In the 2021-22 season, Spurs scored 34 wins and 48 losses, ranking 10th in the West. In the first round of the play-off, the team was eliminated by Pelican. This is the second consecutive year that they fell in the play-off. In the post-GDP era, Spurs experienced another frustrated season.
A summer has passed in a blink of an eye, and the new season is just around the corner. What did this team do during the off-season? What is the prospect of the new season? Let’s take a look.
Turnover of main personnel during off-season
Join: Sohan (draft), Branham (draft), Blake-Wesley (draft)
Leave: dezhantai-Murray (trading), Lonnie-Walker (free market)
Renewal in advance: Kelden-Johnson
Resumption of off-season operations
For the Spurs last season, the summer of 2018 was their starting point. At that time, Ginobili retired, Parker went far away from Charlotte, Leonard left as he wished, and the team officially entered a new cycle. At that time, the strategy they adopted was to cultivate new people while competing for the Crown, which could be seen from the fact that they exchanged Leonard for DeRozan instead of talent selection rights and potential stars. However, in the past four years, Spurs suffered a lot on this road. Instead of giving consideration to both ends, they lost both ends. The team has never failed, and there is no potential new star worthy of team building in the team.
In the end, Spurs made a lot of adjustments to the team building strategy. This summer, they chose to take a more conventional road of reconstruction, which was to mess up. On this road, the team has done very thoroughly this year.
On June 30, Spurs reached a heavy deal with the eagle, sending Murray back to Gary Nelly, three first-round picks and one first-round signing swap. After the opening of the free market, they did not sign any high-level players in the market, such as Isaiah Robby, Giang, Jordan Hall, azee Johnson, Dominic Barlow and westcamp, among these new players who have joined or renewed their contracts, the highest annual salary is Giang, and his salary in the new season is 2.64 million. After a series of operations, Spurs basically made itself one of the weakest teams in the league.
Objectively speaking, these operations of Spurs are commendable. Since they are going to be rotten, they should be completely laid flat. For Spurs now, losing is winning. As long as they become one of the three teams with the worst record, they have the highest probability of winning the lottery in 23 years; if they become the team with the worst record, they can get the 5th sign at the worst. 23 years is the year of the talent show, and Wen banyama is also known as an immortal genius. For them, there is no chance to lose. When will they stay without diving?
The new season will be the starting point of a bad road in Spurs. The end may end in the new season, but it may also end in the 23-24 season or 24-25 season. The first step to rebuild the team by playing bad is to hoard talents. This stage may end in one year, but it may last for two or three years. In the process of team building, finding the cornerstone of team building is the most difficult part and the most painful stage, but it is also what a team must experience if it wants to return to its peak.
In terms of draft picks, there were three first-round signatures this year Spurs. In addition to their own, the other two were from Celtics (white transaction) and Raptors (Saidis-Yang transaction). The team selected Sohan (show 9), Branham (show 20) and Wesley (show 25) respectively in these three first rounds. These three players will get opportunities in the new season. What they have to do is to try their best to show themselves and try to realize their potential.
In addition to the bad and draft, there is also an operation to layout the future during the off-season Spurs, which is to renew Kelden-Johnson in advance. In the middle of July, the two sides reached an early renewal of $80 million for four years. Observing this renewal is actually the consistent practice of Spurs. They did this to Murray (4 years 70 million) and White (4 years 73 million) in 19 years. It is a good business to lock a young player who is still in the rising stage and has the prospect of starting with a contract that is not too high. If the team finds its own cornerstone in the next two years, then Kelden can be a powerful assistant. If it is not found, it is better to trade. The team had already gained rich returns on Murray and white. Keldon averaged 17.0 points and 6.1 rebounds 2.1 assists last season, with a three-point shooting rate, he is obviously worthy of the team’s investment in him.
Lineup depth
The following is the basic information of the lineup for the Spurs New season:
Defenders: Trey Jones, Primo, Blake Wesley, Richardson
Attack lines: Vassel, Branham, Langford, McDermott, Kelden-Johnson, Sohan, Diop, Westkamp, Robby
Insider: Peltel, Zac Collins, Giang
Although there are many players who can play in every line, this is a set of training team. The current average age of Spurs is 24.3 years old, and they are the fourth youngest team in the league. Many fans have always described Spurs as a military school, which is really worthy of the name this time.
Outlook for the new season
The last four years have been wasted for Spurs. They only played 3 playoff games at home. This cruel reality finally made them decide to change their course and embark on a rotten road. Several teams in the league that began to rot in about 18 years have now returned to the league’s top teams, such as grizzly bears and Knights, which may give Spurs some encouragement. If the reconstruction goes well, they are expected to regain their competitiveness in the next four years. The goal of the team in the new season is only one, that is, super new humanistic banyama. For this goal, they have All in.