Season Record:  55-27

Season Highlight:  Getting back to the NLL finals for the 2^nd time in the last 3 years.  There was a good sense of excitement for the Spurs as they were only 1 series away from hoisting another NLL trophy for GM Leeroy.

Season Lowlight:  Losing the NLL finals.  Like Ricky Bobby says, “If you’re not 1^st, you’re last!”.  Well, that may not be necessarily true, as the Spurs really were a top tier team, but they just could not get past the Bucks, much like everyone else in the NLL last year.  Even the elite Anthony Davis just couldn’t will the Spurs to victory, leaving Leeroy wondering what to tinker with for the next season.

Best Trade:

The Cleveland Cavaliers send Reggie Bullock and Fred VanVleet to the San Antonio Spurs. The San Antonio Spurs send Maurice Harkless and Shake Milton to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The San Antonio Spurs send a 1st-Rounder (Cha) to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

FVV was the true PG that the Spurs needed last year, and did a good job facilitating AD, but he needs to look for his shot more.  There was quality in the players and pick moved to get him, but FVV was still the best player in this deal, and by a bunch.

Worst Trade: 

The Oklahoma City Thunder send Jonah Bolden and Deonte Burton to the San Antonio Spurs. The San Antonio Spurs send Carmelo Anthony and Trey Burke to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder receive 2 GM points. The San Antonio Spurs trade -2 GM points.

This was easily one of the worst trades in all the NLL all of last year.  It’s arguable that if the Spurs DON’T make this trade, that they would have had enough firepower with Melo to beat the Bucks.  The NLL doesn’t live in what ifs, but Melo has had a resurgence and is going to be a solid bench player for the Thunder for the next few years.

Other Notable trades: 

The Atlanta Hawks send Terrence Ross, Tyus Jones and Montrezl Harrell to the San Antonio Spurs. The San Antonio Spurs send T.J. Warren and Myles Turner to the Atlanta Hawks. The San Antonio Spurs send a 2nd-Rounder (SA) to the Atlanta Hawks.

This was probably the 2^nd worst trade for the Spurs this past year.  Warren and Turner are both solid starters. Ross is more of a backup player, Jones has been blah, and Harrell has really been the lone bright spot for SA from this deal.  Warren wasn’t the best 2K player, but neither was AD at first.  This could have been a cap move, but maybe Leeroy should have waited just a little longer for Warren to pan out, since he looks good in the engine this year.

The San Antonio Spurs send Seth Curry to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder use their trade exception over $ 7,461,380.

Mostly a cap move, but was also done prior to his NBA trade.  Curry is a solid player, but his d is a big liability.

The Milwaukee Bucks send Talen Horton-Tucker to the San Antonio Spurs. The Oklahoma City Thunder send Grant Williams to the San Antonio Spurs.

THT has been insane this preseason and if this translates to the regular season, the Spurs stole one from the Bucks. (Not something you can say often).

The Memphis Grizzlies send Keldon Johnson and Leandro Bolmaro to the San Antonio Spurs. The San Antonio Spurs send Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Another cap move, plus with the addition of Ball, Smart was the odd man out.  Sure, everyone liked the pull for the Grizz, but this is a nice affordable grab at young potential prospects and the relief of over $5 million in cap.

The Detroit Pistons send Willy Hernangomez to the San Antonio Spurs. The San Antonio Spurs use their trade exception over $ 1,678,854. The Detroit Pistons receive 32 GM points. The San Antonio Spurs trade -32 GM points.

Not too crazy of a price to get a decent reserve big man, especially when there weren’t many available last year during the offseason.

Star: 

Anthony Davis- C/F

The team starts and ends with Anthony Davis.  He averaged 33.6 PPG and 15.4 RPG to go with 4.1 APG, 2.3 BPG, and 1.4 SPG.  The guy was a true All Star and was deservedly the MVP of the NLL.

Goat:

Fred VanVleet - G

I’m sure some people would say that there were other players on the Spurs that were lacking, but FVV is a top 55 ESPN player and wasn’t even ranked in the top 150 in the NLL.  Sure, AD was taking some of his shine, but FVV really didn’t seem to look for his shot often and was not the 2^nd option that he needed to be for SA.

Free Agents:

Anthony Davis – He resigned in the NBA, and didn’t become a Sign and Trade, which was the biggest fear for Leeroy during the offseason.  Amid sighs of relief, the Spurs will gladly bring back the NLL’s best player for a chance to get to the NLL finals yet again.

Fred VanVleet – He signed a contract extension in the NBA, so he will return for the Spurs.  Hopefully, he will be more effective in the new 2k engine.

Montrezl Harrell – If the Spurs want to resign Harrell, they will likely need to spend a lot of GM to get him to return, since he decided to test the NBA market.  He was a valuable piece for the Spurs, so we expect Leeroy to pony up.

Markieff Morris – Re signed in the NBA, so will be easy for the Spurs to bring back as a key bench player.

Jose Barea – Backup PG that will likely not factor into the Spurs future plans. He was planning on retiring anyway.

Draft Grade:

It was unanimous, as all the experts agreed that the Spurs had an A draft grade.  They may have only had 1 pick, but they grabbed the player most likely to be a star out of the draft.  Lamelo Ball also has the highest floor of all the top 5 players picked.  That the Spurs lucked into him falling to the 4^th pick didn’t hurt.  Yes, they have FVV as the starter, but Ball may be their transition player into the future.

Future: 

Spurs are butting up against the luxury cap and likely will not have much flexibility without moving one of their top players in the near future, unless they unload Terrence Ross, who is slightly overpaid in our assessment.  The Spurs have a good mix of experience and youth, with only one player over the age of 30.  At some point, they may need to trade FVV, Murry or Ball to ensure they could fill the gap they have at SF, but for now, they are still considered a top 5 team in the Western Conference.  Barring injuries, they will easily make it to at least the 2^nd round of the playoffs.