"San Antonio Spurs: Youth And Inexperience Comes With Growth"

Learning how to become great comes with sacrifice and bumpy roads.
Highs, lows with many peaks and valleys; a few detours along the way.
For the 2026 San Antonio Spurs, this season had more than enough
criticism for everyone. A young team of players who will need to grow up
and learn going into 2027. A lot to unpack and plenty of dialogue to
discuss.

Superstar Victor Wembanyama is going to be a force; showing signs of
greatness in this run. Having the physical attributes to do anything on
the court, his game needs to vastly improve. For a guy who's over
seven feet tall, developing a mid-range game would give the Spurs
more potency. Opening up the rim and attacking at will plus a lethal
jump shot.

He must want those great moments and the biggest stages; not run
away from taking crucial shots. Building more muscle and strength in
becoming the generational player he's capable of. Greatness comes
from sacrificing and being constructive with teammates. Even if using
demonstrative tones to get the most out of guys. This will be a turning
point for Wemby if he's going to be the next face of basketball.

Head coach Mitch Johnson should play "NBA 2K" and learn about
situational basketball. Now... the Spurs had double digit leads in four of
the five games and lost every one. Coaching and not understanding
when to use a timeout if New York made runs. Chipping away at the
lead only to see it vanish. Abnormal rotations and continuing to play
De'Aaron Fox (more on him shortly.) With a young team, there was no
sense of slowing down. Shooting three pointers upon going ice cold

versus attacking the paint. This is coaching one-on-one folks and easy
to adjust.

The play of Stephon Castle needs to be reviewed because turnovers
are his biggest flaw, along with making crucial mistakes. He's a very
good defender and plays with relentless effort. But his play reminds me
a little of Russell Westbrook to a degree. Can be a streaky shooter and
reckless at times. Make him the shooting guard and work on eliminating
careless mistakes. Another core player who'll need a lot of discipline
moving forward.

Dylan Harper is the primary point guard in 2027, no excuses. He
showed why its his moment in time to become the primary ball handler.
Better decision maker, shooter and doesn't flinch in big moments. This
would be the smart move for Coach Johnson to make in 2027. His
energy and value adds substance to this starting line-up. Room for
improvement and plenty of upside moving forward.

Now for De'Aaron Fox... If you read my Finals preview article prior to
this, he was my x-factor in rather San Antonio had any chance of
winning a title. A horrendous Finals showing and there's no need to
sugarcoat it. Fox's lack of shot-making ability didn't help whatsoever;
which may force the front office to attempt a trade in the coming weeks.
Max player who looked more like a tier three player was abysmal
throughout. Bad decision making to go along with mental lapses in
crunch time.

The biggest blunder being game four when he tried to lay it up over OG
Anunoby only for it to be blocked. Basketball view would kick it back out
and let them foul. But no, Fox thought he was Sonic the Hedgehog and
outrun for a dagger lay-up. Game four was his dumbfounded moment
and Coach Johnson kept him in the lineup. Any other coach would've

sat him down and come of the bench. With his contract being roughly
$200 million, could a buyout be an option?

In today's NBA market, we've seen teams buyout more contracts than
ever before. Realizing signing those players for what they could've done
came back to bite them. San Antonio has a lot of question marks and
Fox's future is clearly in play. Wemby has a rookie extension contract on
deck as well. Could he take a middle of the road type deal like New York
Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson? Sacrifice money to stack the deck in
a vaunted western conference?

San Antonio has drafted and developed players; which is why I believe
they'll somehow make changes to compete in 2027. Winning the west
was a moral accomplishment... Winning a championship solidifies your
greatness and superstardom to another level. If the Spurs have any
notions of running it back, will Fox be apart of the roster or be moved?
With teams gearing up for the draft and free agency, San Antonio will
have to make moves to combat what's ahead.