Here's why Verde had a rough season, why Spurs had a tougher time manufacturing the most efficient shots in basketball, and why long 2 pick and pop play hurts weakside action and weakside open 3PA.
Good teams don't rotate to the Pick N pop long 2.
The weakside defenders stay at home on their man, while the defensive big involved in the pick and roll is concentrated on helping prevent the guard/wing from penetrating in the lane -- giving up the long 2. That hurts open 3 point attempts on the weakside and any action towards the basket from the weakside because the defensive player out on the wing pays more attention to the man their guarding. When Spurs had a diver, teams had to move their weakside defender over into the paint to prevent an easy bucket in the lane -- which opened up 3 point attempts on the outside.
That's why you didn't see 3 point flurries this past year like you did in previous years when Spurs had 48 minutes of divers in the game with Splitter and healthy TD -- Mills, Green, Neal, Manu ect would all have a field day. Having a diver induces all 5 guys on the defensive end to rotate and move -- which makes simple unselfish ball-movement so valuable. Spurs usually yielded the two most valuable shots in basketball with a diver incorporated in the offense (corner 3, wide open/uncontested 3 or layups/dunks in the lane). Having West/ Aldridge as pick and pop guys for 48 minutes made it really tough for Spurs to manufacture the best shots in basketball because teams simple were taking away the drives in PnR's and funnelling the shots to the long 2 pick and pop while the defenders on the weakside didn't have to move or expend any significant energy.
Not having a diver, allows good teams to use the 2 men in the pick and roll to funnel the shots to the long 2 while the weak-side defenders don't have to move or rotate -- they can just stay on their man.