Preseason Game Thread: Spurs v Thunder 7pm CT on CW35

[Leetonidas]

No Vic, Devin, CP3, Zollins, or CBass tonight

:flag:

[spurraider21]

curious to see what skinny keldon looks like out there

obviously will be interested to see castle. also kind of just crossing my fingers and hoping Barnes is still solid and not having a demarre carrol esque dropoff

sochan had one of his better games last year in one of the OKC games against chet, lets see if he's primed to take a 3rd year leap

[jeebus]

No Lauri Markkanen, no Rob Dillingham, no Tidjane Salaun, no Johnny Furphy, a Minnesota 2031 pick, no reason to live.

Cut my life into pieces
This is my last resort
Suffocation
No breathing
Don't give a fuck if I cut my arm, bleeding

[Mr. Body]

No Lauri Markkanen, no Rob Dillingham, no Tidjane Salaun, no Johnny Furphy, a Minnesota 2031 pick, no reason to live.


That's quite a pathetic group to hang your life on.

[playblair]

plz go back to having to watch streams from the scoreboard........it was a yearly tradition

[Leetonidas]

plz go back to having to watch streams from the scoreboard........it was a yearly tradition

Why? Your broke ass can actually watch this since it's playing over the air

[ChumpDumper]

Not on the KBVO schedule but it's showing on NBA TV for those who have it.

[jeebus]

That's quite a pathetic group to hang your life on.

That's what this forum cut their wrists over this whole summer.

[Dex]

Pop saw the game was on NBATV and said FUCK THEIR RATINGS

[z0sa]

Very excited to see Castle in action. Spurs Basketball is Back!!

[scott]

No CBass, No Care

[Mugen]

I hope Jeremy shows some progress tbh. Huge season coming up for him.

[lefty20]

Even though we are sitting the big dawgs, it's just nice to have Spurs basketball back.

[Leetonidas]

That's what this forum cut their wrists over this whole summer.

He doesn't get it :lol this is a guy who takes game thread commentary 100% seriously

[Leetonidas]

Also forgot: David Duke Jr is also out

[Dex]

Also forgot: David Duke Jr is also out

Well now what is the point of even watching?

[John B]

Fuck yeah. Spurs are back! I’m tired of reading you’ll post. Let’s go Spurs!!

Of course I like to see Castle play, but also curious how Branham and especially Wesley playing with their extensions up. Keldon skinnier will be playing faster, while Sochan focusing more on playing big. I like for Minix to shoot well, creating space.

[KingKev]

Thanks to OP for creating a safe space for STers to melt down tonight.

Lets gooooooooo

[ralph nyc]

is bass still injured? looking forward to castle.

[playblair]

Why? Your broke ass can actually watch this since it's playing over the air
this is now my 4th year missing spurs basketball.......plz pay for me bally subscription for the season plz......

[LeBowen]

Tbh, all I care about is Castle doing well. Don't have high expectations for anyone else who will be playing.

[GAustex]

I think I saw the over/under is 35.5
Whatcha got?
I say under

[onechance87]

Yea...Hope castle dominates and takes control of the game.

[Spurs Brazil]

https://x.com/spurs/status/1843435466168926358

[lefty20]

I think I saw the over/under is 35.5
Whatcha got?
I say under

I always bet under for my favorite teams.

If the team under performs, I get money.

If the team over performs, I'm so happy that idgaf about losing the money.

[onechance87]

castle should be starting...wtf pop

[NASpurs]

CW35 is channel 4.2 if you're in SA and using bunny ears.

[Spurs Homer]

Ok

since caruso is probably playing- it is GOOD that wemby sits…before caruso tackles him and takes wemby out…

[heyheymymy]

here we go!

[heyheymymy]

get a look at the elusive Osmane Dieng

[heyheymymy]

lol 2 back to back TOs by Chet

Stepped out and then traveled

[heyheymymy]

second three attempt from Champ that clanked side iron badly

[heyheymymy]

BIG TRIPLE from SOCHAN

[heyheymymy]

damn dude Barnes is orchestrating the offense and super connective

[Leetonidas]

Lol champagnie is ass

[Mugen]

Castle better play tonight tbh :lol

[LeBowen]

#0, sleeves, hair, for a second I thought we got Westbrook, but it's just Keldon.
Although he did have that dumb drive that got blocked.

[heyheymymy]

6:18 in the first and Chet has 2 Fouls and 3 TOs

[Rosewood]

:lol Champ starting over Castle. Unbelievable, really. What the fuck.

[baseline bum]

:lol Champ starting over Castle. Unbelievable, really. What the fuck.

And Branham and Wesley the first guards off the bench WTF

[Spurs Homer]

Branham in for two seconds and misses two shots…oh boy…

[scott]

Bran and Wesley off the bench before Castle.

Old man trying to get Steph to get over himself.

[heyheymymy]

damn Branham added like 10 lbs

he's got some mass not as skinny twig

[Mugen]

Blake needs to look to score tbh

[baseline bum]

Fuck Malaki Branham and fuck Pop playing this pos

[lefty20]

4 straight hesi at the 3 for an easy driving layup for the Thunder

[heyheymymy]

Chet feasting on the lack of real bigs

6'8 and lower for SA

[baseline bum]

damn Branham added like 10 lbs

he's got some mass not as skinny twig

And somehow looks even worse defensively than last year. ROFL Wallace running right by his ass.

