A little while ago, I made a post about how the San Antonio Spurs could get better using statistics. A season and change later, it’s
time to re-examine the players involved in that piece and see how the Spurs are
playing.
As of the new year of 2022, the Spurs are 14-20, with
the 5 players averaging the most minutes per game being Dejounte Murray, Keldon
Johnson, Derrick White, Jakob Poeltl, and Doug McDermott. Murray is the only
player who was in the starting 5 from last season. White, Johnson, Poeltl were
all on the roster and have moved into bigger roles, while McDermott is a free
agent signing in his first season with the Spurs. The previous starting 5 was Murray, Bryn Forbes, DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Trey Lyles. 3 of those players (DeRozan, Aldridge, and Lyles) have moved on. Forbes, after winning an NBA
championship with the Bucks, returned to the Spurs this season.
The 2019-20 Spurs line-up had a win co-efficient of 0.579.
The top line-up that I looked at was the starting 5 of Murray, DeRozan, Will
Barton, Aaron Gordon, and LaMarcus Aldridge, with a win co-efficient of 0.802. As
previously stated, DeRozan and Aldridge are on other teams (the Chicago Bulls
and the Brooklyn Nets, respectively). Gordon and Barton both play for the
Denver Nuggets, after a 2021 trade sent Gordon from Orlando to Denver.
Using
the current stats of the players for the 2021-22 season, we can determine the
win co-efficient of both the Spurs’ current line-up and their theoretical
counterparts.
The proposed line-up has a win co-efficient of 0.728,
down from the previous win co-efficient 0.802. This can likely be explained by
LaMarcus Aldridge taking a reduced role in Brooklyn. The Spurs current line-up
has a win co-efficient of 0.596, up from the previous iteration’s 0.579.but
still a ways away from being a consistent playoff team and championship
contender.
The Spurs also have a group
of promising young prospects who could potentially make them championship
contenders in the future, with players like Devin Vassell, Josh Primo, and
Lonnie Walker IV set to break into the starting line-up and serve as the
difference makers that could change the Spurs’ future in the years to come.
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