Random Thoughts: Spurs @ Jazz - Dec. 4, 2018

[Harry Callahan]

Pop: "They made (uncontested) shots"

I added the uncontested. When you don't or can't play spirited defense, you get blown out. This is truly unwatchable basketball.

This roster was never the one management truly wanted and we all know why. Still, a little effort would make fans be a little more forgiving. The Spurs right now are a product that is not worth the money being asked for by way of tickets.

Lonnie Walker will be excited to play. I think White can be a good player long term.

The DeRozans and Aldridges are really just band-aids on gunshot wounds right now. I would not mind seeing one of them go for a decent draft pick and/or a younger player with potential.

If December is a full blown disaster record wise, the front office will have to make some decisions they are not used to making. I don't see the Spurs going anywhere this season. A full rebuild is in order.

[Dex]

Pop: "They made (uncontested) shots"

I added the uncontested. When you don't or can't play spirited defense, you get blown out. This is truly unwatchable basketball.

This roster was never the one management truly wanted and we all know why. Still, a little effort would make fans be a little more forgiving. The Spurs right now are a product that is not worth the money being asked for by way of tickets.

Lonnie Walker will be excited to play. I think White can be a good player long term.

The DeRozans and Aldridges are really just band-aids on gunshot wounds right now. I would not mind seeing one of them go for a decent draft pick and/or a younger player with potential.

If December is a full blown disaster record wise, the front office will have to make some decisions they are not used to making. I don't see the Spurs going anywhere this season. A full rebuild is in order.

I think one of them has to go. Their games just don't co-exist at all.

They are both volume isolation players who live in the mid-range. They don't seem to play off of each other at all. They just want to be thrown the ball and have everybody else get out of the way.

You can live with one of those guys on your team, but not two. The only reason it worked with Kawhi was that he could shoot the three, and even his mid-range game was crazy efficient.

Not to mention that so far this season, it seems like a coin flip whether they are actually going to show up. If both guys are on (like they were against Portland), the Spurs actually look like a good basketball team. If one or the other is off, the Spurs struggle...and that's a recipe for disaster when you have two guys who have been wildly inconsistent so far.

[Harry Callahan]

The Nephew trade was nothing more than extortion along with the theft of $18MM for the previous season. The Spurs were trying to get something in return in a bad situation when the star player destroys his trade value on purpose - purely vindictive, s -bag behavior.

This year will be about trying to turn the page, and so far it has not been pretty. SA will probably need two years to turn the corner at least given the state of the current roster. The three previous #1 picks (all guards) need to be in the rotation now and next year. The stash forward in Europe needs to get here since he is a front court player. Draft picks for 2019 must work out. Signing a decent Free agent (in 2019 or 2020) would help.

Once again - at least two years to get going in the right direction.

[SpursDynasty85]

That might be the liste frustrating aspect of the season.

Traditionally, when teams tank, they do so by benching/trading the vets while force feeding minutes to young developing players.

But the Spurs are flipped. For them to tank, they have to play the vets and scrubs the most, which is just awful, awful to watch.

But if the Spurs force feed minutes the inexperienced players then that actually gives them the best chance to win paradoxically. Which might be easier to watch and more interesting, but hurts the tank.

Not gonna lie, when I saw Belli back in there and White's minutes scattered, I was convinced Pop was purposely trying to lose this game. He could've been saving White more for the Lakers tonight but you are spot on about this team needing the younger guys to play to make this team more enjoyable to watch. I might stop watching until then.

[venitian navigator]

looking at our next 20 games (last on january 13)...the schedule looks terrible. I don't see us as favourite in at least 14 of the 20 games...then our record could be 17/27 and any chance to reach the post season already gone...maybe the wise move would be to trade somebody before that moment came...or, at least, fully investigate on the possibility of a such trades...

[Harry Callahan]

When pop kicks himself upstairs and retires from the bench in 2020, I hope he has focused on repairing the roster and not the state of American Politics. I know he is wrong about US Legislative Policy pretty much across the board. He needs to recapture the ability to put together a compe ive basketball team. That is the lane he needs to stay in for now.

He and RC deserve a long leash and an opportunity to repair the roster and select a quality Head Coach in 2020 due to the long long run of success (which is now officially over). The Board of Directors for the team will give them every opportunity to fix this. I hope they don't mess it up.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Murray, Walker and a healthy Gay would have made this team a lot better this year, and, oddly, there was a bit more cohesiveness with Pau. Pau at least wants to win, even if his talent has waned...and he's a champion and still carries that swagger which is a little contagious. But, yeah, Pop's coaching is horrendous right now. He's got to get away from Cunningham and Belinelli. The Spurs would be better off letting D leaguers replace both of those guys, and as of now, give Poetl, White and even Metu extra run. To me, Metu is not nearly NBA ready, but this team isn't NBA ready, so there's not much to lose at this point. May as well throw him in the fire.

