how the Spurs acquired Duncan.

Uh, yeah, no shit the Spurs already had a solid foundation in place. And yes, the Admiral was a still a solid player when Duncan came aboard. But let's not kid ourselves, Duncan took over as the #1 option right away and Duncan was able to dominate in the postseason the way the Admiral never did. Admiral was a solid, solid player - but not his old self. Far from his prime dominance.

DRob, Mario Elie, Sean Elliot, Avery Johnson, and Jaren Jackson were all aging vets at that point. They weren't superstars. Despite the obvious tank, that was an aging team on the decline. Anyone who watched the Spurs knew their window of opportunity was closing fast. Duncan was the DIFFERENCE.

>Are you sure you were a Spurs fan? Because that 99 team still
>had a veteran core that had averaged almost 60 wins for like 3
>years straight and had been to the WCF a couple of years
>before Duncan got there. The only reason they had a chance to
>get Duncan was that Robinson got injured early in the 96-97
>season and could have came back but they held him out and
>basically tanked the rest of that season to get into the
>lottery.