San Antonio Spurs: 3 Spurs who could use more playing time

The San Antonio Spurs should get these three players more involved

Last year, the San Antonio Spurs rotations were a reoccurring point of frustration with fans. Seeing young players stuck on the bench and the constant presence of poor defenders in the starting lineup drove us mad.

However, how Gregg Popovich has managed his players playing time so far this season leaves very little to complain about. Every fan might have a few things they’d rather see done differently but for the most part, things are looking about as well as we could have hoped for.

Pop has done a great job of getting the young guys more involved this year. The most obvious example of this is the inclusion of Keldon Johnson and Lonnie Walker in the starting lineup.

Before the Spurs’ first game of the season, it wasn’t sure if Keldon was going to be playing. He’d been dealing with a foot injury and his status was considered questionable. You can imagine Spurs fans surprise when they saw both him and Walker in the starting lineup on opening night. The two have been fixtures there ever since.

Still, there are some players we’d like to see get more involved. There’s no question that there are players on the Spurs bench who would benefit from some more run, but how they make that happen is a difficult question to answer.

When asked why Trey Lyles wasn’t playing as much this year, Pop said it was a matter of having too many quality players. This is a problem that every player wanting more minutes is going to face.

It might take some creativity or a few more blowout games, but these are the San Antonio Spurs we think should get more involved.

Tre Jones waiting for his opportunity with the San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs had some of the best luck in the 2020 draft when they were able to use the 41st overall pick to select Tre Jones. The Duke product and younger brother of Memphis Grizzlies guard Tyus Jones, Tre was one of the most accomplished guards in his class.

The younger Jones seems like the kind of player who will have a long career as a quality rotation player. He’s a skilled two-way player who could take over as the leader of the Spurs’ second unit in a few years.

We haven’t seen much from Jones this season. He’s appeared in just three games and logged just ten NBA minutes in his young career.

Unfortunately for Jones, he’s going to have a hard time finding playing time in the Spurs’ deep backcourt rotation. The minutes he does get will likely come in blowouts like the one San Antonio and Utah engaged in.

Still, what we have seen from the young point guard has been encouraging. He’s made timely cuts, runs down rebounds, and has knocked down shots when given the opportunity.

Losing Derrick White didn’t move the needle on Jones’s playing time and it’s unclear what it would take to get him a larger role. Barring an injury to another key guard, Jones will likely have to wait until the G-League picks up again to get real game minutes.

Until then, we’ll be crossing our fingers and waiting for more blowouts to get Tre on the floor. Hopefully, the Spurs are on the delivering end of them.

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