National Basketball Association

Do Spurs finally need help from the NBA draft?

Published Jun. 24, 2015 6:18 p.m. ET

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SAN ANTONIO (AP) The San Antonio Spurs could use some help from the NBA draft.

That's big news for a team that has essentially made minor tweaks to its roster each offseason for the better part of the past decade.

The Spurs enter Thursday's draft with only five players under contract and a number of unanswered questions for coach Gregg Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford.

The team's recent draft history has centered on development.

The Spurs have drafted foreign players such as 6-foot-9 forward Livio Jean-Charles of France and let them improve in leagues overseas. They have also selected underclassmen such as Kyle Anderson, who spent much of last season with San Antonio's Developmental League team after being selected with the 30th pick last year following his sophomore season at UCLA.

That draft strategy could be decidedly different this season.

''I'm curious, but at the same time I don't worry,'' Spurs point guard Parker said. ''We are in a great organization. I am sure Pop and R.C. will do great this summer to get our team better and be in the mix again next year.''

San Antonio lost a seven-game series to the Los Angeles Clippers in the opening round after reaching the NBA Finals for two consecutive seasons and the Western Conference Finals for three straight.

The Spurs' Big Three of Tim Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili has led the team to 18 consecutive postseason appearances and enabled Buford to tinker with the roster rather than overhaul it.

But Duncan and Ginobili have not announced whether they will retire or return to the Spurs. NBA Defensive Player of the Year and 2014 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard is a restricted free agent. Stalwart role players Danny Green and Marco Belinelli are unrestricted free agents.

''We've got a pretty good number of free agents,'' Popovich said following the season. ''So with RC and our coaches, we've talked about what we want to do going forward with the makeup of the team. The team will probably look considerably different than it did this year because we have so many free agents and we want to retool a little bit. We want to try to start not exactly over again, but these last four seasons have been a grind.''

With only Parker, Anderson, point guard Patty Mills, forward Boris Diaw and center Tiago Splitter under contract, the Spurs could look at many options in the draft. They hold the 26th and 55th selections overall.

Mock drafts have the Spurs possibly drafting players ranging from Virginia forward Justin Anderson to Wisconsin forward Sam Dekker to 7-footer Nikola Milutinov.

Whoever the Spurs select, it will be the first step in an uncommonly busy offseason for the five-time NBA champions.