Wembanyama Enters the Spurs' Quantum Entanglement

“Our future was already bright,” managing partner Peter J. Holt said in May when the San Antonio Spurs won the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery. “Now, it’s going to be through the moon.”

In a previous blogpost, from May 22, 2018 entitled Quantum Entanglement: Kawhi, the Spurs and Beautiful Basketball, I discussed and described the San Antonio Spurs franchise in physics terminology.  In a belated installment, I continue to discuss the franchise and its next phase.

Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs have made significant contributions to sports management in the areas of leadership, talent development, and organizational excellence in running their franchise.

• Leadership: Popovich is widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches in NBA history. He has led the Spurs to five NBA championships, more than any other coach in franchise history. He is also a two-time NBA Coach of the Year. He gives his players a lot of freedom to make decisions on the court, and he holds them accountable for their actions. This has helped the Spurs develop a strong team identity and a winning culture. Popovich is known for his calm demeanor and his ability to get the most out of his players. He is also a strong advocate for player development and diversity.

• Talent development: The Spurs have a long history of developing young talent. They have drafted and developed several All-Stars, including Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard. The Spurs also have a strong track record of signing free agents and developing them into productive players.

• Organizational excellence: The Spurs are one of the most well-run organizations in sports. They have a strong culture of teamwork, accountability, and respect. The Spurs are also known for their commitment to community service. This commitment to excellence has helped the Spurs achieve sustained success across  the past four decades.

• They have a strong culture of teamwork, accountability, and respect. The Spurs are also known for their commitment to community service.

The contributions of Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs to leadership, talent development, and organizational excellence are a model for other organizations.

This week the San Antonio Spurs are expected to draft a generational talent in Victor Wembanyama as the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.

Soon after that the Spurs plan to open their new state-of-the-art multi-phase $500 million facility called “The Rock at La Cantera,” which will feature a human performance research center.

This facility provides the launching pad for a new era of championship success for the Spurs. Wembanyama should serve as the catalyst needed to blast the franchise into a future of sustained success more rapidly than initially expected four years ago, when the organization first targeted the 2023 NBA Draft as the one that could change everything.

San Antonio envisioned years ago what we are about to see on Thursday at the 2023 NBA Draft.  The Spurs worked hard to align their basketball goals with their strategic plans and business goals.  This No. 1 pick will likely play a meaningful role as the Spurs look to make another run at multiple championships.

The Pivot

The plan that emerged in 2020 before San Antonio traveled to Orlando for that NBA season restart.  The plan was to develop the team’s youth while also advancing causes for social justice and racial equality.

While in Orlando, the Spurs experimented with an up-tempo style on offense, augmented by a swarming, pestering defense. Following that season, the Spurs decided to stick to that more modern style of positionless basketball.

“The strategy, the philosophy, the way we play is gonna stay the same [as in Orlando],” Popovich said entering the 2020-21 season.

That meant San Antonio would spend time looking for versatile, all-around players with size that could play with or without the ball. That would allow the Spurs to play a more modern style both on offense and defense.  San Antonio has always coveted players capable of dribbling, shooting, and passing with a high-level of decision-making skills. 

The changes came about after internal discussions about where they were as a team, where they were headed, and how their style would need to change.  Up to that point, San Antonio was looking to remain competitive.  But that approach would force the Spurs to build their team from the bottom of the lottery (or just outside of it) for an organization with no cap space or flexibility going forward and no future draft picks. San Antonio saw no way out of this vicious cycle, nor to build something truly sustainable. The club decided it was time to pivot. 

Strategic Planning

Four years ago, having identified the 2023 NBA Draft four as a significant place to speed up the rebuild, San Antonio worked to draft or bring in veteran players versatile enough to thrive in any type of system, but most importantly they’d mesh well with their teammates.  

Simultaneously, the Spurs knew they needed a Plan B just in case the talent they signed did not pan out as expected.  

The franchise understood its first-round pick in 2023 would be its most valuable asset. But it also hoped to improve their chances at improving their position in the draft while making room to develop a roster filled with young, inexperienced players. That meant losing, a lot. The city of San Antonio has maintained exceptionally high standards with a fanbase accustomed to competing year after year at a championship level. The organization didn’t want to disappoint their rabid fanbase. But the fastest way to return to that level while ensuring a sustainable future meant the Spurs needed to jettison their core piece by piece with an eye toward maximizing the return in each transaction to obtain future assets for potential trades.

