Man, the Spurs couldve taken..........

[lebomb]

Haliburton at No. 11 in the 2020 draft, but selected Vassel instead. Haliburton went No. 12 to the Kings. Lets see.......


Avg FG 3pt Ast

Vassel 18.3 49.5 40.9 2.7

Haliburton 26.9 52.1 44.9 11.9



Damn :rolleyes

[exstatic]

What fresh new territory you’re covering…

[lebomb]

What fresh new territory you’re covering…


I watched Haliburton kill the Celtics last night, so I looked up his numbers and contributions to his team. He would have been the better selection for the Spurs no doubt.

[Brazil]

:rolleyes

11 teams did not pick him either and he is arguably the best potential of this draft class so yeah... damn Spurs suck... Vassell is just better than half of the players picked before him

[exstatic]

I watched Haliburton kill the Celtics last night, so I looked up his numbers and contributions to his team. He would have been the better selection for the Spurs no doubt.

If they pick Halliburton, they don’t get Wemby, period. Indy completely failed in their tank, picking 8th last draft. Hali raised their floor too high, and he would have raised ours, too.

[lebomb]

If they pick Halliburton, they don’t get Wemby, period. Indy completely failed in their tank, picking 8th last draft. Hali raised their floor too high, and he would have raised ours, too.

Yeah, that's a good explanation which makes me feel better about skippin over Haliburton.

[lebomb]

:rolleyes

11 teams did not pick him either and he is arguably the best potential of this draft class so yeah... damn Spurs suck... Vassell is just better than half of the players picked before him

I know that!...........but its the fact that he fell that far and we could have snagged him. BUT!!! as mentioned, we would have probably missed out on Wemby because Haliburton would have definitely made the Spurs better.

[Degoat]

If the spurs had taken Hali they wouldn’t have wemby right now

[Russo21]

If they pick Halliburton, they don’t get Wemby, period. Indy completely failed in their tank, picking 8th last draft. Hali raised their floor too high, and he would have raised ours, too.

This. Halliburton is a superstar but Wemby has the potential to be one of the greatest so it's a moot point and worked out well.

Thing is, we used to be one of the best drafters in the league, how did we pass up Halliburton's talent for Vassell? How did we pass up Sengun when he was available and went at pick 16? Why did we choose Lonnie, why did we choose the pervert who flashes people when there was more talent available (already forgot the perves name haha) There's many more other examples in recent history.

More than missing out on Halliburton you have to ask why we're failing in the draft and missing out on some really nice talents. The front office need to improve on this area while Wemby is young and get him his running mate.

[Fireball]

Its a dumb what if, but still fun to think about how Haliburton could feed Wemby ...

[sananspursfan21]

I was absolutely floored that they didn’t take him

[FutureMan]

No chance I wouldn’t have tanked for Wemby especially if Haliburton was on this team and I think it’s highly likely the Spurs would’ve done the same.

I remember them not picking Haliburton though. I was pissed for days. One of the most obvious picks in the last decade IMO.

[buttsR4rebounding]

If they pick Halliburton, they don’t get Wemby, period. Indy completely failed in their tank, picking 8th last draft. Hali raised their floor too high, and he would have raised ours, too.

Wrong. Haliburton was hurt much of last year. We could have won another 10 games and had the same result. Plus Haliburton was the OBVIOUS pick. Many of us called it on draft night. That's why I say the Spurs are elite at development, but so-so at drafting. Drafting Haliburton and Sengun (the other OBVIOUS pick) would have made this a completely different team with a much shorter timeline to contention.

[Spurs Homer]

lol

haliburton would have still be playing in austin if spurs had drafted him…

[exstatic]

I watched Haliburton kill the Celtics last night, so I looked up his numbers and contributions to his team. He would have been the better selection for the Spurs no doubt.

Which no one here said, ever.

[exstatic]

Wrong. Haliburton was hurt much of last year. We could have won another 10 games and had the same result. Plus Haliburton was the OBVIOUS pick. Many of us called it on draft night. That's why I say the Spurs are elite at development, but so-so at drafting. Drafting Haliburton and Sengun (the other OBVIOUS pick) would have made this a completely different team with a much shorter timeline to contention.

You’re absolutely 100% wrong on this point. Winning 10 more games makes your chances at Wemby drop off a cliff.

