The Sacramento Kings have agreed on a sign-and-trade that will land DeMar DeRozan on a three-year deal, send Harrison Barnes to the San Antonio Spurs and Chris Duarte, two second-round picks and cash to the Chicago Bulls.

[timvp]

I get it if Bassey's knees are cooked but seems like a good body to keep around considering how thin they are at backup C.

I mean, you could cut Bassey and get him back even cheaper. I doubt there's a market out there for a traditional backup center whose knees have exploded two years in a row and three times in his career.

[Mr. Body]

I truly invite people to stop ing and whining about made up scenarios and what they think is happening, this glorious cloud-world of all these great prospects that were missed, and look at the 2022 and tell us who exactly was still available instead of Branham and Wesley.

The only one I can find is Andrew Nembhard, and the Spurs already had Tre Jones and, at that point, Dejounte Murray. You could claim Nicola Jovic and that's a maybe. He looks okay. Taking swings at Branham and Wesley was not bad considering what was available.

This is why it's hard to take a lot of Spurs fans seriously. They'd rather and complain than actually look at what was going on and cir stances available.

[exstatic]

if they played graham and he did well, theres a chance he could have been flipped at the deadline to some team needing bench shooting (and a nice contract situation as well)

He played really well between acquisition and the end of last year. Teams didn’t seem to be beating down our door for him.

[LeBowen]

They were #20 and #26. Pretty much the normal outcome for those positions. They were asked to be rotation players as rookies and second years, and weren’t up to the task.

Normal outcome for an average development franchise.
I guess we're at that point now.

It's a bad look considering Braun, Kessler, Jovic, Watson and Nembhard were picked in #20-31 range and developed way better.

I can understand Branham pick, guard with size and great wingspan, good stats, didn't work out.
But Wesley was another atrocious shot in the dark.

[spurraider21]

He played really well between acquisition and the end of last year. Teams didn’t seem to be beating down our door for him.

and yet you still made that bet

[exstatic]

Normal outcome for an average development franchise.
I guess we're at that point now.

It's a bad look considering Braun, Kessler, Jovic, Watson and Nembhard were picked in #20-31 range and developed way better.

I can understand Branham pick, guard with size and great wingspan, good stats, didn't work out.
But Wesley was another atrocious shot in the dark.

When we were hitting on late 20s draft picks, they were selected, and sent to Austin for a year. Then, when they played, it was with 3 HOF players to draw the attention. That was the trick. That was how it was done.

[exstatic]

and yet you still made that bet

Shifting assets for a player is not the same thing as writing a salary check.

[spurraider21]

Shifting assets for a player is not the same thing as writing a salary check.

i think theres a heavy correlation there. if you are willing to pay a guy 15 mil as a free agent, think youd be willing to provide SOME asset for him as well, even if its a SRP

if you're willing to pay a guy 30mil, youd probably be willing to give more than a first rounder to land him, etc

[Mugen]

Christian Braun, Kessler, Jovic, Peyton Watson, Nembhard, Jaylin Williams, Hardy, and Vince Williams Jr

All guys I'd take over Branham or Wesley tbh.

It's okay to admit that they're average at best at drafting and development tbh

[timvp]

It's tough to figure out what the Spurs should do because we don't even know what they need to do. We don't know CP3's contract details and we don't know if Barnes waived or partially waived his trade kicker.

I'm guessing the options are:

1) Waive Champagnie and Bassey. This isn't a terrible option. The Spurs could bring back Bassey if they want him. They need another center so Bassey or Barlow could still fit that need. (I'd probably pick Barlow but it's close.) They may be able to bring back Champagnie if he clears waivers. If not, they could use the $8 million room exception to replace him with Osman or even free agents like Trent, Kennard or Highsmith. Pop obviously sees Mamu as like a combo forward so he could be brought back as a replacement.

2) Salary dump Branham or Wesley. Using a second round pick to salary dump a first round pick feels pretty wasteful but that's probably what it would cost. I'm not sure which one I'd want to keep. With so many future first round picks in the pipeline, it'll be important for the Spurs to have a quick trigger to dump players that don't hit. Between Branham and Wesley, you probably keep the one who has a better work ethic. Both are about equally far away from being in a rotation on a good team. (Maybe there's a chance that it would only take a salary dumping of Cissoko. That'd be an easy choice if that's an option.)

[LeBowen]

When we were hitting on late 20s draft picks, they were selected, and sent to Austin for a year. Then, when they played, it was with 3 HOF players to draw the attention. That was the trick. That was how it was done.

Sorry, but teammate quality has nothing to do with Wesley having zero NBA-level skills.


Can we insert Wesley and one more FRP into that Barnes trade? I guess Bulls wouldn't mind.
Bassey's knees are done, but Champagnie is a reliable end of the bench wing, we have so many SRPs it doesn't even matter.

[exstatic]

Sorry, but teammate quality has nothing to do with Wesley having zero NBA-level skills.


Can we insert Wesley and one more FRP into that Barnes trade? I guess Bulls wouldn't mind.
Bassey's knees are done, but Champagnie is a reliable end of the bench wing, we have so many SRPs it doesn't even matter.

