Spurs’ handling of Pau Gasol a positive sign for their future

The San Antonio Spurs bought out Pau Gasol’s contract on Friday, allowing him to enter free agency before the buyout deadline. Gasol ultimately inked a deal the Milwaukee Bucks and is eligible to play for them in the postseason. In fact, he gave back $2.5 million to the Spurs for the trouble.

The buyout wasn’t a huge surprise, but it was the right move after the team couldn’t trade him at last month’s deadline. Let’s first discuss what happened in Gasol’s tenure with the Spurs. Then, we’ll talk about San Antonio’s recent dealings with players and what this move means.

Gasol’s tenure with the Spurs

Gasol joined the Spurs n 2016 on a two-year deal worth more than $30 million with a second-year player option. He opted out of his second year to allow the Spurs chase big-name free agents (primarily Chris Paul). The Spurs struck out on big signings in 2017, then re-upped the then 37-year-old Gasol in late July for three years and $48 million as a thank-you for giving them cap flexibility. The final year (2019-20) had only $6.7 million guaranteed.

The numbers in the previous paragraph cloud everything that Gasol did in San Antonio.

Pau didn’t have a bad tenure with the Spurs, considering that he joined the team with 15 years of NBA mileage on his body. He contributed somewhat efficiently on offense with his great passing vision and soft shooting touch that occasionally extended past the three-point line. His overall defense wasn’t great, but the Spurs utilized switches well to keep him near the basket most of the time.

In each of Gasol’s two full seasons in San Antonio, he barely edged out Danny Green for fourth place on the team in Player Impact Plus-Minus Wins Added.

Overall, though, his performance left something to be desired compared to his price tag. A $16 million player should be able to play starter’s minutes and stay on the floor against any matchup. Gasol’s lack of speed meant he couldn’t do those things with the Spurs.

The 38-year-old’s perimeter shooting touch fell off a bit this season. Father Time also continued to chip away at his athleticism. The Spurs have discovered that lineups with only one traditional big man are their best option in the modern NBA. That means LaMarcus Aldridge and Jakob Poeltl are enough to soak up the minutes at the lone big man spot.

Gregg Popovich gave Gasol some occasional rotation minutes after he returned in late December from a stress fracture, presumably to showcase him for a trade. That didn’t work out, since Gasol didn’t play well.

Pop took Gasol out of the rotation after the deadline. He played a total of only 18 minutes in his last eight games with the Spurs. Finally, the buyout came on Friday.

The Spurs have been very loyal to experience in the past

Gregg Popovich and the Spurs’ front office do pretty much everything right.

Pop utilizes his personnel better than any other coach in the NBA. According to BBall Index’s coach optimization data, he’s in the 92nd percentile in offensive optimization and the 97th percentile in defensive optimization since 2013-14. None of the 57 head coaches in that time frame have been better than the 85th percentile on both sides of the floor. The Spurs also rarely have chemistry problems.

Finally, consider the franchise’s amazing track record in player development. These are just some of the many players who significantly improved their standing in the league during their tenure in San Antonio: Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Malik Rose, Bruce Bowen, Gary Neal, George Hill, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Aron Baynes and Jonathon Simmons.

If Pop has one flaw, it’s that he can be just a bit too loyal to veterans, especially ones with experience in the Spurs culture. To be fair, continuity and loyalty are hallmarks of the Spurs’ success, and Pop has been smart to emphasize it.

Sometimes, though, there can be a downside to that loyalty. It wasn’t just the way the front office overpaid Gasol in 2017.

Tony Parker played 30 minutes per game in the 2015 playoffs against the Clippers in the Spurs’ seven-game first-round loss. So what was the problem? Parker had quad and ankle injuries and accumulated a true-shooting percentage of 38.6 in that series. Less experienced guards Patty Mills and Cory Joseph combined for more points than Parker in that series, 82 to 76. They did that despite totaling about half as many minutes and attempting about half as many field goals.

Mills then got the benefit of that Spurs loyalty in the 2017 offseason. San Antonio gave its bench spark plug a four-year contract worth $50 million in the opening minutes of free agency. To be fair, it made more sense at the time with a championship-contending team and wing stoppers like Leonard, Green and Kyle Anderson to hold down the defense. Now, though, it definitely seems like a bit of an overpay. This is especially true with the emergence of Dejounte Murray, Derrick White and Bryn Forbes.

Finally, Parker continued to get rotation minutes last season when he was struggling mightily and San Antonio was not a contender. In general, Pop has been quite stingy with minutes for younger players in the past few years. Veterans often seem to get more leeway on mistakes than youngsers.

What does all this mean for the Spurs?

It was a mistake to sign Gasol to his three-year deal worth $48 million. The important thing here is that San Antonio’s front office owned up to it.

Gasol had a consistent role early in the season before his stress fracture. After his return, Popovich tried him in the rotation again several times. When it didn’t work, he took him back out. Even though Gasol had gotten tons of NBA experience, three years with the Spurs and a big contract, Pop had the guts to give him DNP-CDs. That couldn’t have been easy to do, but it was the right move.

Popovich showed that there is a limit to his loyalty. He didn’t want Gasol getting rotation minutes, but he also took care of him with the buyout. This, combined with his organization’s refusal last summer to offer Parker the money and role he wanted, are positive signs for the franchise. After both of these decisions, all parties expressed sincere gratitude despite the end of a working relationship.

San Antonio’s front office still understands that continuity is important. But even more important is the ability to adapt a roster to fit the current state of the league. Old players with no defensive versatility and marginal offensive impact are less useful than ever in today’s NBA.

The Spurs roster still has plenty of issues without Gasol and Parker in the rotation. The squad has very little defensive versatility. The team also doesn’t have much shooting in its starting lineup. The challenge for the Spurs moving forward is to fix those roster problems while still keeping their trademark culture and strong working relationships with players.

Based on how the Spurs dealt with Gasol, they are on the right track.

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