Spurs Select Rob Dillingham 8th Overall in the 2024 NBA Draft

[onechance87]

It's important to point out that the NBA is a league of margins. There are guys who can't make it in the NBA but who dominate in lower leagues. It's why folks who think good d-league or international players are obviously better than whatever Spurs player they hate are usually off base. We see that most often with guys who have a ton of talent but are too small or slow. Dillingham might be one of those guys who will turn out of be unplayable in the NBA but dominate in the d-league, like Alondes Williams is doing. He certainly had some plays in those highlights which wouldn't work against a real NBA defense.

That said, ugh. If Castle doesn't become a very good offensive player, it should cost the front office their jobs. They've gone to this "positionless" well so many times with little to show for it. At some point they need to start scouting for talent then coaching that talent rather than trying to revolutionize the game.

man if dilly becomes a better player then castle

[poopbox]

It's important to point out that the NBA is a league of margins. There are guys who can't make it in the NBA but who dominate in lower leagues. It's why folks who think good d-league or international players are obviously better than whatever Spurs player they hate are usually off base. We see that most often with guys who have a ton of talent but are too small or slow. Dillingham might be one of those guys who will turn out of be unplayable in the NBA but dominate in the d-league, like Alondes Williams is doing. He certainly had some plays in those highlights which wouldn't work against a real NBA defense.

That said, ugh. If Castle doesn't become a very good offensive player, it should cost the front office their jobs. They've gone to this "positionless" well so many times with little to show for it. At some point they need to start scouting for talent then coaching that talent rather than trying to revolutionize the game.

Zero percent chance this happens. He is to talented.

Dillingham and Castle are perfect flashpoint players for where the Spurs...who are NOT a modern basketball team and have had absolutely no success in the last few years, and the Wolves, how ARE a modern basketball team and has gotten better for 3 straight years, are.

The modern basketball team coming off a conference finals appearance takes this supposed unplayable to small guard, since they understand that their season ended because they didn't have enough perimeter players who could break down a half court defense and create some offense for themselves and the team. Since they are a good team and well ran organization they made a no brainer move in sacrificing a future first round pick that in the end might not mean anything to them because they still end up being a better team than the Spurs and/or whatever player they draft 7 years from now isn't as good as Dillingham. There is a greater than 50% chance that they sacrificed exactly nothing to get the player that they needed for their team to take the next step.

The non modern basketball team drafted a player who can't shoot at number 4, after having years of data that shows players who do not shoot well don't last in this league very long no matter what they do. Dunn is a great defender and decent passer but for most of his career can't shoot so he is on a different team every year. Westbrook is a great rebounder and great at pushing the pace in transition but he is an awful shooter so he is on a different team every year. Thybulle is one of the 15 best defenders in the nba but he can't shoot for so he is on his 3rd team in 4 years. KCP was great for Denver...until the playoffs this year where he forgot how to shoot and so they let him walk to Orlando. And yet, with all this data, the non modern basketball team still selects a non shooter with the number 4 pick and I guess just hopes he figures it out because the rest of his game will mean exactly nothing if other teams get to play 5 on 4 when he is on the court.

Due to Castle's inability to shoot I feel he has WAY more bust potential than Dillingham. The nba has been trending for years toward "shooting over everything" and yet the Spurs choose a player who at least out of the gate can't do it. But only awful basketball organizations go 5 straight years with losing records, and thus it makes perfect since that a awful organization like the Spurs would make a hilariously bad mistake in the draft, because well, you can't lose as much as the Spurs have for as long as the Spurs have if you don't make a lot of mistakes in the draft. Highly likely that the team that drafted and got nothing out of Luka, Primo, Branhim, Wessley, and Sochan, have ed it up again and won't get much out of Castle, while the player they gave away plays on better teams and wins more games and competes for more les.

2k25 can't get here fast enough so I can correct this mistake.

[playblair]

That said, ugh. If Castle doesn't become a very good offensive player, it should cost the front office their jobs. They've gone to this "positionless" well so many times with little to show for it. At some point they need to start scouting for talent then coaching that talent rather than trying to revolutionize the game.

brian wrong has been picking positonless players his entire nba tenure from scout to gm.........every pick he has ever been involved with from magic to pistons to spurs has been the exact same positonless archetype & they all have busted in the nba..........

