Kevin O'Connor: The Ringer: Power Rankings: The Post–Harden Trade Landscape

[Drom John]

There's a good video at this link:
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/1/18/22236679/nba-power-rankings-james-harden-trade


19. San Antonio Spurs | PR: 22

Devin Vassell is a long-armed menace.

Vassell, the Spurs’ rookie wing, always seems to find himself in the perfect defensive position to make a play. Watch some of these slick steals:

A feel for rotations, an eye for seeing plays develop, and extremely long arms put Vassell in position to cause problems in the passing lanes. It shows up in the numbers, too. Per Stathead: Of wings to log at least 100 minutes this season, Vassell ranks second in steal percentage, behind only Matisse Thybulle from the Sixers.

But despite Thybulle’s defensive brilliance, his lack of offensive production has caused him to have a dwindling role. So Vassell’s offensive development also must start soon. So far this season, he’s shooting only 38 percent from the floor on 4.4 shots per game. But Vassell has far more talent as a ball handler and passer than Thybulle, and a better history of success as a shooter. It should only be a matter of time until Vassell is a two-way presence.

[CGD]

That’s a good comp at this point. I expect Devin to be a much better offensive players with a season and training camp under him

[Larry O]

Vassell has definitely earned his stripes to remain with the Big Team & continue to come off the bench at this point. If he gets sent to the G-league whenever their season begins, I will be disappointed. Although, he can be the focal point with the offense, etc, with more playing time in Austin, but he's also become an important role player coming off the bench providing good team & individual defense, which this team definitely benefits from. Once he gets rolling with his shooting aspect, he will become a great 3&D player! Look out NBA! GSG!

[exstatic]

Vassell has definitely earned his stripes to remain with the Big Team & continue to come off the bench at this point. If he gets sent to the G-league whenever their season begins, I will be disappointed. Although, he can be the focal point with the offense, etc, with more playing time in Austin, but he's also become an important role player coming off the bench providing good team & individual defense, which this team definitely benefits from. Once he gets rolling with his shooting aspect, he will become a great 3&D player! Look out NBA! GSG!

I would say his odds of going to the gleague depend on when White returns. If his recovery stretches to the furthest date, it might not be worth sending Vassel to play there, since it’s going to be a shortened season from the normal 40 games. Whites return will likely send him either to the bench or to the gleague.

[Mugen]

I would say his odds of going to the gleague depend on when White returns. If his recovery stretches to the furthest date, it might not be worth sending Vassel to play there, since it’s going to be a shortened season from the normal 40 games. Whites return will likely send him either to the bench or to the gleague.

Which would be absolutely ridiculous tbh. Talk about not "being fair to the team."....

I don't care if those minutes come from Lonnie, Patty, Rudy, Derozan, etc.....but he's earned minutes.

[Chinook]

The Spurs are 8-6. Against teams at .500 or above, they are 5-3. That's tied for the second-best record in the West. Against teams below .500m they are 3-3. They are the only team who does not have a winning record against non-winning teams in the top 12 teams in the conference. This seems to continue the trend of the team playing well against good teams but down to the levels of bad teams from last year. If they can figure out how to just take care of business, they'll be a solid playoff team. If they continue to drop gimmes, they'll be a play-in participant if not on the outside looking in.

[BillMc]

There's a good video at this link:
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/1/18/22236679/nba-power-rankings-james-harden-trade


I do wonder long term who will win the second starting guard spot of Devin, Lonnie or White? I can't imagine DJ being benched with the way he's playing, which leaves 3 guys for 1 spot. It's intriguing.

[Dejounte]

I do wonder long term who will win the second starting guard spot of Devin, Lonnie or White? I can't imagine DJ being benched with the way he's playing, which leaves 3 guys for 1 spot. It's intriguing.

Lonnie. Brings down the cost of his extension too. Pop has put out line-ups this season without Murray and Mills to experiment with Lonnie running the show. It was interesting.

[DAF86]

Vassell has definitely earned his stripes to remain with the Big Team & continue to come off the bench at this point. If he gets sent to the G-league whenever their season begins, I will be disappointed. Although, he can be the focal point with the offense, etc, with more playing time in Austin, but he's also become an important role player coming off the bench providing good team & individual defense, which this team definitely benefits from. Once he gets rolling with his shooting aspect, he will become a great 3&D player! Look out NBA! GSG!

There's really little to be gain from Vassell going to the G-league, imho. I don't ever see him developing his offensive game to the point of becoming a primary offensive option. He's a 3-and-D player through and through. He doesn't need to go to the G-league to keep developing on that role. In fact, it would be counterproductive.

[DAF86]

I do wonder long term who will win the second starting guard spot of Devin, Lonnie or White? I can't imagine DJ being benched with the way he's playing, which leaves 3 guys for 1 spot. It's intriguing.

Long term, the 3-D skillset that Vassell brings is more useful on the starting lineup. White can come off the bench in the playmaking Manu role, and Walker as the Vinnie Johnson microwave type.

[DAF86]

I know Walker has had some nice games lately, but I still fail to see him as anything else than a guy that can get hot from time to time to provide good scoring outputs without providing much of anything else. That's a prototypical bench player, tbh.

[D-Robinson 50 fan]

Hopefully they keep Devin with the big team and doesn’t send him to the development league. The guy is a solid player already and has proven to be a positive rotation player as a rookie. I think Pop is gonna stick with the lineup we have if White comes back later.

derrick can run the bench crew and Devin should still get run at the 3 spot. His minutes might drop a little bit I think they shouldn’t drop his minutes. Instead they should lower DeRozan’s minutes a little unless he has it going or is needed in close games.

