One of the biggest issues the Spurs faced earlier in the season was the high turnover of personnel over the summer, which resulted in a lack of familiarity. A franchise which always puts a premium in preserving continuity found itself trying to establish a new identity on the fly.
At the individual level, the effects were noticeable to the naked eye. The players simply didn’t know each other’s tendencies, which was especially harmful on defense. At the team level, the problem manifested itself in the flawed and underperforming groupings Gregg Popovich was putting together.