Welcome to Hoop Dreams, a season preview unlike any other you’ll read before the 2016-17 season tips off. The premise is simple. We’ll be providing 30 of these fictional forays because it simply stinks that only one team can win the title each year. The list of contending teams seems to shrink with each campaign, and we wanted to provide something to those fans who only get to dream of Larry O’Brien during the offseason. Before October, every team can win the NBA title. Don’t believe us? Then keep reading. – Ed
The last, like, four to six years of the lead up to a new Spurs basketball season have mostly been people wondering whether Tim Duncan was done. This was always hilarious, because people would spend all offseason wondering if this was the year where Duncan’s career took a nosedive, and then Timmy would go out and post per-36 numbers that looked eerily similar to the numbers he always registered.
Now, Duncan is gone, and while there may be some people out there somewhere that are designed to be skeptical of all things Spurs, this is still one of the top five best teams in the NBA. And the last time I checked, when you’re one of the best teams in the NBA and your head coach is an evil genius who coaches circles around everyone, yeah, you have a shot at winning the title.
I will admit: I am one of those people who, for the longest time, wanted to keep writing off the Spurs. I would say things like “their core is old!” or “Kawhi Leonard is overrated!” or “who is on their bench? No one!” because it was easier to do that than to accept that the people who run this franchise forgot more about basketball over their bowl of oatmeal this morning than any of us will know in our lives. As long as the Spurs are being put together by R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich, San Antonio is going to be a championship-caliber franchise. The 2016-17 San Antonio Spurs were put together by these two. Ergo, this is a team that is going to compete for the championship.
The big question, though, is how do they do that? What do they need to do to win a title? And of course, the answer is easier said than done: beat Golden State and Cleveland. That’s it. Those are the things that San Antonio needs to figure out how to do, because if you can beat the Warriors in a seven-game series, you are going to play against the Cavaliers, and if you can beat them in another seven-game series, you win a shiny trophy.
In an attempt to understand how this can happen, let’s break down every position, along with some other factors, and discuss how the Dubs and Cavs could fall to the Spurs:
HEAD COACH: Pop vs. Kerr vs. Lue
PG: Parker vs. Curry vs. Kyrie
SG: Green vs. Klay vs. Smith
SF: Leonard vs. Durant vs. James
PF: Aldridge vs. Green vs. Love
C: Gasol vs. Pachulia vs. Thompson
BENCH: A bunch of Spurs guys vs. Andre Iguodala/Shaun Livingston/David West/etc. vs. Iman Shumpert/a bunch of dudes who went Super Saiyan in the Finals last year
The Spurs have advantages on the bench (I will assume until the day I die that the Spurs have the best bench in the NBA, mostly because when I die, Manu Ginobili will still be playing basketball), head coach, and maybe center, assuming Pau Gasol is able to go for 17 and 10 and maybe play the tiniest bit of defense. Power forward is close, but I’m writing the San Antonio preview right now so let’s give that to them and hope that the rumors of unrest by LaMarcus Aldridge are overblown.
The backcourts are an issue, sure, because the gap between 2016 Tony Parker and Danny Green and Kyrie/Pipe God is large, while the gap between those two and the Splash Bros. is even larger. At small forward, the Spurs have the worst of the three, which is funny considering that Kawhi is one of the 10-15 best basketball players alive.
That last thing is what would probably decide any series. If Leonard can hold his own against Durant and then James, the Spurs’ chances of winning a ring go way, way up. It’s probably an oversimplification, but series are oftentimes decided by what happens when your best dude goes up against the other team’s best dude. For example: in the Western Conference Finals last year, the Warriors were able to come back from a 3-1 deficit because they had Curry, who started playing out of his mind when his team needed him. In the Finals, the Cavaliers came back from 3-1 down because LeBron had three of his best consecutive individual performances ever.
Can Leonard be that guy? The Spurs have the front court to take on the Cavs and the Dubs, they have a solid bench, and they have Pop. They need that one dude to take them to the next level. For eons, that dude was Duncan with the occasional cameo by Parker and Ginobili. For the next few years, that dude is Kawhi. The hopes of the franchise, for better or worse, are carried by him in his freakishly large hands.
For the Spurs to win a championship, they need Kawhi Leonard to play the best basketball of his life on offense and on defense (just imagine him locking down Durant and LeBron in back to back series, that’d rule) over the course of 14 potential games next summer. Everything else should work itself out – Pop has made this happen his entire career and it’s asinine to assume that he won’t be able to do this again – but this needs to happen.
Can it? Absolutely. Leonard is the best defender on earth, and if anyone can hold KD and Bron in check, it’s him. He’s a great shooter, a solid rebounder, and he jumps passing lanes like a hyper-aggressive free safety. He is the kind of guy who can take over individual games with how well-rounded his skill set is, plus his even-keeled temperament means he will never be consumed by a big moment.
These previews are supposed to be us telling you how a team can win a title, but let me remove myself from that to close. I think this is a championship-caliber team. I think Leonard is an MVP candidate, Aldridge is going to have a massive year, Gasol and Parker will rage against Father Time, and Popovich will have the type of year that reminds us all that he’s one of the best basketball coaches to ever live. When all of those things come together, it puts San Antonio in a position to win a championship. And if you don’t agree, let me remind you that it’s never a good idea to count out the Spurs.
