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2018 NBA free agency grades: Spurs keeping Davis Bertans

By James D. Tillman III

(Photos by Mark Sobhani/NBAE via Getty Images)
(Photos by Mark Sobhani/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The San Antonio Spurs have reached an agreement on a two-year deal with Davis Bertans.

The San Antonio Spurs finished the 2017-18 campaign with a 47-35 mark, which was good enough for the seventh seed in the Western Conference. For the mediocre teams in the league, 47 wins would be considered an accomplishment.

The same cannot be said for a Spurs team that came into last season having made it to the playoffs in each of the last 20 seasons — a stretch that includes five titles. Not only that, the last time the Spurs failed to win more than 50 games during a full season was 1996-97, when they wound up drafting future Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan.

Taking into consideration that Kawhi Leonard suited up for just nine games, along with reports surfacing about the All-Star forward expressing a desire to be traded, perhaps 47 wins shouldn’t be frowned upon.

Although the Spurs did notch their 21st consecutive postseason appearance, their playoff run was derailed by the Golden State Warriors for the second straight year. In 2017, the Dubs swept the Spurs in the conference finals and followed that up with a 4-1 series win in the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs.

With the Leonard situation hanging over the franchise like a dark cloud, the Spurs entered the offseason with an air of uncertainty. But the show must go on, right?

That being said, the Spurs began their offseason by selecting Lonnie Walker IV out of Miami with the 18th overall pick and Chimezie Metu from USC with the 49th overall pick. Along with that, they opted to let Kyle Anderson walk, while reaching an agreement on a two-year deal with second-year shooting guard Bryn Forbes, per Yahoo! Sports’ Shams Charania.

According to Charania, the Spurs have also decided to retain the services of Davis Bertans, with the two sides reaching an agreement on a two-year deal worth $14.5 million.

The Spurs acquired the draft rights to Bertans back in 2011 via a trade with the Indiana Pacers. However, he didn’t play in his first NBA game until 2016. During his first two seasons in the league, Bertans compiled averages of 5.3 points and 1.7 rebounds per contest on 44 percent shooting from the field.

Based on the pedestrian numbers, an annual salary of $7.25 million a year may seem to be a bit steep, right? Don’t worry, the narrative isn’t all bad.

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The one positive about Bertans is his ability to space the floor. He shot 39.9 percent from beyond the arc during his rookie season and posted a 37.3 percent clip in 2017-18. He ranked second on the team in 3-point percentage and third in 3-point field goals made.

Another tidbit worth noting is that his 163 triples ranks second only to Gary Neal for most 3-point shots made by a Spurs player in his first two NBA seasons.

Oh, and by the way, Bertans can hold his own at the other end of the floor as well. In fact, opponents shot 4.5 percentage points below their normal averages when he defended them, per NBA.com.

It should also be mentioned that Bertans exceed expectations when he was placed in the starting lineup. In 10 appearances, he averaged 10.6 points (doubling his career scoring average), 3.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 26.2 minutes per contest. Although this was a small sample size, Bertans demonstrated he can produce when given an expanded role.

Overall, with the exception of enabling the Spurs to keep their frontcourt intact, his return will not push them over the top in any way. And while the Spurs were able to re-sign most of their own free agents, they will more than likely finish near the bottom of the playoff picture again, giving their fans very little to look forward to next season.

Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far

Grade: C

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