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| San Antonio Spurs |
|
|
| Conference |
Western
Conference |
| Division |
Southwest Division |
| Founded |
1967
(Joined NBA in 1976) |
| History |
Dallas (Texas) Chaparrals
1967-1973
San Antonio Spurs
1973-present |
| Arena |
AT&T
Center |
| City |
San
Antonio, Texas |
| Team Colors |
Silver and Black |
| Head Coach |
Gregg
Popovich |
| Owner |
Peter
Holt |
| Championships |
3 (1999,
2003,
2005) |
| Conference Titles |
3 (1999,
2003,
2005) |
| Division Titles |
14 (1978,
1979,
1981,
1982,
1983,
1990,
1991,
1995,
1996,
1999,
2001,
2002,
2003,
2005) |
The San Antonio Spurs are
a National
Basketball Association team based in San
Antonio, Texas.
The Spurs in San Antonio
The Spurs are the only major
professional sports franchise to be located
in the San Antonio area, and the city shares a special
bond with the team almost unmatched in the rest
of the NBA.
Spurs players are active members of the San Antonio
community, and many former Spurs are still active
in San Antonio, like David
Robinson's Carver
Academy or fan favorite Malik
Rose and his Philly
Cheesesteak restaurant, Malik's Philly's Phamous.
Because of this community involvent,
Spurs fans have been among the most loyal in the
NBA. The Spurs set several NBA attendance records
while playing at the Alamodome, including the largest
crowd ever for a NBA
Finals game in 1999, and the Spurs continue
to sell out the smaller, more intimate SBC Center
on a regular basis. The Spurs' rallying cry of "Go
Spurs Go!" has endeared itself to the city of San
Antonio, and the phrase pops up all over the city
as the season progresses into the playoffs and the
Spurs inch closer to a possible title.
San Antonio has also garnered praise
for the way its citizens celebrate Spurs championships.
When the Spurs win a title, San Antonians jam up
the streets downtown, march around waving flags,
throw confetti and honk car horns until dawn, but
with little incidence of crime. There has yet to
be a major riot
involving a Spurs title celebration.
Team History
Early franchise history in the
ABA
The San Antonio Spurs started out
as the Dallas Chaparrals of the original version
of the American
Basketball Association (ABA) in 1967. The team
suffered from poor attendance and general disinterest
in Dallas. In fact, during the 1970-1971
season, the name "Dallas" was dropped in favor of
"Texas" and an attempt was made to make the team
a regional one, playing games in Fort
Worth, Texas, at the Tarrant
County Coliseum, as well as Lubbock,
Texas, at the Lubbock
Municipal Coliseum, but this proved a failure
and the team returned full-time to Dallas in time
for the 1971-1972 season, splitting their games
at Moody
Coliseum and State
Fair Coliseum.
After missing the playoffs for the
first time in their existence in 1972-1973, the
team was put up for sale. The team was acquired
by a group of 36 San Antonio businessmen, led by
Angelo
Drossos and Red
McCombs who actually leased the team from the
original Dallas ownership group, relocated the team
to San
Antonio, Texas and renamed them the Spurs. The
team's primary colors were changed from the red,
white, and blue of the Chapparrals to the now familiar
silver and black motif of the Spurs.
The team quickly made themselves
at home at San Antonio's HemisFair
Arena playing to increasingly large and raucous
crowds. The early Spurs were led by ABA veteran
James
Silas and bolstered by the acquisition in early-1974
of future NBA Hall-of-Famer George
Gervin from the Virginia
Squires. Even though playoff success would elude
the team in the ABA, the Spurs had suddenly found
themselves among the top teams in the ABA. In 1976,
the ABA folded, threatening the future of San Antonio's
sole professional sports franchise. The NBA however
decided to admit four ABA teams into the league,
with the Spurs being one of them along with the
Denver
Nuggets, Indiana
Pacers and the New
York Nets.
Early NBA seasons
Although there was some initial
skepticism in league circles regarding the potential
success and talent levels of the incoming ABA teams,
the Spurs would prove worthy of NBA inclusion during
the 1975-1976 season with a record of 44-38, good
for a tie for fourth place overall in the Eastern
Conference. The Spurs would go on to capture 5 division
titles in their first 7 years in the NBA and became
a perennial playoff participant.
