10 bold predictions for 2017-18 NBA season
6. The San Antonio Spurs finish fourth in the West
I know, I know. Doubt the San Antonio Spurs at your own peril. Questioning this ageless team has become an annual tradition, and every year the Spurs wind up making everyone look stupid by winning 60 games and looking like a threat to win the title.
But even with Kawhi Leonard reaching his apex as a perennial MVP candidate, he really doesn’t have much help around him. That didn’t stop him from carrying San Antonio to 61 wins last year, but this seasons’s roster seems admittedly worse than any in recent memory.
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Not only did the Spurs fail to acquire any game-changing pieces in a summer where their Western brethren all did, but they also lost two quality defenders in Jonathon Simmons and Dewayne Dedmon. Rudy Gay was their most notable addition, and he’s coming off an Achilles tear.
Tony Parker is still recovering from a season-ending injury as well, which means the Spurs desperately lack experience at the point guard spot. Meanwhile, Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge looked like shells of their former selves in the playoffs.
With the Thunder adding Paul George, Carmelo Anthony and Patrick Patterson, the Houston Rockets landing Chris Paul, P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute and the Minnesota Timberwolves snagging Jimmy Butler, the Spurs are no longer the top threat to the Golden State Warriors in the West.
As such, we could very easily see San Antonio sink behind the Warriors, Rockets and Thunder in the standings by season’s end.