[mudd]

what about Sengun? just saying our Front office not as sharp as everyone thinks about our spurs! They are outsmarting themselves!

[baseline bum]

As great as Haliburton is, I think I'd much rather have Wemby and Vassell than say Haliburton and Jarace Walker.

[z0sa]

You'd prefer Halliburton over Wemby? LOL

[baseline bum]

This. Halliburton is a superstar but Wemby has the potential to be one of the greatest so it's a moot point and worked out well.

Thing is, we used to be one of the best drafters in the league, how did we pass up Halliburton's talent for Vassell? How did we pass up Sengun when he was available and went at pick 16? Why did we choose Lonnie, why did we choose the pervert who flashes people when there was more talent available (already forgot the perves name haha) There's many more other examples in recent history.

More than missing out on Halliburton you have to ask why we're failing in the draft and missing out on some really nice talents. The front office need to improve on this area while Wemby is young and get him his running mate.

Being elite in the draft doesn't mean they still don't miss guys. Took Chris Carrawell over Michael Redd in 2000. Ian Mahinmi over Monta Ellis in 2005. Tiago Splitter over Marc Gasol in 2007. Salary dumped Goran Dragic in 2008. Kyle Anderson over Jokic in 2014. Kind of ridiculous to lament missing really good players who grossly outperformed their draft positions like any team could have projected these guys accurately.

[Mugen]

Let's move this to the "Spurs picked The Flash over Sengun" thread tbh :lol

[Mugen]

But to add, I don't think Hali would have ruined the Wemby tank as much as people are saying. Y'all really underestimate how garbage of a coach Pop is compared to Carlisle, he would have ruined Haliburton too :lol

[baseline bum]

Wrong. Haliburton was hurt much of last year. We could have won another 10 games and had the same result. Plus Haliburton was the OBVIOUS pick. Many of us called it on draft night. That's why I say the Spurs are elite at development, but so-so at drafting. Drafting Haliburton and Sengun (the other OBVIOUS pick) would have made this a completely different team with a much shorter timeline to contention.

If the Spurs would have won the coin toss much less one more game Houston would have gotten Wemby.

[ambchang]

I don’t like the “wouldn’t have drafted wemby” argument. PATFO didn’t not draft Halliburton because they knew they will win the lottery with a 14% chance for wemby. Nobody did. If they wanted to tank so bad they could’ve just sat haliburton for some mysterious ailments and get it done.

PATFO drafted Vassell over Hali because they thought Vassell was better, which turned out to be wrong. But I’m not even upset over it. Vassell is still a fine player and it is unreasonable to expect the spurs to draft perfectly every draft or otherwise they have failed. Hali was a clear miss but not one I would say is a huge failure.

As for sengun, really little interest still, his game just won’t work that well in this league. The rockets have loaded up on talent, got veteren leadership and a great coach and they are still mired in mediocrity. Just do not understand that obsession. If the argument is primo was a useless pick, I honestly thought you can’t forsee that. Is giddey a bad pick now?

[R. DeMurre]

Yeah, using the luck out on Wemby as a justification for any previous miscalculation is kinda weird. Using this logic, some might say the Spurs actually liked other players over Sochan and only chose him because he could help the tank... which of course is 100% untrue.

[Brazil]

I know that!...........but its the fact that he fell that far and we could have snagged him. BUT!!! as mentioned, we would have probably missed out on Wemby because Haliburton would have definitely made the Spurs better.

On top of that it is not like they did not get good value out of Vassell

[playblair]

brian wright was hired on diversity not merit..........plz see his detroit pistons draft classes for reference.........

[baseline bum]

I don’t like the “wouldn’t have drafted wemby” argument. PATFO didn’t not draft Halliburton because they knew they will win the lottery with a 14% chance for wemby. Nobody did. If they wanted to tank so bad they could’ve just sat haliburton for some mysterious ailments and get it done.


They probably wouldn't have been tanking if they had a guy like Halliburton to build around. Would have kept Poeltl, would have kept Derrick White, and maybe traded Murray for vets instead of picks. If we're going to retcon with hindsight I'll do the same and say I'd rather have Victor than Tyrese.

[buttsR4rebounding]

You’re absolutely 100% wrong on this point. Winning 10 more games makes your chances at Wemby drop off a cliff.

