Phoenix Suns expect to part ways with Kevin Durant this offseason. Could the Spurs be a good landing place?

[John B]

It’s a relief not to have traded for KD. I rather the Spurs sign a couple of role players instead of a max player like KD. And allows more touches for Wemby, Fox, Castle and Dylan, supposing he’s the pick at #2. I suspect they are high on a player at #14, hopefully Sorber.

Now what would it take to get John Collins, which imo is a better fit.

[scott]

Every measure other than permitter shooting? BPM and VORP? Rebounds? Assists? Stocks? eFG? TS%? The game is not just 3 point shooting.



There are a lot of players in the NBA who won't have those stat lines and are better than Brooks. Especially since that was a one off season. I don't think you want to cherry pick Keldon's best season stats to say he's better than Brooks, do you? Anyway, no, I don't think he'll ever put up a stat line like that. But again, as valuable as 3 point shooting is - it's not everything. And that's why he doesn't fit here. But neither would Draymond Green. (No, Sochan is not Green)

Sochan tweets and dyes his hair. I get why that's annoying to some folks. It's not my cup of tea, but our best player loves him even though he is the most anti bull guy in the league. Most of the on the court isn't him trolling, it's him protecting his teammates. Probably one reason they like him. Maybe what y'all think of Sochan isn't all that accurate? Brooks on the other hand got run from a team that was primed to take over the western conference. Twice. And sure, the Rockets aren't publicly ting on him the way Memphis did, but he still got run.

You literally said "I don't know why you think Brook's career numbers are something that Sochan can't reach."

Which of Brook's numbers are you talking about then, since you're accusing me of cherry picking? He's a .355 career 3p shooter on 5.1 attempts/gm. 3.8 3pm/100. 23.2 pts/100. Sochan is as 1.2 3pm/100, 19.9 pts/100. I don't think Sochan's career averages will ever approach either of those. I sure as hope Sochan becomes a better player than Brooks, because I don't even like Brooks and Sochan is on our team... but he's not a better player now, and you're the one who brought up "numbers" after I asked what it means when you said Sochan will have a better career than Brooks.

But if you don't care about these stats... why are you bringing them up? Brooks has been a contributing player on multiple playoff teams, Sochan has not, and frankly I don't see him having the same kind of impact on pushing the Spurs to the playoffs as Brooks had on his teams that went to the playoffs. Right now Sochan is a bench guy who we hope will improve.

Brooks and Sochan's antics both annoy me (as do Draymond's). But at least Brooks (and especially Green) have backed it up. Sochan is on online troll, grabs dudes nipples on the court, stirs up ... and has backed it up with what exactly? I don't give a about him dying his hair (actually it might be my favorite part about him). I'm supposed to care that career losers Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson love him for it? Maybe Zach Collins would also give him a ringing endorsement? I'm sure Jeremy Sochan is a super cool dude to be friends with... but until he impacts winning basketball, I'd prefer to not have his type of troll mentality on the team. It portrays more mental weakness than it does strength to me. If you disagree, you're free to be a fan of his.

Edit: I'd rather have guys who funnel their energy into winning games before doing the Sochan does. Imagine in 2009 if someone like Ryan Gomes was online saying " San Antonio"... we'd all just be like "lol, okay cool?"

It doesn't really matter if Sochan will eventually have a better career than Dillon Brooks, and that wasn't even the topic that was being discussed. If and when Sochan is better than Brooks, I hope he still doesn't act like Brooks (or Draymond). It's not a personality trait I enjoy in our players, and that's my opinion. Other people are free to have differing opinions.

[Pauleta14]

Brooks is Sochan's ceiling if A LOT of miracles happen in the coming years.

Sochan would need to improve his bbiq, his shooting, his ball handling, his passing, his focus etc

[Chillen]

If that report is true Spurs did not even make an offer for KD well that explains why we did not get him. LMFAO.

[Ice009]

If that report is true Spurs did not even make an offer for KD well that explains why we did not get him. LMFAO.

I don't think it's true, but if it is, that's kind of funny, especially if KD had the Spurs at the top of his list for real.

Maybe the Spurs had a little bit of residual hate left over from him turning the Spurs down in 2016 and it was a bit of an FU to him. Maybe they were like, thanks for not signing with us in 2016, but we don't need you this time around. You missed your chance. Oh, and F that extension you want. You ain't getting it from us.
Who know what was true with all these fake reports coming out all the time from people that don't have any real inside information.

[spursparker9]

Good that Spurs did not make any formal offer to Phoenix.

Now Vassel, Sochan and Barnes will not get their feelings hurt. Power of friendship is intact. Let's get to the WCF next year.

[cd98]

My guess is that the Spurs didn’t make a formal offer. They probably talked hypothetically and the Suns could see the Spurs were not going to give up anything significant so they worked the other teams.

[Davidicus]

I’m fine with the outcome. One of those trades that will only really pan out for HOU if they win the championship in the next 3 years, which I would put at low probability.

I also wouldn’t sleep on Jalen Green. Rox fans keep saying addition by subtraction. I didn’t watch a lot of HOU last year, but the kid is 23 years old, and now has a chip on his shoulder.

