Probably going to be LJC.
If Manu is.coming back your wish will not be granted. Kyle had good defensive metrics in the team. He's a smart team defended and did as well as you would have expected in the playoffs. You will not get someone better for what he's paid. Simmons could improve next season, remains to be seen. We are getting Bertans probably as well. That taps out all possible wing spots in the roster, unless like I said Manu retires or the Spurs decide not to pick up Simmons option (I think they do bc he's cheap and despite his age still showed upside, worth a look see to see if he's better in his second season with the team.
Edit: this is also why I think a PG who had defensive a en might be a better option at times.
Probably going to be LJC.
Need a rebounder or two cover for Timmy and when Aldridge goes missing.
Evan Turner - and let Chip teach him to shoot the 3.
Take a big chunk of the cash the Spurs were supposedly going to throw at Durant (who won't come here), and throw it at Hasan Whiteside. Then hire Bonner to wear a suit and teach him how to read and stuff.
I don't think Spurs fans realize how lucky their team is to have two elite perimeter defenders. Most teams can't say anything like that. GS is the only one who comes close. It would be great for the Spurs to grab another, but it's hardly something they need. They need someone who can score to make the offense easier for everyone.
As mentioned above, though, Livio is about the best the team can hope for. He is a really good off-ball defender, but he can also guard on the perimeter. While I don't think he's a guy you put on Thompson or Curry, he can definitely get minutes on Draymond, and he can probably guard Durant at least as well as Anderson can.
yeah another defender isn't a need. The Spurs were just a historically great defense team in the regular season.
They need offense. Tony is too inconsistent on the offensive end now days. They also need someone who can or is willing to attack the basket that isn't named Kawhi. I think some more shooting would be helpful too.
It is a big problem if Spurs need to rely on Kawhi for offense. He's not a natural offensive talent, most of his moves are robotic. Well, who knows how much he'll improve in the off season!
Yea, this has been sort of a hole the last few years.
They need a leader.
Not really, I'd take someone you know can give 10-15 points every night and is ok at defending. Defense wasn't the problem this year. Why does no one see that?
I'd say that everyone but the OP sees it. The closest most Spurs fans are coming to arguing for defense is finding Duncan's replacement.
Livio is so far away from becoming a NBA player. His defense is about there, but his offense is not even on NBA D League level.
And a Top C. Actually, they need USA Basketball's SL.
That doesn't matter for situational players. We saw guys like Roberson become starters almost from day one based on defense.
Sure it matters. Livio isn't an NBA player. That's why Spurs didn't bring him over last year. Not much has changed from his development over the past 300 days either.
... And a PG... and a Center...and a Coach...
The Spurs didn't bring LJC over because he didn't want to get brought over. If they don't do it this year, it will be for the same reason. Even if that had been the case, the Spurs haven't gotten good returns from doing stashing guys who weren't already great players. They need to change their at ude and start actually developing their guys again.
I think Spurs are one of the best teams at developing their own players -- even ones they draft and stash away. They fly them in every chance they get during the season and during the summer and put them through various work outs. Livio and Hanga are below average prospects. I don't see any of the two wearing a Spurs jersey in the near future. I thought Livio was progressing up until he tore his ACL, after his return from that it was evident regression was there and his confidence took a hit.
Bertans and Milutinov, on the other hand, have a great chance because they are simply better players and prospects.
The guy is already 22 and he is barely improving his game. He's got the athletic talent, but I think some guys just become too comfortable and complacent.
The guys who really do well are the guys who have the drive and grit to keep working on their game. LJC may just not be that person..
You say all that, but who have developed overseas? I can't think of one. Splitter was a guy like Mirotic who was already a good player who dropped because he didn't want to come over (something about his sister). Manu was too long ago. You have a whole sea of players who didn't develop other than that. They might put in effort, but they don't get returns.
I mean, he's gotten better. But he's really lost a lot of time to injury. And I don't think Asvel is doing a good job developing him, since that's not their priority.
SA needs a 7 footer that can rebound and anchor the defense tbh
We have bigger problems than our Perimeter D. Our big rotation features the corpse of Timmy, Aldridge, West & Diaw. Aldridge is the only guy who can actually hustle and compete against other good rebounders. Not doubting Timmy's greatness, father time catches up with everyone eventually. West/Diaw don't have the size/athleticism to compete with other legit rebounders.
Our depth and production in our guard rotation is abysmal. Green, Parker, Manu, Mills. Two of those players are over 34 and the two that aren't, can't play as primary ball-handlers. Our offense is being run by corpses and we have basically ZERO athleticism in our guards.
If we're building around Kawhi/Aldridge/Green then the pieces around them need to achieve three things: Spacing, Rebounding, Ball-Handling. The rest will work itself out. Our offense stagnates so badly against tough defenses because we're lacking in those departments. Bad spacing, low second-chance points and lack of players who can create for others = incredibly streaky offense. We live and die by Iso basketball because as ugly as it is: it's still our best option at this point. The problem is we don't have OTHER options, so when the Isolation game isn't clicking, we turn to absolute garbage.
There's only 2 things we need to do this off-season:
1. Get a legitimate center
2. Upgrade our guard rotation
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