The 1980s
George Gervin with the Spurs in the 1980s.
The decade of the 1980s marked both
highs, then lows, and an eventual high. For the
first few seasons of the decade, the Spurs continued
their success of the 1970s with records of 52-30
in 1980-1981,
48-34 in 1981-1982, and 53-29 in 1982-1983. Despite
their regular season success, the Spurs were unable
to win any NBA championships, losing in the Western
Conference playoffs to the Houston
Rockets in 1981 and the Los
Angeles Lakers in 1982 and 1983.
After the 1984-1985
season, Gervin, who arguably had been the Spurs'
biggest star, was traded to the Chicago Bulls in
what effectively signaled the end of the era that
began when the Spurs first moved to San Antonio.
The next four seasons were a dark
time in Spurs' history, with the team having a combined
record of 115-215 from 1985-1986 until 1988-1989.
The losing seasons and dwindling attendance often
caused the Spurs to be mentioned as a potential
candidate for relocation to another city. The lone
bright spot during this period was the Spurs' being
awarded the top pick in the 1987 NBA draft through
NBA Draft Lottery. The Spurs used this selection
on United
States Naval Academy standout David
Robinson. Although drafted in 1987, the Spurs
would have to wait until the 1989-1990 season to
see Robinson actually play due to a two-year commitment
he had to serve with the United States Navy.
Although the 1988-1989 season was
the worst in Spurs history at 21-61, it was notable
for several reasons. It was the first season of
full ownership for Red McCombs, who was an original
investor in the team and helped solidify local ownership
for the team. Additionally, the 1988-1989 season
featured the debut of Larry
Brown as the Spurs head coach who moved to San
Antonio after winning the NCAA
National Championship with the University
of Kansas in 1988.
As the 1980s ended, the 1989-1990
season proved to be the rebirth of the Spurs franchise.
Led by Robinson along with the newly added Terry
Cummings and 1989 draftee Sean
Elliott, the Spurs achieved the biggest one-season
turnaround in NBA History, finishing with a record
of 56-26. The Spurs eventually lost in the Western
Conference semifinals after losing a seven-game
series to the eventual Western Conference champion
Portland
Trail Blazers. Robinson had one of the most
successful rookie seasons for a center in NBA history,
finishing the season as Rookie of the Year while
averaging 24.3 points and 12.0 rebounds.
The '90s and a title
The Spurs began the 1990s with great
optimism. The team became a perennial playoff presence
although were never able to advance further than
the second round of the NBA Playoffs under Brown's
tutelage. Late in the 1991-1992
season, McCombs fired Brown and replaced him with
Bob Bass
who finished the season as interim head coach. McCombs
made national headlines during the summer of 1992
with the hiring of former UNLV
head coach Jerry
Tarkanian. The Tarkanian experiment proved a
flop, as the coach was fired 20 games into the 1992-1993
season with the Spurs record at 9-11. After Rex
Hughes filled the coaching shoes for one game,
NBA veteran John
Lucas was named head coach. It was Lucas's first
NBA coaching assignment although he had gained recognition
in league circles for his success in helping NBA
players rehab from drug abuse.
David Robinson with the Spurs in the 1990s.
The Lucas era started out successfully.
His coaching propelled the team to a 39-22 finish
over the rest of the regular season and the team
reached the Western Conference semifinals, losing
to the Phoenix
Suns. The 1992-1993 season also marked the last
that the Spurs would play in Hemisfair Arena. In
1993 local businessman Peter
M. Holt and a group of 22 investors purchased
the Spurs from Red McCombs for $75 million.
The following season, the Spurs
first in the newly built Alamodome,
Lucas led the Spurs to a 55-27 record but the team
suffered a loss in the first round of the playoffs
to the Utah
Jazz which led to the immediate firing of Lucas
as head coach. Prior to the season the Spurs traded
fan-favorite Elliott to the Detroit
Pistons in return for rebounding star Dennis
Rodman.
