20 years from now people are going to look at this San Antonio team and wonder...

[bdreason]

You could say the same thing about the '11 Mavs.

[BoutPractice]

Actually, it's going to be the exact opposite!

20 years from now, Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, heck even possibly Kawhi if he keeps it up will be legends and Hall of Famers.

Every Spurs team of this era will be known as "that Duncan led, HOF laden dynasty".

They won't differentiate the years as we do, because that's not how we remember things. Information gets compressed and distorted.

In the mental universe of fans who know just enough about the game, every Celtics team with Bird was essentially the same as the 86 Celtics because a lot of the names are the same.

Every Lakers team with Magic somehow has Magic at his best (late 80s Magic), early 80s Kareem, Worthy and so on.

Every single Los Angeles team in the late 60s - early 70s is the ridiculously stacked combination of prime Wilt Chamberlain (who we imagine to be that other Wilt who scored 100 points), Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Gail Goodrich. Never mind that they were old and suffered injuries.

Even Bulls teams before they won championships supposedly feature the HOF version of Scottie Pippen.

And so on.

[AirFederer]

I love to watch them beat up on "superstar teams". Teamball FTW

[SCdac]

Actually, it's going to be the exact opposite!

20 years from now, Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, heck even possibly Kawhi if he keeps it up will be legends and Hall of Famers.

Every Spurs team of this era will be known as "that Duncan led, HOF laden dynasty".

They won't differentiate the years as we do, because that's not how we remember things. Information gets compressed and distorted.

In the mental universe of fans who know just enough about the game, every Celtics team with Bird was essentially the same as the 86 Celtics because a lot of the names are the same.

Every Lakers team with Magic somehow has Magic at his best (late 80s Magic), early 80s Kareem, Worthy and so on.

Every single Los Angeles team in the late 60s - early 70s is the ridiculously stacked combination of prime Wilt Chamberlain (who we imagine to be that other Wilt who scored 100 points), Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Gail Goodrich. Never mind that they were old and suffered injuries.

Even Bulls teams before they won championships supposedly feature the HOF version of Scottie Pippen.

And so on.

This.

and it's entirely true. whether Spurs win these finals or not.

young fans who haven't been watching the game for long already think 2002-2003 Tony Parker was the All Star caliber player he became years later. All these teams will be lumped together 20 years from now.

All people are going to see is "Duncan, Parker, Manu, Leonard, and Splitter". All 1st round picks by the way, outside of Manu (and he might as well have been). Duncan is still the leader in many respects.

Once the Spurs finally got more legit, great players (Kawhi, Splitter, Diaw), they've been Finals-relevant. The defense and offense from Kawhi/Splitter is invaluable.

But just 4 years ago Spurs were a much shabbier team outside of the Big 3, with the disappearing acts Richard Jefferson / Matt Bonner getting big minutes, and George Hill / DeJuan Blair being somewhat flawed prospects.

Despite having rough lineups (for a team aiming for a title), the Spurs success has been connected over the years through Duncan, Pop, Buford, and Holt. Can't necessarily blame future fans for lumping it all together.

[Marlo_Stanfield]

its easy.
they player Eurobasketball. only team in the NBA that plays true Euroleague basketball.
Euroleague basketball is WAYYYY superior to NBA basketball. its just that the talent level in the NBA is WAY higher normally.
but the Spurs have elite NBA level talent on many positions AND play 100% unselfish Eruoball.
that makes them unstopable and should the Heat win again, it would be the biggest accomplishment in NBA history outside of maybe Russel 8 peating but that was the weakest era ever because he had 8 hall of famers

[BoutPractice]

Incidentally, future fans will be forgiven for thinking the 2014 Spurs were an all-time great team with all-time great players, with their 80% shooting halves...

[masonanddixon]

You could say the same thing about the '11 Mavs.

You mean the team that steamrolled the league in the regular season when healthy, had the best player in the league by a good margin, and then proceeded to steamroll the league in the postseason?

yeah, what a SHOCK they won it all.

[1987_Lakers]

...

[Quickening]

Actually, it's going to be the exact opposite!

20 years from now, Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, heck even possibly Kawhi if he keeps it up will be legends and Hall of Famers.

Every Spurs team of this era will be known as "that Duncan led, HOF laden dynasty".

They won't differentiate the years as we do, because that's not how we remember things. Information gets compressed and distorted.

In the mental universe of fans who know just enough about the game, every Celtics team with Bird was essentially the same as the 86 Celtics because a lot of the names are the same.

Every Lakers team with Magic somehow has Magic at his best (late 80s Magic), early 80s Kareem, Worthy and so on.

Every single Los Angeles team in the late 60s - early 70s is the ridiculously stacked combination of prime Wilt Chamberlain (who we imagine to be that other Wilt who scored 100 points), Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Gail Goodrich. Never mind that they were old and suffered injuries.

Even Bulls teams before they won championships supposedly feature the HOF version of Scottie Pippen.

And so on.

People already do with with Miami, Wade and Allen apparently superstars.

[D-FENS]

They are the offensive equivalent to the 2004 Pistons who were one of the best defensive teams we have ever seen

[r0drig0lac]

and cavs ftw will be talking about how wilt could average an adjusted 43.4 points per game in the new anti gravity arenas

[1987_Lakers]

They are the offensive equivalent to the 2004 Pistons who were one of the best defensive teams we have ever seen

indeed

[houston]

Easy they got one of the top PG's in the game with one of the greatest bigmen ever and one of the greatest 6th man ever.