Post-Mortem: 2021-22 San Antonio Spurs

[ElectricMayhem]

The spurs way used to mean championships every other season. These days it means an annual struggle to make the play-in game. We shall now cut them open and see what's inside...

Here is the data from last year's Post-Mortems:
Post-Mortem Results I: GM Confidence Meter
Post-Mortem Results II: Coaching Confidence Meter
Post-Mortem Results III: Performance Compared to Expectations
Post-Mortem Results IV: Rising/Treadmill/Waning

Team Name: San Antonio Spurs
Record at Time of Death: 34-48 (.415)
GM: Brian Wright (2019-)
Coach: Gregg Popovich (1996-)

Offensive Rating: 17th
Defensive Rating: 16th
Rebound %: 18th
Turnover %: 2nd

GM: Change or keep?
Coach: Change or keep?
Relative to expectations, how did they fare this year?
Rising, falling, or treadmill?
If you were in charge, what would you do this offseason?

Notes:
Players under contract next year:
Dejounte Murray ($17m)
Doug McDermott ($14m)
Josh Richardson ($12m)
Jakob Poeltl ($9m)
Zach Collins ($7m)
Romeo Langford ($6m)
Devin Vassell ($4m)
Joshua Primo ($4m)
Keldon Johnson ($4m)
Keita Bates-Diop ($2m) (Partially Guaranteed)
Tre Jones ($2m) (Partially Guaranteed)
Jock Landale ($2m) (Partially Guaranteed)

Team Options:

Player Options:

Free Agents:
Lonnie Walker IV
Devontae Cacock
Joe Wieskamp
D.J. Stewart Jr.
Robert Woodard II

Dead Money:

Previous Post-Mortems:
30. Orlando Magic
29. Detroit Pistons
28. Houston Rockets
27. Indiana Pacers
26. Oklahoma City Thunder
25. Washington Wizards
24. New York Knicks
23. Portland Trailblazers
22. Sacramento Kings
21. Los Angeles Lakers
20. Charlotte Hornets
19. San Antonio Spurs

[ElectricMayhem]

Oops, I was early with this one. Guess I'm rooting for New Orleans to hold on to their lead.

[Asian Celtic]

Rising team, gonna be in the playoffs in 2 years, might be contending in 3 or so years. No changes to FO if pop continues.

[Sofia]

I feel like the overachieved this season with some of the names playing big minutes for them, but look forward to their development

[JeffReal]

I don’t see Lonnie Walker IV on the list. He’ll be a restricted free agent, I believe.

[God Squad]

They need to just continue to add pieces to the roster and build what they have established.

Growth from within

[metalinguss]

Treadmill team if they don't trade for/draft another star. Dejounte's good but he ain't it.

Of course it goes without saying. Keep Pop until he calls it a career.

[TroubleS0me]

Spurs were an average team @ best led by Murray
who(Murray)played both sides of the floor

The Spurs were 1 of the best AST/TO ratio team in the NBA

[timO]

They are in a hole, they are bad but dont tank, so they depend on the lottery to improve.

They have cap for a max i think, but i dont see any FA going there, RFA maybe, Ayton-Miles-Sexton-Anfernee not a good class to overpay.

[Phreak50]

Such a myth about Murray's defense.

Playing passing lanes to lead the league in steals isn't good defense.

We got torched by every half decent guard, game in, game out.

If we want to compete now we need to find a way to get Gobert.

If we want to plan for the future we need to move Murray now as his value will never be higher.

[Madhouse]

Treadmill.

I would blow it up, trade Murray and tank for Wembanyama/Henderson.

[Statlanta]

Retire Pop and find and actual PF

[cupcakesnake]

I find this group of young players very likable, and a solid group of ballers. They are also crazy young. After the Derrick White trade, their oldest core player became the 26-year-old Jakob Poetl. The feeling about this team is that they're treadmill until they find a star, which could be true, but I think we're ignoring the age of some of their important players and the leaps some of them might start taking. Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson are 21 and 22, and both looked like NBA starters with a lot of room to grow. Joshua Primo was the youngest player in the NBA this year, and tons of people are positive about his potential. Zach Collins has been forgotten about due to injury, but he's 24 and might recapture our interest next year. Poetl is one of the best defensive centers in the NBA, Dejounte is a 24 year old all-star. They have extra prospects in Lonnie Walker and Joe Wieskamp.

The Spurs held onto the dream of being competitive around Demar and Lamarcus a bit longer than most of us wanted. This is the real first year of the rebuild, and the team managed to be average on both sides of the ball. Nothing about this team sucked, even if not much really popped. I do want to point out: the discipline and execution was incredible for a young team. #3rd in turnover percentage, 2nd lowest foul rate. That's very impressive for a young team and evidence that Pop is still an elite coach. This team lacked shooters, rim pressure, and rebounding.... that should basically mean you're a bottom 5 team. Instead, they made the play-in.

I'd be surprised if the Spurs did anything splashy (like trading some of their young guys for vets to put between Dejounte and Poetl). But I think it's premature to call them treadmill. We should be keeping an eye on how these players develop next year. If Johnson, Vassell or Primo take a leap in the next 2 years, the Spurs could be back in the playoffs sooner than we expect. I'm also interested in what they do with the 3 FRP in this year's draft. They could move up and possibly find the next big piece.

