Thursday, February 10, 2011
Posted: 8:30 p.m.
By Dei Lynam
CSNPhilly.com
The Sixers play host to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, who own the best record in the NBA. That should come as no surprise because since Gregg Popovich took over the team in December of 1996 success and the Spurs have gone hand-in-hand.
Under Popovich the Spurs have won four NBA championships. They have had 11 consecutive 50-win seasons and when they reach that number this year, they will tie the Lakers for the record of 12 in a row. The Spurs, in Doug Collins opinion, are all that is right in professional sports period.
They have as good a franchise as any in any sport, Collins said Thursday morning after his team got together for what amounted to about 15 minutes. A lot of people compare them to the New England Patriots. The way they run it, from their owner to the connection between their general manager and their coach, the way they do things professionally, the way they develop players; they are fantastic.
Obviously, the Spurs caught a break as an organization landing two No. 1 overall selections 10 years apart with David Robinson in 1987 and Tim Duncan in 1997. Still, the pieces that have surrounded over the years have been perfect and that has been no accident. Greatness attracts greatness.
The Lakers got lucky when Jerry West made the deal for Kobe Bryant. He is the 13th pick in the draft, so 12 teams missed on him, Collins informed. Then, all the sudden you get a deal where you get a Pau Gasol to come in.
NBA
They have the kind of franchises where players want to go play in those cities because they have been winning. But you have to do your work. I have always said luck only plays in if you win the lottery, but otherwise you have to prepare so that luck matters.
In the last 20 years, Collins recalled only one team that won it all without a star in what he describes as a star-driven league and that was the Detroit Pistons in 2004, a team with four all-stars that season, but they were hardly perennial choices.
They played great, great defense and they were a great team, Collins described. They fit together like a glove. They had all the pieces and Larry Brown did a magnificent job and they won a championship. But if you look at the history of the NBA, if you have two of the top five players in the league at their position, it used to be three, I think now you can get by with two.
The Sixers have none while the Spurs have three. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili need neither introduction nor first names. Thats how polished their games are. The trio combines to average 49 points, 16 rebounds and 14 assists per game.
Ginobili is the lightning rod that makes them special. When he is on they are hard to beat, Collins admired. You basically know what you are going to get from Parker and Duncan, but when he is on they are very tough to beat.
The Spurs come to town with a record of 44-8. The Sixers are 24-28. Collins and his team talked Thursday about their next stretch of five games.
San Antonio starts this current stretch and Washington closes it out in the Sixers first game after the All-Star break. The Spurs are the lone team in this next five with better than a .500 record.
Duncan is in his 14th season and he is averaging career lows in points, rebounds and minutes at 13, nine, and 29 respectively. But dont be mistakenthe Spurs go as Duncan goes, which is why fifth title since 1999 may be in order.
The way he plays he may be the lowest maintenance superstar in this league, Collins said. Tony Parker said when I was doing the playoffs one year it all starts with Timmy and we just follow after. Just what Tim Duncan brings every single night, his numbers can be down but they have the best record in the league and they just keep doing it night in and night out.
Collins is not alone when it comes to Sixers who have great admiration for Duncan and his Hall of Fame-worthy resume. Sixers center Spencer Hawes was 10 years old when Duncan won his first NBA title in 1999. On the way to becoming the 10th overall pick in 2007, Hawes chose Duncans game to model his own after.
I am biased because he was my favorite player growing up, he said. He is still so key to what they are trying to do on both ends of the floor. He controls the paint on defense, he rebounds, he allows them to be more aggressive defensively.
Then offensively as well, his skills have not declined at all. He can still be a scorer in the post and I think one of the areas he is underrated is as a facilitator, setting other guys up and really just making guys around him better.
Notes
Evan Turner played just 12 minutes against the Magic Wednesday because of back spasms.
He has what Spencer had and I think it almost happened the same way, Collins said about Turner. He was out there warming up and a rib popped out of place and what that does is throw your back into spasms. It is nothing structural; this is all just a muscle thing. Today we expected him to be very sore because they popped that thing back in and it was in spasms, but I talked to him this morning and he said I will be ready to go tomorrow.
E-mail Dei Lynam at dlynam@comcastsportsnet.com