San Antonio Spurs: Best friends forever

The Step Back has been born from the aesthetics and traditions of the Hardwood Paroxysm Basketball Network. In the past, Hardwood Paroxysm has produced a massive stand-alone season preview. This year, that preview effort has been rolled up into the launch of The Step Back. 

The Step Back’s writers and illustrators have prepared a hefty deep-dive into each team, built from multiple smaller sections. This year’s theme is television comedies and each section is named after some of our favorite sitcoms. For links to all 30 teams, as well as details about the focus of each section, check out our guide on how to read this preview.

Community

By Eli Horowitz (@CoachHorowitz13)

The San Antonio Spurs suffered heartbreak in 2016. After winning a franchise record 67 games, and demolishing the Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals, the Spurs dropped four of five to Oklahoma City. It was a particularly demoralizing loss, one that saw the end of Tim Duncan’s run as a Spur, and raised question marks about the team’s viability moving forward. While questions around the Spurs longevity are perennially asked and perennially disproven, the retiring of Duncan made them feel real. But as tough as it was to see Duncan hang up the towel, retaining Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker prevented a complete end of an era.

The Spurs responded with aggressive action in free agency. They met with Kevin Durant, and quickly signed Pau Gasol to fill in at center. This signified that the Spurs still believed themselves to be contenders. Adding Pau meant losing Boris Diaw in a trade to the Utah Jazz for cap flexibility. They also lost David West to the Golden State Warriors in free agency. The Spurs retooled their frontcourt with Dewayne Dedmon and David Lee, an interesting mix of skills to fill their voids.

The Spurs also managed to get younger. They drafted Dejounte Murray with the 29th pick, a raw point guard who will have time to develop behind Parker and Patty Mills. This, in addition to bringing over Davis Bertans, brings two exciting players to the Spurs. Also in the mix were — at least they for training camp — Patricio Garino, Ryan Arcidiacono, Bryn Forbes, and Livio Jean-Charles. The Spurs camp will be competitive, with a combination of draft and stash players, rookies, and promising young players like Kyle Anderson and Jonathon Simmons battling for roster spots and rotation minutes.

The Spurs season will be about proving they are still contenders. This is a redundant theme, and a feat the Spurs have inexplicably had to accomplish almost every year despite five championships. To some, the Spurs could slip back if the Los Angeles Clippers are healthy and the Jazz deliver on the hype. But with LaMarcus Aldridge in his second season under Pop, and Kawhi Leonard continuing to improve, the Spurs should continue to win a lot of regular season games.

If there’s a team that can challenge the Warriors, it’s the Spurs. The Spurs lacked the shooting and defensive flexibility in their frontcourt to keep up with the Oklahoma City Thunder last year. But the additions of Dedmon, Lee, Gasol, and Bertans give them more versatility to play big, small, defensive, or offensive. Heavier use of Anderson and Simmons will also keep their veterans fresh for the playoffs, and provide more bodies to defend the Warriors.

While it was the Conference Semifinals, the loss to the Thunder was on the shortlist of toughest playoff defeats for San Antonio, behind the 2013 Finals loss to the Miami Heat. Following 2013, the Spurs turned in one of the most dominant playoff runs of all time, finishing off a revenge plot of LeBron James and the Heat. In 2016-17, the Spurs could be on a similar mission.

Friends

By David Ramil (@dramil13)

Writing about chemistry for a team like the San Antonio Spurs is like trying to describe water — for the uninitiated, it’s still wet. The Spurs have achieved championship success not just because of their talent but also because of how seamlessly well it all works together.

Consider last season. As per usual, San Antonio saw the writing on the wall well before everyone else did and recognized there would soon be glaring needs to improve on their roster. They pursued LaMarcus Aldridge, the most sought-after player in free agency, and successfully signed him to a contract. There were questions on how Aldridge would fit with the team given his particular strengths and their style of play. After a few rough spots early in the season, everything clicked together at a historically high level for a franchise that’s no stranger to impressive production.

