San Antonio Spurs

Not to be forgotten:. ** Played in the era prior to uniform numbers; wore 33 while serving as coach. The Spurs have advanced to the NBA Finals for the third time in franchise history, and currently are tied 2-2 in the series against the Eastern Conference champion Detroit Pistons. * Manager. In the postseason thus far, the Spurs have defeated the Denver Nuggets 4-1, the Seattle Supersonics 4-2 and the Phoenix Suns 4-1. Despite this, the Pirates' mediocre performance has translated to subpar attendance figures. With the acquisitions of Brent Barry from Seattle, Nazr Mohammed from New York, and veteran Glenn Robinson from free agency, alongside defensive specialist Bruce Bowen, international phenom Manu Ginobili, lightning quick Tony Parker, clutch shooter Robert Horry, and MVP candidate 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. Due to its simple, unpretentious concept and strategic usage of the remarkably beautiful Pittsburgh skyline, it is frequently regarded (as in a recent ESPN article) as currently the best park in baseball.

Duncan was named both the NBA Regular Season and Finals MVP for the season. The Pirates opened a new stadium, PNC Park, in 2001. The Spurs won the series 4-2, giving them their second NBA Championship in franchise history. Though this rash of trades has not been popular in Pittsburgh, it is generally accepted that it can mostly be attributed to the aforementioned "small market syndrome." It is felt that Littlefield is attempting, with perhaps mixed success, to follow the blueprint created by overachieving small market teams such as the Oakland Athletics and Minnesota Twins. The series against the Nets marked the first time two former ABA teams would play each other for the NBA Championship. After the 2004 season, Kendall's salary was also dumped on the Oakland Athletics. In the playoffs, the Spurs defeated the Suns, Lakers and Dallas Mavericks en route to facing the New Jersey Nets in the NBA Finals. Pirate fans found this trade much more palatable in the short run, as Pérez led the majors in strikeouts per inning and Bay won the Rookie of the Year Award award in 2004, while Giles put up a subpar season by his standards.

Mixing the inside presences of Duncan and Robinson with the newer outside threats, the Spurs earned a 60-22 record. Brian Giles was one of the National League's best hitters for several years, but he and his $9 million salary were also traded in 2003 to the San Diego Padres for youngsters Oliver Pérez, Jason Bay, and Cory Stewart. 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 and Argentina product Manu Ginobili. Enigmatic but talented third baseman Aramis Ramirez was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 2003 for a fairly minimal return under pressure to dump his $6 million salary for 2004, and he proceeded to become a star for the Cubs. The Spurs had remade their team in an attempt to dethrone the three-time defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. Current General Manager Dave Littlefield was installed midway through the 2001 season and began overhauling the team to comply with owner Kevin McClatchy's dictum to drastically reduce the payroll. This version of the Spurs was very different from the team that had won the title a few years earlier. However, the failure of the Pirates to compete in recent years has been blamed on "small market syndrome"; teams located in small cities such as Pittsburgh and Kansas City cannot compete with New York and Boston without a salary cap or similar agreement, as the better players tend to gravitate towards cities where teams generate more revenue, meaning larger salaries.

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, named after telecommunications giant SBC whose corporate headquarters were located in San Antonio. (Interestingly, video footage of Kendall's leg breaking from under him has been circulated on shock sites.). 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. No such incident has occurred with Kendall, but he has lost almost all of his power and much of his speed following a broken leg in 1999. 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. Despite poor play in 2001, Bell announced that he would begin "Operation Shutdown", a passive-aggressive ploy in which he would fail to play effectively in response to losing his role as a starter. 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. Their overall lack of success in the last decade have been blamed partly on former General Manager Cam Bonifay, who gave large contracts to players such as Derek Bell and Jason Kendall while failing to identify, develop, and retain numerous young potential star players.

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. However, they did miraculously contend for the 1997 division title, finishing second and only being eliminated in the season's final week, despite having a payroll of only 9 million dollars. Duncan was named the Finals MVP. Since then, the Pirates have not had a winning season. They faced the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals and won the series and the franchise's first World Title four games to one on the Knicks' home court of Madison Square Garden. Both players complained about the preferential treatment given to Van Slyke, leading some to believe that racism was well-ingrained in Pittsburgh sports. The team was just as dominant in the playoffs, rolling through the Western Conference with a record of 11-1. Before the 1993 season, Bonilla and Bonds would leave for more lucrative contracts elsewhere.