Your opinion, and that’s fine, but you can’t convince me that a full year in Austin, followed by practicing with/against Tony Parker every time and playing with the Big Three wouldn’t produce a better outcome.

[DPG21920]

Spurs doing a bigger trade where they actually get some value makes more sense to me. Execute a trade where you get a player you like using the salaries of guys you dont if you are going to use picks anyways.

Go ahead and consolidate some of the money/spots into Cam Johnson or whatever.

[spurraider21]

id be pretty surprised if champagnie doesnt get claimed off waivers

[Bruno]

Spurs must lower by $5.02M their team salary to to the trade. That's assuming Paul has sign for $11M and Barnes trade bonus will be paid.

My guess would be Bassey and Wesley gone.

[Arguendo]

Waiving Bassey would be fine because I doubt anyone picks him up. He could be re-signed to a minimum deal if they want to keep him.

Losing Champagnie would be somewhat unfortunate. He basically has a three-year, $9 million contract left with all years non-guaranteed. That's a lot of cheap years for a decent player.

With the last yr only 22K over the project min-a longer PO this yr means he’ll likely be near min in 25-26 & revised up to min in 26-27’.
Wouldnt b huge big loss, but I can see him being a solid+ 9th/10th man his 24 & 25y/o seasons basically making min with the bonus of a non-guaranteed cap flexibility.
Seemingly would make more sense to trade him than cut him & lose that K. There have got to be apron teams that would value the flexibility alone, much less a 22y/o, durable, long, avg shooter locked in below market.

[Arguendo]

I truly invite people to stop ing and whining about made up scenarios and what they think is happening, this glorious cloud-world of all these great prospects that were missed, and look at the 2022 and tell us who exactly was still available instead of Branham and Wesley.

The only one I can find is Andrew Nembhard, and the Spurs already had Tre Jones and, at that point, Dejounte Murray. You could claim Nicola Jovic and that's a maybe. He looks okay. Taking swings at Branham and Wesley was not bad considering what was available.

This is why it's hard to take a lot of Spurs fans seriously. They'd rather and complain than actually look at what was going on and cir stances available.

Yeah, really hate the captain hindsight schtick, the lacking of understanding of variance (each pick is a lotto ticket, can’t expect all or even most to hit), there will always be All-stars picked later, but it’s almost always luck/them following to you (Luka to Mavs, Tatum to Celts, almost everyone ever draft past lottery). We got incredibly spoiled bc the FO identified TP, Kawhi, maybe Manu but he was prolly luck. There’s always mistakes, but Keldon & Vassel & Tre were very good picks, outside the Top 5 there aren’t busts it’s just lotto ticks that hit or didn’t.

[Mugen]

I'm pretty high on Castle. If he hits then I'll give them credit for finding a good player in a ty draft tbh.

[Arguendo]

Spurs must lower by $5.02M their team salary to to the trade. That's assuming Paul has sign for $11M and Barnes trade bonus will be paid.

My guess would be Bassey and Wesley gone.

Thanks Bruno. No clue where Sportrac gets their numbers, but they’re crediting Barnes for the full kicker, $850k this yr & next fwiw

[MannyIsGod]

The Branham and Wesley picks - especially Wesley - were fine. We knew that both were longshots to begin with but we wanted them to aim high. I have more hope for Wesley tbh because it takes point guards a long time to put it together so he might very well still get there but drafting based on his athletic potential at the end of the first was a good gamble. The Spurs weren't trying to get a Kyle Anderson with these picks.

[z0sa]

Bassey seems gone - or at least cut and resigned? - for sure. I hope it's Wesley out of BranHam/Wesley who stays, if that's the choice after cutting Bassey. Wesley's defensive upside is still ahead of Branham's offensive potential. If defense is going to be our calling card, then I don't see how we keep Branham. That said, spacing on the 2nd unit already is terrible. Wesley does nothing to help that. Tough choice but since this is looking like another development year, I'd personally give the nod to Wesley

[scott]

If there Spurs were a better team, the Wesley and Branham picks would be a lot worse (Braun, Kessler, Jovic, Watson, Nembhard, Jaylin Williams, Max Christie, Vince Williams Jr would have all be more useful picks for a good team) - but we were a bottom dwelling team with plans on purposely getting worse to tank for Wemby. Makes perfect sense that we'd take big swings with an above average likelihood of not hitting.

The key at this point is not to hold onto those missed swings longer than we have to. Just move on.

[slick'81]

Branham v wesley who is kept?

[Chinook]

Should be noted that if Paul reduces his salary far enough, he falls into room exception territory and renders this hand-wringing moot. Of course, if that's an option, it would've been better to lock that in prior to renouncing Mamu

[onechance87]

The Branham and Wesley picks - especially Wesley - were fine. We knew that both were longshots to begin with but we wanted them to aim high. I have more hope for Wesley tbh because it takes point guards a long time to put it together so he might very well still get there but drafting based on his athletic potential at the end of the first was a good gamble. The Spurs weren't trying to get a Kyle Anderson with these picks.

bro wesley is bad.Guy cant shoot or pass,Hes is no pg.He will be out of the nba unless he steps it up.