Most teams are willing to use a No. 1 pick on a raw big man who might take a year or so of playing in the NBA before they start to develop into the All-Star type player they are hoping for. But not many would use their No. 1 pick on a player they won't even get to see in an NBA uniform for two years. Then again, not many teams in NBA history had a chance to draft a David Robinson.

"It's the greatest thing that could have happened to us," said Spurs' general manager Bob Bass after finding out the Spurs had the first pick in the upcoming draft. "There's no doubt in my mind that we'll take Robinson. We'll do whatever it takes to sign him."

In 1987, the San Antonio Spurs used their No. 1 pick on big man David Robinson from the US Naval Academy, knowing they would have to wait two years for him to finish his commitment to the Navy.

"We've waited 14 years for a No. 1 pick, what's two more?" Bass said. "Our franchise is in a critical situation (attendance is sagging), and we need to do something to bring the fans back. The fans came out when we won five (division) titles with (George) Gervin, and I'm hoping that they will come back. This has got me fired up and I hope it gets the team fired up."

The real issue wasn't the wait but signing Robinson. Under the 80's NBA rules, if they weren't able to sign him within a year, he would go back into the draft.

On June 22nd of 1987, the Admiral signed on the dotted line.

On November 4th of 1989, the Admiral finally made his big debut with a big stat line of 23 points and 17 rebounds in a win over the Lakers. He was later selected to the All-Star game during his rookie season and easily won the Rookie of the Year award after winning Rookie of the Month every single month.

So, I would say it was worth the wait. The future MVP (over Hakeem Olajuwon) gave them 14 great years and helped them win two NBA championships.

1997 NBA DRAFT

Other notable picks from the draft were Pippen (#5), Kenny Smith (#6), Kevin Johnson (#7), Reggie Miller (#11), Mark Jackson (#18) and Reggie Lewis, who was a steal for the Celtics at #22.

1989 HOOPS

The card pictured is the 1989 Hoops Rookie Card of David Robinson. It was the first popular basketball card and single-handedly made basketball cards popular when only baseball and football cards were.

Packs of 89 hoops sold at retail stores like Wal-Mart for about 50 cents with the Robinson card selling for up to $30 (which was crazy back then). Since the packs were transparent on the top, packs with the Robinson rookie card showing at the top sold for about $50. Later that year, Hoops released a series 2 product featuring Robinson wearing the Spurs jersey and those cards sold for around $10.

BILLY HOYLE APPROVES

Let's also remember Woody Harrelson wore David Robinson's signature "1991 Nike Air Command Force" sneakers in the classic film "White Men Can't Jump."

ROOKIE FEATURE

71 POINTS

QUADRUPLE-DOUBLE

HALL OF FAME SPEECH

Source: LA TIMES

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Fresh off of sweeping the Nuggets and beating the LA Lakers, the team with the best record in the league and the league (deserving) MVP was ready to take out the defending champs. But the Rockets and Hakeem The Dream were ready to end the Spurs dream season right from the start of the Western Conference Finals: The Rockets pulled off a one-point Game 1 win in San Antonio and a convincing 10-point win in Game 2 behind 41 points and 16 boards from Olajuwon. The Spurs got some payback by taking Game 3 in H-Town, despite another 40 point performance by Olajuwon, and then beating them again in Game 4, while holding Hakeem to 9 of 24 shooting.

"I think we figured out what got us here," said David Robinson after a 22-point victory in GM4. "In these two games, our backs were against the wall. You can't be world champions if you can't dig down deep."

The bad dream was over thought the people of San Antonio. They thought wrong and when David Robinson said Hakeem is "only human and can't score 40 points every game" after Game 4, he was also wrong.

In Game 5, Hakeem went into nightmare mode and pulled out every move from his book of moves and added a few more chapters as he embarrassed the Admiral play after play. The final result was a 21-point victory for the Rockets and Hakeem finishing with 42/9/8 to Robinson's 22 & 12.

Game 6 was a closer game but the match-up between the two centers was much of the same: Hakeem finished with 39 points, 17 boards and 5 blocks as Robinson struggled to reach 19 points on 6 of 17 shooting; only two of Robinson's six field goals were made against Hakeem.

Six days after ending the Spurs season in a Texas shootout, the Houston Rockets went into Orlando and stole Game 1 from Shaq and the Magic. Seven days later, the Rockets were celebrating a sweep of the NBA finals and Hakeem was once again the Finals MVP.

ROCKETS VS SPURS SERIES

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Wilt Chamberlain Archives discovered three newspaper recaps of games where Wilt pulled off mind-blowing instances:

• 1967 EDF GM1 vs the Celtics: 24 points, 32 rebounds, 12 assists, 12 blocks
• 1967 NBA Finals GM2 vs the Warriors: 10 points, 38 rebounds, 10 assists, 10 blocks
• 1970 WDSF GM6 vs the Lakers: 12 points, 26 rebounds, 11 assists, 12 blocks

During the 1968 season, when Wilt led the league in assists, he had a game with 22 points, 25 rebounds, 21 assists and 12 blocks! We only know about the 12 blocks in this game because his 20 x 3 accomplishment is so known. So who knows how many quadruple-doubles Wilt really had during all those countless games where not even a local newspaper writer was in attendance.

