NBA: 3 February takeaways and 3 March predictions

NBA February Takeaway: The San Antonio Spurs are the best team that no one is watching

A team that started the season as one that I wasn’t expecting to watch has slowly grown on me and is now appointment television. I even found myself missing them during their recent pause due to health and safety protocols, which is a sentence I never thought I’d say – for multiple reasons.

No team in the NBA achieves above the sum of their parts more than the Spurs do. They’re currently perched as the 5th seed in a stacked Western Conference despite not having an All-Star, and until DeMar DeRozan’s recent 32 point outburst against New Orleans, the Spurs didn’t even have a player averaging 20 points per game on their roster.

Their success is the result of a collective effort from non-superstars who know their roles and execute them at a high level. They have Dejounte Murray harassing opposing guards on defense with his length and athleticism as well as anyone this side of Ben Simmons. They have Jakob Poeltl leading the NBA in defensive field goal percentage. They have DeMar DeRozan having one of the most efficient seasons of his career and shattering his career-best in assist percentage. I could go all the way down the roster with this group but you get the point.

And what’s exciting about the Spurs is that there is reason to believe the best is yet to come now that Derrick White is back from his toe injury – his value to their team can’t be overstated. White has only played eight games so far, but San Antonio has won the last five games he’s played and the advanced stats support his value.

Per NBA.com, the Spurs’ four best 3-man and 4-man lineups all include White, as well as their top two 2-man lineups. All of this while White has really struggled to shoot the ball since his return, showing the kind of winning value he brings even when his shots aren’t falling. If he can get those shooting splits up around his career averages, watch out.