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It’s mid-term time.
The Spurs head into the All-Star break with the second-best record in the NBA, already having assured themselves of a winning season for a record 20th season in a row.
Despite some unexpected losses to some sub-.500 teams, the Spurs remain the team most likely to challenge Golden State’s supremacy atop the Western Conference. They even opened the season by waxing the Warriors in Oakland.
By any objective measure, it has been a good start to the post-Tim Duncan era, one that began with the Spurs attempting to integrate seven new players.
Individually, most players grade out well.
Before we hand out those out, a word from the only person whose grades actually matter — Professor Gregg Popovich.
“I don’t really put expectations on them,” Popovich said. “We have standards. We try to play a certain way. Some nights we play well, some nights we play better, some nights are sub-standard. That’s really what we talk about, trying to be as good as we can possibly be come playoff time.”
Here is a look at the Spurs’ mid-term progress report:
Kawhi Leonard
Grade: A
Skinny: No matter what the Spurs ask of Leonard — and they ask a lot — he seems to deliver. His scoring average of 25.9 per game represents another leap from last season’s career high of 21.2 per game. He posted 19 30-point games in his first 50 outings, more than quadrupling the total of four he produced in his first five NBA seasons. The magnum opus came in an overtime win at Cleveland on Jan. 21, when he pumped in 41 points to beat LeBron James and the defending NBA champions. Meanwhile, Leonard remains a one-man wrecking crew on defense, certainly a candidate for this third consecutive Defensive Player of the Year trophy. He is still the only active NBA player with more career steals than fouls. The rest of the NBA is beginning to take notice, with Leonard again climbing pundits’ MVP rankings. The Spurs could probably ask Leonard to sell popcorn, and he’d be the best popcorn salesman in the league.
Go to ExpressNews.com to see more Spurs’ mid-term grades.
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