Speaking of, I do remember getting absolutely hosed by Green and Brooks last season. So from a SA HOU matchup perspective, I actually feel slightly better about a potential playoff matchup. A healthy KD in the postseason is far from a guarantee as well.

We shall see.

[sfernald]

I told you guys don’t get too excited, that he would go for more than expected. To beat this trade, we would have given up too much of our depth. There was no way he was going for a shoestring and a pack of skiddles as some had convinced themselves on here. But it’s for the best guys. Now we can snag a starting quality player at #14!

[Mr. Body]

I’m fine with the outcome. One of those trades that will only really pan out for HOU if they win the championship in the next 3 years, which I would put at low probability.

I also wouldn’t sleep on Jalen Green. Rox fans keep saying addition by subtraction. I didn’t watch a lot of HOU last year, but the kid is 23 years old, and now has a chip on his shoulder.

Speaking of, I do remember getting absolutely hosed by Green and Brooks last season. So from a SA HOU matchup perspective, I actually feel slightly better about a potential playoff matchup. A healthy KD in the postseason is far from a guarantee as well.

We shall see.

The Rockets have a good chance at a championship. Anybody does. There's only one very good team in the league in OKC and the rest are steps behind. It takes an injury or two and it's anybody's. We haven't had a repeat champion in years.

And Jalen Green sucks. He's a volume shooter who will go off every 4-5 games but is bad everywhere else.

[CGD]

I told you guys don’t get too excited, that he would go for more than expected. To beat this trade, we would have given up too much of our depth. There was no way he was going for a shoestring and a pack of skiddles as some had convinced themselves on here. But it’s for the best guys. Now we can snag a starting quality player at #14!

He went for more than expected? We always thought the framework was a "good" player + filler + 25FRP. The issues was whether a team would include the 3rd good asset (Reed, Smith, Sochan, Castle). Houston held, while only giving us 5 SRPs to allow the Suns to save some face.

Bottom line: The Houston option > Vassell/Barnes/14/SRPs

No harm, no foul tbh. Time to move on.

[sfernald]

You do realize the first part of your post isn’t an actual insult. Telling someone that they aren’t worth telling to kill themself is actually a good thing. The whining infant part also isn’t really an insult either. I’m past kindergarten.

I will do a better job with you. If the Spurs make the playoffs this season I will quit Spurstalk for a year. If they don’t then you quit Spurstalk for a year. Deal?

omg just to make it interesting for all of us, let’s say if Okc wins the le again next year both of you are gone for a year?

[LeBowen]

The Rockets have a good chance at a championship. Anybody does. There's only one very good team in the league in OKC and the rest are steps behind. It takes an injury or two and it's anybody's. We haven't had a repeat champion in years.

OKC were taken to 7 games by the Nuggets with 3.5 players and the Pacers without a legit superstar.
They're obviously ahead of everyone, but I don't think they're ahead by much.
They were a perfect regular season team that obviously had flaws in the playoffs.

We'll see how they do next season because it's always way more difficult when you're the team that everyone's studying in depth and trying to beat.
But they'll have no pressure going forward because they already won their championship, which will be a huge boost for them.

[Mr. Body]

OKC were taken to 7 games by the Nuggets with 3.5 players and the Pacers without a legit superstar.
They're obviously ahead of everyone, but I don't think they're ahead by much.
They were a perfect regular season team that obviously had flaws in the playoffs.

We'll see how they do next season because it's always way more difficult when you're the team that everyone's studying in depth and trying to beat.
But they'll have no pressure going forward because they already won their championship, which will be a huge boost for them.

Yeah, I don't think much of them. Defense is exceptional, their offense depends on their gimmicky get-Shai-fouls crap. Their super power is they're rising when there's barely any compe ion. Hopefully we can join them soon and knock them out.

[LeBowen]

Yeah, I don't think much of them. Defense is exceptional, their offense depends on their gimmicky get-Shai-fouls crap. Their super power is they're rising when there's barely any compe ion. Hopefully we can join them soon and knock them out.

The thing the rest of the league should be scared the most is Presti.
They have a ton of assets and he'll keep improving the roster, I have no doubt about that.
He'll surely trade some of the role players while their value is at it's peak and higher than it should be.

[Ice009]

The thing the rest of the league should be scared the most is Presti.
They have a ton of assets and he'll keep improving the roster, I have no doubt about that.
He'll surely trade some of the role players while their value is at it's peak and higher than it should be.

I didn't want Presti to go at the time when he was still with the Spurs. I always wondered if they could have done something to keep him, or was that never going to happen with RC? Maybe they could have had joint GMs or something. You could tell at the time he was on his way to being really good/great. He built some amazing OKC teams at the start of his tenure and it's not his fault that it went to . He was able to salvage all that, though, and rebuild again. They did have the talent to win it all back in the Durant, Westbrook, Harden years, but due to various things, it just never happened (not paying Harden, Westbrook being selfish/more of a me-first player, injuries etc.). I wonder if he purposely now tries to get players that have good character as well as talent, or if he still focuses on talent first and foremost.

