San Antonio Spurs: Their quest for a repeat
By Eric Saar
The San Antonio Spurs are once again defending NBA champions. The Spurs have won five NBA titles, all of them since the drafting of future Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan in 1998. San Antonio won in 1998-99, 2002-03, 2004-05, 2006-07 and last season in 2013-14. Despite the incredible ability to be dominant over a long span, the Spurs couldn’t get that back-to-back championship.
Instead, the Spurs seem to fail to play at a high-enough level following a NBA title. Following the first title, they lost in the first round. Then after the next two championships, the Spurs lost in the conference semifinals. Following the 2007 title, San Antonio lost in the conference finals.
How will this year play out?
Roster Breakdown
Of course the core of the team is still comprised of the big three. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili are older superstars but are still tops on the team in terms of both in production and leadership.
The big three is turning into a big four with the addition of Kawhi Leonard, the NBA finals MVP, as a 23-year-old phenom. He is a lockdown perimeter defender, and good in all facets on offense.
Tiago Splitter and Danny Green round out the starting lineup (Ginobili nearly always plays off the bench). Splitter is a quickly-improving big man who is solid on both ends of the court, but with limited upside. Green is the sharpshooter who holds the record for most three-pointers made in an NBA Finals with 25 in 2013.
Boris Diaw is another bench player who helps strengthen the Spurs. Like many have said, his stats are usually underwhelming, but he’s what you would call a winner. He is a good teammate, passes well (especially for a big man), makes his teammates better and has a very high basketball IQ and a feel for the game that is only rivaled by the all-time greats. His French national team, where he is the captain, just upset Spain in the FIBA World Cup, essentially paving the way for the United States to capture the gold medal.
Matt Bonner, Marco Bellini, Austin Daye, Corey Joseph, Patty Mills, and Jeff Ayres round out the rotation, along with their first-round draft pick Kyle Anderson.
Attitude
The Spurs seem like a machine. There is very little flashiness or fanfare, especially with two quiet players in Duncan and Leonard around. Humble confidence is the name of the game.
Defending a championship is hard. After so recently achieving greatness at the highest level of accomplishment in professional basketball, it is hard to be motivated. But Gregg Popovich will get them there. They will plod along throughout the season, getting enough wins for homecourt advantage in the playoffs, resting stars whenever they feel like it, to make it happen. When they rest players…they’ll win anyway. That’s just what they do.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The Spurs are an elite passing team. They led the league in 2013-14 in assists with 25.2 assists per game. They always seem to get open shots. It never seems fair to the opposing team. It’s seems too easy.
San Antonio was sixth in points per game (105.4) and sixth in points allowed per game (97.6).
With Duncan, Splitter, and Diaw the Spurs have a good group of passing big men with the ability to score in the post when needed.
They have a plethora of shooters to beat anyone that wants to play zone on them, to guard against being beat by ball movement.
Even with the star players on their roster, they have the solid depth on their team to play well through brutal, season-ending injuries.
Predictions (ceiling/floor)
Compared to the competitive Western Conference, The Spurs are probably the second-best team. The only team who can usurp San Antonio in the regular season is the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the Spurs suffer injuries, the floor can be lower, but not much lower because the team is comprised of veterans and coached by legend Popovich. The Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and conceivably the Dallas Mavericks could pass them in the regular season standings by season’s end.
If they have injuries and some regression of shooting, the Spurs could potentially fall to a low-seeded West playoffs team, but no further.