Spurs' most used lineups offer fascinating insight into struggles last season

When the San Antonio Spurs struggled last season, they struggled hard. Those downturns usually came whenever Victor Wembanyama sat down, and that's why Brian Wright was intentional this season about addressing the backup center position and adding more defense to the secondary units.

Those things should help immensely, but the guys who are already on the roster also need to do more, because they bear a large portion of the blame. Somebody has to step up when the Alien sits. They may have a young roster, but Keldon Johnson was in his sixth NBA season, and Devin Vassell was in his fifth. Utter collapse without the second-year guy is frankly unacceptable.

Chris Paul's presence helped, but in terms of actual production, he was more impactful when playing alongside the 7'4" giant. Every other lineup Brian Wright put on the floor for major minutes lost the plus/minus battle pretty alarmingly.

Someone else has to prove they're a true NBA threat

De'Aaron Fox is going to be tremendous for this team. He's going to come into the season fully healthy, granted nothing horrendous happens, and that will automatically help this lineup issue. Groups that don't have Vic in them should do much better than we saw last year. He can't be the only one who makes himself into a consistent threat, though.

The graphic above is a true indicator of why fans were so frustrated with Devin Vassell last season. He deserves some grace because he didn't have his offseason. It was spent recovering from his foot surgery, so that was obviously a major reason for his inconsistency. But it's hard not to get caught up in the emotions and frustrations when the games are happening.

Sometimes, people forget that the word "fan" is short for "fanatic." Spurs Nation may be one of the smarter and more patient fan bases, but they are still diehards. When your team is struggling and a big part of the reason why is one of your best players not showing up on a consistent basis, expect to hear about it.

Stephon Castle couldn't be held to the same standard. He was only in his rookie season, and doing as well as you could expect. Chris Paul couldn't hold the blame either as a near-40-year-old on his last legs. Harrison Barnes was having a career year, but he's an ancillary piece. You don't expect him to completely swing games nightly.

Hopefully, this is the year that Dev regains the momentum he had before the foot surgery halted his growth. If that happens, along with the expected growth from the others, who are all aware of what the goal is next season, it helps this team take the leap they're destined to make: 50 wins and a playoff berth.