Pop's interview: "nothing should be rushed"

[Pauleta14]

I think some STers are emotionaly attached to Devin and too biased to see the obvious

After reading Pop's interview I'm afraid him too

[Mr. Body]

Not defending Vassell, but can we be serious and honest here? Vassell is making $30 million next year with the amount going down year over year. Young is making $43 million next year and the amount going up. Vassell is still developing. I hope he gets a killer instinct or more consistent. He's a good teammate and plays within a team environment and system. Young is a player whose own teammates won't vote for him in the All-Star Game and requires players to be built around him. Perhaps most important, Vassell is a player we already have, Young is a player we'd have to give up most of our draft capital to acquire.

[dbestpro]

If you can't play defense, you shouldn't play.

[rankingtear]

middleton and Bridges aren’t one dimensional players like Devin who aside of his shooting is average or below average in so many areas …

Devin is one of the best team defender in the league. Eye testers only see the on ball stuff.

[Brazil]

Brazil...

It's a long topic that is related to French history, the fact that sports haven't been used for propaganda the same way it was in most other big (if not all) sport countries.

There's condescending view of sport from the elites in France that prevents any developmwnt (France is almost 3rd world country in club sports despite being 6th ot 7th economy in the world).

Because real sports fans aren't enough to get big audiences, medias have to target mainstream fans with very little knowledge who only react to populist and demagogic takes

It's unwatchable and makes First Take looks like elite reporting

Saying that French professional teams suck (rugby being a big exception) is different than saying France is not a sport country ou has no sport culture. I, personnally don't give a single about clubs other than mines, I don't root for Bordeaux in the hope of Bordeaux winning a champions league and honestly I'm always celebrating when PSG get his ass kicked, same for l'OM or Lyon. I just enjoy FNT winning two world cups and being two times runner ups during my lifetime, I enjoy watching our handball team, our volley team... For all the sucess of French clubs in rugby, I'd change all of that for a WC or even a great slam.

Yes the media sucks blabla but they don't suck more than anywhere else, I'm sorry. Populist and demagogic takes are everywhere, listen to Shaq takes or Perkins explaining that whites are favored when it comes to MVP awards, don't get me started with Stephen A Smith to name another one. Populist clickbaiting media are not a French specialty, not even close. L'equipe du soir is "apostrophe" compared to chiringuito.

[offset formation]

So what? It’s what they are doing, whether you approve or not. He’s probably referencing the BAMA contingent here on ST directly. lol

BAMA?

[Mr. Body]

BAMA?

and Moan

[poopbox]

Not defending Vassell, but can we be serious and honest here? Vassell is making $30 million next year with the amount going down year over year. Young is making $43 million next year and the amount going up. Vassell is still developing. I hope he gets a killer instinct or more consistent. He's a good teammate and plays within a team environment and system. Young is a player whose own teammates won't vote for him in the All-Star Game and requires players to be built around him. Perhaps most important, Vassell is a player we already have, Young is a player we'd have to give up most of our draft capital to acquire.

There is no way to know if he is or not. He could be. Or he could already be as good as he is going to be. Everyone thinks young players are "developing" until 3 years goes by and your realize they the same player they were years ago.

[LeBowen]

What do people even think Vassell will develop into?
It's his fourth season, I can only see him becoming a bit better at what he does well, I don't think he'll ever be a great playmaker or defender.
Shooting guards with average playmaking are the easiest players to find in modern NBA. Especially ones that aren't great defenders.
And yet noone thinks that his 150 million deal will become an issue.

Would he do better on a good team? Obviously, everyone does.
Would a good team pay him 30 million? Obviously not, that's too much for a third option if you have two max players.

Last season I honestly thought he can develop into our Devin (Booker), but it's not happening.
Booker was also winning 20ish games in his third/fourth season and averaged 26/7.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think all this losing is getting to us and we grasp for straws thinking any of these scrubs will actually be good enough to become serious pieces on a playoff team.
I really don't see Devin ever being worth his upcoming contract and I think Spurs should include him in any potential trade for a star before the league catches up on him actually not being 150 million good.

