San Antonio Spurs fans should be ready to experience the good, bad and ugly times

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By Rocky Garza Jr. for Project Spurs

An early San Antonio Spurs fan can tell you how lucky current Spurs fans are as they weren’t able to live through championship pedigree teams and carry good memories that the late 90s to 2000s Spurs teams gave to their fans. 

However, they were able to collect good memories by watching notable Spurs legends such as Alvin Roberton, George Gervin, David Robinson, Avery Johnson, Sean Elliott, and Terry Cummings who brought impactful performances every time they touched the court. 

Although they got to witness transcendent talents there were bad times that would haunt them, as they never got to be in a championship environment. 

As the late 90s began and 2000s came around, fans were also able to witness notable players such as Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Sean Elliott, Avery Johnson, Malik Rose, Brent Barry, Steve Kerr, Tiago Splitter, Robert Horry, Bruce Bowen, Danny Green, Boris Diaw, Tiago Splitter, DeJuan Blair, Kawhi Leonard and Patty Mills who played specific roles to help bring five championships with Gregg Popovich at the helm. 

Their success would leave good memories for fans as they became accustomed to a winning culture. 

Now let’s fast forward to the present and view the current Spurs team who have a young core with tons of upside in Keldon Johnson, Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, Lonnie Walker IV,  Jakob Poeltl, Luka Samanic, Tre Jones, Drew Eubanks, and Devin Vassell.

These young players are intertwined with established vets such as Patty Mills, DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay.

On paper, the roster is oozing with talent, but yet their performance on the court drives people insane. 

There are nights where the Spurs are flawlessly moving the ball, hitting their shots, dunking over people, and playing gritty defense, but on other days you see a team who looks lost on the court. 

The inconsistent play drives fans in a frenzy as  some would drop opinions throughout social media with hot takes such as ‘the team needs to tank, we should trade half of the team for a superstar, it’s PAFTO’s fault and we need a new coach.’

In addition to these opinions, Spurs Twitter can be seen as a circus at points with fans participating in hostile debates, calling each other names, and slandering the team. 

And the thing you can ask is what led fans to this breaking point?

The answer can be the fact that fans were so accustomed to a winning culture and were spoiled with success year in and out, that the new reality of the team is hard to accept. 

When fans remember the successful years previous Spurs teams had they are flooded with memories from the Twin Towers, the Big 3 era, the Beautiful Game, and many more.

Those memories are the good things Spurs fans can take to their grave and cherish forever. 

No matter how much trash talk these fans get from rival teams, the beloved Spurs are a respected organization around the league, and fans can hold their head high knowing how great things have been being able to live through greatness. 

Now here comes the bad that comes from being a Spurs fan, as one can experience frustration, embarrassment, and anger on a weekly basis after watching lackluster performances from a hungry, young talented team underperform against subpar teams and show up against the cream of the top.

And if you want to talk briefly about the ugly of being a fan, a recent ugly memory fans have is the Kawhi Leonard breakup. 

I mean of course, other ugly moments fans can recall is the 0.4 Derek Fisher shot, the 2013 NBA Finals heartbreak, and the Zaza Pachulia step under on Leonard. 

However, throughout the good, bad, and ugly of being a Spurs fan, fans are going through a time where they feel like it’s just mostly bad times.

If fans can sit back and realize that there will be all three of those memories that come in their lifespan as fans, then they will know the good times will come back someday. 

When you continue to focus on the bad and ugly of the Spurs, attacking players through social media for their performance, then you’re only hurting yourself.  

The current San Antonio Spurs team has the potential to rise to stardom eventually and fans should see this as living through a rebirth era.

The young stars will only continue to develop and mesh together to produce a consistent, stellar performance on the court. 

The front office will only continue to find their diamonds in the rough and the right pieces to get back in contention, but there will be mistakes along the way because everyone is bound to mess up as a human. 

The main thing that fans can do is hold your head with honor and respect and continue to show support through the good and bad times. 

Not everything will be great for the fans as the early fans can tell you that they had to live through these times, but sit back and enjoy the rise because the best is yet to come. 

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