Staying the Course...

[Immortal Spur]

I've had my fits with moving DeMar like the rest of us, but with where we stand and the opportunity at hand... continuity is the best plan of action.

1. As some would point out, the Spurs had 8 new players this season and had a rash of injuries to start. DeMar coming onto a new team and new system played very well to start. He had ups and downs but overall he played pretty well all things considered. I'm not gonna defend him in the playoffs though... But one more year in the system with more knowledge of the plays can only benefit him. As we've seen in the past, most players take a couple years to get acclimated.

2. Another year for the bulk of the guys would give more room for improvement on top of the possible growth by the youth which would also heighten the ceiling and lower the floor. Only players I'd like to see gone or demoted to third string duties is Marco and Patty. They should be taking spot minutes when young players make bone headed mistakes. They can't be expected to be used like they were last year. We need them to be place holders as bad as that sounds.

3. This year should be used to grow our youngins as much as possible. We are gonna need help come playoffs and the more the more talented kids know and have experienced the better off we'll be.

4. We get our best defender and PG back from his ACL injury and pair him with White who hopefully has a chip on his shoulder after the playoff run, and we have a chance to be a pretty stout defensive team. Like some have mentioned, we need a 3 and D PF especially. That should help the spacing with the starting lineup and help balance the team overall. Bertans should of been that player but for whatever reason he is still not ready and I'm not sure he will ever be...

5. There really shouldn't be any deal available for DeRozan after how he finished the year, at least not one that would be worth it for us. It makes more sense to let him play out the year and see what we got after one more year. We are probably not gonna get enough back for him so might as well use him while we got him in a year where it's wide open out West. If we get the improvement from continuity and any of the White, Walker, or Murray, that come out we should be in strong position to at least compete. Then with DeMar coming of the books we can have a better idea of what we want to do with him or if it's best to have the space... Maybe White, Walker, and Murray all have breakout years.... then you don't need to resign DeMar, but at least now you can let things happen naturally. So it's best to just keep him imo.

Like Chinook posted... a 3/D PF and a 3 would be perfect.

These are the players i'm looking at in no order...
PF: Goga, Samanic, Hachimura, Bol Bol, Doumboya?
SF: KZ Okpala, Roby, Okeke, Windler, Bazley

[rascal]

Staying the course will not be good enough to make the playoffs. spurs are on a sinking ship.

[DPG21920]

Things have changed too much for SA to stay the course. Kawhi won a title, things are now super weird with DeRozan and SA has to choose a direction.

They made a “win now” move for DeRozan and they can’t go back on that now; either make moves to contend with GS out of the way or go the opposite direction and make moves to set your future up better.

Too much has transpired and the current environment is not conducive to standing still.

[cjw]

The GS injury implosion may actually push more teams to go for it. Frankly, I think that’s part of the reason the Pels got such a better haul for Davis than Spurs for Kawhi (among many others).

Given that, if there are any doubts in ability to compete for a title, the Spurs should zag while everyone else is zigging. Now a dumb team may think they’re a Patty Mills away from competing.

[RC_Drunkford]

How about improving the damn team instead of staying the course?

[cutewizard]

Bogdanovic!!!

Hachimura!!!!

Middleton!!!!

[Dennis the Menace]

If staying the course is more loyalty contracts with no pressure to perform, then to hell with that

[cutewizard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3kkDNOXy0Y

[cutewizard]

sign that guy, hahahahahahaha

[tbdog]

Spurs need to tinker and no need for mass changes. Two of Bertans/Forbes/Mills/Beli should be traded for better fits.

[cutewizard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsgrQaXeETE&t=149s

[cutewizard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA_ERCTlovs

[cutewizard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A-G4OYmtys

[cutewizard]

Spurs should get this Filipino, hehehehehe

[cutewizard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77QfjmrHqV4

[cutewizard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgdLvdTI8F8

[phxspurfan]

https://tshop.r10s.com/53a/9f3/460b/644a/9099/f187/ef2a/110de7bb89a81e84968ffa.jpg

[daslicer]

I don't see any point in tanking anymore after seeing how the new lottery rules work. If the Spur suck they will end up in the lottery and we'll just go from there.

