Windhorst: Wembanyama Not Thrilled With Where Spurs Are; Doesn't Think Spurs Can Get Away With Slow Build

[daslicer]

I'm not going to worry what happens with Victor and the Spurs down the line. There will always be a push and a bunch of rumors by the media for Victor to be out of San Antonio. I'm just going to ignore them. There is no point of sweating about it. If Victor leaves, he leaves. I'm not going to think about it for the next several years. We'll see how this goes for the Spurs in the next few years.

[tmtcsc]

Who gives a about 13 wins vs. 30, what would it change except not getting a high draft pick ?

When are you gonna give credit to Pop and FO for Victor physical evolution ? for his must improved game ? to welcome in a franchise full of picks and cap space ? Victor does not like losing but he will get ROTY and should be 1st defensive team and having a tremendous usage rate. Priority for Spurs was doing all for Victor and again it is so far a tremendous success. He is palying around 30 mpg which is good for his health and adaptation, anybody who has a functionning brain understand he is not yet capable of 40 mpg, during this 30 mpg he is enjoying a huge usage rate for a rookie.

This year was probably the first time you watched a full game of Victor, everybody knew about his potential but people that are following him for a while could not have imagined him reaching this level of play in such short period of time, that is the work of the coaching staff and this includes Pop.

You don't progress getting an easy life, surronding him already with vets, a very good pg... would have been potentially detrimental to his evolution.

Now is everything perfect, of course not but calling this season of show is an imbecile take.

13 wins
we could miss the POs with 30 wins instead

The imbecile take and short-sightedness is all yours. Throw in gullible and naive too. There's no tremendous success going on here. If the Spurs looked as bad as they do and still won 30 games this season, would you see that as progress? Bad is bad.

In 1989 the Spurs traded away their lone All-Star to get Terry mings. A tried and proven Power Forward with toughness. They also traded for Maurice Cheeks and David Wingate to ensure competent guard play. Because of their ty record, they snagged Sean Elliott with the 3rd pick. Later that season they picked up veteran bench players like (Caldwell Jones) to push David in practice. In all, I think they moved on from 8 or 9 players.

The result? 35 additional wins from the previous season and a GREAT playoff drive that ended in 7 games to the eventual Western Conference champs. David Robinson earned ROTY that season but was far from a complete player. He hadn’t played compe ive basketball in 2 years. Can you imagine the Spurs saying “We are going to see what we have in David before we make roster moves”? no.

OKC tanked and traded pieces the last few years. There’s no certainty it will lead to playoff success. What team has ever followed that path and won championships? After picking up Josh Primo at #11 instead of Sengun & picking Devin Vassell instead of Tyrese Haliburton, I’ve lost trust in them doing much of anything right. Our first round picks have been used on players like Luka Samanic, Keldon Johnson, Blake Wesley, Malakai Branham & Jeremy Sochan. The latter they tried to make a Point Forward. I guess they wanted to see what they had in him too.

Yeah - SHOW and a wasted year with no progress shown in the win column or on the court.

[MultiTroll]

Sochan at PG was purely a show and no amount of Sniffing is going to erase that.
100 on Popped.

Moving fwd if he pulls more like that (probably) it would behoove Wemby to do something on his own behalf since the Holt Jrs are going to sit like jellyfish.

[scott]

So you'd rather finish with 35 wins...go no where...and have a mid draft pick...

Got it..

I hope we all do realize that the 35 win, “go nowhere”, have a mid draft pick needs to happen eventually (and IMO next season is the right year on the timeline to do it). This will be our “play-in contention” season. It will eventually be a required step, and hopefully when it does happen it will be viewed as that (though undoubtedly we’ll have people clamoring that we should have just tanked for a higher draft pick and that the season was wasted).

That season could have been this year, IMO, but we didn’t build the team in that way, and that’s okay.

This also isn’t a “go nowhere” step, it’s an important step that transitions us from being dog (where we are today) and being a playoff team. I’m looking forward to us being on that step next season.

