Offseason Links 6/19

I was offline for a while while I was on vacation in New York, so some of these may be a few days old, but they are all must-reads for Spurs fans.

They may not have the tradition of the Lakers or Celtics, but in the two decades since they drafted David Robinson the Spurs have arguably been the most successful organization in sports. Nineteen of those 20 seasons resulted in playoff appearances, and an amazing 17 of them produced 53 wins or more (prorating for the 1998-99 season).

It would be great to start an argument here about the NBA Team of the Decade, bringing out all that Tim Duncan/Gregg Popovich ammunition about the wonderful consistency and championship model that was built and sustained in San Antonio.

When this season began, there still was real debate over which NBA franchise could claim this first decade of the 21st century…Kobe Bryant made it official on Sunday. The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t just win another championship. They won the decade

The Spurs conducted a pre-draft workout with Gonzaga point guard Jeremy Pargo, the younger brother of one-time San Antonio target Jannero Pargo. The elder Pargo could once again be in the Spurs’ plans, since his contract with Russian club Dynamo Moscow is done.

After we closed the Great Western Forum down, which had a lot of basketball memories there, that’s another historic place to play basketball in. But when it’s in New York City, in Madison Square Garden, it was just a big time high for us. The elation of winning it on their court, it’s hard to match.

Though one draft move in 1987 would change the franchise forever, it wasn’t until 1989 when that pick first started playing. He and four other notable draft picks would help shape up the Spurs into one of the league’s elite franchises for nearly two decades.

July 12 — vs. the Hornets at 1 p.m.
July 14 — vs. the Nuggets at 7 p.m.
July 16 — vs. the Thunder at 5:30 p.m.
July 18 — vs. the Trail Blazers at 7:30 p.m.
July 19 — vs. the Grizzlies at 5 p.m.

All games will be played at the Thomas and Mack Center or the adjacent Cox Pavilion. All times are Vegas time.