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Tim Duncan may be considered the greatest Spur of all time with three NBA titles on his résumé but George Gervin still is the king among local fans. One 15-minute stroll with the Ice Man through the Southwest Airlines terminal at the San Antonio International Airport confirms this as hurried passengers, airline employees and kids all stopped dead in their tracks and enthusiastically greeted the Spurs second all-time leading scorer.

“What’s up Ice Man!!” …… “G-e-o-r-g-e!! G-e-o-r-g-e!!” … “Finger Roll, baby!”

Gervin is only too happy to reciprocate whether it’s a hug to an old friend or signing an autograph. But before he walked out to the runway to guide Slam Dunk One, the Southwest Airlines plane that just arrived from Baltimore carrying the Larry O’Brien Trophy, Gervin chilled in a back room for a one-on-one interview and discussed the key to the Spurs success (teamwork), Duncan, LeBron James, Cavs Role Players, the D-League, Kevin Durant-Ice Man comparisons and his Finals predictions.

On the Spurs Teamwork
Gervin: With the Spurs, it is important that they understand their roles. Really that comes from [Gregg] Popovich. He brought all these guys in like [Manu] Ginobili, Bruce Bowen, Tony Parker, and of course the man of the team, Tim Duncan, and gave them long-term contracts. He sat them all down and told them all their roles and all of them accept their role. That is really the key to they success. They know who the man is and everybody plays their role and they’re successful from it. They brought in Michael Finley. I think Michael Finley really rose to the occasion. They have a lot of weapons, man. I’m not going to say it is going to be tough for Cleveland to beat them, it’s going to be hard for them to beat them, but this is The Finals, so you never know.

Role playing is everything in teamwork. The guys help each other on the offensive end and the defensive end. Because San Antonio has won three championships already they know how to win, they know how they won it and they know that you have to stop people in order to be successful. That is really their role. Everybody understands the value of playing defense and helping each other out.

On Potential Spurs Dynasty
Gervin: I think they’re already a dynasty. To accomplish three championships in the last eight years, that is special. They haven’t caught up with Chicago yet with the six in eight years. Winning this one will really take them over the top because each one of the guys on the team still would be under contract. So they’ll have a few more years to win one. It’s something that’s not broke, so there’s no sense in trying to fix it. I think San Antonio is here to stay. They have a great opportunity to win two or three more under this same system.

On Tim Duncan’s Place in History
Gervin: It has to be right up there with the best because we didn’t start winning championships until he came here to San Antonio. During my era I didn’t win one. David didn’t win one until he had Tim Duncan. So Tim Duncan has to be the greatest Spur of all-time and he has to be one of the greatest power forwards of all-time. No other power forward really has the championship success that he has. To win three championships so far and being in The Finals now, you have to place him probably at the top. I place him at the top. I am a little biased because I’m a Spur and a Spurs fan, but Mr. Duncan is the man that took San Antonio to another level. We always have different kinds of promotions around here to say who is the greatest Spur. For a long time I felt that I was the greatest Spur, but as the eras changed it became David Robinson, who I thought had a great career here in San Antonio, and then it went to Tim Duncan. To me he is the greatest Spur of all-time and he is getting ready to become the greatest power forward of all-time.

On Daniel Gibson Being in a Zone in Game 6
Gervin: Gibson came in and he really helped King James beat the Detroit Pistons. This kid really proved that he belonged in this league. I think understanding his role and being able to have some success like he had, he has come in and really contributed. It is going to take more than Daniel and King James to beat the Spurs. Some of the other guys are really going to have to step up in order to be consistent and beat a team like San Antonio. We give Daniel a lot of props to play like he has played as a rookie, but they’ll need more contributions from the other guys to really compete with the Spurs.

On the Zydrunas Ilgauskas Factor in the Finals
Gervin: He is a good post player, but he is more of a 12 to 15-foot jump shooter. That is where he really hurts people. He doesn’t really play down in the paint that much. I know the franchise is glad to keep him and in a sense, that may create some problems for the Spurs big guys because of his ability to shoot that jumper. I am the kind of guy who says if you live by the jumper, you die by the jumper. That is where San Antonio has a lot of success. We get a high percentage of scoring in the paint. We have a great inside-outside threat. That is what a lot of teams were lacking this year, especially competing against the Spurs. They just didn’t have that inside threat. If Zydrunas is going to have some success he will have to really score more down in the paint.

