The San Antonio Spurs are a historically successful side. Having won no less than five NBA titles in the past two decades, it seems that this team continues to be a perennial threat to the title year in and year out. Poor seasons come far and few in between, and as a matter of fact, since being established in 1967, San Antonio has only missed the playoffs in five times in 51 years. Talk about consistency.
During this span, the Spurs have had some great players come along the way. This includes a fair amount of point guards that have not only made their mark in franchise history, but in the league in general. Here's our Top 3 best point guards the Spurs have ever had.
3. Johnny Moore
6-foot-1 point guard Johnny Moore, who played nine seasons with the Spurs, was by no means a superstar. He was never a great scorer, and his per game average tops at 13.0 points in a season (1985-86). However, where Moore excelled in was his elite playmaking ability. This is the very reason why we believe he firmly deserves a place in our Top 3 list.
San Antonio selected Moore in the second round of the 1979 NBA draft. The diminutive former Texas standout turned out to be quite a steal for the team. By his second season, Moore dished out 9.6 assists per game to lead the entire league in the dimes department. To this date, he still holds the record as the second most assists in Spurs franchise history.
After seven and a half seasons San Antonio waived Moore, which led to an extremely brief stint with the New Jersey Nets (he played in only one game), followed by a season playing abroad. He would, however, return for one final season with the Spurs for the 1989-90 campaign before retiring at the end of that season.
Moore is not only one of the best point guards in Spurs history, but he is also perhaps the most undervalued great player of this franchise.
2. James Silas
While Johnny Moore was a pass-first kinds of point guard, it was always buckets first for 6-foot-1 guard James Silas. And to say that he was a potent scorer would probably be an understatement.
Silas played nine seasons with the Spurs between 1973 and 1981. Save for two injury-ridden seasons, the 6-foot-1 point guard was a tremendous offensive force for San Antonio. Silas was named to the All-Star squad in back-to-back seasons, and during the 1975-76 campaign, he averaged 23.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. Perhaps one of the most underrated aspects of his game was his efficiency. Silas is a career 49.9-percent shooter while with the Spurs, which is a very impressive line for a high-scoring guard.
Silas holds the honor of being the first player to ever have his No. 13 jersey retired by the Spurs.
1. Tony Parker
Could there have been anyone else other than the great Tony Parker? In its franchise history, San Antonio has won the NBA title on five separate occasions, and Parker was the team's starting point guard in four of them. This in itself is enough to make him the team's best point guard of all time.
Parker was a late first-rounder when the Spurs picked him in the 2001 draft. Boy did he prove to be quite a steal. In just his second season, he helped guide San Antonio to championship number one. The 6-foot-2 point guard's star continued to rise during his early years, and by his fifth season, he was a bona fide All-Star. The Spurs had already won its second title in three years during the previous season, making Parker a two-time champ at that point.
However, Parker's most memorable championship has got to be his third, when he earned Finals MVP honors during the 2007 Finals. That year, the Spurs were pitted against a testy Cleveland Cavaliers side led by a 22-year-old LeBron James in his first ever Finals appearance. Averaging 24.5 points (on 56.8 percent shooting), 5.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.0 triples per game during that series, Parker led his team to a clean sweep of the Cavs, erasing all doubt that the 2000's era belonged to the Spurs.
Parker spent all but one of his 18 years in the NBA with the Spurs. In his final season, the six-time All-Star opted to sign a deal with the Charlotte Hornets, where he would eventually retire after just one year. It hasn't even been a full year since Parker hanged it up, so we will need to wait at least a few more years before his induction to the Hall of Fame — something that he has earned without a shadow of doubt.
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