If the organization failed to hit big on its 2023 pick, it needed flexibility for the short term with its salary cap to bring in free agents as well as draft assets to make potential trades.

The Spurs wanted to be able to pivot at a moment’s notice. If one approach failed, they would still possess the tools necessary to successfully facilitate the fragile rebuild first put into motion back in 2018, after the sudden and departure of Kawhi Leonard.

In all, the Spurs currently sit on five first-round picks and nine second-rounders between 2023 and 2029 to go with a couple of pick swaps, not to mention nearly $40 million in cap space to upgrade the talent around Wembanyama if the club so chooses.

“Obviously, a long road still ahead and a lot of work to do to build this out and get to where we want to be,” Spurs general manager Brian Wright said last month after the club won the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery. “You enjoy the entire journey. It’s not always fun and it’s not always just the great things.”

Leadership and Succession Planning

During discussions in 2019, the organization promoted longtime GM R.C. Buford to CEO to handle the business side of the Spurs, while Wright stepped into his current position after serving three years as the team’s assistant GM. 

The new facility has long been Buford’s brainchild, and another innovative way for San Antonio to gain a competitive edge in elite human performance, while improving potential free-agent recruiting, with the 134,000-square-foot Victory Capital Performance Center, which is expected to be equipped with the latest in sports technology. Buford credits Dr. Andy Walshe, a globally recognized expert in the field of elite human performance, as one of the driving forces behind the new facility.

“The human being is one of the most complex systems in the universe,” Walshe said. “Thanks to technology, we’re starting to peel back the layers to unpack what really makes elite people operate at peak performance.”

The Spurs also expanded San Antonio’s market by hitting the I-35 corridor last season for a pair of games up the road in Austin, one in Mexico City and an exhibition game at the Alamodome in which the Spurs broke the league’s all-time attendance record. Long considered a small-market club, San Antonio played those four out-of-market home games in an attempt to deepen the fanbase from Mexico to Austin.  This plan could develop San Antonio into one of the NBA’s largest markets.

That’s partly where an international talent like Wembanyama comes into play.

Nearly every move made, such as creating cap space, adding draft assets the past few years aligns with this drafting of yet another exceptional big man like David Robinson and Tim Duncan before opening a new facility, and expanding their market.

“Brian, R.C. and [coach Gregg Popovich] deserve a tremendous amount of credit,” Holt said. “It’s not easy to go through transition. They have laid out a plan, a vision, for getting us back to championship-winning teams. That’s our goal. We are blessed to have this amazing team that will take this Draft process and add it into the overall framework to make sure we have sustainable success, and our legacy is one that’s living.”

The Spurs Quantum Entanglement continues!

Excerpts taken from:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/sports/basketball/victor-wembanyama-san-antonio-spurs.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

https://www.nba.com/news/how-spurs-laid-the-groundwork-for-2023-nba-draft-to-change-everything?lctg=5ec7f3061402375d2c24d5bb&lid=r6qysasrzr7v&utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=luisfvaldes2013%2Fmagazine%2FMindfuel+Magazine+2.0

Quantum Entanglement: Kawhi, the Spurs, and Beautiful Basketball

Quantum entanglement suggests that Kawhi Leonard should stay put and stick with the Spurs. Wait, what? I thought this was a basketball story. What is this, a physics lesson? 

The phenomenon that is Kawhi Leonard cannot be understood or defined separately from his team, the organization and the culture in which he evolved.

In physics, quantum entanglement is a physical phenomenon which occurs when pairs or groups of particles are generated or interact in ways such that the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently of the state of the other(s), even when the particles are separated by a large distance—instead, a quantum state must be described for the system as a whole (taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

The concept of quantum entanglement describes the relationship between two bodies that interact or entangle with each other. Once they do, it becomes impossible to describe one object without considering the other object; both are connected or bonded together.

Accordingly, if you now separate these objects by various distances – two feet or across the globe, it doesn’t matter – when one object is interacted upon, a correlating action occurs simultaneously with the other object. That's right, I googled "quantum entanglement."

Perhaps no team in professional sports provides more evidence for the existence of quantum entanglement that the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. Their sustained success is remarkable.

