Will the Spurs make the playoffs?
That can be perceived as a very odd question, as long as the Spurs franchise hasn’t miss playoffs since 1997, and that’s a looong way back. This year, though, they are going thorugh some changes, and suffered a lot since the departure of their former star player, Kawhi Leonard, because the intensity in defense is simply not at the same level as it was anymore, their defensive rating being at 112,2, currently the 24th in the league. The last few games weren’t looking too good also, as they went 1-7 in that “rodeo road trip”, losing with teams such as Brooklyn, Toronto, Utah, Portland, Sacramento, even the Knicks, who everybody knows that they’re trying hardly to actually lose, beat them, and that was the big question mark. Of course, we know that they are not a very good road team, but you can’t afford to lose against a tanking team while you’re battling for a playoff spot. San Antonio has now won only 11 games on the road, while losing 22, but their advantage is clearly the fact that they are a strong team at home, with a 23-7 record. They are on the 7th seed for now, tied with the Clippers at 8, but the battle is very tight, as the Kings, Lakers and Wolves all being up for the challenge, with only one, two or three loses away from a playoff berth. Another thing that can be brought in their advantage is the fact that they already won 3 games against the Wolves and the Lakers, they are tied 2-2 with the Clippers, only the Kings have them, so if it will be decided by tie breakers at the end of the regular season, which is very likely to happen given their records, they have a slight advantage over those two which are on the 9th and the 10th place.
The schedule coming into the month of March is not quite their ally, as they will face team such as Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver, Milwaukee, Portland, Golden State, Miami, Sacramento; all these being played at home, which helps them a lot. The away games are against Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Boston and Charlotte, so given these facts, they will end the season with 44-45 wins, maybe. Gregg Popovich also stated in a interview after the loss to the Knicks that their lack of defense is what’s killing them at the moment and he had a sense of urgency for his players in his speech. It seems that after Tim Duncan retired and Kawhi chose to leave, while Tony Parker had to be gone if he still wanted some good playing minutes, the San Antonio Spurs rebuilding process will take some time, because even if they got DeMar DeRozan in that trade with Leonard, he doesn’t seem to feel much comfortable in that system, even though he has 21,8 PPG, 6,2 RPG and 6,1 APG until now. LaMarcus Aldridge also took a little step back compared to his last seasons, having 20,8 PPG and 8,8 RPG. Rumors were going throughout the league before the trade deadline that he express his willingness to join another team, some said that Portland could be his desired landing spot, but nothing happened.
The young players that Popovich is trying to develop and fit into his system need some time in order to do that, and except Rudy Gay, Pau Gasol (who also wanted to be traded), DeMar DeRozan, Marco Belinelli, Aldridge and Patty Mills, their team is full of young and unheard of players, so the coaching staff must have some kind of patience regardless of their final spot. Given Gregg Popovich’s experience, their chances to get to the playoffs are high, but it will be a short playoff run, unfortunately for them, if they manage to get to it.
