Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Just Like Old Times

Sure, Tim Duncan has won with Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in 2003, 2005, and 2007. However, today's team doesn't exactly have the same look as those championship years. This year's team is a contender, but not in the sense of 2003, 2005, and 2007.

The 2003 squad featured Tony Parker, Stephen Jackson, Bruce Bowen, Tim Duncan, and David Robinson in his last year. Off the bench they had a rookie Manu Ginobili, Steve Smith, Devin Brown, Steve Kerr, Danny Ferry, Malik Rose, and the like.

The 2005 squad contained Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen, Tim Duncan, and Rasho Nesterovic with a supporting cast of Glenn Robinson, Brent Barry, Nazr Mohammed, Devin Brown, Robert Horry, and Sean Marks.

In 2007 the starters were Tony Parker, Michael Finley, Bruce Bowen, Tim Duncan, and Fabricio Oberto with Manu Ginobili, Brent Barry, Francisco Elson, Robert Horry, and Jacque Vaughn coming off the bench.

While the core of Parker, Ginobili, and Duncan remains the same, I think Duncan and Popovich might see something of a throwback to their 1999 championship in this team. A team boasting a starting 5 of Avery Johnson, Mario Elie, Sean Elliot, Tim Duncan, and David Robinson, with Malik Rose, Jarren Jackson, Steve Kerr, Antonio Daniels, and Jerome Kersey coming off the bench. Interesting comparison no? Well, I did say before that Richard Jefferson does remind me of Sean Elliot, so that got me thinking...

10 years later in the 2009-2010 season, Spurs boast a lineup of Tony Parker, Roger Mason, Richard Jefferson, Tim Duncan, and Antonio McDyess. Off the bench we have the supporting cast of George Hill, Manu Ginobili, Michael Finley, Malik Hairston, DeJuan Blair, Matt Bonner, and Ian Mahinmi. The correlations aren't exact, but the comparisons can be made. At least this is how I look at it:

Per 36 Minutes:

Rk Player Season Age G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1 Sean Elliott 1998-99 30 50 50 1509 5.0 12.1 .410 0.9 2.8 .328 2.5 3.3 .757 0.8 4.2 5.1 2.8 0.6 0.4 1.7 2.5 13.4
2 Richard Jefferson 2008-09 28 82 82 2939 6.6 15.0 .439 1.4 3.6 .397 5.1 6.3 .805 0.7 3.9 4.6 2.4 0.8 0.2 2.0 3.1 19.7

Rk Player Season Age G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1 Avery Johnson 1998-99 33 50 50 1672 4.7 9.9 .473 0.0 0.3 .083 1.1 1.9 .568 0.5 2.1 2.5 7.9 1.1 0.2 2.4 2.2 10.5
2 Tony Parker 2008-09 26 72 71 2456 9.4 18.5 .506 0.3 1.0 .292 4.2 5.3 .782 0.4 2.9 3.3 7.3 1.0 0.1 2.7 1.6 23.2

Rk Player Season Age G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1 Antonio McDyess 2008-09 34 62 30 1866 5.2 10.1 .510 0.0 0.0
1.2 1.7 .698 3.6 8.1 11.7 1.6 0.8 1.0 1.0 3.7 11.5
2 David Robinson 1998-99 33 49 49 1554 6.2 12.2 .509 0.0 0.0 .000 5.5 8.4 .658 3.4 8.0 11.4 2.4 1.6 2.8 2.5 3.3 18.0

Rk Player Season Age G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1 Mario Elie 1998-99 35 47 37 1291 4.4 9.2 .471 1.1 3.0 .374 2.9 3.3 .866 1.0 2.8 3.8 2.5 1.3 0.3 1.7 2.5 12.7
2 George Hill 2008-09 22 77 7 1270 4.3 10.5 .403 0.7 2.1 .329 3.2 4.1 .781 0.9 3.6 4.5 3.9 1.3 0.6 2.1 4.3 12.4

Rk Player Season Age G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1 Steve Kerr 1998-99 33 44 0 734 3.3 8.5 .391 1.2 3.9 .313 1.5 1.7 .886 0.3 1.9 2.2 2.4 1.1 0.1 1.1 1.4 9.4
2 Roger Mason 2008-09 28 82 71 2496 5.0 11.9 .425 2.4 5.7 .421 1.5 1.7 .890 0.2 3.4 3.6 2.5 0.6 0.2 1.4 2.3 14.0

Rk Player Season Age G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1 Michael Finley 2008-09 35 81 77 2336 4.6 10.6 .437 2.0 4.9 .411 0.8 1.0 .823 0.4 3.8 4.2 1.8 0.6 0.3 0.9 1.3 12.1
2 Jerome Kersey 1998-99 36 45 0 699 3.5 10.3 .340 0.2 0.7 .214 0.3 0.7 .429 2.2 4.5 6.7 2.1 1.9 0.7 1.5 4.7 7.5

Rk Player Season Age G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1 Manu Ginobili 2008-09 31 44 7 1181 6.8 15.0 .454 2.1 6.4 .330 5.1 5.8 .884 0.7 5.3 6.0 4.8 2.0 0.5 2.7 2.7 20.8
2 Jaren Jackson 1998-99 31 47 13 861 4.5 11.9 .380 2.2 6.1 .361 1.3 1.6 .821 0.9 3.3 4.1 2.0 1.7 0.4 1.5 2.6 12.6

Rk Player Season Age G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1 Tim Duncan 1998-99 22 50 50 1963 7.7 15.5 .495 0.0 0.1 .143 4.5 6.6 .690 2.9 7.6 10.5 2.2 0.8 2.3 2.7 2.7 19.9
2 Tim Duncan 2008-09 32 75 75 2522 8.0 15.8 .504 0.0 0.0 .000 4.8 6.9 .692 2.9 8.6 11.4 3.8 0.5 1.8 2.4 2.5 20.7


Okay, Maybe it's not fair to compare Jaren Jackson to Manu Ginobili, but there really isn't a great comparison down that line. I just said they were similar, not that the two seasons were identical. I mean, the rules have changed in the last 10 years, so the game is played pretty differently. The first thing to notice is that the old school team is defensively much better while the current team is offensively much better. It's interesting to note that Duncan plays better 10 years later, statistically at least. While McDyess is no Robinson both offensively and defensively in terms of shot blocking presence, he's still a solid producer. I was most surprised by the George Hill and Mario Elie similarities. It's a new decade, let's usher it in the right way with a bang. I'd throw up a Malik Rose and DeJuan Blair comparison, except that Blair doesn't have any real stats in the NBA yet, so I can't pull him up on basketball-reference.com. Oh well. Ah the nostalgia.

As a note, no team has repeated a championship run since 2002 when the Lakers had their threepeat. In the past 10 years, the Lakers and Spurs account for 8 of the past 11 championships (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 for the Spurs, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 for the Lakers) and are the only Western Conference teams to win a championship. From the East 2004 went to Detroit, 2006 to Miami, and 2008 to Boston. Spurs are 4-0 in their championship appearances, Lakers are 4-1. Just thought I'd throw something interesting out there.

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