Over the course of the first full month of this NBA season, the San Antonio Spurs endured some harsh growing pains with a fresh core. They came into the season confident, but the new teammates hadn’t become full acclimated to Gregg Popovich’s system of play. As the younger players worked through early-season woes, the injury bug attacked the Spurs’ veteran leaders.
Popovich turned to his All-NBA combo of DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge to guide the team and take initiative within the offense. For the most part, DeRozan ran with his opportunities and proceeded to boom with Pop’s green light.