Major NBA Offseason Question Gregg Popovich's Spurs Still Face
The San Antonio Spurs have put together an eventful offseason, even if it will feature them racking up losses during the upcoming season.
Atop the list of noteworthy transactions from the Spurs is the trade to send All-Star guard Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks. The haul in exchange featured future draft capital and salary filler — positioning them for a rebuild.
Recently, NBA Analysis Network posed one major late-offseason question that each NBA team still faces. For the Spurs, the top question: "Are we tanking hard enough?"
The Spurs made their intentions clear this summer. In trading Dejounte Murray for three first-round picks, they’ve made it obvious that they’re not looking for wins in 2022-23.
Still, some quality veterans remain on this squad. If the Spurs really want to maximize their draft odds, they should look to move Jakob Poeltl, Josh Richardson and Doug McDermott this summer.
Losing what Murray brought to the table without making a meaningful replacement should make the Spurs substantially worse. There is a real chance their top offensive options go through 'growing pains' throughout the season.
All three of the Spurs' most frequent pick-and-roll ball handling options from last season are gone, which includes Murray (41.2 percent), Derrick White (13.1 percent), and Lonnie Walker (12.3 percent). The next most frequently relied upon option was Keldon Johnson (8.6 percent).
The Spurs already ranked last in isolation frequency, with just 3.7 percent of their possessions coming from those plays. With the departures of Murray (50.1 percent), Walker (13.1 percent), and White (5.0 percent), San Antonio is losing a combined 68.2 percent of their sources of isolation.
There will be a need for players like Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and Joshua Primo to do things they aren't accustomed to doing at a much greater frequency. Given the uncertain nature of how that translates, many possible outcomes exist.
Gaining a versatile defender like Jeremy Sochan should help the Spurs' efforts on that end, but no longer having Murray or White will undoubtedly hurt their point of attack capabilities. One key will be Vassell, who has significant defensive potential and will be relied on to showcase it.
There is a possibility that plenty of Spurs rookies end up seeing playing time. With any first-year player, there will be an adjustment period to the NBA level. As a result, their rotation has a lot of potential for 'growing pains' and with that comes losing basketball games.
Based on how competitive the bottom of the NBA has become with teams like the Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic loading up on recent draft prospects, the Spurs are already well positioned to sink to the bottom. However, trading away a player like Poeltl, who anchors the defense, would undoubtedly accelerate the plummet.
If the Spurs are intent on maximizing their positioning for the 2023 NBA Draft, it's worth considering moving Poeltl since he's crucial to their defense. Keeping Josh Richardson or Doug McDermott likely doesn't impact whether they win or lose games. However, moving on from them doesn't hurt their efforts of "Vying for Victor Wembanyama."
You can follow Grant Afseth on Twitter at @GrantAfseth.
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