San Antonio Spurs: To be contenders again, big changes are needed

After losing to the Nuggets in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, the San Antonio Spurs should consider making drastic changes to their roster moving forward

Despite their veteran experience, the San Antonio Spurs fell short in their first-round NBA playoff series against the much more talented Denver Nuggets team.

Throughout the series, the Spurs struggled to score. It was clear in the end that the Nuggets had more talented offensive players and better defenders than the Spurs. However, more importantly, Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic played well for the Denver Nuggets. DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge did not for the Spurs.

The Spurs have plagued the Western Conference since 1987 when they drafted David Robinson. Despite their success over the last few decades, the Spurs have arguably the least amount of talent in the Western Conference and have few young players.

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Last season, the Spurs lost Kawhi Leonard.

Kawhi Leonard was the perfect heir apparent to Tim Duncan and David Robinson. He is a smart two-way player that plays better when the moment is bigger. Kawhi also appeared to be low maintenance and all about winning.

If Kawhi had still been on the Spurs, there’s no question that San Antonio would still be playing meaningful basketball. Kenny Smith, assessing San Antonio’s Game 7 loss, noted how the Spurs, in the past, would generally rise to such occasions.

[via TNT]

"It wasn’t a typical San Antonio performance that we would expect…usually when you watch the San Antonio Spurs, you go Big Moments, they have Big moments. You say in big moments, there best players, play their best. In Big moments, clock management is never an issue.…Yes, it was a seven seed playing a two and you go to a seven game series. This again was an inexperienced team and that is why you can get them to seven. I just did not see the same type of influence [shaq] that you see San Antinion teams typically have played with throughout playoff history."

DeMar DeRozan is not Kawhi Leonard. Which is why it’s probably better in the long run for the Spurs to consider trading DeRozan this offseason in exchange for younger players and/or draft picks. This would enable the Spurs to start their rebuild sooner rather than later, which needs to happen. With DeRozan and Aldridge, the Spurs are good enough to make it into the playoffs. However, it’s no longer good enough to advance beyond the first round.

The Spurs are great at drafting and developing talent. San Antonio would do better in the future by selecting higher in the draft the next few seasons, developing new draft picks, and building a team around them.

Despite selecting low in the second and first round for the past 20 years, the Spurs have able to draft Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Goran Dragic, George Hill, Kyle Anderson, and Derick White.

San Antonio could even keep Rudy Gay around next season, who was the best player for the team in Game 7. Gay scored 21 points and prevented the Spurs from getting blown out in the first half. He needs to stick around, at the right price.

After their performance in the playoffs, the Spurs may not re-sign Quincy Pondexter and Dante Cunningham. These players offered little in terms of production for the Spurs in the playoffs. Letting those two players walk could open roster spots for the team to consider other players, and perhaps a legitimate center.

Denver made a lot of mistakes in this series that they did not make during the regular season. Had the Nuggets been more experienced, the series could have easily been over in five games. What fans witnessed was not San Antonio Spurs basketball.

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The Spurs can be a contender in the Western Conference again. However, it may take years for this to happen. But if they make the proper moves this summer, it may take longer.

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