SAN ANTONIO -- Gregg Popovich summed up the San Antonio Spurs' 2016-17 campaign Tuesday as a "great season" that "was more challenging" because the team had several new players as it transitioned into the post-Tim Duncan era.
The Spurs became the fifth 60-win team in NBA history to suffer a playoff sweep Monday when they were eliminated 4-0 in the Western Conference finals by the Golden State Warriors.
"I'm really happy for the group," Popovich said. "There's only one happy team out of 30. At the end of the day, everybody else is sad at some point. But if you have half a brain, you put things in perspective.
"For the first year without Timmy's leadership, and [with] a lot of new players, these guys got it together to win 61 games, and just got better and better as the playoffs proceeded. We were basically on a pretty good roll starting Game 1 at Golden State. Some bad fortune, which happens to all of us at some point in our lives, and we don't get to be the last team standing. But when I think about what they accomplished, they deserve a lot of credit."
The Spurs would never admit it, but they entered Game 4 a lot more banged up physically than they let on. Already without All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard, veteran point guard Tony Parker and key bench contributor David Lee, the Spurs trotted out a starting group Monday night composed of Patty Mills, Danny Green, Jonathon Simmons, LaMarcus Aldridge and Manu Ginobili. It marked the first time Ginobili started a playoff game since Jun. 20, 2013, and he became the 12th Spurs player to start a game in these playoffs.
"We've seen [injury-plagued situations] on opponents. It never happened to us," Ginobili said. "Sometimes it happens. You catch a tough break, and you lose a couple of key players. Sometimes it feels like it's even unfair, because you were great for most of the season, you fought to get to this spot.
"And then you lose two key players you've been relying on for so long - a good test in some ways to see your personality and what you are made of."
San Antonio showed it's made of plenty of grit and fight. But a short-handed squad facing a team that includes four All-Stars was a difficult proposition at best, even with the Spurs at full strength.
Once the club cleans out its lockers Tuesday, the organization begins in earnest what's expected to be a complicated, if not difficult, task in planning for the future.
Joel Anthony, Dewayne Dedmon, Pau Gasol, Lee, Mills and Ginobili will all be unrestricted free agents. Dedmon, Gasol and Lee each have player options to return. It's expected Gasol will opt in, considering it might be difficult for him to land $16 million on the open market, and that move will siphon away much of San Antonio's cap room. Lee was expected to opt out and hit free agency, but his recent knee injury might entice him to opt in. Dedmon, meanwhile, is expected to walk.
Asked where he thought the Spurs needed to improve most, Popovich said he doesn't think the Spurs have "any specific need."
Simmons, a restricted free agent, joins Mills as probably San Antonio's two highest priorities among its own free agents. The uncertainty over Parker's potential return from a ruptured quadriceps tendon and rookie Dejounte Murray's lack of experience heighten the Spurs' need to keep an experienced player at that position. The team might even look elsewhere on the market at players such as George Hill, Kyle Lowry or Chris Paul.
"Well, we don't have time to go through the decision-making process now, because that's pretty complicated," Popovich said. "It depends on a lot of factors. But we value all the guys that are gonna be free agents. And [general manager] R.C. [Buford] and I will sit down and put together a plan, priorities, and that sort of thing. It's no different than any other year. That happens every year with every team."
Simmons, meanwhile, will command plenty of attention in free agency. Although the Spurs can match any offer he receives, they need to decide whether it's worth it to splurge on a homegrown player who might develop into a starting-caliber piece.
"I've grown a lot," Simmons said. "I think I've handled it well against those guys [in the playoffs]. I'm just looking forward to the future."
Added Popovich: "He's one of those guys you have to be thrilled for. Not many of us paid [150] bucks and ended up in a miracle like he has. You can see the progress he's made. It's thrilling for us as a staff. We're really happy for him, because he's going to have an NBA career now. He's going to have a future in the NBA. He came along at both ends of the court and started to figure out what professionalism is and what it takes to be a consistent player."
Then there's the question of what to do with Aldridge, whom the Spurs have been pleased with over the past two seasons but who was largely underwhelming throughout the playoffs with Parker and Leonard out of the fold. Aldridge was asked to complete the near-impossible task of shooting over double- and even triple teams on a consistent basis during the West finals against arguably the best team in the NBA.
In fact, the Spurs pulled Aldridge out of Monday's game with 4:56 remaining in the third quarter, and he never returned to action. He finished with 8 points and seven rebounds on 4-of-11 shooting.
Aldridge can opt out of his deal after the 2018 season, so if San Antonio is considering moving Aldridge, perhaps now is the time.
"He's doing everything we want him to do," Popovich said of Aldridge. "If people come after you and double-team you the way they did ... it's the same way with Kawhi. When they came after Kawhi, he's got to get rid of the ball. So if we were gonna put two people on Steph Curry or two people on Kevin Durant or Klay [Thompson], they wouldn't score as much. But the other pieces would kill us.
"So you have to have all your pieces in that regard. Not having Tony and Kawhi, that takes away our two best creators. They create a lot for our team. And if one of the other scorers is left on his own like L.A., and he gets doubled, and the playoffs get more physical, then you have to find scoring elsewhere. We had a problem doing that."
Another quandary for the Spurs is the potential retirement of Ginobili, who said he'd make a decision regarding his future within a month. Ginobili put together the team's two best performances of Games 3 and 4 after missing his first 15 shots of the postseason.
"I don't think about it, because he hasn't decided what he wants to do," Popovich said. "Maybe he'll be back for another year. He'll take some time with his family, and we'll talk at some point, just like Timmy. Timmy didn't decide right away. It's usually best to take a little bit of a respite from basketball, crowds and all of that, and think about what you want to do. I'm really happy we did what we did last night for him. I think he really was moved by it. He deserved it, and it worked out wonderfully."