NOTHING BUT NET
San Antonio sinks near the bottom of the West after 20 years of success
DeMar DeRozan is getting his points, but man, what’s happened to the mighty Spurs?
What the San Antonio Spurs are going through right now is unprecedented, a franchise in unrecognizably difficult times.
There are people who have closely followed the NBA for two decades who have no memory whatsoever of a Spurs team that is struggling as mightily as this one is.
After a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, the Spurs awoke as occupiers of 14th place in the 15-team Western Conference, owners of an 11-14 record and one of the worst defences in recent franchise history.
There was a shocking and telling statistic unearthed by Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press this week after the Spurs were blown out 139-105 by the Utah Jazz: In 1,717 regular-season games — covering a span from March 1997 to late November 2018 — San Antonio had lost by more than 30 points just three times. That’s incredible.
What’s more incredible? In a four-game span punctuated by that loss to Utah, San Antonio had lost three games by more than 30 three times. Three in 1,717. Three in four. These are nothing like the Spurs every fan has come to know — or any new Spurs player, for that matter.
“It’s frustrating,” DeMar DeRozan was quoted as saying after the Lakers loss. “This organization hasn’t lost like this — I haven’t lost like this — in a while.
“So close against so many great teams, and (then losing) a few games in an embarrassing way sucks, but we’re all grown men. We have to understand the beauty of adversity is how you get out of it.”
It’s probably too early to totally count the Spurs out. They were only two games out of eighth place in the West going into Thursday night and there is talent on the team.
They have been decimated by the loss of emerging point guard Dejounte Murray to injury, plus Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green to Toronto. Manu Ginobili retired and Tony Parker went to Charlotte. So, the extenuating circumstances are legit. But they are still the Spurs, and to count them out of at least playoff contention now is a stretch.
DeRozan’s been great — he’s had 19 games of 20 or more points already this year — and fans and opponents take the Spurs lightly at their peril.
One of the more interesting facts is that there isn’t a lot of glee around the NBA over what San Antonio is going through. None of the other 29 teams are cheering for them and everyone who plays them wants to beat them, but San Antonio’s reputation as a first-class organization for decades has at least bought them a measure of sympathy. Every team goes through rebuilding periods at some point — it’s the circle of NBA life — and the feeling is that because the Spurs are the Spurs, and coach Gregg Popovich is universally respected, this one isn’t as gleefully accepted as many others.
But the reality is that these are unfamiliar times in San Antonio and, in some way, the league feels different because they aren’t good.