That contrast is also ironic.
The Spurs now have the second-longest tenured coach in the NBA, are led by an owner who dismisses 17-10 starts as "usual rough patches" and have spent most of the decade sending a spitting image of that 1970s team home in the playoffs.
Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire need a time travel device. The Phoenix Suns want to play Bass's Spurs, not the four-time champion that has defined excellence and consistency under Head Coach Gregg Popovich.
The Spurs should have folded when Gervin was traded to the Chicago Bulls after the 1984-1985 season. They became little more than relocation fodder as the fans lost interest in a team that would compile a four-year record of 115-215.
An unexpected gift in 1987 saved the Spurs in every way possible. The Bob Weiss-coached Spurs selected U.S. Naval Academy Product David Robinson with the first pick in that year's draft. Robinson's two-year Navy commitment kept him away, and many speculated that he would enter free agency and ditch San Antonio in the 1989 season.
A sinking franchise and a desperate owner offered the coveted center little incentive to don silver and black. He opted to head for San Antonio to test the gig. He knows why he did it now, but then?
With Robinson at the helm, you could argue that the 1990s Spurs squads did not outperform those led by Gervin. Those years were marked by regular season excellence and postseason futility. Yet, while the Spurs lost key postseason contests to a packed house in the Alamodome—the most bird-brained, useless arena constructed in recent history—there was a new attitude.
The Spurs had made it. San Antonio surpassed its fanatical support of the '70s squads by marrying the Spurs in the '90s.
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