The San Antonio Spurs dipped their toes in free agency by re-signing Jakob Poeltl to a three-year deal.
After coming over to the San Antonio Spurs in the DeMar DeRozan trade, Jakob Poeltl has struggled to find a consistent place in the rotation. In fact, there were periods over the last two seasons that Poeltl struggled to make in on the court.
Poeltl was selected with the ninth pick of the 2016 draft by the Toronto Raptors. He has not been able to find a niche for himself with either the Raptors or the Spurs. The main reason for this is Poeltl is not good on the offensive end.
In his four seasons, Poeltl has averaged 5.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.0 blocks, and 0.4 steals in 16.5 minutes per game. It is this last number which is the problem. If he could get on the court for longer periods of time, his production will surely go up.
How has Jakob Poeltl gone with the San Antonio Spurs?
Poeltl has produced at a very similar rate to his career numbers during his time with the Spurs. He has averaged 5.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 0.5 steals in 17.1 minutes per game.
While this does not display terribly much growth, he appears to be a big part of the future plans of the Spurs. According to Shams Charania of the Athletic, Poeltl was signed to a three-year deal worth $27.0 million.
This is a lot of money to throw at someone who has not averaged more than 18.6 minutes per game in a single season. Thanks to the Spurs missing the playoffs for the first time in over 20 years, they are going to try something different next season.
If that difference is playing more Poeltl, that is going to be positive for the silver and black. Poeltl is a player that knows his own game and will not vary from his role. Not only is he a solid defender, but he is also a tremendous offensive rebounder.
Poeltl has averaged 2.2 offensive rebounds per game in his time with the Spurs. Considering the Spurs only averaged 9.0 as a team last season in this metric, which was good for 27th in the league, they need to improve on this.
On top of that number, the Spurs were 22nd in the league in field goal percentage, shooting 51.6 percent. If they are missing shots then there needs to be someone there to give the opportunity for second-chance points.
Where Poeltl is not strong is creating his own shot. He had 75.3 percent of his shots assisted last season. He also took 92.5 percent of his shots from between zero and ten feet. While this shows a lack of range it also allows the coaching staff to know what they are going to get when he is on the court.
The Spurs are doubling down on their young centers are the moment. They have also signed Drew Eubanks to a three-year deal and they will continue his development in his third year with the franchise.
Both of these players are in their early 20’s which fits the timeline of the rest of the younger Spurs. They may not make the playoffs again this year, but with DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge, Rudy Gay, and Patty Mills all entering the final years of their contracts, watch for moves at the deadline.