Open Thread: A poster prompts a look back at Richard Jefferson’s time in San Antonio

Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, and…Jefferson

My family was out at 54th Street Restaurant and Drafthouse the other night. For those unfamiliar with the eatery, it is a restaurant with a wide Americana comfort food-style menu adorned with many, many (many) tchotchkes. Movie paraphernalia, famous magazine covers, statues of cartoon characters, license plates outlining as map of the United Staes, and sports memorabilia. The kind of place where Jennifer Aniston might feel self conscious about her “flair.” You get the picture.

When we entered the restaurant, I saw this posted framed by the hostess station.

I assume it is from 2009, when Spurs fans were initially excited about the acquisition of Richard Jefferson, but my initial reaction was to hear “One of These Kids is Doing His Own Thing” from Sesame Street in my head.

My 2024 Spurs fan glasses saw three of the greatest players to ever don a Spurs uniform with a guy who only lasted three seasons as his career began to decline.

Am I being too hard on Richard “The” Jefferson?

Did he contribute at a level that would warrant he be posterized with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili? Was he more significant than I recall?

After all, at the same time RJ donned the Silver & Black, the following players were Spurs — Michael Finley, George Hill, Matt Bonner, Danny Green, Gary Neal, Boris Draw, Stephen Jackson, and Patty Mills — depending on the specific year. Do any of those guys have more of a right to be grouped with the Spurs Big 3?

What are your memories of Jefferson as a Spur? Was the hype around his signing enough to put these posters onto the walls of diehard Spurs fans back then?

By the way, there’s also a sports version of the “One of the Kids” song.

Welcome to the Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here.

Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.