Lucas was replaced by former Pacers
coach Bob
Hill for the 1994-1995
season which would turn out to be the Spurs' most
successful season to date. Elliott returned to the
team after an uneventful season with the Pistons
and the team finished with the best record at 62-20
while David Robinson was named the NBA's Most Valuable
Player. The Spurs reached the Western Conference
Finals, but lost to the eventual NBA Champion Houston
Rockets. Throughout the season and particularly
in the playoffs there appeared to be friction developing
between Rodman and several Spurs' teammates, most
notably Robinson, and Rodman was traded after the
season to the Chicago
Bulls.
The Spurs finished the next season
(1995-1996) under Hill at 59-23 and lost in the
Western Conference Semifinals to the Jazz. Few observers
could have predicted how far the Spurs would fall
during the 1996-1997 season. After an injury that
limited Robinson to six games during the season,
the Spurs wound up with a 20-62 record, the worst
in franchise history. Hill only lasted 18 games
that season, eventually being replaced by Gregg
Popovich, who had once been an assistant for
the Spurs during Larry Brown's coaching turn.
Although the 1996-1997 season was
not successful on the court for the Spurs, the offseason
proved to be the opposite. With the third-worst
record in the league, the Spurs won the NBA's draft
lottery which gave them the top pick in the 1997
draft. The Spurs used their pick to select Wake
Forest University product and consensus All-American
Tim
Duncan.
Duncan quickly emerged as a force
in the NBA during the 1997-1998 season, averaging
21.1 points and 11.9 rebounds per game as a power
forward. He was named First Team All-NBA while winning
Rookie of the Year honors. The team ended up at
56-26 but once again lost to the Jazz in the Western
Conference semifinals. While both Duncan and Robinson
played low-post roles, the two seamlessly meshed
on the court.
With a healthy Robinson and Duncan
and the additions of playoff veterans such as Mario
Elie and Jerome
Kersey, the Spurs looked forward to the 1998-1999
season. Prior to the beginning of training camps
however, the NBA owners led by commissioner David
Stern locked
out the players in order to force a new collective
bargaining agreement with the NBA
Players Association (NBAPA). The season was
delayed over three months until resolution on a
new labor agreement was reached in January 1999.
Playing a shortened 50-game season,
the Spurs ended up with a 37-13 record. The team
was just as dominant in the playoffs, rolling through
the Western Conference with a record of 11-1. They
faced the New
York Knicks in the NBA
Finals and, on June 25, 1999, won the series
and the franchise's first NBA Championship in Game
5 (final score: 78-77) on the Knicks' home court
of Madison
Square Garden. Duncan was named the Finals MVP.
The victory by the Spurs was not only the first
NBA title to be won by a former ABA team, but also
was the first Finals appearance by a team from the
ABA.
The Spurs were not able to capitalize
on their success during the 1999-2000 season. Although
they finished with an overall record of 53-29, the
Spurs lost in the first round to the Suns primarily
due to an injury to Duncan which kept him out of
the playoff series. The longterm viability of the
Spurs franchise in San Antonio was however achieved
during the 1999-2000 season, as Bexar
County voters approved increases on car rental
and hotel taxes which would allow for the construction
of a new arena to be constructed near Freeman
Coliseum.
A New Century, A New Era
The Spurs finished with 58-24 records
for both the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 seasons but
found themselves suffering playoff ousters in both
seasons from the eventual NBA Champion Los
Angeles Lakers.
Entering the 2002-2003 season, the
team knew it would be memorable for at least two
reasons, as David Robinson announced that it would
be his last in the NBA and the Spurs would begin
play at their new arena (approved in 1999 by County
voters), the SBC
Center (now the AT&T
Center), named after telecommunications giant
SBC,
whose corporate headquarters are located in San
Antonio. This version of the Spurs was very different
from the team that had won the title a few years
earlier. The Spurs had remade their team in an attempt
to dethrone the three-time defending NBA Champion
Los
Angeles Lakers. Second-year French star Tony
Parker was now the starting point guard for
the Spurs and the squad featured a variety of three-point
shooters including Stephen
Jackson, Danny
Ferry, Bruce
Bowen, Steve
Kerr, and Argentina product Emanuel
Ginóbili. Mixing the inside presences of Duncan
and Robinson with the newer outside threats, the
Spurs earned a 60-22 record. In the playoffs, the
Spurs defeated the Suns, Lakers and Dallas
Mavericks en route to facing the New
Jersey Nets in the NBA Finals. The series against
the Nets marked the first time two former ABA teams
would play each other for the NBA Championship.
