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The concept made Spurs Nation quiver with excitement.
And they are finally here. went on sale at .
Cost of a personalized plate with up to six letters and numbers is $60 per year, if purchased for a 10-year term. A three-letter, two-number message is $33 per year for a 10-year term and a random generated plate is less than $30 per year. It does not cover the cost of state-required license plate renewals.
A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Silver and Black Give Back Foundation.
It might be Sean Elliott’s Memorial Day Miracle.
Or the times that lottery balls decided the history of the franchise, leading to an eventual string of title victories.
It might be the time when Manu Ginobili caught a bat or when George Gervin and David Robinson won scoring championships on the final day of the season.
Or it might have been when Avery Johnson’s shot settled a championship, Elliott returned from a kidney transplant or James Silas came back to have his jersey become the first in team history to be retired.
The Spurs’ 38-year history in San Antonio is stacked with a rich trove of memorable moments during a rich history that has seen the Silver and Black claim four NBA titles and emerge as one of the NBA’s most enduringly successful franchises.
Most fans likely would have difficulty whittling that history down to a workable list of the most memorable moments in franchise history.
After working all summer in settling our group, Spurs Nation.com is ready to rank the 30 most memorable memories since the team came to San Antonio in 1973.
We’ll have them all from the most thrilling victories and crushing defeats. And we’ll have a little fun to as we rank the “OMG” moments that have shaped the team over the years. We’re aiming to revisit those memories when Spurs fans still remember where they were when they initially experienced them.
Look for the release of one moment each day beginning on Monday. It will be a regular feature each day over the next six weeks as we count down to the top memory in mid-November.
And before we start, we’re a little curious about Spurs Nation and its collective memories. Which moments do you most readily remember?
Feel free to comment as we release our list over the next few weeks as we relive the rich history of San Antonio’s first big-league franchise.
By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net
Spurs point guard Tony Parker has made his lockout fallback plan official.
Should the NBA’s ongoing labor standoff postpone the start of the regular season, Parker has signed to play with ASVEL Villeurbanne, the French League team of which he is part owner.
Parker announced the decision, which had been telegraphed for weeks, Wednesday morning on his Twitter account.
In Parker the player, Parker the general manager got quite a steal. The three-time All-Star, slated to earn $12.5 million in the NBA this season, will play for $1,995 per month in France.
“I’ll be playing nearly for free,” Parker told the French daily L’Equipe. “If I play the entire season, we’ll go for the title.”
Whether the 29-year-old Parker actually appears in an ASVEL uniform at all largely will be determined at the collective bargaining table, where NBA owners and its players union face a Monday deadline to settle their dispute before regular-season games must be canceled or delayed.
If a new CBA is reached in time to save the start of the season, Parker will be obligated to remain in San Antonio for Spurs training camp.
Speaking at his basketball clinic in San Antonio over the weekend, Parker said he wanted to inform ASVEL of his intentions as swiftly as possible, with his decision based on the progress of the NBA labor negotiations.
“I don’t want the French team to play the beginning of the season, and then I come,” said Parker, who last month led France’s national team to the country’s first Olympic berth in 12 years. “That would not be fair to them.”
As the MVP of the 2007 NBA Finals, Parker is the most prominent NBA player to agree to a lockout deal abroad since July, when Deron Williams, New Jersey’s All-Star point guard, signed to play with the Turkish team Besiktas.
He’s the third player under contract with the Spurs to secure a lockout deal abroad, joining center DeJuan Blair (Russia) and guard Danny Green (Slovenia). Spurs guard Manu Ginobili has a similar offer to play in Italy, but has yet to agree to it.
In accordance with the NBA’s agreement with FIBA, the sport’s international governing body, Parker’s deal with ASVEL contains an out clause that would return him to the Spurs once the lockout ends.
As a member of the ASVEL ownership group, Parker — who carries an official title as the club’s vice president of basketball operations — will be responsible for insuring his own NBA contract against injury while playing abroad.
With the status of NBA negotiations in the eye of the beholder — creeping closer either to resolution or Armageddon — it is unclear when Parker would return to France.
Bargaining talks broke down Tuesday in New York with no deal in place, resulting in the scuttling of the remainder of the preseason schedule.
ASVEL — based in Villeurbanne, a city of about 140,000 in southeast France — opens its season Oct. 14. If NBA players still are locked out at that time, Parker expects to be in uniform.
Late last week, Parker left little doubt as to which option he preferred.
“I’d rather start (Spurs camp) right now,” he said.