Still, Lyles has been the consummate professional in accepting his reduced role, which has earned a lot of respect from his teammates and Coach Popovich. Trey’s minutes have plummeted from 20.2 to 11.8 this season, and he’s only made an appearance in 14 games, with many of those minutes being in garbage time. After starting in 53 games last season, Lyles has only started in two of the Spurs’ 27 games so far and is playing the least amount of minutes of every player in the rotation. I was correct in saying Trey Lyles would be a fringe player capable of losing his starting spot, but I didn’t go nearly as far as I should’ve when you consider what’s happened with him since. Using a combination of past tendencies and personal judgment, I predicted DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Dejounte Murray as locks for the starting lineup (which turned out to be accurate). In December of last year, I took a shot at predicting the Spurs’ starting lineup locks, fringe guys, and potential break-ins with the season approaching. I’m certainly not immune to cold takes myself. “Trey Lyles will be a fringe player that will likely round out the starting lineup” San Antonio Spurs Trey Lyles (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) / 2. 500 team, but the degree to which he was off here is what deserves to be called out. I don’t blame the author for thinking the Spurs might be a below.
I get it - it’s rough having to predict how all 30 NBA teams will fare in an upcoming season full of more unknowns than usual. Those 29 wins had San Antonio with a 15 percent probability of reaching the NBA playoffs.įorward to present day, and the Spurs have won 59.3 percent of their games, a mark better than each of the last three seasons. This December prediction from Bleacher Report had this year’s Spurs finishing with a 40.2 percent winning percentage, a mark they haven’t fallen to since the 1996-97 season. Still, the team won 45.1 percent of its games despite having the fifth-worst defense in the league. Last season’s team was plagued by two defensive black holes getting way too many minutes at the wing position. I know the San Antonio Spurs didn’t look like they’d make much noise considering their performance last season, but this prediction was ridiculous from the start. The San Antonio Spurs will finish 12th in the West at 29-43 San Antonio Spurs DeMar DeRozan (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) / 1. Not many thought Gregg Popovich could have this team tied for the league’s eighth-best record with 38 percent of the season in the books, yet here we are.Īs we await the return of the Silver and Black to the court next week, I wanted to take some time to call out some of the freezing cold takes we’ve all seen about the Spurs that are being thawed out in front of our eyes. So far this season, just about everyone has been wrong about their overall expectations of this year’s San Antonio Spurs - myself included. The San Antonio Spurs are proving doubters wrong One day, as I used a dustpan to scoop two inches of snow off my car’s windshield, the idea for this one popped into my head. While the Spurs were being isolated in a Charlotte hotel for the past six days, I had some time laying under three blankets wearing three pairs of socks to brainstorm ideas for my next article. While I had it pretty easy compared to many Texans who were in much more dire situations, I still got a firsthand look at just how powerful extreme weather can be. Fortunately, a relative was one of the mere 33 percent of San Antonio residents that didn’t experience power outages, so I was able to spend two nights at her house while I waited for my power and water to be restored. Sunday night, my pipes froze, followed by two days of extremely sporadic power in the midst of freezing outside temperatures. Not only has their schedule been frozen after an outbreak of COVID-19 cases struck the team, but freezing temperatures struck their hometown for most of the week.īeing a resident of San Antonio, I was affected pretty heavily by the winter storm that swept through the entire state of Texas. San Antonio Spurs Devin Vassell Patty Mills Keldon Johnson (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) /įrozen conditions have been surrounding the San Antonio Spurs lately.