El Conclusion: The 2014-2015 Season

All-NBA 3rd team, All-NBA Defense 2nd team. He was the most consistent Spur all season long and carried the team during that grueling month of December when it felt like the whole team was banged up (17.9 ppg, 11.5 reb, 3.7 ast, 2.2 blk in 34.5 mpg). Those numbers were nearly identical against the Los Angeles Clippers where Duncan was again the most consistent Spur. Safe to say we’ll all welcome him back with open arms.

Defensive Player of the Year. All-NBA Defense 1st team. An eye injury to start the season and just when it felt like he was shaking off an early season funk suffered a ligament injury to his shooting hand which kept him out 17 of 19 games (including the aforementioned brutal December). His defense was top notch throughout the entire season, but it was post All-Star break where his offense took off and so did the Spurs. He had an uneven series against the Clippers and will need to continue to work on trusting his own offense, but it’s obvious he’s on the cusp of superstardom.

So this is where things get murky. Advanced stats suggest he was actually better this season than last, but that certainly doesn’t paint the entire picture on Splitter’s season. Full disclosure, I love Splitter. He’s such a versatile defender. He’s one of the few defenders who has the ability to effectively guard both Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph (just an example). It was clear he wasn’t 100% against the Clippers and that made things that much easier for Blake Griffin to go nuts in the first round. A healthy Splitter would’ve slowed Griffin a bit. So injuries derailed much of his season and when he was healthy enough to play, he struggled to regain the role that had been build for him the two previous seasons. He looked great in March, averaging seasons highs across the board and that’s when the Spurs looked their sharpest. Moving forward is a murky proposition as well. If the Spurs are serious about a LaMarcus Aldridge.Marc Gasol run, Splitter’s contract may be something that needs to go to make the numbers work. Or he could get healthy and the Spurs make another run at things.

Another season marred by injury. Parker went from being a top five point guard in the league to a guy where fans of his own team wondered why he wasn’t on the bench at the end of playoff games. It wasn’t an entirely unfair criticism, Parker looked so beat up by April. A longer than normal summer should provide Parker plenty of rest. I don’t think we can expect MVP level Parker consistently moving forward, but it’s OK to expect better than this past season. Wouldn’t hurt the Spurs to find another guy that can break down the defense, especially if Manu retires, but Tony Parker is definitely going to be this team’s floor general for at least the next couple of seasons.

How do we properly rate Green? He had a career year across the board. Points, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals all up. However, the inconsistencies were still there. He had a dreadful shooting month in February and still has his flubs on defense, which gets him a short leash or an earful from Coach Pop. He’s the biggest offseason question mark moving forward. He and Kawhi are the best defensive wing tandem in the league. He’s not easily replaced. Having said that, he could be really expensive this summer. Evaluating his worth is going to be really tricky. This season alone though? I thought he was great.

One of the few times a veteran didn’t get better in his second year with the team. I don’t think this was an adjusting to the system thing, but an injury/rotation consistency thing. Belinelli struggled at his primary job, knocking down open shots. Things got better when he got healthy in February and March, but he never got things going like the 2013-2014 season, arguably the best of his career. One of several free agents, I don’t think anyone will be bummed to see him back at a fair price, but no one will be that bummed if he goes either.

It feels terrible giving him this grade, but it’s clear Red Mamba has officially entered the twilight of his career. It really started a couple of seasons ago, but he’s in 12th-15th man zone. Also a free agent, have we seen the last of Bonner, but of course the 48MoH crew hopes he’s back. He’s a great locker room presence and an all-around fun dude.

The hardest Spur to grade. When he had it going he was really good and borderline irreplaceable. But man was he inconsistent this season, especially shooting the ball. He has a very friendly contract and clearly brings more to the table than he takes away, but I’d say he’s a dark horse trade candidate if the Spurs have to get serious about shedding cap space for a big fish in free agency.

I think his playoff performance was much more indicative of what his season should’ve looked like. He missed the first two months while recovering from shoulder surgery and clearly took time to get 100% healthy and rediscover his rhythm. While it’s clear he’s an important cog off the bench moving forward, the next guy on the list will do a lot in determining the specifics of his role.

Things looked worse than they were. His numbers were comparable to the last couple of seasons, though often times he looked a hair slow. It’s possible we grade him on a much sharper curve because of who he’s been his entire career. The other problem is his bad looks really bad. Errant passes, shots look way short. But he was still the floor general of a very good bench and if he leaves the Spurs are going to have a hell of a time replacing/replicating even late career Manu’s role. We’ll write the Manu eulogy when he makes his decision later this summer, but take it easy on Manu. It wasn’t great this season, but it was far from bad.

He played fine in clean up duty but it’s clear that, at least for the Spurs, he’s nothing more than the fifth big on the roster. I don’t know if he’ll be back, but in the grand scheme of things I’m not sure how much it matters.

The growth of the Baynger was the surprise of season. He went from guy who shouldn’t play more than a 10 minutes a game to legit rotation big. He’s probably still best suited as the fourth big for a team, but his offense improved by leaps and bounds. Defensively he isn’t nearly as dynamic as Splitter, but he still had a solid defensive rating throughout the season. He’s got a $2.6 million player option for next season. It’ll be really interesting to see what he decides to do.

Another pleasant surprise. CoJo filled in admirably when Tony Parker was out and really made some big strides as an offensive player. The problem is he’s still the third point guard on the depth chart. He has to want more playing time. He’s probably going to get more offers than the Spurs are ready to give him. Do the Spurs think he can be the primary bench ball handler. Is he dynamic enough to take on that role if Manu retires? If Manu doesn’t retire is he patient enough to wait another year or two for a bigger role (probably not).