Grades: Spurs @ Nuggets - Apr. 9, 2021

[timvp]

https://www.spurstalk.com/grades-san-antonio-spurs-denver-nuggets-game-50/

Better, tbh.

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

FIRST

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

tbh good game, great game -- spursies didn't completely wet the bed, but we got dettt sweet sweet L


'L' = LOTTERY


:pop:

[tbdog]

The negativity of this board begging for loses is getting to me.

[longhorn]

The negativity of this board begging for loses is getting to me.

I mean, on one hand, I get it. It’s a weird kind of mindfuck to root for the team you love—and one that has always consistently won—to lose.

On the other hand, anyone with a brain can look at our roster and say that we absolutely do not—in any way whatsoever—have a star player that will lead us to another championship. So how do we get there? Historically speaking a higher draft pick increases our chances of drafting that type of guy.

So what is worth more, when we are looking back at the 2020-2021 season ten years from now? Winning pointless games that maybe possibly get us into the play-in, only to get absolutely thrashed by a top seed in the West? Or prioritizing getting a higher pick and giving the young guys we’ve spent first round picks on developmental minutes (fat chance of this happening with Pop’s obsession with Rudy Gay)?

This team is the equivalent of a 7-9 NFL team who never sucks enough to launch themselves into position to land a franchise QB, and just wallows year after year in mediocrity. As a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan, I know what that feels like. And it feels exactly like this.

[Rummpd]

Moral victories dont mean ^%$# Nothing happening on Spurs till big shakeup FO, coaching staff and/or roster. Welcome to mediocrity x half a decade going forward.

[John B]

Thanks Timvp. We won this game if Patty made some of his shots. 0-3 from the 3? What? The only reason Patty shoukd be playing is he knocking down 3’s. Because he’s such a big defensive liability, and he only attempted 3 times? Patty should’ve gotten an F. And Pop should get a lower for allowing it. Rudy at least justified his minutes. Lonnue’s coming back us a sight for sore eye. He was fast and athletic and a welcone energy. Vassell should’ve played more over Patty. Overall, it was a great effort not to get embarassed whike getting closer to a lottery pick.

[tbdog]

I mean, on one hand, I get it. It’s a weird kind of mindfuck to root for the team you love—and one that has always consistently won—to lose.

On the other hand, anyone with a brain can look at our roster and say that we absolutely do not—in any way whatsoever—have a star player that will lead us to another championship. So how do we get there? Historically speaking a higher draft pick increases our chances of drafting that type of guy.

So what is worth more, when we are looking back at the 2020-2021 season ten years from now? Winning pointless games that maybe possibly get us into the play-in, only to get absolutely thrashed by a top seed in the West? Or prioritizing getting a higher pick and giving the young guys we’ve spent first round picks on developmental minutes (fat chance of this happening with Pop’s obsession with Rudy Gay)?

This team is the equivalent of a 7-9 NFL team who never sucks enough to launch themselves into position to land a franchise QB, and just wallows year after year in mediocrity. As a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan, I know what this feels like. And it feels exactly like this.

The way I see it, the planning, the media, the travel, just overall the experience of a playoff series outweighs the risks of tanking. I want our young players to experience that, namely Johnson.

[dbestpro]

There is no Spurs playoff streak to cheer for. Logic dictates we are better off outside the playoffs than in. Maybe that will convince Pop to retire along with the vets moving on.

[timtonymanu]

The way I see it, the planning, the media, the travel, just overall the experience of a playoff series outweighs the risks of tanking. I want our young players to experience that, namely Johnson.

Totally reasonable but guys like Johnson won’t reach their full potential playing on a broken team like this one.

[ECOV]

tanking wont get you anywhere, people need to get through their fucking skull

[timtonymanu]

tanking wont get you anywhere, people need to get through their fucking skull

Barely missing the playoffs and being stuck with a mediocre draft pick isn’t doing the team any favors either, it can go both ways.

