As a kid, it was hard for me to get into basketball — ostensibly a “winter” sport — until football season was done. It felt weird to watch dudes play in shorts and tank tops when I had been living and dying watching the Cowboys battle the NFC East in full regalia — eight-thousand lbs of padding and protection. I could not get into it.
If you are still like that, you probably are not as excited about the NBA season. I am in the midst of caring about college football and especially North Texas football (even though we are bad right now) but I can feel the stirrings as the training camp gets underway.
These Spurs, like most NBAers, live and breathe hoops all year long so this is merely the time to get a little more serious. Last we left this team, there were offseason moves to make. DeMar DeRozan will be in Chicago, and the Spurs signed some shooters and vets to support the evolution of the Young Guys. Keldon Johnson, Josh Primo, Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, and Devin Vassell are the dudes now.
This, according to Pop, was by design.
“This was purposeful, what you are seeing,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “It was put together with a lot of foresight and a lot of discussion.”
I believe it. I think it is up to some interpretation just how much was designed. Are we talking Watchman-esque Ozymandias-level planning? Or a little more general, “we will see where DeMar+Aldridge take us and then turn it over to the young guys if that is not very far”.
It is something in-between. The Spurs, for example, knew when it was time to bench Stephen Jackson and start Kawhi Leonard, even if he disagreed. The braintrust can tell when the have something working and when it is time for the future. I’ve been watching this program since about 1995 and I have a solid feeling about it.
Are they enough to compete for a title? No. We can answer that outright and straight up. The path to building a title-contender is not as easy as Twitter, or your average analytics-obsessed blogger would have you believe. The Spurs have built a reputation of being a professional organization that values the humans that play and build the team. That is how they can compete. Casting aside dudes cruelly and coldly how you build up bad blood with agents and players. You can overcome that, but it adds risk.
That they stuck with DDR and LMA was criticized but it made sense in that it was part of the brand. They were not going to jump ahead to the next stage if the major players in the next stage were not ready. There was a lot of value in playing behind DeMar, LaMarcus, Patty Mills and Rudy Gay. The Spurs’ young guys got that education, and now get to put it to use.
So, yes, the open question is What Do They Do Now? The answer is the same as it has always been: compete.
Links
True Hoop (and others) think the Spurs have a lot of ability to make a move for someone, probably Ben Simmons.
TH also had a podcast where they discussed Josh Primo, and his unique ability.
Marc Stein on the new Wilson basketballs. For my money, the Wilson Evolution ones are the best ones to play with and the prices are climbing now that they have the NBA deal.