San Antonio Spurs: 2017-18 NBA season preview

SAN ANTONIO, TX - MAY 09: Trevor Ariza #1 of the Houston Rockets passes the ball against Kawhi Leonard #2 and Pau Gasol #16 of the San Antonio Spurs in the first quarter during Game Five of the Western Conference Semi-Finals at AT&T Center on May 9, 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

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Photos by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images /

Storyline 1: Will Dejounte Murray or Patty Mills lock down the starting point guard spot?

Patty Mills is about to embark on his seventh season with the San Antonio Spurs. Of his 367 career games with the Spurs, Mills has only started 18. This is understandable considering he has been playing behind a star in the form of Tony Parker.

This season, Parker is expected to miss significant time thanks to surgery on his left quadriceps muscle in June. He is targeting a November return that’s two months ahead of schedule, but if this goal proves to be too ambitious, the Spurs need to have someone running the team.

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Last season, Parker missed 19 games but the Australian only started eight of these. Head coach Gregg Popovich preferred to keep Mills running the bench unit and started Dejounte Murray instead, which seems to be the case through the team’s first three preseason games as well.

Now that the bench unit has changed so much, there may not be the need to have Mills run the second unit, the chemistry will not be the same.

If Murray struggles, it is possible Pop will consider starting Mills because of the four-year, $50 million contract he signed in the offseason. If this is the case, then Mills has to take the opportunity of starting from the first night of the season and make it his own.

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