[exstatic]

The imbecile take and short-sightedness is all yours. Throw in gullible and naive too. There's no tremendous success going on here. If the Spurs looked as bad as they do and still won 30 games this season, would you see that as progress? Bad is bad.

In 1989 the Spurs traded away their lone All-Star to get Terry mings. A tried and proven Power Forward with toughness. They also traded for Maurice Cheeks and David Wingate to ensure competent guard play. Because of their ty record, they snagged Sean Elliott with the 3rd pick. Later that season they picked up veteran bench players like (Caldwell Jones) to push David in practice.

The result? 30 additional wins from the previous season and a GREAT playoff drive that ended in 7 games to the eventual Western Conference champs. David Robinson earned ROTY that season but was far from a complete player. He hadn’t played compe ive basketball in 2 years. Can you imagine the Spurs saying “We are going to see what we have in David before we make roster moves”? no.

OKC tanked and traded pieces the last few years. There’s no certainty it will lead to playoff success. What team has ever followed that path and won championships? After picking up Josh Primo at #11 instead of Sengun & picking Devin Vassell instead of Tyrese Haliburton, I’ve lost trust in them doing much of anything right. Our first round picks have been used on players like Luka Samanic, Keldon Johnson, Blake Wesley, Malakai Branham & Jeremy Sochan. The latter they tried to make a Point Forward. I guess they wanted to see what they had in him too.

Yeah - SHOW and a wasted year with no progress shown in the win column or on the court.

It was 35 games improved, and David was also 24 years old, NOT the same situation. Now, roll forward a few years, and tell me what happened? That first year was the peak for that group, and with small cast changes, that group languished as a first or second round out in all but one year for close to a decade, until lightning struck again for us. They didn’t build a contender, they built a playoff tease.

[Rosewood]

The team has been frustrating to watch this year but I’m blown away by how negative some of the posters here are being

[mo7888]

I hope we all do realize that the 35 win, “go nowhere”, have a mid draft pick needs to happen eventually (and IMO next season is the right year on the timeline to do it). This will be our “play-in contention” season. It will eventually be a required step, and hopefully when it does happen it will be viewed as that (though undoubtedly we’ll have people clamoring that we should have just tanked for a higher draft pick and that the season was wasted).

That season could have been this year, IMO, but we didn’t build the team in that way, and that’s okay.

This also isn’t a “go nowhere” step, it’s an important step that transitions us from being dog (where we are today) and being a playoff team. I’m looking forward to us being on that step next season.

Sure, but that's not something you do in his rookie year. In our situation, that's something that should happen next year when the highest valued picks we own are not our own.

[scott]

Sure, but that's not something you do in his rookie year. In our situation, that's something that should happen next year when the highest valued picks we own are not our own.

Why are the highest valued picks we own next year not our own? We could easily just tank again and then they would be. I don’t think what picks you have in hand really have much to do with it. We are on Wemby’s timeline now, and that there will most likely need to be that intermediate step where we don’t make or don’t do much in the playoffs and we end up with a meh pick, and it seems like a waste, but it was all an important building block. That could have been this season, but it wasn’t. Now it *should* be next season, despite the glaring incentive (two top prospects in Flagg and Bailey) to tank again. If we didn’t have our own pick next season, then it would see how picks come into play, but this season’s pick versus next season’s pick are all within the Spurs control.

Anyway, the point was just to say that the 35-win, meh-pick, what-was-this-all-for season is coming. For me, it will be the most exciting one we’ve had since 2017-18.

[mo7888]

Why are the highest valued picks we own next year not our own? We could easily just tank again and then they would be. I don’t think what picks you have in hand really have much to do with it. We are on Wemby’s timeline now, and that there will most likely need to be that intermediate step where we don’t make or don’t do much in the playoffs and we end up with a meh pick, and it seems like a waste, but it was all an important building block. That could have been this season, but it wasn’t. Now it *should* be next season, despite the glaring incentive (two top prospects in Flagg and Bailey) to tank again. If we didn’t have our own pick next season, then it would see how picks come into play, but this season’s pick versus next season’s pick are all within the Spurs control.

