The Starting Lineup
G Dejounte Murray (26-28), G/F DeMar DeRozan (31-33), F Rudy Gay (25-27), F/C LaMarcus Aldridge (31-33), C Pau Gasol (20-22)
In Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Anderson, and Danny Green, the Spurs are losing a combined 136 games started from last season. All three players are very good defenders. San Antonio’s first unit will need to form a completely different identity in 2017-18 to find success.
The first thing that jumps out about this lineup is its utter lack of outside shooting. DeMar DeRozan was the only player of the five who qualified for the leaderboard of my all-inclusive three-point shooting statistic, 3PR, and he only ranked 147th out of 155 qualified players.
DeRozan and Aldridge will function as the meat and potatoes of the offense. Both players will have to accept slightly fewer touches than last season, but the attention each draws has potential to manufacture a lot of easy baskets for teammates.
The 21-year-old Murray will function as the secondary ball-handler, behind DeRozan. He’s hungry for greatness and has been honing his outside shooting stroke in the offseason. His release has gotten smoother and quicker.
👀👀 Dejounte Murray put on an absolute CLINIC @thecrawsover today! @DejounteMurray @JCrossover pic.twitter.com/mSpm9oSNH9
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) July 15, 2018
Even so, the Spurs shouldn’t expect Murray to suddenly become a stud lead guard on offense right away. He needs a lot more work tightening his handle and decision-making and becoming a stronger finisher at the rim.
Gay and Gasol need to lock themselves in the gym this summer and focus almost exclusively on nailing spot-up threes. Both veterans have spent large portions of their careers as major offensive options, but San Antonio needs them to be shooters and ball-movers this season.
Murray will mark opposing point guards with his All-Defensive Second Team vigor. Aldridge is an underrated defender around the rim. The concerns on that end of the floor come courtesy of DeRozan and Gasol. Gasol’s issues are mostly due to having some of the slowest feet in the league, but DeRozan is a poor defender due to lackluster effort.
If Gregg Popovich can motivate the former Raptor wing to step up his defense, this lineup looks a lot better.
Next Page: The Bench