Subsequently, Kawhi Leonard's success can only be evaluated through his entanglement with everyone from the Spurs' ownership, the Holts; General Manager R. C. Buford; Head Coach Gregg Popovich and his assistant coaches; Tim Duncan; Manu Ginobili; Tony Parker and all the rest of his teammates.

Kawhi Leonard was selected as the 15th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in his first season. Leonard was a member of the NBA champion Spurs in 2014, and was also named 2014 NBA Finals MVP. He has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year twice, in 2015 and 2016, and is a two-time first team All-NBA team member.

However, Leonard entered the Spurs orbit of success that started years before. They have made the playoffs in 28 of the last 29 seasons (since 1989–90) and have only missed the playoffs four times since entering the NBA; they have not missed the playoffs in the 21 seasons since Tim Duncan arrival in 1997. Despite being a small market team with origins in the American Basketball Association (prior to the merger of the ABA and NBA), the Spurs success had achieved remarkable heights.

Leonard obviously has been an integral part of the Spurs' recent success and continuation of their championship contention to this point.  However, some critics suggest that the Spurs' system has stifled Kawhi's talent and potential.  Others feel that he would have much more successful with another franchise.   Still other have felt that Kawhi is just a product of the Spurs' system and would not have been successful elsewhere.   Kawhi is more than just a product of the Spurs' organization but is still just a thread within a quantum entanglement.

Some people think that the end of the Spurs dynasty is near. Many rumors have circulated not only about the current state of the Spurs organization but specifically about Leonard's eventual exit from the Spurs through a trade or free agency. Social media mavens are convinced that Leonard is done in San Antonio.

Despite rumors of a rift between Leonard and the Spurs' concerning the diagnosis, treatment, and medical management of his prolonged leg injury and recovery, it does not appear that there has been any real improvement in his readiness to play. Why would any other NBA have a greater interest in Kawhi than the Spurs have?

It is difficult to envision Leonard in any other NBA uniform. History suggests that Spurs that leave through free agency or trade do not continue or improve their level of success that they had while with the Spurs. Can you think of an ex-Spur whose fortunes rose after their departure? I can't either. So, why would Kawhi have similar or greater success anywhere else?

Other teams seeking Leonard's services should keep quantum entanglement theory in mind when pursuing him.

The only thing that makes sense is that Leonard remain in the Spurs orbit and continue to thrive in the quantum entanglement that is the San Antonio Spurs.

Stay tuned for more about the Spurs and quantum entanglement in future blogposts.

San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat Square Off in the 2013 NBA Finals

“Those three guys have a lot of character and they make it easy for whoever we bring in to adjust and understand their role on the team. They help me do my job.

“Actually, it’s more important what they do than what I do as far as making those players feel comfortable, not intimidating them and giving them the time and the space to form their own games around them. They’re responsible for allowing that to happen over the years."

--Gregg Popovich, talking about the Big Three of the San Antonio Spurs: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, the evolution of the franchise and its winning tradition.

The 2013 NBA Finals will begin tonight. This much anticipated match-up will pit the NBA most consistent and respected franchise of the last 15 years, the San Antonio Spurs; against perhaps the most scrutinized, criticized, and talented team in the league the past three years, the Miami Heat.

The Heat have the MVP and best player in the world, LeBron James. James can single-handedly take over a game and a series. The Spurs have an experienced, well-oiled machine that relies on precision, execution, and team play.

 Asked to explain the team’s continuous success, Popovich said: “It’s a total function of who those three guys are. What if they were jerks? What if they were selfish? What if one of them was, you know, unintelligent? But the way it works out, all three of them are highly intelligent. They all have great character.”

The San Antonio Spurs have been maligned for years for being old and boring, too long in the tooth to be considered serious championship contenders. However, it has been the Miami Heat that have looked old and tired in their Eastern Conference final against the Indiana Pacers. The Spurs' last NBA championship was earned in 2007, while the Heat are defending champions. Despite having the NBA's best regular season record including the second longest winning streak in NBA history, the Spurs appear to have the momentum and an increasingly strong support base in the media. 

The Spurs bring a structure, a system, a culture and a strategic approach to sustained winning that has been unmatched in all of sports in the last three decades. Will this be enough to overcome a team brought together via free agency to win and win now? Will an organization built for the long haul be able to beat a superstar-oriented team of hired guns?