As for his nemesis Bill Russell, in 1961, the man with 11 rings pulled off one of the most shocking quadruple doubles ever and it was against Wilt: 15 points, 25 rebounds, 13 blocks and 15 steals...not assists but steals. Since the official NBA record for steals is 11, that means Russell's unknown quadruple-double also contains an unknown NBA record. I'm positive Russell also had a few with assists but the only possible proof out there are some old next day newspaper write-ups that have never been scanned ?and uploaded to the internet.

NATE THURMOND (1974)

One year after the NBA started recording blocks, Nate Thurmond, in his first game as a Chicago Bull, started the season with the first official quadruple-double: 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocks vs the Atlanta Hawks. The late Nate The Great did have an OT period to pick up a few extra apples but I'm assuming he had at least 10, 10, 10, 10 before the extra session.

ALVIN ROBERTSON (1986)

The less you know about Alvin Robertson's personal life the better. On the court, he was pretty crazy too and if you ever heard the line "punch you in the face like that kid from Detroit" from Shaq's song "Where Ya At" with the late Phife Dawg, it's Robertson he's talking about.

Anyways, 12 years after Nate did it with blocks, Robertson pulled off the first and only official quadruple-double with steals: 20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals against the Phoenix Suns. This accomplishment also came during the year Robertson won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.

HAKEEM OLAJUWON (1990)

On March 3rd of 1990, The Dream?racked up 29 points, 18 rebounds, 11 blocks and 10 assists against the Golden State Warriors. Or did he? Although most websites will tell you this was the 3rd instance, the league disagreed.

Here's what happened via MentalFloss.com

It’s not clear whether Olajuwon knew or even cared how close he’d come to the arbitrary milestone, but Rockets coach Don Chaney and team media-relations director Jay Goldberg sure did.

The pair reviewed the game tape immediately after the final buzzer and “found” what seemed to be an uncredited assist for Olajuwon in the first quarter. The team quickly issued a revised box score that credited Olajuwon for 29 points, 18 rebounds, 10 assists, and 11 blocks. Bingo! Quadruple-double achieved!

The NBA gives its statisticians a bit of latitude when it comes to determining what exactly counts as an assist thanks to the inherently subjective nature of the stat. Having team officials review game tapes and revise box scores goes well beyond “l(fā)atitude” and right into “chicanery” territory, though. When the league caught wind of the revision, director of operations Rod Thorn asked if he could take his own peek at the tape.

That’s where the quadruple-double got a little less quad-y. Three days later, Thorn announced his findings. On further review, Olajuwon didn’t deserve 10 assists, and the original box score that gave him credit for nine dimes would remain the official record of the game. Thorn didn’t think much of the Rockets’ shenanigans; he publicly said, “A box score should not be changed after the fact for the purpose of achieving a statistical milestone.”

Three weeks later, against Alvin Robertson and the Milwaukee Bucks,?Hakeem dropped 18 points, 16 rebounds, 11 blocks and 10 assists Rod Thorn approved of. We now had our 3rd official quadruple-double and finally one for The Dream.

DAVID ROBINSON (1994)

Four years after The Dream, the underrated David Robinson -- a man who used to have nightmares about The Dream -- recorded the last official instance, when he had 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 blocks against the Detroit Pistons.

Unlike his embarrassing 71-point performance (The Spurs, up by 2o in the final minutes, were fouling the other team so The Admiral could get more shots and win the scoring title over Shaq) in 1994, this statistical accomplishment deserved praise. Also worth praising was how amazing Robinson's streak was when he had the quadruple-double.

• Vs Pacers: 34pts 10rebs 9asts
• Vs Pistons: 34pts 10rebs 10asts 10blks
• Vs Heat: 19pts 12rebs 7asts
• Vs Twolves: 50pts 9rebs 6blks
• Vs Jazz: 25pts 16rebs 9asts

CLYDE DREXLER, SO CLOSE...

Two years after the last instance, Hakeem's Houston teammate (college and pro), Clyde Drexler, was involved in another Houston Rocket quadruple double controversy and yes it involved an assist. His final line in the official box score would say 25 points, 10 rebounds, 10 steals and 9 assists. If he would have been credited for a 10th assist, Drexler would also have the honor of being the oldest player to ever pull it off.

Just as forgotten as this performance was?a decade earlier, Drexler had 26 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists and 10 steals against the Bucks.

THE DROUGHT

In the two-decade drought since Robinson's instance, a few (surprising) players have flirted with the accomplishment.

In 2015, Ricky Rubio (seriously) had 9 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists and 8 steals. It was the closest anybody has come?to a quadruple-double since AK-47 in 2006 (15 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, 8 blocks). Earlier in 2015, Anthony Davis had arguably the most impressive game during the drought with at least 7 in each category (36 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists and 9 blocks).

Also during this time, Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal had two close ones during the NBA Finals.