[LeBowen]

Pop's timeouts still as effective as ever.

[Spurs Homer]

God …no dilly…

but we have patience with wesley and branham- who is now 0 for 3 in about a minute of play….

[baseline bum]

Really? The team falls apart the second Branham checks in. Who the fuck would have guessed?

[Mugen]

Chet might have a good shot at Rookie of the Year this season tbh

[NASpurs]

I've seen enough to draw my conclusion for the season:

#tankforCooper

[baseline bum]

What did this team even draft Castle for?

[poopbox]

Pop trolling with leaving Castle on the bench for these two bums :lmao

[Mugen]

Malaki offering zero resistance to Wallace's drive then holding his hands up like that was somebody else's mistake :lol

[baseline bum]

If Branham and Wesley are going to be getting minutes over Castle it's going to be 10x as frustrating as when rookie Splitter couldn't see the floor because of Bonner and Blair.

[NASpurs]

Assist already for Castle.

[CGD]

If Branham and Wesley are going to be getting minutes over Castle it's going to be 10x as frustrating as when rookie Splitter couldn't see the floor because of Bonner and Blair.

Spurs are figuring out whether to pick up team options on these guys, so this makes all the sense in the world.

[heyheymymy]

Castle in

[Spurs Homer]

Nice drive and drawing of a foul by castle..

[scott]

Wild lineup...

Blake/Castle/Bran/Sidi/Mamu

Mamu is the designated sharp shooter on this lineup :lol

[ace3g]

Mamu B2B 3s

[heyheymymy]

MAMU TRIPLE

[scott]

Wild lineup...

Blake/Castle/Bran/Sidi/Mamu

Mamu is the designated sharp shooter on this lineup :lol

A Steph Mamu responds with back to back triples!

[NASpurs]

This team is still retarded on defense. Don't know what I was expecting.

Is it going to be another one of those "Wtf were they practicing during training camp" kind of season.

[heyheymymy]

fucking nasty MAMU

[scott]

I like this new announcer. I think he and Sean are going to make a good team.

[CorrectCrusader]

So Branham and Wesley are still bums

[heyheymymy]

how abut that behind the back bounce pass from Sidy to Mamu for triple

[poopbox]

How you let someone get an alley oop in bounds pass with 2 seconds to go :lmao

[spurraider21]

Castle cant seem to get a good grip on the ball

[TekXX]

If only all the games were on local channels i could pick up on antenna and didn't have to pay $20 bucks to Ballys.

[heyheymymy]

I swear Blake Wesley is going to survive longer than Branham in this league / on this team

[onechance87]

Spurs are figuring out whether to pick up team options on these guys, so this makes all the sense in the world.

Well we know what they should do.

[Mugen]

Will be interesting to see how Pop f's Mamu out of rotation mins this season tbh :lol

[baseline bum]

Castle strong at the rim.

[heyheymymy]

Jacob Tobey is doing a fine job

and that's with pretty big shoes to fill

Pleased with the early impressions and was prepared to hate cause I love Bill Land

[TekXX]

Will be interesting to see how Pop f's Mamu out of rotation mins this season tbh :lol

He'll still hold out hope that his projects Branham and Wesley will turn into stars.

[Barfunk]

Chet might have a good shot at Rookie of the Year this season tbh

Disagree. I got Ben Simmons winning it this year.

[heyheymymy]

Blake Wesley is not fucking around

[onechance87]

Castle cant seem to get a good grip on the ball

exactly why he should get alot of play time in preseason.

[CGD]

I swear Blake Wesley is going to survive longer than Branham in this league / on this team

I agree. I think Maliki is destined to be a good Euro player, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Blake bounces around the NBA another 4 years.

[jeebus]

I swear Blake Wesley is going to survive longer than Branham in this league / on this team

Easily. Wesley can play defense, run point, and make the occasional 3. Branham can't play D and sucks at his specialty, which is shooting.

[TekXX]

Is this announcer the new backup, he seems ok but boring.

[jeebus]

I wanna see Shidy shoot and see if his shot still looks like Angel Reese's

[baseline bum]

Branham's defense making AJ Mitchell look like Donovan Mitchell. WTF is the point of having Branham on this roster when he can't shoot the three?

[exstatic]

Is this announcer the new backup, he seems ok but boring.

No, he’s The Guy, the replacement for Bill.

[Spurs Homer]

Black hole branham


fuck

[scott]

I can't remember who else besides me was in on Ajay Mitchell, might have been Chinook.

He just abused "defensive specialist" Sidi pretty badly.

[spurraider21]

1843452022227714242

[baseline bum]

I swear Blake Wesley is going to survive longer than Branham in this league / on this team

I doubt it. Pop runs the team like a Japanese corporation where the only thing that matters is seniority.

[Mugen]

Ajay Mitchell would have been a nice pick up in the 2nd rounder. Instead, they punted again :lol

[spurraider21]

wesley looked like he was playing with more purpose on offense than we saw last year :tu

[TekXX]

No, he’s The Guy, the replacement for Bill.

You serious?

[baseline bum]

1843452022227714242

Hopefully we'll get to see Malaki Branham's first career three soon.

[spurraider21]

I doubt it. Pop runs the team like a Japanese corporation where the only thing that matters is seniority.
branham and wesley were in the same draft

[Russ]

If only basketball didn't involve shooting.