(This team has extra picks in this year's draft (both will be late first round), from Boston and Toronto, as well as future FRPs from Boston and Chicago. It's hard to predict where this team goes next, but they're awash in assets and flexibility.)

[Jadoogar]

They have everything except "THE GUY". This is a team full of great supporting players, they need to keep trying to build internally and hope they get lucky in the draft or can make a trade for a disgruntled star.

[Karate Diop]

They lack top end talent... The truth may hurt, but they need to bottom out. There's not a star impact FA walking through that door anytime soon.

[Slim Charlez]

Such a myth about Murray's defense.

Playing passing lanes to lead the league in steals isn't good defense.

We got torched by every half decent guard, game in, game out.

If we want to compete now we need to find a way to get Gobert.

If we want to plan for the future we need to move Murray now as his value will never be higher.

ewww god no. I'd rather we keep the current core, see if we can move up in the draft using the Boston and Toronto picks and have a go at Ayton or Lavine. I was team tank over making the play in but I was pleasantly surprised with the season we had, Murray has his flaws but is a leader, a great locker room guy, has improved every season and has a great contract, no way I'd trade him unless it's for a sure fire superstar.

[Slim Charlez]

Retire Pop and find and actual PF

Why retire Pop? Most people had this team in the very bottom of the league when the season started, he's still an elite head coach regardless of the casual takes in here that he hasn't done anything without Duncan. The stats prove it. Doubt there's a better education for young players than a HOF coach that's done everything there is to do in the league. If he wants to continue I hope he does, doubt we'd find anyone anywhere his caliber to replace him when he does eventually retire.

[Bornstellar]

How on earth is "treadmill team" leading the poll? Spurs jettisoned all their vets and built around the young players only and almost made the playoffs their first season. Our average age is like 24 years. Take J-Rich and McDermott out and it drops to like 22-23. How can such a young team with so much room for improvement, so many picks this season, and so much potential cap space be a treadmill team??

Posters here may forget but before the season began most posters had the Spurs as a bottom 3-4 team in the NBA. Do y'all just see Pop on the sidelines and assume this is the same team we've had? I know no one watches the Spurs, especially now, but geez man

[Bornstellar]

I find this group of young players very likable, and a solid group of ballers. They are also crazy young. After the Derrick White trade, their oldest core player became the 26-year-old Jakob Poetl. The feeling about this team is that they're treadmill until they find a star, which could be true, but I think we're ignoring the age of some of their important players and the leaps some of them might start taking. Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson are 21 and 22, and both looked like NBA starters with a lot of room to grow. Joshua Primo was the youngest player in the NBA this year, and tons of people are positive about his potential. Zach Collins has been forgotten about due to injury, but he's 24 and might recapture our interest next year. Poetl is one of the best defensive centers in the NBA, Dejounte is a 24 year old all-star. They have extra prospects in Lonnie Walker and Joe Wieskamp.

The Spurs held onto the dream of being competitive around Demar and Lamarcus a bit longer than most of us wanted. This is the real first year of the rebuild, and the team managed to be average on both sides of the ball. Nothing about this team sucked, even if not much really popped. I do want to point out: the discipline and execution was incredible for a young team. #3rd in turnover percentage, 2nd lowest foul rate. That's very impressive for a young team and evidence that Pop is still an elite coach. This team lacked shooters, rim pressure, and rebounding.... that should basically mean you're a bottom 5 team. Instead, they made the play-in.

I'd be surprised if the Spurs did anything splashy (like trading some of their young guys for vets to put between Dejounte and Poetl). But I think it's premature to call them treadmill. We should be keeping an eye on how these players develop next year. If Johnson, Vassell or Primo take a leap in the next 2 years, the Spurs could be back in the playoffs sooner than we expect. I'm also interested in what they do with the 3 FRP in this year's draft. They could move up and possibly find the next big piece.

(This team has extra picks in this year's draft (both will be late first round), from Boston and Toronto, as well as future FRPs from Boston and Chicago. It's hard to predict where this team goes next, but they're awash in assets and flexibility.)

Solid write up, I agree with most of your points. Thanks for making a thoughtful and insightful post

[Slim Charlez]

How on earth is "treadmill team" leading the poll? Spurs jettisoned all their vets and built around the young players only and almost made the playoffs their first season. Our average age is like 24 years. Take J-Rich and McDermott out and it drops to like 22-23. How can such a young team with so much room for improvement, so many picks this season, and so much potential cap space be a treadmill team??

Posters here may forget but before the season began most posters had the Spurs as a bottom 3-4 team in the NBA. Do y'all just see Pop on the sidelines and assume this is the same team we've had? I know no one watches the Spurs, especially now, but geez man

They didn't watch them when they were good, they sure as hell aren't going to watch them when they're bad. Sad reality man but us that do watch regularly know there's a lot more to this team than just the play in. Let them worry about what the Lakers, Nets, Knicks and Heat do or whatever ESPN spoon feeds them.