We have as many as seven games to watch and learn. Enjoy the battle. 

Excerpts from nytimes.com (06/02/2013 & 06/05/2013).

Tim Duncan and The San Antonio Spurs Defy Critics and Age

"Timmy has been a consummate professional from the day he got into the league. This isn't anything new for him, playing with the passion he's playing with. He loves basketball, he loves his teammates, and he decided again he needed to be more aggressive when the overtime period came." 

--Gregg Popovich, head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, discussing the high level of play that his All-Star center, Tim Duncan, has displayed as a 37-year old veteran in these 2013 NBA playoffs. Duncan was particularly effective during times that the team needed his scoring during crunch time in their playoff series with the Memphis Grizzlies. 

The San Antonio Spurs are in their fifth NBA Finals since 1999. They are 4-0 in NBA Finals. Last night, they swept the Grizzlies, a team that was expected by many to win the series. San Antonio has been in eight NBA Western Conference Finals in the last 15 years. During that time, the Spurs have had a regular season winning percentage of just over 70% and have 71 more wins that any other NBA team.  

 

Experience is a key factor in the Spurs success.
 
“We’ve been together for a long time,” first team 2013 All-NBA player Duncan said. “We have a lot of plays to work from and a lot of experience to work from.” 

Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have played in 28 playoff series together, winning 97 postseason games. Only the Los Angeles Lakers' combination of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Cooper won more.

Head Coach Gregg Popovich has experience and his confidence in his players to rely upon.

“I have a great deal of confidence in them,” coach Gregg Popovich said. They’ve earned that. They’ve been together, they’re all very competitive. They may or may not do something perfectly, but they’re going to do it to the best of their ability. That allows one to go to bed at night and deal with whatever the consequences are.”

“We don’t panic,” Tony Parker, who scored 37 points in the clinching game against the Grizzlies said after Game 3. “We know what we want to do. We made a lot of great plays at the end of the game last night.”

Ginobili described it as "corporate knowledge," an institutional memory that resides in this trio that has played together for more than a decade.

“We know how we feel without even having to say a word,” Ginobili said. “And that’s important. And we have five pieces that are very important to what we do that are new.”

As the team has aged, the Spurs have had a successful transfusion of new blood into their team. Tiago Splitter, Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green have contributed in their roles as playoff contributors of rebounding, defense and 3-point shooting. However, the core of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili keep the whole thing together.

“It’s the core group and new pieces, just being altruistic and trying to help out,” Ginobili said. “Pop being very communicative and very clear on what he wants. It’s the whole package. But of course, Tony, Tim, Pop and me, we know each other very well and it’s easy to communicate.” 

The Spurs emphasize team play, flexibility and unselfishness, a lesson that the Memphis Grizzlies will try to learn.  

“They play so well together that any adjustment we'd make, they'd make another one,” Memphis point guard Mike Conley said. “We'd play them well for about 18 seconds on the shot clock and then [Parker would] make a play. You know, that's why he's one of the best and they're headed to the Finals.”

 

“They hit the big shots, they got the big stops, they had an answer for every run,” Memphis' Quincy Pondexter said in admiration. “That’s a championship team. We’re going to learn from the things they do.”

 

“We will learn,” Memphis center Marc Gasol confirmed. “We have already started learning. They do a little bit of everything.”

 

“They play basketball the way it’s supposed to be played,” Pondexter continued.

As with every other Spurs team, aggressive defense is a defining element.  

“It's just effort. There's no magic,” Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich said of his interior defense. “We didn't come up with some new defense to guard them. But we were aggressive, we did a lot of denying, a lot of pressure on the passer who was trying to deliver the ball, whether it was high-low or from the wing, and we fronted and three-quartered and showed a lot of looks on the post.”

 

Finally, the Spurs have one meaningful intangible: motivation.  The team has a vow that keeps them focused.  The players want to win a fifth NBA championship for Tim Duncan. 

 

“I think everybody on the team,” Parker said, “we really wanted to do it for him.”

Excerpts from NBCsports.msnbc.com (5/28//2013) SBNation.com (5/28/2013), LAtimes.com (5/28/2013), HuffingtonPost.com (5/26/2013).ESPN.com (5/26/2013).

