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Man, Atlanta looks legit
If I had to guess, their ideal starting lineup would actually look more like:
Fears/Alvarado
Poole/Boston/Hawkins
TMIII/Herb
Zion/Bey
Missi/Queen
WIth DJM returning from injury at some point
IMO… this isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be (stating that NOP gave a away a top 5 pick next year) IF AND ONLY IF everything goes right, they stay healthy, Zion can play 75 games, Fears proves worth and Queen is a functional NBA player.
It’s a lot of assumptions, but I think this can be a play-in team if it all comes together just right. But… if they have the kind of injuries they did last year or if Zion does Zion things off the court… yeah I can see them being the 2nd worst team in the league behind Brooklyn.
Man, Atlanta looks legit
Atlanta trading back, getting what should be a great 2026 first round pick, and then still getting a solid fit like Newell all the way at 23 is quite the heist
they're doing quite well
This has to be what NO was thinking.
I once spent about an hour listening to every Mississippi Queen cover I could find - great song. This Ozzy version is surprisingly one of my least favorites. The original by Mountain is still the best of course.
Like many people, I tend to prefer the first version I hear of a song and Ozzy's happened to be it for this song.
Toots and the Maytals' Pressure Drop covers is a deep well.
I agree Queen will be coming off the bench. And I actually think Fears will as well to start the season and maybe the entire rookie year.
Poole - Fears - Dejounte (inj.)
Herb - Alvarado - Hawkins
Murphy - Boston
Zion - Matkovic - Bey
Missi - Queen
That SL is actually nicely balanced with defense, shooting, rim pressure. It just lacks a bit with play making and a true point but I think having a pure point is way overrated. You have three guys there who can initiate between Zion, Murphy and Poole.
The bench unit gets a bit clunky with no defense and some shooting issues but there’s a lot of offensive talent with Fears and Queen. You could stagger Herb Jones with them to give them defense and then you have some good shooting there with two of Alvarado, Hawkins, Bey. Matkovic is a bit of a sleeper he was really good for them last season. Athletic 7 footer who rebounds and blocks shots and has a developing 3 point shot.
I suppose getting Queen is kind of a hedge on any potential Zion injury as well. Theoretically if Zion misses 30-40 games then they shouldn’t fall apart if you have an offensive talent like Queen to slot in. While he’s more of a 5 I can definitely see him playing some 4 next to Missi.
Thinking about the west next year, some people are calling it a blood bath but I’m not so sure. Obviously the off season moves will likely change things but as of right now I see it like this.
Tier 1 (55+ wins)
OKC
Houston
Tier 2 (45-54 wins)
Denver
Minny
LAL
LAC
GSW
Tier 3 (35-44 wins)
Dallas
San Antonio
Memphis
New Orleans
Sacramento
Phoenix
Portland
Tier 4 (sub-35 wins)
Utah
Couple of assumptions.
- Kyrie is out most of the year and returns around all star break but doesn’t get back to 100%.
> 2025-26 Season Dates
- June 30: Each NBA team may begin negotiating with all other upcoming free agents (beginning at 6 p.m. ET)
- July 5-6, 8: California Classic Summer League at Chase Center in San Francisco, California (Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs)
- July 5, 7-8: Salt Lake City Summer League at Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah (Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers)
- July 6: Each NBA team may begin signing free agents to contracts (12:01 p.m. ET)
- July 10-20: Las Vegas Summer League
Do you know if trades can happen during that June 30-july 6 period?
I believe trades can be agreed to but not finalized until July 6th.
Now that the draft is over there’s some good backup C’s and big forwards to take in FA
Center
BroLo
Capela
Kornet
Portis
Big Forward
Laravia
Yabusele
Prince
I like all of those Centers as a backup for 15-20 MPG.
The only forward in that list id like is LaRavia.
I want Yabusele, but he really isn’t much of a need. I mean at PF we have Barnes, Sochan, KJ and I kinda imagine the spurs would value Mamu over yabusele too
People might think Brook Lopez is totally washed, evidenced by 15 mpg in the playoffs
But I prefer to be optimistic. He was run into the ground by Doc Rivers, 32 minutes a game in the regular season, hard minutes.
I think if he was a backup in SA, minutes limited to 20 or so, with better defenders around him to cut him a break, I think he could have a rebound season, and be very helpful
I trust Sweeney would know if Lopez strengths such as drop coverage type of defense would be effective in the Spurs game style. I’d imagine so since Wemby plays a similar type of defense because of his size and length.
Looking at advanced stats seems like Lopez defense inside of 6 feet has regressed significantly the last 2 seasons compared to the previous 3. In their championship season Brook held opponents to inside 6 feet to 50.7%, 21-22 he only played 13 games and was at 47%, then 51.7% in 22-24. Last two season he’s been at 55.7% and 58% which is really quite a lot worse.
In 24-25 Luke kornet was at 50.5% which is elite. Wemby is at 50.8%. Chet led the league at 45.0% followed by Porzingis at 47% (minimum 4 DFGA and 20 games played).
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/de...Season=2024-25
Defense inside 6 feet isn’t the be all end all but for a Center it’s pretty damn important if you want defense and rim protection.
forwards need to be aquired via trade:
John Collins
Santi Aldama
PJ Washington
naz reid to.I can see spurs offering starting spot to entice him to consider us.
I figure they will go for two bigs at this point. But the team badly needs a first and secondary big. Maybe not guys who will start, but who can competently backup Vic, start on his days off, or maybe even figure out if they can play alongside him.
And it looks like the team's decision was to hold off on a rookie here. That seems pretty smart - they want guys who already know how to play.
A Kornet seems like an obvious get. He's from Texas, is low usage, has good defensive metrics, can start.
Definitely kick the tires on a Brook Lopez. He may be slower, etc, but has a great skillset, deep playoff experience, knows how to play.
Aldama, Capela, all these guys seem good. Kornet wouldn't be too expensive and you could probably get Lopez or Capela only for a couple of years.
Spurs don't promise starting spots or playing time and doing it without knowing fit with Vic doesn't seem wise.
Masai Ujiri is gone from Toronto.
Kind of a strange timing, should've done it during the season because getting Ingram was a really bad move.
I expect some of their players to be on the move, new GMs always like making changes.
Masai Ujuri deserves alot of credit for the Kawhi Leonard Trade. Won the Raptors a championship. The moves since then have been Questionable. I’ll always be thankful that he bailed the Spurs out of the Kawhi situation though. If the Raptors didn’t step in the Spurs other options were letting Kawhi have his way and trading him to La, markele fultz from Philly or getting bent over by Danny Ainge and Boston.
Maybe the new Raptors GM will feel like his team is just one Vassell, Johnson, or Branham from contention.
Cam Whitmore in the trade block. Getting several inquiries.
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