[heyheymymy]

Champ's threes always hit the rim so hideously

[jeebus]

You serious?

Yup. It's his first game so I'm gonna give him slack for a while

[scott]

It's amazing how OKC finds room on it's roster/two-ways for guys like Ajay Mitchell and Dillon Jones.

They must not have a stacked roster with elite prospects like David Duke Jr, Riley Minnix and Malaki Branham like we do.

[Mugen]

Jesus christ, we're not going have any shooting again this season are we

[TekXX]

Yup. It's his first game so I'm gonna give him slack for a while

Im just curious why Dan Weiss didn't get the job, unless he didn't want it. Knowing the Spurs ownership maybe Tobey was just cheaper.

[CorrectCrusader]

Jesus christ, we're not going have any shooting again this season are we

We traded for a chucker + signed a washed guard, drafted two guys who can't shoot either. Yeah we ain't shootin

[baseline bum]

Biggest takeaway from tonight so far is that OKC is going to be terrifying with Caruso, that dude is everywhere defensively.

[heyheymymy]

god damm Harts and Caruso are going to be so helpful for OKC

[Mugen]

Biggest takeaway from tonight so far is that OKC is going to be terrifying with Caruso, that dude is everywhere defensively.

They should win 60+ games pretty easily tbh

[onechance87]

we could really use dilly rn

[CorrectCrusader]

Biggest takeaway from tonight so far is that OKC is going to be terrifying with Caruso, that dude is everywhere defensively.

Sleepwalk to the finals.

[Mugen]

The important thing to remember this season is that the '25 class is absolutely loaded and Pop can't coach forever :lol

[SPURt]

Not a lot to get excited about so far. Champenis looks like the only shooter on the floor for the Spurs, with a pretty generous application of the word “shooter”. Gross.

[poopbox]

JDub taking a shit on all our scrub players:rollin

Castle and Tre playing at the same time :rollin

[onechance87]

Who ever drafted sochan,wesley,branham should be fired.

[scott]

We are missing our four best players (Vic, Dev, Paul, Bassey) so let's there is still hope.

Amazingly, we still give up buzzer beaters to end each quarter.

[Mugen]

If we drafted Castle just to play him off ball with guys like Tre and Blake....:lol

[Leetonidas]

You guys are just pissbabies

[poopbox]

We are missing our four best players (Vic, Dev, Paul, Bassey) so let's there is still hope.

Amazingly, we still give up buzzer beaters to end each quarter.

Bassey is one of our 4 best players? :depressed

[TekXX]

You guys are just pissbabies

What does that even mean?

[exstatic]

Im just curious why Dan Weiss didn't get the job, unless he didn't want it. Knowing the Spurs ownership maybe Tobey was just cheaper.

He sucked donkey balls. I hated when Bill had to take time off. If he had gotten the job, I would have watched every game muted. Did I mention that he sucked? Because he does.

[onechance87]

We are missing our four best players (Vic, Dev, Paul, Bassey) so let's there is still hope.

Amazingly, we still give up buzzer beaters to end each quarter.

bassey cant even stay healthy

[TekXX]

He sucked donkey balls. I hated when Bill had to take time off. If he had gotten the job, I would have watched every game muted. Did I mention that he sucked? Because he does.

Naw he was fine, imo. This guy sounds like he just graduated college.

[Mugen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C_Xi-41MOE

[benefactor]

:cry we can teach them to shoot gais :cry

[BackHome]

I have a funny feeling I will be in the 2025 NBA Draft forum for the majority of my time.

[Spurs Brazil]

KJ and Branham looks the same, no defense and dumb plays

Manu, Wesley and Champagnie did well

[spurraider21]

i didnt expect pop to just give the keys to castle as a rookie to go run the offense in all his minutes, not sure why people are so upset about this in the preseason opener :lol

[paperboy77]

Gonna be a long season if Pop give #30 extended time. We should have cut that scrub last season.

We are bad. Gonna take a great effort and HEALTH from Wemby to even scratch the surface.

[Mugen]

i didnt expect pop to just give the keys to castle as a rookie to go run the offense in all his minutes, not sure why people are so upset about this in the preseason opener :lol

He started Sochan at point for 1/3 of the season, it's not that far fetched tbh :lol

[CorrectCrusader]

What does that even mean?

It means we're not delusional and have functioning eyeballs

[heyheymymy]

Barnes and Sochan have a little chemistry going

[heyheymymy]

damn 6/12 from 3PT for Champ

[Mugen]

Love the quick trigger from Champ tbh. Gonna be sorely needed this season.

[james evans]

I know it's just the preseason and we shouldn't put much thought into these games, but we literally have no defenders on this team for wings. Players shoot and score over our defenders with no difficulty like shooting drills. It's like they aren't even on the court. We still haven't fixed that problem yet. Sochan and Johnson are still terrible defenders

[CorrectCrusader]

So along with Bill we have a new guy doing all the games and stuff during timeouts? Interesting.

[spurraider21]

Love the quick trigger from Champ tbh. Gonna be sorely needed this season.
he's on year 2 of a great 4 year deal. him coming along as a legitimate sniper with solid size would go a long way. very necessary release valve on a roster that figures to give plenty of minutes to guys like sochan, keldon, castle, jones, wesley

[heyheymymy]

christ Dillon Jones is roasting the Spurs

[Mugen]

Presti is unmatched man.