You Suck!: The Pressure to Win Immediately, Win Always, and Win Forever

NOTE: Today, as I write this blog, it was reported that Kansas City Chiefs football player, Jovan Belcher, killed his girlfriend and then turned a gun on himself at the Chiefs' training facility. He proceeded to kill himself. This is the fourth current or former NFL player to have commited suicide in the past eight months.  

Though, we do not yet know the circumstances behind this tragedy nor can we make a case for any specific factor contributing to this apparent murder-suicide, the Chiefs are 1-10 and mired in an eight-game losing streak that has been marked by devastating injuries and fan upheaval, with constant calls the past few weeks for GM Scott Pioli and Head Coach Romeo Crennel to be fired. The situation has been so bad this season that Crennel fired himself as defensive coordinator.

The Chiefs lead the league in turnovers, cannot settle on a starting quarterback and are dealing with a full-fledged fan rebellion. The Twitter account for a fan group known as Save Our Chiefs recently surpassed 80,000 followers, about 17,000 more than the announced crowd at a recent game.

With this as the back drop and lead-in to my post, I am disturbed by another (and, perhaps related) significant trend in sports.

The Los Angeles Lakers fired Mike Brown on November 9 from his position as head coach after a 1-4 start.  Under Brown, the Lakers struggled to an unacceptable 0-3 start, the first time the Lakers have done so since 1978-79, the season before Jerry Buss bought the team.

Brown began his tenure as coach at the start of the 2011-12 season, leading Los Angeles to a 41-25 record (.621 win percentage) in the lockout-shortened 66-game season. The Lakers suffered a second-round exit from the NBA playoffs in a five-game loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers were expected to make a big improvement over last year with the offseason acquisitions of Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, and Antawn Jamison.  However, Howard is getting back to normal following back surgery; while Nash has been out much of the season with an injured leg.  Jamison began the season languishing on the bench. 

Since hiring Mike D'Antoni to replace Brown, the Lakers are 3-4; not a great improvement. The Lakers do not look significantly better after the change and in some ways look worse. Though Dwight Howard is looking better, Nash is still out.  Did Brown deserve such a quick hook?     

On November 25, 2012, Gene Chisik, Head Coach of the Auburn University football team, was fired. Chisik, with Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton as his quarterback, led the Tigers to the BCS national championship in 2010. However, things turned around quickly. Auburn completed its worst season in 60 years two Saturdays ago.

Auburn finished 3-9 overall and 0-8 in the SEC, its worst conference record ever. Chizik was fired immediatelyafter losing to Alabama 49-0. Auburn must buy out Chizik's contract for $7.5 million. Have Chisik's skills eroded so quickly? Is he no longer the coach he used to be? 

"I’m extremely disappointed with the way this season turned out and I apologize to the Auburn family and our team for what they have had to endure," Chizik said in a statement. He added, "When expectations are not met, I understand changes must be made."   Really?  Does Auburn deserve more? 

Three weeks ago, the San Francisco 49ers replaced their quarterback, Alex Smith who possessed a a league-leading 70% completion rate and a fourth-in-the-NFC 104.1 quarterback rating. Smith led the 49ers to a 13-3 regular season record, and a berth in the NFC championship game last season. He was benched for a second year QB Colin Kaepernick after suffering a concussion. On Sunday, with Kaepernick at the helm, the 49ers were upset by the Seattle Seahawks. The 49ers are 8-3-1 at this point in the season.  

Finally, the San Antonio Spurs were fined $250,000 for keeping four starters out of a scheduled game with the Miami Heat this week. The players were not only keep from playing, but sent home by the team to rest. NBA Commissioner David Stern fined the team and issued this statement: “I apologize to all N.B.A. fans. This was an unacceptable decision by the San Antonio Spurs and substantial sanctions will be forthcoming.”

Spurs' Head Coach Gregg Popovich maintained that “my priority is my basketball team and what’s best for it.” Popovich has done this before, without being fined, when he felt resting his players would be beneficial in the long run. Obviously, Stern felt that the pursuit of a win in one game was more important for the integrity of the league than for the championship pursuits of one team. 

What are we to make of these firings, benchings, and fines?   My take is that the sports world is reflecting the win now and win at all costs of our society. Despite a lack of evidence that any of these actions would be improve these teams, these decisions were made. Each decision was costly, but was made with immediate improvement as the desired outcome. None of the decisions seem to make any real difference, especially when seen in the short-run, which is why the changes were ostensibly made.

