San Antonio Spurs: Three Backup Small Forward Options

With the 2013-14 season opener in nearly seven weeks and still no backup small forward on the San Antonio Spurs roster, there have been three workouts so far that show the team is still weighing its options.

After the Stephen Jackson experiment was ruled a failure late last season, one weakness that was exposed by the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals was the Spurs’ vulnerability behind Kawhi Leonard. Manu Ginobili and Danny Green spread to the 3 spot for a few minutes a game as his replacements, but it caused more small ball lineups than what one can imagine coach Gregg Popovich intended on using.

After missing out on Andrei Kirilenko, maybe they believe playing Ginobili and Green at small forward probably won’t be enough next season. Perhaps they will work with the players they have now and are simply looking for depth at the end of the bench.

Nonetheless, they are still looking at options. They’ve been recently linked to James Johnson, Josh Childress and Sam Young.

James Johnson – 26 years old, 6’9″, 248 pounds
Last season: Played with the Sacramento Kings and averaged 5.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.9 blocks and 0.8 steals in 16.3 minutes per game for 54 games.
More of a tweener due to his size, Johnson can be an option for the Spurs during small ball rotations to play at the power forward with Leonard sticking at the small forward. Johnson is a poor outside shooter as well, so he’ll most likely take his shots in the paint when he can. With this in mind, he may see his minutes at small forward when the Spurs want to go with bigger lineups and Tiago Splitter at the 5 and Tim Duncan at the 4. That type of play isn’t San Antonio’s style, so it’s hard to see his game at the small forward. He has a similar build and an inferior offensive game to Boris Diaw, which doesn’t make him a valuable asset. San Antonio is already loaded at the power forward spot and has no problem giving Kawhi those small ball minutes either.

Josh Childress – 30 years old, 6’8″, 210 pounds
Last season: Played with the Brooklyn Nets and averaged 1 point, 1.1 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.1 steals and 0.1 blocks in 7.1 minutes per game for 14 games.
From his days as a player with potential on the Atlanta Hawks, Childress has seen his career spiral down since his departure to Greece and return to the league. With his poor jump shot and defense that has never been noted as above average, it’s difficult to see how the Spurs think he would fit on the team. As a team that likes to have consistent outside shooters, San Antonio may see Childress as a project for shooting coach Chip Engelland. If that’s the case, it will most likely peg him as a benchwarmer for the team next season.

Sam Young – 28 years old, 6’6″, 225 pounds
Last season: Played with the Indiana Pacers and averaged 2.8 points, 2.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.3 steals and 0.1 blocks in 12.4 minutes per game for 56 games.
Young was a huge liability on offense for the Pacers last season, with a 39.2 field goal percentage and 30.8 3-point percentage. He shot a horrid 53.5 percent from the free-throw line as well. The Spurs have built a reputation on their ability to help their swingmen improve on outside shooting, but they may find themselves with too tall of a task with this four-year veteran. His shooting has taken a rough fall since his days with the Memphis Grizzlies. Perhaps playing for a championship-caliber team may help the game come easier for him, but with what he’s shown the past few years, no one should expect him to be anything more than garbage-time player.

With the pickings as slim as they are at this point in the offseason, the Spurs may also be simply looking at invitees for training camp, which begins Oct. 1. With the team having no time to wait for another appearance in the finals, they may be best off looking to stack up their talent by searching via trade for their backup small forward.

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