[Frenchfred]

I don't know why people think that this team is a play-in team, it is a bottom 8 again. The only improvement for this team this year is that Wemby has one year experience under his belt and he is going to win games by himself. Paul is tool old, Castle is a rookie, we can say that Barnes is a little better than Osman, okay. But outside of that, it is the same team and none of the players have shown any tendency last year to improve their game.

In the West, only the Blazzers will be worse than the Spurs. In the East, Detroit, Washington, Brooklyn, Toronto and probably Chicago. And at that point, we might as well tank and hope that the balls fall our way again.

[heyheymymy]

BAM back to back triples from Branham to tie the game!

10-0 Spurs run

and of course fucking Jones ends the run with a triple of his own and then takes the charge erasing a nice Castle Sidy bucket

[TekXX]

Pop really saying Mamu is his favorite player after sitting him all last year for no reason?

[heyheymymy]

Mamu has been GOLD this game

[ace3g]

Castle!!!

[Leetonidas]

Damn Castle :wow

[Mugen]

Castle holy shit

[heyheymymy]

man weird FT disparity

SA - 11/16
OKC 1/1

[CorrectCrusader]

I've been waiting for Lonnie to do that for years

[SPURt]

Alright Castle

[heyheymymy]

FUCKING NASTY SLAM BY CASTLE

ABSOLUTAMENTE ASQUEROSO

[exstatic]

Presti is unmatched man.

Yes, spending 3 FRPs on Dieng was unmatched. Trading Sengün to the rockets was unmatched. Drafting Poku was unmatched.

Everybody craps the bed. This forum only concentrates on that aspect for the spurs. Everybody else gets a pass, and Sam Presti is the Christ Child.

[Spurs Brazil]

Wow Castle!

[Mugen]

Will be interesting to see how Castle speeds his game up a bit this season to match NBA pace. I want to see his cutting ability translate this year especially playing off a guy like Vic.

[Mugen]

Yes, spending 3 FRPs on Dieng was unmatched. Trading Sengün to the rockets was unmatched. Drafting Poku was unmatched.

Everybody craps the bed. This forum only concentrates on that aspect for the spurs. Everybody else gets a pass, and Sam Presti is the Christ Child.

The fact that you continue to think that BWrong is even in the same stratosphere as Presti is your magnum Sniffus tbh :lol

[heyheymymy]

Blake Wesley 3/4/7 and 2 STLs

1/2 3PM and 0 TOs 0 FLs

[CorrectCrusader]

Is branham the worst player of all time?

[exstatic]

The fact that you continue to think that BWrong is even in the same stratosphere as Presti is your magnum Sniffus tbh :lol

I don’t think Brian Wright, for all of his faults, has ever made a move as bad or stupid as Presti trading 3 FRPs for the right to draft a complete scrub in Ouseman Dieng.

[Mugen]

Man, Blake with just a little semblance of an in-between game would be an interesting player tbh.

[CorrectCrusader]

Castle just has fantastic court vision. Great future ahead

[Mugen]

I don’t think Brian Wright, for all of his faults, has ever made a move as bad or stupid as Presti trading 3 FRPs for the right to draft a complete scrub in Ouseman Dieng.

Yeah, that really set them back :lol

[CorrectCrusader]

I don’t think Brian Wright, for all of his faults, has ever made a move as bad or stupid as Presti trading 3 FRPs for the right to draft a complete scrub in Ouseman Dieng.

Difference is that he routinely makes great moves and BWrong does fuck all

[heyheymymy]

got the summer league squad out there

[onechance87]

cisscco is so bad.Guy should be cut.

[james evans]

I don't know why people think that this team is a play-in team, it is a bottom 8 again. The only improvement for this team this year is that Wemby has one year experience under his belt and he is going to win games by himself. Paul is tool old, Castle is a rookie, we can say that Barnes is a little better than Osman, okay. But outside of that, it is the same team and none of the players have shown any tendency last year to improve their game.

In the West, only the Blazzers will be worse than the Spurs. In the East, Detroit, Washington, Brooklyn, Toronto and probably Chicago. And at that point, we might as well tank and hope that the balls fall our way again.
after after the 2025-26 season, tank again?

[Mugen]

Sidy hasn't shown anything at all even going back to SL. I don't think he's a lock to make the roster at all tbh.

[jeebus]

Shidy's shot still looks like complete ass

[ace3g]

Minix!!!

[Russ]

Minix getting minutes.

[CorrectCrusader]

This mensah dude is horrid, big and slow and bad

[jeebus]

Wasn't Minix dropping bombs in SL too? He might be worth a 2 way

[CorrectCrusader]

I feel like I might contract aids just from watching the hype squad

[onechance87]

yup im liking minix for sure.

[thiste]

So the way I see this game, and of course it's the first game of pre-season so it's just glorified training at this point, is that they fielded J-Dub, Chet, Caruso & Hartenstein for 60 minutes total, all players that are starter level on good teams (and even flirting with All-Star for J-Dub ; first team all D for Caruso).
Who did we field that's even comparable? Harrison Barnes for 20 minutes.

We were consistently behind but close & keeping up through 3 quarters. So that's a positive in my book.

[ace3g]

Malachi

https://cdn.britannica.com/05/191505-050-7770F74F/Errol-Flynn-The-Adventures-of-Robin-Hood.jpg?w=400&h=300&c=crop

[SPURt]

The fact that you continue to think that BWrong is even in the same stratosphere as Presti is your magnum Sniffus tbh :lol
Magnum Sniffus :lol creative,thanks for the chuckle

[onechance87]

Castle gotta be better at handling the ball.Looked sloppy with 6 tos.First preseason tho.