Are our expectations and standards as fans, administrators, commissioners, teams and players unrealistic?  Is our winner take all mentality all out of whack?  I think so. 

Should we strive for success and excellence?  Of course.  Should we expect maximum effort?  Surely.  But, do we deserve and demand perfection?  Is winning everything, all the time?  Our evidence and experience should tell us that we can't attain it or sustain it.  More importantly, this mindset is counterproductive, and, perhaps, unhumane. 

Exerting excessive pressure to win now, win always, win forever doesn't necessarily improve performance, in the short or long-run. More importantly, both the short- and long-range implications (selfish play, inconsistent performances, lack of teamwork, excessive emphasis on money, loyalty, drug use, cheating, etc.) are much more costly.  It's time to reflect and look closely at our values and expectations of ourselves, but more importantly, of others.

What kind of perfectionistic expecations and standards are you harboring?     

Excerpts from businessinsider.com, nytimes.com, AL.com, and aol.sportingnews.com/ 

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tim, Pop, and the San Antonio Spurs' Resurgence

The San Antonio Spurs have now won their last 18 games and 32 of their last 37. They have swept past their last two NBA playoff opponents in the first and second rounds, 4-0 and 4-0.

This dominance has the Spurs being touted as the favorites to win the NBA championship this year, potentially their fifth since 1999. They have sped past the Miami Heat, the pre-season pick to win it all.

Their coach, Gregg Popovich has won this season's NBA Coach of the Year award. And, their marquee player, Tim Duncan, has been rejuvenated this year with the energy and skills of an All-star after being considered well past his prime.

How has this happened? Let’s look closely at a peak performance franchise.

Setting the Tone as the Backbone of the Team

"He is getting older, just like you are, and all of us, but Tim Duncan is still the backbone of the program," said Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich. "He's the guy we build around. He sets the tone for us.Tony [Parker] and Manu [Ginobili] know that full well."

The Facts and the Numbers

For 15 seasons, Duncan has quietly gone about his business, winning four championships along with three finals and two league MVP trophies.

Here are the numbers and some accomplishments to consider:

13: Consecutive seasons to begin his career in which Duncan was named All-NBA and All-Defensive team, six more than anyone else in league history.

.702: The Spurs' winning percentage during the Duncan era, the best 15-year run by any NBA team in history.

0: Number of teams in the four major pro sports with a better winning percentage over the last 15 years than the Spurs.

One Game at a Time

For several years now, the media has wondered how long Duncan would continue playing. They and his opponents have been asking him nightly when he will retire.
Each night, Duncan says the same thing: "I got at least one more game."

Respect

In the summer of 1997. Coach Popovich flew down to St. Croix to meet his team's No. 1 draft pick.

Over the next few days the two men swam and lay on the beach, ate, and talked about life, family and priorities. Everything except basketball. Despite a difference of nearly 30 years, they connected in a way few athletes and coaches do. Today Popovich tears up just talking about it. "I really cherish that time," he says. "It was like an instant respect and understanding of each other. Almost like we were soul mates."

Leadership

When the Spurs call a timeout and you see the San Antonio coaches huddle a few feet from the bench, it's not to hash out strategy. Rather, Popovich is giving his veterans, Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker time with the team. "You'll see Timmy over there with a young kid, talking about how he should do this or that or what we meant by such and such," says Popovich. "I'll come back to the timeouts sometimes and say, 'Are we square?' and Timmy will say, 'Yeah, we got 'em.'"
"He commands that type of respect because he doesn't demand it, if that makes sense."

Motivation

What drives Tim Duncan? Everyone on the team says the same things: He loves the game. He cares just as much as the little guys do. It's one thing to claim to love the game and another, as Ferry says, "to make the sacrifices that are necessary to win."

Consistency

"He's always known who he was and been comfortable in his own skin," Sean Elliott, a retired former teammate says. "In 15 years he hasn't changed."

Ask Duncan about it, and this is what he says: "It sounds somewhat arrogant, but I don't really want to change. I like who I am, I like how I do things. I try to be that way."


