San Antonio Spurs: 3 Reasons for optimism after first month of season

San Antonio Spurs fans should be excited about the rest of the season

After missing the playoffs for the first time in over two decades last season, there was some fear that the San Antonio Spurs would be making back to back trip to the lottery this year. They’d made improvements over the offseason but the Western Conference looked to be tougher than ever.

We’re just over one month into the regular season and so far the San Antonio Spurs have made good progress on their preseason goal of returning to the playoffs. They’re sitting one game above .500 and are tied for the eighth spot in the West.

There has been a lot to like about how the Spurs have played so far. They’re moving the ball well, everyone is contributing on offense, and we’re seeing younger players involved more than ever before. With how well the young core of Lonnie Walker, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, and Dejounte Murray has played it’s hard not to be optimistic about the future of this team.

With postponements taking place across the league, it’s easy to be pessimistic about the outlook of the rest of the season. But as long as the NBA is up and running – and it looks like the league is determined to make that happen – the Spurs will be out on the floor giving it their all.

In hopes of adding a little light to the uncertainty, here are three reasons to be optimistic about the rest of the San Antonio Spurs season.

The San Antonio Spurs are still missing one of their best players

It can be easy to get caught up in the day-to-day storylines around the team but it bears reiterating that the San Antonio Spurs are contending for a playoff spot in the West while missing one of their best players. Derrick White is one of the three most impactful players this team has and we’ve only seen him for just 23 minutes this season.

We still don’t have a firm timetable for White’s return but the estimation we got two weeks ago puts it somewhere in the next 2-4 weeks. There are a lot of games, and a lot of tough opponents, between now and then but if the Spurs can tread water around .500 they should be in a good position to make a playoff run when White returns.

What the team looks like when Derrick does return is a different question. He came off the bench in his first game back and it’s safe to assume Pop will use him in a similar way, at least to start off with.

In the bubble, we finally got to see the Dejounte – Derrick backcourt we’d been hoping to see for months. You’ve got to imagine that the Spurs return to that lineup when White is fully reintegrated. That’ll push someone, likely Lonnie Walker, to the second unit.

No matter what the specifics look like, getting Derrick White back is going to be a huge boost for this team. He’s going to give them another excellent playmaking option in the starting lineup and their league-leading bench unit is going to get even better, what’s not to love about that?

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