Anyway, the point was just to say that the 35-win, meh-pick, what-was-this-all-for season is coming. For me, it will be the most exciting one we’ve had since 2017-18.

The incentive of tanking for Flagg and Baily is baked into tne Atlanta pick. I don't think the plan was ever to 'tank' Wemby's first two years. Even if they stick to the 5-year plan (which i think they are about to accelerate), they be adding vets in year two... and yes, next year with 35 wins will be much more exciting from a fan perspective.

[scott]

The incentive of tanking for Flagg and Baily is baked into tne Atlanta pick. I don't think the plan was ever to 'tank' Wemby's first two years. Even if they stick to the 5-year plan (which i think they are about to accelerate), they be adding vets in year two... and yes, next year with 35 wins will be much more exciting from a fan perspective.

IMO, we need to stop viewing the Atlanta picks are shots at Flagg or Bailey. So long as we hold them, Atlanta will do everything in their power to ensure they are are bad as possible (as they should). I think #10 is probably a reasonable ceiling for those picks which of course gets you a veerrrry long shot at a Top-4 pick, but I think it’s a mistake the view the picks that way. Just IMO.

[mo7888]

IMO, we need to stop viewing the Atlanta picks are shots at Flagg or Bailey. So long as we hold them, Atlanta will do everything in their power to ensure they are are bad as possible (as they should). I think #10 is probably a reasonable ceiling for those picks which of course gets you a veerrrry long shot at a Top-4 pick, but I think it’s a mistake the view the picks that way. Just IMO.

I think #10 for the Atlanta pick is about where it will convey as things currently stand, however, a twisted ankle or a disgruntled Trae could easily make ot top 5. It's a game of percentages..

[Raven]

I hope we all do realize that the 35 win, “go nowhere”, have a mid draft pick needs to happen eventually (and IMO next season is the right year on the timeline to do it). This will be our “play-in contention” season. It will eventually be a required step, and hopefully when it does happen it will be viewed as that (though undoubtedly we’ll have people clamoring that we should have just tanked for a higher draft pick and that the season was wasted).

That season could have been this year, IMO, but we didn’t build the team in that way, and that’s okay.

This also isn’t a “go nowhere” step, it’s an important step that transitions us from being dog (where we are today) and being a playoff team. I’m looking forward to us being on that step next season.

i honestly don't expect it to be the case, the team currently blows my mind very often, with them finding a way to lose with obvious talent advantage. I believe this team will make a huge leap next year, with the team they have already.

[weebo]

The imbecile take and short-sightedness is all yours. Throw in gullible and naive too. There's no tremendous success going on here. If the Spurs looked as bad as they do and still won 30 games this season, would you see that as progress? Bad is bad.

In 1989 the Spurs traded away their lone All-Star to get Terry mings. A tried and proven Power Forward with toughness. They also traded for Maurice Cheeks and David Wingate to ensure competent guard play. Because of their ty record, they snagged Sean Elliott with the 3rd pick. Later that season they picked up veteran bench players like (Caldwell Jones) to push David in practice. In all, I think they moved on from 8 or 9 players.

The result? 35 additional wins from the previous season and a GREAT playoff drive that ended in 7 games to the eventual Western Conference champs. David Robinson earned ROTY that season but was far from a complete player. He hadn’t played compe ive basketball in 2 years. Can you imagine the Spurs saying “We are going to see what we have in David before we make roster moves”? no.

