The San Antonio Spurs have put together one of the best offseasons in the history of sports so far this summer.

For a small-market team located in southern Texas, they have already had remarkable success for over the past two decades that no one could have anticipated. However, the team has never accomplished so much in one offseason compared to this one, where they acquired the biggest free agent and heir to the throne of Tim Duncan in LaMarcus Aldridge, while also somehow getting David West to leave 11 million dollars on the table to join them as well as a role player off the bench.

Meanwhile, they convinced Duncan to take a sizable pay-cut, while also bringing back Manu Ginobili for another season. They did lose key role players like Marco Belinelli, Cory Joseph, and Aron Baynes, but they still appear to be in relatively solid shape from a general depth perspective heading into the 2015-16 season to win the NBA championship.

With that said, I am still a little wary of that combo shooting guard/small forward backup position, which was occupied primarily in a timeshare split between Ginobili and Belinelli during the last two years. To be fair, the Spurs do have Reggie Williams on their roster who can play both of those positions, and they did sign Jonathan Simmons from their D-League affiliate who boasts incredible athleticism, but I do not see either of these players being as effective in big minutes as Ginobili or Belinelli. Given how injury-prone Ginobili is at his age, this might be a minor weakness coming into this year.

This is why I believe that this season is a crucial one for Kyle Anderson, who the Spurs selected at 30^th overall in the 2014 NBA Draft. Anderson, nicknamed “Slow Mo” for his cautious, deliberate way of playing the game, is essentially a Boris Diaw clone in the making. He has the ability to play both the small forward and power forward positions, but he also possesses remarkable handles which allows him to also play point guard in some situations too.

He still needs to work on his shooting from basically every spot on the floor, but he is in luck given how incredible the Spurs’ player development program is at shaping their guys over time. Spurs fans should remember that one slight against Kawhi Leonard when he was first acquired by the team in the summer of 2011 was that he could not shoot at all. A few seasons later, he now has a consistent mid-range pull-up jumper to go along with a long-distance three-ball that he did not have in his arsenal before he came to San Antonio.

With Ginobili most likely retiring after the season, expect the Spurs to start working Anderson into that sixth man role as the year goes on. Given Anderson’s versatility and flexibility in playing multiple positions on the floor, he is definitely a valuable asset who will be depended on a lot more as the Spurs near the playoffs. While players like Duncan, Ginobili, Aldridge, Leonard, and Tony Parker will all be very crucial if the Spurs want to win the championship this season, do not forget about Anderson who will be a key cog in getting them to their ultimate destination – a sixth NBA title.

Dan Schultz is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.