Guards Dejounte Murray (pictured) and Derrick White are the Spurs’ likeliest breakout stars this season, according to guest Paul Garcia (Twitter/@TeamMurray05).

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Gregg Popovich finds himself in an unfamiliar position after a quarter-century of coaching the San Antonio Spurs. For the first time, he’ll be tasked with leading a youthful group packed with promising but largely unproven players – a group projected by most to miss the playoffs by a landslide. In the offseason, the franchise parted with veteran mainstays DeMar DeRozan, Patty Mills and Rudy Gay, and months earlier, it bought out LaMarcus Aldridge’s contract. As a result, the youth movement is firmly here. And Popovich, 72, appears energized for his new challenge, expecting to lead a fast-paced team where playing time will be spread around generously. Project Spurs’ Paul Garcia, who also hosts the Spurscast and writes for Analyzing the League, spoke with OTNB to help preview the young team’s season and further describe the new dynamic. Discussing the youngsters, with special emphasis on Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell and Josh Primo, Paul gets us ready for San Antonio’s season to tip off in T-minus three weeks.

3:01-3:29: “This is a new thing for the city here in San Antonio and for the fan base, and it’s kind of exciting…that it’s a lot of young players and a lot of these players, they’re gonna finally get the keys to the car. … Now all of a sudden it’s up to Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, Keldon Johnson, Lonnie Walker, all of these young players. It’s their opportunity now to basically see how far can they go, what kind of level can they get to.”

4:26-4:57: “Best-case, there are two roads here. Let’s just say that they win more games than they’re supposed to. Well then, the best case, I think that we can say maybe they make it to the play-in tournament. … Another best-case scenario though…they could end up basically getting themselves into a very good draft pick selection even if they don’t have a lot of success on the court. So it’s almost like a win-win situation.”

7:40-8:22: “(Popovich)’s excited because I think that for him it’s a new challenge in the sense of he’s never been in this situation, (at least) in a very long time where the expectations aren’t there to become a playoff team or become a championship (team) like the expectations have always been for San Antonio. But instead it’s learning, ‘How can I help these young guys develop? Who might turn into a star down the road here?’ … He’s also gonna change his approach. He already said because they’re young, because they’re quick, they’re gonna try to play fast.”

9:47-10:44: “Dejounte (Murray) has that potential where he can get triple-doubles. He did that multiple times. When you even go back and look at the clutch stats from last season, aside from DeMar DeRozan, Dejounte was second on the team in taking the most jump shot attempts. So we saw that he was kind of building that confidence and being ready to take over when games got close. Derrick [White] has more so that halfcourt pick-and-roll ability where he can kind a get to the rim, find teammates, get to the free-throw line. He has that in his game. So I could see either of those two players going and maybe surpassing expectations and turning into a player that really pops. … They need to find out who is that guy that they’re gonna give the ball to the last five minutes of a game, maybe when the team’s struggling and they’re down by like 12 points, who are they gonna give the ball to possession after possession to try to get them into the game…and I don’t know if they have that player on the team, but again, it will be fun to watch to see if a player does turn into that that type of player.”

15:27-15:34: “Now that DeRozan’s actually gone off this team, they’re gonna have better, more athletic, more energetic type of defenders.”

26:51-27:21: “The date that I’m watching right now – and we’re all watching here in San Antonio – is October 18. Right now, the Spurs have 17 players on guaranteed contracts. So by October 18, they have to get their roster down to 15 players on guaranteed contracts. So they’re gonna have to either waive or trade two players. And when you look at this roster, you see a bunch of young players, and then you see those two veterans. We’re kind of watching in these next few weeks here before the season starts, ‘Is (Thaddeus) Young still on the team? Is (Al-Farouq) Aminu still on the team?’

32:17-32:53: “What you really saw from (Devin Vassell) was on the defensive end, just how good he is in anticipating passes incoming to an opponent, and he could get those steals, just really good about reading and providing help defense. … Now what was interesting to watch was how the team purposely wanted to see how he runs pick-and-roll in summer league, and so he got his opportunity – he played in like five games – and he did very well.”

36:02-36:26: “Whenever I get asked this question about who’s gonna be the successor to Pop, I always say basically, in my opinion, that if Becky (Hammon) is not hired by anybody else, I think that she would take over as the next head coach whenever Pop decides to retire. … I really feel like she is the strongest candidate to get the job here.”

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Music: “Who Likes to Party” by Kevin MacLeod.