Definitely still overrating these moves with a C-.
Neal has been getting overlooked by a lot of you guys, but i am almost certain he will be 6th-7th man in the rotation. If RJ dont show a little enthusiasm it may be at his expense. Leonard and Anderson may be manning the 3 position, but Neal will be on the floor, unless he takes a huge step backwards, he is the best pure shooter on the team.
offseason grades.... are misleading anyway.
2009 the Spurs got an A (or even an A+, can't remember) for getting RJ via trade, Dice (plus Bogans and Ratliff) via FA and Blair from the draft.
what would this be in hindsight? C? C-? D?
the trade turned out to be a costly bust, Dice was ok, but not the difference maker and the pick is still ok somehow, but noone is gonna make fun out the Bulls for picking Gibson or the Grizzlies for picking Young over Blair any more. we could even make a point if Matthews, Thornton, Budinger or Jerebko wouldn't have been the better choice.
this offseason doesn't deserve better than D, mainly for failing to finish, not for not trying. (we don't know all of what they tried, can't blame them for going for Butler and for sure they tried to trade Dice or RJ at some point)
however. if for example Leonard is a success, or Lorbek comes over next summer and does fine, well then the 2011 off season will be upgraded to B in two years from now.
btw. what about a desperation move? I know one. trade RJ for Fat World Peace. Lakers would do this, book it. It looks like a really unreasonable move, but it might work somehow. at least it could save some bucks.
And the year the Spurs picked up Bowen for cheap, what was their grade? It was seen as a desperation move, a 2d-3d option fallback pick by a fading franchise. And Leonard may be that same type of player with more offensive potential.
And that's why ESPN doesn't like this Spurs offseason -- they overrate Hill. All the national media did ever since Hill showed up from a funny-sounding school and became more evidence (according to them) of the Spurs' great drafting prowess.
I just wish Blair was the local favorite of an NBA city like Hill was. Alas, Pittsburgh is a football town with no NBA team. (I guess an NBA team in New Hampshire is out of the question as the old joke goes.)
People loved (and graded high) the RJ move until they saw him play. Caron Butler might have yielded off-season euphoria then met the same fate. (Why does everybody love this guy, anyway?) The only slightly realistic FA pickup that might have helped the Spurs was Battier and that wasn't to be.
Desperation sometimes yields success. Pop is going to have to force feed better athletes than any of these FAs into a (hopefully) renewed defensive system -- it could lead to a revival of "Spurs basketball." You never know.
Anyone who thinks they can grade this year's Spurs FO moves is probably still celebrating the Lakers '04 le with Kobe, Shaq, Payton, and Malone.
I'm not really that mad about the FO not making moves this offseason. We are in rebuild mode and plugging players in to fit in the system and play 2nd fiddle to the big 3 isn't going to be enough to win ship'. Best thing to do is what they're doing now. Stay with what they have and let the young guys get minutes.
I doubt they have a good season, so they should have a pretty high pick in a deep draft. They still have some good players overseas and Tim's contract will be off the books soon so they can use that to lure a star player or two.
I've seen the Spurs at their worst and at this point I don't think they're that bad, yet. I still have faith in the FO and I have a feeling next year is when they start making moves again.
Anyone here with Insider? I'm curious about Hollinger's West forecast article that's up today.
Hilarious how some of you would rather have a panic signing/trade instead of standing pat. Since we needed another big, maybe we should've just ponied up and given Kwame a $7,000,000 contract. Amnestied RJ and sign an aging Caron Butler coming off major knee surgery for 3 years/24 million. Amnesty RJ and sign Josh Howard, who has been trash past couple seasons and who also is coming off major knee surgery. Kaman would've been an OK trade.. except we didn't have the salaries to make the deal work. They were never taking RJ for Kaman unless we gave up alot more.
Get your head out of the sand and realize the Spurs actually had a decent offseason. Sometimes subtraction by addition is not the best way to go. Instead, our young guys get to prove themselves, and actually improve our trade position if a big name becomes available.
Crap, I forgot Brown got $7 million. That has to rank up there with the worst single-season deals I have ever seen.
i feel the Spurs have a championship level backcourt:
Parker/Ford
Manu/Neal
JA/RJ (hopefully he's 6th or 7th man)/Leonard
i just don't understand the lack of balance at the C/PF spot. we're rolling with an even tier frontcourt than last year, when we got torched last year as it was.
it's going to be painful to watch. i really believe if we had a defensive big in there that could defend 4s and 5s, we could go far. ty job by RC and Pop over the last couple of years to shore up the frontcourt and not address its obiovus flaws.
If it gives us a shot at Sullinger, I am all for these moves.
The number of "worst deal ever" signings with his name attached are increasing at a scary pace.
What have ye to say now?
They can't leave. They just signed a 5 year extension for new bond funds to refurbish the ATT, tacked on to their original 25 year lease that they signed in 2002. Add that up, and they'll be free to go in 2032.
Russ had it right!
looks like C- was a pretty accurate grade
You can't fix stupid.
Nice bump.
It should have read: the Spurs traded their best young player for an even better young player.
quality post
so, in what way is slightly upgrading a single player/position worthy of more than a C- on an aging team with a closing window?
offseason grade
lmao everyone was pissing and moaning and thinking we downgraded, but didn't realize the addition of Kawhi himself made us into contenders, far before Sjax and Diaw came onboard.
Except for me.
Nothing gives me more pleasure than ting all over the large contingent of dumbasses on Spurstalk.
I have to say RC is the baddest mother------ in the league when it comes to the draft. I never figured Kawhi would make this kind of impact this soon with no summer league, no training camp, and hardly any practice time.
Let us know if it ever happens. Usually all you do to the dumbasses on Spurstalk is add to their number.
Go ahead and read my post from months ago in this thread. Or my repeated defenses of Bonner. It's quite funny really.
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