Playing a shortened 50-game season, the Spurs ended up with a 37-13 record. The Pirates would win the first three division titles of the 1990s, but failed to advance to the World Series each time, the second two losing closely contested seven-game series to the Atlanta Braves on questionable calls at the end of the final game. The season was delayed over three months until resolution on a new labor agreement was reached in January 1999. Jim Leyland took over as manager, and the Pirates gradually climbed out of the cellar behind young and exciting players such as Bobby Bonilla, Barry Bonds, Jay Bell, and Andy Van Slyke. 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). Following was a period of decline until the Pirates were regarded as the worst team in baseball during the mid-1980s. 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. Adopting the then-popular disco anthem "We Are Family" as their theme song, the Pirates won a fifth World Series, again in seven games, in 1979.

While both Duncan and Robinson played low-post roles, the two seamlessly meshed on the court. Stargell, speedy Omar Moreno and power-hitting but ostentatious and unpopular Dave Parker became the cornerstones of the Pirates as Murtaugh left and Chuck Tanner took over as manager in 1977. 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. Clemente died tragically in a plane crash in 1972 while attempting to ship supplies to the victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua, and is today regarded as the most prominent figure in Pirates history, with a riverfront park and suspension bridge named for him. 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 retired soon afterwards. The Spurs used their pick to select Wake Forest University product and consensus All-American Tim Duncan. However, in 1973, Blass suffered a mysterious breakdown in his pitching abilities and posted an outrageous 9.85 ERA.

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. They also thought they had a genuine superstar pitcher (historically rare for the Pirates) in Steve Blass, who pitched two excellent games in the World Series and put together excellent seasons in 1968 and 1972. Although the 1996-1997 season was not successful on the court for the Spurs, the offseason proved to be the opposite. The Pirates won their first of five division titles over the next six years, and won their fourth World Series the next year behind a .414 batting average by Clemente. 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. Slugger Willie Stargell became a fixture in the Pittsburgh lineup, and the Pirates would return to prominence in 1970 when Murtaugh returned as manager and the Pirates' home field, Forbes Field, was demolished in favor of the multi-purpose Three Rivers Stadium. 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. However, the Pirates struggled for the remainder of the decade, and Murtaugh was replaced by Harry Walker in 1965.

Few observers could have predicted how far the Spurs would fall during the 1996-1997 season. The 1960s would continue with extremely solid defensive play by Mazeroski and the first Puerto Rican superstar, Roberto Clemente. Clemente was regarded as both one of the game's best all-time hitters and right fielders. The Spurs finished the next season (1995-1996) under Hill at 59-23 and lost in the Western Conference Semifinals to the Jazz. In arguably the most memorable World Series in history, the Pirates were defeated by more than ten runs in three games, won three close games, then recovering from a 7-4 deficit late in Game 7 to eventually win on a walk-off home run by Bill Mazeroski. 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 1960 team featured eight All-Stars, but was widely predicted to lose the World Series to a powerful New York Yankees team. The Spurs reached the Western Conference Finals, but lost to the eventual NBA Champion Houston Rockets. Murtaugh is widely credited for inventing the concept of the closer by frequently playing pitcher Roy Face late in close games.

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 Pirates would have only one winning season until 1958, when Danny Murtaugh took over as manager. 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. The post-World War II years were not kind to the Pirates, despite the presence of a genuine superstar in Ralph Kiner. Prior to the season the Spurs traded fan-favorite Elliott to the Detroit Pistons in return for rebounding star Dennis Rodman. The 1927 season was the first for the sharp-hitting combination of brothers Lloyd Waner and Paul Waner, who along with shortstop Arky Vaughan ensured that the Pirates had plenty of Hall of Fame-caliber position players through 1941. 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. The Pirates recovered from a 3-1 deficit to win the 1925 World Series over the Washington Senators, and reached the 1927 World Series before losing in a sweep to the New York Yankees, who at that time had built the most dominant team in baseball.

The 1992-1993 season also marked the last that the Spurs would play in Hemisfair Arena. However, veteran outfielder Max Carey and young players Pie Traynor and Kiki Cuyler, along with a steady if unspectacular pitching staff, brought the Pirates back into the spotlight. 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 decline of Honus Wagner, considered by some to be the greatest shortstop ever, led to a number of losing seasons, culminating in a disastrous 51-103 record in 1917, Wagner's last season. The Lucas era started out successfully. With largely the same star players, the Pirates would continue to be a strong team over the next few years and got their first World Series title in 1909, defeating the Detroit Tigers in seven games. It was Lucas' first NBA coaching assignment although he had gained recognition in league circles for his success in helping NBA players rehab from drug abuse. Deacon Phillippe pitched five complete games, winning three of them; but it was not enough.

