San Antonio is in south Texas, bordering Mexico, and is a city that experiences a humid subtropical climate with mild winters and hot summers. Toronto, in south-eastern Canada, on the other hand has a continental climate with harsh winters and mild summers.
The San Antonio Spurs have won five championships in their 42 years of existence in the NBA, and have reached the playoffs every year since 1997, with Gregg Popovich being their head coach all these years.
The Toronto Raptors are among the newest NBA teams, formed in 1995. The franchise has qualified for the playoffs in the last five seasons, but has missed the post-season more often than not in its history. Last year’s 0-4 loss to the much weakened Cleveland Cavaliers marked the third consecutive defeat to the LeBron James-headlined team in the playoffs and eventually led to the firing of its long term coach, Dwane Casey.
Yet, a trade consummated on July 18, 2018 between the teams has already had a drastic impact on both of their fortunes. Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard was bundled with shooting guard Danny Green to the Raptors for shooting guard DeMar DeRozan and center Jakob Poeltl and a 2019 first round draft pick.
Toronto Raptors' Danny Green (14) celebrates his game winning shot against the Orlando Magic with teammate Pascal Siakam (43) in the final seconds of an NBA basketball game
Leonard, a former NBA Finals MVP and one of the league’s most versatile player on offence and defence was meant to anchor the Spurs franchise by taking forward the legacy of retired legends Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Instead, a frustrating year filled with injury in the 2017-18 season resulted in a rift between his representatives and the Spurs leadership, leading to his eventual trade to the Raptors.
Trade dividends
Raptors General Manager Masai Ujiri is known to drive a hard bargain in trades and he succeeded in prising out Green along with Leonard to the Canada-based team. Green, a prototype 3-and-D(efence) player, was part of a Spurs squad that consistently rated among the top three defences in the league. He has enjoyed a strong chemistry with Leonard on both ends of the court. This promptly landed him a starting spot with the Raptors and the two-some have lent a smothering all-round influence to their new squad. Green is capable of guarding three positions (point guards, shooting guards and small forwards), while Leonard is probably the strongest individual defender to have ever played the game.
Leonard is still finding his groove after his injury-filled 2017-18 season, but has already made a tremendous impact. The duo leads all two-player line-ups (any combination of two players on the court at any point of time) in the 2018-19 season with a Net Rating of 17.5 (the number of points their team scores more than its opponents in 100 possessions with the duo on the court). Green is part of four such duos among the top five in the NBA, highlighting his essential role and immediate fit for the Raptors. The duo’s addition has coincided with the maturing of third year forward Pascal Siakam into a rim running scorer, and the retention of talents such as bulldog point guard Kyle Lowry and defensive big man Serge Ibaka. The loss of Poeltl to the Spurs has not hurt the Raptors. Their bench unit still has a strong combination of youth and experience in players such as PG Fred Van Vleet, swingmen OJ Anunoby, CJ Miles and center Jonas Valanciunas. The Raptors are a versatile, wing-heavy squad who play a pace-and-space game, defend ferociously and have sufficient insurance among the reserves for any contingency.
This eerily reminds one of the Spurs squads in the recent past, and which offer a great contrast to the 2018-19 Spurs team that plays at a glacial pace, relies on an archaic post and mid-range shooting driven offensive system and is, the biggest surprise of all, the second worst-defensive team in the league in the 25 games played so far.
Shoddy defence
Coach Popovich has never had a squad that was below average on defence since 1997 and this season his team boasts the worst ever Net Defensive Rating since then.
San Antonio Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan dunks against the Phoenix Suns during the first half of an NBA basketball game
DeRozan, who the Spurs bought to replicate Leonard’s scoring strengths and to help with playmaking, has lived up to his offensive repertoire, but has been a one-dimensional player with limited defensive nous. Poeltl has been a capable back-up center but cannot get enough minutes as LaMarcus Aldridge takes up the leading big man role, where he has regressed after a stellar season in 2017-18.
It seems like the Spurs’ offence is stuck in mud when DeRozan and Aldridge play together (Net Rating: -3.9 points per 100 possessions). It is but expected, as both choose to play a jump-shooting game that is inefficient and have been below average on defence too.
DeRozan-dependent
The loss of up and coming point guard Dejounte Murray to an ACL tear injury has also handicapped the Spurs, especially on defence. Other players have lacked in either effort, physique or ability to stay in front and defend opposition players. The Spurs seem a deficient squad that is top heavy and too reliant on DeRozan.
The net result of the trade has seen the Raptors begin with a commanding and league-best 21-5 record and emerge as a serious contender against the favourite Golden State Warriors while the Spurs are stuck at the 14th position (the second-last) in an ultra-competitive Western Conference. What a difference a trade has made!
