NBA Way to Goat for franchise: San Antonio Spurs

Welcome to the Ranking Goat Franchice to franchise. San Antonio Spurs shift. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker. And David Robinson too.

Continue The Goat Franchice ranking to franchise. Before continuing, it is important to define the evaluation criteria: it is not the best players but the most impact for the team in their history. We put, in a situation, trajectory, championships won, faithfulness and, of course, quality.

This committee composed of a single person has decided to immerse yourself in swampy waters to bring definitions. We will be inflexible. We will be dogmatic. And we will bring answers.

Made the respective clarifications, we get into The Top 10 of San Antonio Spurs.

Adjust your belts. It is time to take off.

10. Larry Kenon (1975-1980)

The 10th position of the ranking is for the strategic partner of George Gervin in the Spurs of the 1970s. His beginnings were at ABA, where he was champion in 1974 with New York Nets, and considers him part of what we understand as players-transition.

Kenon was pure domain under the boards. He averaged, in his four years in San Antonio, 21.9 (1976-77), 20.6 (1977-78), 22.1 (1978-79) and 20.1 (1979–80) points per game. In that period, it also had 10.2 average rebounds.

Reference prior to the golden years of the franchise, it was All-Star in 1978. He decided to change his name after his NBA career: now Muhsin Kenon.

9. Bruce Bowen (2001-2009)

In the era of defined stalls, Bowen was the Greg Popovich stamp. A neat, intelligent eaves to the extreme, who in attack was always key with his triples from the corners.

It was, something like that, like a perfect symbiosis relationship between a player who was born in professionalism outside the NBA, more precisely in French basketball, which had steps through the CBA and that in the NBA first passed through Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers before finding its definitive home in San Antonio. An example that it is never too late to try.

Bowen played eight years at the Spurs and won three championships (2003, 2005 and 2007) being a key role for the structure. The statistics never told their story: 8.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists do not narrate their true impact: Bowen was in eight defensive teams of the season in a row and helped defend, with his mind and body, a maxim that was always slogan of Popovich teams: no player is better than all together.

8. James Silas (1973-1981)

The happiest years of the Spurs arrived at the end of the nineties and in the first three decades of this century, but that is why we must not set aside stars that marked the step in previous times. The deserved 8th is for James Silas, San Antonio icon in the 1970s.

Silas had a 1975-76 season, prior to the arrival at the NBA, which was dreaming: it averaged 23.8 points (51.9% in field shots), 4 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.8 robberies per game. He played eight years at the Spurs and was selected in the best team of all ABA time, where he spent four years before playing six in the NBA.

Snake, as he nicknamed, was a spicy base, of low stature (1.82 meters), but relentless in his game. Before Spurs, he defended the Dallas Chaparrals shirt and then that of Cleveland Cavaliers, but his true imprint, his golden stage, was steps from the poplar. His shirt was removed by the franchise in 1984.

7. Let Elliott (1989-1993 and 1994-2001)

Perhaps the seventh place for Elliott may seem a lot, but it is one of the main architects of the first title of the franchise: that of 1999. Together with Avery Johnson, David Robinson and a young Tim Duncan, crossed the Rubicón and changed the franchise map forever.

The contribution of this man still beats in the heart of Texan fans. His triples, his determination at important times, his defense. World champion with the United States in Spain 1986, Elliott was twice All-Star (1993 and 1996) and played, in two separate periods, eleven years in the franchise. A true monochromatic legend.

His passage through San Antonio may never go unnoticed, because he is Top 10 in three different categories: games played (sixth, 669), points (seventh, 9,659) and assists (tenth, 1,700). His number 32 was removed by the franchise in March 2005.

6. Kawhi Leonard (2011-2018)

I always thought that his departure from San Antonio did not correspond to all the good he gave in his player years. He deserved a better farewell when the injuries began to make a dent in his body. He played the first seven years of his career at the AT&T Center, after Popovich and company, with a clinical eye for the occasion, snatched it from Indiana Pacers on Draft night of 2013.

Leonard, with his gigantic hands, was one of the best double-via players in the history of the NBA. A superstar both in attack and defense. His lack of loyalty does not allow him to be Top 5 of the Spurs ranking, but after losing the fateful final of 2013 (see: Ray Allen triple in dagger mode) was decisive to win the 2014 title, so it was MVP of that definition. Without it it would not have happened.

In his passage through San Antonio, the heir of seriousness that seemed to be just a thing of Duncan, became an elite athlete. The 2017-18 season practically did not play it for injury and the following year only participated in 60 games before being transferred-with conflict through-to Toronto Raptors, where he conquered his second champion ring (2019). In that only season in Canada, Leonard was also MVP from the end, becoming one of three players, along with LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who managed to repeat the distinction of title and best player in a definition with different teams.