[Mr. Body]

Yes, spending 3 FRPs on Dieng was unmatched. Trading Sengün to the rockets was unmatched. Drafting Poku was unmatched.

Everybody craps the bed. This forum only concentrates on that aspect for the spurs. Everybody else gets a pass, and Sam Presti is the Christ Child.

Half of this forum are just Presti-suckers. They won't just go follow the Thunder instead.

[Dejounte]

My review. Take note, I don’t judge based off what their counting stats were. This review is entirely based on how they looked on the court.

Guys who did great:
-Sandro - find a lot of minutes for this young man. Defense was decent even.
-Champ - he didnt let his cold shooting affect him. Like a McDermott out there without being a total liability
-Cissoko - plug and play versatile defender. I think he has a future on this team for sure.

did good:
-Wesley - played more composed. Looked like an NBA player
-Branham - looked more aggressive on offense. Didnt hesitate
-Castle - had the best vision during the game. A lot of players missed their shots.

did ok:
-Sochan - he really is playing the garbage man role out there
-Keldon - he did ok
-Tre Jones was Tre Jones
-Barnes was Barnes
-Flynn
-Ingram

Did bad:
-Brandon Boston - very mediocre
-Minix - has cement shoes. Only upside is his average offense. Looks way too slow footed

[spurs50_]

Minix is better than some of these guys with guaranteed contracts.

[J_Paco]

Yeah, that really set them back :lol

They got lucky that Shai became a top 5 - 6 player and Jalen Williams has outplayed his draft positioning. Sam Presti has had just as many wet farts for picks as anyone else, but people focus on only his successes.

Which is fair because three of them became league MVP's (& are future HOF'ers), but he has yet to win even one NBA title and has only made it to one Finals as GM.

For all his 'genius' and smarts as a GM, he has as many NBA titles as 'Brian Wrong.'

[onechance87]

My review. Take note, I don’t judge based off what their counting stats were. This review is entirely based on how they looked on the court.

Guys who did great:
-Sandro - find a lot of minutes for this young man. Defense was decent even.
-Champ - he didnt let his cold shooting affect him. Like a McDermott out there without being a total liability
-Cissoko - plug and play versatile defender. I think he has a future on this team for sure.

did good:
-Wesley - played more composed. Looked like an NBA player
-Branham - looked more aggressive on offense. Didnt hesitate
-Castle - had the best vision during the game. A lot of players missed their shots.

did ok:
-Sochan - he really is playing the garbage man role out there
-Keldon - he did ok
-Tre Jones was Tre Jones
-Barnes was Barnes
-Flynn
-Ingram

Did bad:
-Brandon Boston - very mediocre
-Minix - has cement shoes. Only upside is his average offense. Looks way too slow footed

cissoko did great and minix did bad....Yeah ok

[objective]

Disappointed with Castle a little on defense. Not super impressed by the dunk over a camp body destined for the g-league. But I'd rather see him play than a lot of other players on the roster like Branham.

[gilmor2002]

My review. Take note, I don’t judge based off what their counting stats were. This review is entirely based on how they looked on the court.

Guys who did great:
-Sandro - find a lot of minutes for this young man. Defense was decent even.
-Champ - he didnt let his cold shooting affect him. Like a McDermott out there without being a total liability
-Cissoko - plug and play versatile defender. I think he has a future on this team for sure.

did good:
-Wesley - played more composed. Looked like an NBA player
-Branham - looked more aggressive on offense. Didnt hesitate
-Castle - had the best vision during the game. A lot of players missed their shots.

did ok:
-Sochan - he really is playing the garbage man role out there
-Keldon - he did ok
-Tre Jones was Tre Jones
-Barnes was Barnes
-Flynn
-Ingram

Did bad:
-Brandon Boston - very mediocre
-Minix - has cement shoes. Only upside is his average offense. Looks way too slow footed

Mensah and Bostona nd Cisoko were all bad..

[Mr. Body]

My review. Take note, I don’t judge based off what their counting stats were. This review is entirely based on how they looked on the court.

Guys who did great:
-Sandro - find a lot of minutes for this young man. Defense was decent even.
-Champ - he didnt let his cold shooting affect him. Like a McDermott out there without being a total liability
-Cissoko - plug and play versatile defender. I think he has a future on this team for sure.

did good:
-Wesley - played more composed. Looked like an NBA player
-Branham - looked more aggressive on offense. Didnt hesitate
-Castle - had the best vision during the game. A lot of players missed their shots.

did ok:
-Sochan - he really is playing the garbage man role out there
-Keldon - he did ok
-Tre Jones was Tre Jones
-Barnes was Barnes
-Flynn
-Ingram

Did bad:
-Brandon Boston - very mediocre
-Minix - has cement shoes. Only upside is his average offense. Looks way too slow footed

Good thoughts, and appreciate the comment on counting stats. It's preseason.

- Champ is just letting fly when he's always been hesitant. That's great.
- Cissoko is a smart player. Problem is the team has so many non-scorers.
- I see the way forward with Wesley. He's so fast, a pesky defender, and he's really improved a lot.
- Sandro is a confident multi-tooled player.

