Be patient for one more season

[JuneJive]

It's all about Wemby as I see it.

Who fits best, and most importantly when.

Blowing it prematurely would be exciting but not smart.

[DAF86]

I've put out like 36 Million scenarios. You can comment on any of those.

This reply isn't even trying, man. I get it was late on a deflating evening, so I'm legit not gonna hold it against you. The Spurs getting a floor of a play-in team (which is where the 12th pick would be before you argue) using cap space and non-premium assets, it doesn't make sense to not do it. There are contenders who don't have that high of a floor. If we were talking about going all in to do that, that's one thing. But when it's a team full of young players with a ton of future picks? You take that every day. Take that and then build off it. That's much smarter than trying to be horrible, hoping the rihht guys fall and dump picks if they don't, then try to compete.

Ok, so we get Paul George, we make the playoffs, lose in the first round, miss on a lottery pick. Year two, make the second round. Third year, George is gone, we get worse and have no co-star to help Wemby. How does that make sense?

[objective]

The mistake is thinking the Spurs have a plan or know what they're doing.

They don't.

The whole front office follows from the top down: And Pop is the old confused assisted living escapee who actually commandeered the PA System at a game to chastise sports fans for .... Booing. Not throwing things. Not hurling slurs. Not cursing. Not fighting. But ... Booing.

Pop is completely gone. He's the guy who after taking the Sochan expiriment weeks too long replaced him with Cedi Osman at point guard.

This is pop who spent almost an entire season LIMITING Derrick White to 23 minutes a game and never allowed him to play with Dejounte until a pandemic hit.

And they take their cues from Pop. RC might not be able to string 2 sentences together anymore, he needed BWright to talk to the media.

Wright has held the le of either GM or Assistant GM for 10 years but still has so little to make a good reputation off of that people's go to excuse for him is that he's new to the job.

They lucked into Wembanyama, hallelujah! But they don't know what's happening, they don't know how to draft. They thought Primo was an on ball superstar!

[scott]

The trade from a value PoV was fine and will give us a nice injection of talent in the middle of Wemby's career.

To me the trade says a combination of things (some of them conjecture):

1) We've got enough kids on the team that need playing time to develop. No sense in adding more.

2) The talent available at 8 would have created a logjam or wasn't high enough to justify keeping the pick.

3) Some of our existing players are ready for bigger roles this season.

4) We see tanking for the 2025 as a viable strategy to secure our 2nd star. No 3PG ability on the team creates a natural ceiling for our win total, and that deficiency is intentionally being left unaddressed.

I think it's great that the franchise has a long-term outlook. As long as Wemby is on board with it we're fine.

I 100% believe that the Spurs think this... and that's part of the problem.

[vy65]

This post sounds reasonable, but is really the result of the gaslighting that PAFTO has been laying on us about "patience".

After we have another season with very little development outside of Wemby and maybe Castle, and when we punt more picks for future draft capital, you'll be able to write the same thing. This is the key feature of PAFTO's patience grift: it can be repeated ad infinitum with no deadlines or actual expectations to actually turn the corner.

Everyone is salivating over these swaps - but swaps don't mean when YOU continue to be the worst team (this is not directed towards you, OP).

When I first clicked on this, I assumed it was going to be a hilarious parody post... but instead it's exactly what PAFTO has been grooming - just more runway for the fans so they can continue to be the highest paid FO in the league and deliver cellar dweller results. Landing Victor was great for everyone, but especially for PAFTO, who now get to point at something (that they got by luck) and say "LOOK HOW BRIGHT THE FUTURE IS IF YOU JUST BE PATIENT"

If I wasn't a native San Antonian I'd have abandoned this team by now.

Everyone needs to read this.

[vy65]

What Spurs got for a 8 pick in an historical weak draft is great value tbh... I don't get why people get so upset about 2030 / 2031, the chances of the Spurs keeping those assets are near 0, assets will be used before that.
Also there is no news breaking here, patience has always been what Spurs FO was telling us right after getting the first pick last year.

Spurs did not see value in this pick and time will tell if they were right or not. I guess the choice was between adding and developing yet another young prospect for what they see as a limited ceiling or getting more cap flex and future assets.

Spurs, next year, should improve significantly anyway, FO should also finally understand what they have in their hands. Spurs will also keep an eye on trade possibilities if they see value for Wemby development.

Also next year we should be free of experimental stuff like Sochan at PG for the first half of the year... so yeah there is that

They're upset because it demonstrates PATFO's strategy is to just collect assets, without any semblance of an understanding on how to deploy those assets to improve the team. That's what posts like this and others ignore: Morey'ing the team by collecting assets - trading assets into more assets - without any guiding vision on how to use those assets to better the team is what you'd expect from a hedge fund manager, not the front office of a basketball team. The point here is to put the best team together. Collecting assets is a part of that. But so is understanding how to use those assets to better the team. People are upset over the trade because it screams collecting assets for assets' sake -- Brian Wright admitted to as much during yesterday's press conference.

