No matter what the San Antonio Spurs looked like before the All-Star break, head coach Gregg Popovich is going to try to force his team back into the playoffs. It’s in their nature to compete and be the best version of themselves—tanking is not in the Spurs’ vocabulary and more than likely never will be.
In order to achieve this, some players’ minutes need to be sacrificed and some exploratory lineups must be implemented. This could mean a playing time reduction for defensive liabilities like guards Bryn Forbes and Marco Belinelli, and the dream backcourt of Dejounte Murray and Derrick White should certainly be explored in pursuit of the playoffs.