On Drew Gooden
Gervin: I like Drew Gooden. He plays hard. He crashes the boards. He can shoot that little mid-range jumper. But his inside presence is still lacking. A lot of these guys like Drew would rather shoot that little seven, eight foot fadeaway, so you’re depending on that jumper again. To me that creates a problem for Cleveland – they basically like to shoot the jumpshot. LeBron James is probably the only one on their team that slashes or takes it to the hole. He can shoot the jumper, take it to the hole, dunk on you. Everybody is talking about the dunk he made on Tim Duncan, so he is capable of slashing your defense, but I really don’t see anyone else on Cleveland that has that ability.

On LeBron’s Dunk over Tim Duncan in Game 2 of the Regular Season
Gervin: Tim doesn’t pay any attention to that. Tim has dunked on so many guys in this league. He knows if somebody gets a step on you and gets up in the air, they can possibly dunk on you. I think the media is playing that up. I know Tim Duncan. He is too even-keeled. He understands how to win and he understands the game, so I know it has no effect on him at all.

On LeBron-MJ Comparisons
Gervin: Most everybody tries to compare him to Michael Jordan, but there is only one Michael Jordan. LeBron is making his own path in this league. I know he likes to be complimented that he has a resemblance to Michael Jordan, we all do as potential great ball players, but I think he is making his own footprint in the league and one day five, 10, 15 years from now, they will want to say the next guy is like LeBron James. I think that is important in his own mind and great ballplayers usually understand that. We can’t get caught up in the hype and say the next Michael Jordan because there isn’t going to be a next Michael Jordan. There isn’t going to be a next Tim Duncan. Everybody has their own way and they establish themselves with their own game.

On his D-League role as Head of Basketball Operations with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers
Gervin: I am real excited about it. I will be handling the basketball operations for a D-League team in McGallin, Texas called the Vipers. I just hired a coach Bob Hoffman and Brian Walsh. Brian Walsh was an assistant coach with the D-League team in Colorado which just lost the championship. So I am excited about putting a team on the floor and really getting down in the community of McAllen and bringing that national attention to McAllen which I think is a fine city. My general manager Ryan Murphy is a real good asset to the organization. Some of the owners we have really want this to work. We have a good group of people down in McAllen to make this franchise go. The D-League is important in my eyes. I would more so rather work in the D-League than the NBA because I am getting a lot of young talent and hopefully we can develop some of these young guys so they can understand what it takes to be in the NBA and motivate them to have success in the D-League.

On D-League as feeding ground for NBA
Gervin: It is only going to get better. I think it is something that David Stern really wants. He wants the D-League to have some success and we’ve had success. You look at all of the D-League call ups this season, like Mikki Moore who really helped New Jersey and look at Sam Vincent’s hiring with the Charlotte Bobcats.

I believe in the future we are going to have 30 D-League teams. We are going to have like Triple-A baseball, one team for each NBA team. I think it’s great. A lot of young kids want to become NBA pros but sometimes they might be just this far from making it to the league. There might be something missing. I think with the D-League, it can really help them mature and help them understand the social values of being a pro basketball player. A lot of guys that aren’t getting a lot of time, they can come down to the D-League and really get some work in. It is a good avenue, I know it is going to work, and it is just good for the league.

On the challenges on putting a team together
Gervin: I didn’t coach before I was an assistant coach with the Spurs. I coached in the early part of the ABA and I put a team on the floor that in 1999 we ended up winning the championship so I know how to win. I am from an organization that has been a winner for a long time. I know you have to bring guys that understand their role. Sometimes you don’t want the most talented guy if he doesn’t understand his role. In putting a team together, you have to put a team together that meshes together and that’s the only way they’re going to have success.

On the Kevin Durant-Ice Man Comparisons
Gervin: He does kind of remind me of me because of his slender size. He can go to the basket, he can shoot that jumper, he understands the game and he has a lot of confidence in himself in playing the game of basketball which were some of the attributes that I had. I am looking forward to seeing Kevin in the league and playing on that next level and seeing how consistent he can be as an NBA pro. But we are just talking about a college kid who is getting ready to make that transition to the NBA. There are a lot of guys that had great college careers that became a bust once they joined the NBA, so we really have to give these kids some time and watch them mature and see what kind of consistency he can bring to the game.

On His Finals Prediction
Gervin: I feel San Antonio is going to win in five because of how the series is – two, three, two. San Antonio will take care of their business here. Going up and trying to win two in Cleveland can be tough because Cleveland plays well at home. San Antonio could come out a little rusty because they’ve been off a while. You have to look at all these king of avenues, but overall, I don’t think anybody can beat San Antonio in seven. Like a weather man, we get mad at him a lot. I want to go play golf and he says it’s not going to rain and it thunderstorms. But from my own experience and seeing the two teams, I don’t think they can beat San Antonio in seven.