NBA: Spurs-Offseason: The beginning of a new era

With the departure of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, an era ends for the San Antonio Spurs. Instead of Kawhi Leonard, DeMar DeRozan is now to shape the future of the franchise – together with a trio of young talents.

A real hit at the start of the offseason, something the Spurs have never felt like in the recent past. But after it became clear that the relationship between Kawhi Leonard and the franchise could no longer be repaired, action had to be taken – and by mid-July the drama was finally over.

The Spurs set up a trade with the Toronto Raptors, which shipped Leonard to Canada with Danny Green. In return, Spurs DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Pöltl and a top 20 protected 2019 first-round pick.

Afterwards it became a bit calmer in the usual Spurs manner. The Texans extended the contracts of Rudy Gay (1 year/10 million dollars), Davis Bertans (2 years/14.5 million) and Bryn Forbes (2 years/6 million) and brought Marco Belinelli back to the Alamo for two years and 12 million dollars.

In the person of Dante Cunningham (1 year/2.5 million) and Quincy Pondexter (1 year/2.2 million), San Antonio hired two additional veterans to ensure depth in the squad. The rookies Lonnie Walker IV (18th pick) and Chimezie Metu (46th pick) will slightly lower the average age.

The Spurs fans also had to endure the tearful farewells of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. The latter ended his career, while Parker will run for Charlotte Hornets (2 years/10 million). In addition, Restricted Free Agent Kyle Anderson signed a four-year contract in Memphis for 37.2 million dollars, which the Spurs did not match.

With the end of Ginobili’s career and Parker’s departure, the era of Tim Duncan’s legendary Big Three is finally history. Originally a seamless transition was planned for this case, the keys to the franchise were to be passed on to Leonard so that the claw could lead the Spurs into a new era of success.

That didn’t work out for obvious reasons. Instead, those responsible in San Antonio had to master a difficult tightrope walk in the summer.

A complete rebuid was out of the question, the Spurs made this clear early on in talks about a possible Kawhi trade. Rather, the team is to remain competitive in both the short and long term and keep the impressive series of 21 playoffs in succession alive for as long as possible.

The deal with the Raptors lays a solid foundation for just that. With Pöltl one could secure a promising talent for the future. At the same time DeRozan makes the team definitely better compared to the pre-season and personifies the urgently needed second star after LaMarcus Aldridge.

In addition, DeRozan will remain with the team for at least the next two years, when he earns around $27.8 million per season. In 2020, the 29-year-old can draw a player option for another year. Until then, the Spurs are pretty limited in terms of salary cap.

27.5 years! This is the average age of the 15-man squad that San Antonio are expected to have in the coming season. This puts the Texans at the back of the Association’s ranks in this respect. Not necessarily the best conditions.

The biggest limitations of the squad are accordingly in terms of athletics. An average offense in the pre-season (off rating of 105.5, so 17th place in the NBA) will not necessarily help.

Speaking of offense. Missing all firepower from downtown in 2017-18. Only 35.2 percent of all attempts beyond the triad found their way through the Reuse, the fifth worst value in the league.

DeRozan is not necessarily the ideal solution to this problem, he could only increase the spacing problem with his midrange game, especially since Green and Ginobili were among the most important spur shooters for years. Here San Antonio hopes for the veterans around Belinelli or Bertans.

The Spurs’ hope rests on a trio of young talents. In his second season, Dejounte Murray made steady improvements, took over the job as Starting Point Guard and was even elected to the third All-Defensive team. Pöltl will take a similar step in 2018/19 and may even develop into a star in the Spurs system at some point.

And then there’s Walker. The 19-year-old has already been described by many experts as the steal of the drag. He should offer the Spurs a new scoring option in the long run with his athleticism and the ability to create his own litter. However, he will still need time in his rookie season.

The first round pick will certainly get it. The focus of the offense is without question on DeRozan and Aldridge. This tandem will be the clear number one in the team of Coach Pop, after all, the short-term success of the franchise also depends on the two stars.

The delicate situation around Kawhi has been solved by the Spurs according to the circumstances and brought out the best for themselves. With DeRozan, San Antonio will remain relevant in the difficult West in 2018/19, with the newly hired or retained veterans providing a deep squad – even if some question marks could not be eliminated.

At the same time, the Texans didn’t just carelessly throw away their own future, but continued to invest in it as a bonus of the Leonard deal. So the front office of the Spurs has had a quite successful summer, considering what a difficult situation Kawhi put them in. Now it’s up to DeRozan and Aldridge to emboss a new era in tracking.

The grade: 2