Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker aren’t long for the San Antonio Spurs. Sooner than later, the most successful and tenured Big Three in league history will be gone. Which begs the vexing question: How will the Spurs fare without them?
San Antonio’s eldest statesman is confident the franchise’s reign as a basketball power will continue after he and his future Hall of Fame running mates have finally retired. Well, assuming one of the Spurs’ young cogs begins playing to his potential.
In a story by David Aldridge of NBA.com, the always quick-witted Duncan says the black and silver’s new core of Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Danny Green is primed to carry the team’s ever-burning torch going forward – provided the latter “stops sucking.”
“We’ve got a good core here. We’ve got a good bunch of young guys. And, obviously (we’re) adding L.A. to that. As long as Danny stops sucking” — Green, seated next to Duncan, was waiting for the zinger — “and Kawhi is obviously on his way up and is going to be incredible, there’s going to be a good team here for a long time. We’ve done that over the years. The organization has continued to put people into place where they’re coming along, and there’s no lull in what we do.”
Green has been the Spurs’ favorite whipping boy since he latched on with them for good in 2011. The 28-year-old sharpshooter joked that Gregg Popovich “promised to be nicer” when San Antonio pitched him in free agency last summer, an indication of the three-time Coach of the Year’s tough-love approach to teaching him.
Interactions like this one, filmed late during a win over the Brooklyn Nets last December, are arguably more frequent between Popovich and Green than any other coach-player pairing in the league.
As his quip about free agency made clear, though, Green harbors no ill-will toward Popovich for the occasionally gruff coach’s motivational tactics. And considering the notoriously close relationship enjoyed by Popovich and Duncan, it’s fair to say the Spurs’ butt of so much criticism feels the same way about his five-time champion teammate.
Plus, it’s not like Duncan was doing much more than acknowledging simple reality, either. Green is shooting just 29.2 percent overall and 21.4 percent from beyond the arc over San Antonio’s first six games of the season.
(Via NBA.com)
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