Sneaky Good

As we’re in the midst of the holiday season, the action in the NBA is heating up. With roughly one-third of the regular season in the NBA complete, the San Antonio Spurs find themselves with a record of 24-5, but they are actually flying under the radar with all of the attention around the league being focused on the Golden State Warriors and their torrid 26-1 start. However the lack of attention is something that is not affecting the Spurs as far as what their ultimate goal is which is to win another NBA Championship.

Since 1998, the Spurs have been the most consistent winner in the NBA as they have won at least 50 games in all but one year which was the lockout shortened campaign of 1999 where they went 37-13. The Spurs success has revolved around their head coach Gregg Popovich and power forward Tim Duncan who have been cornerstones of the franchise. Popovich has been the architect of one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history which could not have been possible without the mindset of Duncan.

The Spurs made Duncan the first overall pick of the 1997 NBA Draft and it is a move that they have not regretted. Duncan is a 15-time NBA All-Star, but more importantly, he has helped the Spurs win five NBA Titles along with being a three-time NBA Finals MVP. But what has set Duncan apart is his unselfishness. When Duncan first joined the Spurs, he relied on the guidance of longtime center David Robinson as the duo led San Antonio to their first NBA Championship in 1999. But by 2003, Duncan had become the face of the Spurs as he helped them win another NBA Title. The Spurs would win the NBA Championship once more in 2005, and by the time that they won their fourth title in 2007, the team was shifting to rely more on the talents of point guard Tony Parker. The Spurs would win their fifth NBA Title in 2014, and by this time they were nowhere close to resembling the philosophy that they possessed when Duncan first joined the team in 1997. The Spurs have been the ultimate example of team basketball as they are a totally unselfish squad which relies on finding the open man regardless of the name on the back of his jersey. This mantra begins with Duncan due to his selflessness in taking a lesser role with the team as he is solely concentrating on winning. This makes Popovich’s job as the Spurs head coach that much easier as if Duncan is able to survive without the basketball going through him on the majority of possessions while also willing to take a chewing out from his head coach, everyone else on the team can and has to fall in line.

After losing in the first round of the NBA Playoffs last spring, the Spurs did something that they normally don’t do which is to dip into free agency. The Spurs would sign power forward LaMarcus Aldridge to a four-year, $80 million contract. Aldridge spent the first nine years of his NBA career with the Portland Trailblazers where he was the franchise’s second all-time leading scorer along with being a four-time All-Star. But all the personal accolades aside, Aldridge was only able to get past the first round of the NBA Playoffs once during his time in Portland, and now at the age of 30, he wants to win a title. Enter Duncan who took less money with the Spurs which enabled the front office in San Antonio to bring in Aldridge as they are looking to transition once again; just like they did when Robinson passed the torch to Duncan.

For his NBA career, Aldridge is averaging 19.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Aldridge’s offensive numbers are slightly down this season he is averaging 16.1 points per game, but his rebounds have increased as he is tallying 8.8 boards per contest. Aldridge’s numbers are down slightly down due to the Spurs deep rotation along with Popovich’s philosophy of keeping his players fresh for the stretch run of the regular season. But whereas Aldridge’s points per game might be down, his efficiency has gone up as he is shooting nearly 48% from the field which comes from playing with Parker.

Parker is a wizard when it comes to penetration as he forces a defense to collapse on him. Parker might be the best point guard that is currently in the NBA to run a pick and roll play with and Aldridge is benefitting from this as he has consistently found himself shooting open jump shots.

Parker is in his 15th NBA season (all with the Spurs) and he might be the most underrated point guard of this era which fits the mode of the Spurs. Parker was an afterthought when the Spurs drafted him in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft, but he quickly made a name for himself in the 2003 NBA Finals where the New Jersey Nets and point guard Jason Kidd had no answer for him. Parker has had to sit back and see most people praise the likes of Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul before him, but he has been one of the best winners of this era of basketball which is evident by his four NBA Titles. For his NBA career, Parker has averaged 16.8 points and 5.9 assists and he would average more points on another team, but like Duncan, he has bought into the “team first” philosophy of Popovich in San Antonio.

Along with Duncan and Parker, shooting guard Manu Ginobili has been apart of the majority of the Spurs recent success as the trio has been the franchise’s core for over a decade. But these elder statesmen have now taken a backseat for both Aldrige and small forward Kawhi Leonard.

The Spurs acquired Leonard in 2011 after he was drafted by the Indiana Pacers and he quickly blossomed into one of the better wing players in the NBA. Leonard’s numbers have increased in each season with the highlight coming in 2014 when he was named as the NBA Finals MVP. This season Leonard is leading the Spurs in scoring at 21 points per game and like Aldrige, he received a hefty contract from San Antonio over the summer as he agreed to a five-year, $90 million contract.

But aside from the individual players that the Spurs have, they are coming up big in some important individual categories. This season the Spurs are third in the NBA in three-point field goal percentage as they are shooting nearly 38% per game, second in field-goal percentage (48%), second in points scored (102), first in points allowed (88.9), and fifth in rebounds (46.2). The Spurs begin to click in the spring, but this season they’ve done it at the start.

And with a record of 24-5, the remarkable start of the Spurs can no longer be overlooked in spite of the fact of what the Warriors are doing. The Western Conference is not as strong as it has been for nearly the last 15 years and it appears that things could come down to the Warriors and Spurs in May during the NBA Playoffs as they’ve each set the gold standard this season. The Warriors were able to win the NBA Championship last season, but they avoided having to face the Spurs in the postseason due to the fact that San Antonio was eliminated by the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round. We’re not quite at Christmas, but you can see the writing on wall as this NBA season will be determined by either the sharp-shooting of the Warriors or the overall execution of the Spurs. But just like the Spurs typically are, they won’t be an easy out for the Warriors or anyone else in the NBA Playoffs.