Analysis Brian Windhorst: “Spurs are a playoff contender”

We are not contenders, but for the Spurs to start the season 10-4 while being the second most injury-devastated team in the West (after Memphis) is really a big thing and augurs well for this team's ceiling when it is at full heath.. I still think 6th seed is doable if Wemby does not miss more than 15 games..
 
Adding the most dominant defensive player, and potentially the most opportunistic scorer with his height and skills, into the 3-guard offense who’s constantly slashing with upbeat tempo, would be the job of Mitch and Co to make it work seamlessly. They have the 2014 blueprints of moving the ball, and now they are blessed with multiple players who can move the ball from 1-5 position. It’s just a matter of time!
 
They've exceeded my expectations already. Potentially can be the 2nd best team in the West. Lakers are flawed as hell, Denver is still heavily Jokic reliant, Rockets have no point guards.

I didn't think they would take off this fast, but I'm also not suprised.
 
It's pretty nasty that the Spurs are playing so well with tons of room to grow, pieces to pick up, and much of it without their superstar.
 
This season is making me trust the FO and playing the Wright way. I think the FO and coaches will be able to really dial this roster in over the summer, but, we are already very deep when last season was a train wreck.
 
I would say the tiers right now in the West are, going by point differential:

Tier 1: OKC
Tier 2: HOU, DEN
Tier 3: SAS, LAL, MIN

With us having the chance to jump to tier 2 with Wemby getting back in the fold.
 
By standings, IMO:

Tier 1: OKC
Tier 2: SAS,DEN,MIN, HOU, LAL
Tier 3: everyone else
 
LA’s inability to play defense will kill them in the playoffs. Especially when fouls are called at a much lower rate. While Luka is having an MVP type of season he is shooting an absurd 13 FTs per game. He won’t get all those pussy calls in the POs. LA will be a 1st round exit.
 
John B said:
Adding the most dominant defensive player, and potentially the most opportunistic scorer with his height and skills, into the 3-guard offense who’s constantly slashing with upbeat tempo, would be the job of Mitch and Co to make it work seamlessly.
Click to expand...
That's a job much harder to do than it sounds. Both the offense and defense changed drastically without Wemby. The offense got better and the defense got worse. If Mitch figures out how to get Wemby to fit within this offense while also fixing the defense he deserves Coach of the Year. I think it's going to be a struggle to get it right.
 
At the end of regular season, this team may reach pseudo contender status, but for now, they will be one of those up-and-coming future conference powerhouses that will take their lumps in their first rodeo but be a pain in the ass for every higher seed they play e.g. : 2010-11 Thunder, 2013 Warriors, 2020 Nuggets
 
spursistan said:
At the end of regular season, this team may reach pseudo contender status, but for now, they will be one of those up-and-coming future conference powerhouses that will take their lumps in their first rodeo but be a pain in the ass for every higher seed they play e.g. : 2010-11 Thunder, 2013 Warriors, 2020 Nuggets
Click to expand...

They appear to be a clear top 4 team in the west right now and I would actually expect them to beat everyone but Denver, Houston and OKC in a 7 game series.

Gsw? Lal? Phoenix? We have all 3 covered. Minnesota is the only question mark but I think we should be confident in that one too.

This team is well positioned to get to the 2nd round. Really hope they can go for a top 3 seed to avoid the buzz saw until the conference finals.
 
Lakers are much better than I anticipated. I thought they'd get cooked with teammates that don't fit around Doncic. But they do heavily depend on a whistle, which wins them a lot of close games. And they don't do it the OKC way -- Lakers don't even have to try to get whistles for them, they're just given.
 
bozhemoi said:
Lakers are much better than I anticipated. I thought they'd get cooked with teammates that don't fit around Doncic. But they do heavily depend on a whistle, which wins them a lot of close games. And they don't do it the OKC way -- Lakers don't even have to try to get whistles for them, they're just given.
Click to expand...
They suck on defense, which places them squarely in the pretender category.
 
bozhemoi said:
Lakers are much better than I anticipated. I thought they'd get cooked with teammates that don't fit around Doncic. But they do heavily depend on a whistle, which wins them a lot of close games. And they don't do it the OKC way -- Lakers don't even have to try to get whistles for them, they're just given.
Click to expand...
It'll stop in the playoffs. Look back to how the Wolves treated them last april. You cannot rely on the whistle in the playoffs.
 
the consensus around here pre-season seemed to be that the target for this year was to get into the playoffs, not just hang around as the 9-10 seed and be happy getting a play-in game. i think wemby himself even said top 6 was a reasonable goal. after today's game vs the hawks we will be about 1/3 into the season.

as things stand, we are tied for 3rd in the west along with the lakers, are one game behind the nugget in the loss column, and one game ahead of the rockets in the loss column, so we are certainly ahead of schedule there. the preseason o/u for us was about 44 wins or so. with our current win%, we are actually on pace for 60 wins. with respect to hanging around the top 6, the #7 seed right now is Phoneix at 15-12, so we are 5 games ahead of them in the loss column, though they have already beaten us twice this year, so keep an eye on that for potential tiebreaks if we need to hold them off in the standings
 
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at the start of the season, my basketball league had a pool on how many games the Spurs would win this year. I went with a 46-36 record. The dude who picked the Spurs at winning 58 may win the pot. I do think, though, that some of us are just wary of games missed due to injuries. hoepefully, the spurs have most of those in the rear window. if so, they have a favorable schedule post All-Star break.
 
Can't bother to dig out my ST posts from last summer, but it's playing out more or less the way I expected it to.
I said at least one of LAL/LAC/GSW/PHO will crumble because they're too old and old teams don't do well in current NBA regular seasons.
As it turns out, Clippers are done and the Warriors are under .500, no way they catch up to us. Suns revitalized themselves after the KD trade.

Contenders are doing as expected, I guess Timberwolves are a slight disappointment, but they have no point guard.
I didn't expect the Mavs to do anything, but it looks like they'll be in the play-in race.
 
rjv said:
at the start of the season, my basketball league had a pool on how many games the Spurs would win this year. I went with a 46-36 record. The dude who picked the Spurs at winning 58 may win the pot. I do think, though, that some of us are just wary of games missed due to injuries. hoepefully, the spurs have most of those in the rear window. if so, they have a favorable schedule post All-Star break.
Click to expand...
well, you certainly hope the injuries are behind you but you can never predict them. with that said, this week has been the first time we've been completey healthy.

as it relates to strength of schedule, just by current win%'s, we have the 3rd hardest remaining SOS (https://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength)... with 4 games left against OKC, 3 against Denver, 2 against Detroit, 2 against the Knicks, 2 against the Lakers, and 3 against the Rockets... those are the top 6 teams in the league right now

our next 2 are against the hawks and wizards, so hopefully we can take care of busines
 
spurraider21 said:
well, you certainly hope the injuries are behind you but you can never predict them. with that said, this week has been the first time we've been completey healthy.

as it relates to strength of schedule, just by current win%'s, we have the 3rd hardest remaining SOS (https://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength)... with 4 games left against OKC, 3 against Denver, 2 against Detroit, 2 against the Knicks, 2 against the Lakers, and 3 against the Rockets... those are the top 6 teams in the league right now

our next 2 are against the hawks and wizards, so hopefully we can take care of busines
Click to expand...
yeah, it's tough until the all-star break, but after that the spurs are done with the lakers and the thunder, play the rockets and knicks just once, the pistons twice, and have the nuggets three times (two of those at home and one on the last game of the season-so it may or not be a critical game for either team then.
 
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