[sfernald]

He went for more than expected? We always thought the framework was a "good" player + filler + 25FRP. The issues was whether a team would include the 3rd good asset (Reed, Smith, Sochan, Castle). Houston held, while only giving us 5 SRPs to allow the Suns to save some face.

Bottom line: The Houston option > Vassell/Barnes/14/SRPs

No harm, no foul tbh. Time to move on.

i think we would have to put in sochan and probably an extra first to actually beat Houston’s best offer. And even then they could have easily thrown in a pho first and suddenly we are faced with throwing in castle or some . No thanks and thank god.

[sfernald]

The thing the rest of the league should be scared the most is Presti.
They have a ton of assets and he'll keep improving the roster, I have no doubt about that.
He'll surely trade some of the role players while their value is at it's peak and higher than it should be.

that’s the thing. They got two firsts to trade from this year so they can go improve their weaknesses. Maybe three point shooting. And all of their role players are now “championship level” role players. Imagine what they could get for a young player like Cason Wallace with how he showed out in the playoffs with a small role? They don’t even really need him tbh. I think three firsts is quite doable. If Presti cashes out a couple assets, he could really make a big splash which would be absolutely insane for the league to have to deal with.

[Spurs Homer]

Pretty sure the spurs tried to get durant but could not or would not beat the rockets offer...
which is fine...

maybe one day if we are lucky, we can say, "thank god the spurs didn't give up on _____ & _____ - look at how good they fit on our championship roster!"

[exstatic]

that’s the thing. They got two firsts to trade from this year so they can go improve their weaknesses. Maybe three point shooting. And all of their role players are now “championship level” role players. Imagine what they could get for a young player like Cason Wallace with how he showed out in the playoffs with a small role? They don’t even really need him tbh. I think three firsts is quite doable. If Presti cashes out a couple assets, he could really make a big splash which would be absolutely insane for the league to have to deal with.

scott pointed out that they don’t have even one roster spot open or any non guaranteed contracts to cut, and that they will maybe have to kick 15 and 24 for this draft down the road a year or two.

[dn0774]

The reporting that the Spurs didn't submit a formal offer could be true even if exploratory offers/talks took place. I kind of wish the Spurs pushed a little bit more even just to increase the price Houston paid. PHX extracting Jabari (or another 1st) for instance would've been a good result, though I am a little happy that DBrooks was included, he is annoying for Wemby clearly.

I am concerned our FO thinks Vassell can still be a key cog, I can just picture them talking themselves into keeping him. The fact they committed that big contract to him, he was probably less than 100% last year, he's a shooter (allegedly) on a team desperate for shooting...the reasoning writes itself.

[djohn2oo8]

I’m fine with the outcome. One of those trades that will only really pan out for HOU if they win the championship in the next 3 years, which I would put at low probability.

I also wouldn’t sleep on Jalen Green. Rox fans keep saying addition by subtraction. I didn’t watch a lot of HOU last year, but the kid is 23 years old, and now has a chip on his shoulder.

Speaking of, I do remember getting absolutely hosed by Green and Brooks last season. So from a SA HOU matchup perspective, I actually feel slightly better about a potential playoff matchup. A healthy KD in the postseason is far from a guarantee as well.

We shall see.

Green is ass. I’ve never seen a player score 30 one night and 9 the next for a whole season

[sfernald]

scott pointed out that they don’t have even one roster spot open or any non guaranteed contracts to cut, and that they will maybe have to kick 15 and 24 for this draft down the road a year or two.

Presti doesn’t seem to be afraid to bring extra guys to camp and make ppl actually fight for a roster spot. He doesn’t seem to have a problem moving 1 or 2 contracts at the last minute either. Spurs should take note. There’s no friendship rings at Okc just work your ass or gtfo.

for example I could see them drafting CMB at #15 and Fleming at #24 and then having them compete against Dieng and Jones for the final two roster spots. I could easily see those two being swapped out for more promising rookies. And it wouldn’t be hard to find them a home on some lottery team. But a consolidation trade to move past the spurs seems even more likely. Trade #15 + #24 + #44 to Suns for #10 makes sense to me.

[Chillen]

Just saw on Realgm that there is a report Giannis is waiting to see what the Bucks do in free agency. So that door might open again and maybe that is the player the Spurs really want.

[poopbox]

Brooks is Sochan's ceiling if A LOT of miracles happen in the coming years.

Sochan would need to improve his bbiq, his shooting, his ball handling, his passing, his focus etc

No way on earth Sochan will ever be the 3 point shooter or point of attack defender that Brooks has been in his career.

Sochan will never ever at any point in his career impact winning an losing like Brooks does.

The grizzlies haven't won a playoff game since Brooks left, in part because they haven't been able to find a 3 & D player like him.

The rockets won more games both years he was on the team. They were the laughing stock of the nba and even worse than the spurs until he was one of the veterans that showed up.

Feel how you want about his personality or his antics but I don't see how anyone can deny that Brooks impacts winning and losing. Teams he leaves win less when he's gone teams he goes to win more when he's there.

Sochan at no point in his career so far has contributed to winning. The only noteworthy thing he has done in a spurs uniform is be the tank commander that helped us land Victor.