The San Antonio Spurs overhauled their roster during the summer of 2018 as a number of fresh faces were brought in to the fold in hopes of continuing their streak of postseason appearances once the regular season comes to an end in mid-April.

While he is not the biggest name of the new additions in San Antonio by any stretch of the imagination, Jakob Poeltl is already receiving plenty of praise from one of his teammates as they feel that the former Utah Utes standout has a real opportunity to thrive in an environment like the one that the Spurs have created over the years.

"Hell of a player. One of the toughest big man I've ever played with," said DeMar DeRozan, according to Jeff Garcia of News 4 San Antonio. "[He's] agile, runs the floor, protects the rim. Probably sets one of the hardest screens I've ever felt."

In addition to the physicality with which Poeltl brings to the floor night in and night out, DeRozan is a firm believer in the fact that Jakob will benefit from the tutelage of Gregg Popovich as much as any player on the Spurs' roster and the All-Star swingman has already made that clear to his new head coach in advance of training camp.

"I think just being here (San Antonio), being under Pop (Gregg Popovich), being in under a new situation, I think you'll definitely get a chance to thrive at a high level," said DeRozan. "I even told Pop I was high on him."

This past season, Poeltl improved his numbers across the board from his rookie campaign as in 82 appearances for the Toronto Raptors he managed to put up averages of 6.9 points to go along with 1.2 blocks and 4.8 rebounds in just 18.6 minutes per game.

Given the fact that his usage will likely go up now that he is part of San Antonio's big man rotation, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about what the 7-footer will bring to the table for the Silver and Black over the course of the 2018-19 campaign.

With Pau Gasol having already come out and stated that he is more than willing to come off of the bench this coming season if that is what the coaching staff believes is best for the team in the long run, there could be more of an opportunity for Poeltl to show what he is worth in San Antonio than many would have expected at the time when the trade went down.

We'll find out soon enough exactly the type of impact that the big man will have on the Silver and Black as we are now only three weeks away from the start of the regular season.