Continuous Improvement Mentality/Comfort with Change

Duncan grew up in St. Croix, raised by a loving father and a mother whose mantra was, "Good, better, best/Never let it rest/Until your good is better and your better is your best."

However, As Duncan's career evolved, the Spurs' strategy changed because it needed to.

"As we got a little bit older and the personnel changed, we were going to go from one of the best defensive teams to a more middle-of-the-road defensive teams," Popovich said. "Something had to change if we wanted to continue to win at a high level. So we went to the offense about two years ago and kind of shifted it to pick up the pace, to shift a little from inside to outside. Some of the offense went from Timmy a little bit more to Manu [Ginobili] and Tony. Attack early in the clock, kind of Mike D'Antoni-ish. We tried to get that into the program." 



The Spurs are a faster, more exciting, higher scoring team who gamble a tad more on defense and generally look to fast-break more than ever. Fans like it and opponents fear it. Popovich said that the change wasn't merely a product of necessity, but also rejuvenating for a coaching staff and roster that had known only one thing for the better part of a decade. 



"It was great because we'd been the same team for a long time," Popovich said. "If you want to keep winning you have to be aware of changes that might need to be made. It was pretty obvious we had to do it. But it did make it more fun. I think the players enjoyed it, too. They were probably getting bored of the same old stuff."

Continuity and Longevity Equals Peak Performance

On April 11, 2000, Tim Duncan tore the lateral meniscus in his left knee. He missed the final four games of the regular season and forced Spurs coach Gregg Popovich into a corner: go with Duncan in the playoffs, or keep him on the sidelines.



Duncan didn't make the decision any easier.

"I was doing everything I could to get ready to play," Duncan said.



Nevertheless, Popovich was just too worried about his star player.


"He was young, a franchise player," Popovich said. "He wasn't just a No. 1 pick. With him, you've got an opportunity to win multiple championships, if you don't screw it up. I didn't know if [the injury] could get worse, or get chronic."



Popovich liked his team, and he liked its chances in the playoffs. He just liked Duncan even more. He was looking long-term and betting on the future of the franchise. He told Duncan that he would not play any more that season. Duncan was done.

"I don't know if it was right or wrong," Popovich said. "But we did it."

Fast-forward to 2012, it turned out to be the right decision. And Duncan has come to appreciate Popovich's decision to sit him down in 2000. Even though he might not have liked it at the time.

"He's always been the voice of reason," Duncan said.

Mindset

Tim Duncan has said he uses silence to "destroy people's psyches." He explains, "The best mind game you can run on someone is just to keep going at them and at them until they break." Don't respond, don't show emotion. Just keep playing. "Eventually," he says with a grin, "you'll piss them off."

Emotional Intelligence

Duncan prefers mellowness to emotion as a virtue. 

"It's essential," Duncan said of that mellowness. "Trying to stay cool and collected when things are going in all different directions around you -- if you can keep that even keel, you're not affected by the good or the bad as much. It's a great quality to have."

A Legacy of Winning
Does Duncan care about how he's viewed, how he's remembered?

Duncan thinks for a second, pulls on the sleeve of his silver Spurs sweatshirt. "Why?" he says. "I have no control of that. All I can do is play and try to play well. Winning should be the only thing that matters. I can't manipulate how people see me."

Excerpts form Los AngelesTimes.com (May 17, 2012), bleacherreport.com (May 18, 2012), ESPN.com (May 20, 2012) and SportsIllustratedCNN.com (May 21, 2012).

For more about the San Antonio Spurs, click on: http://www.squidoo.com/saspurs and http://www.squidoo.com/Duncan.

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A Winning Mindset Keeps Spurs As Winningest Team in the NBA

The NBA San Antonio Spurs' season record of 46-9 record is tops in the NBA and the best 55-game mark since the Dallas Mavericks had the same mark in 2006-07 en route to a franchise-best, 67-win season.

This record includes the current long road trip. 

"They're feeling a few bumps and bruises, but they're character guys.  They're professionals, and they know what's expected of them. They know where they want to be at the end of the year and they're working towards that. So no game can be left without trying to get better."

--Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of the lengthy trip that started in Portland and which will end in Chicago this Thursday.

"We just have to stay focused, that's going to be the main thing for us.  Focus on defense, we have a lot of room for improvement. Even if I think we're on the right track, I think we can do a lot of stuff better and we just have to stay motivated because we have to get all those wins and make sure we take advantage of our good start."

