Doc Rivers Says Tim Duncan Plane Story Untrue

[SHAQ32]

John was a great GM.

[magicman112]

Eh, it's not a strong debunking from Doc. At the end it's a combination of things.

Duncan's then-girlfriend/fiancee who would become his wife was a bigger influence then the Magic thought (and then Timmy ended up having to divorce her anyway) and we catered to just Duncan.
Popovich and Robinson gave it their all to keep him.
There are some guys that view loyalty in business/profession as important. Duncan thought he could be a lifer Spur.

Yes, the word was his then GF was not too impressed with things here. Allegedly Doc's wife had gone out with her to lunch or something and texted Doc "You have a problem." And The Admiral interrupting his vacation to come back to SA and talk with him made a huge impact as well.

[magicman112]

Another story that I like to forget is how close we were to trading up for Amare Stoudemire.

Actually we had that draft pick that became Amare, I think from the Penny Hardaway to PHX trade. Then we gave them back that pick in exchange for Jud Bucheler's expiring contract in that year John Gabriel was shedding salary to make a run at Hill/Duncan/Tmac. Alot of what ifs with this team.

Bo Outlaw and that pick for Jud Freaking Bucheler. I know it was for the expriring but for me one of the worst trades the Magic made. Bucheler did absolutely nothing for the Magic

[Big NBA Fan]

Not to relive the oh-so-close Duncan to Orlando situation, but here's Doc Rivers elaborating on just how close it was a few days ago...

“That story isn’t told correctly because it’s true we talked about it and I actually told him absolutely families can fly not all the time but families can fly every once in a while. That story is not told correctly,” Rivers told Johnson. “As a matter of fact what I remember the most about that was Tim Duncan looked at me and said, ‘I’m pretty sure that I’m actually coming to the Magic. I just need to go back to San Antonio because I love Pop and I want to have my last meeting with Pop.'”

And more...

“I want to say it was John Calipari but I’m not sure because I called a lot of coaches during this time because they recruit,” said Rivers. “I think it was Cal, I called him after Tim left and he said, ‘Did you get him?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, it looks like we got him. He wanted to go back and talk to Pop and David (Robinson).’ He said, ‘Well, you lost him. We have one rule. You don’t let the kid leave campus without signing him.'”

https://clutchpoints.com/nba-news-doc-rivers-sets-record-straight-how-tim-duncan-almost-joined-magic/

Oh, what might have been with T-Mac, Grant, Duncan, Mike Miller, and Doc as the coach. They would have been arguably THE greatest team of all time.

[TheChaser]

Hill wouldn't have rushed back to help the team and T-Mac wouldn't have soured if he was winning with Duncan. By 2001 the team would have been ridiculous. Spurs on Steroids, provided we found good enough role players. Armstrong and Outlaw were already really good glue guys too.

Oh well.

Saddest and1 I've ever given. And I can't find an emoji sad enough for it.