Spurs are on a generational run of confusing basketball play

No matter what your expectations were coming into the season, it's difficult to say that the Spurs have had anything close to a successful season, but it's been a lot of other things.

This year has been scary due to the health issues of Coach Popovich and Victor Wembanyama, frustrating from the underperformance of key players, exciting due to the emergence of Stephon Castle and the acquisition of De'Aaron Fox, and a bunch of other things. It has been one long, emotional rollercoaster.

As we near the end of this tumultuous ride, the picture is pretty clear on what the identity is for each team. That's not really the case for San Antonio, bringing "confusion" into the picture as the most recent state of Spurs' fans.

The Spurs can't reach the end of the season fast enough

The chart above shows that San Antonio has had the most efficient offense and the least impactful defense in the league recently. It's one of the most baffling stats I've seen in relation to this team based on the circumstances.

The defense was expected to suffer when Victor Wembanyama was ruled out for the year, but falling all the way to last place was not. I've harped on this point a few times, and I'm going to keep hammering it because something needs to change in the effort department. This team still has players on it who should be able to defend at a reasonable level, but that's not happening.

For example, the last time the Golden State Warriors won the NBA title was the 2021-2022 season. They were one of the most undersized teams in the league but had the second-best defensive rating in basketball because they competed hard on every possession. They swarmed the boards and played with urgency every play.

Nobody was expecting the Spurs to win a championship this year with or without Wembanyama, and I'm not suggesting that San Antonio should even be a top-10 defense right now, but they started the season at 13th. Dropping all the way to last place is just horrendous.

Meanwhile, I'm completely lost on how this team is ranked so highly in offensive efficiency at the same time. Wemby has been out since the middle of February, and Fox was set to miss the remainder of the season over a week ago. Those are the two best offensive players on the team, so to see the squad elevate their play on offense to such a degree is cool but confusing.

I suppose we should give some credit to Mitch Johnson for pulling it out of the guys despite playing with a bad hand. That shows some promise for Johnson, who has been slammed by fans all season long. He's deserved the respectful criticism he's received, but he's also earned praise for getting the offense to play this way.

The Spurs have one more game against a weak team before the schedule gets harder again. That will be welcome since they still need to lose games, but I don't want to root for them to lose games. Cheering for the team in games you know they'll probably lose anyway is much better. All eyes are on the upcoming draft, and the Silver and Black can stand to add a few Ls to the win/loss column for better positioning.