• Tim Duncan (2003) 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, 8 blocks
• Shaq (2001) 28 points, 20 rebounds, 9 assists, 8 blocks

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Here's a list, compiled by Dan Feldman of NBC Sports, with a list of players who had at least 8 in four of the five major cats over the past 30 years. ?Not included is Michael Sugar Ray Richardson, who in 1985 had 38 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and 9 steals in a game.

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On this date in history, April 24th of 1994, David Robinson won the NBA scoring title by beating Shaq's scoring average by .5 points.

Going into the final game of the season, Shaq said he couldn't care less about the title. He ended up putting up a casual 32 points and 22 rebounds against the Nets -- a team he has a history of destroying (literally). Those numbers sound pretty gaudy until you hear David Robinson scored 71 (19 more than his previous career-high and 8 more than the previous franchise-high set by George Gervin) against the God-awful Clippers.

“It was unbelievable,”?Said Robinson. “My team has been behind me the whole year. They always push me to do a lot of individual things. As a leader, I just try to win games, but tonight they really wanted me to shoot it. When the game started, they were looking for me almost every time down the court.”

You can blame the Clippers, who did double and triple team the Admiral at times, for "allowing" him to join Baylor, David Thompson, and Wilt as the only players in history to score 70+ points, but the man who deserves the most blame (or credit) is Spurs coach John Lucas. Up by over 20 with a minute left in the game, Lucas instructed his players to foul the opposing team so Robinson could get a few more shots up. Robinson scored 7 more points in the final minute to give him 71 on 41 field goal and 25 free throw attempts.

When Magic coach Brian Hill heard the news, he called it a "mockery of the game."

Disgruntled Clippers forward Dominique Wilkins, who knows a thing or two about fighting for scoring titles, felt the same way as Hill.

"Disappointing is an understatement for this season," Wilkins said via the LA Times. "There's no pride here. If you can look at yourself in the mirror after a game like that and be happy with yourself, something's wrong. Nothing against David, he's a great player, but how can you let a guy get 71 points?

"I think it's ridiculous. We helped him get 71 points. If they want to play him the whole game that's fine, but the way we played him, it's like we helped him.

"I've never seen anything like this in my career, let me tell you the truth, never.

"That game probably got him MVP."

Equally disgruntled Clippers vet Mark Jackson also went off on his team after the game.

"If you are not committed to winning, I don't want to be here. And I think tonight shows no commitment towards winning."

As for Shaq: "That meant I was on his mind. They ran every play for him. If I hadn't been triple-teamed and was selfish and tried to score every time I touched the ball, I could have scored 70, too."

No surprise, the Spurs coach felt Robinson earned every one of those points.

"Those were a legit 71 points," Lucas said. "He played 44 minutes when he should have played 48."

Unfortunately for Lucas and Robinson, the Utah Jazz were a little better than the Clippers and beat the Spurs 3-1 in the first round of the NBA playoffs. As for Robinson, he scored just 9 more points in the whole series than he did in just his final regular season game.

Not everybody seems to care about a scoring title as much as Robinson. This is what Kevin Durant posted on the final game of a season when he was up for the scoring title.

Click here to read about the closest scoring battles in NBA history.

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20 years ago, every person playing fantasy basketball -- back when stats were mailed to you once a week and you had to call in changes on Sunday night -- was praising David Robinson for putting up one of the most spectacular weeks of stats in recent NBA history.

It started on February 15th of 1994, when David Robinson abused the Dunking Dutchman and his Pacers for 34 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Two days after missing the triple-double, he greeted his old teammate Sean Elliot, now playing with the Pistons, with a 19-point win and the last quadruple-double in NBA history: 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 blocks.

Playing against a couple of ancient big men in Cadillac Anderson and Charles Jones, the "point center" dominated and achieved the historic quadruple-double with five minutes left in the game, when he swatted a layup by Lindsey Hunter. His 10 assists were double the amount by all of the Pistons guards combined and if it wasn't for Rodman's 22 boards, The Admiral probably would have had a lot more in the rebound category.

“We didn’t even talk about the winning streak. We did talk about David’s quadruple-double. He was just great. But I was mad at him. He missed seven free throws and he should have had 41 points.” Spurs coach John Lucas

Two nights after the fans were chanting MVP as Robinson and the Spurs celebrated their 11th straight win, they hosted the Heat and again won behind a big game from Robinson: 19 points, 12 rebounds (Rodman had 26) and 7 assists.

Their next game was against the horrible Wolves and a pre-Bull Luc Longley; Robinson abused him for 50 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocks.

The Spurs finally lost in their next game, when they faced Karl Malone and the Jazz. But you can't blame Robinson (25 points 16 rebounds) who again missed a triple-double by a single assist.

HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES

• Vs Pacers: 34pts 10rebs 9asts
• Vs Pistons: 34pts 10rebs 10asts 10blks
• Vs Heat: 19pts 12rebs 7asts
• Vs Twolves: 50pts 9rebs 6blks
• Vs Jazz: 25pts 16rebs 9asts

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