San Antonio Spurs: 5 goals for the 2018 offseason
3. Find the next X-factor
Every team has a player who does something each game to get the crowd and their teammates involved. These players can sometimes be the franchise players like Russell Westbrook or LeBron James.
Other examples of who are not franchise players are guys like Gerald Green of the Houston Rockets or Lance Stephenson of the Indiana Pacers. These players come on the court and do things that spark life into games just by the sheer athleticism or wow factor of their actions. Sometimes it is a chase-down block, sometimes a circus shot or even just getting in the face of the opposition.
Their actions are not able to coached against and can change the course of a game. In 2016-17, it was Jonathon Simmons for the San Antonio Spurs. It was not just his actions on the court. He inspired fans with the story of how he got himself a roster spot in the NBA, paying for a tryout and working his way onto the team.
No one can begrudge Simmons signing with the Orlando Magic last summer. He was never going to get the expanded role with the Spurs he was looking for, nor was he going to get the money he signed for. Unfortunately, the Spurs did not replace this X-factor over the summer. Who knows? If they had, they may have won a few more games and been third in the West rather than seventh. This may have changed how deep they went in the playoffs.