SAN ANTONIO -- With an empty gym as the backdrop, San Antonio Spurs general manager R.C. Buford leaned back, crossed his right leg over the left and let out a deep breath.

“It was a lonely summer,” Buford said. “I thought I must have made somebody mad.”

Not exactly, but the thought seems understandable given the situation.

Buford lost three assistant general managers: Sean Marks (to the Nets), Scott Layden and Brian Pauga (both to the Timberwolves). Assistant coach Chad Forcier bolted for the Orlando Magic; he is widely credited by coach Gregg Popovich as one of the masterminds behind Kawhi Leonard's development. Coming off a franchise-record 67 wins in 2015-16, the Spurs lost at least 10 people from the front office and coaching staffs -- an unfortunate downside to success.

But that wasn’t even the worst of the carnage.

“I don’t know that it’s the most [turnover], but maybe the biggest when a person of the presence and magnitude of Tim [Duncan] -- a player of that magnitude -- decides to retire," Buford said. "I’m not sure we’ve had that impact since maybe 2003. You’ve tried to prepare for it. You’ve tried to be ready to transition. But you never wanted to hear those words."

Still, one word always has and will resonate with the San Antonio Spurs: championships. Turnover on the coaching staff, front office and basketball operations, along with the loss of a franchise icon, won’t change that. So don’t count on current circumstances to temper title aspirations and expectations for this season’s Spurs.

“You live here,” Buford said. “You know what people expect. How do you navigate it? By every day coming to work and pounding the rock and hoping that we don't skip steps and come together as a group. And that the group comes together as a selfless body that shares in the success of each other, and takes responsibility in the areas we need to improve. We won't have these answers today.”

But they’re coming.

Of the 19 players on San Antonio’s current training camp roster, 11 are new acquisitions, led by Pau Gasol, who is tasked with replacing the irreplaceable Duncan.

At 35, Gasol might be past his prime, but the veteran big man remains an effective offensive threat, elite passer and accurate outside shooter. He has added 3-point range (career-high 24 3-pointers last season at a 34.8 percent clip) over the years. Gasol averaged a double-double last season with the Chicago Bulls for the fifth time in his career. He represents somewhat of an upgrade on the offensive end over Duncan, who contributed mostly on defense in his final two NBA seasons.

The Bulls utilized Gasol on offense in nearly a quarter of their plays last season, which was more than Duncan (17.6 percent usage) last season. The downgrade for the Spurs with Gasol will likely come on defense, but the organization -- which tried unsuccessfully in the past to lure the veteran in free agency -- is confident he’s an ideal fit.

Gasol shares in that confidence.

“Tim has been so exceptional and unique,” Gasol said. “He’s been considered by most of us to be the best power forward that has ever played the game. So I’m not coming here to fill his shoes. But I’m here to fit in as best as I can with the guys that are here to win a title basically. It’s a challenge. It’s an opportunity. It’s a privilege. I’m a very ambitious guy. I look for challenges like this, and this is why I’m so thrilled to have the opportunity. I’m just gonna focus on working and analyzing and getting a feel to see what is the best way to help this team be better.

“It’s very hard to replace the things that [Duncan] did on the floor, especially because of his presence, the way that he had in the locker room," Gasol added. "You can’t substitute that. So, all of the other guys are going to have to pick up from the leadership standpoint, the presence standpoint. But at the same time, we have to have our own identity and do what we can from our position.”

Veterans Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, who joined the team last summer, play largely into establishing the new incarnation of the San Antonio Spurs. But are the new Spurs a championship-caliber team?

“Oh, for sure,” said Leonard, who averaged 21.2 points last season in addition to winning his second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year award, making the All-Star Game for the first time, earning first-team All-NBA honors and finishing second in MVP voting to Stephen Curry. “Right now, we don’t know what we’re going to miss on the floor [with Duncan out] because we haven’t been through the season yet. But knowing that he’s not here, his personality isn’t here, jokes he makes during practice, [those are] the things I’m missing right now. Our mindset is focused on winning and getting better every step. So definitely, we’re a competitive group.”

But for the Spurs, it’s too much to ask for a perfect transition given all the new parts -- even on a veteran squad that retains two of the Spurs' original Big Three: Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

“Yeah, it’s going to take a little bit,” Ginobili said. “Not only [do] we have a lot of new faces, but Pau is going to be a big part of our game and [will need time] to adjust and to understand our philosophy. He is going to fit perfectly, but it is going to take time, like with everybody. We are very optimistic. It is not going to be a short-term thing. We are not going to have to wait for March. We will get it down easily, but it is going to take a little bit.

“I think it is too much [to expect the Spurs to win 67 games again]. You never know. I think 67 is crazy. I mean, we did it. It happened. We've had great teams the last 15, even 20 years, and it never happened before. So it's hard to expect that number. But I am pretty sure we can hope for at least 55. That's what we've been doing in the past few years.”

The sweeping changes in San Antonio also seem to lend themselves to a rejuvenated Popovich, who is the longest-tenured current coach with the same team among the 122 NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB franchises. He's entering his 21st season with the Spurs.

“It’s a lot of fun just to think about new bodies, new blood in the gym,” Popovich said. “Not just the players, but the staff. I don’t know half the names of the new staff we’ve hired in the film room, the interns, management, and all that kind of thing. So a lot of people [are] walking around, both players and staff, that it’ll be exciting to see who comes up with what ideas, who plays well and who fits together. So that’s exciting.”

This isn’t the first or even second major Spurs rebuilding project in the Popovich era. It’s the most significant, for sure, because Duncan was the lone constant in all the past rebuilds. The Spurs experienced major makeovers over a five-year period from 1999 to the start of the 2003-04 season, and between the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons. By the end of the 2007-08 campaign, just nine out of 15 players remained from the previous championship squad.

Currently, four bigs from last season are gone: Duncan, Boris Diaw, Matt Bonner and Boban Marjanovic. They have been replaced on the current roster by Gasol, Dewayne Dedmon, Davis Bertans and David Lee.

“The last thing in the world we are is experts. I promise,” Buford said. “There’s a lot of planning that goes into it. I don’t know that there’s any less planning a decade ago than it [is now]. Along this path, we’ve had other times when there were changes, transitions within our organization. There’s been one constant to a lot of these transitions (Duncan). Now that one has changed. But I’m excited about our new group. We’ve got some really terrific people who have joined our organization. There’s a great opportunity to grow together.”

Most importantly, there’s the very real possibility of San Antonio winning yet another championship.