NBA PLAYOFFS THREAD

[JPB]

OKC won 24 games two years ago.
SGA, Dort, Giddey and Wiggins are the only remaining players in the rotation from that season.
Two key pieces, Giddey became a negative asset and Wiggins is just a decent bench player.

It's all about front office competency. Spurs have plenty of assets.
If we're not in the playoffs two years from now, Brian Wright and his people need to go.

And two years later, they're contending.

Let's see if the spurs contend in two years before talking rrivalry (which doesn't seem the most popular path spurs should take on here). My point precisely was they won't if they take "the patient" road, just adding rookies this year , then tank/suck again, only to add some more roolies in 2025 'because this is supposedly a great draft) so all these young people develop the next 4 years-5 years.

And no, spurs don't have plenty of assets. mainly picks, lots of them, but mainly picks, and not that many at the end if they use them to draft meh players, which makes trading all the more difficult with time passing.

Spurs should be proactive and reactive, this isn't your granpa NBA.

[Raven]

Lively > Sochan

lively without doncic, doesn't get on the floor anywhere in the league.

[Texas_Ranger]

In Doncic's rookie season (2019), these were the teammates around him with the most minutes: Harrison Barnes, DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews, Tim Hardaway Jr, Dennis Smith Jr, Dorian Finney-Smith, Jalen Brunson. His team has had almost an entire make over in just 6 seasons.

Other than Luka, there was zero starters in the lineup these playoffs for Dallas, that were in WCF just 2 years ago... Tim Hardaway is pretty much the only guy left on the team and he was out of the 2022 playoffs... So everyone playing for Dallas, other than Luka is new... Changed the whole team and got to the same place.

[scott]

OKC won 24 games two years ago.
SGA, Dort, Giddey and Wiggins are the only remaining players in the rotation from that season.
Two key pieces, Giddey became a negative asset and Wiggins is just a decent bench player.

It's all about front office competency. Spurs have plenty of assets.
If we're not in the playoffs two years from now, Brian Wright and his people need to go.

We're making sure not to skip any steps

[scott]

And two years later, they're contending.

Let's see if the spurs contend in two years before talking rrivalry (which doesn't seem the most popular path spurs should take on here). My point precisely was they won't if they take "the patient" road, just adding rookies this year , then tank/suck again, only to add some more roolies in 2025 'because this is supposedly a great draft) so all these young people develop the next 4 years-5 years.

And no, spurs don't have plenty of assets. mainly picks, lots of them, but mainly picks, and not that many at the end if they use them to draft meh players, which makes trading all the more difficult with time passing.

Spurs should be proactive and reactive, this isn't your granpa NBA.

Well said.

This is our 5th straight year in the lottery. Hopefully after this draft we have more to show for it than just Wemby (home run, slam dunk, yatzee, GOAT, yada yada) and Vassell (okay pick, at least we didn't it up)

[Obstructed_View]

Well said.

This is our 5th straight year in the lottery. Hopefully after this draft we have more to show for it than just Wemby (home run, slam dunk, yatzee, GOAT, yada yada) and Vassell (okay pick, at least we didn't it up)

I don't understand why you guys are so happy with Vassell. He's a slightly less streaky Lonnie Walker. He doesn't defend, he doesn't step up when it matters, he has terrible chemistry with Victor. Not sure what else to expect from a guy who learned from Dejounte Murray and Demar Derozen.

[Extra Stout]

I don't understand why you guys are so happy with Vassell. He's a slightly less streaky Lonnie Walker. He doesn't defend, he doesn't step up when it matters, he has terrible chemistry with Victor. Not sure what else to expect from a guy who learned from Dejounte Murray and Demar Derozen.

He is a functional NBA player on a roster where that is rare.

[scott]

I don't understand why you guys are so happy with Vassell. He's a slightly less streaky Lonnie Walker. He doesn't defend, he doesn't step up when it matters, he has terrible chemistry with Victor. Not sure what else to expect from a guy who learned from Dejounte Murray and Demar Derozen.

I mean, I described the Vassell pick as "okay" and "at least we didn't it up"... I wouldn't call that as "Happy". The DEEP model (here: https://braydengerrard.shinyapps.io/Draft_Scores/) rates the Vassell pick as "Average", which I agree with (Walker, Samanic, Primo all rated "Bad", Keldon rated "Excellent").

[Extra Stout]

I don’t think it should take 4-5 years before knowing whether a young player is going to be any good. You should have a sense by the end of Year 2 what they’re going to develop into.

Like, I think it’s clear by now that Jeremy Sochan is going to be a glue-guy role player. He’s not going to be Draymond Green.

And I don’t think Malaki Branham or Blake Wesley are NBA players. If they were, they would have shown something by now.

