That bit about Carlesimo getting fired is encouraging. Hopefully history repeats itself.
Landed them Kevin Durant (best of the three obviously), Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, back-to-back-to-back.
The Thunder, in Durant's second year and Westbrook's rookie year, started the season 3-37 and got PJ Carlesimo fired.
It wasn't until 2010 when the core of Durant, Westbrook, rookie Harden, Ibaka, Thabo, Jeff Green etc (they hadn't made the Perkins trade yet)... that they took off and went from below .300 to 50-32.
Even when you draft an otherworldly franchise, god-tier talent... It takes time.
This isn't Tim Duncan being drafted onto a veteran-loaded playoff team that wasn't a playoff team for one season because of injuries. This is a ground-up rebuild featuring a new class of young talent.
It takes time... I'd say 3 years, counting this year.
That bit about Carlesimo getting fired is encouraging. Hopefully history repeats itself.
I trust Presti more than Brian Never Wright![]()
Hopefully Wright won't get a Big 3 and then lose each of them.
Wright won't come close to drafting 3 MVPs tbh![]()
The problem with this comparison, is we've already had 3 consecutive lottery picks PRIOR to Wemby.
If you want to compare this with those Sonics/Thunder, then Durant was drafted in Year 2 of a 4 year tank.
- In 2004-05, the Sonics went 52-30 and made the conf semifinals.
- In 05-06, the Sonics went 35-47 and Saer Sene with the 10th overall pick (who?)
- In 06-07, the Sonics 31-51 (under Bob Hill, lolz) and drafted KD #2 overall, and also drafted Big Baby and sent him and Ray Allen to Boston for Jeff Green, Wallyworld and Delonte West.
- In 07-08, the last year in Seattle, the Sonics went 20-62, drafted Russ #4, Serge #24
- In 08-09, first year in OKC, Thunder go 23-59. PJ Fired after 13 games (1-12). Thunder draft Harden #3 overall, and Rodrigue Beaubois #25 (who?)
- In 09-10, Thunder go 50-32, and would make the playoffs 10 of the next 11 years.
If you are comparing to OKC, we last year was year 4 of 4 and we should be competing for the playoffs now. Instead we're apparently in year 1 or 2.
Lottery picks does not a tank make. You proved his point IMO.
Interestingly enough Durant, Wembys idol, had a losing streak of 13 in his first year. He still won ROY though.
If this is the plan let’s hope it doesn’t last 3 years and the Spurs are able to get this done in two.
A lot of ST posters are either fair weather fans or trolling. It’s not worth explaining
Remember when we drafted Primo over this guy
You should probably explain how this organization is playing chess while others are playing checkers first.![]()
As I said, it’s a waste of time![]()
Pretty much this.
People here act like drafting Wemby alone was gonna make them a 'winner' again, and now that that isn't happening they are losing their minds and talking ad naseum.
The team is probably still 2 or 3 years away from being good and the Durant - era Seattle Sonics/Oklahoma City Thunder comparison is apt. Hopefully the Spurs ownership won't cheap out if they strike gold (which is needed) in the next few drafts.
They literally only have 1 top five pick (of their own) on this entire roster but somehow they were gonna be a playoff contender. Yeah right.![]()
How dare you bring logic and reason to a SpursTalk thread!
All lottery picks are not the same. Their big 3 were picks 2,3,4. Our picks were 10,11,9,1. If you ever read any analyses of NBA draft pick values, it drops off a cliff,in the aggregate, after pick 5.
Mini Jokic tbh. His playing style
OP is right, but that still does not explain why this team seems way worse than last years team. Perhaps having Poeltl for half the season is a difference maker, but otherwise its a bit mindboggling that we get blown out so often this early in the season.
We're in 07-08. Last year in Seattle, I guess. We haven't drafted the 2nd or 3rd piece yet.
As long as Ray Allen was still on that team, the team wasn't truly tanking, it just had bad surrounding pieces, bad coaching etc. The 50-32 year in 04-05 was Ray Allen's best career year and they had flukish performances from everyone else and got a lot of luck along the way. It was Rashard Lewis's best career year and only all star year as well, IIRC. The Ray Allen trade and letting Lewis walk to Orlando, much like the Spurs dealing Murray and White, sealed the tank for that franchise.
Someone like Muhammad Saer Sene with the 10th overall pick is indeed analogous to some of the similar nobody late lottery picks we've gotten lately that probably won't be on the Wemby core team when we're competing for les in a few years with Wemby and a couple other stars not yet on the team.
The Spurs not bottoming out a few years ago instead of last year cost them and us, the fans, a few years, sure... but it also granted us Wemby and the right to tank 2 more years for our equivalents of Westbrook/Harden.
It's simple, Sochan the point forward is a disaster and ultimately he's going to be the Jeff Green of this team. Not a bad player, but dealt for a better chess piece when the time is right.
Struggle Westbrook only won MVP on the merit of stats alone, and Harden is a career playoff choker since he's been the alpha, so there's that.
Look at today's Clippers? At least we're not the Clippers. They have our home-grown franchise guy from our last le era, they have two of OKC's original big three from their era of supremacy, and they have Lebron's top resistance player in the entire Eastern Conference from the Heatles era, and yet they're still below .500. How???
Last edited by UNT Eagles 2016; 11-21-2023 at 09:49 AM.
OKC isn't a great example. They in essence didn't win anything except a conference banner but they were in the hunt annually. I don't think anyone serious is expecting the Spurs to be in the hunt. They just expect to see something resembling team building and development of the 1st overall phenom.
Drafting late lotto is not the same as drafting 2, 3, 4, and with in the case with OKC. This year should be another shot at another Top 5 pick, which is would really begin a fairer comparison.
but we also traded away core components of our roster (d white, murray, poeltl and even richardson) when the plan became centered on the prospect of getting Wemby so I think it's not a reach to say that this was actually year 1 of the process as opposed to year 4, or that it's a reboot facilitated by landing the top prize. the spurs were stuck in neutral with no real center piece to build around. OKC had KD on which the rest could be placed around. if we look at the rockets, where are they going? or the pistons? these teams are facing the fate that the spurs are trying to jettison from. neither team has a franchise player. the rockets then went and spent too much on free agents that will, at best, get them into the play in games.
Good reminder that the Sonics sucked during Durant's rookie season. I hope Wemby is aware of their struggles during that rookie season considering he's a big KD guy.
The only having 1 pick in the top 5 is a valid argument but it really isn't an apples to apples comparison. Victor has infinitely more pressure/spotlight on him than even KD did back then. I think they need to show real improvement early on in Wemby's 2nd year or they're going to be in trouble. And I'm talking being in the hunt for a play-in spot.
yes, i believe they started 3-11 as well. Lebron's Cavs were 4-16 to start the year.
that pick made me sick
seeing this makes me nauseous
ugh
my only solace with this is knowing that if everything didn't happen exactly the way it did, we probably wouldn't have wemby. So i'm glad we have wemby but still makes me sick...this pick.
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