You're right it was 5 more games we could have won and still be in the 3rd spot which won the lottery. Haliburton missed 26 games last year. Pulling him in the 4th quarter like Pop did most of the year with anyone worth a shit would have accomplished the tank. Even so, you don't pass on a Haliburton on the off chance that you can get Wemby 4 years later.

[slick'81]

Definitely flash>sengun hurts . We had murray and spurs really loved vassell so it could be worse

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

If the Spurs would have been smarter/luckier and taken Haliburton, and been smarter/luckier and taken at least 5 or 6 players over Primo, they probably would have never drafted Wemby. That's very true.


Now that we have the Centerpiece for the franchise, Brian Wright needs to get things right from here on out. No more wasted picks, no more 6 year plan. Things have changed dramatically and I'm not sure the FO, nor Pop, have shifted the focus yet to being more urgent. If I have a critique of the Spurs' current management and process its that sometimes they wait too long to watch things evolve and make things happen. I'm really curious to see how they massage the roster now that it's been established that this current group can't give Wemby what he needs to be successful. I think urgency is the operative word and I'm not seeing it yet.

But I'll also credit the FO in that they structured some good future growth potential and assets for rebuilding. This next 10 months or so they should start cashing some of those chips they've stockpiled.

[Rocalcio]

Yeah, that's a good explanation which makes me feel better about skippin over Haliburton.

So you'd rather have Haliburton than Wembanyama ?

[Rocalcio]

Its a dumb what if, but still fun to think about how Haliburton could feed Wemby ...

There is no way we could get Wembanyama with Haliburton drafted by the Spurs.

[Fireball]

There is no way we could get Wembanyama with Haliburton drafted by the Spurs.

That is why I said it is a dumb what if ... still, there is a parallel universe where both Haliburton and Wemby play for the Spurs

[exstatic]

Yeah, using the luck out on Wemby as a justification for any previous miscalculation is kinda weird. Using this logic, some might say the Spurs actually liked other players over Sochan and only chose him because he could help the tank... which of course is 100% untrue.

I don’t think it’s justification so much as pointing out the obvious, that if we’d have drafted Sengun and Hali, we would not have Wemby. Even with a stellar year from Hali, Indy is a bottom half playoff team, and could easily slip into the play in. Both players have pluses, but are much more floor raisers than ceiling raisers. Houston is a lottery team, even with their FA money splash. I’m not sure these are players worth crying over.

[Obstructed_View]

Who? I've never heard of this guy, and I've never seen anyone suggest the Spurs should have drafted him, muchless anyone crying about how good he is every time he has a good game.

[exstatic]

That is why I said it is a dumb what if ... still, there is a parallel universe where both Haliburton and Wemby play for the Spurs

Not bloody likely.

[Leetonidas]

Spurs could have definitely still won the lottery if they took Haliburton instead of Vassell. The Pacers were a much better team overall than us last season and that wasn't solely because of him. Spurs could have picked him and likely would have sucked ass regardless. Would he have developed the same though? That is highly questionable tbh. Pop would have had him playing as a PF or some shit :lol

[TDomination]

If they pick Halliburton, they don’t get Wemby, period. Indy completely failed in their tank, picking 8th last draft. Hali raised their floor too high, and he would have raised ours, too.

this is pretty much my thought process when i think of these last few drafts. im glad we got wemby so i won't complain about those.
anything different like getting sengun instead of primo, halliburton instead of vassell, keeping derrick etc.

everything that happened probably needed to happen just the way it did for us to get wemby.

but now moving forward i hope we can make the correct selections.

[TekXX]

Why did they hire Wright?

[TimmyBuckets]

Spurs should've taken Scoot so this site could have a mass exodus.

[Ocotillo]

Vassell may not be showing as much as Haliburton but he's not a miss either. Thing is, watching the Pelicans game while I might add Vassell started clanking his three point attempts later in the game, I was particularly galled thinking about how instead of drafting Primo or even Sengun, it would have been nice to have reached for either Trey Murphy or if you are set on an Alabama player, Herb Jones who were both stroking it from three that night. BTW, Jones play some D too which would be an interesting concept for the Spurs to try.