So if the Spurs go the draft route to build the team, and the picks pan out, the team should be on a pretty clear upward trajectory pretty quickly. If they’re not, and the team is still preaching patience, it means they failed.

[TD 21]

I don’t think it should take 4-5 years before knowing whether a young player is going to be any good. You should have a sense by the end of Year 2 what they’re going to develop into.

Like, I think it’s clear by now that Jeremy Sochan is going to be a glue-guy role player. He’s not going to be Draymond Green.

And I don’t think Malaki Branham or Blake Wesley are NBA players. If they were, they would have shown something by now.

So if the Spurs go the draft route to build the team, and the picks pan out, the team should be on a pretty clear upward trajectory pretty quickly. If they’re not, and the team is still preaching patience, it means they failed.

Yeah, contrary to popular belief, usually you see glimpses immediately or whether they're going to be a legit NBA player or not.

Look no further than the Spurs of the past decade. Not counting Wembanyama for obvious reasons, Anderson, Murray, White, Johnson, Vassell and Jones were the ones who showed immediate glimpses of at least being above replacement players and sure enough were and vice versa.

[Raven]

I don't understand why you guys are so happy with Vassell. He's a slightly less streaky Lonnie Walker. He doesn't defend, he doesn't step up when it matters, he has terrible chemistry with Victor. Not sure what else to expect from a guy who learned from Dejounte Murray and Demar Derozen.

he has shown huge improvements on D this year. From godawful to actually decent.

[Raven]

I don’t think it should take 4-5 years before knowing whether a young player is going to be any good. You should have a sense by the end of Year 2 what they’re going to develop into.

Like, I think it’s clear by now that Jeremy Sochan is going to be a glue-guy role player. He’s not going to be Draymond Green.

And I don’t think Malaki Branham or Blake Wesley are NBA players. If they were, they would have shown something by now.

So if the Spurs go the draft route to build the team, and the picks pan out, the team should be on a pretty clear upward trajectory pretty quickly. If they’re not, and the team is still preaching patience, it means they failed.

I'm puzzled on if you have watched much spurs this year..

[scott]

NBA things I love:

1) Indiana (the polar opposite of New York City) being the foil of the Knicks
2) The Knicks being a "big market" team that gets lots of media attention but hasn't won in forever. Basically the Cowboys of the NBA

[timtonymanu]

Won’t be surprised if Boston struggles just to beat this team when Indiana doesn’t look that good to begin with.

[spurs1990]

Denver Indiana dream NBA finals matchup very much on the table. Two grit and grind teams that don't bluff

[skin27]

What a choke job by the knicks

[skin27]

Man, Mavs have a deep team tbh.

PJ Wsh can really defend and Jones Jr is really stepping up.

Kyrie is finally maturing. The whole team have a great team chemistry vibes.

Would be fun to see Luka vs Joker in the WCF

The media and the NbA wants edwards vs luka tbh

[Obstructed_View]

I mean, I described the Vassell pick as "okay" and "at least we didn't it up"... I wouldn't call that as "Happy". The DEEP model (here: https://braydengerrard.shinyapps.io/Draft_Scores/) rates the Vassell pick as "Average", which I agree with (Walker, Samanic, Primo all rated "Bad", Keldon rated "Excellent").

Yeah, to be fair, it wasn't directed at you, it was just your post that reminded me.

He has been mostly with Victor. He scores meaningless points, doesn't pass, and should be more of a veteran presence right now. The other guys are young enough that they could develop. The same guys who are dying to give up on Sochan and Branham, and who are positively dying to trade KJ seem to be fine with Demar Junior.

[skin27]

NBA things I love:

1) Indiana (the polar opposite of New York City) being the foil of the Knicks
2) The Knicks being a "big market" team that gets lots of media attention but hasn't won in forever. Basically the Cowboys of the NBA

Wemby on the knick will be good for the NBA and media tbh

[Mr. Body]

Cs with probably the easiest run to the Finals in history. The East is incredibly bad.

[lefty]

Cs with probably the easiest run to the Finals in history. The East is incredibly bad.

80s Lakers : hold my beer

[lefty]

[SpursBills]

Figured that NBA would have wanted OKC-Minnesota (SGA vs Ant, SGA vs NAW) or Dallas-Denver (Luka vs Jokic). Guess we'll see after tonight.

[skin27]

Pseudo face of the NBA layed an egg in the first half

[Gagnrath]

Are you willing to trade all your picks and go into the repeater tax to do it? Cause that's how The Wolves did it.

OKC has one more year and then their bill is going to come do as well.

Jokic isn't a great man to man defender though he is adequate to good against traditional centers and power-forwards, He is a good help defender and surprisingly agile given his bulk. If he wasn't expending so much energy and breath on offense I think his defense would be better as well.