only so much one can say to such empty questions. [...]
I have a love/hate relationship with off-the-court affairs, whether it the good or bad kind. Like any cultural activity, basketball does not exist in an impervious vacuum that is separated from the racial, economic and political crosscurrents that define our day. Not surprisingly, the men of the NBA are often affected by and work to [...]
A recent Mike Monroe column began with this stirring hypothetical: It is nearly impossible to overstate the impact David Maurice Robinson had on the sports landscape of South Texas, but it is simple to try. Imagine San Antonio without the Spurs. Tonight I was reminded of these words while reading through some old articles about [...]
When news of Derrick Rose’s sham SAT scores hit, I ho-hummed my way through the headlines without much thought. No need to get all huffy–I really couldn’t care less.
Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good soccer. I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: “A pretty move, for the love of God.” -Eduardo Galeano, Soccer in Sun and Shadow This past weekend the English Premier League [...]
The always provocative Wendell Berry is good at digging for disease, never becoming arrested at the surface, staring at symptoms. He wants to get beneath all that. In a thoughtful Harper’s piece dated May, 2008 –Faustian Economics: Hell Hath No Limits–Berry takes on the disease of limitlessness. Early last year, Berry was responding to the [...]
