THIS PLAYER Can Become a Better BET than John Collins & Lauri Markkanen. His Name is...

[NK123]

- Kelly Olynyk.

- He is averaging 18pts - 8rbs - 3ast - 1stl for Houston.

- Shoots 58% FG - 40% 3pt - 88% FT - 67% TS

- He is big enough to play 5 and smart enough to play the 4.

- He can shoot, pass, dribble and post.

- He is having a good and consistent impact for Houston.

- He is very smart.

- He can stretch the floor.

- He can post smaller players.

- He might cost less than 15m to sign.

What do you think?

Why would you pick John Collins or Lauri Markkanen over Olynyk?

[exstatic]

‘Counting stats’ on a bad team.

[NK123]

‘Counting stats’ on a bad team.

Yeah... both Atlanta (before this season) and Chicago are above 500 teams. :rolleyes:rolleyes:rolleyes

[Em-City]

Honestly he'd probably be a better fit.

Better 3pt shooter than both
Probably a cheaper contract than both
Gives flexibility to develop samanic

[exstatic]

Yeah... both Atlanta (before this season) and Chicago are above 500 teams. :rolleyes:rolleyes:rolleyes

OK, you named two teams. Now it’s my turn. Boston, and Miami. Two teams with championship aspirations who both felt the need to get rid of Olynyk. The truth is, he’s not mobile enough to check today’s 4s, and he’s not a rim protector. We already have our 5, so he’d be a backup. Ain’t paying $15M for a backup CENTER in a league where any 5 has less value than at any time, ever.

[NK123]

OK, you named two teams. Now it’s my turn. Boston, and Miami. Two teams with championship aspirations who both felt the need to get rid of Olynyk. The truth is, he’s not mobile enough to check today’s 4s, and he’s not a rim protector. We already have our 5, so he’d be a backup. Ain’t paying $15M for a backup CENTER in a league where any 5 has less value than at any time, ever.
- If you watched last year's final, you would notice that Miami had better results when he was playing.

- You can't say that a player is exactly the same player he was 3 or 4 years ago.

- You can watch him now. He is good enough to play the 4 if Poeltl is on the court.

- Playing him and Poeltl could create offensive miss-matches too.

- Not saying he is our savior. I'm just saying that he might be a better fit than John Collins and Markkanen.

- He can do more things than scoring.

[exstatic]

- If you watched last year's final, you would notice that Miami had better results when he was playing.

- You can't say that a player is exactly the same player he was 3 or 4 years ago.

- You can watch him now. He is good enough to play the 4 if Poeltl is on the court.

- Playing him and Poeltl could create offensive miss-matches too.

- Not saying he is our savior. I'm just saying that he might be a better fit than John Collins and Markkanen.

- He can do more things than scoring.

I’m not a Markkanen fan, at all. I do like Collins, though.

The reality is, most guys won’t sign two year deals, and the Spurs are setting up for another window in 2023. If they don’t get whoever their target is this summer, they won’t sign a fallback guy to a 3-4 year deal. They’ll probably do some trades for 2023 expirings like Horford, Barnes, or Wiggins, picking up some assets in the process.

[SpursDynasty85]

Always been a fan of Olynyk and his skill set would probably make Pop pretty happy but he is definitely not better than Collins and I haven’t seen enough of Lauri but all appear to be better than Rudy and Keldon at the 4.

[Em-City]

Yeah on second thought, he's more of a 5 than a 4. We really need a 4 who Spreads the floor and isn't a complete defensive liability.

Oh Covington where art thou?

[tbdog]

Yeah on second thought, he's more of a 5 than a 4. We really need a 4 who Spreads the floor and isn't a complete defensive liability.

Oh Covington where art thou?

Portland gave Houston 2 firsts to get Covington.

[Em-City]

Portland gave Houston 2 firsts to get Covington.
You're right, let's just go for Harrison Barnes then.

[Fusternino]

No, but only since we already have Dieng on the cheap, apparently.

I was a fan of Olynyk in both Kawhi and LMA trade discussions, though.

[R. DeMurre]

I always think of Olynyk as the ultimate place holder on a team. He helps the team not lose a lead or he prevents the team from extending the lead.. he doesn't hurt the team, but he also doesn't move the needle much. He's a steady back up for a reasonable price. In terms of overall impact, his stats are remarkably similar to those of Dieng.

https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=olynyke01&player_id2=dienggo01

[duncan2150]

Why not but he's a bench player for me, a good one but not starter material.

[exstatic]

OP was talking about paying him $15M. That, and starting, or playing the 4 is a hard pass for me.

[Dex]

OP was talking about paying him $15M. That, and starting, or playing the 4 is a hard pass for me.

Yeah, no thanks. Outside of this season where is playing a lot of garbage minutes on a garbage team, he is a career 10 and 6 kinda guy.

