San Antonio Spurs: 5 offseason roster moves they must make

The San Antonio Spurs missed the playoffs for the first time this century. Here are five roster moves they need to make.

Gregg Popovich took over the head coaching role with San Antonio Spurs in the 1996-97 season. He coached 64 games, taking over after just 18 games from Bob Hill. This was the last time before this season the Spurs missed the playoffs.

In fact, this was the first full season that Popovich has coached where he has missed the playoffs. It was also Popovich’s first ever losing season over a full season. That is an impressive record over such a long period of time.

What is even more impressive is the franchise has missed the playoffs six times in 53 seasons. This speaks to the culture of the franchise, where they have had the ability to find some quality players when they have had the need.

The reason the San Antonio Spurs missed the playoffs

One of the problems for the Spurs this season is that they are getting old. They have six players over the age of 30 and most of them are the key pieces of the team. LaMarcus Aldridge is 35, Rudy Gay is 34, Patty Mills is 32, and DeMar DeRozan is 31.

DeRozan averaged 22.1 points per game for the season, the only player to average over 20. Aldridge averaged 18. 9 per game and then  five Spurs averaged more than 10 points per outing. However, it was at the defensive end where the Spurs let themselves down.

They were in the bottom third in the NBA in 11 of the 21 opponent stats categories according to basketball reference. This is not the ethos of a Gregg Popovich coached team. With this in mind, here are five roster moves they need to make.