San Antonio Spurs Continue To Develop Gems
By Aaron Mah
In most instances, when the defending champions – and the consensus favorites to repeat this season — stumble out of the gates losing three out of their first five games, the overly eccentric NBA universe would usually start to panic and question the construction of the team.
However, with the San Antonio Spurs’ rich history of defying popular conventions, they’ve bounced back accordingly by winning 13 of their next 15 and rattling off an eight-game winning streak during the process.
As we approach the first quarter mark of the season, the Spurs are once again sitting pretty at 15-5 despite the notable absences of Patty Mills and Tiago Splitter – two integral rotation players during their championship run – as well as the sluggish start of Marco Belinelli – who is recovering from a groin injury and playing himself back into game shape.
Consequently, the rash of injuries has chipped into San Antonio’s hallmark offensive efficiency.
In fact, according to Basketball-Reference.com, the Spurs are currently ranked13th in the league in offense sporting a 107.3 Offensive Rating thus far this season – a material decrease from the 110.5 Offensive Rating of last year, which ranked them as the seventh-best offense during the 2013-14 campaign.
Without the shot-making/play-making abilities of Patty Mills, as well as the solid screens and slick interior passing of Tiago Splitter, San Antonio’s eFG% has concurrently dropped from 53.7 percent in 2013-14 to 51.4 percent so far in 2014-15.
Early on during the season, the Spurs were not moving the ball and creating the same type of catch-and-shoot opportunities as the year prior.
As well, the offense is running through Kawhi Leonard more so than ever – specifically in the high-to-mid post areas. As a result, the team is realizing a spike in mid-range attempts, which has consequently dipped their two-point field-goal percentage.
To effectively compensate for their slight downtown on the offensive end, coach Gregg Popovich has turned up the Spurs’ defense. Currently, San Antonio is defending at the second best rate in the league by allowing only 99.8 points per 100 possessions, which is significantly lower than the 102.4 Defensive Rating the team accumulated last year.
Interestingly, if the team can sustain their defensive competency, this season will mark the first time since 2006-07 in which the Spurs maintain a Defensive Rating of less than 100.
The improved defense can be attributed to the increased playing time of Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard – perhaps the team’s two best individual defenders and most important defensive presences. Last season, the Spurs made history by becoming the first team ever without any player on their roster averaging more than 30 minutes per game.
Thus far this season, both Tony Parker and Leonard have crossed the 30-minute threshold by averaging 31.8 and 31.7 mpg, respectively, while Duncan is hovering just less than 30 mpg at 29.9.
When their two defensive pillars roam the court for prolonged periods of time – with Kawhi locking down opposing wings with his conservative, yet hounding, brand of man defense and Duncan protecting the paint at an elite level (still) – San Antonio’s defense is accordingly much better.
In fact, according to 82games.com, the Spurs’ Defensive Rating is 97.5 when Duncan is on the floor, but skyrockets to 103.9 when he is off. Similarly, when Leonard is in the game, the Spurs hold teams to 97.8 points per 100 possessions; however, the team relinquishes 104.4 points per 100 possessions when he is on the bench.
With that being said, in an effort to conserve the Spurs’ core players, Coach Pop will ultimately want to cut Duncan’s, Parker’s, and Leonard’s minutes back down to the 28-29 minute range. To do so, he is once again slowly building his bench and giving them more responsibility as the season progresses. In particular, he has quietly loosened the reins on Cory Joseph and Aron Baynes – two logical short-term replacements for Mills and Splitter. While Joseph-Mills and Baynes-Splitter share some similarities, the Spurs’ latest duo of unheralded gems brings their own unique elements to the San Antonio mix.
Joseph has been part of the Spurs’ program since the 2011-12 season after San Antonio selected him 29th overall in the 2011 NBA Draft. In fact, Joseph was the primary backup point guard during the 2012-13 season, while Mills served as the team’s third-string guard.
However, a much leaner and meaner Mills would supplant Joseph last year during their run to win the championship.
Although his demotion had much to do with Mills’ improved play – namely his ability to create shots for himself and his teammates through pick-and-roll situations – it had just as much to do with Joseph’s inability to negotiate pick-and-rolls effectively.
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Specifically, Mills is a scoring threat on all three levels on the offensive end coming off of the pick as he can stop on a dime and pull-up for 3, get his feet in the paint and find his open corner shooters, as well as finish at the rim over opposing bigs at an above-average rate.
Conversely, Joseph was often indecisive coming off of the pick and would be overly hesitant after a miss shot or turnover. In addition, Joseph had a hard time hitting catch-and-shoot 3s, let alone pull-up 3s.
As such, defenses would simply not respect Joseph’s offensive game and went under every screen – many times, in a demeaning fashion – as he had not proven to be an offensive threat.
