There are some players that come into the NBA and work their way up the ladder and then they find themselves in the spotlight further down their career path. And then there are the ones that come in with a bang and are expected to be superstars before they even set foot on the court. In the middle there are the highly touted players that are supposed to make an impact on the team they are with and boost the stats or rankings. Some of these players will eventually find themselves in the starting line up or as a team captain. Once this action is applied every once in a while a star will be born. Such was the case with the Spurs’ key player and possibly one of the greatest players to wear the black and silver Tim Duncan.

Tim Duncan is considered by many to be the heart and the soul of the whole team. He is regarded highly by all spurs fans as one of the most dominant players of our generation in his position. One of the big men of the court in the center position Duncan finds himself in the category of elite company with Shaq and Magic Johnson. There are few who are brought up in the conversation of the greatest of all time but the best part about time Duncan is that he was able to earn multiple championships in his run with the Spurs.

The Tim Duncan effect circulates throughout the whole team when he takes the court he brings a kind of energy and motivation that is rarely seen by any professional athlete. It is contagious and you can see it on the court when the Spurs play. Duncan somehow raises the bar on his teammates and brings them to another level.

Tony Parker is better known for his former wife Eva Longoria rather than his prowess on the basketball court. Unfortunately this is a huge mistake that other teams make when they do their scouting report. Fortunately for Tony Parker he can take full advantage of this and dismantle the opposing team from the distance of the adjacent town. Not only is parker able to fire away from the distance of a couple of semis lined up but he is surgical with the ball like a well-trained military sniper. Parker has been one of the best shooters of recent memory with a number of the Spurs’ wins on the board solely because of a Parker game winner.  With the shooting talents that Parker brings to the table the Spurs have been able to take full advantage of the way the opposing teams choose to defend them with their multi-faceted offense.

Not only can parker shoot outside the arc but he is not too shabby on the defensive side of the ball as well. With a handful of steals on his resume he is no slouch when it comes to defending the likes of Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Parker has been able to thwart the efforts of some of the best in the game with his full pressure defensive plays that make him a nightmare for anyone looking to make a statement out of him. Many of the opposing players who have had the misfortune of being defended by Parker leave winded due to the tenacious defensive pressure.

Parker had seemed like a perfect fit with the Spurs since his move from the French league of basketball the best thing for parker was that he came to the NBA. Now Parker is knocking on the door of becoming a household name in the basketball world. Parker will continue to give the opposing team fits.

Some facts are so distinct that they go without saying when you look at a team. If you are looking at a team and there is some kind of obvious discourse you know that there are internal issues that are going on within the team or in the locker room. Something just won’t seem right when they play there is no so called “gelling” that makes a team function smoothly. On the flip side there are the teams that seem to function on a shared brain. There are the teams that just seem to get it on another level with some kind of unspoken stimulus and response that everyone seems to understand. With the Spurs that is almost exactly what you get when you watch them play. The Spurs seem to have it all figured out from the inside out with the effortless play that have other teams wondering how they know just what to do at the right time.

The suspicion is largely due to the fact that the Spurs breed discipline from within the team with a great mentor system from the veterans to the rookies. There are certain things that go on in practice or in the locker room that are just understood that the veterans just know more than the rookies and the rookies seem to clearly understand that. There is an internal coaching staff on the team who happen to be the players as well that have a strangle hold on the discipline facet of the team which pays dividends when it is crunch time and you can’t afford to lose players to suspensions .

It is apparent that the Spurs operate on another level with the internal coaching. The players seeming to coach the players yield rewards that could amount to multiple world championships.

Watching the Spurs over the years there are a few bullet points that seem to repeat themselves when compiling season high stats. Sometimes it is that we just can’t figure out why the Spurs were able to dominate a team that on paper was supposed to be a much better, much younger, much more talented team. It is baffling when you have a team that has the oldest average ager putting the beat down on a team that is half their age. It is fascinating to see it on paper but when you back track and watch the Spurs on television of if you are fortunate enough you watch them live then you begin to understand what exactly is going on. The Spurs have one of the most potent offenses in the game able to score at what appears to be an alarming rate with shots outside the arc or in the paint.

Watching the offense go to work for the Spurs it seems like they have chosen the path of least resistance every time they make a play on the ball. It is truly fascinating the way that Tim Duncan can work the paint when he receives a pass on a cutting run he seems to have radar for the basket almost every time. Granted that Duncan is one of the most dominant players in the last five years he is still able to propel the offense and steal momentum whenever he sees fit.

On the flip side of styles that the Spurs possess there is the outside the arc shooting that carries them to the big leads with the three pointers. What can really demoralize an opposing team is a three pointer that is fired from Tony Parker to drive the final nail in the coffin and officially seal the deal.