San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The Spurs are one of four former American Basketball Association teams (along with the Nets, Pacers, and Nuggets) to remain intact in the NBA after the 1976 ABA-NBA merger and is the only former ABA team to have won an NBA championship. The Spurs have won four NBA championships, more than any NBA franchise except the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, and Chicago Bulls. The Spurs' perfect record in NBA Finals series is surpassed only by the Chicago Bulls, who have won six without a loss; the Bulls and Spurs are the only two teams to maintain perfect records through multiple Finals series. As of July 2009, the Spurs rank third among active franchises for the highest winning percentage in NBA history; they have only missed the playoffs 4 times as an NBA franchise.

In their 33 NBA seasons, since 1976–1977, the Spurs have captured 17 division titles, which gives the Spurs the most division titles in the NBA during that 33-year span (the Lakers are second with 16). They have made the playoffs in 19 of the last 20 seasons, and have not missed the playoffs in the 12 seasons since Tim Duncan came to the Spurs in 1997.

During the 2010 NBA Draft, the Spurs managed to acquire the highest draft pick since the Tim Duncan draft a decade earlier. They drafted rookie James Anderson from Oklahoma State at #20. However, Anderson was soon sitting out of the first half of the season due to injuries. The Big Three however maintained a good healthy status for the '10 part of the season, and went on to obtain the league's best starting record of 25-4 by Christmas Eve. Also fueling the Spurs' re-emergence was a thoroughly revamped Richard Jefferson, whom over the summer was personally coached by Popovich to find his touch in the game. English bigman Ryan Richards was another draftee of the Spurs, this one at #49, however two shoulder surgeries soon left him out of any immediate possibilities. A truly significant development however was the success of R.C. Buford in bringing the Brazilian 7-footer Tiago Splitter to San Antonio from Spain. Still, Splitter missed the preseason, and was injured during the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey. Yet Popovich was able to ease him lightly into the roster as the season gradually progressed. Popovich proved successful in breathing younger life into the Spurs by these modifications, and the addition of Chris Quinn and Gary Neal, who especially proved to be a valuable asset for the early surge in the season.