Spurs’ Dylan Harper jokes about bench role, but backcourt puzzle is real

“I ain’t coming off no bench.”

That was Dylan Harper’s answer when GQ asked whether he expected to remain a reserve for the Spurs. He was joking, as he later made clear. Still, it’s a pretty good way to introduce San Antonio’s most interesting rotation question.

Harper, De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle can all handle the ball. They can all make plays. There are only two conventional starting guard spots.

At Spurs media day, Harper gave a more measured answer. “Whatever position that all the coaches think is best for me to be in, that’s the position I’m happy in,” he said, via Tom Petrini of NBA on SI.

Castle sounded equally unconcerned. “Whoever starts, whoever doesn’t start, if we all start together, I think we’ll be fine either way,” he said.

Maybe so. But coach Mitch Johnson still has to decide who gets the opening minutes and, more meaningfully, who gets the closing ones. Bringing one guard off the bench would let the Spurs spread their playmaking across the game. Putting all three together could give opponents an entirely different problem, particularly late.

Fox expects to see more of the trio on the floor together after they got limited time to build that chemistry last season. Johnson does, too.

That’s the distinction worth watching. Harper could come off the bench and still play a major role when it matters most. As he put it, “The problems we have are good problems.” Most coaches would gladly take this one.