[cutewizard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Jsf4kznq4

[Genovaswitness]

none of those points will make demar shoot 3s. our spacing is dogshit. Murray can’t shoot either but he’s way younger and can defend

[Nivek_ogre]

Would never happen but I think the spurs and derozans best option is coming off the bench. He could handle pg duties and kill opposing bench players

[FkLA]

Derrick White is the best defender and PG on the team.

[sasaint]

The only way to stay the curse is to trade the albatross, Dumbmar.

[tonski17]

I agree with this. Better team chemistry, better knowledge of the system and hunger for a crown after what kawhi had achieved this past season. with the 19th pick we could snatch a SF back up for gay and a PF.

[Roscoe P. Coltrane]

All the Spurs need is to add an all-star or boarder line all-star to go along with Aldridge and DeRozan. Rudy Gay isn't it.

[timtonymanu]

Derrick White is the best defender and PG on the team.

[Immortal Spur]

Spurs need to tinker and no need for mass changes. Two of Bertans/Forbes/Mills/Beli should be traded for better fits.
that's exactly where i stand man. and if they aren't moved then they need to be third stringers. I prefer upgrades. don't get me wrong. i just feel the bulk is fine.

[Immortal Spur]

none of those points will make demar shoot 3s. our spacing is dogshit. Murray can’t shoot either but he’s way younger and can defend
well apparently the plan is to have DeMar and LMA to shoot a lot more threes.. i want to see how that goes tbh.. if that works than the spacing will be fine. I'm not banking on it for the playoffs but for the season it could work. For the playoffs, LMA and DeMar ain't gonna lead us to a ship anyway so I'd actually be following Murray, White, and Walker's development. If you have to bench DeMar than you can just let him walk next offseason and have some cap.

[Immortal Spur]

Derrick White is the best defender and PG on the team.
I'm not doing this again with you bruh LUL.. we'll just agree to disagree.

[Immortal Spur]

Things have changed too much for SA to stay the course. Kawhi won a title, things are now super weird with DeRozan and SA has to choose a direction.

They made a “win now” move for DeRozan and they can’t go back on that now; either make moves to contend with GS out of the way or go the opposite direction and make moves to set your future up better.

Too much has transpired and the current environment is not conducive to standing still.

I feel this is prisoner of the moment talk. I'd love to be wrong... but I don't think PATFO really care as much as we do, especially Pop for that matter with all the Life is more important than basketball takes. They'll probably run it back for one more year and see what they got. DeMar isn't on Stephen Jackson terms or anything. You don't just trade him to trade him... and as bad as it sounds you don't even get his value back in a trade, which just makes the trade more worse. So you just keep the band going in a low risk high reward scenario in my estimation.

[gambit1990]

demar can improve... but will never be good enough to be the #1 option on a contender. la could be a #2 and demar could, at best, also be a #2. you can’t contend with two #2s.

[gambit1990]

demar should be making patty mills money / be a sixth man.

[SpurPadre]

I'm not doing this again with you bruh LUL.. we'll just agree to disagree.

Murray is CLEARLY better.

[spurs10]

Yep I see some trades being made. I can't see us standing still. I don't think DDR and LMA are going anywhere and I expect Gay back. :corn:

[Immortal Spur]

Murray is CLEARLY better.
I'm willing to concede White is a better PG but Murray is definitely a better defender.

[Larry O]

It's interesting that some in the SA media are predicting that the Spurs will attempt to move up in the draft by possibly trading one of their many guards, perhaps Forbes, as one of their focal points to use to move up, to the 15th or 16th spot. They think that perhaps there's someone that they are targeting that may not be available by 19. Also, Bertans may also be another player who could be used to trade up, perhaps it could be a package deal(?). At least there are ideas, and possibly talks, that the Spurs, in this aspect, could be making a change try to improve the roster. Now, there may be opposition by fans to moving one or both of these players, but this could be a key move to make a splash in the draft and persue a potential draft target that will help this team, now and in the future. Wonder if they are willing to throw in the 29th pick as well. I hope not, but we'll see what will happen on Thursday night. The Spurs have in the past, been in discussions and in the rumor mill about possible trade deals to move up, but in recent history, it's happened at least once in 2011, but we'll see if the Spurs will make a bold move or just simply stand pat. I'm in for the Spurs to making that bold move to move up, if it's going to be this plan. I'm sure this means that the team still wants to compete in the "now mode," for a championship. Well, we'll see... GSG!!!