Thanks Timvp. I only watched as much of the game as my stomach could bear. Awful.

[8FOR!3]

Hate to say it but I haven't been enjoying games at all this year. It's just not a fun team to watch. The world isn't going to end and I'm confident tank or not that we'll find ways to get better, but players like Forbes and Cunningham just drain my energy trying to watch these games it's horrible. And other players sucking doesn't exactly help.

[baseline bum]

Salvage the season, trade LMA, he's worthless and clearly doesn't want to be here.

Should have done it at the draft when he had some value.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Should have done it at the draft when he had some value.

I didn't expect him to stink so bad. I imagine the FO figured he could continue to carry the torch. He and Kawhi have successfully sunk the franchise. Kawhi by quitting and LMA by....umm...quitting.

[baseline bum]

Murray, Walker and a healthy Gay would have made this team a lot better this year, and, oddly, there was a bit more cohesiveness with Pau. Pau at least wants to win, even if his talent has waned...and he's a champion and still carries that swagger which is a little contagious. But, yeah, Pop's coaching is horrendous right now. He's got to get away from Cunningham and Belinelli. The Spurs would be better off letting D leaguers replace both of those guys, and as of now, give Poetl, White and even Metu extra run. To me, Metu is not nearly NBA ready, but this team isn't NBA ready, so there's not much to lose at this point. May as well throw him in the fire.

Thanks Timvp. I only watched as much of the game as my stomach could bear. Awful.

Honestly, Gasol. If he wanted to win he would have come here in the summer of 2014 to be a top sixth man, but he kept a starting spot and more money in Chicago. He didn't come to the Spurs until Duncan retired so he could keep his starting spot as well as getting paid. But damn the Murray injury just killed the season, especially after seeing him hitting jumpshots in the pre-season.

[objective]

Murray, Walker and a healthy Gay would have made this team a lot better this year, and, oddly, there was a bit more cohesiveness with Pau. Pau at least wants to win, even if his talent has waned...and he's a champion and still carries that swagger which is a little contagious. But, yeah, Pop's coaching is horrendous right now. He's got to get away from Cunningham and Belinelli. The Spurs would be better off letting D leaguers replace both of those guys, and as of now, give Poetl, White and even Metu extra run. To me, Metu is not nearly NBA ready, but this team isn't NBA ready, so there's not much to lose at this point. May as well throw him in the fire.

Thanks Timvp. I only watched as much of the game as my stomach could bear. Awful.

Marco and Mills are technically champions also.

I'm sure that factors into pop's love affair with them

[elbamba]

Fire sale time. Get what you can for Derozen and Aldridge and hope that you can add Patty, Marco, and Pau's contracts in the mix.

Spurs will not rebuild through free agency. They need draft picks.

[SpursDynasty85]

When pop kicks himself upstairs and retires from the bench in 2020, I hope he has focused on repairing the roster and not the state of American Politics. I know he is wrong about US Legislative Policy pretty much across the board. He needs to recapture the ability to put together a compe ive basketball team. That is the lane he needs to stay in for now.

He and RC deserve a long leash and an opportunity to repair the roster and select a quality Head Coach in 2020 due to the long long run of success (which is now officially over). The Board of Directors for the team will give them every opportunity to fix this. I hope they don't mess it up.

Why are you even bringing his political opinion into this? All he has shown is he spent a few minutes talking about the presidency and you think the team sucking and that are correlated? Seems illogical and quite emotional, if you ask me.

[hater]

Disagree with OP

White is a scrub too

[cd021]

Why are you even bringing his political opinion into this? All he has shown is he spent a few minutes talking about the presidency and you think the team sucking and that are correlated? Seems illogical and quite emotional, if you ask me.

Plus one tbh

[cd021]

The way the Spurs have been getting worked recently, Poeltl and Metu might be playing 20+ and 12 minutes fairly regularly, damn.

[cd021]

Seriously though, Poeltl is quickly making Gasol much more expendable they absolutely need to consider moving Pau for wing help. Carroll and Ariza are obvious targets though they might be waived in February but the Spurs don't have that luxury of waiting.

Carroll for Gasol and this and next year's second rounder's my be enough to get Brooklyn to take on money past this season.

Forbes, Mills
DeRozen, White, Walker
Carroll, Belinelli, Pondexter
Bertans, Gay, Cunningham
Aldridge, Poeltl, Metu

That's a better lineup, imo. Carrol can be re-signed using bird, while Gay with early bird and the Spurs would still have both 1sts and the full MLE.

