San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors: Franchise players in each NBA Team – NBA Feature Part 18
San Antonio Spurs – Tim Duncan
Some say he is too old now, other say he is only a shadow of the past, but boy when Timmy D decides to bring it on, there aren’t many players in the league, who can matchup the intensity delivers.
Last season, many pundits of the game had ruled out the Spurs as a team past its prime and no longer a championship contender, but Duncan and Co had a different idea. They started slowly but once in their groove, there was not
a single team in NBA which was able to stop them.
The Spurs won the last 12 games of the regular season and after sweeping Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers in the first two rounds of the playoffs, they were on the verge of beating the Oklahoma City Thunder, before the young
team sprung a surprise to win four straight games.
Nevertheless, the Spurs showed that they still have it in them and this will continue to be the case next season.
It can be argued that Tony Parker was basically the driving force behind the Spurs charge last season, but Duncan took over in the latter part and finished the regular season with 15.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. The power
forward, arguably the best of all times, stepped it up a notch in the post season, racking up averages of 20.3 points on a nearly 50 percent shooting, 11.3 boards and 2.2 blocks.
Duncan has still some years left in him and as long as he is playing, there can’t be any player other than him to lead the Spurs.
Toronto Raptors – Jonas Valanciunas
When the Toronto Raptors acquired Italian forward Andrea Bargnani as their number one pick in the 2006 draft, they envisioned a man who would take them into the upper echelons of NBA. The situation however turned out to be the
exact opposite of that and five seasons down the line, even entering the playoffs remains a distant dream for the Raps.
Bargnani is a decent player, but is injury prone, and as long as the Raptors stick with him as their franchise player, they aren’t going anywhere quickly.
The team however does have a ray of hope coming in the form of Jonas Valanciunas this season. The Lithuanian is a good centre, who can defend the paint, but his progress depends on how quickly he can adjust to head coach Dwane
Casey’s system.
If the transition is smooth, the Raps might find themselves a future superstar.
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