If there’s one major difference this season, it’s certainly the loss of Tim Duncan, the team’s centerpiece for nearly two decades. Much has been made about San Antonio’s incredible winning culture, but head coach Gregg Popovich has always deflected any praise for helping to instill it, rather claiming it as a byproduct of having Duncan on the roster. But now the best power forward of all-time is no longer on the floor to help give the team’s intangible philosophies corporeal form.

But don’t expect a drop-off from San Antonio, either in terms of chemistry or tangible success. The team’s aging stars are still there to keep Duncan’s torch well-lit for at least another season. Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard are insurance that it won’t burn out for years to come. Even new additions to the team, who have achieved both individual and team success, all acknowledge that the Spurs’ culture is alive and well.

Perhaps that’s Popovich’s greatest accomplishment, aside from the adaptable style of play and the ability to evolve with the team’s roster. He’s always known how to connect with any and all players and puts them in the best position to succeed, even while deflecting any accolades for that success.

Before a preseason game in Orlando in mid-October, a tired-yet-intense looking Popovich spoke about coaching different generations of players and the challenges that might result:

"“I think if you treat players with respect, they know you care about them, you work them and give them standards and try to build character. We’ve done it the same way for 20 years here. I haven’t changed in that approach. I think good people react to respect and care. It’s the same with kids this generation, also. It’s not much different. People want guidelines, people want parameters, standards — if they have character. If they don’t, you shouldn’t have them in your program.”"

If you question the team’s chemistry might suffer with Duncan’s absence, then don’t. This “program” will keep showing as strongly as ever. They’ll find a way to incorporate Pau Gasol and David Lee and all the rest of the new additions, and Popovich will find the right mix to ensure chemistry won’t be an issue. Duncan may be gone but Popovich is still here to keep the Spurs moving smoothly and water, as it has for some time, remains as wet as ever.

Third Rock From the Sun

By Willy Raedy (@WillyRaedy)

The San Antonio Spurs’ offense was iconic, laying the foundation for the pace-and-space era. Never had any team passed so fluidly, shot so smoothly. Watching them run the Miami Heat around ragged during the 2014 Finals seemed like the Platonic form of basketball. They had reached the mountaintop, and for all Kawhi Leonard’s dogged brilliance, Tony Parker was the engine that brought them there.

If it hadn’t been for an unlucky rebound and some of the most unbelievable perimeter footwork ever witnessed, Parker might very well be known as the LeBron James killer. He won the Finals MVP when the Spurs swept Cleveland in 2007 and then was neck and neck with Kawhi and Timmy for MVP honors in 2014 and 2013 had the Spurs won that unforgettable Game 6. When I think of Tony, I’ll always imagine him darting around a pick, passing the ball along the perimeter, and then running around in a big circle before getting the ball back and diving into the paint for his patented floater. There was no stopping that player.

We may have seen the last of him.

Age is a funny thing for athletes. Some players seem to fall off a cliff, giving little warning that they’re approaching the precipice. Others experience a gentle, slow decline that you almost don’t notice while it’s happening. Fans wake up one day and realize their favorite player is no longer dominant wondering, “When did that happen?” And some are the rare exception that adapt, becoming a different player with age but no less effective.

Parker is trying to join that latter group. Since his most recent NBA championship, Parker has shot over 40 percent from 3-point range in each of the last two seasons, the first times he’s ever done that in his entire career. His usage percentage last year dropped to its lowest point since he was a 19-year-old rookie. He’s controlling the ball less and playing a different role in the offense. The question is not whether he’s changing, but how effective the old man version will be.

This possible regression is so significant that Parker, who has been the Spurs’ second best player at worst for as long as I can remember, may not even be the Spurs’ third best player this season. He struggled against Oklahoma City in the playoffs, and if that’s the Tony that shows up this season he’ll lose the Third Rock From the Sun designation to Pau Gasol. How frightening it must be for a team with legitimate championship dreams that they’re depending on not one but two players on the wrong side of 35, without the depth they’ve enjoyed in seasons past (and that’s not even talking about Manu Ginobili). As good as Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge are, they’ll need some help against the upper echelon of the league.