- Gross how open the lane was early in the game. Not sure what the eff was going on.
- Sochan needs a certain kind of movement to be effective, but when it works he's a strong player. I expect with CP and Wemby things will work better.
- Branham isn't the sieve on defense he was before. I've moved Wesley in front of him in the pecking order, though.

- Castle will work better in a full squad but it'll take him time to come up to speed.

Overall, not much to go by. Team still has like five guys who aren't offensive threats who are fairly toolsy otherwise. It's going to be a struggle at times.

[Dejounte]

cissoko did great and minix did bad....Yeah ok

Tell me with a straight face that you looked at the way Minix played defense and didn’t think he was one of the slowest players you’ve ever seen.

Cissoko was one of the top defenders tonight. A lot of people look for players who stuff the statsheet. What Cissoko showed tonight was that he could be played with any four players on the court and play a decent supporting role.

[Mr. Body]

They got lucky that Shai became a top 5 - 6 player and Jalen Williams has outplayed his draft positioning. Sam Presti has had just as many wet farts for picks as anyone else, but people focus on only his successes.

Which is fair because three of them became league MVP's (& are future HOF'ers), but he has yet to win even one NBA title and has only made it to one Finals as GM.

For all his 'genius' and smarts as a GM, he has as many NBA titles as 'Brian Wrong.'

SGA fell into Presti's lap. That was Kawhi forcing LAC to trade an ungodly amount to get Paul George. What Presti has done great at is nailing top picks. Holmgren was an obvious but right pick. And he's good at getting low value guys like Dort. The rest is a crap shoot. For every J Will he's traded away Sengun and completely blown other picks.

[rankingtear]

Champ and Sidy were standouts these two would outlast most guys on this roster besides the lottery picks.

[Jordan Jackson]

Tanking is going to happen organically. This is the same ugly pig from last season with different lipstick. Wemby is going to have to play out of his mind to get them into 30 - 36 win range.

[exstatic]

SGA fell into Presti's lap. That was Kawhi forcing LAC to trade an ungodly amount to get Paul George. What Presti has done great at is nailing top picks. Holmgren was an obvious but right pick. And he's good at getting low value guys like Dort. The rest is a crap shoot. For every J Will he's traded away Sengun and completely blown other picks.

JWill was a GREAT pick, but he’s screwed the pooch on a number of occasions, and the Presti asscrack cleaning squad (henceforth to be known as the PAC men) fucking REFUSES to acknowledge that fact.

[Dejounte]

Champ and Sidy were standouts these two would outlast most guys on this roster besides the lottery picks.

Without even checking before I posted my take, Sidy had the highest +/- at +10.

[TekXX]

JWill was a GREAT pick, but he’s screwed the pooch on a number of occasions, and the Presti asscrack cleaning squad (henceforth to be known as the PAC men) fucking REFUSES to acknowledge that fact.

Much rather have Presti right now. Nitpick his moves but he's got OKC back into contention while the Spurs FO have been dicking around for 8 years and counting.

[exstatic]

Much rather have Presti right now. Nitpick his moves but he's got OKC back into contention while the Spurs FO have been dicking around for 8 years and counting.

Then go root for OKC. You can have Presti as your GM immediately.

[jbspurs]

My review. Take note, I don’t judge based off what their counting stats were. This review is entirely based on how they looked on the court.

Guys who did great:
-Sandro - find a lot of minutes for this young man. Defense was decent even.
-Champ - he didnt let his cold shooting affect him. Like a McDermott out there without being a total liability
-Cissoko - plug and play versatile defender. I think he has a future on this team for sure.

did good:
-Wesley - played more composed. Looked like an NBA player
-Branham - looked more aggressive on offense. Didnt hesitate
-Castle - had the best vision during the game. A lot of players missed their shots.

did ok:
-Sochan - he really is playing the garbage man role out there
-Keldon - he did ok
-Tre Jones was Tre Jones
-Barnes was Barnes
-Flynn
-Ingram

Did bad:
-Brandon Boston - very mediocre
-Minix - has cement shoes. Only upside is his average offense. Looks way too slow footed


Branham was too aggressive. He shoots as soon as he gets the ball. He's like. horse with blinders.

[itzsoweezee]

JWill was a GREAT pick, but he’s screwed the pooch on a number of occasions, and the Presti asscrack cleaning squad (henceforth to be known as the PAC men) fucking REFUSES to acknowledge that fact.

Everything good that happens to OKC is luck, everything bad is because presti sucks. … Spurstalk is in midseason form with the stupid takes

[baseline bum]

I don’t think Brian Wright, for all of his faults, has ever made a move as bad or stupid as Presti trading 3 FRPs for the right to draft a complete scrub in Ouseman Dieng.

Wright never made a pick anywhere close to as good as getting JDub at 12 either. Haven't had any Dejounte Murray, Derrick White level steals since he took over. His best pick so far is getting a warm body at 29 in Keldon or an average starter at 12 in Devin.

[CGD]

It’s pretty amazing to think that this time next year this roster could look so different.

OUT: Blake, Maliki, Sidy, Mamu, Bassey
TRADED: CP3, Keldon, Zach, Tre

[lefty]

Castle looked lost at times defensively

But he is not afraid to get the rim

[GAustex]

Is Cissoko Jack Haley?

