Top issue: Whether to bid adieu to Manu
SAN ANTONIO — Seven months ago, the Spurs convened their first training camp in two decades without Tim Duncan.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich admits he at first felt out of sorts without the franchise touchstone around.
A 60-win season seemed far-fetched at that point, as did a trip to the Western Conference finals.
Popovich was mostly worried about getting a team with seven new players pulling in the same direction.
“We had to back up a little bit and teach things, and try to create habits that had already formed in other groups,” Popovich said. “It was a little bit more challenging.”
By many measures, the Spurs’ 2016-17 season was an unqualified success.
They won 61 games, a total once unthinkable in the first season of the postDuncan era. And when they finally advanced to their first conference finals since 2014 to face Golden State, they thought they had a better-than-outside shot to win it until star forward Kawhi Leonard sprained his left ankle in Game 1.
Tuesday, a day after the Spurs’ game but starcrossed run ended with a 129-115 loss to the Warriors, Popovich dissected the season with a mixture of disappointment and pride.
“There’s only one happy team out of 30,” Popovich said. “At the end of the day, everybody else is sad at some point. But if you have half a brain, you put things into perspective.”
Surprising Spurs Here is that perspective: Once upon a time, the NBA world was sure the Spurs would take a step back once the great Duncan retired.
Instead, they turned in perhaps their best season since last winning a championship.
With Leonard serving as the glue holding together a cast of newcomers — piecing together an MVP-caliber campaign and averaging 25.5 points — the Spurs turned in the NBA’s second-best record.
In the conference finals, they ran into the one team with a better record. Even so, the Spurs led the Warriors’ collection of AllStars by 23 points in Game 1 at the moment Leonard exited for good.
Leonard’s absence was too much to bear for a team that had already lost starting point guard Tony Parker to a brutal quadriceps tendon injury in the second round.
“No excuses, but a lot of unfortunate things happened,” said forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who averaged 15.5 points and shot 41.3 percent in the series. “We still tried to compete and do the best we could do.”
For point guard Patty Mills, who took over for Parker, this season’s Spurs team will remain memorable.
The team’s 39-point romp to close out Houston in the conference semifinals — with Parker and Leonard on the shelf — remains a highlight.
“We didn’t cry when guys went down,” said Mills, one of three players who will hit free agency July 1. “We gave everybody an opportunity to make an impact. We can be proud of everyone stepping up and giving it a crack.”
The first decision of a consequential offseason that began Tuesday involves Manu Ginobili.
The 39-year-old becomes a free agent this summer, and he could become the second Spurs legend in as many years to walk out the door.
“I do feel like I can still play,” Ginobili said. “But that’s not what is going to make me retire or not. It’s about how I feel, if I want to go through all of that again.”
Sizing up Simmons
Also joining the Spurs’ free-agent pool will be swingman Jonathon Simmons, the 27-year-old Development League success story who filled in ably enough once Leonard went down.
Having played for a total of $2.5 million the past two seasons, Simmons should be looking to cash in after averaging 15.3 points against the Warriors.
The Spurs have not ruled out bringing him back.
“We’re thrilled for him,” Popovich said, “because he’s going to have an NBA career now.”
Pau Gasol, David Lee and Dewayne Dedmon all hold player options to return.
At 37, Gasol is unlikely to give up $16.2 million to become of free agent. Lee might also opt in to his $2.32 million after partially tearing his left patella tendon in Game 3 against Golden State.
After falling out of Popovich’s playoff rotation, Dedmon might be tempted to opt out of $3.028 million in search of a bigger paycheck and larger role elsewhere.
In the days to come, Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford will meet to plot the course of the roster.
“(The future) depends on a lot of factors,” Popovich said. “But we value all the guys who are going to be free agents. R.C. and I will sit down and put together a plan, priorities and that sort of thing. It’s no different than any other year.”
There will be time for that as the summer wears on. Tuesday, Popovich was content to pause and salute a team that did not accomplish all that it wanted, but did accomplish more than anyone expected.
“We were basically on a pretty good roll starting Game 1 at Golden State, had some bad fortune, and we don’t get to be the last team standing,” Popovich said. “But when I think about what they accomplished, they deserve a lot of credit.”