San Antonio Spurs: 3 players under pressure to perform in 2019-20
Is 2019-20 a do-or-die season for Trey Lyles?
Even within this “new NBA,” where players are cutting the cord quickly on long-term tenures for a single franchise, there’s no way around the narrative for Trey Lyles.
A player preparing to play for his third team in four seasons is usually a means for alarm. When you’re a Finals MVP like Kawhi Leonard, there’s nary a whisper. For Lyles and the San Antonio Spurs, though, it has to be as close to a do-or-die season as we’ve yet to see.
It’s ironic to think about: Lyles, with only four years under his belt, can be defined as a “veteran presence” on this Spurs team (only six players have more experience).
Within those four years, the 23-year-old has heard a lot. He’s been lambasted for his supposed “lack of work ethic,” especially in his younger years when he held out in the Summer League and refused to agree to a contract everyone else had agreed to, per Salt Lake Tribune beat writer Andy Larsen.
Then there’s Lyles’ perceived aversion to practice, best illustrated in his exchange on Richard Jefferson’s Road Trippin’ Podcast:
"Lyles: “Who was your coach then?” Jefferson: “I had Tyrone Corbin.” Lyles: “So y’all didn’t practice? Y’all didn’t do nothing, yeah. See, we had practice every day (under Quin Snyder). I thought I was in Kentucky again.” Jefferson: “You had practice every day? Oh, sorry for making you work hard. Sorry. What’s wrong with working hard, Trey?” Lyles: “I didn’t say nothing about working hard. Three-hour practices? Come on now.”"
This season could have nail-in-coffin ramifications on Lyles’ legacy. There’s a long-standing theory on Gregg Popovich: if he can’t fix you as a player, odds are, there may not be a coach who can. That in mind, it’s worth considering how Lyles could fit into this Spurs puzzle.
The fit for Lyles
There’s been plenty of question in terms of where Lyles fits on this younger, smaller San Antonio Spurs team. For his career, Lyles has played about 83 percent of his time at power forward.
Through both the Spurs’ recent focus on small ball and the lack of proven centers outside of Jakob Poeltl, chances are, Lyles could end up playing more center than in years past.
Film on Lyles shows just how versatile he is, even without much sample size to it. He appears to work well on that left elbow in a back-to-basket set, a la LaMarcus Aldridge.
Though, he faced double teams from second units so often that he wasn’t able to generate his own shot on over half of those attempts. To illustrate: last season, Lyles averaged 1.6 post-up attempts per game (where he hit on a solid 47.6 percent in 2018-19 and 51.4 percent in 2017-18), but only took 0.7 post shots a night.
Compare that to Aldridge, against both the opposing team’s best interior defender and first units overall, he averaged 6.5 shots on 12.4 attempts (well over 50 percent). It’s one thing to double team Lyles when he’s on the floor with Mason Plumlee and Torrey Craig, among others. It’s an entirely different story when it’s Marco Belinelli, Patty Mills, Rudy Gay, etc.
This gives an idea of what Lyles could be capable of doing. He’s got a back-to-basket game, and he’s shown that he can take players his size off the dribble and cook (see his Iverson-like crossover and take to the rim at 3:10).
The Athletic sees him as the type of player geared to take on a Robert Horry-type role with shots off-the-catch being his new go-to, similar to this:
All told, there’s been a ton of good to be said about Lyles. He’s a player that’s never cracked the 20.0 minutes per game barrier, but good things — 11.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, and a 54.7 percent true shooting percentage — have happened when he does exceed it.
Opportunity is everything. And as one of only presumably three or four players that can (and have) played center on this new Spurs team, it’s time for him to find an actual home in the NBA.