Six times All-Star, the ideal NBA team integrated three times. It still did not happen, but when you retire, you will take, sooner or later, a place in the Springfield Hall of Fame.

5. Tony Parker (2001-2018)

The 5th place is for the smallest of the members of Big Three winner of four championships. The French base, the little genius domesticated by Popovich. He played 17 years in the franchise, was six times All-Star, won four championships and was MVP of the 2007 finals, being the first European to get a similar merit.

Parker was one of the precursors of the new base style that gathered in the NBA in the dawn of the 21st century. Fast, vertiginous, with the ability to annotate in the hands. Its medium distance shot was registered trademark, as well as the float in the land of giants, an entire label of its posterity game.

He averaged, in his extensive career in San Antonio, 15.5 points, 5.6 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game. The Spurs withdrew Tony number 9 in November 2019.

He entered the Hall of Fame with class 2023.

4. Manu Ginobili (2002-2018)

He arrived, as pop once said, like a foal without tame. And ended up being the most applied student of his doctrine. Ginobili is, perhaps, the best South American player of all time. A relentless escort in its early years. A hybrid between position one and two in its maturity. His career was, in itself, a message: it is worth stepping back based on the group good.

It was, for many, the sixth man by definition of the modern NBA. Substitute for election, Master of the Euro Step, taught that the most important players are not those who begin the games but those who finish them. Altruistic, intelligent, honest, decisive, Manu won four championships with the Spurs and was the glue for Big Three to reach the already known merits.

He is above Parker for his faithfulness: until his last days in the NBA he played in the same franchise that saw him born. His number 20 was withdrawn by the Spurs in December 2021.

He entered the Hall of Fame with class 2022.

3. George Gervin (1974-1985)

A fire hand. It was four times the NBA scorer after passing through ABA, when it was already implacable burn. Only Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan have more scorer titles than him.

Gervin did not get any championship with the Spurs, but in 899 games played with the franchise, he left an indelible stamp, being 12 times consecutive All-Star (three in ABA), in addition to having been part five times of the ideal quintet of the league.

Your spurs numbers? 26.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per meeting. Phenomenal.

The Iceman, as he knew him, had a brief step by Chicago Bulls, Pallacanestro Roma, Quad City Thunder and finished his career in Manresa of Spanish basketball, a curiosity for the time.

His number 44 was removed by the Spurs and is a member of the Hall of Fame since 1996.

2. David Robinson (1989-2003)

The Admiral. The icon of the 1990s. The player who gave the first title to the Spurs (1999) as a key piece, who repeated with Tim Duncan at the head in 2003, was essential to mark the way and that the rest, then, built an unforgettable dynasty.

Robinson was a superstar, a maximum reference of San Antonio in 14 years of career. Member of the Dream Team of Barcelona 1992, the same year in which the defensive player of the year won. It was MVP of the NBA in 1995. Four times a member of the ideal NBA team, rookie of the year in 1989-90, has a dozen All-Star participations.

Olympic gold also in Atlanta 1996, Robinson finished his career in San Antonio with 21.1 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3 caps and 2.5 assists per night. His quadruple-double is still remembered before Pistons in February 1994 (34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 tapas).

His number 50 was withdrawn in November 2003. He entered the Hall of Fame with the 2009 class.

1. Tim Duncan (1997-2016)

The best wing in history. The hero of San Antonio’s silence. The foundation. No one represented as him the culture of man in the rock, franchise roadmap. King of the Alamo, master of the shooting with a medium distance board, Duncan was fundamental in the five championships that the Spurs won since the end of the past millennium until the mid -2010. Its feet movement is treasured in the reservoir of the best museum pieces in NBA history.

He formed with Robinson the Twin Towers in 1999 and 2003, and then was a maximum reference of Big Three with Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

Timmy D won two MVP (2002 and 2003) and three MVP of NBA late (1999, 2003 and 2005). It was 15 times All-Star, 10 times integrated the ideal team, 8 times the best defensive quintet. It is the maximum historical scorer of the franchise.

It was, without the need for lights or strident shouts, the fundamental leader of the Spurs in each team in which he participated. Popovich’s command voice on the court. A really formidable player, who never dressed, in 19 years of career, another uniform that was not the monochromatic. Deserved number one of the Goat ranking in San Antonio, its number 21 was removed by the franchise in December 2016.

He arrived at the Hall of Fame with the 2020 class.