San Antonio Spurs: 3 bold predictions for 2018-19 NBA season

1. The San Antonio Spurs will make the second round of the playoffs

In mid-August, a panel of 30 ESPN experts projected the San Antonio Spurs to miss the playoffs. That was before the Spurs lost nearly every healthy guard on their roster, so presumably they would be near the bottom of the conference if the experts had to reevaluate their decision now.

So what’s the case for them making the playoffs this year, let alone reaching the second round? Like everything in San Antonio, it starts with Pop. The Spurs have upset the odds due to his magnificent coaching in the past that his value seems to be the equivalent of having an extra star on the floor. Adding him to DeRozan and Aldridge gives the Spurs something of a Big 3 already.

The Spurs are weak at point guard with their current injuries, and the Murray injury is a real blow, but let’s not forget that White and Walker are going to be back somewhere within a month or two after the start of the season. There are plenty of veteran stopgaps the Spurs can pick up (guys like Mario Chalmers or Ramon Sessions) who can hold down the backup position until the young guns come back. And when they do come back, it could be their year.

The San Antonio Spurs may not have a super high ceiling, but the floor is the seventh seed like they were last year. They added a star and replaced some role players with others. They will not be worse than last year’s team.

If they end up as the fifth or sixth seed, they’ll likely match up with the Oklahoma City Thunder or Utah Jazz. Those teams are more talented, but flawed. If Mike D’Antoni could neutralize Rudy Gobert, Pop sure can too. I don’t even want to see what he’d be able to do to Billy Donovan. Sure, the Spurs won’t get past the Golden State Warriors or the Houston Rockets, but they can at least make the second round.