I am always wary of giving the Spurs organization too much credit. You can be too clever and zag-while-they-zig and miss the point. The organization said “we are trying to win” before the season and did a lot of losing. “We were evaluating” is the on-going statement but let us (me and you) not forget that evaluation was supposed to come with some Ws. The ideal version of the output was some chasing-eighth scenario where the team figured out what pieces were competition-worthy and which could be discarded. I hate to credit the Mavericks (ugh) but Haralabos Voulgaris did a good job consulting on their various roster constructions to get a good squad around Luka Doncic when it was evident they had hit on their draft pick. They were soon competing.
Are the Spurs near that level? It certainly doesn’t look like it. The first-half experiment with Sochan-as-PG yielded a couple of things: He became more comfortable, and the Spurs figured they could, in fact, use a true, natural ball-handler.
Everything else? Well the defense ( outside of Wembanyama blocking shots ) is abysmal. Now, it is very difficult to build a good defense in the modern NBA where every franchise is putting up efficiency ratings that would be league-leading-record-setting in 2014.
Why 2014? Well that is when the Spurs last won a title. That season was under appreciated precisely because the Spurs had done so much winning since 1989. In true Spurs fashion the only time they went to back-to-back Finals they split. No back-to-backs but five championships. That perhaps, should prepare us for this generational talent addition. The Spurs have a guy whom everyone seemingly is crowning the next hall-of-famer and yet, we can’t simply expect that it will happen.
There is still work to do, and count me among those who aren’t too hyped about doing another lottery watch-party. The championship window isn’t a queue — that’s the beauty of winning. Right now we are still in the LeBron era, and yet also the Steph Curry window, and Giannis window, and a little bit of the crack of the Durant window. Oh, and Luka is out there with Kyrie. Oh and shoving their way into the room (with this window, I know I am stretching this analogy) is Shai GA.
Wembanyama is destined to be a problem for some teams — but that could top out at eliminating some good teams in the playoffs but not winning a title. I mean that is how I think of the OKC KD-Russ teams. They beat the 60+ win Spurs! They had the 70+ win Warriors down 3-1! They didn’t win a title.
Doncic had a nice little WCF run and people were hyped but then it quickly went to missing the playoffs. This stuff is hard.
I say all this not to say that the Spurs should have been in the playoffs this season, but I cannot help but feel like they expected to be farther along and aren’t. It is a little bit of a set-back on the road. It is slightly concerning, but something like adjusting a shot that is a little short vs missing wide left.