Much like Keldon isn't worth his deal, neither is Devin.
If Devin got 80/4, then he would've been worth it. 150/5 is too much.

[The Truth #6]

My issue with Devin is not even his fault, he's not super athletic, and has to take difficult shots. I think he is a hard worker and has really improved in many ways. He continues to get better with the
ball in his hands. I think he will continue to improve but not sure yet how much. Anyway. Back to Pop.

[Mr. Body]

Booker didn't become a good player until Chris Paul came around.

And you BAMA freaks have to realize Devin is going to be making $27 million for the two years after next and then $24.6 million the year after. While the cap is going up.

He missed a ton of last year. He's a different player than he was at the beginning of the year. Sure, he may not develop much more, but he's clearly on a trajectory and the team is working on him and I'm sure in very specific ways. He is outplaying the position he was drafted in his year.

Man you people arent just insufferable, you almost don't deserve to be Spurs fans -- It's not that you have no patience, you're completely incapable of seeing what has happened in the past and applying it to what the franchise does now. It's like you're single-cell creatures just blatantly reacting to blunt stimulus.

[Mr. Body]

My issue with Devin is not even his fault, he's not super athletic, and has to take difficult shots. I think he is a hard worker and has really improved in many ways. He continues to get better with the
ball in his hands. I think he will continue to improve but not sure yet how much. Anyway. Back to Pop.

My frustration with Vassell is that he's passive and acts within the system, which is a mentality thing or likely what they want him to do, and that his athletic limitations are what you say, that he's forced into difficult shots and can't get separation. This could be fixed with a better lineup where a dangerous lead guard pulls attention away giving him more open looks. There's absolutely no one on the team who can do this right now.

[LeBowen]

Booker didn't become a good player until Chris Paul came around.

He wasn't a superstar, but he was a solid all-star. You could say that he was putting up empty numbers, but that also takes some skill.

And you BAMA freaks have to realize Devin is going to be making $27 million for the two years after next and then $24.6 million the year after. While the cap is going up.

My only issue are people who are constantly ting on Trae, but are somehow fine with Devin making just $13M less as a way worse players.
(Just to be clear, I don't want Trae at all costs, I just think that he's a no brainer trade target for fair price.)

Man you people arent just insufferable, you almost don't deserve to be Spurs fans -- It's not that you have no patience, you're completely incapable of seeing what has happened in the past and applying it to what the franchise does now. It's like you're single-cell creatures just blatantly reacting to blunt stimulus.

Yeah, forgive me for wanting to have at least a couple of players who don't completely tunnel vision on offense and can play something that resembles solid defense.
This roster goes against everything Spurs stand for as a franchise.
Tre is the only player with good basketball IQ, despite his limitations.

To put things into perspective, in the last four games Wemby played a total of 30 minutes and 30 seconds in fourth quarters.
In those 30 minutes he's had 6 field goal attempts and 2 free throws.
He had 1 assist and 5 total turnovers.

Excuse me for not being happy when our franchise player who also happens to be the best prospect in 20 years gets 2.5 possessions per fourth quarter. After dominating clutch time in most wins this season.
Our franchise player that also happens to be 7'4 and the biggest vertical threat in the league.

I'm not demanding for any superstar trades to happen, I'm just saying that current roster is full of low-IQ players and that's way more difficult aspect of basketball to teach than any kind of shooting.

[Atl Spur]

Pop wants mentally tough players who possess thick skin; looking over to the bench / sulking after mistakes won’t cut it with him to take you serious. Devin needs to just start operating in a star space mentally as his game catches up.

[Harry Callahan]

I like DV. With other players better than the current cast, he'll be a key asset. He won't have to take as many high difficulty shots.

His time will come.

