The San Antonio Spurs are struggling mightily this season, with a 7-14 record only slightly demonstrative of how poorly they have been on the defensive end. Longtime head coach Gregg Popovich, a five-time NBA champion with the southern Texas franchise, had a classic quip with a reporter on Tuesday before San Antonio's matchup with division rival Houston Rockets, claiming he didn't know his “best defensive lineup.”
The exchange was recorded by ESPN's Tim MacMahon:
.@mikefinger asks Pop if he’s tempted to just play his best defensive lineup, offense be damned.
Pop: “What’s my best defensive lineup?”
Finger: “I’m not a coach, so I don’t know.”
Pop: “I am a coach, and I don’t know.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 3, 2019
The Spurs are tied with the New Orleans Pelicans for the fourth-worst defensive rating at 113.4. While Popovich's team's offense is middle of the pack, their horrendous effort on defense has torpedoed their net rating, giving them the league's eighth-worst. This is a far cry from what Pop and company have been known for: elite defense through multiple iterations in the team's history the past two decades.
San Antonio ended their eight-game losing streak with a healthy dose that was playing the New York Knicks last week. However, since that game, the Spurs have gone 1-3—their only win coming in an upset over the Los Angeles Clippers (in a game against former Spurs 2014 Final MVP Kawhi Leonard).
Pop and the Spurs still have time to fix their defense, but all signs point to the problem being an overwhelming one, with simply the wrong cast of players on the roster preventing San Antonio from being truly competitive this year.
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