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The San Antonio Spurs did not have the type of season that a Spurs' fan would have wanted, losing to the stacked Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs. Last season was the first time since 1997 that the Spurs ended the season with a losing record on the road. Their unique streak of 20 straight seasons of 50 wins or more, ended with a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
However, the Spurs made it to the post-season for the 21st consecutive year clinching the 7th seed. This despite, missing their All-Star SF Kawhi Leonard who only featured in nine games, a career-low because of a right quad injury. This off-season, the Western Conference became more stacked with LeBron James' move to join the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Spurs have won their last NBA title in 2014 when they beat the Miami Heat in 5 games. They have enjoyed limited success since then, though they never failed to make the playoffs. After 4-year hiatus, Is this finally going to be the year when Spurs win it all?
Read on to find out:
Offseason Activity
In the off-season, Kawhi demanded a trade out of San Antonio citing trust issues. The disgruntled 2014 Finals MVP was then traded to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for All-Star DeMar DeRozan. As part of the deal, Raptors received Danny Green while the Spurs received Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first-round pick.
After featuring for the Spurs for 17 seasons, Tony Parker signed a two-year deal with the Charlotte Hornets. Manu Ginobili, who was the second-oldest active player in the league, announced his retirement after an amazing 16 seasons in the NBA. With Manu's announcement, Spurs' "Big 3" era officially ended.
In the 2018 NBA draft, the Spurs selected guard Lonnie Walker with the 18th overall pick. The also selected Chimezie Metu, PF out of USC, with the 49th overall pick. In Free agency, David Bertans agreed to re-sign with the team for a 2-years, $14.5 million contract. Rudy Gay (1 year, $10 million) and Bryn Forbes (2 year, $6 million) too agreed to return to the team.
Spurs also added Marco Belinelli (2 years, $12 million), Dante Cunningham (1 year, $2.5 million) and Quincy Pondexter (1-year deal) to the roster. Joffrey Lauvergne and Kyle Anderson walked away in the free agency while Brandon Paul was waived.
The Spurs did all they could as an organization to get better, this team is a lot different than the last season's and looks good on paper. Trading Kawhi for DeMar is a right decision given the fact that Kawhi himself demanded he be traded. It will be really interesting to see how this team performs under Pop's coaching but do not expect a lot out of this team, yet.
Squad weaknesses
To begin with, the Spurs lost Kawhi Leonard, who is one of the top 3 two-way players in the NBA today. While DeMar DeRozan can handle the load offensively, he is not a skillful defender like Kawhi. Much of their defense in the last few years depended on Kawhi's defensive ability, Kyle Anderson's presence on the wing and Danny Green, who was named to All-NBA Defensive Second Team in 2017.
The Spurs got some rim protection from the wing because of Kyle and Danny and the new players will not be able to replace these players right away.
The Spurs were ranked 1st in defensive rating in the 2016-17 season. Even with Kawhi featuring in only 9 games, they were ranked 4th in defensive rating in a 2017-18 season, primarily because of their wing players. This season, Popovich will have a tough time to build a good defense with a lot of young and fresh guys. Although one would definitely not doubt Pop's coaching skills, there are high chances that their defensive rating will drop further.
Losing veterans Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili is also a big blow to this team. Manu was good at stealing the ball with his presence of mind and Tony always found a way to score, particularly when the team needed him the most in clutch situations, using his 17-year NBA experience. The lack of experience can be a serious problem for this team.
Team Strengths
The San Antonio Spurs are known for their discipline.
Head Coach Gregg Popovich is an all-time-great and he can really take DeMar's game to the next level. Playing under Pop means DeRozan will have to work on his defensive ability. Considering the fact that DeMar did not like the way he was traded by the Toronto Raptors, he will only be more hungry to prove himself and send out a statement to the Raptors organization.
Shot blocking will be one of their major strengths this season. Poeltl is an elite shot-blocker, Pau Gasol averaged a block per game and LaMarcus Aldridge averaged a career-high 1.2 blocks per game last season. There is not a lot of athleticism in the team this season and will likely record lesser number of steals. They won't get a lot of blocks unless Pop decides to play two-big lineup, but the offense will struggle to create enough space if that happens.
Three-point shooting has always been on the positive side for the Spurs over the years. On the contrary, the Spurs were 26th in 3-point percentage at 35.2 % per game last season. After losing Danny Green in the trade to Toronto, Buford brought in Dante Cunningham who shot 38.2 percentage from the 3-point range last season and Quincy Pondexter to fix the team's 3-point shooting.
He also signed Marco Belinelli who thrived as a three-pointer shooter in Philadelphia. The key 3-point shooter Davis Bertans is also back as he re-signed with the team and re-signing him was definitely the right thing to do.
Opportunities and Threats
After a not-so-great 2016-17 season, LaMarcus Aldridge came back storming and averaged 23.1 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in the last season. He was also named an NBA All-Star last season and showed up in the absence of Kawhi Leonard. Aldridge, who signed a 3-year contract extension with the organization in 2017, will be the centerpiece for their success.
Playing with a lot of new guys in the much stacked west, Aldridge will have added responsibilities and if he remains consistent with his performances, Spurs can really make some noise this season. With DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge on the team, the Spurs have two of the best mid-range shooters in the game. Last season, they both ranked top 5 in field-goal made from that zone. Much of the team's success this season depends on the partnership between DeRozan and Aldridge.
The reason Aldridge left Portland was because he wanted to be the face of the organization and when Kawhi entered, he became the face of the team and Aldridge became the second-option. With Kawhi injured last season, Aldridge became the first-option and averaged 23.1 points. Spurs' success this season depends on whether LaMarcus will be willing to allow DeRozan to be the go-to guy. Coach Pop will have a tough task ahead to make sure this new team performs to the expectations.
Predictions for the season
This is a very young team with a lot of fresh faces. They are a talented team on paper but it remains to be seen how they perform as a team. The success of this team depends on how much they are willing to make sacrifices and learn from Pop. There is a high chance that Marco Belinelli takes the sixth man role with Manu's retirement. The 21-year old Dejounte Murray will continue to get better this season and average double-digits in points for the first time in his career.
Their 3-point shooting will get better this season and David Bertans will do his thing. DeMar DeRozan will likely be named an All-Star for the 5th time in his career. It will be interesting to see if Aldridge makes it to the All-Star game this season.
They will start slowly and lose a lot of games trying to figure out things to make it work. It can get frustrating for the fans to watch Spurs lose some games that they should really be winning. They will better their last-season record of 47-35 and win more than 50 games this season. San Antonio will finish 3rd or 4th in the western conference and make their trip to the playoffs for the 21st consecutive season. Playing in a very tough Western Conference, the Spurs will likely end their season losing in the Conference Semifinals.
