The San Antonio Spurs of Tim Duncan and Greg Popovich had taken a modest step back in 2008. That step became more significant a year later. The 2009 San Antonio Spurs were still a good basketball team by any objective measurement, but the need for transition from the era of the decade’s championship years (2003, 2005, 2007) and into what would eventually become another championship team in the ensuing decade became more apparent.
The San Antonio Spurs won their fourth NBA championship in an eight-year span in 2007. Their championships had an odd quality to them—as in odd years, in 1999, and then going every other year in 2003, 2005, and 2007. So you know what that means for the following year—the 2008 San Antonio Spurs were a good team and a contender all the way to the end, but the bid for a repeat title came up short in the even-numbered year.
It was a time of change for the 2004 San Antonio Spurs. Even though David Robinson had been displaced by Tim Duncan as the best player on the team five years earlier, the retirement of “The Admiral” after the championship run of 2003 still marked a crossing point in Spurs history. San Antonio had another strong season in ’04, but with a little bit of transition and the rival Los Angeles Lakers beefed up, the Spurs bid for a repeat title came up short–with no small assistance from a controversial call that may have significantly altered history.
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The 2001 San Antonio Spurs spent the regular season and two rounds of the postseason looking like they were ready get back on top of the NBA world. In the end, they ran into a historic steamroller in the conference finals, but the Spurs continued to establish themselves as a permanent fixture in the NBA’s elite in 2001.
The 2000 San Antonio Spurs were coming off the first championship in franchise history, and the future was bright, with Tim Duncan in just his third year. But there was some inconsistency in the season and then an untimely injury cost the Spurs their chance to repeat.
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The basketball fans of San Antonio were getting used to first being teased and then having the rug out from under them, as the 1996 San Antonio Spurs got ready for a new season. The David Robinson era began with such promise in 1990, but quickly turned into successive first-round playoff exits.
San Antonio started 9-11, when Tark was replaced. The Spurs won a game under interim coach Rex Hughes, and then Lucas arrived. He was 39-years-old, a recent former player who had recovered from cocaine addiction. A feisty personality, Lucas inspired the team and they took off.
The San Antonio Spurs had started a new era in 1990, when center David Robinson came in and led them back to prominence. It was expected that the following year would see the team build off that success and take it to the next level. The 1991 San Antonio Spurs spent the entire regular season looking ready to do just that, before a surprising playoff flameout ended the year in disappointment.
The San Antonio Spurs are the model of NBA organizational excellence in the 21st century, but when the calendar flipped from the 1980s to the 1990s that wasn’t the case. The 1990 San Antonio Spurs were a franchise that had never reached the NBA Finals and hadn’t so much as won a playoff series in seven years. The long-awaited arrival of David Robinson changed the game forever in San Antonio.