And that is to say nothing about how insulting it is for the team to intentionally tank 1 year of Wemby - only to throw the fruit's of that tanking 2 presidential terms into the future. Are we just supposed to sit back and marvel at Wright et al doing a ty hedge fund manager imitation act and swallow it all because Wemby is ing good? If you think the answer to that is yes, then you're lost beyond repair.

People shouldn't just give the front office a pass because "they got some assets." That's not the ing point of this exercise. The ing point is to collect assets - and - use them to build a good team. There has been nothing but negative movement on the latter front. There has been nothing out of Blake, Branham, Zollins, Champegnie, etc... that could or should inspire a feeling that we have a good "core" together. They're just not that good. They had an opportunity to add one of the highest picks in the history of the franchise, and instead deferred action to 3/4 of a decade from now.

These should be wringing major alarm bells.

[vy65]

The logic of the Dilly trade indicates that PATFO are trying to stockpile assets to make a move for a player.

The next time the team uses a stock pile of draft assets to get a star player will be the first time. I don't get why so many people here have confidence that this will happen. Could it? Of course, anything is possible. Will it? I think the chances are slim-to-none.

[objective]

The logjam of talent are toilet logs

[vy65]

And for the refrain that this draft sucks - according to who? A front office who's evaluation took Josh Primo over Sengun and Vassell over Halliburton. You're trusting those guys' assessment?

[widowmaker]

Just as long as wemby doesn’t pull a kawitter, I won’t be mad when he decides to leave.

[widowmaker]

Just as long as wemby doesn’t pull a kawitter, I won’t be mad when he decides to leave.

[scott]

They're upset because it demonstrates PATFO's strategy is to just collect assets, without any semblance of an understanding on how to deploy those assets to improve the team. That's what posts like this and others ignore: Morey'ing the team by collecting assets - trading assets into more assets - without any guiding vision on how to use those assets to better the team is what you'd expect from a hedge fund manager, not the front office of a basketball team. The point here is to put the best team together. Collecting assets is a part of that. But so is understanding how to use those assets to better the team. People are upset over the trade because it screams collecting assets for assets' sake -- Brian Wright admitted to as much during yesterday's press conference.

And that is to say nothing about how insulting it is for the team to intentionally tank 1 year of Wemby - only to throw the fruit's of that tanking 2 presidential terms into the future. Are we just supposed to sit back and marvel at Wright et al doing a ty hedge fund manager imitation act and swallow it all because Wemby is ing good? If you think the answer to that is yes, then you're lost beyond repair.

People shouldn't just give the front office a pass because "they got some assets." That's not the ing point of this exercise. The ing point is to collect assets - and - use them to build a good team. There has been nothing but negative movement on the latter front. There has been nothing out of Blake, Branham, Zollins, Champegnie, etc... that could or should inspire a feeling that we have a good "core" together. They're just not that good. They had an opportunity to add one of the highest picks in the history of the franchise, and instead deferred action to 3/4 of a decade from now.

These should be wringing major alarm bells.

To further this point, it is one thing to collect assets - but there are real questions about the Spurs ability to actually convert those assets into the literal only way assets can eventually help the team: turning them into real players.

And here today we have another great example, pick #35 (which hey, is a pretty good asset!), that they used on a stash who will likely never even come over because they didn't want to give a guaranteed contract. Here is situation where trading for more assets would have been a better more - but instead it is an asset that has been extinguished into NOTHING (unless Nunez eventually comes over, which I doubt).

Assets have no value when put into the hands of people who don't know how to use them.

The number 8 pick in the NBA draft is a huge asset, but one we couldn't find anymore value for other than just punting into future assets down the road.

This FO invites all the sharp criticism of it that it is receiving. It is fortunate that the local media are full of sniffers, just like a big portion of it's fan base. It provides cover for the culture of unaccountability.

[Mr. Body]

I don't understand the incredible reluctance to have any guaranteed contracts or even try an early second round pick out.

Something has changed drastically in two years and I can't figure out what it is. They went to giving Branham, Wesley, Cissoko out, to having nothing to do with these sorts of players. If we went into the 2022 draft with this mindset, they'd throw those picks away.

But the team isn't in that position. It needs to try out talent. It's not in cap .

Unless ownership has said not to waste money (on potentially cut players). If that's the case, we're in big, big trouble.

[J_Paco]

I don't understand the incredible reluctance to have any guaranteed contracts or even try an early second round pick out.

