Typical Spurs fashion..

[poopbox]

Denver has two significant problems:

- They have expensive players, with Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and especially Michael Porter Jr. probably each costing more than their actual value. Jokic makes a lot, but is worth it.

- They've traded all the FRPs they can for the next good number of years. They only have swaps left, and have traded some SRPs.

I mean this is what just about all championship level teams look like. None of the 4 teams left (Dallas, Wolves, Celtics, Pacers after the Siakam trade) control any of their picks other than a year or two for the next 5 or 6 years.

Spurstalk seems to think real life nba is like nba 2k where you can put together a championship team with guys on rookie deals. You can't. You want to trade for high end talent its going to cost you all your draft equity for a few years. You want to sign high end talent you are going to pay more than you want to for it, because if you dont the team in line behind you will. The spurs should hope to have these exact problems in 3 or 4 years because it should mean we are competing for les. If it's 2027 and we still out here nickel and diming and hanging on to some hawks pick that will be 18th in the draft then we will be in some pretty serious trouble.

They're in pretty bad shape, since none of those expensive players are likely to draw a lot of interest.

[TD 21]

We have to get defenders somehow. I'm about done with getting torched by Jalen Brunson for 60 points. Castle was key in the tournament, helping keep Boo Buie to 2-15 shooting as primary defender, Terrence Shannon Jr to 2-12, etc.

Sochan would probably guard the bigger players like Doncic, Castle to give other looks and against guards like FTA.

Really, it comes down to this:

You can either draft a strong offensive player in this draft with suspect defense (Dillingham) or a strong defensive player with suspect offense (Castle), or a guy who may be too slow and undersized to be more than a role-player (Sheppard), or wilder swings at forwards with suspect overall skills (Matas, Holland, Williams).

If you can figure out which player is going to be excellent at both sides of the court, let me know. (No, it's not Risacher.)

The most talented offensive players, with their mpg/usage/shot profile, the spacing of today's game and the rules that cater to them (non bigs) are going to have those explosions no matter who the primary or POA defender is.

Castle and Sochan would be untenable together offensively, more than offsetting whatever they might provide defensively.

You don't draft for defense near at the top of a draft unless it's a center and even then, they better have an offensive skillset, real or theoretical (Sarr) beyond strict rim runner.

At least with the likes of Sheppard and Dillingham, they have a high probability of at least being sixth men unlike Castle who could easily end up on the fringe of or out of the league entirely.

[TimmyBuckets]

If they draft, I would want Topic and Risacher, but I don't think both would be available. My guess is they draft Dilingham/Topic/Risacher at 4 and Castle/Sheppard/Klingon/Buzelis/Cody Williams at 8, with the starting lineup potentially looking like one of these two:

Dilingham/Topic
Vassell
Buzelis/Cody Williams
Sochan
Wemby

OR

Castle/Sheppard
Vassell
Risacher
Sochan
Wemby

This if they go draft route, but I would want Garland or Trae though. Cade also would be great if possible.

[Mr. Body]

The most talented offensive players, with their mpg/usage/shot profile, the spacing of today's game and the rules that cater to them (non bigs) are going to have those explosions no matter who the primary or POA defender is.

Castle and Sochan would be untenable together offensively, more than offsetting whatever they might provide defensively.

You don't draft for defense near at the top of a draft unless it's a center and even then, they better have an offensive skillset, real or theoretical (Sarr) beyond strict rim runner.

At least with the likes of Sheppard and Dillingham, they have a high probability of at least being sixth men unlike Castle who could easily end up on the fringe of or out of the league entirely.

Good luck with the defense, then.

But this is why I want Castle and Dillingham both.

[TD 21]

Good luck with the defense, then.

But this is why I want Castle and Dillingham both.

It's easier to find. If you look at most of the top perimeter defenders, they range from mid 1st to undrafted.

This team desperately needs positive impact players and needs to stop outsmarting itself or believing in their own hype by continuing to draft a high bust rate archetype of guard who aren't primary creators and can't shoot and thinking they'll fix it because they're the mighty Spurs.

[rascal]

The most talented offensive players, with their mpg/usage/shot profile, the spacing of today's game and the rules that cater to them (non bigs) are going to have those explosions no matter who the primary or POA defender is.