[exstatic]

Zero percent chance this happens. He is to talented.

Dillingham and Castle are perfect flashpoint players for where the Spurs...who are NOT a modern basketball team and have had absolutely no success in the last few years, and the Wolves, how ARE a modern basketball team and has gotten better for 3 straight years, are.

The modern basketball team coming off a conference finals appearance takes this supposed unplayable to small guard, since they understand that their season ended because they didn't have enough perimeter players who could break down a half court defense and create some offense for themselves and the team. Since they are a good team and well ran organization they made a no brainer move in sacrificing a future first round pick that in the end might not mean anything to them because they still end up being a better team than the Spurs and/or whatever player they draft 7 years from now isn't as good as Dillingham. There is a greater than 50% chance that they sacrificed exactly nothing to get the player that they needed for their team to take the next step.

The non modern basketball team drafted a player who can't shoot at number 4, after having years of data that shows players who do not shoot well don't last in this league very long no matter what they do. Dunn is a great defender and decent passer but for most of his career can't shoot so he is on a different team every year. Westbrook is a great rebounder and great at pushing the pace in transition but he is an awful shooter so he is on a different team every year. Thybulle is one of the 15 best defenders in the nba but he can't shoot for so he is on his 3rd team in 4 years. KCP was great for Denver...until the playoffs this year where he forgot how to shoot and so they let him walk to Orlando. And yet, with all this data, the non modern basketball team still selects a non shooter with the number 4 pick and I guess just hopes he figures it out because the rest of his game will mean exactly nothing if other teams get to play 5 on 4 when he is on the court.

Due to Castle's inability to shoot I feel he has WAY more bust potential than Dillingham. The nba has been trending for years toward "shooting over everything" and yet the Spurs choose a player who at least out of the gate can't do it. But only awful basketball organizations go 5 straight years with losing records, and thus it makes perfect since that a awful organization like the Spurs would make a hilariously bad mistake in the draft, because well, you can't lose as much as the Spurs have for as long as the Spurs have if you don't make a lot of mistakes in the draft. Highly likely that the team that drafted and got nothing out of Luka, Primo, Branhim, Wessley, and Sochan, have ed it up again and won't get much out of Castle, while the player they gave away plays on better teams and wins more games and competes for more les.

2k25 can't get here fast enough so I can correct this mistake.

The right of way along the NBA highway is littered with talented players who didn’t make it.

[Mr. Body]

There may not have been a bigger supporter of Dillingham on this site throughout the season than me. He's going to be really good on offense and is going to be perfect for Minnesota. I don't know if he's going to be able to play all the time, they'll need to hide him. I think if he needs to play lots of minutes or even start, that's a huge issue. His defense isn't a matter of size, which is a problem, it's that he just seems to have no concept of what he's doing.

The SL games I've watched, he's given up full court fast breaks when he was last man back - just watching someone else shoot, watching the rebounding scrum, and some player leaks out for a touchdown pass over him. I've seen him completely lose his man on basic actions of two players changing position. These aren't single plays, they're constant.

I've long maintained that he'd need these things coached out of him. My fear is that he thinks he's actually playing pretty good defense, that he's working hard and doing well. There was already a risk that he'd get targeted mercilessly due to size and poor fundamentals. If he doesn't get these basics cleaned up, just ordinary high school level of understanding the game, teams won't even have to be merciless, they'll just get automatic scores.

[Mr. Body]

As for Castle vs. Dillingham.

My desire from the draft was to take both of them, but once I realized they weren't going to take RD, I understood why. As for success, I think Dillingham is one of the most talented guys in this class. There's a pretty good chance that Sheppard tops out as a superior role-player and Dillingham surpasses him.

I think Dillingham can be a star in the Tray Young/Maxey/Garland mold, offense that's tough to cover, absolutely awful defense. Or around Tyler Herro or topping at a Booker level, which are various degrees of eye-popping offensively but never really moving the needle by themselves.

That's not a bad thing in itself.

Castle, I have more faith in him. Kind of laughing at people ting themselves over his shooting. It's just... not seeing what's going on with him. I've grown to be very bullish on his package, the size, smarts, skills, work ethic. There's a lot of outcomes where Dillingham is drawing the attention for his electric scoring, where Castle is the Jrue Holiday type who keeps getting to the Finals and deep into the playoffs.