[rascal]

If they pick Halliburton, they don’t get Wemby, period. Indy completely failed in their tank, picking 8th last draft. Hali raised their floor too high, and he would have raised ours, too.

Pop would have sat him. Spurs were all in for the tank.

[exstatic]

Vassell may not be showing as much as Haliburton but he's not a miss either. Thing is, watching the Pelicans game while I might add Vassell started clanking his three point attempts later in the game, I was particularly galled thinking about how instead of drafting Primo or even Sengun, it would have been nice to have reached for either Trey Murphy or if you are set on an Alabama player, Herb Jones who were both stroking it from three that night. BTW, Jones play some D too which would be an interesting concept for the Spurs to try.

That's one of the reasons I'm up on Dunn from UVa. He's a beast defensively, like Thybulle, but he actually has a decent offensive game. His st-ocks total 5.6, 2.8 steals, 2.8 blks.

[AusSpur]

Word came out Haliburton's reps were telling a lot of teams not to draft him if they didn't see a good situation. Good chance Spurs were one of those teams because they had Murray and White at the time, but in saying that, the Kings were a basket case with Fox on the roster.

[SpurSpike]

The real mistake was trading both our home grown point guards. I understand DeJounte but we should have kept White. We could have possibly still landed Wemby with White on the team as he wouldn't have raised our teams ceiling that much alone. We would have a competent home grown defensive vet point guard to pair with Wemby.

[TekXX]

The real mistake was trading both our home grown point guards. I understand DeJounte but we should have kept White. We could have possibly still landed Wemby with White on the team as he wouldn't have raised our teams ceiling that much alone. We would have a competent home grown defensive vet point guard to pair with Wemby.

It appears trading to tank is easier than trading to build.

[rjv]

That's one of the reasons I'm up on Dunn from UVa. He's a beast defensively, like Thybulle, but he actually has a decent offensive game. His st-ocks total 5.6, 2.8 steals, 2.8 blks.

i got to see dunn in action when UVA played A&M and he is a beast on the defensive end.

[Obstructed_View]

Why did they hire Wright?

Retarded take. His draft picks have been excellent. Pointing out one player he missed on several years and two teams after the fact is idiotic.

[mudd]

spurs were going for home runs and struck out in the last 3 or 4 draft years. Lets not forget the luka miss.... all the experts were wondering what the hell the spurs were doing..and they were right.. kawai was the last gem..

[exstatic]

spurs were going for home runs and struck out in the last 3 or 4 draft years. Lets not forget the luka miss.... all the experts were wondering what the hell the spurs were doing..and they were right.. kawai was the last gem..

Missing in the late teens is pretty common, and that would encompass Sammich and Lonnie. No one hits at 100%, and no one hits as often as the Spurs do.

[BatManu20]

Let the record show that I called this on draft tonight, and should therefor be a part of the Spurs’ decision-making process moving forward tbh.

From the 2020 Draft Thread:


Damn. Can’t believe we passed on Halliburton, a true PG who’s 6’5, plays good Defense, shoots the 3 at a high clip, and is a good passer. Really wish we would’ve drafted him and traded Dejounte. He’s already better at every aspect of the game than DJ and he doesn’t seem to obsess over Instagram like Murray does. There’s a reason the analysts are saying the Kings got the steal of the night. Spurs blew it tbh.

[exstatic]

Let the record show that I called this on draft tonight tbh.

From the 2020 Draft Thread:

At the time, DJ would have pitched a fit. He was pretty immature, and I don't think he even liked them drafting White a few years earlier. In the long run, we got Vassell, 3 FRPs and one FRP swap out of not drafting Hali. If we drafted Hali, DJ never makes the ASG, and we don't get the bag for him. We probably don't get Wemby, either.

Good prognostication, though.

[TD 21]

I realize this is a troll thread and I've said this ad nauseam, but the only justification (who cares what him or his representation supposedly preferred) was because they appeared to refuse to re-build and White and Murray seemed entrenched.

No one could have foreseen Haliburton becoming a top 5 offensive player analytically, but he clearly had a higher offensive ceiling than either of them and is a central casting Spur.

Lucking into Wembanyama 3 years later doesn't excuse it either.

I'm more apt to give them Primo over Sengun and Murphy III, even though it was obvious they'd become the players they're becoming and he was a mystery box with a good chance of busting.

