If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the San Antonio Spurs ought to be blushing right now.

While the team gets little attention on TV or Madison Avenue, owners around the league are well aware of San Antonio’s mastery of the NBA in recent seasons. As a result, they start slobbering as soon as they see the word Spurs on a résumé, and the league is filling up with Spur wannabes.

You can’t blame them for wanting to replicate the Spurs’ model. San Antonio is poised to win its third championship in five years and has won at least 57 games each of the last seven seasons. To put that accomplishment in perspective, consider that only three teams in the entire Eastern Conference — Detroit (2005–06), Miami (2004–05), and Indiana (2003–04) — have hit that total even once during the same span.

With San Antonio providing a blueprint for success, it’s little surprise that copycats have emerged. The biggest one of them all might be lining up across from them when the ball is tipped on Thursday night. When Dan Gilbert bought the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005, he went in with the idea of cloning the San Antonio model because of its rampant success. He started at the top, hiring of former Spurs player and director of basketball operations Danny Ferry as general manager in 2005.

From there, Ferry hired another Spurs executive, Lance Blanks, to join him in Cleveland. He also hired head coach Mike Brown — a disciple of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich who was an assistant under him for three years and runs many of the same plays and schemes. Together, they brought in a rugged, halfcourt defensive style that San Antonio has been using for years to wear down opponents. As a result, the Cavs finished this year fourth among the league’s 30 teams in Defensive Efficiency, my measure of a team’s points allowed per 100 opponent possessions.

The similarities between the two finalists couldn’t be more obvious. Both clubs are also big proponents of size, defensive rebounding, and heavy substitution — especially in the frontcourt. It’s no accident that Cleveland has a four-man stable of big men that all see extensive playing time, keeping each of them fresh — mimicking San Antonio’s method of keeping star big man Tim Duncan around 35 minutes a game so he doesn’t run out of gas.

It would be one thing if the Cavs were the only Spurs clones out there, but they’re far from it. One of last year’s finalists was also trying to win with the San Antonio model — in fact they did it so well they beat San Antonio at their own game in the playoffs.

I’m referring to Dallas, who went from a wide-open, offensiveminded team under Don Nelson to a far more balanced club under former Spur Avery Johnson. It’s no accident that Johnson hired another Spur, Joe Prunty, to be one of his assistants when he took the job — and no accident that Dallas’s defensive numbers immediately improved once Johnson took the helm. While the Mavs fell short this year in the postseason, they’ve put together back-toback 60-win seasons and were two wins away from a championship a year ago using their Spurs-lite method.

The newest imitator at the party is Seattle. The Sonics were purchased this year by Clay Bennett, a former part-owner of the Spurs. That gave him a front-row seat for the day-today workings of what is, hands down, the best-run organization in sports, and he’s set about following Gilbert’s strategy of emulating the league’s most successful franchise.

That’s a big reason why 29-year-old Sam Presti — an assistant general manager who has risen rapidly through San Antonio’s management ranks — is likely to be hired as the Sonics’ next general manager some time this week. Presti may not be the only hire either. A strong possibility for the Sonics’ coaching vacancy is current Spurs assistant (and former Seton Hall coach) P.J. Carlesimo.

The trend is so strong that even a team that would seem to be the polar opposite of the Spurs — the Phoenix Suns — has gone in that direction. Just this week they hired Steve Kerr — a former Spur player whom Nets fans remember for hitting two big shots to send them to defeat in Game 5 of the 2003 Finals — to become their new team president and general manager.

So while the NBA Finals are Spurs vs. Cavs on the court, it’s more like Spurs vs. Spurs in terms of management. And it’s pretty amazing to think that the three teams most likely to compete with San Antonio for championships in the coming years — Dallas, Phoenix, and Cleveland — have done so, at least in part, by trying to mimic San Antonio’s model of success.

If there’s a silver lining in this for the Spurs, it’s that one would think the trend has to stop eventually. Otherwise by this time next year, the Spurs might not have any employees left for other teams to hire away.

jhollinger@nysun.com