[Spurs Homer]

man if dilly becomes a better player then castle

but but

we gotz chris pauls hammies!

[JPB]

It's important to point out that the NBA is a league of margins. There are guys who can't make it in the NBA but who dominate in lower leagues. It's why folks who think good d-league or international players are obviously better than whatever Spurs player they hate are usually off base. We see that most often with guys who have a ton of talent but are too small or slow. Dillingham might be one of those guys who will turn out of be unplayable in the NBA but dominate in the d-league, like Alondes Williams is doing. He certainly had some plays in those highlights which wouldn't work against a real NBA defense.

That said, ugh. If Castle doesn't become a very good offensive player, it should cost the front office their jobs. They've gone to this "positionless" well so many times with little to show for it. At some point they need to start scouting for talent then coaching that talent rather than trying to revolutionize the game.

They need to get over themselves.

[rankingtear]

brian wrong has been picking positonless players his entire nba tenure from scout to gm.........every pick he has ever been involved with from magic to pistons to spurs has been the exact same positonless archetype & they all have busted in the nba..........

Aaron Gordon and Victor Oladipo are his guys too.

[exstatic]

Aaron Gordon and Victor Oladipo are his guys too.

And Aaron, who doesn’t shoot well, was the #3 guy on a le team.

[Raven]

when summerleague is at the end, players always go bonkers, i wouldn't make too much of this garbage time special

[spursparker9]

[Pauleta14]

It's important to point out that the NBA is a league of margins. There are guys who can't make it in the NBA but who dominate in lower leagues. It's why folks who think good d-league or international players are obviously better than whatever Spurs player they hate are usually off base. We see that most often with guys who have a ton of talent but are too small or slow. Dillingham might be one of those guys who will turn out of be unplayable in the NBA but dominate in the d-league, like Alondes Williams is doing. He certainly had some plays in those highlights which wouldn't work against a real NBA defense.

That said, ugh. If Castle doesn't become a very good offensive player, it should cost the front office their jobs. They've gone to this "positionless" well so many times with little to show for it. At some point they need to start scouting for talent then coaching that talent rather than trying to revolutionize the game.

There's NO WAY Dilligham doesn't succeed in the NBA

He can't be guarded easy bc of his quick feet, he can create separation easily. And he'll get better with time

On defense Wolves defense will compensate his size the same way Spurs's would have

Worse mistake than Scola.

[Pauleta14]

man if dilly becomes a better player then castle

In RG there's a chance, at least in terms of fans perception bc of Dilli's offensive game

The POs is when Dilli might bc more a liability imo

Also the issue isn't either Castle or Dilli, it's getting rid of the 8th pick.

[exstatic]

There's NO WAY Dilligham doesn't succeed in the NBA

He can't be guarded easy bc of his quick feet, he can create separation easily. And he'll get better with time

On defense Wolves defense will compensate his size the same way Spurs's would have

Worse mistake than Scola.

There’s multiple ways that could happen.

[Chomag]

I like that Scola reference. Its looking exactly like that imo

[montgod]

I like that Scola reference. Its looking exactly like that imo

True cause neither of them play defense and would be in Pop's doghouse lol

[JPB]

Scola thread!

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

They need to get over themselves.

When you're led by a narcissist like Pop, there's little expectation anyone reporting to him will be anything but as well.

No one's getting over themselves as long as he's at the top. It's true in business.

Was true with the Patriots and we get another glaring example year in and out with the Cowboys and Jerry as well.

[KobesAchilles]

Imagine if Castles defense isn’t any good. The board will have a meltdown

[scott]

Rob Dillingham, a player the Spurs probably weren't even slightly interested in, will hang like a Scola-sized noose around PATFO's neck

[Knoxxx]

Champagnie had a 30- point game last year summer league. Branham and Barlow had some big games as well. I would kept Dilly and replaced Wesley with him tho

[K...]

Champagnie had a 30- point game last year summer league. Branham and Barlow had some big games as well. I would kept Dilly and replaced Wesley with him tho

that costs $$$ tho

[poopbox]

The right of way along the NBA highway is littered with talented players who didn’t make it.

It's also littered with players who can't shoot.

Like Castle

[exstatic]

It's also littered with players who can't shoot.

Like Castle

And guys who can’t guard, like _illingham.