In a perimeter-oriented league, I’m skeptical that the majority of that help can come from the post. For the past half decade, pundits have thought that we’ve seen the end of the migration to the 3-point line, that the continued benefits would have to run out. That may be true in theory, but it hasn’t happened yet and the the diaspora from the paint is showing no signs of stopping.

The Spurs are insanely talented and well run. They expertly transitioned from a Tim Duncan-centered offense to a Parker-driven one. Now they’re transitioning from Parker to Kawhi, but even the Spurs are not immune to the global forces of the game. They still need exceptional pick-and-roll play if they’re going to dominate in a pick-and-roll league. Parker, even an old man version of himself, is their best chance. He may be their only chance.

Parker might not be the Spurs third best player but if they want to compete for a championship, he better be.

Perfect Strangers

by Matt D’Anna (@hoop_nerd)

Ten Word Analysis: Excluding Pau feels wrong, but there’s already so. Much. Midrange.

TeamSPACE charts are based on mapped clusters of shot activity. These areas are affectionately called Hunting Grounds, because they are the areas on the court where a player hunts for shots — and successfully scores most often. TeamSPACE takes the Hunting Grounds of all five players in a lineup and puts them on the court together — because, you know, they have to share that physical space, and there is only one ball.

In the past, it was one color per player; which meant that blending colors represented overlapping spaces for shot activity. But this time around, these are not your ordinary TeamSPACE shot maps. Each lineup is analyzed in the aggregate — one color! — and that unit is compared that unit to the rest of the league. So you will see a persistent red layer on every chart, highlighting the league’s Hunting Grounds from last season. The most prolific locations should come as no surprise: the paint, the corners, most of the top of the arc, and a couple of dabs at the foul line and top of the key.

So…how were these lineups chosen for each team? In the past, it’s been about projecting the starting lineup, estimating the most used lineup, or even designing the “most favoritest” lineup. This year? It’s the these charts represent the “most interestingly feasible” lineups….what? That’s a loaded phrase, so let’s unpack it a bit.

The goal is to identify the collection of five players on a team that could potentially play together, and if they did, the offensive results could be glorious. Ideally these lineups aren’t too far-fetched, but also slightly off-kilter and confusing to an opposing defense. While this type of analysis is not conducive for assessing defense, somewhat reasonable decisions are attempted to be made. So while it’s tempting to just put all the best shooters together…how realistic is it (outside of Houston, at least)? And, full disclosure: I favor some stretch in my lineups. It not only provides plenty of high-octane potential, but getting stretchy is also on par with current league-wide trends.

Each TeamSPACE chart has a couple of other sitcom-related features:

Family Matters: You’ll notice a series of Jaleel White’s across half court. Each lineup is scored on a scale of 0-7 Steve Urkels for how well it matches league-wide trends. Remember, there’s seven league Hunting Grounds (right corner three; at the rim; left corner three; foul line/top of the key; right wing; middle 3pt; left wing). A lineup gains points for matching each area; it loses points for messy excess shot activity.

Odd Couple: “Most interestingly feasible” is obviously debatable, so in order to account for some of those decisions, you’ll see Oscar and Felix on each chart. Often, there are players that are in the lineup…and maybe/probably they should not be. They get the Oscar label. And, there are those players that are out of the lineup…and maybe/probably should be included. They are the Felix for their team.

And briefly, a word about data. These strange visual displays are based on last season’s shot data, weighted by made buckets — so rookies and season-long injuries are sadly excluded. This analysis is nothing without the help of Darryl Blackport, and the research materials available atBasketball-Reference and NBA.com. Further, these charts feature some of the best logo re-designs I could curate from the ol’ Information Superhighway, including Dribbble.com and Pinterest. I made none of the logos; I merely selected some of my favorites. Enjoy!

Freaks and Geeks

By Senthil Natarajan (@SENTH1S)

The consistency of the San Antonio Spurs cannot be overstated. No matter the circumstances or hurdles, they’re always right up there in the league rankings year after year. They are pacesetters for the NBA, continuously evolving. And this year is no different. With the greatest power forward of all time calling it a career, the Spurs moved quickly to bring in reinforcements with Pau Gasol and David Lee. However, this will be a Spurs offense that is markedly different from the bombs-away version seen in their last championship season.

