San Antonio Spurs: Simulating 5 wildly different offseasons


San Antonio Spurs Option B2: Trade Lonnie Walker, 12th, filler for Love + 3rd pick
We saw how it would've worked out if the Spurs selected Jonathan Kuminga higher in the draft, and it wasn't good. As it turns out, Evan Mobley is a top prospect for a reason. One note before we jump into the best-performing team: Duncan Robinson was signed to a 3-year deal to fill the backup two spot.
Simulation B2 Roster
Evan Mobley
Kevin Love
Dejounte Murray
Derrick White
Keldon Johnson
Jakob Poeltl
Duncan Robinson
Tre Jones
Rudy Gay
Luka Samanic
Gorgui Dieng
Drew Eubanks
Record: 51-31 (4th in the Western Conference)
Top 5 PPG
1. Dejounte Murray
2. Evan Mobley
3. Kevin Love
4. Keldon Johnson
5. Derrick White
Top 5 APG
1. Dejounte Murray
2. Derrick White
3. Evan Mobley
4. Kevin Love
5. Tre Jones
NBA Accolades
Evan Mobley: Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie First Team
17.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 3.0 APG, 2.0 BPG, 34% from 3
Team Stats
1st in defensive rebounding
4th in total rebounds per game
3rd in blocks per game
1st in points off of turnovers
6th in bench points
The Spurs are back but get an unlucky postseason matchup
Clearly, Dejounte Murray benefits from having a dominant big man around. Murray has his best season yet in this simulation, leading the team in points and assists per game.
Meanwhile, Evan Mobley thrives in the Alamo City in his rookie season, giving the Spurs their first Rookie of the Year since Tim Duncan in 1998. The presence of Mobley, Love, and Poeltl predictably makes the Spurs one of the top rebounding teams in the league.
The season record makes this option easily the best case out of the proposed choices, although this team got unlucky in the postseason.
Facing the pesky Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, the Spurs pushed the series to seven games but lost in a game that went down to the wire at the AT&T Center. Heartbreaking, but the team itself definitely made the biggest step toward real relevance in the league.
So what can we learn from all of this? I wrap this all up after the jump.