[RC_Drunkford]

They better make a move on draft night to open up some cap space so we can add Bogdanovic

[r0drig0lac]

How about improving the damn team instead of staying the course?
this

Is really strange to want to just staying the course (the development of young people will happen regardless of anything), we had a lot of dead weight on this roster (Mills, Bellinelli, Quincy, Dante) for a team that is already overtaken in talent and athleticism by 2/3 of the league.
if there is a way to get Bogdanovic and keep Demar without handing over the pick 19, Walker, White and Murray, I hope PATFO will really do this business. If there is the possibility of a trade for Demar by cap space and a potential young player or a pick, so be it.

Not moving definitely is not an option.

[Slippy]

Hope spurs ownership and pop the president are thinkng with the demise of the warriors for atleast one season that its an opportunity to improve and be a contender .

The kwitter saga should be added motivation to make things happen.

[Big Empty]

We need someone who can guard LeBron. AD is a bit overrated and LA and Peotle can hold him down a tiny bit. We dont have anyone thay can guard LeBron thats who u have to match up with this year along with finding an answer for Jokitz in Denver. IF we are trying to get to the finals. If Kawhi joins the Lakers we need to trade DeMar and Aldridge to rebuild.

[Immortal Spur]

They better make a move on draft night to open up some cap space so we can add Bogdanovic
Yeah I'm all for the Spurs moving Bertans, Mills, and Belinelli... just don't think it happens or it costs us a first. I don't think they have much value around the league unfortunately. Would love to have Bogdanovic. I don't think it's worth it to move piece(s) with our history of finding players in the late first.

[FkLA]

I'm not doing this again with you bruh LUL.. we'll just agree to disagree.

That's fine, we don't have to argue about it. I was just making a factual statement.

[exstatic]

I don't see any point in tanking anymore after seeing how the new lottery rules work. If the Spur suck they will end up in the lottery and we'll just go from there.

Yup. Three teams that tanked HARD got pushed out of the top 4 picks.

[Keepin' it real]

C'mon man. Staying the course went out the door when Duncan did.

[Ibleedslvrnblk]

Staying the course will not be good enough to make the playoffs. spurs are on a sinking ship.


Who isn't? Houston is a shit show, OKC is a ticking time bomb, the Warriors have been stricken down to reality. The Lakers are throwing it all in for one year, Portland has promise now that the Warriors are gone. Utah maybe? The whole West is a mess

[DPG21920]

I feel this is prisoner of the moment talk. I'd love to be wrong... but I don't think PATFO really care as much as we do, especially Pop for that matter with all the Life is more important than basketball takes. They'll probably run it back for one more year and see what they got. DeMar isn't on Stephen Jackson terms or anything. You don't just trade him to trade him... and as bad as it sounds you don't even get his value back in a trade, which just makes the trade more worse. So you just keep the band going in a low risk high reward scenario in my estimation.

Perhaps, but the league is like that. There is no doubt that seeing the Warriors crumble legit changes the variables.

I believed from the beginning that you don’t make a DeRozan for Kawhi trade unless you are willing to win now. If that is true, and winning now becomes easier with GS out, then why would you not do so?

Or, take advantage of the fact that so many teams ARE trying to win now and get max value (like LA got for AD) for a player like DeRozan or LMA.

Not saying DeRozan = AD, but the point is winning now means you can probably get more for a good player than you normally would.

[Mugen]

Perhaps, but the league is like that. There is no doubt that seeing the Warriors crumble legit changes the variables.

I believed from the beginning that you don’t make a DeRozan for Kawhi trade unless you are willing to win now. If that is true, and winning now becomes easier with GS out, then why would you not do so?

Or, take advantage of the fact that so many teams ARE trying to win now and get max value (like LA got for AD) for a player like DeRozan or LMA.

Not saying DeRozan = AD, but the point is winning now means you can probably get more for a good player than you normally would. Deeps, you're still making the same mistake from last year thinking that "winning now" to Pop/RC = championship contention and not making the playoffs tbh.