[RC_Drunkford]

Devin averages the same stats as Khris Middleton did in his 4th NBA year. Middleton's numbers dipped significantly in his 5th year. I don't know what the issue is here

[Leetonidas]

Devin averages the same stats as Khris Middleton did in his 4th NBA year. Middleton's numbers dipped significantly in his 5th year. I don't know what the issue is here

That was in 2016 though. The NBA has changed drastically in terms of offense and pace since then so comparing per game averages doesn't tell the whole story imho

[Kevin]

Sochan Dev and Keldon are consistency inconsistent. They could never dream of averaging 27/10 like Trea Young has since his second season. Yet Trea just isn't good enough for the Spurs. Laughable homerism.

[itzsoweezee]

You can tell the posters who watch basketball and follow the nba and those that are only spurs fans. Some of you people are completely clueless about the league in which the spurs play. It’s fascinating

[RC_Drunkford]

That was in 2016 though. The NBA has changed drastically in terms of offense and pace since then so comparing per game averages doesn't tell the whole story imho

Yeah but what you fail to recognize is that in his All-Star seasons he only averaged about 2 points per game more than he did in his 4th (although he played a couple minutes less in some of them). So it's not like his numbers went up significantly while the NBA scoring averages increased.

[Pauleta14]

Saying that French professional teams suck (rugby being a big exception) is different than saying France is not a sport country ou has no sport culture. I, personnally don't give a single about clubs other than mines, I don't root for Bordeaux in the hope of Bordeaux winning a champions league and honestly I'm always celebrating when PSG get his ass kicked, same for l'OM or Lyon. I just enjoy FNT winning two world cups and being two times runner ups during my lifetime, I enjoy watching our handball team, our volley team... For all the sucess of French clubs in rugby, I'd change all of that for a WC or even a great slam.

Yes the media sucks blabla but they don't suck more than anywhere else, I'm sorry. Populist and demagogic takes are everywhere, listen to Shaq takes or Perkins explaining that whites are favored when it comes to MVP awards, don't get me started with Stephen A Smith to name another one. Populist clickbaiting media are not a French specialty, not even close. L'equipe du soir is "apostrophe" compared to chiringuito.

i might have not expressed myself well but I think ur missing my point bud…

I’m not talking about the people of France at any point. I even mentioned that were the country with maybe the most licenciés in Europe
Im talking about how the country treats sport and its view historically.
french elites (media included) don’t respect physical activity/sports in general, only attached themselves to it when semi finals/finals etc
it impacts the way sport is (un)developped when abroad it’s cultural and accepted as part of the society

in France fans are forbidden to travel to other stadiums and PSG wasn’t allowed to party in their own city for the last 7years

it’s so much diff in England Italy Spain or Germany (where I’ve been).

anywasy wrong thread

[Leetonidas]

Yeah but what you fail to recognize is that in his All-Star seasons he only averaged about 2 points per game more than he did in his 4th (although he played a couple minutes less in some of them). So it's not like his numbers went up significantly while the NBA scoring averages increased.

His selections were more a byproduct of Milwaukee being an elite RS team because of Giannis. I don't weigh AS appearances heavily personally. He has 0 all NBA team selections

[RC_Drunkford]

His selections were more a byproduct of Milwaukee being an elite RS team because of Giannis. I don't weigh AS appearances heavily personally. He has 0 all NBA team selections

that's not my point. He was a 2nd option on a team that won a ring.

[scott]

that's not my point. He was a 2nd option on a team that won a ring.

It is yet to be seen if Devin can come to the realization that he is (at best) the 2nd option.

A legit PG should really help Devin as much as anyone... but if in two years (or perhaps this time next year) he is playing the same ol' chucker ball, we'll have to have a real conversation.

[Kevin]

It is yet to be seen if Devin can come to the realization that he is (at best) the 2nd option.

A legit PG should really help Devin as much as anyone... but if in two years (or perhaps this time next year) he is playing the same ol' chucker ball, we'll have to have a real conversation.

Dev's in his fourth year. Kids gloves have to come off at some point. Dev's ceiling looks like a good starter like DJM equating to a fourth option on a championship team. Which if we're being honest that means he's a sixth man bench scoring who can do a bit of play making.