At least then, you could argue they were in search of a foundational star (who wouldn't lose value in the post season), with no high lottery picks with which to find it.

[PhantomDashCam]

Word came out Haliburton's reps were telling a lot of teams not to draft him if they didn't see a good situation. Good chance Spurs were one of those teams because they had Murray and White at the time, but in saying that, the Kings were a basket case with Fox on the roster.

AusSpur is on the money here but there are conflicting reports.
A couple of links re: 'Orchestration' V 'Dissatisfaction'

https://kingsherald.com/draft-news/2020-nba-draft-tyrese-haliburton-sacramento-kings-lowe-post/

https://therookiewire.usatoday.com/2021/05/11/kings-tyrese-haliburton-draft-motivation/

[TekXX]

AusSpur is on the money here but there are conflicting reports.
A couple of links re: 'Orchestration' V 'Dissatisfaction'

https://kingsherald.com/draft-news/2020-nba-draft-tyrese-haliburton-sacramento-kings-lowe-post/

https://therookiewire.usatoday.com/2021/05/11/kings-tyrese-haliburton-draft-motivation/

The NBA needs to figure out how to keep these guys from icing teams.

[niraj2000]

The NBA needs to figure out how to keep these guys from icing teams.

I will take Wemby over Halli in a million years. With Halli, spurs would have never drafted Wemby. With Wemby in place, let find another Halli or poor man's version of Halli.

[TekXX]

Retarded take. His draft picks have been excellent. Pointing out one player he missed on several years and two teams after the fact is idiotic.

It was a question not a take

[exstatic]

It was a question not a take

You question doesn’t have a question mark.

[John B]

CoJo than Jimmy Butler

[Obstructed_View]

It was a question not a take
It was a rhetorical question, which is a take.

Unless you were actually asking why the Spurs hired Wright, in which case nobody understands how the question is relevant to drafting Devin Vassell over Tyrese Haliburton.

[Obstructed_View]

Haliburton is on his second team. I'm puzzled why fans would want to be the team that drafted him.

[Obstructed_View]

You’re absolutely 100% wrong on this point. Winning 10 more games makes your chances at Wemby drop off a cliff.

The Spurs won the lottery with the lost coin toss against Houston.

[PhantomDashCam]

The NBA needs to figure out how to keep these guys from icing teams.

Not sure there is much that they can do (and not sure that they should honestly).

IIRC, Spurs have played the disinformation game before too with Nic Batum and Rudy G back in the day.
There are probably countless stories that have gone untold over the years with teams jockeying for draft positions, agents protecting a client's interest etc.

At the end of the day if a rookie fails to report or wants the team to bend to every whim, they often find themselves out of the league in short order.
(See Royce White and Kai Jones for some recent examples).

It's up to the teams at the end of the day and again have some have mentioned, with a budding All-Star in DJ and backcourt running mate in Derrick White locked up to deals;
a 3 and D wing w. upside was probably considered a higher priority and easier draft choice at the end of the day.

[scott]

I was not the biggest Vassell believer before the season, but if Vassell had a competent PG playing next to him, it would look even less of a "miss" compared to Haliburton. Vassell shot selection is poor this year (because the offense sucks) but his talent is overcoming that. Vassell will really thrive next to Wemby once a real PG is in place.

So yeah, we missed Haliburton but it's not like we did something insane and drafted someone like Josh Primo over him.

[exstatic]

Wiseman, Williams, Okoro,Okungwu, Hayes, Toppin, Avdija,Smith would have been ‘misses’ worth crying over. Vassell is not.

[james evans]

Haliburton at No. 11 in the 2020 draft, but selected Vassel instead. Haliburton went No. 12 to the Kings. Lets see.......


Avg FG 3pt Ast

Vassel 18.3 49.5 40.9 2.7

Haliburton 26.9 52.1 44.9 11.9



Damn :rolleyes
If Haliburton was with us, he wouldn't be putting up these type of numbers. Haven't you guys realized yet that players like this normally don't put up those type of numbers with us that they do with other teams? Jokic wouldn't be Jokic under popovich.

[BatManu20]

Jokes aside, this kid is hoopin’ rn tbh.

1732923477173104937

[exstatic]

Jokes aside, this kid is hoopin’ rn tbh.

