The San Antonio Spurs have never been very reliant on free agency to make them a playoff contending roster. In fact, the Spurs’ leading scorer hasn’t came from free agency since 1997.
Greg Popovich and the Spurs won’t be looking to make any major adjustments to their roster that ended the season with the second best record in the NBA. Their only focus should be on keeping their core together & bringing in younger pieces to aid their aging starting five (Starting five age average: 31).
2017 Free Agents
Sporting NewsManu Ginobili (39, UFA) 7.5 PPG – 2.7 APG – 18.7 MPG
Pau Gasol (36, UFA) 12.4 PPG – 7.8 RPG – 25.4 MPG
Joel Anthony (34, UFA) 1.3 PPG – 1.6 RPG – 6.4 MPG
David Lee (34, UFA) 7.3 PPG – 5.6 RPG – 18.7 MPG
Patty Mills (28, UFA) 9.5 PPG – 3.5 APG – 21.9 MPG
Jonathan Simmons (27, RFA) 6.2 PPG – 2.1 RPG – 17.8 MPG
Dewayne Dedmon (27, UFA) 5.1 PPG – 6.5 RPG – 17.5 MPG
The Spurs typically attack free agency the same way every season, so don’t assume they’ll take the road less traveled. When it comes to guys who have already been apart of their roster, expect Jonathan Simmons to get a more lucrative deal. Patty Mills will need to stick around since Tony Parker’s age is finally starting to catch up to him. Joel Anthony, David Lee & Dewayne Dedmon are extremely replaceable pieces in San Antonio, so if they stay it’ll most likely be to a one or two-year-deal.
Adding Pau Gasol this year was supposed to be the icing on defeating Kevin Durant … until he signed with the Golden State Warriors last offseason. Now, Gasol is 36 with some good years still ahead of him, but he’s no longer a team asset. His 16 year career will cause him to become a veteran role player on whichever team he intends to sign with. Manu Ginobili on the other hand has played phenomenal for a 40-year-old in the NBA, and even decided to create his last poster in the series against the Rocket. If Ginobili still thinks he has another year in him, expect for him to continue to be a Spur until the day he hangs it up.
Notable Free Agent Targets
InquisitrKyle Lowry (31, UFA) 22.4 PPG – 7.0 APG – 37.4 MPG
Chris Paul (31, UFA) 18.1 PPG – 9.2 APG – 31.5 MPG
Derrick Rose (28, UFA) 18.0 PPG – 4.4 APG – 32.5 MPG
Tyreke Evans (27, UFA) 10.3 PPG – 3.4 RPG – 19.7 MPG
Greg Monroe (27, UFA) 11.7 PPG – 6.6 RPG – 22.5 MPG
A majority of the players on this list are point guards mainly because of the inevitable departures of Tony Parker & Manu Ginobili in the near future. If both of them aren’t gone by this offseason, then it will most likely be next offseason. Parker’s quad injury may be the tragic ending of his remarkable NBA career, that 10 years ago got him an NBA Finals MVP award. Lowry & Paul are still All-Star caliber PG’s looking for a ring before their careers come to an end, San Antonio is becoming one of the greatest franchises for free agents to ring chase in, so those two will be highly considering signing with guru Greg Popovich this offseason.
The rest of the guys on this list all have had their best years behind them, but are still under 30 and have potential to get back to the top of their game. Derrick Rose & Tyreke Evans have been some of the best ball dominant players in the NBA at one point in time, the Spurs system is known to bring these type of players back out of their shell & bring the best out of them. While Greg Monroe isn’t a PG or a ball dominant guy, he had his first drop off from not averaging 15+ PPG since 2011, by coming off the bench this season for Milwaukee. San Antonio can get Monroe back in a starting lineup & help him become a valuable NBA player once again.
San Antonio is not far off of the spectrum of becoming an NBA Finals contender. Adding one more All-Star & keeping the rest of their roster could possibly get them a spot over Golden State in the Finals. The Spurs will be hungry in 2018 for revenge after choking away the first potential loss for the Warriors in the playoffs. Who knows, if Kawhi Leonard played the whole entire Western Conference Finals, we might’ve been looking at a different champion in June.
