The notion of a “twin towers” (two players in your starting lineup front court that are approaching 7 feet tall and would otherwise be centers in traditional configuration) goes clear back to the mid-1980’s Houston Rockets with their huge front court of Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson. It “worked” getting the Rockets all the way to the NBA Finals in 1986 against what many consider to be the best Larry Bird led Boston Celtics team. The Rockets lost in 6 games. Later Sampson (injuries, personality issues) flamed out and the actual effectiveness of that lineup was incredibly brief.
The twin towers concept kind of fell by the wayside until the San Antonio Spurs took advantage of David Robinson’s injury (along with GM Gregg Popovich sandbagging Bob Hill into oblivion so he could take Hill’s job) in the 1996-97 season to get a higher position in the draft lottery (one more loss than the Nuggets) and drafted once-in-a-generation Tim Duncan after already having once-in-a-generation Robinson.