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San Antonio Spurs: 2019-20 NBA season preview

ByMarlow Ferguson Jr.|
SAN ANTONIO, TX - NOVEMBER 25: LaMarcus Aldridge #12 of the San Antonio Spurs gets introduced before the game against the Dallas Mavericks on November 25, 2015 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photos by Chris Covatta/NBAE via Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, TX - NOVEMBER 25: LaMarcus Aldridge #12 of the San Antonio Spurs gets introduced before the game against the Dallas Mavericks on November 25, 2015 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photos by Chris Covatta/NBAE via Getty Images)
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San Antonio Spurs
(Photos by Mark Sobhani/NBAE via Getty Images)

Best-case scenario

For a franchise of this prestige, it’s difficult to imagine the best-case scenario not being a championship parade from the Riverwalk.

But, for a team that experts just barely see sneaking into the postseason, if the Spurs advance to the second round, and are competing for a shot at the Western Conference Finals, it’s hard to imagine going into the summer of 2019 disappointed.

Through a more limited scope, we could intertwine the breakouts of the Spurs’ younger stars as being a best-case, but if the Spurs end up being a 50-win team, and are competing deep into May, those things would figure to take care of themselves.

The Spurs are nearly always drama-free, but a best-case sees them have an unusually tranquil 2019-20 season.

A season ago, the Spurs were a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of health. It’d seem, that after taking away their defensive captain and floor general for the entire 2018-19 season, the basketball gods would be due to give San Antonio a bit more fortune this time around.

Under those circumstances, the team gets recognized. DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge regain their spots on the NBA’s annual All-League teams, a mental strap that gives them an extra boost or burden come postseason team.

Dejounte Murray does the same as an All-Defender, and brings a teammate — say Derrick White? — and the San Antonio Spurs return as one of the cream of the crop-type teams in the Association.

The more you think about it, the more you realize: the actual Spurs aren’t too far off from that type of storybook season. But, there’s the other side. Here’s a look at the worst-case scenario.

Worst-case scenario:

Headline: “Spurs lose, miss out on postseason for the first time since 1996.”

Anything revolving around the stratosphere of a statement like that caliber absolutely has to be the worst-case scenario.

In some ways, it almost sort of feels similar to how reluctant NBA superstars became about playing for Team USA, once they saw fellow potential teammates dropping out by the day. Similar to how no one wants to be the superstar of the Olympic powerhouse that went home without a gold medal, no one wants to be the face of the San Antonio Spurs on the day that their two-decade long streak comes to an end.

It feels reflective in that the best-case and worst-case scenarios would have to work off of one another. The unofficial “reach” for a spot in the Western Conference postseason seems to sit right in the 45-46 win range. If the Spurs failed to reach that with everything we’ve mentioned, it’s plausible that the injury bug and the media were two key reasons why.

In all likelihood, it also probably means the Spurs stumbled out of the gates, something that would be especially problematic in today’s packed West. John Schuhmann didn’t mention the Spurs as a team in danger in this past summer’s schedule notebook article, but he did detail the perils that come with a slow start. As he phrased it:

"Like, if you haven’t won at least seven of those first 20 games, you’re most certainly not going to make the playoffs. Only four of the 106 teams that have won fewer than seven of their first 20 games over the last 20 (full) seasons have gone on to reach the postseason. The last of those was the 2013-14 Brooklyn Nets, who started 6-14, finished as the No. 6 seed in the East (at 44-38), and actually won a first-round series."

Mind you, the Spurs entered their opening 22-game stretch with a record of 10-12 a season ago, before running off a 38-22 tear the rest of the way. They can’t afford to go into the Texas Road Trip, or April’s home stretch trying to play catch-up. In a worst-case scenario, chances are, that was exactly the case.

On the flip side, it would be largely disappointing to again have to endure a first-round, and the ensuing headlines to follow. But, if this Spurs team finds itself in “no man’s land” — say, 9th or 10th in the West — and having to reminisce on bounces or losses that could’ve gone their way, that’s about probably the equivalent to a Bruce Bowen kick in the head.