Highs and Lows of Spurs 2015-16 Schedule

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Editor’s note: The following is a guest post submitted by Kevin Echavarria, who’s from San Antonio and done some work within the TrueHoop Network in the past. You can find out more about him and read more of his stuff here.

There will be at least 98,400 minutes of NBA basketball played in the 2015-2016 regular season, and nobody’s expecting to watch all of that. Spurs fans, in particular, have a more difficult time than most when it comes to navigating the “must-watch” games of the season, as Gregg Popovich’s management of minutes has reached a troll-like level in recent years. Additionally, we all know the games that will be huge: Cleveland, Golden State, Oklahoma City, etc… Thankfully, the Spurs don’t play 82 marquee games — we’re here to help you identify some of the under-the-radar games that have some major #LeaguePassAlert potential. But first, some stray observations:

  • The Starting Gun: This season’s version of the roster is looking substantially different than the title-winning lineups in recent years. Anybody who’s watched the past few seasons and the construction of “super teams,” whether it be LeBron James’ Miami Heat or his Cavaliers, know a slow start is all but assured. And while many might hold onto the idea of, “Yeah, but, the Spurs…” in explaining why things will be different in San Antonio, chances are integrating LaMarcus Aldridge and David West, continuing Kawhi Leonard’s growth as a playmaker, and finding a backup to hold down the forward spot behind Kawhi will get in the way of a blazing-hot start. The schedule certainly doesn’t help, as the Spurs get only two of their first eight games in the newly renovated AT&T Center. Even if they stumble out of the gate, the Spurs do get a reprieve with 23 of their next 39 games at home, which will hopefully give Aldridge enough time to learn how to navigate the San Antonio streets.
  • Back-To-Backs: Popovich’s notorious “rest games” may have had an impact in the design of this season’s schedule, as the Spurs find themselves in the bottom half of the league when it comes to the dreaded back-to-backs, with only 16 after dealing with 21 last season. Even better, the Spurs are one of eight teams with ZERO instances of four games in five nights.
  • Heavyweight Home Stretch: Remember just a moment ago when we mentioned the massive homestand the Spurs have from November through January? Yeah, they’ll need to take advantage of that, as the final month-and-a-half of the regular season is looking absolutely brutal. The Thunder and Warriors both make three appearances in March and April, and Southwest Division rival Memphis bookends a trip to OKC. Toss in visits from the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, and Anthony Davis’ New Orleans Pelicans, and the Spurs will find themselves lucky if they get a moment to catch their breath in the lead-up to the playoffs.
  • Rest? Last season saw Pop eschewing his typical strategy of resting his core before the playoffs out of pure necessity. As the Spurs jostled for positioning, he could not afford to punt any games in a conference where (as the Spurs unfortunately found out) one game meant the difference between home-court advantage and a division crown, and opening up a title run in front of a hostile crowd. Keep an eye out for how Pop manages rest games this season if the Spurs can’t break away from the pack, a la Golden State last year. Now, on to the games to keep an eye out for.
  • Sleepers
  • Saturday, Nov. 28 vs. Atlanta: Spurs-East make an early visit to San Antonio, and with them comes Tiago Splitter’s lone return to the city where he helped win a championship. Aside from the sentimental angle, this should be a fun game, as the Hawks held the best record in the Eastern Conference last year and have one of the better frontcourts in the league, featuring Splitter, a re-signed Paul Millsap and All-Star Al Horford, along with lightning-quick point guard Jeff Teague and sharpshooter Kyle Korver. This was largely recognized as one of the strongest starting fives in the league last year and should deliver once again, even considering DeMarre Carroll’s departure for Toronto.
  • Wednesday, Jan. 6 vs. Utah: Now this is a sleeper game, especially for those looking to pick up tickets for a home game. The Jazz made one hell of a push at the end of last season, competing for the eighth spot in the West, and did it all behind one of the younger, more exciting crews in the league, led by the frontcourt of Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert. The loss of Dante Exum for the season due to an ACL tear he sustained while playing for Australia dampens this matchup somewhat, but even if you spend most of the night watching coach Quin Snyder’s terrifying facial expressions, this game will be well worth it.
  • Wednesday, March 23 vs. Miami: The luster of back-to-back Finals matchups may have worn off, and neither of these teams look the same as they did before Ray Allen’s 3-pointer and Kawhi’s emergence. But with a matchup of two of the better starting lineups in the league coming a month before the playoffs begin, they should both be hitting their strides. Hassan Whiteside is an absolute monster who burst onto the scene in the final months of last season — here’s hoping his upward trajectory continues.
  • Saturday, Nov. 14 vs Philadelphia: Head Coach Brett Brown is a former Pop staffer and…that’s about it. Just kidding on this one, y’all.
  • Letdowns
  • Friday, Dec. 25 at Houston: Christmas has not been kind to San Antonio since 2008, when they defeated the Suns in Phoenix on a Roger Mason corner 3-pointer, and this year doesn’t look much more promising. The first night of a back-to-back after playing in Minnesota two nights earlier, against a Rockets team that has always played the Spurs especially tough, this one could prove difficult to watch as a lead-in to the family dinner. To keep the mood light, it may be better to avoid this one.
  • Saturday, March 19 vs. Golden State: Coming at the end of a five-game homestand with no back-to-backs, this nationally televised tilt against the defending champs doesn’t immediately jump out as a potential letdown. Looking at the four games preceding it, however, things begin to look a bit more iffy. The Chicago Bulls, Clippers, Thunder and Portland Trail Blazers all visit the AT&T Center before Golden State. Even if Pop plays all of his guys, after seeing that much talent come through the building, they may be out of gas by the time Steph Curry & Co. stop by.
  • Friday March 25 vs. Memphis; Friday March 26 at Oklahoma City; Monday March 28 at Memphis: It may be cheating to count all three of these games as one entry, but this is one of the most obvious stretches for a Pop benching. He’ll most likely leave his starters at home when the team travels to Oklahoma City. But don’t worry, the Thunder will be in town the following month for the Spurs penultimate game on April 12, which is being broadcast on TNT. Forecast is not optimistic here, either.
  • thedrwolff

