Two weeks removed from the end of the Spurs’ 2015-16 season, coach Gregg Popovich called it “a transformative year.”

The addition of LaMarcus Aldridge and the continued rise of Kawhi Leonard shifted the identity of the Spurs, and the result was a regular-season franchise record of 67 wins.

Leonard and Aldridge were both named to All-NBA teams on Thursday. Leonard was selected to the All-NBA First Team while Aldridge was on the All-NBA Third Team.

“We’ve transformed ourselves several times over the last few years, and it’s no secret that teams revolve around their stars,” Popovich said. “Every team has a set of players where you figure out what works best around them, and that’s something Kawhi has earned, and something LaMarcus has earned in his career. That’s paramount.”

While this is the 19th consecutive season that the Spurs have had a player on the All-NBA team, it’s Leonard’s first selection. And Aldridge is the only one with All-NBA honors who was on a new team this season.

Leonard repeated as the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year and averaged a career-high 21.2 points.

Aldridge, an All-NBA selection for the fourth time, averaged 18.0 points and 8.5 rebounds, seeing his scoring improve every month from October to March.

“They’re the two leading scorers as long as they’re here,” Popovich said. “As we head into the future, they’re going to take that mantle of leadership, that ownership. Part of that is my duty to join with them more in the process, to talk to them more about their opinions and further their participation.”

Popovich said much of the credit for the team's transformation to Leonard and Aldridge goes to the leadership of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

“It became more and more obvious that Kawhi and LaMarcus are the so-called go-to guys and everybody else had to adjust,” Popovich said. “Fortunately, Tim, Tony and Manu are men of character who saw, welcomed and understood the change. I didn’t have to make any speeches. It was just like the way David saw things or the way Manu and Tony made us more of a penetrate-and-pitch team.”

With Leonard leading the defense, the Spurs led the NBA with 92.9 points allowed per game and topped the league in defensive rating at 96.6 points per 100 possessions.

Leonard averaged 1.78 steals, 6.8 rebounds and a career-high 0.99 blocks as he was a unanimous First-Team All-Defense selection.

At 24, Leonard is still the second-youngest player on the Spurs. Only Kyle Anderson (22) is younger.

“Kawhi is still a very young player who has accomplished so much so quickly,” Popovich said. “The exciting thing is that he still has room to grow. He hasn’t reached his peak by any means, and with his work ethic, he’s determined to continue to improve.”

Leonard’s fifth season with the Spurs showed immense growth on the offensive end. He shot .506 from the floor (551-1,090) and his 3-point percentage of .443 (129-291) was third-best in the NBA behind Kyle Korver and Stephen Curry.

He is the fourth Spurs player to make the All-NBA First Team, joining George Gervin, David Robinson and Tim Duncan.

“Kawhi has been committed since day one to be a great defender and it was a thrill for him to repeat this season as Defensive Player of the Year,” Popovich said. “Defense has been his priority, and he’s kept his focus there when most are more interested in shooting and scoring. For him to develop offensively while keeping that defensive mindset has been incredible. It has been a process with (assistant coaches) Chad Forcier and Chip Engelland, and there’s a little more nuance in offensive development. There’s an understanding of things such as good shots and bad shots, and of not playing in a crowd. He’s a scorer now, and he’s spending more time figuring out the complexities that come with that.”

While Leonard has had five seasons in the Spurs’ system, Aldridge had a few months to adapt after signing with the team last summer.

His comfort in Silver & Black grew as the season went on, as Aldridge averaged 17.0 points and 8.4 rebounds before the All-Star break and 19.9 points and 8.9 rebounds afterward.

“For LaMarcus to come into a totally different system, for a player to be able to achieve this status while still finding his way, it speaks volumes,” Popovich said. “He continued learning and continued to grow in our system throughout the season.”

Aldridge is one of only four players in the league to be named to the All-NBA Team in each of the last three seasons, along with LeBron James, Curry and Chris Paul.

While Leonard was third in the NBA with a 96.0 defensive rating, Aldridge was seventh with a 98.7 rating. He led the Spurs in rebounding and had 1.1 blocks per game.

“LaMarcus surprised us all because his defense was fantastic,” Popovich said. “We knew he was a competitor and we knew he would always give the most effort, but to be honest, his defense surprised us. The way he played rotations, his blocking and changing shots, it was a welcome part of his game that we didn’t necessarily count on as much coming into the season. He was excellent. He played hurt, he played with no complaints and he wanted to do the best he could for this team.”

lchan@attcenter.com

Twitter:@lornechan