Are you surprised by the Villain Bracket Final results?
Marilyn Dubinski: I am. I wholly expected Kawhi Leonard to be in the Finals (along with Zaza Pachulia) since he has very clearly been public enemy no.1 in San Antonio for the last eight years, and the fact that he wasn’t there shocked me. It leads me to wonder how much the Clippers’ Aspiration scandal and the punishment, which was much harsher on Uncle Dennis than Kawhi, coming out during the tournament played a role in influencing the outcome of the last few rounds. Clearly, fans decided that Uncle Dennis was more responsible for influencing Kawhi than Kawhi was for going along with it, but that’s why we did this! It wouldn’t have been any fun without surprises, and there were none in the other three brackets.
Mark Barrington: Like Marilyn, I certainly expected Kawhi to be in the finals, and the eventual winner. However, both finalists are inexplicably entwined in the Leonard saga: Zaza as the brigand who intentionally injured the already tender ankle of the Spurs’ best player, ending their 2017 playoff run, and uncle Dennis, who engineered Kawhi’s messy exit from the Spurs and the franchise-crushing salary cap circumvention fiasco (with Ballmer’s complicity). Once again, Kawhi is at the center of a hurricane of misdeeds and calamity, but he doesn’t face the consequences, traded to the Raptors to finish out his career at one of the teams he left in his wake years ago. He’s had quite the villain’s journey, and maybe the final chapter will be redemption. But don’t count on it.
Bill Huan: Like Marilyn and Mark, I wholly expected Kawhi to be in the finals, but I think the fans got it right by having Uncle Dennis usurp his nephew. I fully admit that recency bias is likely affecting my judgment, but all the recent reports regarding the Kawhi-Aspiration scandal indicate that Uncle Dennis was the mastermind behind everything. That doesn’t mean Kawhi was going to stay in San Antonio forever if he was more in control of his camp, but I do think it’s possible he could’ve stayed a few more seasons and departed in the 2019 offseason rather than forcing the team’s hand to trade him in 2018. Perhaps the Spurs could’ve had a few more seasons as a title contender with him leading the way, so I agree with Uncle Dennis making the final over his nephew.
Devon Birdsong: I mean, not really. With the Clippers scandal going down, I expected that Uncle Dennis and Kawhi were going deep in the bracket. Those two and Zaza are the most recent faces of Spurs fandom villainy, and they all made the Final Four. However, I expected that Dennis was going to take the brunt. There are still some Kawhi apologists in the fanbase, and he did physically help the Spurs win a championship, whereas his Uncle has no such buffer. I was more shocked that Ray Allen didn’t make it past Derek Fisher in the Elite Eight, though I’m realizing that’s probably the result of the 2014 Championship taking the edge off of his shot. Still, I rarely see the .4 seconds clip anymore, and the NBA at-large loves to play Allen’s shot on a loop every postseason (or, at least, that’s how it feels), so my animus for (and reaction to) Fisher’s shot is greatly lessened.
Jeje Gomez: I’m shocked Uncle Dennis made the Finals. Current-day UD is a certified NBA villain, but back in the day he was just someone who engineered Kawhi’s exit. Any other manager or agent could have done the same. I absolutely understand why he’s there, considering recent news, but I thought Kawhi himself would be the one to win the whole thing.
Other than that, there weren’t major surprises. Zaza earned the villain title. The guys in the semis did as well. Overall, I think this exercise showed that, with one possible exception, the fan base is united in who they dislike the most.
Is there anyone you think should have advanced further than they did, and why? Was there an upset you weren’t expecting?
Dubinski: I was shocked that neither Phil Jackson nor David Stern advanced past the second round of the Haters bracket, which may be an indicator that a lot of our PtR audience is younger than me. (And I’m “only” 40! You guys are making me feel old!) Back in the early-to-mid 2000’s, when public figures could get away with more controversial statements without worldwide pushback on social media, Jackson’s asterisk comment reeked of jealousy and was used by Lakers fans and other haters to discredit the Spurs even at the height of their dynasty, and frankly Stern’s comments that the Spurs being in the Finals was bad for the league, and if he had his way, every Finals would be Celtics-Lakers, were right up there with Restgate, but maybe not everyone went through or remembers all that.
Barrington: Except for Kawhi’s failure to advance to the Finals [mentioned above], I think things played out about as I thought they would. I would have thought that the Knicks might have gone further than they did, because of Spurs being unhappy about the outcome of the Finals, but I think that voters correctly assessed that the Knicks aren’t villains; they are simply a team that played with a lot of heart and poise and outcompeted the inexperienced Silver and Black. Sure, their fans were insufferable, but that’s not the team, and frankly, if the Spurs had won, I’d be insufferable too.
Huan: I personally think that Richard Jefferson (4-seed) was placed way too high on the Former Spurs’ side of the bracket, and Dennis Rodman (7-seed) was too low. Sure, RJ struggled in his three seasons in San Antonio, but he has never blamed the organization the way Rodman did. RJ was never a locker room distraction like Rodman and didn’t bash his former teammates on the way out, so why was he ranked so high? I think it would’ve made more sense to swap the two.
