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.
