I don't think it's an either/or thing. They aren't likely to make picks on boom-or-bust guys like Poke and maybe Precious is they want to win with LMA and DMDR. But guys who are solid or elite role-players are literally always valuable, both to their teams and on the trade market. You need stars to win in the NBA, but there are more than one way to get there. With the new rules, bottoming how doesn't have the same value it used to, and fielding a compe ive team with guys on good contracts is a viable way to attract stars. Develop a guy, sign a second and trade for a third. That's the best path to rebuilding. Miami did not tank to get where they are today, and before you or someone else says, "But that's because players want to go to South Beach," nothing about developing Bam and trading for Butler required them to be a big market. Sure, it was an S&T, but two smaller-market teams had just traded for Jimmy the two years before. Toronto is another example, both from Leonard/Siakam and Lowry/DeRozan before that.
In the years since the last le, the two seasons I've enjoyed watching the most are 2014-2015 and 2017-2018. The first one is because that was probably Danny Green's most exciting year as a Spur, and I picked him in the last round of my fantasy pool before he went on to put up second-round value. The second is because I really enjoyed watching the short-handed Spurs win games on grit and strategy even as their injuries sapped all of their talent advantage. It was exciting to see the Murray/Green/Anderson perimeter trio, Pau showing off terrific passing, Bertans lighting it up from three, good Rudy Gay and eventually what would be the last of the Big Three going down guns ablazing. They were not a contender without Leonard, but they were a fun team to watch. They fought hard in a very difficult situation and damned near kept the 50-wins streak alive when they had no business doing so. I think the only reason more people might not agree with me is because of all the Kawhi drama going on around that time. That was really ty, but on the court was fun, basically a whole season of the bubble performance.
I would totally enjoy seeing the Spurs fight and scrap against the odds for a playoff spot through a mix of vets turning good performances and young players stepping up. I'd be less of a fan of the Forbes and Beli fests we've seen the last two years. But I'm down for White/Walker-Johnson/DeRozan/Smith-Bey/Aldridge and Mills/Murray/Johnson-Walker/Gay/Poeltl off the bench. That sounds like a fun transitional season, so long as Pop doesn't get in his own way.