[therealtruth]

Oh Pop’s starting Cunningham. Bet on it. No way he lets a chance to start centerpiece v.2 slip away. He has the easiest excuse to do so now.

So Cunningham is the new Keith Bogans?

[Harry Callahan]

Why are you even bringing his political opinion into this? All he has shown is he spent a few minutes talking about the presidency and you think the team sucking and that are correlated? Seems illogical and quite emotional, if you ask me.

"A few minutes ?" Are you kidding me? Please.....

My comments are neither emotional nor illogical. More fact based opinion - deal with it.

Ever since Peter Holt (Pop's Boss) had to walk away from day to day control of this team and his former spouse has been the key representative of the ownership group, Pop has been making MANY comments about the state the country/Presidency and what should be done. The Sport media, most of which agree with Pop, throw out comments and questions about things not related to basketball all the time around the country. Ever since Pop starting popping off about Trump (with regularity), the sports media has not been whining nearly as much about how poorly he treats them (especially during the quarter break interview on national TV). Coincidence? I think not.

In addition, Pop makes sure he gets photographed at an early November practice sporting a Robert Patrick O'Rouke (AKA "Beto/Beta") ball cap.

Pissing off a significant portion of your customers (who pay for the high dollar season tickets) along with having issues now putting out a quality product over the last year and a half is an issue. Pop is bulletproof in San Antonio (rightfully so based on his performance for 20+ years). He still needs to focus on the basketball team. That's my point. All the other stuff is not necessary. There's a lot of work to do for him and RC this year and next. The page must be turned and the roster stocked with some young, talented players.

[r0drig0lac]

Honestly, Gasol. If he wanted to win he would have come here in the summer of 2014 to be a top sixth man, but he kept a starting spot and more money in Chicago. He didn't come to the Spurs until Duncan retired so he could keep his starting spot as well as getting paid. But damn the Murray injury just killed the season, especially after seeing him hitting jumpshots in the pre-season.

this, and that's why he's the player I hate most in this roster easily (also has the fact that he has no more physical conditions to play pro level)

[Spurs Homer]

I don't know what everyone expected after Kawhitter betrayed the franchise.

The roster was put together with Kawhi as the centerpiece and he bailed.

Putting band-aids and making desperate trades for other low caliber players will really just be an exercise in moving the furniture around.
Time to show some patience and seeing if Pop is ready to rebuild or if he has had enough. I think he should move on but it does not mean that a savior will arrive and turn things around magically.

Time to understand what it means to not be a championship caliber team for awhile.

It sucks but it will make any future championships valued and appreciated again.

NO SHORTCUTS.

Time to see if there are really Spurs fans or just a bunch of finger-pointers and accusers and faux fans who will run to the GS Warriors fan base pretty soon. Some here are already Raptors fans posing as Spurs fans.

[SAGirl]

A

Seriously though, Poeltl is quickly making Gasol much more expendable they absolutely need to consider moving Pau for wing help. Carroll and Ariza are obvious targets though they might be waived in February but the Spurs don't have that luxury of waiting.

Carroll for Gasol and this and next year's second rounder's my be enough to get Brooklyn to take on money past this season.

Forbes, Mills
DeRozen, White, Walker
Carroll, Belinelli, Pondexter
Bertans, Gay, Cunningham
Aldridge, Poeltl, Metu

That's a better lineup, imo. Carrol can be re-signed using bird, while Gay with early bird and the Spurs would still have both 1sts and the full MLE.

They will still suck. Forbes isn’t a starting quality guard. Fire sale IMO and rebuild

[Harry Callahan]

I've been a Spurs fan the vast majority of my life. I'm a Cowboys fan too and that has been a total exercise in frustration. I'm pretty patient. Still waiting for a meaningful Cowboy playoff run for 22 years.

The Spurs have done it better than anyone else for the past 22 years. It will take a while to get this going in the right direction. At least 2 years.

[TheGreatYacht]

I don't know what everyone expected after Kawhitter betrayed the franchise.

The roster was put together with Kawhi as the centerpiece and he bailed.

Putting band-aids and making desperate trades for other low caliber players will really just be an exercise in moving the furniture around.
Time to show some patience and seeing if Pop is ready to rebuild or if he has had enough. I think he should move on but it does not mean that a savior will arrive and turn things around magically.

Time to understand what it means to not be a championship caliber team for awhile.

It sucks but it will make any future championships valued and appreciated again.

NO SHORTCUTS.

Time to see if there are really Spurs fans or just a bunch of finger-pointers and accusers and faux fans who will run to the GS Warriors fan base pretty soon. Some here are already Raptors fans posing as Spurs fans.

Jesus you're a got. Take your vanilla "built not bought" ass to reddit