[Leetonidas]

Sadly we all know Pop will blame the down year on injuries and new players and will likely run it back next year with mostly the same roster. Spurs may get a decent player with the MLE but that's it. Considering the state of the west at the current moment we may actually have a chance to reach the WCF next year if the younger Spurs take a step forward, DJ comes back healthy with no setbacks, and LA has not severely regressed.

[Leetonidas]

Also DW looked better in his first real season than Leonard did in his rookie year imo. Obv he is older but you never know. Dude could take a major leap and be our next star. No one saw it coming with nephew. DW seems like he has the same type of work ethic.

[Big P]

I hope "Staying the course" doesn't include extending DD to some outrageous contract. popatfo got bent over, one of the worst trades ever...you don't just get back a late first rounder when you trade the best player in the game..and you sure as hell don't include $5 mil...they should have fleeced the lakers or clippers for something like the pels just got for AD.. If he is going to wind up in LA or wherever he wanted to , they should have traded him to the team of his choice and get the best package possible, not try to fuck him over and send him out of the conference and out of the country, they lost all leverage at that point...and not only that he is laughing at them...literally. cuckovich should have bailed when TD, Manu and tp left like he said he would...I guess it's the only way for him to stay relevant so he can have a "platform" against Trump.

[Immortal Spur]

I hope "Staying the course" doesn't include extending DD to some outrageous contract. popatfo got bent over, one of the worst trades ever...you don't just get back a late first rounder when you trade the best player in the game..and you sure as hell don't include $5 mil...they should have fleeced the lakers or clippers for something like the pels just got for AD.. If he is going to wind up in LA or wherever he wanted to , they should have traded him to the team of his choice and get the best package possible, not try to fuck him over and send him out of the conference and out of the country, they lost all leverage at that point...and not only that he is laughing at them...literally. cuckovich should have bailed when TD, Manu and tp left like he said he would...I guess it's the only way for him to stay relevant so he can have a "platform" against Trump.
I think the real reason LA didn't offer the same package for Kawhi, cause they knew that AD was the play. I think they were well connected on the situation. As soon as AD had an excuse it was over. Boston was in a similar boat but they were both waiting on this AD trade and they decided to save the treasure chest for him. Sucks for us tbh and then Kawhi brought a chip to Toronto and now with that people are more willing to take chances at our expense. The timing was just awful as well as the entire situation.

[pad300]

I think the real reason LA didn't offer the same package for Kawhi, cause they knew that AD was the play. I think they were well connected on the situation. As soon as AD had an excuse it was over. Boston was in a similar boat but they were both waiting on this AD trade and they decided to save the treasure chest for him. Sucks for us tbh and then Kawhi brought a chip to Toronto and now with that people are more willing to take chances at our expense. The timing was just awful as well as the entire situation.

The other thing about the AD vs Kwitter situation was that AD didn't publically nuke his trade value, saying he'd leave anywhere that wasn't the Lakers...

[slick'81]

The other thing about the AD vs Kwitter situation was that AD didn't publically nuke his trade value, saying he'd leave anywhere that wasn't the Lakers...


Davis still ended up in la.What ultimately killed kawhis value was his injury

[Immortal Spur]

Davis still ended up in la.What ultimately killed kawhis value was his injury
tru... i think we know now that he's got a serious injury that's only gonna get worse.

[GreekSpursfan]

I'm willing to concede White is a better PG but Murray is definitely a better defender.

The correct assessment right now is that Murray has the most upside defensively out of the two due to his superior athletism but White is ahead of him defensively at the start of the season.
White is the better pg also even though he was a massive let down in game 7 on both ends.
Otherwise i absolutely agree with your op.

[itzsoweezee]

Jazz are about to aquire Mike Conley. Spurs need to make some major moves.