[heyheymymy]

15/1/2/1 on 6-6, 1-1, 2-3 for Yabusele. +17 granted against NZ

Didn't see the game for PHI but saw that stat line for our guy and looks good without context

Flashbacks of the Olympic summer lol

[z0sa]

Cissoko isn't an NBA player.

Castle was underwhelming other than his slam, though he definitely has an NBA body and good court vision.

Mamu likely won't get minutes even though he's likely our best (or at least, most energetic/high IQ) big outside of #1.

Tre Jones, Keldon, Champ haven't changed hardly at all. Their potential is non-existent, though Champ might be a good shooter if he stays mentally tuned-in.

Wesley balled - looks like he legitimately improved this off-season, if this one game is any indication. Very happy to see that, though obviously, sample size.

Branham is better just launching it, so I'm ok with his game as well though he's obviously only fringe rotation material unless he's hot IE last season post-ASB.

Barnes looked as you'd expect. He's a glue guy. Expect him to do his thing but he's more a floor raiser in SA than a ceiling raiser.

Sochan didn't look any fucking different at all other than his shot looking a hair smoother - he still isn't looking to shoot it, and in 15-20 games max he'll be scouted again as a guy to fall way back on again. Up to him to make people pay for that, which he wasn't looking to do tonight.

I think we will certainly improve this season. Whether that's good enough for a play-in spot will depend on our key guys who didn't (or couldn't) play. Should be fun.

[scott]

When OKC is the #1 seed and we're in the lotto again, I'm going to have so much fun gloating that Sam Presti drafted Osmane Dieng. SICK BURN.

[heyheymymy]

Castle has that Manu esque laser guided sling pass that's going to be money. he shot a missile to the opposite corner 3 at one point iirc

Saw it a few times tonight.

[Dejounte]

It’s pretty amazing to think that this time next year this roster could look so different.

OUT: Blake, Maliki, Sidy, Mamu, Bassey
TRADED: CP3, Keldon, Zach, Tre

The Spurs have averaged ~75% roster continuity year to year for the last several decades so good luck thinking some 2K stuff will happen during the offseason.

[John B]

I could see the confidence in Castle that CP3 was talking about. And his court vision is something to be excited about, on top of his obvious defensive mentality. The kid is strong and easily passed the eye test.

Blake is so fast. He reminds me of TP as a one-man fast break and his ball handling improved so much. He’s a very pesky defender, and still not deterred going to the rim (getting blocked again on that first try)

Malaki defense is much better. He’s always been a good offensive player. The problem with him is he gets lost in the mix when the ball is not in his hands. I’m hoping he continues to be aggressive because he could be a good streaky scorer off the bench

Champ was not hesitating. Of course he also did great in the pre-season last year then went off the cliff when the season started. But it’s another year under his belt.

Mamu still a solid all-around very good player. But I doubt he gets the minutes. Again another streaky scorer off the bench.

Keldon, Tre still pretty solid rotation players.

Sochan is meh. I’m rooting for the guy but I’d rather Castle playing starter than him.

[exstatic]

Everything good that happens to OKC is luck, everything bad is because presti sucks. … Spurstalk is in midseason form with the stupid takes
I never said that, and in fact my post started with a compliment towards him, which you apparently just blew off. PAC men mid season form already.

[exstatic]

When OKC is the #1 seed and we're in the lotto again, I'm going to have so much fun gloating that Sam Presti drafted Osmane Dieng. SICK BURN.

And traded James Harden for scraps? That Presti?

[ambchang]

I’m not even sure why people are equating OKC to the spurs. They started off the rebuild with dismantling the core of Durant, Westbrook, harden and ibaka. Ironically it is ibaka that actually led to the current core.

The spurs were blind sided by Kawhi with only two useful assets in Aldridge (who retired due to heart issues) and derozan (who the spurs hung on for too long). The haul that we got is the, so comparing the OKC rebuild, which is arguably going on for ten years, with the spurs, who is in year four, is dishonest.

[ambchang]

The spurs were pretty bad on land protection. Yes wemby will clearly take care of that but the rest of the team has to learn how to stop that penetration and not bite for every pump fake.

Perimeter defence is suspect as mentioned, biting for fakes, giving up dribble penetration. Rebounding was meh.

Offence looks decent enough, but lots of plays outside of sets that bailed them out. Without Champaigne shooting like that the spurs would’ve been blown out by 30.

Chet holmgren looks great. Sochan shouldn’t but on every fake especially when he hasn’t made a single three.

Sochans defence was a huge step back.

[Fireball]

OKC has so many talented players. Spurs not so much, at least without Wemby.

[spurraider21]

btw champagnie letting it fly that frequently is objectively a good thing. thats his role on the floor. he tries on defense but he's not particularly impactful. he's not much of a rim attacker or facilitator. volume shooting should be the name of his game. last year champagnie averaged around 9 3pa per 48 minutes. thats pretty similar to wemby. specialists like hield averaged 12.6, hawks bogdanovic at 12.8, hardaway jr at 13.5, devincenzo at 14.3

issue with champ was his % last year was below 37. it takes quite a bit of improvement as a shooter to be able to ramp both your volume and efficiency at the same time (presumption is increased quantity means you are more comfortable taking higher degree of difficulty shots with less space). if he can pull that off... would be awesome for the club, especially if they feel better playing him at the 2 as well. bball reference's positional charting is questionable at best, so big caveat there, but they had him playing SG only 4% of the time last year. but he played a fair amount of guard yesterday

[KingKev]

If Champ can consistently shoot 40% on >4-5 attempts a game he easily takes minutes from Keldon.

