San Antonio Spurs: Shining and thriving without All-Stars

The Spurs are currently 29-15 (.659 pct) at the end of the first half of the season, sitting pretty and solid at the third spot in the heavily packed Western Conference. When the Thunder, the Rockets, and the Timberwolves reinforced their roster by signing stars, the Spurs, though they were in the talks, just managed to sign Rudy Gay - a player whose last season came to end with an Achilles injury in January.

Chris Paul, Paul George, and Kyrie Irving (whom the Spurs reportedly tried so hard to sign) are some of the players the Spurs wished they had in their line-up but unfortunately couldn't materialize the deal.

As a result, going into the season, not much was expected from the Spurs, especially when their All-Star and last year’s MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard was said to miss the early part of the season. The form and intent LaMarcus Aldridge showed in last year’s Western Conference Finals did not help the cause either.

However, cometh the new season, during the first game at the AT&T Center against the young and power-packed Timberwolves, what did we witness? The emergence of a new-found, reformed, improved, and aggressive LaMarcus Aldridge.

Thanks to the heart-to-heart conversation that he had with coach Gregg Popovich, Aldridge signed a 3-year extension with the Spurs. Aldridge has been a leader in Leonard's absence and has truly led from the front. He has been playing like an All-Star and showed the reason Spurs signed him in 2015, being the player he was in Portland.

Not just that, the last-year rookies Dejounte Murray and Bryn Forbes have improved their game tremendously, which saw their minutes increase with every game. It was not just because of the injury to the other players. Rather, they earned it through their performances in the summer league.

The injuries to Leonard and Parker, in a way, turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Danny Green showed he could do something beyond catch-and-shoot while Kyle Anderson demonstrated he could be a play-maker.

The team has not played a single game with the entire squad. Yet, Pop has been able to work things out and the Spurs have not had trouble winning games, though they struggled on offense in a few games. With Leonard's and Parker's return, that would be taken care of. While it would take some time for the team to adjust, it will definitely boost their overall game.

Can Leonard and Aldridge co-exist? Will the rejuvenated Aldridge take some load off from Leonard in the offense? Only time will tell. It is for this reason, the second half of the season is going to be very crucial for them.

If the Spurs are able to avoid injuries, it might be very interesting to see how they match up against the Rockets, Thunder, and the Warriors. They don't have stars in their squad like the other teams. But the Spurs are the Spurs for a reason. Every season, they're either written-off or overlooked. But they've not failed to prove the critics wrong every time either.