Dylan Harper's camp may force Spurs to face Fox reality whether they like it or not

The last thing the Spurs need is for conflict to form in the locker room. Don Harris recently talked about avoiding the "disease of ME," and long story short, he's talking about selfishness. Professional athletes often want it all: fame, accolades, money, and a starting position. Well, if ESPN's Michael C. Wright is correct, Dylan Harper's camp may start to rock the boat in search of that last item.

The Spurs may have to address the Fox-Harper situation sooner than they wanted

San Antonio tries their very best to avoid drama finding its way into the facility, but that's an impossible task when dealing with young, talented men with immense competitive drives. The NBA world saw the fire in Harper during that playoff run, and it didn't waver in the Finals. It burned hotter.

Meanwhile, De'Aaron Fox struggled and sputtered his way into brutal mistakes that many are having a hard time ignoring, injured or not. When comparing the performance of the rookie to the nine-year vet, the differences between them in not just production but also in the eye test were glaring.

Heading into this offseason, there wasn't really a reason to panic, though. The Silver and Black still have a workable cap sheet. They haven't been hamstrung by fat contracts, so there's no reason to dump talent.

However...

If Harper's camp is willing to make a fuss about the number two overall pick's situation, that could force Brian Wright and Mitch Johnson to make some tough decisions right now. San Antonio is run by reasonable people. So, while it would be easy to just tell them to wait in line, the Spurs' brass will first consider whether they actually have a point. And they just might.

Harper is not Ginobili and we can't force him to be

It would be ideal if the ex-Rutgers playmaker were happy coming off the bench and playing that Manu Ginobili role Spurs fans fell in love with, but that was a special situation. We should just acknowledge that.

Despite Manu's cache in Argentina and his accomplishments on a global stage, he was the 57th overall pick. That's almost as far as you can get from being selected number two overall in what was a strong class. San Antonio fell into a wealth of riches rather quickly, so getting Harper to take that role was easy early on, but things have changed.

Now the explosive finisher knows that he can be unstoppable on the biggest stage. Still, Harper sat there watching Fox struggle, knowing that he's a better scorer and defender than the former Sacramento star even when he's healthy.

Swipa didn't have much of an offseason last year. Having one this summer will afford him an opportunity to work on some things, but he's in his prime now. How much better can he get compared to Harper? Even as I write this article, the need to move Fox out of his way becomes more and more apparent.

I wouldn't be surprised if the rookie's camp went through a similar thought process, switching from "Well, it's still working" to "Wait. What are we doing?" It's pretty clear that the Spurs' ceiling will be higher if Harper is allowed to fully step into who he's meant to be. If they make those points to the front office, who's to say they won't agree? Because they should.

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