1732923477173104937

He’s hooping like a motherfucker, but his team is bottom half in the EC playoffs.

[poopbox]

Haliburton is an awful defender and also the main reason the Pacers have no choice but to be an offense only team to win anything. Not sure how much you going to win in the long run having to be a top 5 offense every year.

[cool cat]

Why did they hire Wright?

Because he is a “Yes” man. Go look at the video on draft night, dude didn’t even want to take the phone from RC to draft Victor.

[SAGirl]

Haliburton at No. 11 in the 2020 draft, but selected Vassel instead. Haliburton went No. 12 to the Kings. Lets see.......


Avg FG 3pt Ast

Vassel 18.3 49.5 40.9 2.7

Haliburton 26.9 52.1 44.9 11.9



Damn :rolleyes
Other than picking the obvious in Wemby, I can’t say the GM has found a gem who turned out to have star potential… I like Vassell just fine but there’s been definite misses.

[djohn2oo8]

This. Halliburton is a superstar but Wemby has the potential to be one of the greatest so it's a moot point and worked out well.

Thing is, we used to be one of the best drafters in the league, how did we pass up Halliburton's talent for Vassell? How did we pass up Sengun when he was available and went at pick 16? Why did we choose Lonnie, why did we choose the pervert who flashes people when there was more talent available (already forgot the perves name haha) There's many more other examples in recent history.

More than missing out on Halliburton you have to ask why we're failing in the draft and missing out on some really nice talents. The front office need to improve on this area while Wemby is young and get him his running mate.
Idk but we appreciate it

1738750736060580097

[CorrectCrusader]

If they pick Halliburton, they don’t get Wemby, period. Indy completely failed in their tank, picking 8th last draft. Hali raised their floor too high, and he would have raised ours, too.

You underestimate the pop effect

[Jordan Jackson]

Idk but we appreciate it

1738750736060580097

That makes up for blowing #2 pick in 2021 and then missing out on Chet and Paolo in 2022. And then the coin flip thing in 2023. Good for you though. Gotta take the small wins where you can find them.

[kxs783kms]

We couldn't have taken any of these guys. The reason is for the same reason we had to let Murray go. We were tanking to get Wemby. We didn't need players at the time who would help us win more games than we needed to win. Now that we got Wemby, now we can start targeting more bona-fide potential good/great players.

[R. DeMurre]

That makes up for blowing #2 pick in 2021 and then missing out on Chet and Paolo in 2022. And then the coin flip thing in 2023. Good for you though. Gotta take the small wins where you can find them.


Actually, Jabari Smith's play has been very impressive lately, and I still think it's too early to declare definitively that Paolo will be the better player. Smith is the better defender, the better rebounder, has a higher 2pt%, a higher TS%, a better WS/40, and a better on/off +/-. Paolo's impact stats are terrible this year, and if it weren't for Orlando's super subs Goga Bitadze and Jonathan Isaac, they would likely be a sub .500 team.

[rankingtear]

HOU has to halt their pace to a crawl to maximize Sengun. IND has to speed up theirs to maximize Hali. You are never getting this version of them in the same team much less as complementary players to Wemby.

[slick'81]

If hou still had a shot at drafting wemby with sengun so would the spurs

[Sugus]

If hou still had a shot at drafting wemby with sengun so would the spurs

Yeah, and if the Rockettes failed to draft him with Sengun on the team, so would have the Spurs.....

It's a circular logic game with no end. Shit just falls into place sometimes.

[djohn2oo8]

That makes up for blowing #2 pick in 2021 and then missing out on Chet and Paolo in 2022. And then the coin flip thing in 2023. Good for you though. Gotta take the small wins where you can find them.
Sengun, Jabari Smith, Eason, Amen Thompson. Lol Rockets are fine.

[djohn2oo8]

Actually, Jabari Smith's play has been very impressive lately, and I still think it's too early to declare definitively that Paolo will be the better player. Smith is the better defender, the better rebounder, has a higher 2pt%, a higher TS%, a better WS/40, and a better on/off +/-. Paolo's impact stats are terrible this year, and if it weren't for Orlando's super subs Goga Bitadze and Jonathan Isaac, they would likely be a sub .500 team.
Ime has had a great impact.