MINNEAPOLIS — It has been more than two years since Tim Duncan retired and hung up his iconic No. 21 for good.
There are some days, however, when Gregg Popovich can feel Duncan’s presence so vividly the coach can practically smell him.
Literally.
Duncan has been a fixture at the Spurs’ practice facility almost from the day he called it quits, working out there multiple times a week.
“He smells up our locker room with all his gear,” Popovich said. “It piles up. It’s a mess.”
If there’s one thing that has become clear during the Spurs’ halting 10-10 start, it’s this: Duncan isn’t walking through that door to play in an NBA basketball game.
Likewise, Manu Ginobili is still around. The more recently retired Spurs great is in Argentina now, enjoying a summer in his native land for the first time in more than 20 years, but he too has been a steady presence at the Spurs’ practice gym post-retirement.
Tony Parker, the finishing piece to what was the winningest trio in NBA history, is plying his trade in Charlotte, averaging 9.7 points and 4.3 assists in just a shade under 19 minutes per game.
When it comes to the painstaking process of guiding the Spurs out of their Big Three era, Popovich says “those guys don’t matter.”
“It’s a totally different team,” Popovich said. “This is a brand new deal. They’re learning each other. They’re learning the system. (The Big Three) have no place in forming a new group.”
Popovich put the Spurs’ rebuilding project another way.
“This is kind of an expansion sort of (team) in a way,” he said. “You’ve got a bunch of people who have never played together trying to figure it out.”
Granted, most expansion teams aren’t gifted an All-Star foundation like the Spurs have in LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan.
The fact remains, a team that for so many years once used its continuity and familiarity with each other to run circles around less cohesive teams in October and November now finds itself on the other side of that corporate knowledge equation.
This is the first season since 2003-04 that the Spurs have not been above .500 at the 20-game mark.
“We’re trying to get wins right now and be consistent,” said third-year guard Bryn Forbes, Parker’s replacement at the point. “I think that’s what we’re struggling with, consistency.”
The Spurs’ did enough Monday to survive for a 108-107 victory at Chicago that probably didn’t need to be so difficult.
Tonight in Minnesota, the Spurs have a chance to finish their longest road trip of the season so far at 3-1. It would be a definitive sign of progress.
“It’s coming along,” said DeRozan, the Spurs’ leading scorer at 24.8 points per game. “I know for a fact once we catch that stride and get a rhythm going, understanding how to play and how to win, we’ll be fine.”
The Spurs’ first steps out of the full Big Three era have been tentative. This should surprise nobody.
The bulk of the Spurs’ struggles have come on the defensive end. This, too, is no shock.
During the summer, the Spurs lost their three best wing defenders in Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Kyle Anderson.
In October, they lost their best remaining defender, point guard Dejounte Murray, to a season-ending knee injury.
Asked to name the last time he can recall the Spurs struggling so mightily on defense, Popovich didn’t hesitate.
“Never,” he said.
Last season, despite missing Leonard for all but nine games, the Spurs fielded the No. 2 defense in the NBA.
Heading into Chicago on Monday, they ranked 22nd.
Popovich harbors few delusions about the height of his team’s defensive ceiling.
“We’re not going to get to two,” Popovich said. “But we don’t have to stay at 22.”
Some of this is about expectations. Just ask fans in Minnesota.
Last season, the Timberwolves finished 47-35. It was their best mark since 2003-04, ending a 13-year playoff drought.
In San Antonio, the Spurs also finished with a 47-35 mark. It was their worst record, percentage-wise, since 1996-97 and practically had fans lining up to leap off the Tower of the Americas.
Keeping the Spurs somewhat afloat in their up-and-down start this season is the fact that no one is running away with the Western Conference. Only one team in the West — the surprising Los Angeles Clippers — have lost fewer than seven games.
“It’s early in the season, and we’re looking for a lot of growth from a lot of different people,” Popovich said. “They’re giving the effort, but we have to hope people understand more and more what the program is all about.”
For that, it’s nice to still have a few future Hall of Famers still stalking the corridors at 1 Spurs Lane.
The 42-year-old Duncan has been especially involved with nurturing new players — including 19-year-old rookie Lonnie Walker IV, who has yet to play in a game after undergoing knee surgery in October.
“Tim Duncan is another guy who has kind of just been here helping me out and continuing to encourage me,” Walker said. “I’m just blessed to be here.”
Popovich recognizes the value of having his former stars around to maintain the link to the team’s championship era.
“It’s great for the young kids to have Manu or Timmy put an arm around you and talk to you about what’s going on,” Popovich said.
Yet, as Popovich has been busy reminding anyone who will listen, those players are largely irrelevant to the puzzle the Spurs are putting together now.
Duncan might still occasionally walk through the door at the Spurs’ practice facility. He might even stink up the locker room with his sweat-stained practice duds.
But he isn’t lacing up his high tops on game nights.
Wherever this new incarnation of the Spurs goes from here is up to the players who remain.
Jeff McDonald is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | Jmcdonald@express-news.net | Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN