While he did not suffer NBA career and complete spiritual death by Kardashian, he nonetheless was damaged and continues to be so.
Playing with massive gots / divas like CPO and Durbetta has not given him anything beneficial.
Do not want. Period.
The draft is a crapshoot and Wembanyama should organically virtually single handedly take them out of high lottery pick status as soon as next season.
Some think Antetokounmpo and Doncic could demand trades within' a few years, but when players of this magnitude demand a trade, teams work to get them to preferred destinations.
Both massive egos, who care deeply about their "legacies", the notion that the former would want to team up with a fellow big with guard like skills and the potential to be greater historically, is absurd.
He'll almost certainly want essentially a younger version of the Bucks, that's not as tapped out on assets. That way he can be seen as the "bus driver".
The latter has a team that's now at the point to probably keep him happy enough for the foreseeable future, but it always has to be his show, which wouldn't be the case here. Even if he were open to it, the notion that the Mavericks would ever trade a player of this magnitude to the Spurs is absurd.
So who's left? Booker is a name to keep an eye on. The Suns are not good enough now and tapped out on assets. He might demand a trade within' a couple of years, but he'll be 30ish then and is overrated.
Is the possibility of that really worth not pursuing something significant now?
While he did not suffer NBA career and complete spiritual death by Kardashian, he nonetheless was damaged and continues to be so.
Playing with massive gots / divas like CPO and Durbetta has not given him anything beneficial.
Do not want. Period.
Victor won't single handedly to anything of the sort. It's a myth/lie that a star carries a ty team. They just don't. They shine above them, but even if you put a prime Lebron on this team without Victor, they might not make the playoffs.
I think Victor cares about his legacy as well. He openly comments about wanting all the individual accolades. I've not noticed Greek Freak being egotistical, not really. He's in Milwaukee, he could be anywhere he wanted to be. Don't know about Luka, but both command top dollar.
So I guess it depends on what you mean by "significant". Making the playoffs with a guy while being talent stressed is just missing the lottery. I'd rather miss the playoffs with a younger team who's showing big improvement vs getting a middling star looking for a paycheck.
Mitc , Garland, Durant, Curry, Cooper Flagg. You never know.
You missed the point, which was/is that the current possibility of him alone is not enticing enough to wait.
Also missed the point. Wembanyama's (I never said he didn't care about "legacy", but he's the in bent) progression and modest upgrades should be enough to get them to mid lottery range next season, which obviously lessens the odds of a high lottery pick and a star.
Antetokounmpo cares deeply about perception, which is why he was desperate to distance himself from the Holiday-Lillard trade, the 60 point ball fiasco (claiming he wanted it because Lillard passed Korver for 5th all-time in 3's), etc.
Doncic is as petulant and selfish as they come, unwilling to scale back his heliocentricity even with a co-star like Irving.
Significant = a trade for a star (Young, Mitc , etc.) or top starter (Murray, Garland, etc.).
The point of the thread was for those opposed to the oft discussed Hawks and Cavaliers guards.
Durant is post prime now and likely to be reticent to demand a trade again (he didn't want to leave the Nets until it all fell apart).
Curry is post prime now and almost certainly never demanding a trade.
Relying on luck/the league gifting the Spurs another massive prospect is absurd.
What a ty list tbh. Some draft experts are even starting to slow down on Cooper Flagg and taking back the idea that he’s generational
I don’t think he’s ever been anything but a clear cut #1.
which ones
Wait, weren't you on the Trae Young and Dejounte Murray bandwagon? How is any of those players a worse option that the two Hawks' players?
Mid lottery range ?
Whatever the upgrade, the Spurs will be a playoff team next year without a doubt.
Keep in mind that the league best interest is to install Victor as the new megastar, the sooner the better.
For a team of players that's good enough to be consistently and be a long term le contender.
It's more about the when (Probably in the 2025 Offseason, when Wemby has had another year of seasoning and developing micro skills like screen angles, slips etc and gets to be something like a +6 / 7 EPM guy in year 2 and is looking like a all-NBA first team guy, rather than fringe 3rd team) than the who.
Improving the forwards (Flagg, Boozer's, etc incoming, throw the bag at Lauri (would guess OKC will offer the Jazz a package and this is moot, but if he reaches FA), a primary playmaker (Mitc , Garland, Trae etc), and improving the bench (Tre Jones moves to a more sensible role, a pick and roll partner who's a competent drop big (or a Collins at the level and a true PF who can offer secondary rim protection) and shooting wings). Best value is probably a bit of waiting for the picks to be locked in place.
Realistically, a le team is going to be something like a +12 starting group over a long period of time and a neutral bench / non top 5 lineup. Means upgrades in both groups.
Lol, this thread is pretty much making the case for why they should just build through the draft over the next 2-3 years. It seems like the free agent/diva star market is actually not as robust as we think, and the young players worth a damn (SGA, Ant, Hali, Fox, Book(?), Tatum) aren’t really available any time soon.
Unless they make a significant trade, they don't even have a path to being a playoff team next season.
Every West team not named Jazz or Trail Blazers projects to be of that caliber.
Too much of a crapshoot (exacerbated when you're as rigid and clearly largely ignore analytics as much as this organization does) and Wembanyama is/will be too good and probably impatient to wait for their usual stereotypical picks to develop.
Well, last year in the french league it was a 18yo Victor, Bilal, and a bunch of lowest tenth scrubs. They even fired their second best player (and PG) but still made the final and lost against the third best team in Europe. Not a single commentator was even dreaming of such performance by the Mets92 at the start of the season.
Of course, I am not comparing AT ALL the French league and the NBA, but I've learned that when Victor is ready to compete (and he will be next year after a whole year of preseason games) you have to first raise the expectations, watch in awe, and then raise them again.
Last edited by Alain; 04-02-2024 at 05:57 PM.
LoL you bring up Booker as a possibility and then say "missed the point."
Still, it's asking too much of him (if it's just modest upgrades).
Yeah, as an example of what's probably the best case "be patient" scenario and how it's not incentive enough to be conservative in the interim.
Get me that fat honky from Dallas in a few years tbh.
Great topic.
The problem with patience, is it is too easy to convince yourself that waiting is best to the point where you enter a state of paralysis. I think it is far less likely at this point, but the Spurs could have easily gone down this road (and many posters thought it was the way to go earlier this season) and it end up looking like this:
2025 discussion: we need to give [Topic/Williams or whatever pair you want] time to develop! And with Flagg and Bailey, we should just tank anyway!
2026 discussion: we need to give Topic and Williams and whatever other 19 year olds we drafted time to develop! And with Boozer and AJ, we should just tank anyway!
2027 discussion: we need to give these guys time to develop! We just moved off of Sochan and Branham, so now they have room to really blossom!
2028 discussion: more of the same
You can do the same with FA or trade targets. Why deplete the war chest on Trae Young? There will be better players down the road! Fox is asking out... but rumors are that Luka will next season, we should wait!
At some point you should pull the trigger. If the Spurs FO likes Young, they should do a deal to get him so long as the price is reasonable. If not, they shouldn't. Same thing with any other player. The time to build around Wemby is here. No need to fart around and play games that bite you in the if they never materialize.
Well it will be interesting to see what Flagg does in colllege?
I think the right strategy is just to be open to opportunities and not try to force them or skip them because of some pre-determined path of patience.
Make moves/trades with lesser picks and players for good culture guys who raise our floor and let us start building something. If a real difference maker comes on the market we can be players and even use these newly acquired vets if necessary. Don't force things and don't sit on our hands , be active in talks and look for opportunities..
This is a reasonable cycle (cycling through dudes) if you haven’t found your head honcho. We have that him tho.
So I think the spurs are on a 3 year plan, with the goal of finding (draft or trade) the 2nd banana to Wemby and Vassell’s 1 and 3. Then is about using pick, space, trade to round out the roster.
I agree and would add you have to be ready to be opportunistic. For example, here are some dynamics we KNOW are coming in the next two years:
1. Garland v Mitc
2. Trae v Murray
3. Suns are leveraged to the eyeballs and KD is getting old; what does Booker think of that?
4. Minni is gonna get super expensive and may need to move KAT.
5. kyrie will ditch Dallas
Just switch out everyone but Wemby and see what happens.
None of 'em are worth keeping. You can only get better...almost by default.
Just put up a Fire Sale sign...."What would you give me for anyone on the Spurs except Wemby. They all up for Sale. Let's talk...PS, don't tell Pop. "
Keep the ones you can't sell. Maybe you can get something for 'em later on.
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