“When is everything going to get back to normal?” — San Antonio Spurs
If you’re an NBA fan under the age of 25, you don’t know a world where the Spurs aren’t the Spurs.
Hell, I’m 35 and even my first memories of them are those David Robinson-led squads that were at least a fringe contender. If they make the playoffs this season (spoiler alert: they will), it will be the 29th time they’ve done so in the last 30 years — a staggering run of organizational competence with the occasional sprinkle of dominance thrown in.
The one exception to that run, of course, was when they bottomed out a little over two decades ago and ended up with Tim Duncan for their trouble. When the Kawhi Leonard situation reached an impasse, it was the perfect opportunity to run that plan back one more time – a move which could have set the franchise up for another run of greatness for who knows how many years.
Instead, Gregg Popovich bit his nose to spite his face. Everyone agrees that after everything he’s given to his team, his city and the game of basketball, he’s earned the right to do just that, but there’s more than a little Roger Sterling in his M.O.
Like Roger, deep down, Pop knows that the old days are never coming back. The NBA finally appears ready to enter a world where “you can’t ever count out the Spurs” is no longer a given.
If that’s indeed the case, let’s pour one out for a phenomenon none of us are likely to see again, either in the NBA or any sport. It’s the least we can do.