[Immortal Spur]

The correct assessment right now is that Murray has the most upside defensively out of the two due to his superior athletism but White is ahead of him defensively at the start of the season.
White is the better pg also even though he was a massive let down in game 7 on both ends.
Otherwise i absolutely agree with your op.
again i'll go with the age argument... I'd hope White was the better defender at his age........ Murray has the better tools and relied on them more so to get away with his defensive assignments, but when Murray was on he was much more of a pest than say White when he was on. White is very solid with his defense while Murray can be elite as he has shown in flashes. Some intangibles but Murray can lead a defense, while White is a cog. Murray has the most potential and White is more of what he's gonna be. There's not much ceiling left.

when it comes down to it though, most people have White's play fresh in their memories and can't even remember what it was like to have Murray after two years... It's safe to say, it's good we have both on our sides.

[Leetonidas]

It's amazing how much better/useful derozan would be if he was at least a threat from distance. I mean how can you be a guard in the nba for decade and shoot 15% from distance?? It's mindboggling. If he could even hit it at 35-36% he'd be so much more useful on the roster.

[Immortal Spur]

It's amazing how much better/useful derozan would be if he was at least a threat from distance. I mean how can you be a guard in the nba for decade and shoot 15% from distance?? It's mindboggling. If he could even hit it at 35-36% he'd be so much more useful on the roster.
100%

Feel for Philly having a dinosaur like Simmons... and to a lesser extent Greek Freak.. They are always gonna be limited when they play elite teams... too easy to guard, imo. Not saying i wouldn't want them, it's just in this day in age the long ball is king.

[GreekSpursfan]

again i'll go with the age argument... I'd hope White was the better defender at his age........ Murray has the better tools and relied on them more so to get away with his defensive assignments, but when Murray was on he was much more of a pest than say White when he was on. White is very solid with his defense while Murray can be elite as he has shown in flashes. Some intangibles but Murray can lead a defense, while White is a cog. Murray has the most potential and White is more of what he's gonna be. There's not much ceiling left.

when it comes down to it though, most people have White's play fresh in their memories and can't even remember what it was like to have Murray after two years... It's safe to say, it's good we have both on our sides.

If we are talking about upside i agree but right now when the new season starts White is ahead of him as far as defensive IQ and overall. Murray has to show us what he is after his injury, we can't start speculating this or that, we need to see it.

[EricB]

I hope "Staying the course" doesn't include extending DD to some outrageous contract. popatfo got bent over, one of the worst trades ever...you don't just get back a late first rounder when you trade the best player in the game..and you sure as hell don't include $5 mil...they should have fleeced the lakers or clippers for something like the pels just got for AD.. If he is going to wind up in LA or wherever he wanted to , they should have traded him to the team of his choice and get the best package possible, not try to fuck him over and send him out of the conference and out of the country, they lost all leverage at that point...and not only that he is laughing at them...literally. cuckovich should have bailed when TD, Manu and tp left like he said he would...I guess it's the only way for him to stay relevant so he can have a "platform" against Trump.


You have zero clue the the definition of the word leverage, do you....

[Big P]

You have zero clue the the definition of the word leverage, do you....


How did that "leverage" work out?

[EricB]

How did that "leverage" work out?

For Leonard? It’s worked pretty well.

the spurs had none. Hence the deal they got. This isn’t hard....

[Big P]

My point is the Spurs would have received more compensation if he would have been traded to a team where he would have resigned, just like AD, he wanted to go to LA so the Lakers were willing to pony up to get him, if kl said he wanted to go to the Clippers, the Spurs would most likely have been able to get him for Tobias Harris/ Avery Bradley and one of the 13th or 14th pick that was rumored to be on the table. The whole situation sucks, we had the best player in the game and basically pushed him out the door. The team could have and should have found a better trade, but they were determined to ship him off somewhere to be forgotten and it came back and bit them.

[RC_Drunkford]

people here seem to forget that Tobias Harris was on a 1-year deal

[tbdog]

Sixers fans are not happy with Harris. Surprise surprise, he is massively overrated.

[duncan2k5]

Rationalizing bad situations is why bad teams stay bad teams for years... Masai went into Toronto... Could have stayed pat... But realized DDR wasn't it and got him out of there... U have to have the balls to make the right move in order to win a ring...

[duncan2k5]

The other thing about the AD vs Kwitter situation was that AD didn't publically nuke his trade value, saying he'd leave anywhere that wasn't the Lakers...

Yes he did... This was literally reported everywhere