[PhantomDashCam]

There in lies the question: would the Spurs be willing to take a step back this season, by trading one of the vets (Derozan or Mills) so a young player has the requisite playing time to develop sooner; or wait until the off season and gauge the season holistically and make a decision then?

Vassell has shown that he can compete consistently in the role given to him, Lonnie has not. D. White has proven to be injury prone but currently is the best player of the 3. Lonnie, arguably, has the highest ceiling though of all.

IMHO, Mills is not going anywhere and will retire a Spur. He has had a terrific season and his value will never be higher than at this moment. The Spurs, however, care more for character, cohesion than unproven trade commodities.
Derozan probably sticks around until the end of the season and may resign if the price, role is satisfactory to both parties.

A Mills, White and Walker trio off the bench would be devastating, (in theory), Offensively leaving perhaps Vassell as your starting 2.
Would the Spurs do that though?

[exstatic]

I know Walker has had some nice games lately, but I still fail to see him as anything else than a guy that can get hot from time to time to provide good scoring outputs without providing much of anything else. That's a prototypical bench player, tbh.

Lonnie plays like a high end starter anytime DeMar doesn’t suit up. He scored 49 points, dished 6 assists, and grabbed 6 boards in those 2 games DeRozan was gone. He’s also started actually doing other things than scoring.

[Mr. Body]

Those ranking seem a bit dubious. Not sure Utah and Denver deserve to be that low. I'm really not sure about Phoenix, not now and not in the long run, and I never believe in Boston. They're getting wins in a terrible conference and lost a major piece of talent on their squad without getting anything back.

[RD2191]

How the fuck does that retard have the Dubs at 9 and the Spurs at 19? What a fucking idiot. The Spurs are a top 10 team in the NBA right now. We'd be at 10-4 or 11-3 if not for injuries.

[Mr. Body]

How the fuck does that retard have the Dubs at 9 and the Spurs at 19? What a fucking idiot. The Spurs are a top 10 team in the NBA right now. We'd be at 10-4 or 11-3 if not for injuries.

We're in a post-truth world. It's all click bait at this point.

[Dex]

How the fuck does that retard have the Dubs at 9 and the Spurs at 19? What a fucking idiot. The Spurs are a top 10 team in the NBA right now. We'd be at 10-4 or 11-3 if not for injuries.

Because the media is constantly sucking off Steph and Draymond.

Granted, the Warriors are looking better than they started out and are only .5 behind the Spurs with a similar SOS...but that doesn't excuse being 10 spots up in the power rankings despite being a lower seed.

[Dex]

He has the goddamn Cavaliers ranked ahead of the Spurs, for god's sake. They are 6-7 in the Leastern Conference with the easiest SOS so far.

O'Connor usually does decent articles but this is absolutely just throwing shit at the wall.

[Ice009]

He has the goddamn Cavaliers ranked ahead of the Spurs, for god's sake. They are 6-7 in the Leastern Conference with the easiest SOS so far.

O'Connor usually does decent articles but this is absolutely just throwing shit at the wall.

Wow. I haven't looked at it. What stupid, stupid rankings this O'Connor guy has come up with.

[BillMc]

Lonnie plays like a high end starter anytime DeMar doesn’t suit up. He scored 49 points, dished 6 assists, and grabbed 6 boards in those 2 games DeRozan was gone. He’s also started actually doing other things than scoring.

As long as DeMar is here, Lonnie's lack of defense and the fact that he defers so often, means he'd be great as the prime scoring threat off the bench but is somewhat wasted as a starter. By mid season I'd like to see them try Devin in Lonnie's spot as a 3 and D guy. That assumes Devin's 3's starts falling.

Lonnie and DeMar are a lousy defensive pairing. Devin or White could help a little and let Lonnie thrive on the bench. Once DeMar is gone, things maybe different.

White also might be better off the bench, not only to protect his brittle body with less minutes, but he pairs well on offense with Jakob.

[Dejounte]

Wow. I haven't looked at it. What stupid, stupid rankings this O'Connor guy has come up with.

Yet we're supposed to trust this guy's mock drafts come around draft time.

This is why I say people put too much stock into these people's mock drafts. Make up your own conclusions after you do your own research. Group think is silly.

[SpurPadre]

I think we need to take off our homer glasses for a moment and realize we recently had a hard time in two games beating an 8 man G-League team. We're better than 19th obviously but we're obviously not a top 10 team, either. We have some more work to do to get there.

[KingKev]

Vassell is not going to the d league. If you are actually trying to win short term (even if the upside is a 1st round exit) which this organization has shown an affinity for, you will need your depth.

[GreekSpursfan]

Wiseman is better than any of our young guys and for that reason they are better than us but not that much better. I really like Wiseman.

[Dex]

Wiseman is better than any of our young guys and for that reason they are better than us but not that much better. I really like Wiseman.

Wiseman was the #2 pick in the draft, so he should be better than our young picks who (other than Vassell and Walker) were mostly taken in the late 20s.

[Dejounte]

Wiseman is better than any of our young guys and for that reason they are better than us but not that much better. I really like Wiseman.

No, the Warriors aren't better than us because of Wiseman, they're better than us because of Curry. Wiseman is not an impact player yet.

[TDMVPDPOY]

shitty mills is basically the spurms bench offense, nobody else on the bench could score for peanuts

[RD2191]

How the fuck does that retard have the Dubs at 9 and the Spurs at 19? What a fucking idiot. The Spurs are a top 10 team in the NBA right now. We'd be at 10-4 or 11-3 if not for injuries.
https://connermullanj.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/mark-cuban.gif

[GreekSpursfan]

No, the Warriors aren't better than us because of Wiseman, they're better than us because of Curry. Wiseman is not an impact player yet.

He is.