Mark Travis

Special to the Caller-Times

Perhaps the only downside to being the most consistently successful sports franchise in the modern era is the inability to determine whether any given year is special or just another ho-hum 50-plus win season.

As the San Antonio Spurs surpass the midway mark of the 2016-17 NBA season, it isn’t clear whether they are legitimate title contenders or firmly on the outside looking in as the Warriors and Cavaliers look to complete their Finals trilogy.

What is clear, though, is that in their lone meetings against Golden State and Cleveland this season, the Spurs have been the best team on the floor.

Following their thrilling overtime victory against the Cavs on Saturday night, the Spurs moved to 34-9 on the season and 2-0 against the defending conference champions. Granted, San Antonio’s victory against the Warriors came on the first night of the season, but its win against Cleveland came without Tony Parker and Pau Gasol in the lineup.

And yet, despite being on pace for a 65-win season, which would be the second best in franchise history behind last season’s 67-win campaign, it is hard to tell if the Spurs will have a real chance in a potential postseason matchup against the Warriors or Cavs. Before the season began, the expectation was this would be a transition season for San Antonio as it adapted to life without Tim Duncan. The problem is a transition season for San Antonio is a close relative to a title season, and the Spurs have made winning more than 50 games a season such a habit that they can do it without having the most talented roster or convincing performances.

So far this season, their performances have been convincing. They trounced Golden State on opening night and became the fourth team to win in Cleveland on Saturday. Since December 1, the Spurs have the No. 1 offense in the NBA, the No. 2 defense and the No. 1 net rating. They are in the midst of a dominant 19-5 stretch that includes victories against Houston, Chicago, Toronto and Cleveland, and their five losses have come by a combined 16 points, with the biggest margin of defeat being five.

At the heart of this surge has been Kawhi Leonard, who is putting together the best stretch of games of his career.

Following his career-best 41-point outing against the Cavs, Leonard is averaging 36 points, five rebounds and four assists a night in his past five games while shooting 60 percent from the field and 46 percent from 3-point range.

With Leonard acting as the Spurs' focal point, LaMarcus Aldridge has settled into the role of Robin. Aldridge is averaging 18 points and seven rebounds a game, right in line with his numbers from last season, and he has the highest true shooting percentage of his career.

San Antonio was always going to have a good season with Leonard and Aldridge doing the heavy lifting and Tony Parker, Patty Mills, Danny Green and Manu Ginobili providing their usual assortment of efficient and diverse contributions. To that end, the Spurs’ success so far this season was expected.

With the help of their offseason additions, though, the Spurs are pushing beyond just another ho-hum 50-win season. San Antonio underwent its biggest renovation since drafting Duncan this offseason, and in typical Spurs fashion it managed to hit on every one of their acquisitions.

Gasol, who will be out for an indefinite period after breaking his left hand in the layup line on Thursday, has fit in seamlessly offensively. He is offering up the kind of unselfish and creative play from the high post the Spurs love. His defense has harmed what was the league’s best defensive unit last season, but there was always going to be a drop off and a trade off when replacing Duncan with a more offensively-minded option.

David Lee, who takes over the starting power forward role as Gasol nurses his surgically repaired left hand, has been fantastic. Once an outcast in Golden State because of his own defensive woes, Lee has rediscovered himself as an important contributor on a top team after brief stints in Boston and Dallas last season.

Rookie Davis Bertans hasn’t earned himself consistent playing time, but he has probably shown the most promise of any of the new Spurs. Bertans’ combination of 3-point shooting and athleticism makes him a perfect stretch forward in the modern era and the playmaking he has shown off the dribble will surely pay dividends when defenses start to overplay his shot.

Back-up center Dewayne Dedmon has been a revelation. Signed on the recommendation of Spurs assistant James Borrego, who coached Dedmon in Orlando, Dedmon has quickly gone from fringe rotation player to a difference maker on the league’s second best team. He runs the floor better than any big the Spurs have had since prime Duncan, and is a defensive stabilizer the Spurs desperately needed in the wake of Duncan’s retirement.

Then there is Dejounte Murray. The real detriment to winning 50 games every season should be the poor draft position it rewards, but the Spurs have never struggled to unearth talent late in the first round. In fact, Murray appears to be the fourth quality point guard the Spurs have drafted in the final five picks of the opening round. They took George Hill 26th in 2008, landed Cory Joseph with the 29th pick in 2011, nabbed Murray with the same pick this offseason and, of course, drafted a future Hall-of-Famer in Parker 28th overall in 2001.

Parker’s sore left foot set the stage for back-to-back starts this week for Murray, and he delivered a career-high 24 points against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday before scoring an efficient 14 points against Cleveland on Saturday. Murray’s ability to get in the paint at will has translated immediately to the NBA level, and he has a deft floater that has proven reliable.

San Antonio’s further regular season matchups with the Warriors will help paint a clearer picture of how good a chance the Spurs will have to add a sixth banner this season. But with another excellent start to a season in the books for the Spurs, one thing is for certain: Whether San Antonio winds up being a legitimate title contender or not, its first season in the post-Duncan era is looking to be a rousing success.

And with Leonard fitting so perfectly into his role as the new leader of the team, the Spurs’ streak of 50-win seasons won’t be in jeopardy for a very long time.

Mark Travis is founder of butthegameison.com/