It’s been a mixed bag for Spurs forward Rudy Gay through the season’s first five games.
Coming off the bench, he has played well defensively and has scored in double digits three times. But he also has struggled to find his deep touch, missing 24 of 32 shots from 3-point range for a 25 percent conversion rate.
“I think I would give myself about a C, C-minus,” he said.
Gay attributed his so-so start to a couple of factors, including the quick turnaround from the pandemic-fueled late summer end of last season to this year, with just three preseason games in between.
“This season has kind of been rushed, so we haven’t had time to really feel anything out,” he said.
But once that process is completed and they finally have a full complement of players, the Spurs believe their youth-heavy team will be in the hunt for a playoff spot in the rugged Western Conference.
“It’s about learning now and not later,” swingman DeMar DeRozan said after the Spurs hung tough with the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night before losing 109-103 at the AT&T Center.
“As long as you get the heartaches and the learning curve out of the way the first 10 games of the season, it can take a big turn in the next 60 games,” DeRozan added. “We are leaning toward that.”
Considering that guard Derrick White missed the first four games while recovering from toe surgery and that big man LaMarcus Aldridge has missed the past two with a sore knee, the Spurs are proud of the 2-3 record they’ll carry into tonight’s game with the Utah Jazz (3-2).
“We aren’t at our full potential yet, but in general we are in a pretty good spot,” center Jakob Poeltl said. “We just got to learn how to get the job done more consistently.
“We’ve had some pretty good games, some very good stretches,” Poeltl added. “But we got a lot of guys out there that are still very young, and it’s going to take some time. But I feel very confident we are on a very good track.”
It’s hard not to feel that way when one of the Spurs’ youngest players is performing so well.
Second-year forward Keldon Johnson is averaging 15.0 points and 7.6 rebounds after posting a double-double Friday night that included a career-best 26 points while defending LeBron James for the second night in a row.
Before James, the 6-foot-5 Johnson guarded Toronto’s Pascal Siakam and New Orleans’ Zion Williamson in back-to-back games last weekend.
“He’s strong, he’s tough — really tough — and definitely up to the task,” Spurs guard Patty Mills said. ‘It’s been a good measuring stick for him.”
Tonight, he could match up with yet another bigger foe in Bojan Bogdanovic, who averaged a career-best 20.2 points per game last season before undergoing season-ending wrist surgery in May.
“Every player goes through the maturation process, no matter who they guard, when they’re new players,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “But when you guard the people (Johnson) has had to guard, it’s sort of geometric. He’s done a wonderful job.”
While rehabbing at the Spurs’ practice facility after toe surgery in late August, White tracked Johnson’s daily routine.
“I saw him in the offseason, working his tail off,” White said. “I knew he would have a good season. He’s fun to play with. Everybody loves him, his energy, his passion for the game. He’s just going to keep getting better and better. The sky’s the limit for him.”
Johnson and the Spurs’ other high-energy youngsters are giving the team an identity.
“Our will to fight,” the former Kentucky standout said when asked what impressed him most about the Spurs’ two gritty losses to the Lakers. “I feel like we never give up. We keep fighting to the end.”
DeRozan called the team’s young core a group of “ultimate competitors.”
“They don’t get too down on themselves,” he said. “They want to make the right decisions on both ends and play the right way. Resilient, keep going, keep fighting. ... Once that learning curve turns, it’s going to show a lot.”
Gay also praised the young guns.
“We have a good group, a really receptive group, and it’s making it easier to be a vet here,” the 15th-year pro said. “I know how it can be on other teams. That kind of shied me away from even thinking about being a coach (after retirement). But if I had a group like this one, I would probably be into it.”
torsborn@express-news.net
Twitter: @tom_orsborn
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San Antonio Spurs believe best is yet to come - San Antonio Express-News
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