The San Antonio Spurs are one of the most storied franchises in NBA history. With five titles, the greatest head coach of all time, elite talent in David Robinson and Tim Duncan, tales of growth like Tony Parker and Bruce Bowen, and insane draft picks like Manu Ginobili, the Spurs are rich in history.
Usually, fans tend to remember the awesome – Duncan dominating the league for nearly two decades – or the horrible, like Derek Fisher’s late-game heroics in 2004. But the Spurs have existed for 50 full seasons in San Antonio, as members of the NBA and ABA. While each year, game, and player left a distinct mark on the Spurs franchise, someone has to be the most mediocre.
In order to determine who owns that title, I looked at the statistics for every player to ever put on a Spurs uniform, and how well they played while in the Silver and Black. After sifting through the career numbers for 449 players and 4,037 games played, we found that the Spurs, over 50 seasons, scored 425,853 total points.
The totals were then found for the other major stats using the same method: rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, and personal fouls. Those numbers were then applied to the 449 players to ever suit up for San Antonio.
After some work with a calculator, it was revealed that the average Spur career numbers are 11.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.6 blocks, 1.7 turnovers, and 2.4 personal fouls per game.
After sifting through every Spur to play at least one game, I was met with the unsurprising realization: no Spur has ever managed to average those numbers perfectly. Weirdly, Jeremy Sochan was within 0.7 in every category after his rookie season, and Sean Elliott was within 0.5 in the 1998-99 season. However, I was looking for a player to post those numbers over a career.
Since points, assists, and rebounds are the three most important statistical categories, I narrowed my search to players who averaged exactly 11.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists during their time with the Spurs. Still no exact match, so I expanded my parameters by +/- 0.5, and there was still no one who fit those numbers over the course of their career.
The reason no one was popping up is rather simple: pretty much everyone scores, but most players excel at either rebounding or passing, rarely both. Since the 449 players sampled play a variety of positions, finding someone to fit those averages was rather difficult.
Frustrated, I altered my approach. I would instead find two players. The first would fit the “backcourt” criteria, where I examined points, assists, steals, and turnovers. The second would be a “frontcourt” player, who adhered to points, rebounds, blocks, and fouls.
With this rewrite, I went back to the drawing board with the alterations remaining at +/- 0.5. For backcourt players, there were three results: Josh Richardson, Frank Brickowski, and Gene Banks. In the frontcourt, there were still no results, so at this point, I decided to roll with Richardson, Brickowski, and Banks.
With this list of three players, I returned to my entire list of statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, and fouls. I then took each player’s average and compared it to the mathematical average listed earlier. Richardson and Brickowski tied, with a mean differential of 0.55 points, rebounds, etc different from the Spurs’ average.
Gene Banks easily cleared those two, with a differential, on average, of 0.39. His numbers in San Antonio between 1981 and 1985 were 11.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.2 blocks, 1.8 turnovers, and 2.8 fouls per game. He was never an All-Star, although he did help revitalize Duke basketball in the 1970s and was on the first-ever McDonald’s All-American Team in 1977. On the Spurs, his career was mostly forgettable, as most average players are. However, he currently serves as a scout for the Washington Wizards and has found success there.
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