Roster

[ceperez]

The NBA game has devolved to either a 3 point shot or a dunk (layup).

Dunkers - Gay, Walker, DeRozan, Murray, Poetl, Cunningham, Aldridge ( + from last season )

3 Point Shooters - Mills, Forbes, Belinelli, Bertans, White, Gasol ( + from last season )

Players that can't Dunk - Mills, Forbes, Belinelli ( - From last season )

Players that can't Shoot the 3 - Murray, DeRozan, Poetl, Cunningham (even from last season )

Players that can get separation on offense - Gay, Walker, Murray, DeRozan, Aldridge ( + from last season)

Players with length and speed to protect the rim - Aldridge, Poetl, Gay ( + from last season)

Players with length and speed to protect the wings - Walker, Murray, Gay ( - from last season)

Players that are serious defensive liabilities - Mills, Forbes, Gasol, Bertans, Belinelli ( - from last season)

Conclusion: This is a better team than last year. It could be much better if rookies surprisingly step up (i.e. White, Walker).

In general, Spurs teams usually play much better than on paper. So I expect at least a 50+ win season.

[DMC]

Shouldn't it be eRozan until he shows he can play D?

[DPG21920]

Shouldn't it be eRozan until he shows he can play D?

Sounds like an Eastern European dating site.

[DAF86]

The lineup that makes more sense to me is:

Murray, White, DeRozan, Bertans and Aldridge.

Murray the PG, DeRozan and Aldridge the guys that will have the ball on their hands, and White and Bertans the spot up threats.

And why White and not Bellinelli or Mills? Because I believe White is the best defender of the three.

Murray, Bellinelli/Mills and DeRozan, would be a horrible perimeter defense. 2/3 of the players being below average on that end. White will have the legs, hunger and he also seems to have the IQ to be very good on D. That would make 2/3 of the players being above average on defense.

So yeah, taking both sides of the court in consideration, this to me looks like our best potential lineup.

[Gordy58]

Murray, White, DeRozan, Rudy, and LMA, plenty of scoring, and everyone is switchable I’m sure DeRozan will be much better defensively, at least with just keeping up with his man.

[DMC]

Sounds like an Eastern European dating site.

Or a Mexican player...

"Hay Manu y Rozan"

[mo7888]

The lineup that makes more sense to me is:

Murray, White, DeRozan, Bertans and Aldridge.

Murray the PG, DeRozan and Aldridge the guys that will have the ball on their hands, and White and Bertans the spot up threats.

And why White and not Bellinelli or Mills? Because I believe White is the best defender of the three.

Murray, Bellinelli/Mills and DeRozan, would be a horrible perimeter defense. 2/3 of the players being below average on that end. White will have the legs, hunger and he also seems to have the IQ to be very good on D. That would make 2/3 of the players being above average on defense.

So yeah, taking both sides of the court in consideration, this to me looks like our best potential lineup.

I like that line-up as well. How far it can go will be determined by how much Murray has developed a catch and shoot game from 3 this summer. If he hasn't then we have some problems there but, will still be at least average. If he has then we have a chance to really exceed expectations.

[kobyz]

Demar isn't a true 6'7", though. He was measured at 6'6.25" during the draft combine in 2009 (source: http://www.nbadraft.net/2009-nba-dra...r-measurements).

Much like the Spurs fudged Timmy's true height (6'11" w/o shoes & 7' with shoes) and Oklahoma City/Golden State have with Kevin Durant (he's 6'11" or 7' but "officially" listed at only 6'9") the Raptors exaggerated Derozan's height.

The Spurs have just one player that can effectively play the 3 with a logjam at guard even with Green gone and Manu (possibly) retired. Pop/RC are blind if they don't see the huge need for someone, anyone else at the SF position.

DeMar got taller at least an inch since the combine, is now close to 6'8" by NBA standard

[Em-City]

Some were so desperate that even hyped Udoka.

