The Courtside Couch
Young players keep the San Antonio Spurs winning
At some point, we’re going to have to think of this as "unexpected," wont we? While NBA pundits and fans alike have been touting the decline of the Dynasty Spurs for what's felt like ages, it’s been just as frequently observed that San Antonio can be counted on every year to be a really good regular-season team.
Of course, that fact has usually been premised on the assumption that the aging bodies of key players like Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili tend to start a season healthy, only to deplete as months of wear and tear take their toll. So how is it that this year, with Ginobili sidelined since the sixth game of the season and a healthy Duncan producing at the statistical ebb of his career, the Spurs have still managed to win nearly 60% of their games?
The answer lies in a rotation of young, talented players who have augmented the Spurs’ traditional core and integrated seamlessly into coach Greg Popovich’s system on both ends of the floor. Rather simply dropping individuals into the depth chart to replace the missed efforts of San Antonio’s waning core pieces, Popovich has spread the load across as many capable bodies as possible, both on the wing and in the paint.
Rather simply dropping individuals into the depth chart to replace the missed efforts of San Antonio’s waning core pieces, Popovich has spread the load across as many capable bodies as possible, both on the wing and in the paint.
With Manu Ginboli having missed more than three weeks of play (and expected to sit out for at least three more), there should be an All-Star-shaped hole in the Spurs perimeter play. But Coach Pop has found the perfect rotation of players to solve any problem that opponents have thrown at them thus far.
Shifting Richard Jefferson between starts at shooting guard and small forward has opened up extended playing time for second-year player Gary Neal (20.3 minutes per game in January) and rookie Kawhi Leonard (25.8 minutes per), and each has brought something incredibly valuable to the Spurs.
Both have play exceptionally high-caliber defense, and between the two of them they can be called upon to guard up to four different positions in a given game, providing the sort of flexibility and depth that makes or breaks contenders.
And then there’s the Swiss Army knife of big men who have played an ever-growing role in the twilight years of the great Tim Duncan. Floor-stretching forward Matt Bonner continues to draw defenses away from the basket with his long-range shooting, which is helping to create the space for new players to make an impact on the Spurs. Players like DeJuan Blair, the third-year forward/center who lead the Spurs last season in total rebounding percentage, and Tiago Splitter, who in January poured in nearly 10 points a game for San Antonio on a very efficient 64.4% shooting from the field.
Together, Blair and Splitter have boasted the best Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of any non-starting players in San Antonio, and bolstered the Spurs frontcourt play by taking some of the pressure off of Duncan on a nightly basis.
Of course, no matter how high a seed these Spurs ultimately achieve, it will all be for naught if they are drummed out of the 2012 playoffs as quickly as they have been in recent years. The Spurs haven’t so much as sniffed the western conference finals since 2008, and last spring they looked completely drained by the time they were upset in the first round in just six games by a hungry Memphis Grizzlies squad.
But this not the same old San Antonio team as then. As the members of the bench brigade continue to step up their collective game, the Spurs are beginning more and more to exhibit the kind of grit, toughness, team cohesion that has traditionally made teams like the Portland Trailblazers such trendy picks come the postseason.
Until then, the Spurs are on pace for another solid regular season. After that, will things be any different? It’s impossible to say, and in the end, it will definitely still come down to Manu’s healthy hands or Timmy’s aching back.
But if the stars align and we see one more (seemingly) improbably San Antonio title this year, it will be because the changing faces of the franchise prove that they can come up big when it matters most too.
