The San Antonio Spurs are currently 27-36 (12th in the Western Conference) putting them 4.0 games back from the 8th seed with only eight games left. While that would be good enough to clinch a play-in tournament, they’re behind Portland, New Orleans, and Sacramento in the pecking order as the current 12th seed.
It’ll be even tougher to move up the Conference standings now considering LaMarcus Aldridge decided to relieve a lingering rotator cuff injury by undergoing a shoulder procedure that will prematurely end his 2019-20 season. As the NBA is set to return from the COVID-19 quarantine, the Spurs must get innovative to replace their 2nd leading scorer.
UPDATE: San Antonio Spurs 7x All-Star PF LaMarcus Aldridge will miss the remainder of the 2019-20 NBA season after undergoing shoulder surgery pic.twitter.com/hJAkIFSMAb
— Pro Sports Outlook (@PSO_Sports) June 8, 2020
During his nine-year career with the Portland Trailblazers, LaMarcus Aldridge averaged 19.4 PPG and 8.5 RPG as the unquestioned leader of the franchise. Although those numbers aren’t astounding, Aldridge was a dominant force that frustrated defenders with his high release, potent technique, and exceptional footwork. For those reasons, the Texas native was seen as a poor man’s Tim Duncan, so the Spurs were able to ease the burden of losing the greatest Power Forward of all-time by signing Aldridge to a 4y/$84M contract before the 2015-16 season.
Four years later, the Spurs and LaMarcus Aldridge agreed to a new 2y/$50M contract that would keep the Dallas native in his home state through 2021. Aldridge experienced heart ailments soon after becoming a pro but has mostly stayed healthy throughout his career. His 53 games this season will be the least he’s ever played. Unfortunately, Aldridge is now dealing with a rotator cuff issue, which is one of the most tender areas in sports when it comes to surgical procedures and the next NBA game he plays after rehabbing will be as a 35-year-old.
LaMarcus Aldridge is one of the best stretch Forward/Centers of the 21st Century. However, with Aldridge’s health deteriorating and age taking its course, the Spurs are almost guaranteed they won’t be getting near the $25M production they expected from the soon to be 35-year-old next season. However, the former second overall pick did have one of the most efficient years (49.3 FG% & 38.9 3PT%) of his career and most post-focused big men take longer to be phased out of the league as long as they can keep up on the defensive end.
The rotator cuff gets damaged by repetitive overhead use of the arm and as a big man with a high release, Aldridge will struggle to shoot and rebound until his shoulder is 100%. When it comes to older players, the franchise has to take the safest approach, especially when it’s clear the team doesn’t have high playoff aspirations this year, regardless of if the all-time consecutive postseason appearance record is at stake.
Thankfully, the Spurs are a progressive-thinking franchise that required Aldridge to get the surgery back in April. With plenty of time to recover and no heir apparent on the roster, the Spurs might want to retain the 14-year veteran after the 2020-21 season but have to do so at a depreciated price tag. His interest in returning to Portland has been well-documented though.
FUTURE OUTLOOK: INJ (Injured)
The biggest downfall for the San Antonio Spurs has been the disbandment of their frontcourt. When the Spurs were a dominant team in the past, they were always anchored by some of the greatest big men to play the game in Hall of Famers Tim Duncan and David Robinson. The Spurs organization hasn’t had nearly as much success since it’s been headed by big man LaMarcus Aldridge.
San Antonio was looking to supplement LA with quality talent as they were originally going to enter the season with either the “Latvian Laser” Davis Bertans (who’s exceeded all expectations in Washington this year) or the versatile Marcus Morris (who’s averaging a career-high 17. PPG). However, now they don’t have any of the three on the active roster.
Although both Bertans and Morris are considered Forwards, they takes tons of pressure off the big men they play with by knocking down threes at an exceptional rate (Bertans 42% & Morris 41%). Instead, the Spurs had to settle this year with an underwhelming Trey Lyles and an aging Rudy Gay, who’s better suited to come off the bench at this point in his career.
After being selected with the ninth pick of the 2016 NBA Draft, Jakob Poeltl has shown little to no promise in the league as he’s never averaged over 7 PPG or 5.5 RPG. He’s been stuck behind Jonas Valuncianis, Serge Ibaka, and Aldridge throughout his career but as a former top-ten pick, he has to play himself into a situation where he can be seen as the guy. Poeltl showed some signs that he could be an effective piece when he started all seven playoff games for the Spurs last year.
However, Poeltl couldn’t turn that momentum into production as he’s struggled to find his footing this season. As the next man up, he has a huge opportunity to walk into restricted free agency with some momentum to earn some extra cash, but it’s going to take a drastic uptick in his production for a franchise to take that chance.
Chimezie Metu and Drew Eubanks are both under 6’10 and can’t be counted on to be anything more than depth pieces that the Spurs took a flier on. Neither of these two players are considered long-term pieces as they’ve struggled to gain minutes and lack future potential. With Trey Lyles and Rudy Gay being seen as strictly Power Forwards, the Spurs have a lot of depth issues up front without many opportunities to make any significant moves. In these final eight games, expect the Spurs to go as small as possible to try to beat teams with speed and Popovich’s innovative sets.
While the front office and Head Coach are among the cream of the crop, the Spurs’ lack of talent is preventing them from re-emerging as a dominant franchise. The era of former All-Stars Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker running the show is over and their 22-year playoff streak is finally on the cusp of termination. The Spurs are even set to finish last in their division for the first time since the 1986-87 season.
With DeMar DeRozan able to test the market this summer, Aldridge’s future outlook in question, and only Dejounte Murray proving himself as a long-term starter on this team, the San Antonio Spurs are in big trouble. They could be the team most likely to finish with a lottery pick out of the 22-team field this year, but more importantly, their future has never been more in question. This news about Aldridge is just insult to injury (or vice versa).
SPURS’ CENTER OUTLOOK: C-
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