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How the Spurs kept Spursing without Kawhi Leonard

Ronald Martinez / Getty Images Sport / Getty

You'd think we'd have learned by now never to doubt the San Antonio Spurs. We've learned that lesson a thousand times over. It's been bludgeoned into the collective NBA consciousness so forcefully and repeatedly it ought to have been impossible to forget.

And yet, after a head-scratching offseason that saw them whiff on Chris Paul and then (seemingly) overpay to extend LaMarcus Aldridge, re-sign Pau Gasol and Patty Mills, and bring in Rudy Gay, it was hard to imagine them keeping pace in a revamped Western Conference. Then, Kawhi Leonard picked up some kind of freak quad injury, and it seemed the Spurs' reckoning had finally arrived. Without Leonard, they looked like little more than an aging, misfit roster with a band of ho-hum role players surrounding a small handful of former stars in steep decline.

The Spurs are the league's second-oldest team, and no other player on their roster was even a borderline All-Star last season. Gasol is 37, and ostensibly incapable of defending effectively in space; Tony Parker is 35, still recovering from a serious quad injury of his own, and looked like a broken-down husk for most of last season; Manu Ginobili is older than some head coaches; Gay, on top of being about the least Spursy player you could dream up, was coming off an Achilles tear; and Aldridge, the Spurs' only real hope for a stop-gap offensive fulcrum in Leonard's absence, spent last season looking lost, disengaged, and miserable. They had scant hope of replacing the production of the man who had anchored their defense and used over 31 percent of their offensive possessions.

Ha, ha, ha! The Spurs are 19-8, with the NBA's 12th-best offense, third-best defense, and fifth-best net rating. They've been helped by a soft schedule, but their 6-6 record against .500-or-better teams still ranks seventh in the NBA. It's no secret that coach Gregg Popovich is a basketball warlock, but this is a level of Popovichian voodoo we haven't seen before. Now that Leonard is set to return (with some newly acquired skills), let's take stock of how the Spurs managed to not only survive, but thrive without him.

The defense never rests

Despite starting two plodding, earthbound bigs and having no elite individual defenders outside of Danny Green, the Spurs are finding ways to smother teams. Turns out you don't need athleticism and quickness when you rotate on a string, contest shots without leaving your feet, never stop moving your hands, and avoid bad gambles. When everyone is always where they're supposed to be, it makes up for a lot.

The Spurs' pick-and-roll coverage is ultra-conservative, which makes sense given their personnel. But while having their bigs drop back can leave them susceptible to pull-up jumpers (they're a bottom-10 team at defending pick-and-roll ballhandlers), that's a tradeoff they gladly take in order to better guard against the roll (a higher-efficiency play), and keep their bigs close to the hoop to alter shots and clean the defensive glass.

They're also able to mitigate a lot of the potential damage because they fight through screens as ferociously as any team, and buy themselves time to recover by poking balls loose and sticking their arms in passing lanes. When they do switch, their smaller guys dig their heels in and battle in the post, and when their bigs get yanked out to the perimeter, their wings swoop in to protect the rim (Green, Gay, and Kyle Anderson average 3.5 blocks per 36 minutes between them). And of course, they do all this without fouling - a hallmark of every Pop-coached outfit.

Gasol and Aldridge may not be the most mobile of defenders, but they can still stonewall anyone who tries to post them up. Opponents score just 0.68 points per post-up possession against the Spurs, the lowest mark in the league.

Tally it all up, and these old, Kawhi-less Spurs rank second in blocks, third in deflections, fourth in opponent free-throw rate, eighth in opponent 3-point attempt rate, sixth in defensive rebound rate, eighth in opponent field-goal percentage at the rim, and third in percentage of total shots contested.

Un-coaching LaMarcus

Aldridge has been the biggest beneficiary of Leonard's absence. He's getting nearly seven more frontcourt touches per game than he did a year ago, and posting his highest usage rate as a Spur, as the team has reoriented its offense to flow through him. That new role has totally rejuvenated him, and he's responded by posting career bests in scoring rate, PER, true shooting percentage, free-throw rate, turnover rate, and win shares per 48 minutes.

Popovich explained recently he felt he "over-coached" Aldridge the last two seasons, asking Aldridge to change for him rather than adapting to Aldridge. "I tried to turn him into Jack Sikma, told him I was going to teach him how to play on the elbow, go on the wing, face up," Pop said. "It was confusing for him. It really didn’t fit his style of play." Now the Spurs are starting possessions by feeding Aldridge in the post, and letting him probe and survey the floor as cutters zoom all around him.

All the off-ball activity makes it difficult for teams to send help, and when they opt to play him straight up, Aldridge goes to work. Only Joel Embiid is finishing more possessions via post-up this season, and despite the increased volume, he's scoring seven more points per 100 post-up possessions than last season. The Spurs score 8.8 more points per 100 with Aldridge on the floor, and their offensive rating with him on the bench would rank 28th. Unshackled, he's made the Spurs' defensive effort matter by keeping their offense above water.

A new mandate

Another thing Aldridge has been given license to do more of is crash the offensive glass. Popovich's teams rarely do this, opting to focus instead on transition defense. The Spurs have ranked in the bottom 10 in offensive rebounding rate in nine of the past 11 seasons, and have been bottom-five in four of them. It's been two decades since they've ranked higher than 10th. But while the rest of the league collectively hews closer to Pop's ethos, San Antonio is veering away from it.

This year's Spurs are the sixth-best offensive rebounding team. Aldridge has led the charge - posting his highest offensive rebound rate since his rookie season - but he's not the only one who's been crashing more aggressively. Sophomore point guard Dejounte Murray has been the league's most prolific offensive rebounder at his position (and ranks second among all guards), while Gay and Anderson rank third and eighth, respectively, among small forwards.

Without Leonard's playmaking, off-the-bounce shooting, and potent transition game, the Spurs have had to find new ways to produce a competent offense. Giving themselves extra possessions has helped - they rank third in the NBA in pace-adjusted second-chance scoring - and, crucially, it hasn't burned them at the other end. The Spurs surrender the ninth-lowest percentage of opponent transition chances.

'Who?'

Perhaps the least surprising thing about this Spurs season has been the emergence of their latest batch of out-of-nowhere role players. This is just what they do; like an animal that can regrow lost limbs, the Spurs' depth is effectively self-regenerating, and this season has been no exception.

Anderson has dramatically improved as a playmaker, to the point the Spurs can use him as a de facto point guard in some lineups. On top of his rebounding prowess out of the backcourt, Murray has quickly grown into an enveloping point-of-attack defender. Bryn Forbes has become a viable 3-and-D guy who brings a jolt of energy every time he steps on the floor. Davis Bertans is active and fleet of foot and seems to never stop moving. And Gay has become a Spur in more than just name, blowing expectations out of the water, showing a renewed commitment to the defensive end, and propping up bench units by serving as an Aldridge facsimile in the post. All down the line, the Spurs have managed to squeeze meaningful contributions out of their supporting cast.

Much is made of the Spurs' culture and system, and the organization's uncanny ability to keep motoring along through age and injuries and roster turnover; to plug Joe Schmoe into the machine and turn him into Joe Somebody. This season has given that system its greatest test in memory. With Leonard returning Tuesday night to a team on a 58-win pace, it's safe to say the machine's still in tip-top shape.

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