[Blackhaus]

I never root for them to lose but losses are not crushing when you look at the big picture. Having a better pick will help for sure. Pop has got to let go of these vets and the treatment he gives them. They are killing this team. He’s so damn stubborn

[LeBowen]

I never root for them to lose but losses are not crushing when you look at the big picture. Having a better pick will help for sure. Pop has got to let go of these vets and the treatment he gives them. They are killing this team. He’s so damn stubborn

Winning with Patty and Rudy playing starter minutes is worse than losing.

Patty was the worst player on both ends of the floor last night. He still got to play 22 minutes.
Lonnie got 17, which is fine for his first game back, but we all know that's the usual rotation.

Devin getting 3 minutes and Luka getting a DNP is disgusting. But it's fine, Pop got A-.

[ECOV]

Barely missing the playoffs and being stuck with a mediocre draft pick isn’t doing the team any favors either, it can go both ways.
it doesn't matter , there's been bust as well. we got kawhi at the 15 pick. top pick doesn't guarantee nothing especially if you tank on purpose unless its a player coming out high school.

[Spurs Homer]

Winning with Patty and Rudy playing starter minutes is worse than losing.

Patty was the worst player on both ends of the floor last night. He still got to play 22 minutes.
Lonnie got 17, which is fine for his first game back, but we all know that's the usual rotation.

Devin getting 3 minutes and Luka getting a DNP is disgusting. But it's fine, Pop got A-.


THIS ^.

[tbdog]

Totally reasonable but guys like Johnson won’t reach their full potential playing on a broken team like this one.

I wouldn't say the team is broken. They are just not that good. There are no reports of locker room issues. And for last nights game, they were down 20 against a good team, and they came screaming back. That points to the team can still play hard.

[BackHome]

tanking wont get you anywhere, people need to get through their fucking skull

1989 - 21 wins and we drafted David Robinson

1997 - 20 wins we drafted the “Timmy Duncan”

The two worst records we had in almost 40 years just happened to occur when two the the best big men were coming out of college - Will wonders never end.

But tanking won’t get us anywhere.

[ECOV]

1989 - 21 wins and we drafted David Robinson

1997 - 20 wins we drafted the “Timmy Duncan”

The two worst records we had in almost 40 years just happened to occur when two the the best big men were coming out of college - Will wonders never end.

But tanking won’t get us anywhere.
the spurs got an Elite legend when they tanked for Timmy it was a no brain a smart move by the spurs FO. Look at the first picks in the draft since timmy was drafted other than lebron (who came out of high school) no other first pick has had an impact as timmy has. no player is worth to tank for and if we do get a top pick so be it.

[tbdog]

1989 - 21 wins and we drafted David Robinson

1997 - 20 wins we drafted the “Timmy Duncan”

The two worst records we had in almost 40 years just happened to occur when two the the best big men were coming out of college - Will wonders never end.

But tanking won’t get us anywhere.

Did you see who got drafted 2nd in those drafts?

[LeBowen]

I'll always be against blatant tanking unless the roster is trash and there's nothing to be done.

The problem for the past couple of seasons is that PATFO thinks they're trying to win, but in reality they're just sabotaging the team.

Our ceiling with DDR-Patty-Rudy is known. We can barely make it to the playoffs and take maybe 1 game in the first round.
That's the ceiling. In reality we'll be the 10th seed and lose the play-in games.

On the other hand, playing the young guys is a win-win situation. They get to develop no matter what.
They make the playoffs? Great. They don't? We get a better pick.

If PATFO wants to win now or they don't like the young guys, they could've made a trade, we had a ton of options and tons of assets.

This situation right now feels like PATFO is in vegetative state, but noone wants to pronounce them dead and pull the plug.

[Dejounte]

I'll always be against blatant tanking unless the roster is trash and there's nothing to be done.

The problem for the past couple of seasons is that PATFO thinks they're trying to win, but in reality they're just sabotaging the team.

Our ceiling with DDR-Patty-Rudy is known. We can barely make it to the playoffs and take maybe 1 game in the first round.
That's the ceiling. In reality we'll be the 10th seed and lose the play-in games.

On the other hand, playing the young guys is a win-win situation. They get to develop no matter what.
They make the playoffs? Great. They don't? We get a better pick.

If PATFO wants to win now or they don't like the young guys, they could've made a trade, we had a ton of options and tons of assets.

