The Spurs Way May Be Endangered Unless Kawhi and Co. Find Their Voices

SAN ANTONIO — For a moment, you could see signs of the old silver and black standard.

This was last Thursday, and Tim Duncan was on the practice court in a "SAN ANTONIO BASKETBALL" tank top and black Adidas high tops, a brace protecting one knee while he used the other to pretend to nail guys in the gut or groin because he's goofy like that. A peppy Tony Parker was in the building as well, a day after his 35th birthday, although it was hard to overlook how immobilized he was with a quadriceps injury making him iffy even for next season.

This is not a city that has had to lament Duncan's July retirement or Parker's age yet. Parker was pretty great in the playoffs before getting carried off early in Round 2, 39-year-old Manu Ginobili powered the team into the Western Conference Finals and without Duncan, the Spurs posted the NBA's second-best record and their 20th consecutive winning season—eclipsing the Utah Jazz's mark of 19.

All of those inspiring moments came to a close Monday night as the Golden State Warriors finalized their sweep of the Spurs, 129-115. For all the positives the Spurs could take from this season, the loss to the Warriors came amid the roughest patch of the season for Gregg Popovich's team, one that saw Parker sidelined, Kawhi Leonard injured multiple times, LaMarcus Aldridge's mindset questioned and Ginobili possibly heading into retirement.

This shouldn't be taken as the 1,000th version of the Spurs' obituary, not when Leonard is still tremendous and Popovich is still a maestro.

It just must be noted that the internal communication that has made the Spurs' teamwork so sharp year after year should not be taken for granted going forward—especially if Ginobili retires, as Popovich seems to be expecting, and Parker may never be the same.

Duncan was a super-fun, super-unifying force despite being publicly reserved in a manner that made it easy for many to lump him and the stoic Leonard in the same category. That's just wrong, though, which is why Popovich declared late Monday night that this season was quite an accomplishment when "you play for the first time without Timmy's leadership."

Leonard honestly might never develop any sort of voice to provide others with wisdom or reassurance. But the Spurs will need whatever he can muster more than ever next season.

That won't come easily.

For a gauge of where Leonard is as a leader, or even just a communicator within his team, consider what veteran David Lee said at practice Thursday:

"Had a nice conversation with him. I said hello. He said hello back."

It's a running joke in San Antonio how quiet Leonard is, but it won't be so funny if his evolution proves limited to the court. Aldridge, continuing to come up small at key moments, sure isn't going to guide this group.

But look around the Spurs locker room and you see Ginobili's locker next to Leonard's, and Parker's next to Aldridge's…and it's not hard to guess what Popovich is doing.

Neither Ginobili nor Parker was that instrumental from a numbers perspective this season. Yet their presence from playing and winning together 15 years was central to the confidence carried by a group that integrated eight new players this season—with Aldridge in just his second Spurs season—the most new players since Parker joined the team in 2001.

Parker has been a huge source of guidance to Aldridge the past two seasons, doing much to make him as comfortable as possible with words, alignment and ball placement. And while Popovich has tried to put more on Leonard as slowly as possible, this season was a huge step forward on the court that saw Leonard excel in the fourth quarter, much like his elder locker room neighbor.

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Indeed, that old poise imparted by Ginobili and Parker was part of how the Spurs went 22-12 this season in games they were trailing at halftime.

Duncan, Ginobili and Parker's 575 all-time regular-season victories are the most for a threesome in NBA history—topping Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish's 540 for the Boston Celtics and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper and Magic Johnson's 490 for the Los Angeles Lakers.

That's how much the Spurs have won, and if next season it is solely Parker in that locker room—with his own agenda of just trying to rebuild his left leg—it is going to require the heaviest hand from Popovich to avoid losing the Spurs Way.

And no matter what Popovich does, accountability from within and connecting with each other is imperative to have the feeling the Spurs have had for so long. Given the questions about Leonard's ability to lead, we'll likely find out a lot more about Danny Green, whom Popovich increasingly trusts.

How much of a winner—really—is a guy like Green? Just as important, how much better of a player can he become to carry that leadership torch when he's already turning 30 next month?

Green's .747 career winning percentage is second only to Leonard (.769) among players in league history with at least 375 games played. No. 3 is Draymond Green; No. 4 is Magic Johnson.

All those games in the spotlight have made Danny Green a leader. You could see that in the way Popovich went and stood right in front of him on the bench Monday to make Green the focus of a teaching point from the on-court action about taking a straight line to the hoop. And as soon as Popovich walked away, Green was repeating the message to rookie Dejounte Murray, reiterating it with Pop's exact hand gestures. Murray, 20, is the youngest guy on the team but quite possibly the Spurs' starting point guard next season.

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Green is the epitome of Popovich's new-age three-and-D mindset, and Green has become increasingly vocal within the team. Thing is, he's not nearly at the level of a David Robinson, Duncan, Ginobili, Parker or Leonard as a player, and that makes all-encompassing leadership difficult. Green puts himself in the right spot often and could be seen directing traffic for the Spurs' youngsters this postseason, but he also frequently isn't quite good enough to make the play when he puts himself in that perfect place.

If you had Leonard's game with Green's personality in a single leader, you could assume with confidence that the Spurs Way will continue. Instead, we just don't know.

For all the criticism Aldridge has received and the rumblings of dissatisfaction from home fans in the season's final two games, one point to consider is that Aldridge hasn't exactly gotten abundant help from the superstar whose injury left him in that go-to-guy predicament.

No one criticizes Leonard for not being more of a leader, because the Spurs have kept winning. His lack of verbal leadership has not manifested itself in a negative way—and maybe it never will.

But it doesn't take a psychologist to foresee ongoing confusion and even conflict within the Spurs if Aldridge and Leonard are the main men and are not good communicators.

It's already obvious that Aldridge still doesn't feel at home here. Late Monday night, he referenced his efforts "in my role" and how this season he tried to "be myself when I can."

Leonard isn't going to talk through that thorny stuff with Aldridge or anyone else.

Duncan isn't, because he's not a player anymore, and maybe Ginobili won't either if he stays with his family and awaits the call to the Hall of Fame.

When Spurs fans chanted "Manu" in his honor upon his exit from this final game, teammate Patty Mills jokingly whispered to Ginobili on the bench: "What is everyone standing up for?" Ginobili quipped right back: "Yeah, I'm coming back for another three years."

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The reality is that once the chants died down, Ginobili discreetly took his right shoe off so that he could massage his own sore foot. He is his age.

And in the postgame locker room, it is impossible to miss the love Mills feels for Ginobili as a uniquely open and gracious team-connector and fears that he will soon be lost. Mills humorously likened his relationship with Ginobili to "grandpa and grandson, but still very close." Then Mills stated with earnest solemnity: "I've appreciated it every day."

Mills might be gone via free agency, too, removing another voice of maturity from the Spurs' circle. Of course, San Antonio general manager R.C. Buford and Popovich will look to add others in their ongoing pursuit of players who can commit to the group effort; they're very good at that.

But whoever makes up the next group is less the question.

It's more whether Leonard and his teammates can be the ones to lead it.

Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.