While Joseph still isn’t the dynamic play-maker that Mills is, he has shown to be a much-improved offensive player this year. Particularly, it seems as though Joseph has thoroughly studied tapes of a young Tony Parker and is showing much more patience in pick-and-roll situations.
Namely, he is showing an aptitude to drain pull-up mid-range jumpers at a consistent rate when defenses overtly disrespect his shooting. In fact, he is shooting at an ultra-efficient 62.5 percent from 16-23 feet and 50 percent from 10-16 feet – areas of the floor which make up for 27.4 percent of Joseph’s field goal attempts.
Knowing he can get his own shot off of the pick-and-roll has made Joseph a much more confident player. Although he is plenty quick, Joseph does not possess the straight-line blow-by ability of a Parker or Mills, and thus, rarely gets all the way to the rim.
However, Joseph does a solid job of getting into the paint and finding open corner shooters to initiate the Spurs’ deadly drive-and-kick attack. On the rare occasion where he does get all the way to the rim, Joseph has shown the ability to utilize a wide array of finishes that only a Tony Parker-disciple can emulate.
Defensively, Joseph is inherently blessed with terrific lateral quickness and the desire to fight over picks, which is crucial as San Antonio’s defensive scheme is built around their perimeter players’ ability to fight through screens in a timely manner as their bigs soft help and recover on the screener, thus, encouraging contested mid-range jumpers from opposing offenses.
However, as with most young players, the 23-year-old is prone to a couple of defensive lapses per game.
In addition, Joseph continues to be a non-threat without the ball in his hands. Not only does he demonstrate poor spatial awareness – often times not filling the corners during his teammates’ drives – he also still lacks a consistent 3-point shot.
Nevertheless, with the improvements Joseph has shown thus far, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities for “CoJo” to correct said kinks as the season rolls along.
Meanwhile, Baynes has been with the Spurs since the 2012-13 campaign as an undrafted rookie out of Washington State. Before this season, the bruising Aussie had been more known for getting under opposing bigs’ skin (see Howard, Dwight during the 2013 playoffs) rather than his play on the court.
However, Baynes has proven to be much more than a glorified goon as he has shown to be a competent rotation player thus far. While he does not possess, nor provide, the interior passing skills and the rim protection of a Tiago Splitter, he is a capable threat as the lone big in a 4-out-1-in offensive scheme.
More specifically, Baynes is a terrific finisher off of short rolls. He has, like many San Antonio backup bigs of the past (Hello, Dejuan Blair!), developed a tremendous chemistry in the pick-and-roll game with Manu Ginobili.
While Manu does an incredible job of negotiating pick-and-rolls and finding his rolling bigs, Baynes should also get some credit as he is exceptional at finding the open space needed to initiate a variety of drop-off and pocket passes. At the rim, Baynes is a terrific finisher by effectively utilizing his wide frame and soft hands.
Currently, he is completing 57.1 percent of his shots from three feet and in, and an ungodly 71.4 percent of his shots from three to 10 feet, which account for 68.6 percent and 20.6 percent of his field goal attempts, respectively.
Baynes has also shown the potential to become a threat in the pick-and-pop game as he’s hit several aesthetically pleasing spot up jumpers. The Big Banger – as he’s appropriately nicknamed by the Spurs’ contingent – even hit a 3-pointer against the Celtics last week, which sent his fellow teammates into a frenzy.
On the defensive end, Baynes gives forth a great effort and is usually pretty sharp on his rotation assignments. But, with his rather average wingspan of 7’2.5″ and limited hops, Baynes will never be a game-changing rim protector.
Moreover, unlike Splitter, who can effectively play alongside Duncan as he’s an above-average interior passer, Baynes’ limitations have prevented the Spurs from trotting out a twin tower backline as he has only shared a grand total of five minutes on floor together with Timmy.
Despite his shortcomings, the bruising center’s rebounding and interior scoring capabilities alone will most likely make Baynes a mainstay in Coach Pop’s rotation for the remainder of the season.
The Spurs have always found gems through the most unlikely avenues – for example, the undrafted Danny Green through the D-League and Manu Ginobili, who was the 57th overal pick in 1999. In many ways, the gems of San Antonio are what make the Spurs’ culture sustainable.
It lets everyone within the organization know that no individual part is greater than the sum of the whole and that anyone on the roster – sans Duncan – is replaceable as we’ve seen with George Hill, who was traded for need and potential, and Stephen Jackson, who was released due to suffering from the disease of more.
And who knows? Three months down the line, Joseph and Baynes may play well enough to make Mills and Splitter expendable.
Next: Iceman? Timmy? The Admiral? Who Is History's Greatest Spur?