This situation right now feels like PATFO is in vegetative state, but noone wants to pronounce them dead and pull the plug.

You don't get a better pick playing the young guys. There's literally no worse players you could put out there than Rudy and Mills.

[Elementis]

The "tanking = getting a championship next" is fool's gold. just look at how many teams have been trash in the last years, and how many of them actually turned it into a ring. and that's just looking at those at the very bottom of the standings. getting to draft 5th doesn't get you that generational talent any more reaslistically than drafting 15th, it only breaks your team along the way (and the current Spurs roster isn't bad enough to actually drop to the very bottom in the first place).

the whole concept of "win it all" or "blow it all up" doesn't get you anywhere. there'd be 6 teams playing to win, and everyone else in a race for most losses. the NBA would turn into such a shitty product that you might as well cut the small-market teams out and half the number of teams then..

[GAustex]

Need a coach who can coach rather than ride them Tim Duncan coattails

[Barfunk]

FIRST

Lol

[rah88sa]

it doesn't matter , there's been bust as well. we got kawhi at the 15 pick. top pick doesn't guarantee nothing especially if you tank on purpose unless its a player coming out high school.

so we wait for the front office to catch lightning in a bottle again?

[ECOV]

so we wait for the front office to catch lightning in a bottle again?
nope

[tbdog]

Look at pelicans. They got the haul for AD that we dreamed of for Leonard and got the number 1 pick. Yet they are still worst than us.

[Ice009]

Barely missing the playoffs and being stuck with a mediocre draft pick isn’t doing the team any favors either, it can go both ways.

Also not developing young players when losing the games by playing the vets won't help in the long run either.

[exstatic]

I mean, on one hand, I get it. It’s a weird kind of mindfuck to root for the team you love—and one that has always consistently won—to lose.

On the other hand, anyone with a brain can look at our roster and say that we absolutely do not—in any way whatsoever—have a star player that will lead us to another championship. So how do we get there? Historically speaking a higher draft pick increases our chances of drafting that type of guy.

So what is worth more, when we are looking back at the 2020-2021 season ten years from now? Winning pointless games that maybe possibly get us into the play-in, only to get absolutely thrashed by a top seed in the West? Or prioritizing getting a higher pick and giving the young guys we’ve spent first round picks on developmental minutes (fat chance of this happening with Pop’s obsession with Rudy Gay)?

This team is the equivalent of a 7-9 NFL team who never sucks enough to launch themselves into position to land a franchise QB, and just wallows year after year in mediocrity. As a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan, I know what that feels like. And it feels exactly like this.

We won’t wind up any higher than the 11 slot, and those odds are like 2%, so at this point, losing is just losing. We may well stay at 14, and have worse odds than that.

[donaldsonian]

1989 - 21 wins and we drafted David Robinson

1997 - 20 wins we drafted the “Timmy Duncan”

The two worst records we had in almost 40 years just happened to occur when two the the best big men were coming out of college - Will wonders never end.

But tanking won’t get us anywhere.
Robinson was drafted in 1987 after a 28-win season (the 4th worst record that year). He didn’t join the team until 2 years later so they ended up drafting Willie Anderson 10th in 1988 (31 wins, 6th worst record) and Sean Elliott 3rd in 1989 (21 wins, tied for 3rd worst record).

[exstatic]

Any game where Pop uses DD, Gay, and Patty together in the same unit needs to be an F for him. That’s an automatic 10 pt. run for the other team, and another double digit hole to climb out of.

[longhorn]

We won’t wind up any higher than the 11 slot, and those odds are like 2%, so at this point, losing is just losing. We may well stay at 14, and have worse odds than that.

The odds for the #1 overall pick are admittedly not great or worth tanking for, but the odds of a top 4 pick rise pretty significantly from 14th slot (2.4% chance of a top 4) on up to 10th slot (13.9% chance of a top 4).

Plus, rising a few spots in the draft order could make the difference in landing a difference-maker who slips out of the top 10, even if we don't get lucky in the lottery. Really good players sometimes slip into the 10-14th pick range: Sabonis, Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, Michael Porter Jr., SGA, and Devin Booker, to name some recent guys selected in that range.