OKC tanked and traded pieces the last few years. There’s no certainty it will lead to playoff success. What team has ever followed that path and won championships? After picking up Josh Primo at #11 instead of Sengun & picking Devin Vassell instead of Tyrese Haliburton, I’ve lost trust in them doing much of anything right. Our first round picks have been used on players like Luka Samanic, Keldon Johnson, Blake Wesley, Malakai Branham & Jeremy Sochan. The latter they tried to make a Point Forward. I guess they wanted to see what they had in him too.

Yeah - SHOW and a wasted year with no progress shown in the win column or on the court.

If basketball wins and losses hurt you this much. You need a new hobby.

[Pauleta14]

So you'd rather finish with 35 wins...go no where...and have a mid draft pick...

Got it..

Why are you always using extrem absurd arguemnt?

are u just pretending not to understand?

it’s about the personnel, what the spurs see as the core or the futur that dramatically lacks talent…

it’s about all the unnecessary handicaps, the Guinea pig strategy of PATFO acting like it’s been done before when it’s never been done in such an extreme way.

just the absence of veterans says a lot about PATFO’s lack of humility thinking they could do without.

Keep avoiding any nuance and repeating an absurd narrative of it make u feel better but don’t put words in our mouth pls.

[SOMA Spur]

Why are the highest valued picks we own next year not our own? We could easily just tank again and then they would be. I don’t think what picks you have in hand really have much to do with it. We are on Wemby’s timeline now, and that there will most likely need to be that intermediate step where we don’t make or don’t do much in the playoffs and we end up with a meh pick, and it seems like a waste, but it was all an important building block. That could have been this season, but it wasn’t. Now it *should* be next season, despite the glaring incentive (two top prospects in Flagg and Bailey) to tank again. If we didn’t have our own pick next season, then it would see how picks come into play, but this season’s pick versus next season’s pick are all within the Spurs control.

Anyway, the point was just to say that the 35-win, meh-pick, what-was-this-all-for season is coming. For me, it will be the most exciting one we’ve had since 2017-18.

I'm fine with a meh Spurs pick in '25. A meh-pick in '25 (#14-22) is probably the equivalent to a #7-15 pick in '24, considering next years draft is better. I'm sure I'll find someone to get excited about in that range. Plus we'll have other picks to possibly get excited about if we haven't traded them away.

[Pauleta14]

If basketball wins and losses hurt you this much. You need a new hobby.

AGAIN missing the point

this looks like a sketch tbh

[mo7888]

Why are you always using extrem absurd arguemnt?

are u just pretending not to understand?

it’s about the personnel, what the spurs see as the core or the futur that dramatically lacks talent…

it’s about all the unnecessary handicaps, the Guinea pig strategy of PATFO acting like it’s been done before when it’s never been done in such an extreme way.

just the absence of veterans says a lot about PATFO’s lack of humility thinking they could do without.

Keep avoiding any nuance and repeating an absurd narrative of it make u feel better but don’t put words in our mouth pls.

You obviously don't read very much of what I write if you think i 'always' use 'the extreme or absurd argument'.

That's silly..

[Pauleta14]

You obviously don't read very much of what I write if you think i 'always' use 'the extreme or absurd argument'.

That's silly..

Read again what u posted then…

Your arguments was “so you’d rather finish with 35 wins and go nowhere…”

THAT is just an absurd and yes extreme take that ignores any nuances.

I guess you’re excited by the perspective of future core of Tre Jones Sochan amd Vassell…


wow so exciting!!!

[exstatic]

AGAIN missing the point

this looks like a sketch tbh

You’re the one who is missing the point. Putting a sprinkling of vets on this team puts us somewhere between Houston and Dallas, either the high or low side of the play in. Your pick would fall somewhere between 9 and say 15 or 16 if you play in. We’ve done that dance. Our roster is full of those guys. This is literally the last chance to drive our own pick into the top 3-5 for the next 15 years.

[objective]

It was 35 games improved, and David was also 24 years old, NOT the same situation. Now, roll forward a few years, and tell me what happened? That first year was the peak for that group, and with small cast changes, that group languished as a first or second round out in all but one year for close to a decade, until lightning struck again for us. They didn’t build a contender, they built a playoff tease.