To understand the gradual shift of the Spurs philosophy, we can start by looking to one of their hallmarks — ball movement. Across the past three years, San Antonio’s average time per touch (the average amount of time each player spends on the ball) has steadily increased, from 2.48 seconds to 2.52 to 2.64 this past season. As the league is embracing pace-and-space, the Spurs have decided to throw it back to pounding the ball inside the arc more instead.

Pau Gasol last season was 12th in the league among centers in shots taken after over two seconds touch time, and Kawhi Leonard was seventh in the league among forwards. Gasol ranked fifth among centers in shots taken after over six seconds touch time. For both Gasol and Aldridge, the Spurs projected starting forwards this coming season, over a third of their shot attempts came after at least two seconds on the ball. Not to mention, Gasol last season was fourth in the league in shots taken after more than three dribbles. Rather than a quick twitch passing game, the Spurs this year are going to be more content to dribble the ball down your throat meticulously and methodically — death by a blunt object rather than a thousand paper cuts.

The Spurs ranked 26th in the league in three-point attempts this past season with 18.5 shots attempted from beyond the arc, a precipitous dip from 22.5 the season prior, and 21.4 attempts the season before that. And given that they possess two of the game’s most prolific mid-range shooters in the game today, Gasol and Aldridge, that trend doesn’t look to be reversing course anytime soon. Gasol shot 45 percent on shots in the range between 10-feet from the rim to the three-point arc, whereas Aldridge shot almost 43 percent. Pushing them outside the arc takes them away from where they excel and are most comfortable.

The advantages of this philosophy of embracing big men and close-range skill rather than going small were made evident by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs last season. For the Spurs, though, there were numerous disadvantages as well (not to mention, Gasol is not in the same neighborhood as Steven Adams on defense). As the playoffs went on, with the level of defense elevated, the Spurs were unable to punish teams for keying in on Leonard and Aldridge, just relying on them to be singularly better than the opposition. The difference for the Thunder was that their twin towers inside also didn’t happen to be their best players and focal points on offense.

The challenge for the Spurs this season will be to create an offense that flows through and focuses on its big men, trying to revitalize and show the merits of a pounding inside-the-arc game that the league has largely passed by. As difficult a task as that may appear on the surface, by now we should all know never to bet against Gregg Popovich.

Everybody Loves Raymond

By Dan Favale (@danfavale)

Gregg Popovich easily has the most likable personality inside the San Antonio Spurs’ locker room, mostly because he’s the forefather of lovable I.D.G.A.F.s — that’s I Don’t Give a…well, you get the point. But he’s not a player, so in the interest of being literal, while also nodding to Kawhi Leonard’s complete and contrived lack of character, we have Emanuel David Ginobili.

It would have been a stretch to call Ginobili universally beloved a few years ago, or at the very least throughout the duration of his prime. That comes with success, which sires envy, which, in turn, spawns criticism. The Spurs have spent the entirety of his 14-year career routinely steamrolling the competition, and it no doubt made some rival fans uncomfortable/irate/jealous-sick that San Antonio had the luxury of bringing a future Hall of Famer, like Manu, off the bench.

On a more fundamental level, Ginobili was misunderstood for a large part of his NBA tenure. There were the flops, yes, but he was often painted as this questionable decision-maker best known for voodoo footwork and expediting the graying of Coach Pop’s hair — the closest thing to a longstanding misfit San Antonio’s dynastic core ever employed.

But, even at his most misunderstood, Ginobili’s play style, on offense, was fetching. That, believe it or not, is part of his likability. His body often maneuvers impossible angles, contorting into implausible shapes, without ever sacrificing flair or, for the most part, control — almost as if the Energizer Bunny and Gumby birthed a child, to whom they immediately, and permanently, attached a jetpack.

More recently, due to the rise of social media and the organic, emotional softening of San Antonio’s aging nucleus, Ginobili has added immeasurable character to a squad that, for years, seemed rigid, albeit effective, to the outside eye in its pursuit of championships.