--Tony Parker, Spurs' point guard (13 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists).  

Despite many blow-out games and the league's best record, the Spurs don't seem to be experiencing complacency.

"I was kind of shocked, not that we won or we played well, but that at the kind of effort and hustle in the third and fourth quarter.  We played hard and rotated very well, went hard to the rebounds so it was a very complete second half for us."

--Manu Ginobili, veteran Spurs player.  

Ironically, the game also benefited their opponent, the losing New Jersey Nets, who came away with a glimpse of how a good team should play.

"They've been doing it for years.  They've been playing together for years. They know one another extremely well. They are battle tested. What makes them so impressive is they don't really care who scores. They move the ball and whoever gets the open shot, so be it. That's what makes them so good."

--Devin Harris, Nets' point guard.  

"This is a terrific team we played.  They have the best record in the league for a reason. They don't beat themselves. They're pros. They go about their business and they're very methodical in their approach." 

--Avery Johnson, the Nets' head coach, who is trying to rebuild the Nets, who had the NBA's worst record last season. 

So, what are the secrets to the Spurs' success?  What keeps the Spurs' playing at a peak level all season long?  

• Professional attitude
• Character
• Continuous improvement mentality
• Sense of urgency
• Consistent focus
• Continuity of talent and personnel
• Heightened motivation
• Unselfishness
• Discipline 

These traits should serve the Spurs well the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs.


Excerpts from ESPN.com (February 14, 2011)

Why The San Antonio Spurs May Go All the Way to the NBA Championship

The San Antonio Spurs are the NBA's first team to 40 wins this season.  In their 40th win, Manu Ginobili scored 22 points and the Spurs beat the Houston Rockets 108-95 on Saturday night.

The Spurs reached 40 wins in just 47 games, tying the record for the sixth fewest games needed to reach 40 wins in NBA history. They got there faster than the four-time NBA champions ever have before. 

Of the previous seven teams to reach 40 wins in 47 games or fewer, six went on to win the NBA title.  The last time the Spurs were the first NBA team to reach 40 wins was the 2004-05 season, when they went on to win the NBA title.  The Spurs won their 18th straight home game, extending the longest home winning streak in the NBA this season.  The Spurs moved two wins from tying the franchise record of 20 straight home wins, set during the 1989-90 season.  

"We were in the game all they way into the third quarter. But they were too solid. They are too solid," Scola said. "Most solid team in the NBA. They're the best team in the NBA, period."

--Luis Scola, Houston Rockets.  

Next up is their annual Rodeo Road Trip, a nine-game stretch of road games.  Maybe three weeks on the road will make things more challenging.

So, what makes the Spurs so good?  

Spurs Pride

"I'm just speechless right now," said Spurs center DeJuan Blair, who had 14 points and 12 rebounds. "Because it's just such an honor to be on this team, on this quest for greatness, and we've just got to keep it going."

Continuous Improvement Mentality

"No coach or team thinks in terms of happy or comfort, those are not words that exist. You keep competing, executing, and trying to improve. It doesn't matter if you have the best record or the worst record."

--Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs head coach.

Fundamental, Mistake Free Basketball

"They don't beat themselves. We were right there with them for a half and we were playing pretty good basketball.The lull that we had in the third quarter where we just couldn't answer any of their three's and their big shots create separation. We were playing from behind and it's tough because they don't make any mistakes to allow you to get back into the game. Tonight was a pretty classic textbook Spurs victory."

--Shane Battier, Houston Rockets veteran.

Focus

“We’ve never been one to say, ‘Hey, we’re on the road, we’ll wait till we get back home to win games.  But in this respect, we’ve got so many of them in a row on the road, I think it is all about our focus and trying to get those games, those wins and put them in our pocket and try to become a better team on that trip.”

--Tim Duncan, Spurs veteran.  

Emphasis on Defense

“It’s goal No. 1 all the time and we’ve been a little lacking on it,” Duncan said. “We’ve been winning and that’s been great, but it comes down to the end of the season and the playoffs, we want to be the best defensively as possible. That’s our best chance to win games in those situations. We have to keep working on that and we will, obviously Pop is not going to let up on that.”

Excerpts from projectSpurs.com, SportingNews.com  and ESPN.com (January 31, 2011).