In this very hot off-season, after the second consecutive season out of the playoffs, even to the San antonio spurs it was finally decided, after 24 years of success and memorable games, to start one new and decisive phase for the future of the deductible. In the summer, all the big names said goodbye, including the last veteran of the historic ring of 2014; we are of course talking about Patty Mills, who, after a splendid Olympics, to try to win the ring again, got married in New York on the shore Brooklyn. The free agency also brought LaMarcus Aldridge to the Nets, while Rudy Gay e DeMar DeRozan they chose Utah and Chicago respectively as new stages in their careers, effectively marking the end of a historic cycle.
It is chosen to restart from two certainties such as Dejounte murray and Keldon Johnson, who have become the two main faces of a young and bubbly franchise. The first, now close to becoming All-Star, took the reins of the team, becoming the main protagonist in the implementation phase, as evidenced by the triple-double scored against the Lakers. He is traveling further 18 points, 8 rebounds and 7.5 assists on average per game and seems to have hired him this season same role that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has in that of OKC, becoming the driving force behind the franchise. To support him a skilled shoulder like Keldon Johnson that, despite its considerable ups and downs, this year will carve out more space on the field and will have the possibility of definitive consecration. While still very immature when it comes to shooting percentages, Johnson is having a big impact on the team’s hierarchies. Revitalizing in this sense was also the victory of the gold medal at the recent Olympic Games with the stars and stripes national team.
Youth chapter: excluding the two we have just talked about, let’s try to go back a few months. Since the recent draft we have seen the usual risky choice very Spurs-style. That Joshua Primo it represents an interesting future prospect there is no doubt; however select as the twelfth absolute choice, in full area lottery, a player of either 19 years, which many gave even on the second round and above all who still appears very little aware of what it means to play in the NBA is really a great risk. Primo was born on December 24, 2002 (even smaller than a few months than myself!) and is a player of the 2022 draft that the Spurs have decided to test with a year in advance. However, it must be said that, despite the young age, the Canadian he became the protagonist of an excellent season ad Alabama, showing great skills in both shooting and iron and an out-of-the-ordinary aggression for an eighteen-year-old. He still has everything to prove, and only in a few years will we be able to tell if San Antonio was right or not.
Still as regards the guards department, the overwhelming rise of two players who, coming off the bench, are showing all their quality and giving remarkable statistics is surprising.
Devin Vassell poster, directly on the cleaning guy ????#GoSpursGo#NbaTipopic.twitter.com/sQN6NquQ7I
– Marco A. Munno (@MarcoAMunno) November 19, 2021
Beyond the funny last curtain, Devin Vassell he made a truly spectacular basket, managing to dodge the obstacle and go up to the iron to crush, after having recovered a ball. The twenty-one, Florida State product, is traveling to 12.5 average points per game, with excellent shooting percentages both from mid-range (62.5%) and from the arc (45.8%). He never lacked there trust from coach Pop since last season as a rookie, which is very rare indeed. In fact, the last very young man to enjoy such confidence was a certain Kawhi Leonard, who at the age of 23 dragged the Spurs to the victory of the title, winning the coveted MVP of the Finals. If we put together the Leonard and Vassell statistics after the first 12 games of the respective second NBA seasons, we note that the numbers are very similar, especially when it comes to points and steals per game. We can consider it a real one steal of last year’s draft, proving to be able to get by almost everywhere, and to be an intelligent player with outstanding skills, Mostly in defence.
Lonnie Walker IV instead, after 3 seasons of ups and downs and the failure to propose renewal on the part of the team, he is more motivated than ever to make the management change their minds and is off to a great start, this being a crucial year for the continuation of his career. In the summer he trained a lot, especially as regards the ability to create space from the dribble, but he showed remarkable improvements also in defensive side. While still showing different limits to shooting, the direction taken by Walker seems to be the right one and, after having now firmly entered the rotations of coach Pop, he is proving to be a solid and effective player, making plays built in pick and roll, as we see in the video, his main gift. Who knows that the Texan franchise cannot change its mind about him, who in a recent interview declared San Antonio his home and wants to stay longer.
Finally it is worth mentioning in my opinion two experienced players like Doug McDermott e Thaddeus Young, inserted mainly to give a landmark to the many young people and to guarantee solidity and balance to the team. The former, one of the league’s best long-range shooters, fits perfectly into Coach Pop’s dynamic playing style, based on the continuous use of spacing and the equally frequent use of mid-range shooting. The second, on the other hand, who at the beginning of the season seemed to be destined to end up in some trades, is finding a lot of space from the bench in the last few games, and reporting excellent performances is proving to be very effective both in the realization phase and in rebounding.
While having the fourth worst record in the NBA, in my opinion the Spurs are proving to have already made remarkable places bases for the future. They are way ahead of other refounding teams like Houston, Detroit and Orlando, and soon they will already be able to return to remarkable levels. Gregg Popovich, who will probably leave the franchise in 2 or 3 years at the most, as assumed at the beginning of the season, says he is very confident and happy with his parents’ game.
“My kids are slowly growing and improving with time“, He declared at the end of the recent defeat against the Clippers. “Of course I’m not happy to lose, but when your team works hard and wants to learn so fast, you always have to compliment them. Now we need to improve even more and make even fewer mistakes“.
Also for Popovich it opens up in a way a new adventure. After 23 winning seasons and having been almost always at the top, coach Pop finds himself dealing with one young team, which has just begun to rebuild. For a man who launched players like Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard into the Olympus of basketball and who has won all that was possible, this challenge appears fascinating and intriguing at the same time. But with his charisma, his basketball still a bit old-fashioned and all the challenges he has had to face in the course of his career, I am sure that he will also emerge victorious from this last obstacle and will leave, to those who will one day replace him on that burning bench, a team ready to return permanently to the top.
