San Antonio Spurs: 5 goals for the 2018 offseason

4. Get greater depth at center

The San Antonio Spurs had a depth issue at center all season. They started with Pau Gasol at pivot early on, but Gasol is 37 and has come off the bench for the second half of the past two seasons. This was never going to be a long-term solution.

LaMarcus Aldridge ended the season in the starting pivot role where he played exceptionally well. His combination of size, athleticism, shooting touch and basketball IQ were too much for most teams to contain. It took the eventual champions the Golden State Warriors to find a way to contain the star.

Gasol became a super-sub, but this left the Spurs shorthanded. Kyle Andreson stepped up into the power forward role. Without Leonard, Danny Green moved up to small forward and the 6’0″ Patty Mills became the starting shooting guard.

Had the Spurs managed to sign a quality reserve center, they could have started when Gasol went to the bench so that Aldridge could continue to dominate at power forward. It would also have allowed coach Popovich to keep his bench together. The combination of Ginobili, Mills and Gay off the bench is hard for any team to contain. This may have resulted in more wins for the Spurs.

They did sign Joffrey Lauvergne over the summer but the French national was only ever a bit player on the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder. If Lauvergne could not assert himself on the decimated Thunder last season, he was never going to be the answer for the San Antonio Spurs.