One of the best examples of El Contusione’s distinct amiability came this past offseason, shortly after Tim Duncan retired. Ginobili sent him off, on Twitter, by thanking him for transiently curing his famed bald spot in a GIF. Ginobili is also the same guy who once pranked Duncan on the bench, in 2013, by putting empty Gatorade cup on his seat as he’s sitting down. Classic dad humor.

Now 39, the end of his career fast approaching, you have this innate sense that Ginobili will be one of those retired figures who leaves behind an anecdotal legacy. Teammates and opponents and coaches will recall some weird, quirky, boundary-busting story that makes you shake your head pleasantly, pangs of nostalgia washing over your face, uttering the common refrain, “Manu being Manu.”

In fact, this has already started on some level. The Spurs are caught in this weird space, between retooling and re-invention, and contention. They are still competing for a title, wholly committed to the present, but have become more reflective with each passing year, overtly aware of an expiring era. And now, with Timmy gone, Ginobili will start to get the sentimental treatment, becoming the subject of syrupy recitals that remind you the end is nigh, and that you wish it’ll never come.

Take this excerpt from Zach Lowe’s piece on Ginobili’s career, both abroad and stateside, for ESPN.com:

"During one pregame film session, Popovich showed a clip of Ginobili heaving a high-risk, fast-break pass out of bounds and told him never to try it again, players recall.The very next game, he got the ball in a similar situation, wound up for a pass, pulled the ball back and paused to grin at Popovich. The bench went nuts."

Seriously, how can we all not love this dude? Forget about any shots he may have drilled against your favorite team, any five-step travels he may have gotten away with, any flops that may have contributed to his mid-prime legacy.

Ginobili was, remains, and will forever be freaking fun.

Boy Meets World

By John Bauman (@bauman_john)

The San Antonio Spurs, for years, have been a team built on a core trio of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker. That core has worked well together, but with Duncan’s retirement and the coming declines of Parker and Ginobili due to age, the Spurs knew they were going to have to get younger to turn the page as a franchise and stay competitive.

The new big three, Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Danny Green, is a little more spry, but where the Spurs are really leaning towards their youth is on the bench. Jonathon Simmons has to be mentioned in this space, even though he’s already 27-years-old. A veteran of the D-League, Simmons burst onto the Spurs’ radar in the 2015 Summer League and won the Las Vegas Summer League Championship Game MVP award that summer.

The Spurs ended up playing him in 55 games last season, and Simmons brought the energy and defense when called upon. He shot 38.3 percent from deep and made over 50 percent of his field goals, which is probably close to his offensive ceiling as a wing player. The Spurs will keep calling his number, though, and Simmons will keep playing hard.

Dejounte Murray, the team’s 2016 first-round draft pick, is the young player on the roster with the highest ceiling. It helps that Murray is 6-5, long, and lanky but with know-how to use his length, especially on defense. He’s not polished and will be a project for maybe the best coaching staff in the league, but that’s what the team wanted when they signed up to take the rookie out of Washington.

The team’s 2014 first round draft pick, Kyle Anderson, is still developing at 23-years-old. When drafted, he was widely marked as Boris Diaw 2.0. In his third season, the Spurs could use exactly that now that Diaw has moved on to play for the Utah Jazz.

Anderson has gone through some ups and downs in his career so far, and he hasn’t found his role in the offense just yet. Without a long range shooting touch, with a career 31.3 percent 3-point percentage, Anderson sometimes just floats around in the middle of possessions, looking lost. These are growing pains, though, and the Spurs faithful believe the future is bright for Anderson.

They also have a couple of international players who will certainly turn into All-Stars, because it’s the Spurs. Livio Jean-Charles, who the team signed over the summer, was their 28th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. Jean-Charles played in ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne of the French Pro-A League. He may bounce back and forth between the big league club and their D-League team, along with Patricio Garino. The Argentine guard signed with the team as an undrafted free agent.

Zooming out, the Spurs are in a difficult position in the West this season with Golden State looming over everyone as the favorite. If the season starts to take a turn south, because of injuries or bad luck or decline, look for the Spurs to start to hand over more and more of the team to the big three of the future — Anderson, Simmons, and Murray.