Something has changed drastically in two years and I can't figure out what it is. They went to giving Branham, Wesley, Cissoko out, to having nothing to do with these sorts of players. If we went into the 2022 draft with this mindset, they'd throw those picks away.

But the team isn't in that position. It needs to try out talent. It's not in cap .

Unless ownership has said not to waste money (on potentially cut players). If that's the case, we're in big, big trouble.

Yeah, being a bottom - 5 team and making 'cost cutting' moves like trading away pick while draft & stashing another is alarming. Not sure how they plan on improving the team of they won't take on (more) draft prospects, are hesitant to make big trades and can't/won't attract big free agents.

This has been a very bizarre, alarming and disappointing draft even if it's was/is 'historically weak.'

[scott]

I don't understand the incredible reluctance to have any guaranteed contracts or even try an early second round pick out.

Something has changed drastically in two years and I can't figure out what it is. They went to giving Branham, Wesley, Cissoko out, to having nothing to do with these sorts of players. If we went into the 2022 draft with this mindset, they'd throw those picks away.

But the team isn't in that position. It needs to try out talent. It's not in cap .

Unless ownership has said not to waste money (on potentially cut players). If that's the case, we're in big, big trouble.

I'm going to switch gears and put my optimistic hat on for a moment to present a possible explanation - the only explanation I think that can redeem this FO in my mind.

It is possible that the FO has decided that it is time to reshape this team with veteran talent this offseason and that they are avoiding filling the roster with guaranteed money that will potentially block this pursuit.

I will caveat this in saying that if this is the case, we will see this happening THIS offseason (not some "we are keeping flexibility for the future" kind of bull ), because using an SRP on a prospect doesn't actually hamper your flexibility in future years. This pure avoidance of adding any more rookies beyond Castle only makes sense if they plan on being aggressive with trades and FA this summer (and by being aggressive I don't necessarily mean a move for a star, just being active to reshape the roster).

That's the only logical explanation I can think of for this.

The only other explanation is that they really believe in the talent they have on the roster and they don't want to create distractions to that... which is a completely delusional and out-of-whack opinion to have, so I hope it's not the case.

[LeBowen]

If we were under a front office that was competent, all these would be seen as win-now moves.
Drafted the most NBA ready high upside prospect and didn't get any project players, even in the second round.
Getting all the possible cap space and picks to make a trade while having 3.5 useful players on the roster.

Too bad PATFO won't make a big move.
I'd be happy with them getting a couple of actual NBA players to make the team functional.

[RC_Drunkford]

The trade from a value PoV was fine and will give us a nice injection of talent in the middle of Wemby's career.

To me the trade says a combination of things (some of them conjecture):

1) We've got enough kids on the team that need playing time to develop. No sense in adding more.

2) The talent available at 8 would have created a logjam or wasn't high enough to justify keeping the pick.

3) Some of our existing players are ready for bigger roles this season.

to be fair nothing indicates that Branham, Wesley, Barlow and Bassey are legitimate NBA rotation players. All of them might be gone by 2025.

[SouthernFryd]

I thought this post was going to be a SNL parody type of thing. And I'm still not sure he's serious...but, it seems he is.

And THAT is the biggest problem we have. Not that the SPURS suck and the F/O is the worst of the worst, including POP. But, that there are a lot of SPURS fans who accept and support this bull . We need more fans knocking down doors and demanding better.

And no one in their right mind thinks that trading a #8 pick to Minnesota for...nothing...is better than picking Dalton Knecht at 8.

It's all bull . And fans need to stop sucking up to it and accepting/justifying the bull . Years of horrible basketball and FO/Coaching decisions, has driven the smart basketball fans away...and left us with mostly morons in the stands and supporting the team.

[Mr. Body]

I'm going to switch gears and put my optimistic hat on for a moment to present a possible explanation - the only explanation I think that can redeem this FO in my mind.

It is possible that the FO has decided that it is time to reshape this team with veteran talent this offseason and that they are avoiding filling the roster with guaranteed money that will potentially block this pursuit.

I will caveat this in saying that if this is the case, we will see this happening THIS offseason (not some "we are keeping flexibility for the future" kind of bull ), because using an SRP on a prospect doesn't actually hamper your flexibility in future years. This pure avoidance of adding any more rookies beyond Castle only makes sense if they plan on being aggressive with trades and FA this summer (and by being aggressive I don't necessarily mean a move for a star, just being active to reshape the roster).

That's the only logical explanation I can think of for this.

The only other explanation is that they really believe in the talent they have on the roster and they don't want to create distractions to that... which is a completely delusional and out-of-whack opinion to have, so I hope it's not the case.

Yeah, this is probably the only reasonable take possible at this point. They are nickel and diming their cap space. The cap space has to be spent. Somehow. So... I guess they know what they're going to do.

