Road ahead for the San Antonio Spurs

Gregg Popovich (L) with Tony Parker during this year’s NBA Finals

The San Antonio Spurs nearly had a dream run in the play-offs before some missed Free Throws, some costly turn-overs and a certain Ray Allen deprived them of the fairytale end. While the Miami Heat need to be commended for their grit, determination and spirit, one can hardly argue against the fact that the Spurs for the major parts of the series looked like the better team. They played better defense, were smarter and more efficient with their offense, as well as managed to win the rebounding numbers.

To a basketball fundamentalist or a purist, basketball couldn’t get get better than what the Spurs showcased, maybe closest to what Naismith himself could envisage. They lost the series because they lost the key moments in Game-6 and Game-7, but overall they can take solace that they took the 65-game winning Heat to their limits and beyond.

The Spurs have an almost clinical uber-efficient game, effective with their passing, ball movement and floor spacing as well as having the versatility and the adaptability to go inside-out or milk it down low. With the changing run-and-gun modern game, where you have three’s playing the four and the four’s playing five, where teams have two wing spot-up shooters and the game is about playing up-tempo basketball, the Spurs were primed and almost custom-designed for the same.

While the Spurs may play the game smarter than anybody else in the game, they still have a few worries to contend with. Duncan is not getting any younger and despite his hyperbolic age-defying performances, he is surely no longer the alpha guy for the Spurs. Tony Parker has had a potential MVP season and has certainly proven his credentials of being the best point guard in the game. He now is no longer the slash and dash teardrop floater guy, as he has developed a reliable mid-range game and has had a career shooting year in 2012-13.

Kawhi Leonard does look like a potential superstar in the making and Danny Green has proven his credentials as among the best spot-up shooters in the game.

However, the Spurs also have a surprisingly low guaranteed payroll for the year 2014. Tony Parker is the highest paid guaranteed player on the Spurs team drawing a salary of $12.5m. The Spurs have Tim Duncan, Matt Bonner, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Nando de Colo, Cory Joseph and Aron Baynes to add to the recently signed Patrick Mills. The good thing for the Spurs is that they have the backbone of their team already guaranteed for next year. To add to this they also have a player option on Boris Diaw, and considering his run in the Finals, one should expect him to stay put with the Spurs. Gary Neal and Tiago Splitter are restricted free agents and considering the rapid strides that both have made, it will be intelligent on the Spurs part to bring them back. All of this and the Spurs still have a payroll of close to $41m. This gives them quite a decent cap-room to exploit and most certainly the biggest question is whether they would exercise it to bring back Manu Ginobili. They also have DeJuan Blair and Tracy McGrady as unrestricted free agents, but with their minuscule minute it is difficult to imagine the Spurs investing much to bring them back.

Now, before one jumps the gun and starts making speculations, it is important that one looks into what exactly the Spurs need to add to an already superfluous roster. They need to look down deep and look at positions that they believe they need to improve in, positions that left them severely short-handed against the Miami Heat. The two major concerns were:

Shot-blocking and lack of a suitable back-up to Duncan
Egregious ball-handling when Parker wasn’t on the floor
Get a back-up for Kawhi Leonard