Heat offer the Spurs model for a quick fix
When they look back at the bubble, the Spurs have to feel better about themselves.
It’s not only because of who just left.
It’s also about who remains. There is no mourning in San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard, of course. His longstanding desire to be a Clipper contributed to his unceremonious exit from the Spurs two years ago, and so his inglorious departure from the NBA’S Disney World campus, with his dream team having been relegated to a meme machine, probably drew at least a faint smile in the Spurs’ offices.
The sound of Leonard laughing at a championship parade last summer lent credence to the theory that the Spurs should have done more to cater to his wishes. The sight of Doc Rivers staring into space Tuesday night served as evidence that franchises that cater can wind up miserable, too.
But the most encouraging thing about these playoffs for the Spurs isn’t the demise of a hero-turned-adversary. Instead, it’s the rise of an adversaryturned-role model.
In the early years of the previous decade, the Spurs’ biggest task was overcoming the Miami Heat.
Now, they have an opportunity to emulate them.
The Spurs and Heat have tended to be compared to each other over the years, and not only because they battled each other in back-to-back NBA Finals. Gregg Popovich and Erik Spoelstra are the two longesttenured head coaches in the league. And around the league, when players, coaches and scouts use the word “system,” they’re most commonly referring to the systems in San Antonio and Miami.
Both franchises are known for consistency, and both have found ways to span different championship eras without much drop-off.
Their methods of talent acquisition haven’t always been the same — the Heat memorably
dove into free agency to land Lebron James, and later pounced on a unique trade opportunity in acquiring Jimmy Butler — but the important common thread is that neither organization has seen the need to bottom out.
The Spurs famously made the playoffs in 22 consecutive seasons before finally missing the cut this year. The Heat have stayed home four times in the past 17 postseasons, but never two years in a row. Even more interestingly, they have contradicted the popular theory that the best way for NBA teams to rebuild is to become bad enough to secure a top draft pick.
In fact, so far these entire 2020 bubble playoffs have been a monthlong refutation of the “tank for talent” premise. Here is a list of this year’s eight conference semifinalists, along with each team’s highest-drafted player taken with its own selection:
Celtics: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, both No. 3 overall.
Nuggets: Jamal Murray, No. 7.
Heat: Tyler Herro, No. 13.
Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo, No. 14.
Raptors: O.G. Anunoby,
No. 23.
Rockets: Isaiah Hartenstein, No. 43.
Clippers: Terance Mann, No. 48.
Lakers: none (Kyle Kuzma, acquired in a draft-day trade, was selected 27th).
These were the best teams in the league this season, and Boston is the only one that depended a decent dose of draft lottery luck to get there. Despite the popular narrative about how it’s better in the NBA to be terrible for a year or two and collect draft picks than it is to be mediocre, that simply hasn’t been true in reality.
Franchise-altering No. 1 picks who stay around long enough to win championships are almost nonexistent. Tim Duncan was an aberration. And teams that intentionally subject themselves to losing seasons in order to land their version of Duncan often find that it’s not so easy. Ask Philadelphia.
No, not everyone can copy the Lakers and sign the most coveted free agents on the market. Not everyone can attract players like Leonard and Paul George the way the Clippers did. The Spurs probably won’t be in position to secure a talent like Butler for pennies on the dollar the way the Heat did.
But Miami has proved that if a team is smart, a rebuilding project doesn’t have to take a half-decade. Championship-level talent can be found outside the top 10 in the draft order, and this is where the Spurs can be effective, too.
In addition to Herro, the Heat have received big contributions this month from Bam Adebayo (a No. 14 pick), Duncan Robinson (an undrafted free agent) and Kendrick Nunn (also undrafted).
Suddenly, it doesn’t seem so outlandish for the Spurs to think they can build around their recent run of mostly late firstround picks (Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, Lonnie Walker and Keldon Johnson), plus whoever they take with the 11th selection this fall.
They’ll need a star, and probably one bigger than Demar Derozan or Lamarcus Aldridge. But perhaps a homegrown one can emerge the way Adebayo did in Miami, and perhaps Popovich can tinker with his system on the fly, the way Spoelstra did.
Nobody is predicting a run to the conference finals for the Spurs next year. But nobody predicted one for the Heat this year, either.
So when the Spurs look back at the bubble?
They have more than one reason to smile.