Birdsong: I was a little surprised that Stephen Jackson beat out Robert Horry in the Sweet 16 as well. It definitely felt like a near-even match, but Jackson is at least complimentary about Tim and Pop, whereas it feels like Horry has taken potshot after potshot over the years, and is just generally resentful of his time in San Antonio overall, and that would maybe be the difference (it was for me). I guess one huge shot bought him enough goodwill, but Jackson had quite a few against Dallas (alongside Steve Kerr) in 2003, so what do I know? I also feel like Marcus Morris and Hakeem The Dream would have made it further if they didn’t end up facing Kawhi and Ray Allen so early in the bracket.
Gomez: The 2025/26 Knicks talked a lot of smack about the Spurs and Wembanyama, to the point where I thought recency bias might propel them through a couple of rounds. But the real answer is Phil Jackson. During the mid-2000’s rivalry, the guy was downplaying most Spurs achievements. I completely understand that it’s been a long time since then and the 2014 title changed things, but I was expecting more vitriol to come his way.
Five years from now, who do you think would win a Villain Bracket?
Dubinski: Beyond wondering if Kawhi would have beaten out Uncle Dennis in any other year, I feel like there’s going to be someone who does something to Wemby that outdoes Zaza or Karl Malone and shoots them up our Dirty Players bracket. Also, the Spurs’ rise to new prominence is inevitably going to create or renew rivalries. It will be interesting to see if someone on OKC triggers our hate more than Lu Dort. (Will Chet Holmgren figure things out and really get that rivalry with Wemby going in the playoffs? Will SGA keep getting away with foul baiting to the point that they beat the Spurs with it?) It’s also inevitable that a former Spur will be able to replace Marcus Morris in that bracket, although I’m not sure it will be anyone among the current players. (We were a bit limited in that bracket by sticking to basketball and not looking into players’ off-court troubles.)
Barrington: Speaking of Marcus Morris, I’m kind of wondering how Cam Payne didn’t make the list. He was traded to the Spurs in 2023 and never reported, finally waived so he could sign with another team. Maybe that’s because nobody remembers who he is. I think if the Spurs end up meeting again with the Knicks in the finals, there could be some sports hate brewing between the two teams. Conventional wisdom is that they had a pretty brief window due to salary cap concerns, but with Brunson setting the example by taking a discount, I wouldn’t count them out as a long-term contender in the Eastern Conference, and if the Spurs can’t get past them if they meet again, they will be worthy nemeses. My hope is that the Spurs have a 2014-style redemption tour the next time they meet in the playoffs, but history is yet to be written.
I was noticing in the SBNation thread about Most Hated Teams that some people are mentioning the Spurs. In my opinion, that’s a sign of respect. As the Spurs become more successful, I suspect that they will become more hated, and if there were a villains tournament open to fans of all fans in the entire league, Wemby could end up near the top, unless he and the team can find some more creative ways to deal with the constant mugging he gets from opposing defenders.
Huan: Five years is not much time at all, but if I had to crown a new winner, it must be a player who does something dirty to Wemby. The recency bias alone would be a huge advantage for them, not to mention potentially injuring the best player in the league. I mean, Zaza’s in the Finals for injuring another top-three villain in the tournament; can you imagine how much hate a player would receive for injuring the face of the franchise and fan favorite Wemby??
Birdsong: If anyone injures Wemby (especially in the postseason), I suspect Zaza’s reign on that front will finally end. I think making it to the Finals this season has already taken some of the sting out of that for a lot of fans. Sure, he’s hated, but not in the way he was when the Spurs were mired in multiple double-digit losing streaks. Another championship or two will probably reduce that even further. Additionally, if the Spurs were to (knock on wood) lose to the Knicks in the Finals again, they’ll probably become Enemy #1 for the fanbase in a manner we’ve never seen before. I don’t see that happening for a multitude of team-building + James Dolan-related reasons, but that would be an all-timer. I’m willing to bet the Miami Heat would’ve swept the entire bracket if the Spurs had lost to them again in 2014.
Gomez: Anyone who hurts Wemby is the right answer, but I’ll offer another perspective: If the Spurs don’t win a title in the next five years, I could see Brian Wright becoming a villain. Wright will be the face of a lot of likely unpopular moves to keep the team under the tax line and second apron, so if San Antonio falls short, he’ll be the perfect scapegoat as to why a group with elite young talent underperformed and how so many good years were wasted. The narrative writes itself.
If we are talking about a dark horse, it could be one of the young guards. Restricted free agency practically ensures that they’ll sign a second contract, and both seem happy now, but both seem good enough to potentially be the biggest star on their own team, and the Spurs’ are clearly Wemby’s. If there’s enough success, there should be no issues, but it’s hard to forget what happened the last time a team with this much elite young talent had to pay everyone and figure out a pecking order, so hopefully neither Castle nor Harper pulls off a 2012 James Harden and becomes a villain.
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