The San Antonio Spurs aren’t necessarily a team known for its 1-on-1 play. Most of the franchise’s best squads were known for ball movement, playing to their role, and dominating as a team. That’s not to say the organization hasn’t had its share of elite talents. But who would come out on top if all of the best players in Spurs history played in a 32-player 1-on-1 tournament?
That’s what the editors at Pounding the Rock are looking to find out in the last month of the offseason. Today, we’re starting
our official PtR Spurs All-Time 1-on-1 tournament. Each week, we’ll have the readers vote on the matchups and reveal who won the prior round. We’ll share some thoughts on the matchups and who came out on top from the week before.
A few more ground rules for this hypothetical situation:
- Each player is at the prime of their Spurs tenure. So someone like Kawhi Leonard or Dominique Wilkins would represent their peak season as a Spur, not the best of their career.
- Assume traditional 1-on-1 rules for the tournament. Half court, games to 11 straight up (ones and twos), no offensive rebounds, and checking the ball after a score. For this exercise, we’ll be alternating possessions, so no “make it, take it.”
- Single elimination tournament bracket. If a player loses, they are done.
Now, let’s talk about the field of players. Marilyn Dubinski, Jesus Gomez, J.R. Wilco, and I all made our own list of players we’d like to see in the tournament. The following 31 players appeared on 3 or more of the lists, so they are in the tournament:
- Tim Duncan
- David Robinson
- George Gervin
- Kawhi Leonard
- Manu Ginobili
- Tony Parker
- Victor Wembanyama
- James Silas
- DeMar DeRozan
- Sean Elliott
- LaMarcus Aldridge
- Larry Kenon
- Mike Mitchell
- Dejounte Murray
- Terry Cummings
- Keldon Johnson
- Devin Vassell
- Derrick White
- George Hill
- Avery Johnson
- Willie Anderson
- Boris Diaw
Each editor had a different method for choosing their list:
- Marilyn: I started with my own memory and knowledge, and once that was exhausted I turned to the analytic side of my brain to help me learn more about players who are from before my time.
- Jacob: A mixture of vibes and most points scored in a season for the Spurs.
- Jesus: I looked for scorers. First by memory and then checking every Spurs team to see who were the leading scorers and how effective they were. I wanted bucket-getters. Then I took into account positional size for defense, but I prioritized offense.
- J.R.: I used three metrics: most minutes played in San Antonio, most points scored, and most win shares accumulated — narrowed down to 30 players. Then I did research on guys who played before my time. Finally, I had to add in some more recent players (like Derrick White) that didn’t have the numbers but would be dangerous at 1-on-1.
We’d like the readers to choose a champion for the 32nd and final spot in the tournament. Here are the players that appeared on only two of our lists:
- Tiago Splitter
- Stephen Jackson
- Jakob Poeltl
- Vinnie Johnson
- Alvin Robertson
- Rich Jones
- John Bealey
- Gene Banks
- Rudy Gay
- Stephon Castle
To decide who the final player will be, vote in the poll below. We’ll be back next week with the results and the first round of the first-ever PtR 1-on-1 tournament.
