Preseason Game Thread: Spurs v Thunder 7pm CT on CW35

[Dejounte]

It’s pretty amazing to think that this time next year this roster could look so different.

OUT: Blake, Maliki, Sidy, Mamu, Bassey
TRADED: CP3, Keldon, Zach, Tre

The Spurs have averaged ~75% roster continuity year to year for the last several decades so good luck thinking some 2K stuff will happen during the offseason.

[John B]

I could see the confidence in Castle that CP3 was talking about. And his court vision is something to be excited about, on top of his obvious defensive mentality. The kid is strong and easily passed the eye test.

Blake is so fast. He reminds me of TP as a one-man fast break and his ball handling improved so much. He’s a very pesky defender, and still not deterred going to the rim (getting blocked again on that first try)

Malaki defense is much better. He’s always been a good offensive player. The problem with him is he gets lost in the mix when the ball is not in his hands. I’m hoping he continues to be aggressive because he could be a good streaky scorer off the bench

Champ was not hesitating. Of course he also did great in the pre-season last year then went off the cliff when the season started. But it’s another year under his belt.

Mamu still a solid all-around very good player. But I doubt he gets the minutes. Again another streaky scorer off the bench.

Keldon, Tre still pretty solid rotation players.

Sochan is meh. I’m rooting for the guy but I’d rather Castle playing starter than him.

[exstatic]

Everything good that happens to OKC is luck, everything bad is because presti sucks. … Spurstalk is in midseason form with the stupid takes

I never said that, and in fact my post started with a compliment towards him, which you apparently just blew off. PAC men mid season form already.

[exstatic]

When OKC is the #1 seed and we're in the lotto again, I'm going to have so much fun gloating that Sam Presti drafted Osmane Dieng. SICK BURN.

And traded James Harden for scraps? That Presti?

[ambchang]

I’m not even sure why people are equating OKC to the spurs. They started off the rebuild with dismantling the core of Durant, Westbrook, harden and ibaka. Ironically it is ibaka that actually led to the current core.

The spurs were blind sided by Kawhi with only two useful assets in Aldridge (who retired due to heart issues) and derozan (who the spurs hung on for too long). The haul that we got is the, so comparing the OKC rebuild, which is arguably going on for ten years, with the spurs, who is in year four, is dishonest.

[ambchang]

The spurs were pretty bad on land protection. Yes wemby will clearly take care of that but the rest of the team has to learn how to stop that penetration and not bite for every pump fake.

Perimeter defence is suspect as mentioned, biting for fakes, giving up dribble penetration. Rebounding was meh.

Offence looks decent enough, but lots of plays outside of sets that bailed them out. Without Champaigne shooting like that the spurs would’ve been blown out by 30.

Chet holmgren looks great. Sochan shouldn’t but on every fake especially when he hasn’t made a single three.

Sochans defence was a huge step back.

[Fireball]

OKC has so many talented players. Spurs not so much, at least without Wemby.

[spurraider21]

btw champagnie letting it fly that frequently is objectively a good thing. thats his role on the floor. he tries on defense but he's not particularly impactful. he's not much of a rim attacker or facilitator. volume shooting should be the name of his game. last year champagnie averaged around 9 3pa per 48 minutes. thats pretty similar to wemby. specialists like hield averaged 12.6, hawks bogdanovic at 12.8, hardaway jr at 13.5, devincenzo at 14.3

issue with champ was his % last year was below 37. it takes quite a bit of improvement as a shooter to be able to ramp both your volume and efficiency at the same time (presumption is increased quan y means you are more comfortable taking higher degree of difficulty shots with less space). if he can pull that off... would be awesome for the club, especially if they feel better playing him at the 2 as well. bball reference's positional charting is questionable at best, so big caveat there, but they had him playing SG only 4% of the time last year. but he played a fair amount of guard yesterday

[KingKev]

If Champ can consistently shoot 40% on >4-5 attempts a game he easily takes minutes from Keldon.

[Fireball]

Wish that Tre Jones' jersey number was 20 ... then last nights starting lineup would have had the numbers 0,10,20,30 and 40

[CGD]

The Spurs have averaged ~75% roster continuity year to year for the last several decades so good luck thinking some 2K stuff will happen during the offseason.