Don't forget the fizzling careers of Malik Hairston and James Anderson.

What ever happened to deshawn Thomas by the way?

[sasaint]

Don't forget the fizzling careers of Malik Hairston and James Anderson.

What ever happened to deshawn Thomas by the way?

Deshaun has been playing in Europe. He actually played well for Maccabi Tel Aviv last season. Still a tweener, not NBA-caliber player.

[heyheymymy]

Sounds like an Eastern European dating site.

eRozan has all the Riga babes

[ElNono]

They'll score the ball better for sure, I think, but the loss on defense is bigger than you say. Danny Green was the defensive cornerstone, teamwise and individually. His absence is going to be felt in team sets and in transition equally. Kyle led the team in Def win shares and DBPM. The defense is going to be ugly on the wings. Spurs will have to address that. Cunningham might end up being everyone's most hated player who plays way too much if PATFO actually has to use him as the solution.

Sorry, but Danny's D has fallen in the last couple of seasons and 'average' is probably about where one would place it, and Fathead was below average to put it kindly (unless we're calling reaching 'defense'). Plus, the fact that offensively they were both poor just put more pressure on a defense we simply didn't have.

Sure, guys like Kawhi set the bar really high when it comes to perimeter D, and guys like Mills really low, but overall, we just couldn't stop the people we needed to stop, and couldn't score on the other end either to keep up.

[ElNono]

Also, I get that Manu is a legend and it’s gut wrenching for him to decide, but SA has moves to make as well and decisions to make based on his.

I wonder if they have a good understanding of how he is leaning or if they truly don’t know. The way they are joking around and how Manu seemingly crammed in a lifetime of vacations this off season makes me believe he is coming back.

Pop said he talked to Manu 2 weeks ago, so they're definitely in touch.

[spurschamps99030507]

we need kyrie irving next year

[ElNono]

Ughhh. That was a painful time. I shudder at the thought of guys like bogans, rj and the like in a spurs uniform

What was extremely painful was that Matt Bonner was getting regular minutes, tbh

[SAGirl]

[spurs10]

Murray/Mills/White
DeRozan/Ginobili/Forbes
Gay/Belinelli
Aldridge/Bertans/Cunningham
Gasol/Poetl

Yep!

If Murray has really improved his shooting to serviceable levels, this would be my preference.

If not, may have to swap Gay and Beli to give the first unit some shooting/spacing and give the bench unit a scoring punch.

Yep!

[BillMc]

eRozan has all the Riga babes

downloading the app now.

[dbestpro]

I don't think I have ever seen Bertans play SF since he got to SA, tbh.

Pop played him out of position. His entire Euro career was at SF.

[DAF86]

Pop played him out of position. His entire Euro career was at SF.

I don't think Bertans' lateral movement allows him to play SF on the NBA, where the athletes are quicker, the game is faster, and there's bigger space to cover on D.

[Marcus Bryant]

I think we'll see one more trade, they need a defensive 3.

[SAGirl]

I think we'll see one more trade, they need a defensive 3.

Me too. I hope it happens. Have to go all in at this point IMO. This doesn't mean get another all star of whatever but rather make the roster more balanced.

[Marcus Bryant]

Gaol's contract is useful for a team looking to shed salary after next season.

[SpursDynasty85]

Gaol's contract is useful for a team looking to shed salary after next season.

Idk what the details were but Spurs definitely got the severe short end of the stick with Pau. He is owed at least 6 million the year after I hear. He is already useless 75% of the time.

[Marcus Bryant]

Idk what the details were but Spurs definitely got the severe short end of the stick with Pau. He is owed at least 6 million the year after I hear. He is already useless 75% of the time.

Right, the guaranteed portion of his 2019-20 salary is $6 mil, the full amount is $16 mil. So in a hypothetical trade a team could drop $10 mil in salary by waiving him for that season, as well as whatever amount beyond that year. That would allow the Spurs to take back $16 mil in player salary if they wanted.