After Rex Hughes filled the coaching shoes for one game, NBA veteran John Lucas was named head coach. However, owing to injuries to their starting pitchers, they lost the first World Series ever played, in 1903 to Boston. 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. The 1901-1903 Pirates completely dominated the National League, in part because they lost few star players to the rival American League. McCombs made national headlines during the summer of 1992 with the hiring of former UNLV head coach Jerry Tarkanian. In 1900, the Pirates picked up star players from the defunct Louisville, Kentucky club, including greats like Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke (who also served as the team's manager from 1900 to 1915), triggering a long string of pennants. The team became a perennial playoff presence although were never able to advance further then 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. In 1890, they merged with the Pittsburgh team from the Players League after that league folded.

The Spurs began the 1990's with great optimism. The AA club picked up a number of players from a defunct Columbus, Ohio team in 1885. 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. In its early days, the club benefitted three times from mergers with defunct clubs. The Spurs eventually lost in the Western Conference semifinals after losing a seven-game series to the eventual Western Conference champion Portland Trail Blazers. They are in the Central Division of the National League. 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 Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

As the 1980's ended, the 1989-1990 season proved to be the rebirth of the Spurs franchise. Bradenton Pirates. 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. Lynchburg Hillcats
Hickory Crawdads
Williamsport Crosscutters. 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. Altoona Curve. Although the 1988-1989 season was the worst in Spurs history at 21-61, it was notable for several reasons. Indianapolis Indians.

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. National League
. The Spurs used this selection on United States Naval Academy standout David Robinson. Pitching strikeouts: Bob Veale (276, 1965). The lone bright spot during this period was the Spurs' being awarded the top pick in the 1987 NBA draft through NBA Draft Lottery. Pitching wins: 28 Jack Chesbro (28, 1902). The next four seasons were a dark time in Spurs' history, with the team having a combined record of 115-215 from 1985-1986 till 1988-1989. The losing seasons and dwindling attendance caused the Spurs to often be mentioned as a potential candidate for relocation to another city. Hitting streak: Danny O'Connell (26 games, 1953).

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. Walks: Ralph Kiner (137, 1951). 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. Stolen bases: Omar Moreno (96, 1980). For the first few seasons of the decade, the Spurs continued their success of the 1970's with records of 52-30 in 1980-1981, 48-34 in 1981-1982, and 53-29 in 1982-1983. Owen Wilson (36, 1912) [MLB record]. The decade of the 1980's marked both highs, then lows, and an eventual high. Triples: J.

The Spurs would go on to capture 5 division titles in their first 7 years in the NBA and became a perennial playoff participant. Doubles: Paul Waner (62, 1932). 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. Hits: Paul Waner (237, 1927). 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. Runs: Kiki Cuyler (144, 1925). 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. Runs batted in: Paul Waner (131, 1927).

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. Home runs: Ralph Kiner (54, 1949). The team quickly made themselves at home at San Antonio's HemisFair Arena playing to increasingly large and raucous crowds. Batting average: Arky Vaughan (.385, 1935). 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. Branch Rickey. 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. Bob Prince (legendary announcer nicknamed The Gunner).

After missing the playoffs for the first time in their existence in 1972-1973, the team was put up for sale. Bill McKechnie. 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 as well as Lubbock, Texas but this proved a failure and the team returned full-time to Dallas in time for the 1971-1972 season. John Galbreath. The team suffered from poor attendance and general disinterest in Dallas. Barney Dreyfuss (former owner and creator of the World Series). The San Antonio Spurs started out as the Dallas Chaparrals of the original version of the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1967. 42 Jackie Robinson (retired throughout baseball).

The San Antonio Spurs are a National Basketball Association team based in San Antonio, Texas. 40 Danny Murtaugh *. 50 - David Robinson. 33 Honus Wagner **. 44 - George Gervin. 21 Roberto Clemente. 32 - Sean Elliott. 20 Pie Traynor.

13 - James Silas.   9 Bill Mazeroski. 00 - Johnny Moore.   8 Willie Stargell. Chuck "The Rifleman" Person.   4 Ralph Kiner. Malik Rose.   1 Billy Meyer *.

Terry Cummings. Jim Leyland (1990, 1992). Steve Kerr. Manager of the Year