Have you ever tussled with an unforgiving task, but the “zone” was well exhibited within you to the point you could not leave said task unfinished? Well, I will not get back the last hour of my life conducting this annoying math formula. I now have the utmost respect towards statisticians who are willing to crunch numbers in the sports world that may seem as meaningless as the books students purchase in their undergrad years of college. I just pursued a long venture into calculating the defensive win share (DWS) of Kawhi Leonard for the 2014-2015 season. DWS is a metric that measures the defensive ability of an NBA player by assessing the total number of wins a team’s player is responsible for.

I came across this statistic on basketball-reference.com and curiosity took over. I demanded to figure out what led to the result of this stat and attempted to follow the formula. After a grueling hour on the mind that felt like a squatting session with Arnold Schwarzenegger, my brain was fried. I should have just trusted the website’s results instead of acting on my pioneer instincts. However, through this research, I learned something particularly interesting regarding the San Antonio Spurs: 20% of the top 20 leaders in DWS are on their current roster, meaning that a championship is on the horizon.

Eight out of the last twelve NBA champions share the commonality of being in the top 5 for defensive efficiency during the respective regular season. All twelve of the teams have been in the top 10. It is superfluous to state that the Spurs will have a fantastic regular season; that is a guarantee. This cohesive defensive unit will reinforce a playoff voyage stretching far and wide. Anything less than a championship is a disappointment, but that is the way it has been in San Antonio for the past 15 seasons.

Last season, the rankings for current Spur players in terms of DWS are as follows: Tim Duncan 4th, Kawhi Leonard 6th, Danny Green 18th, and LaMarcus Aldridge 20th. Opposing teams will have to dig deep in their offensive schemes to overcome this group of defensive gurus that pride themselves on both ends of the ball. Defense is not the only aspect these players know. These four men have and will continue to contribute proficiently on offense. Additionally, none of them are a liability when fouled, as they average 78% from the free throw line as a group. Sorry DeAndre Jordan.

I predict the Spurs to be one of the top two NBA teams in regard to regular season record and defensive efficiency. Finally, the official change in playoff seeding this upcoming year will provide them with a fairer first-round playoff matchup since the rule allots teams to be ranked merely on record. There is not any provision for the winner of a division any longer with playoff seeding. As much as the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers playoff matchup was one for ages last season, the Spurs should have played the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round who were slightly more inferior to the Clippers. But I digress.

All in all, the Spurs are contenders. They will score at high capacity and will play dogged defense. Both are ingredients for a championship. LaMarcus Aldridge should finally earn some bling on those fingers of his.