The San Antonio Spurs are always a good bet to win 50 games, and they are a good bet to get out of the first round of the playoffs. They are good enough to sustain that 50-win streak for some time, but I am not sure how many more titles they can win in this current era. They might have to wait for the Warriors to fall off while LeBron retires. That would make Kawhi Leonard much older, but they would have a good time around him even still. That is how they win another tile, but we can never say that they will have a down season. That is not only blasphemy, but it is unwise to say outloud where Gregg Popovich might hear you.
What if they lose Leonard again?
They can actually still win 50 games even if Kawhi Leonard misses some extended time, but they would have a very hard time getting out of the first round of the playoffs. I think that a lot of people are assuming that Leonard will keep getting hurt, but it is much more likely that he will be fine because he will not be playing 42 minutes every night over and over. He will be used correctly, and he can probably stay healthy. It really matters if the others on the team can stay healthy and fresh.
Ball movement
The Spurs will stump most teams with ball movement, and they had the Warriors on the ropes last year with ball movement. They will keep adjusting to suit the NBA, and they will do that to beat many of their unsuspecting opponents.
They typically do not lose to teams that they should beat because they play their style without much thought about the other team. That alone helps you win 50 games easily because so many other teams in the NBA are so impressionable that they will always want to change to something that they think works. The Spurs have an identity, and they will stick to it.
The slow drag of the season
There is not point at which I think you can make a judgement about the Spurs during the season unless they lose something like 10 games in a row. They are just not interested in the regular season because they have been to six finals and won five since Pop got there. That means that they need to get to the playoffs.
I personally think that that is something that started with the Lakers of the early 2000s, and I know that a lot of teams have the same ideas. They would rather go to the playoffs than get there and be completely worn out. The Spurs will be fresh for the playoffs, and they might shock someone. Sometimes, that is all you can do when you are not the favorites to win.