The Spurs won the series 4-2, giving them their
second NBA Championship in franchise history. Duncan
was named both the NBA Regular Season and Finals
MVP for the season.
In the 2003-2004 season, the Spurs
were knocked out of the playoffs by the Lakers in
the Western Conference Semifinals. The Lakers rallied
from a 0-2 hole in the series and won 4 straight.
The series was defined by a game winning shot in
Game 5 by Derek
Fisher with 0:00.4 left in the game. After the
stunning loss, the Spurs spent the following offseason
by tweaking the team.
The San Antonio Spurs won their third title
in 2005.
With the acquisition of guard Brent
Barry from Seattle,
and the later additions of center Nazr
Mohammed from New
York (acquired in a midseason trade of Malik
Rose to the dismay of Spurs fans), and veteran
forward Glenn
Robinson from free
agency, alongside regulars Bruce
Bowen, Robert
Horry, Tony
Parker, Manu
Ginobili, and Tim
Duncan, the Spurs finished the 2004-2005
season ranked number two in the Western Conference
with a 59-23 record, finishing with the best record
in the Southwest division. In the postseason
the Spurs defeated the Denver
Nuggets 4-1, the Seattle
Supersonics 4-2 and the Phoenix
Suns 4-1 before advancing to the NBA
Finals, where they won the NBA championship
for a third time in seven years by defeating the
Eastern Conference champion and defending NBA Champion
Detroit
Pistons 4-3 on June 23, 2005. Tim
Duncan was named Finals
MVP, becoming only the fourth player to win
the MVP award three times (joining Magic
Johnson, Shaquille
O'Neal, and Michael
Jordan). Also, Manu Ginobili established himself
as a NBA star, earning local, national, and international
fan praise (particularly in his home country of
Argentina)
and a berth in that season's All-Star Game.
Future Outlook
The Spurs look poised to contend
for several titles to come. All five starters are
under contract for 2005-06, and the three key players
(Duncan, Ginobili, Parker) are under contract until
at least 2009. The Spurs had hoped to buy out the
contract of Ginóbili's countryman Luis
Scola, a power forward whom the Spurs had drafted
in 2002;
however, it appears that the demands of Scola's
team, 2005 Euroleague
runnerup TAU
Cerámica, were too high, as the Spurs have instead
signed another Argentine big-man, Fabricio
Oberto. The Spurs have also re-signed 2005
NBA Finals hero Robert
Horry and have signed veteran free-agents Michael
Finley and Nick
Van Exel (to back-up point guard Tony
Parker). This combined with an already talented
Spurs bench of Brent Barry, Beno Udrih, and Rasho
Nesterovic is quite promising for a great 2006 season
as well as those in the forseeable future.
Arena History
Dallas (Texas) Chaparrals
State
Fair Coliseum (1967-1970 and 1971-1973)
Moody
Coliseum (1967-1973)
Tarrant
County Coliseum (1970-1971)
Lubbock
Municipal Coliseum (1970-1971)
San Antonio Spurs
HemisFair
Arena (1973-1993)
Alamodome
(1993-2002)
AT&T
Center (formerly SBC Center) (2002-present)
Players of note
Retired numbers
- 00 - Johnny
Moore, G, 1980-88 & 1989-90
- 13 - James
"Captain Late" Silas, G, 1972-81 (including
the last season in Dallas)
- 32 - Sean
"Ninja" Elliott, F, 1989-1993, 1994-2001
- 44 - George
"Iceman" Gervin, G, 1974-85
- 50 - David
"The Admiral" Robinson, C, 1989-2003
Not to be forgotten:
2005-2006 Season
As of April
4, 2006
the San Antonio Spurs are 58-16,
first in the Western Conference and second in the
NBA.
External links