I mean not really:

UFA: Tre; Collins; Mamu; Bassey; CP3
Options: Blake; Maliki; Champaign

[exstatic]

btw champagnie letting it fly that frequently is objectively a good thing. thats his role on the floor. he tries on defense but he's not particularly impactful. he's not much of a rim attacker or facilitator. volume shooting should be the name of his game. last year champagnie averaged around 9 3pa per 48 minutes. thats pretty similar to wemby. specialists like hield averaged 12.6, hawks bogdanovic at 12.8, hardaway jr at 13.5, devincenzo at 14.3

issue with champ was his % last year was below 37. it takes quite a bit of improvement as a shooter to be able to ramp both your volume and efficiency at the same time (presumption is increased quan y means you are more comfortable taking higher degree of difficulty shots with less space). if he can pull that off... would be awesome for the club, especially if they feel better playing him at the 2 as well. bball reference's positional charting is questionable at best, so big caveat there, but they had him playing SG only 4% of the time last year. but he played a fair amount of guard yesterday

Or, maybe just a HOF PG dropping onto the roster.

Everyone is going to get easier buckets, not just Wemby.

[exstatic]

I mean not really:

UFA: Tre; Collins; Mamu; Bassey; CP3
Options: Blake; Maliki; Champaign

Zach is UFA in 2026.

Champagne’s option is in 2026. Blake, Malaki, and Sochan will all have a year 4 option deadline around the end of this month. I expect all three 2025-2026 options to be picked up, because that’s what the Spurs usually do, unless there is a mental issue with the player. The Blake and Malaki combined options are less than the MLE, and you can always use smallish contracts in trades.

All contract dates are from bbref player pages.

[Frenchfred]

Cissoko isn't an NBA player.

Castle was underwhelming other than his slam, though he definitely has an NBA body and good court vision.

Mamu likely won't get minutes even though he's likely our best (or at least, most energetic/high IQ) big outside of #1.

Tre Jones, Keldon, Champ haven't changed hardly at all. Their potential is non-existent, though Champ might be a good shooter if he stays mentally tuned-in.

Wesley balled - looks like he legitimately improved this off-season, if this one game is any indication. Very happy to see that, though obviously, sample size.

Branham is better just launching it, so I'm ok with his game as well though he's obviously only fringe rotation material unless he's hot IE last season post-ASB.

Barnes looked as you'd expect. He's a glue guy. Expect him to do his thing but he's more a floor raiser in SA than a ceiling raiser.

Sochan didn't look any ing different at all other than his shot looking a hair smoother - he still isn't looking to shoot it, and in 15-20 games max he'll be scouted again as a guy to fall way back on again. Up to him to make people pay for that, which he wasn't looking to do tonight.

I think we will certainly improve this season. Whether that's good enough for a play-in spot will depend on our key guys who didn't (or couldn't) play. Should be fun.

It is always going to be fun watching the Spurs with Wemby but I don't think that this team is a play-in team and if that's the case what's the point trying to be 9-10 and have a bad pick? If they are #9 by all star game, they should tank.

[dn0774]

If Sochan is just the same player as last year (and the year before that) then the dude just needs to come off the bench. Pick up his 4th year option, whatever...but please don't start him anymore. Give him November to show he has significantly improved his offensive game and if not then move on.

[exstatic]

It is always going to be fun watching the Spurs with Wemby but I don't think that this team is a play-in team and if that's the case what's the point trying to be 9-10 and have a bad pick? If they are #9 by all star game, they should tank.

There will be 7 dedicated tanking teams from the starting gun: Utah and Portland in the West, and Brooklyn, Charlotte, Detroit, Toronto, and Washington on the East. In addition, there will be a number of very mid teams like Chicago, Atlanta, and LAC. I also think New Orleans and Sacramento will underperform, New Orleans due to BI being an ending non extended contract, and I think Sacto is fools gold. They caught everyone by surprise two years ago, but kind of crashed back to earth last year, falling pretty sharply in the standings. They really play no defense, and just added a high usage low efficiency scorer in DeRozan.

There are a lot of wins to be scraped from this group, especially the tanking 7. Going all out doesn’t mean 9 or 10, it means play in or playoff.

[scott]

And traded James Harden for scraps? That Presti?

Maybe Adam Silver will deduct 10 wins for OKC's win total this year for the James Harden trade and award them to the Spurs

[Barfunk]

Can't put too much stock into these meaningless pre-season games. Heat with Butler, Rozier, Love, Adebayo, just lost to the Hornets.

[spurraider21]

Can't put too much stock into these meaningless pre-season games. Heat with Butler, Rozier, Love, Adebayo, just lost to the Hornets.

Love is dust and Rozier, while talented, doesn’t really play winning ball and is an odd with with Miami. I don’t think Miami will be that good this year

[Dejounte]

I mean not really:

UFA: Tre; Collins; Mamu; Bassey; CP3
Options: Blake; Maliki; Champaign

Blake’s option will be picked up and Champagnie, Mamu aren’t going anywhere.