Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Why the Spurs Have Always Been Underrated

This year's NBA Finals are a national exercise in marveling at the bionic San Antonio Spurs, now tied 1-1 with the Miami Heat, heading into Tuesday's Game 3. So let's add to the list of reasons why the Spurs are amazing: They do more with less.
One way to gauge how NBA front offices evaluate talent is revisiting where players were selected in the NBA Draft. The average pick of each NBA team's five leading scorers this season was 19.1. San Antonio's was 32—lower than only two teams. In fact, there are just three NBA champions in the last three decades with lower average draft picks than these Spurs: the 2005 Spurs, the 2003 Spurs and the 1999 Spurs.
San Antonio was gifted the No. 1 pick in 1997, when it took Tim Duncan and never let him leave. But his sidekicks over the years—and some of the Spurs stars this season—are players that far too many teams passed over. Tony Parker (2001) and Tiago Splitter (2007) were both picked 28th. Kawhi Leonard was 15th in 2011. Danny Green, who shot 5-for-5 from three-point range on Sunday, entered the league as a second-round pick (46th) in 2009. And there is Manu Ginobili, the 1999 draft's 57th pick, behind 11 guys who never played in the NBA.
On the other side, Miami's players came into the league with more acclaim. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all were top-five picks in 2003, and with this season's addition of Ray Allen, the fifth overall pick in 1996, the Heat's roster has a rich pedigree. But it's still not as stacked as the 1985 Lakers', which had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Magic Johnson, all No. 1 picks.

—Ben Cohen

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