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"That wouldnt be basketball anymore"
Spurs is my 2nd favorite at team, if they hope to succeed they must mirror rockets. Good thing pop didn’t meet Dantonis in playoffs as he would lose now
"That wouldnt be basketball anymore"
not gonna happen
Not going to happen but we do need to make more 3 pointers. Its tough to go far when neither of our top 2 players can knock down a 3.
Rockets are damn good and that is largely because you have an MVP level player. Sa does not have that but they have better youth, more draft capital and I believe SA will be better than the Rockets over the next 2 years (not this year though).
Pop will never coach a team that shoots 50 three pointers per game, nor should he. It’s a ridiculous offense. I can see us putting up more, maybe 25-30, once the young guns come on line, but the midrange will always be needed to run a steady offense and manage the clock.
Evolve into not winning a damn thing? The evolution is that?
And the Rockets will lose again at some point these playoffs shooting 1000 bad shots ultimately going cold and then going home.
The Spurs main problem is not 3 point shooting it's the fact they currently have no good perimeter defenders outside of Derrick White. Having a healthy Dejounte next year and Lonnie getting more minutes in the future should help with this problem. Spurs need to draft an SF that could be a lockdown defender.
Spurs should give away 3 NBA les and be like the rockets -
OP is re ed.
So Spurs should have two franchise players and not ring?
You keep trying to put a positive spin on everything. Who cares if the Spurs have better youth and draft capital than the Rockets? Unless one of White, Walker or Murray becomes an MVP level player, which is obviously beyond highly unlikely, they don't even have so much as a road map back to championship contention. Meanwhile, the Rockets, like the Raptors, have it now.
This is where we disagree. Its not a positive spin on everything; its my actual belief based on what I see. HOU won 5 more games than sa even with said MVP and SA has a much clearer path to improving than they do.
1. Via the draft
2. Internal improvement
3. Salary cap
In all 3 areas sa is in a better spot than HOU. I said HOU is really good but they are about maxed out; they can sustain but I dont see them taking any leaps. Which is fine, they dont have to in order to be a WCF caliber team.
But I think that adding White/Lonnie/Murray to the mix, 2 first round picks and more flexibility cap wise will vault sa to their level very soon.
It is. The regular season is so important that the Jazz, who had about as good or better record, point differential and SRS, as the Rockets, can't even play a compe ive series with them. The Rockets ceiling is way higher than a team as flawed as the Spurs.
Sure, but to what end? I've heard Holiday thrown around as a White ceiling recently. Let's say that's true. If that's your best player going forward, you're going nowhere in this league. Even if Walker tops it, if it can't reach MVP caliber, same result.
Nah - we have seen HOU bow out of the playoffs before and they have not made a final with Harden. SA can be a WCF if things break right and have a much clearer path to improving (but they need to since HOU is ahead).
By that same token; SA is taking on the 2nd seed and holding their own, in the playoffs, not the regular season.
So evolve to keep coming up short?
I understand his premise; hes basically saying shoot more 3’s. But HOU is literally HOU because they have an MVP with an insane usage rate which is why that system works.
Spurs could definitely build things differently but with LMA/DeRozan they can’t really do what HOU does.
What does that have to do with their current ceiling being significantly higher than the Spurs current ceiling?
The only way the Spurs could be a WCF team, is to get lucky along the lines of the '07 Jazz or the current Trail Blazers, who are likely getting their based on how the brackets broke at the very end.
The Nuggets aren't a legit 2nd seed. Don't play that game; you're knowledgeable and rationale enough to know better.
I think you are very purposely underrating SA and teams like DEN to prop up your stance. HOU has a higher ceiling right now, no question. But IMO, even without landing a MVP, I think Murray/Lonnie/White’s ascension along with the draft and free agency favors SA.
I think that while right now HOU has a higher ceiling that within a year or two, SA will be right there even if you think it will take artificially knocking down SAs opponents.