The failures of that team in the long run didn't really have anything to do being impatient or acting too soon.

Like, at all.

Off the top of my head, it was injuries, cheap ownership, and bad roster management after the pieces had been put in place.

Willie broke his legs multiple times iirc in his prime years before 30

mings tore his knee up before modern medicine, that's how he went from 17 points a game to 3 points. He was only 30 when that knee blew.

McCombs was too cheap to keep Strickland. Strickland didn't even sign like a mega deal, he went to Portland to begin his contract as a backup and wasn't really an everyday starter until his third year.

Being unable to handle Vernon Maxwell a young guy at his craziest and selling his contract

Moving Brickowski for a washed Pressey

Drafted Schintzius who couldn't play. But they moved him for Carr that was great, until he shredded his ankle and became half the player he was

And Robinson missed a playoffs with a broken thumb or other hand injury

If anything, Robinson's career shows that you should take advantage of a star while you have him and he's healthy.

If you don't include his rookie year as an adjustment year, Robinson's "prime window" was only 5 post seasons before the back and foot injuries made him a shadow of his former self. And most players aren't in their prime by year 2 either.

[mo7888]

Read again what u posted then…

Your arguments was “so you’d rather finish with 35 wins and go nowhere…”

THAT is just an absurd and yes extreme take that ignores any nuances.

I guess you’re excited by the perspective of future core of Tre Jones Sochan amd Vassell…


wow so exciting!!!

Talk about absurd takes....

[Pauleta14]

You’re the one who is missing the point. Putting a sprinkling of vets on this team puts us somewhere between Houston and Dallas, either the high or low side of the play in. Your pick would fall somewhere between 9 and say 15 or 16 if you play in. We’ve done that dance. Our roster is full of those guys. This is literally the last chance to drive our own pick into the top 3-5 for the next 15 years.

There are countless ways to soft tank and get the bottom 3-4 seed. Between the weird lineups or fake injuries with min restrictions etc
ur only argument is the 2024 pick that come from a weak draft
you also chose to ignore countless futur draft picks that will bring way more than the 24 pick

in the mean time we’d be developing proper nba players rather than G leaguers.

again most of u choses to oversimplify what a lot of us are saying. It’s never been about being a contender straight away like you keep repeating.

it’s about having the right personnel and not wasting time with the Jones champagnie or Sochan who at best should be on the bench and more realistically in G league

Lastly there isn’t one example in the past of what the Spurs are doing. None

so pls at least stop acting as if ur pov is the truth.

[Pauleta14]

Talk about absurd takes....

What a great argumentation…

i litterally just reminded u what u posted

[TimmyBuckets]

There are countless ways to soft tank and get the bottom 3-4 seed. Between the weird lineups or fake injuries with min restrictions etc
ur only argument is the 2024 pick that come from a weak draft
you also chose to ignore countless futur draft picks that will bring way more than the 24 pick

in the mean time we’d be developing proper nba players rather than G leaguers.

again most of u choses to oversimplify what a lot of us are saying. It’s never been about being a contender straight away like you keep repeating.

it’s about having the right personnel and not wasting time with the Jones champagnie or Sochan who at best should be on the bench and more realistically in G league

Lastly there isn’t one example in the past of what the Spurs are doing. None

so pls at least stop acting as if ur pov is the truth.

Like how? List some of the countless ways to get a top 3 pick without being a bottom 3 team.

[exstatic]

Like how? List some of the countless ways to get a top 3 pick without being a bottom 3 team.

This. We had a 3 year run of finishing #11, #12, #9. We drafted 11th, 12th and 9th. No team higher than 8th has ever jumped into the top 4 since the current odds system was adopted in 2017, and only one team outside the top 4 has ever won the lottery, #7 New Orleans the first year. Yes, it will eventually happen, but why put all of your eggs in that basket?