[Fireball]

Wish that Tre Jones' jersey number was 20 ... then last nights starting lineup would have had the numbers 0,10,20,30 and 40 :)

[CGD]

The Spurs have averaged ~75% roster continuity year to year for the last several decades so good luck thinking some 2K stuff will happen during the offseason.

I mean not really:

UFA: Tre; Collins; Mamu; Bassey; CP3
Options: Blake; Maliki; Champaign

[exstatic]

btw champagnie letting it fly that frequently is objectively a good thing. thats his role on the floor. he tries on defense but he's not particularly impactful. he's not much of a rim attacker or facilitator. volume shooting should be the name of his game. last year champagnie averaged around 9 3pa per 48 minutes. thats pretty similar to wemby. specialists like hield averaged 12.6, hawks bogdanovic at 12.8, hardaway jr at 13.5, devincenzo at 14.3

issue with champ was his % last year was below 37. it takes quite a bit of improvement as a shooter to be able to ramp both your volume and efficiency at the same time (presumption is increased quantity means you are more comfortable taking higher degree of difficulty shots with less space). if he can pull that off... would be awesome for the club, especially if they feel better playing him at the 2 as well. bball reference's positional charting is questionable at best, so big caveat there, but they had him playing SG only 4% of the time last year. but he played a fair amount of guard yesterday

Or, maybe just a HOF PG dropping onto the roster.

Everyone is going to get easier buckets, not just Wemby.

[exstatic]

I mean not really:

UFA: Tre; Collins; Mamu; Bassey; CP3
Options: Blake; Maliki; Champaign

Zach is UFA in 2026.

Champagne’s option is in 2026. Blake, Malaki, and Sochan will all have a year 4 option deadline around the end of this month. I expect all three 2025-2026 options to be picked up, because that’s what the Spurs usually do, unless there is a mental issue with the player. The Blake and Malaki combined options are less than the MLE, and you can always use smallish contracts in trades.

All contract dates are from bbref player pages.

[Frenchfred]

Cissoko isn't an NBA player.

Castle was underwhelming other than his slam, though he definitely has an NBA body and good court vision.

Mamu likely won't get minutes even though he's likely our best (or at least, most energetic/high IQ) big outside of #1.

Tre Jones, Keldon, Champ haven't changed hardly at all. Their potential is non-existent, though Champ might be a good shooter if he stays mentally tuned-in.

Wesley balled - looks like he legitimately improved this off-season, if this one game is any indication. Very happy to see that, though obviously, sample size.

Branham is better just launching it, so I'm ok with his game as well though he's obviously only fringe rotation material unless he's hot IE last season post-ASB.

Barnes looked as you'd expect. He's a glue guy. Expect him to do his thing but he's more a floor raiser in SA than a ceiling raiser.

Sochan didn't look any fucking different at all other than his shot looking a hair smoother - he still isn't looking to shoot it, and in 15-20 games max he'll be scouted again as a guy to fall way back on again. Up to him to make people pay for that, which he wasn't looking to do tonight.

I think we will certainly improve this season. Whether that's good enough for a play-in spot will depend on our key guys who didn't (or couldn't) play. Should be fun.

It is always going to be fun watching the Spurs with Wemby but I don't think that this team is a play-in team and if that's the case what's the point trying to be 9-10 and have a bad pick? If they are #9 by all star game, they should tank.

[dn0774]

If Sochan is just the same player as last year (and the year before that) then the dude just needs to come off the bench. Pick up his 4th year option, whatever...but please don't start him anymore. Give him November to show he has significantly improved his offensive game and if not then move on.

[exstatic]

It is always going to be fun watching the Spurs with Wemby but I don't think that this team is a play-in team and if that's the case what's the point trying to be 9-10 and have a bad pick? If they are #9 by all star game, they should tank.

There will be 7 dedicated tanking teams from the starting gun: Utah and Portland in the West, and Brooklyn, Charlotte, Detroit, Toronto, and Washington on the East. In addition, there will be a number of very mid teams like Chicago, Atlanta, and LAC. I also think New Orleans and Sacramento will underperform, New Orleans due to BI being an ending non extended contract, and I think Sacto is fools gold. They caught everyone by surprise two years ago, but kind of crashed back to earth last year, falling pretty sharply in the standings. They really play no defense, and just added a high usage low efficiency scorer in DeRozan.

There are a lot of wins to be scraped from this group, especially the tanking 7. Going all out doesn’t mean 9 or 10, it means play in or playoff.

[scott]

And traded James Harden for scraps? That Presti?

Maybe Adam Silver will deduct 10 wins for OKC's win total this year for the James Harden trade and award them to the Spurs

[Barfunk]

Can't put too much stock into these meaningless pre-season games. Heat with Butler, Rozier, Love, Adebayo, just lost to the Hornets.

[spurraider21]

Can't put too much stock into these meaningless pre-season games. Heat with Butler, Rozier, Love, Adebayo, just lost to the Hornets.
Love is dust and Rozier, while talented, doesn’t really play winning ball and is an odd with with Miami. I don’t think Miami will be that good this year

[Dejounte]

I mean not really:

UFA: Tre; Collins; Mamu; Bassey; CP3
Options: Blake; Maliki; Champaign

Blake’s option will be picked up and Champagnie, Mamu aren’t going anywhere.