Nothing is guaranteed obviously. SA needs to tweak this roster and get better balance. Murray/Lonnie have to be good. RC and Pop need to be smart in free agency. All those things need to happen and yes I am optimistic they will.
Even if that means moving on from DeRozan or LMA (which I think is unlikely for the reasons I have been saying). I think the plan all along was to go for it these next two years that align with LmA/DeRozan deals and hope that young guys grow and then assess fit. But SA is and can be a very good team with some tweaks right now.
I think you are being a homer. You know the Nuggets aren't a legit 2 seed. The conference has been Warriors and Rockets, then everyone else, the past 2 seasons.
Ascension to what though? They don't have a superstar and are built too flawed in general. No amount of tweaking can fix the core.
In a best case scenario, they can essentially be the West version of the Lowry-DeRozan Raptors: A regular season team that's not built for the playoffs.
That is so wrong IMO. Murray/Lonnie/White make them better than DeRozan/Lowry Raptors especially because LMA is better than anyone they had too.
Even with their flaws, SA is a good team. Flawed, no time to plan, roster built for another type of star, losing their starting PG. All those things happened and this flawed core of DeRozan / LMA are still good.
I don’t think it’s homerish at all to be optimistic. They aren’t GS and neither is HOU, but they can get to that next tier. Especially since with White/Murray I think the defense can be legit.
And I take it that you only think HOU/GS are legit. Well, if that is the case that means SA only has to worry about them and its very possible that GS loses KD with no money to replace him.
Also, don’t get me wrong. Im not in love with this team. I am in love with the youth sa has assembled while still being a playoff team and how they have flexibility coming up in one year along with multiple first round picks.
I would not be mad if SA decided to move on from LMA/DeRozan and go a different direction. I am simply saying they are good and if they can make a few moves and the youth does what Derrick did this year then SA for the next two years can be in damn good shape.
If it fails? Ok, still have that youth and it’s only two years (really one before they have cap space) before the full on reset.
Why are so many presuming the youth will turn into stars? And even if 1-2 do, as I said and you know, unless they're superstars, the ceiling is automatically sub championship.
Even if they're a better version of those Raptors, who cares? You seem to be in love with the idea of being the winningest loser.
The defense will still be flawed with Murray because of the lack of big wings. It's also possible (probable?) he makes the offense worse and mostly offsets the defensive upgrade.
It doesn't even matter what happens to the Warriors and Rockets. No team built this flawed is contending for a championship.
But by your logic, there are only 2 teams that matter in the West that are real. If that is the case, SA with a few things can get to the WCF. You don’t blow that type of team up.
They don’t need to be stars. I would not call White a star yet but if SA added 2 more White caliber players? That is huge. I don’t see how you can downplay that.
Regarding the defense there is the draft and free agency to help with that wing problem too.
For teams that don't have an MVP type player, the key is team cohesion and a collection of net positive players. What I like about D White is he can play with anyone. He plays D and isn't a high usage player so the team doesn't have to be designed around him. If Murray and Walker can replicate that profile, then you've got few weak links on the floor. Even when Holiday was paired with Anthony Davis, there were often at least two players on the floor that were below average, and that's where opposing teams attacked. I wasn't that high on Walker earlier in the year, but he really came on strong in the last couple of months, so I'm a lot more optimistic about him now. Aldridge and DeRozan (if they're still here next year) are still productive players despite some other issues, so it's not like they're glaring weaknesses-- if they're providing a steady 40 ppg next year and the roster around them improves through youth and one or two more useful players, I don't think an improvement of 10 regular season wins is out of the question at all.
I like Houston, but they have their issues too. For one, they're small with Paul, Gordon, Harden, and Tucker. Two, I'm never surprised by a Chris Paul injury, especially in the playoffs. Their depth is not great. And, finally, D'Antoni has had a bunch of talented players in the past-- including two MVPs-- and is still ringless.
Last edited by R. DeMurre; 04-21-2019 at 11:02 PM.
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