While the league continued its march towards greater pace, space and lineup versatility, last year’s Spurs were an evolutionary atavism, the NBA’s ornery champions of the long two. They leaned on one of the deeper (and more effective) big-man rotations, ranked 27th in pace and took the 25th-most three-point attempts.
That all made sense given their personnel and the system they were moving on from, but circumstances have changed. This summer’s roster moves make a shift to small ball almost inevitable, with the team suddently short on bigs and stocked with positionless, multi-skilled players who could be sharing the floor more than ever.