It's hard to look last season's drama with Kawhi Leonard subsequently concluding with his being traded with Danny Green to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a protected 2019 pick as having any sort of positive. I mean, you just lost a legitimate two-way star that was a two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and finals MVP, not to mention close runner up for MVP when he was healthy and playing. The loss of arguably one of the premier perimeter defenders in Danny Green as well is a tough pill to swallow, but given the situation, changes were necessary. Despite being one of the premier defensive squads in the league (1st in opponents points allowed per game at 99.8 and 3rd in overall defensive rating of 104.8) they were dismal on the other end (27th in points per game at 102.7, 17th overall offensive rating at 107.9). While the common belief was that the return of Kawhi Leonard as our number 1 option would solve much of our offensive woes, it became painfully clear that outside of LaMarcus Aldridge we had no effective go-to third option, no way of generating offense when we needed it. We got open shots, but we can't hit them, and frankly, we had trouble creating offense.
With now also the exit of Tony Parker it truly feels like the end of an era. Since as per usual, we know absolutely nothing about the plans of Manu Ginobili, we can simply hope for the best that the 40-year old Argentinian veteran will return for one more season. Now while we're not sure what the final roster will look like, we do know that the Spurs made some major additions, though we did lose a number of players:
Key Additions: DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, Dante Cunningham, Marco Belinelli, Lonnie Walker IV, Chimezie Metu
Key Losses: Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, Kyle Anderson, Brandon Paul, Joffrey Lauvergne
We also made a note to bring back Rudy Gay, Davis Bertans, and Bryn Forbes. While we're uncertain if Manu Ginobili is coming back, given the trade for a win-now type player like DeMar DeRozan, it seems likely that Pop would want to keep as a veteran with corporate knowledge in house, especially to mold the likes of young prospects like Lonnie Walker IV. With now a guard heavy rotation it'll already be a challenge to see where second-year guard like Derrick White will get playing time. We do have to figure out whether or not Dejounte Murray's shot and play-making have improved, which will determine how much Pop will rely on Patty Mills, which, given our guard rotation, is not really something I extraordinarily want to rely on, though perhaps, that's what they're grooming Bryn Forbes for.
Enter the Spurs' big problem. Well, it's two problems actually. First is the glut of guards who need playing time: Murray, White, Mills, Forbes, Walker IV, and this is just thinking about the PG spot, which is to say, this is not including the SG playing time which includes competition for time with the likes of DeRozan, Ginobili, and maybe even Belinelli. Coupled with that remains the loss of size and thus defense on the wings. Certainly, the loss of their best perimeter defenders, arguably two of the best perimeter defenders in the league, hurts a lot. That being said, it is difficult to swallow that the only true SF size players (i.e. players who can guard Kevin Durant) are Rudy Gay and Dante Cunningham, means that there might be a lot of playing small, with the likes of Ginobili, Belinelli, and maybe even Murray or DeRozan at the three spot, which works for playing small, but ultimately, is really not ideal. Maybe I'm just being old-school, but I kind of feel like having that sort of size might matter. This does mean though, that we have some promising prospects in our guard rotation, however, it does leave our frontcourt somewhat thin.
Certainly, I anticipate playing a lot of small ball, with Rudy at the 4 and LaMarcus Aldridge at the 5, however, I'm not entirely certain that three guards from the roster we have will necessarily be ideal, unless Walker and/or DeRozan are more effective defensively than we originally thought (particularly if one of the guards is Mills).
With that, I am optimistic about the development and potential of our younger core players, namely, I want to see what Chip Engelland is doing with Dejounte Murray's jump shot, how the Spurs can develop the physical tools of Lonnie Walker IV, and finally how Davis Bertans can thrive with more playing time. Despite the failure of their pairing in Toronto, for some reason, I am also optimistic about how Pop can get a lineup featuring Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan to work. I think we might see a resurgence of Rudy Gay as a borderline All-Star type player. Between Gay, DeRozan, and Aldridge, spacing feels like it might be an issue, but I think Pop can figure out a way to work it out. I am optimistic that Poeltl and Cunningham will somehow become household Spurs names through their contributions (like Gary Neal, Roger Mason, Dewayne Dedmon, Cory Joseph, etc...), I am optimistic that Marco Belinelli will come back and fit in fairly seamlessly as a Manu-lite type player to help provide some play-making, and finally, I am just excited to have this Kawhi Leonard drama over and done with.
Will we make the playoffs? I don't know, it's hard to say, but winning 47 games en-route to a first round bounce by the champion Golden State Warriors on nothing but defense and LaMarcus Aldridge jumpers leads me to think that we have a fair shot.
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