The San Antonio Spurs are one of the most storied franchises in recent memory. Their constant level of success with coach Gregg Popovich and with the trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili is something that is almost impossible to replicate.
However, ever since the core retired, the Texan franchise never fully recovered. While there is still quality on this roster, it is nowhere near the level it was on before.
Regardless of that, the Spurs are looking forward to next season as potential to sneak into contention for the postseason. A roster headlined by guard Dejounte Murray, even with the loss of All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan to free agency in the summer, is brimming with potential and young guns ready to prove doubters wrong. It will be incredibly difficult in the strong Western Conference, but that does not mean that these guys will give up at the get-go.
Spurs X-Factor For Next Season
Murray will be tasked to lead this generation into postseason success, but he cannot do it alone. While the young guard is a quality player, he will need a lot of help from his teammates. The Spurs front office brought back guard Bryn Forbes, who comes with championship experience from the Milwaukee Bucks, and they added Zach Collins and veteran Thaddeus Young to help with the frontcourt rotation.
However, even though these players will be valued contributors, the true X-Factor will be either Keldon Johnson or Lonnie Walker Jr.
Johnson, the former 29th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, used his increased role to the maximum last season. After only seeing action in 17 contests in his rookie season, he started 67 out of 69 games last year, with amazing results. He increased his involvement in the Spurs play and clearly answered well to Popovich seeking more responsibility from him. The former Kentucky player topped off his career year with a gold medal in Tokyo with the US National Team, which will provide him more motivation to improve going forward.
Now, it is time to capitalize on a great year and an even better summer. With the clear support of Popovich, who clearly thinks the world of his youngster, Johnson can take major strides in becoming an even better player and a more influential contributor for the Spurs.
Major areas of improvement should be shot efficiency and more impact on the defensive end. He ended the year shooting 47.9% from the field and 33.1% from three, both of which can be improved upon in a major way.
He has had stretches where his three-point shot was falling at a 40% clip and if he can keep that up, with more than 2.8 attempts he took on average last year, he could be a wing asset teams would drool for. Also, what could help massively, but is outside of his control, is that he returns to his natural position.
Johnson is naturally a small forward, but he was routinely asked to play the power forward position, where some of his flaws were more obvious, and more importantly, some of his strengths were not used correctly or were overlooked in a sense.
If Popovich can put his trust in Johnson again, there is no doubt the young man will show him why he should be the starting wing for the Spurs. It is clear that he is putting in the work necessary to improve and if his time on the court is not reduced, Johnson could be the X-Factor the Spurs need.
On the other hand, Lonnie Walker is a different story. While Johnson burst on the scene seemingly out of the blue, Walker always had tremendous potential that was truly untapped in the 60 games he played last year. As a shooting guard, his minutes were largely limited by the presence of DeRozan, but now that the veteran is gone, Walker has an opportunity to earn a starting spot, next to Murray.
He will need to make some major improvements to his game to fully contribute to the squad. For an athletic guard, he is a poor finisher around the rim and, unfortunately for him, not a great shooter from behind the arc. Should he improve on finishing around the basket and should he add a reliable three-point shot on multiple attempts, the defenses he faces will need to both cover him beyond the perimeter and watch out for his drives to the basket.
Also, Murray-Walker backcourt would be a nightmare to deal with. Both athletic guards, the opposing defenders will have a hard time keeping these players in front of them. Should their development go in the right direction, the Spurs might be contending for the top of the Western Conference faster than anyone expected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FNwuP4CeZo
The roster went through many changes this summer. DeRozan and forward Rudy Gay left and there are some new faces, like the aforementioned Collings and Young, and rookie Joshua Primo. Additionally, players like Jakob Poetl, Luka Šamanić, and Derrick White will be asked to contribute more. If it all goes well together, the Spurs might sneak into the postseason and then anything can happen, especially with Popovich leading the troops into the series.
Realistically, however, the Spurs will look to further develop their young guys in this season. Hopefully for the Spurs faithful, the players mentioned as possible X-Factors and other guys mentioned above will do their part and the five-time champions will be back in the Playoffs, where they rightfully belong.
One thing is for sure – Spurs will make it difficult to anyone coming into the AT&T Center looking for a victory.
Follow Us
Subscribe