3 players who could break into Spurs starting lineup
The San Antonio Spurs will be must-watch television next season. Gregg Popovich’s starting five appears to be set for now, but these three players could disrupt the Hall of Fame coach’s plans.
The San Antonio Spurs won the lottery to end all lotteries and selected Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 overall pick in June’s NBA Draft. Now, the front office and coaching staff will focus on building the roster around Wemby. He joins Tim Duncan and David Robinson in a long line of high-profile bigs in San Antonio. If the 7-foot-4 Frenchman ends up half as successful as his predecessors, the Spurs will be in a good place.
Of course, expectations for the team will balloon exponentially with Wembanyama’s arrival. He has been pitched as the greatest prospect in NBA history. The expectation is that he contributes from day one. With that comes an expectation of winning games, which means there is pressure on Wembanyama’s teammates as well as head coach Gregg Popovich.
Popovich won’t let pressure get to him at this point. He signed a five-year extension and there’s simply no chance the Spurs ever consider firing him. He’s playing with house money. That said, one has to imagine Pop would like to win as many games as possible before his inevitable retirement. The Spurs will be patient with Wembanyama, but there’s enough talent on the team to make noise in the immediate future.
The Spurs will presumably start the season with a starting lineup of Tre Jones, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Victor Wembanyama, and Zach Collins. There is some uncertainty over Collins’ inclusion next to Wemby — Pop said Collins was “the guy” at the five, but that was before the Spurs landed the No. 1 pick — but the expectation is that Wemby, who is listed as a forward on the team’s official website, will begin his career next to another big.
That being said, the Spurs are a young team and Wemby’s position in the frontcourt is extremely flexible. He’s best suited to the five spot on defense and if the Spurs eventually decide to embrace Wembanyama at the team’s true defense anchor, here are a few candidates to replace Collins in the starting lineup.
No. 3 player who could break into Spurs starting lineup: Cedi Osman
The Spurs snuck into the Max Strus sign-and-trade between Cleveland and Miami to siphon away Cedi Osman, who played a considerable role on the wing for the No. 4 seed Cavs last season. Osman was more or less rendered ineffective in the playoffs, but he’s a quality vet who spent two years as a full-time starter in Cleveland from 2018-20.
Now 28 years old, Osman will venture beyond the Midwest for the first time in his NBA career. The Spurs will assuredly have a prominent role in the rotation for Osman, who can pop in a big way offensively. His talent for off-ball movement should mesh well with Popovich and the Spurs’ system, plus he’s coming off one of his best 3-point shooting seasons to date (37.2 percent on 4.1 attempts per game). Osman is also comfortable attacking off the catch and scoring with various moves around the rim.
At 6-foot-7, Osman has positional size and the flexibility to guard a couple of different positions. He’s a bit rigid on defense and he became a significant liability for Cleveland in the playoffs, but Osman competes with intensity and he’s a nuisance in passing lanes. The Spurs will have the ability to station him on weaker opponents while Vassell, Johnson, and others handle high-priority matchups. The Cavs’ perimeter defense as a whole lacked quality options. There’s also the Wembanyama factor. His 8-foot wingspan will cover for a lot of mistakes made by Osman and others on the perimeter.