He is making $12M this year and will be going on his 11th season at 30 years old, so it's hard to see him developing more than he has already. I don't see how that justifies a pay raise unless a team really gets that desperate...and the Spurs shouldn't be that team.

[Dejounte]

There are not many players optimally suited for the 4 these days. They're either tall and not quick enough, or quick enough but too short. Then there's others where they're tall AND quick, but can't shoot worth a lick.

[exstatic]

There are not many players optimally suited for the 4 these days. They're either tall and not quick enough, or quick enough but too short. Then there's others where they're tall AND quick, but can't shoot worth a lick.

It always takes the player pool time to adjust to a league paradigm shift. I can remember when there were only a couple of good centers in the league, and then in a 10-12 year period, you had Ewing, Olajuwon, DRob, Mourning, Shaq, and Mutombo. Everyone had to have a center, leading to draft picks like Eddy Curry, and the Kandi man. Then, it was PGs, and flawed picks like Jonny Flynn. It’ll take more time to populate the skilled big forward ranks, and mistakes will be made along the way.

[Dex]

There are not many players optimally suited for the 4 these days. They're either tall and not quick enough, or quick enough but too short. Then there's others where they're tall AND quick, but can't shoot worth a lick.

On a properly constructed team, I'd say you don't need a 4 which can shoot at a high volume...just needs to be able to step out to like 15 feet or so.

That said...the Spurs seem settled on our current stable of guards and all seem to be inconsistent three-point threats (though Lonnie seems to be coming around), so we need all the shooting we can get.

[R. DeMurre]

It always takes the player pool time to adjust to a league paradigm shift.

There's a great episode of an NBA round table where Steve Kerr jokes that he didn't shoot more threes with the Bulls because it wasn't considered a great shot choice.

[pad300]

We have a better version of Olynyk already - Dieng.

PS Olynyk can't play the 4 next to Poetl. Between them they don't have enough mobility. Only reason that Olynyk as one of the bigs worked in Miami is that Bam does the footspeed to defend as a 4. Poeltl is good for a C, but he's not that good.

[dbestpro]

We really need to see what we have with Luca. With as many minutes as this expensive options, we might find out we already have the guy.

[slick'81]

We coulda traded lma for him last season

[exstatic]

We coulda traded lma for him last season

Uh, no. LMA makes more than double what KO, makes, and want no part of whatever trash Riles would try to throw at us for salary matching purposes.

[Dejounte]

We really need to see what we have with Luca. With as many minutes as this expensive options, we might find out we already have the guy.

They already know what they have with Luka. And I'm not saying that as a negative (or a positive) thing. It's likely that the stuff that goes behind the scenes (how much he studies game film, time he spends with assistant coaches, time in the weight room, how well he does in practices) that they already know how good he's going to be. What they do this off-season will indicate what they think about Luka. If they pay a young PF a hefty amount, then I say they don't think Luka is going to amount to much. If they go and pay a backup PF (or none at all), then they probably think highly of Luka.

[slick'81]

Uh, no. LMA makes more than double what KO, makes, and want no part of whatever trash Riles would try to throw at us for salary matching purposes.


I didnt like the rumors either but they were there

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I like him at half of $15MM.

[Drom John]

FiveThirty Eight WAR

22) 5.4 WAR Jakob Poeltl (-1.0 Off., 5.0 Def.)
43) 4.3 WAR John Collins (1.6 Off., 0.9 Def.), Brandon Ingram, Terry Rozier
130) 2.0 WAR above replacement, Khem Birch, Enes Kanter, Kelly Olynyk (-0.2 Off., -0.3 Def.) so below NBA average.
N/A*) 1.1 WAR Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Wayne Ellington, James Ennis III, Drew Eubanks (-2.4 Off., 3.4 Def.), Cory Joseph, Landry Shamet
188) 0.7 WAR, Deni Avdija, Will Barton, Seth Curry, Gorgui Dieng* (0.7 Off., -0.2 Def.) Goran Dragic, Lauri Markkanen (-0.5 Off., -1.0 Def.), Josh Richardson, Dean Wade

* Less than 849 minutes.

[R. DeMurre]

My dream PF for the Spurs is Jonathan Isaac, who's recovering from knee surgery this season. He has the potential to be a future DPOY, and lead the league for years in combined blocks + steals. He plays great D without fouling, shoots the three a little, can play some minutes at SF. Some articles have deemed him Orlando's most untouchable player-- that's probably true, but it's still fun to daydream about the defensive dominance of a Murray-White-Vassell-Isaac combo... I'd happily trade a first round pick + a young player (maybe two players) to get him, as long as a physical showed that his knees don't have permanent issues.

This is a good article highlighting Isaac's defensive abilities: https://www.nba.com/magic/isaac-and-davis-nbas-top-two-dpoy-candidates-seasons-quarter-mark-20191211