With the NBA season less than a week away, the San Antonio Spurs are gearing up for a long season but still have quite a few question marks. This comes after the team plunged itself deeper into its rebuild by trading All-Star point guard Dejounte Murray. With the Spurs not expected to be very good, this season will be about player development as both the team and fans wait for the 2023 NBA Draft lottery.
In the meantime, Spurs fans will be watching closely to see which players will establish themselves as keepers and which won't. Coach Gregg Popovich will be doing the same, and with a mix of young and old, he'll likely heavily experiment with rotations throughout this season. Therefore, here are three rotation decisions that would frustrate Spurs fans to no end.
Decision #3: starting Doug McDermott over Jeremy Sochan
Despite missing NBA Summer League, rookie Jeremy Sochan appears to be NBA-ready, and, considering the team's need at the power forward spot, it's a reasonable expectation that he should start. That's not a certainty, however, and Popovich may opt to start Doug McDermott over Sochan, likely irking Spurs fans who are eager for the team to start an actual 4. Popovich has his reasons, which likely include some valid offensive concerns surrounding the starting lineup.
McDermott is a terrific shooter who helps space the floor and scores effectively off drives, which would give the starting five an offensive boost. Meanwhile, Sochan is less of a known commodity despite his clear talent, and the team may be taking a slow approach with him with the goal of starting him later in the season after the trade deadline.
That's all well and good, but Sochan was selected ninth overall with the intention of him being the starting power forward of the future. If he's NBA-ready, why not start him now? At the very least, the Spurs would receive a defensive boost, and that would offset offensive concerns. Yeah, this one could be a very unpopular decision among Spurs fans.