Castle and Sochan would be untenable together offensively, more than offsetting whatever they might provide defensively.

You don't draft for defense near at the top of a draft unless it's a center and even then, they better have an offensive skillset, real or theoretical (Sarr) beyond strict rim runner.

At least with the likes of Sheppard and Dillingham, they have a high probability of at least being sixth men unlike Castle who could easily end up on the fringe of or out of the league entirely.

Dillingham is less of a sure thing.
Dillingham doesn't look like an allen Iverson(was a better ball handler and overall quicker) or Curry(Shoots the ball much better) type of offensive player.

[Mr. Body]

It's easier to find. If you look at most of the top perimeter defenders, they range from mid 1st to undrafted.

This team desperately needs positive impact players and needs to stop outsmarting itself or believing in their own hype by continuing to draft a high bust rate archetype of guard who aren't primary creators and can't shoot and thinking they'll fix it because they're the mighty Spurs.

Castle can be a primary creator; that's what he often did for UConn. The Spurs don't really need a primary creator anyway.

The reason why I pick Castle and Dillingham is that I think they both have very strong skill-sets, which keeps them above busting. At least in comparison to their peers. Again, and I don't know how often this has to be said, you have to pick players who are in this draft. These are your only selections.

So, yeah, if I get two picks, instead of playing make-believe about some 'archetype' that can be found later in some make-believe draft, I'm going for a player with multiple skills right now. My other options are an expensive Julian Champagnie who I can also find any other time (Risacher) who actually has no other skills, or one of these wings who is bad at almost everything.

Unless you want to forfeit the picks, you have to use them, and these are my choices. Frankly I'm a bit astonished at these "Defense doesn't matter" takes.

[TD 21]

Dillingham is less of a sure thing.
Dillingham doesn't look like an allen Iverson(was a better ball handler and overall quicker) or Curry(Shoots the ball much better) type of offensive player.

He's a good bet to at least be an explosive scorer off the bench on solid efficiency for a long time.

Castle can be a primary creator; that's what he often did for UConn. The Spurs don't really need a primary creator anyway.

The reason why I pick Castle and Dillingham is that I think they both have very strong skill-sets, which keeps them above busting. At least in comparison to their peers. Again, and I don't know how often this has to be said, you have to pick players who are in this draft. These are your only selections.

So, yeah, if I get two picks, instead of playing make-believe about some 'archetype' that can be found later in some make-believe draft, I'm going for a player with multiple skills right now. My other options are an expensive Julian Champagnie who I can also find any other time (Risacher) who actually has no other skills, or one of these wings who is bad at almost everything.

Unless you want to forfeit the picks, you have to use them, and these are my choices. Frankly I'm a bit astonished at these "Defense doesn't matter" takes.

Newton was and not in the NBA, Castle can't.

I don't know how often this has to be said, but his archetype has a high bust rate and there's a few players who are good bets to have long as at least 6th men.

Champagnie is a minus defender. Risacher projects as a plus one, with size and a good enough 3 point shooter for the defense to respect. He doesn't need to impress miserable old men with his "bag" to have value.

I didn't say defense didn't matter, I said offense matters more, defense should only be prioritized near the top of a draft if it's a center and that most of the top defensive perimeter players were mid 1st to undrafted.

[KobesAchilles]

In a dream scenario, I believe we get both Risacher and Castle. Even if he's not a go to primary scorer, does that really matter? We already have one in Wemby and we have a wannabe in Vassell. A big wing player that can shoot and play defense and rebound is all we need at this point. If Risacher turns into MPJ but with a brain then that's a win for the 4th pick.

Castle probably wouldn't be there for us at 8 but who knows. Man I wish Topic didn't get injured so the Wiz could waste a pick on him. But if he is there somehow at 8 and his I won't play for any team that has a starting PG fit works then you take him and don't look back. He will have a lot to learn in the NBA but a bigger player (for his position) who loves to play defense and knows that game will help this team alot.

I'd also be ok with both Castle and Dilly as I believe we should trade Vassell (as part of a package to bring in a star) and this makes it easier to do so.