Spurs Defense Must Improve This Season

The San Antonio Spurs finished dead last in defensive rating in 2022-23, a statistic that must change with Victor Wembanyama on the floor.

SAN ANTONIO - There is no question Gregg Popovich decided not to coach defense last season. Certainly not in the way we have all become accustomed to over the last 20+ years.

The San Antonio Spurs played hard and tried to win with youth, but were among the worst defenses in club history at least on a statistical level. That was mostly by design. 

Pop excused some things last season that normally would have drawn his ire in years past. Cuss words would have been heard on television. Young men wearing Spurs jerseys would have hung their heads in shame. But San Antonio had a plan and in order to see it through no defense was required. At least not elite defense.

The 2023-24 season will likely be the opposite. 

The team is no longer in tank mode and it can't afford to slip on defense. Victor Wembanyama's development won't allow them to. Wemby will pick up bad habits if Pop doesn't get back to the mean old man we all know and love when it comes to picking up shooters, sprinting around screens and getting back on the fast break. 

In this new world where sports betting is legal, take this one to the table: The Spurs will not be bottom 5 in defensive rating. Pop will coach better and Wemby's presence should have a massive impact.

Only five players in NBA history have made an All-Defensive team aged 21 or younger. Two of them were Pop's kids. That's not a coincidence. Tim Duncan and Dejounte Murray did it. 

Here's betting that sometime over the next two years, Wembanyama will become the 3rd. Not only is Wemby here but the old Pop should be too. 

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