    Completely disagree on the out of the gate stumble….and not because we are “THE SPURS”. Did you actually LOOK at the schedule. other then okc opening night there isnt a top FIFTEEN team in the league until NO at game 12. They could SLEEP to a 10-2 record. The team that finished last season winning everything until the NO debacle is STARTING this season. Splitter was/is a non factor in that equation when compared to Lemarcus. 7 guys of the top 8 return and lets just say that cory, tiago, and Marco were not in the top 6 players last season. We added Arguably the best Power forward in the league ranked somewhere in the 10-15 range for best player in the league. . Now let’s add David West who not two seasons ago was one win away from the finals. Just because he took peanuts to play doesnt mean he stops being DWest. He adds something we havent had in a while, physical intimidation. The dude is big and solid with attitude. Slo mo isnt playing in the D league this season…he’s going to get some minutes. We dont see a top 6 team in the league till the clippers SEVEN WEEKS IN on Dec 18. That is what I call NBA FLUFF schedule. the liklihood is immensely greater that we are contending for the best record in the league at 25-5 before the schedule tightens up. By then the bugs should have all been worked out on the JV’s.

  • Kristian Holvoet

    It may not be a blazing start, but I don’t think it will be a bad as Heat/Cavaliers/LA Lakers recent ‘Super’ teams because the offense and defense is not going to be gutted to incorporate new talent. It, of course, will be adjusted, but in the abstract going from PF/C of Duncan/Splitter to LMA/Duncan isn’t a huge drop-off in D, and a huge gain in O. Parker will probably bounce back, as LMA will be more effective at outside shots, so the help defenders will be a lot less able to sag, and TP will get more room to get to rim, make plays. If Kawhi is close to end of year form, and DG is ready, the offense will probably get into gear pretty quick.

    The bench rotations will be interesting, no doubt.

  • MarkBarton

    I think the minimum number of minutes that will be played in the regular season is (number of games)x(number of teams/2) x (number of minutes in a game)

    The teams are divided by two because each game has two teams participating.

    So: 82 x 15 x 48 = 59,040

    I can’t even believe I checked the math on this … but the number of minutes in the season in the article appears to be wrong. Of course, the real number is going to be larger because of overtime games. The number of player minutes is ten times the game minutes since 10 players are on the floor.

  • brunostrange

    Not happy about the loaded home stretch. If the Spurs are humming at the end of the season, it’ll be fun to watch them take on presumable Western contenders, but at the same time could well rob the team of opportunities to rest its players in prep for the playoffs.

  • DorieStreet

    I guess the super successful free agency summer the Spurs pulled off -and being one season removed from being an NBA Champion-keeps them in the “bona fide - real title contender” category still-therefore being a marquee draw this upcoming season.
    The fortified, new-look team starts 2015-16 on the road in 7 of its first 10 nationally televised games (ESPN, NBATV, TNT)-and the opponents are all 2015 playoff teams …except OKC on opening night.
    Even the Christmas Day showcase game is an away game—and it will be the third year in a row that the Spurs have to play a back-to-back H/A or A/H combo on Dec. 25th-26th.