The idea that they're under orders to not mess around with even relatively cheap contracts is chilling. Say, with Furphy: how much would he be making? Like, Julian Champagnie money? Two million a year? How is that a problem?

And then the roster is hardly set. I'm more patient with these players than others here, but can't no one pretend a good third of these players are anything special that you wouldn't throw a decent wing prospect into the mix.

[SouthernFryd]

This post sounds reasonable, but is really the result of the gaslighting that PAFTO has been laying on us about "patience".

After we have another season with very little development outside of Wemby and maybe Castle, and when we punt more picks for future draft capital, you'll be able to write the same thing. This is the key feature of PAFTO's patience grift: it can be repeated ad infinitum with no deadlines or actual expectations to actually turn the corner.

Everyone is salivating over these swaps - but swaps don't mean when YOU continue to be the worst team (this is not directed towards you, OP).

When I first clicked on this, I assumed it was going to be a hilarious parody post... but instead it's exactly what PAFTO has been grooming - just more runway for the fans so they can continue to be the highest paid FO in the league and deliver cellar dweller results. Landing Victor was great for everyone, but especially for PAFTO, who now get to point at something (that they got by luck) and say "LOOK HOW BRIGHT THE FUTURE IS IF YOU JUST BE PATIENT"

If I wasn't a native San Antonian I'd have abandoned this team by now.

Amongst so many absolute garbage takes...this guy gets it.

[ChumpDumper]

I thought this post was going to be a SNL parody type of thing. And I'm still not sure he's serious...but, it seems he is.

And THAT is the biggest problem we have. Not that the SPURS suck and the F/O is the worst of the worst, including POP. But, that there are a lot of SPURS fans who accept and support this bull . We need more fans knocking down doors and demanding better.

And no one in their right mind thinks that trading a #8 pick to Minnesota for...nothing...is better than picking Dalton Knecht at 8.

It's all bull . And fans need to stop sucking up to it and accepting/justifying the bull . Years of horrible basketball and FO/Coaching decisions, has driven the smart basketball fans away...and left us with mostly morons in the stands and supporting the team.

So what are you actually going to do about it?

Not watch?

OK.

Then what?

[CitizenDwayne]

I thought this post was going to be a SNL parody type of thing. And I'm still not sure he's serious...but, it seems he is.

And THAT is the biggest problem we have. Not that the SPURS suck and the F/O is the worst of the worst, including POP. But, that there are a lot of SPURS fans who accept and support this bull . We need more fans knocking down doors and demanding better.

And no one in their right mind thinks that trading a #8 pick to Minnesota for...nothing...is better than picking Dalton Knecht at 8.

It's all bull . And fans need to stop sucking up to it and accepting/justifying the bull . Years of horrible basketball and FO/Coaching decisions, has driven the smart basketball fans away...and left us with mostly morons in the stands and supporting the team.

Buddy, I agree with everything you’re saying but I really don’t think that’s what OP is saying

[scott]

Yeah, this is probably the only reasonable take possible at this point. They are nickel and diming their cap space. The cap space has to be spent. Somehow. So... I guess they know what they're going to do.

The idea that they're under orders to not mess around with even relatively cheap contracts is chilling. Say, with Furphy: how much would he be making? Like, Julian Champagnie money? Two million a year? How is that a problem?

And then the roster is hardly set. I'm more patient with these players than others here, but can't no one pretend a good third of these players are anything special that you wouldn't throw a decent wing prospect into the mix.

Agree with you fully here. As I've been saying in my very sharp criticism since yesterday, I don't even have a problem with moving out of #8 in concept, it's just that we got such terrible value in return that really bothers me.

But literally throwing away a SRP rather than taking a flyer on a Furphy (or literally anyone) because you don't want to give a cheap guaranteed deal? It comes down to either extreme thrift at the expense of progress OR complete hubris in regard to the talent currently on the roster. Both explanations are equally as concerning. Trading #35 for two future SRPs would have been better. Just more extremely questionable asset management.

After this draft, I have real questions about how this FO approaches asset management - they clearly seem to value having them, while appearing completely clueless on how to use them.

[Obstructed_View]

The Spurs were a great team for too long. They don't know how to draft like a young team. They don't know how to utilize assets like a team that doesn't have assets. You have to hope that they luck into another Manu and another Parker and another LDN.

[widowmaker]

If we were under a front office that was competent, all these would be seen as win-now moves.
Drafted the most NBA ready high upside prospect and didn't get any project players, even in the second round.
Getting all the possible cap space and picks to make a trade while having 3.5 useful players on the roster.

Too bad PATFO won't make a big move.
I'd be happy with them getting a couple of actual NBA players to make the team functional.

They would have been the type of moves OKC or MIA makes, organizations that seem to find something useful or at least give them a chance and flip them if they don’t work out.