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The regular season is probably going to be cruise time for the stars of the team, and they are probably not going to see heavy minutes until the end of the season. The first 40 or so games will be literally practice for Pop to see matchups and situations, tweak with the defense, run different plays, etc ....
The playoffs though is another animal. The best players are always on the court during the playoffs, and at any one point in time, you can only have 5 guys, so having a deep bench doesn't really do as much during the playoffs. When you look at the past champions, with the exception of maybe the 89 and 90 Pistons, all championships have one of the best starting 5s in the league. A team like the Lakers, Celtics and Magic have a stacked starting 5 (or best 5), the Spurs may have one of them, and it really depends on how they mesh.
Which comes down to Duncan. Duncan still has it, he doesn't have to have it every night though, and with his mileage, it's better for him to conserve energy during the regular season. He has been able to turn it on the last two playoffs, there is no reason for him not being able to do so again this year. He would be the defensive anchor this year, and with Bowen gone, his defensive role is going to expand. He is also going to be the director on the defensive end of the court. On offense, expect a late career Chamberlain/Jabbar thing, where he could still score when he needs to, but is mostly to get defensive attention and open up shots for his teammates.
