Pop Returning for his 24th Season; End of Year Interview Notes

[Mugen]

Give Rudy a 1yr deal at whatever he wants. Giving him 2 years would be bad, 3years would be disastrous....

I'd package Beli + the later 1st round pick for whatever rotation player they can get that can give minutes at the 4/5 position....

Obviously, I'd love if they moved on from Fatty/LMA/DD but that won't happen....

The rotation next year (should they keep Rudy) should look something like:

Murray/Fatty
White/ Forbes / First Round Pick
Derozan / Walker / Same First Round Pick / Bertans
LMA / Rudy (or FA/ Same First Round Pick) / Bertans
Poetl / Milutinov?

[DPG21920]

So, we shoot even less 3s? Sounds like a plan.

How so? White should shoot more, they discussed DeRozan shooting more, Lonnie will shoot them and Murray should too. There are concerns that I see for sure, but right now at least we can address defense and ball handling and shot creation. Plus, there is free agency and the draft to address that.

[DPG21920]

Give Rudy a 1yr deal at whatever he wants. Giving him 2 years would be bad, 3years would be disastrous....

I'd package Beli + the later 1st round pick for whatever rotation player they can get that can give minutes at the 4/5 position....

Obviously, I'd love if they moved on from Fatty/LMA/DD but that won't happen....

The rotation next year (should they keep Rudy) should look something like:

Murray/Fatty
White/ Forbes / First Round Pick
Derozan / Walker / Same First Round Pick / Bertans
LMA / Rudy (or FA/ Same First Round Pick) / Bertans
Poetl / Milutinov?

My hope is give Rudy a functional one year deal (meaning even if there are years beyond that make it team options or non-guaranteed money).

I think packaging pick 19 and/or 29 with Beli or Mills or maybe Forbes to move up and draft their 3/4 of the future would be huge. I dont care if they get a vet at that spot. That would be nice and I would be happy if sa used a late first and Beli/Mills to get that player and open up minutes for Lonnie and Murray; but getting a young stud would be ideal.

[offset formation]

I would like to see him back without many of the dead weight. Mills, Beli and LMA. DDR one more season before getting rid of him.

LMA? That dead weight only carried the team for 2 straight seasons post Nephew. Simpleton.

[BatManu20]

Good luck with that..

[JeffDuncan]

Give Rudy a 1yr deal at whatever he wants. Giving him 2 years would be bad, 3years would be disastrous....

Whoa, pardner. "Whatever he wants?" Even a horse would say nay to that.

Offer Gay 1 year at the same price, 10 million. Take it or leave it. If he gets a better offer, don't match it.

I certainly agree about no more than 1 year. Because he has undead feet.

[Mugen]

Whoa, pardner. "Whatever he wants?" Even a horse would say nay to that.

Offer Gay 1 year at the same price, 10 million. Take it or leave it. If he gets a better offer, don't match it.

I certainly agree about no more than 1 year. Because he has undead feet.

If the Spurs are going to be operating over the cap, it literally doesn't matter how much they pay him for a 1yr deal. If he wants 1yr/16mil then go for it because it doesn't hurt them in the summer of 2020 which frankly is a much more important offseason for this franchise.

[Mugen]

Good luck with that..

Won't happen. Their best hope is that White becomes a lot better from a catch and shoot perspective and Instagram isn't a complete liability from outside.

[TDomination]

For now (although we know SA would not divulge any big plans anyways), it seems like the logical off-season path is:

1. Keep LMA and DeRozan. Unless one of them demands a trade or someone calls SA with a great offer, I don’t think they will explore trading them. I believe keeping them one more year, then having more control over the contracts (LMA only 7M guaranteed after this season, DeRozan is a player option and expiring) makes sense. Run it back one more year with these guys before you make the big decision. I really hope they do not extend DeRozan though.

2. Fold Lonnie/Murray into the mix. This alone should help solve some problems in theory. Both offensively and especially defensively. Having those two take minutes from Mills/Beli should really help raise the teams ceiling.

3. Draft/MLE/Rudy: These feel like the big decisions vs it being LMA and DeRozan. Do they keep Gay? If so, one year deal or multi-year? Do they use the MLE and if so for what? What are they going to do in the draft. These 3 things appear to be the biggest questions heading into next year.

4. Trading a guard: There is a logjam. No doubt about it. If they really want Murray/White/Lonnie in the fold and we know Bryn stepped up, then with Beli/Mills/DeRozan there are serious minutes concerns. Can sa move Mills/Beli for a SF? Will they have to move Bryn instead even if they dont want to?

Man that would be the exact opposite of what this team needs to do. Forbes actually showed up this year. He's younger, cheaper and shows he has no fear in playoffs. If they need to make room for guards, they gotta move Patty/Marco.

[MultiTroll]

Da Spurz goin to bees a hard kowre gang agains next year with Pops and Pattys.

[spurs10]

He had to, with next season looking promising. This season was about building a new core.

[TimDunkem]

How so? White should shoot more, they discussed DeRozan shooting more, Lonnie will shoot them and Murray should too. There are concerns that I see for sure, but right now at least we can address defense and ball handling and shot creation. Plus, there is free agency and the draft to address that.

LMA "discussed" shooting more years ago yet here we are.

DD and LMA are who they are, and Murray is still a question mark until he's actually shooting well in games.

[TimDunkem]

Won't happen. Their best hope is that White becomes a lot better from a catch and shoot perspective and Instagram isn't a complete liability from outside.

More food for the slurpers to suck on until DD and LMA inevitably let them down by not working on their outside game...Remember when LMA said he would add the 3?...Like 3 years ago?

[Dennis the Menace]

I’ll take “No pressure to perform” for $800, Alex.

[Chomag]

How in the world do y'all think a back court of DDR, White, and Murray would work? That creates almost zero spacing

[talkspurs]

If the Spurs are going to be operating over the cap, it literally doesn't matter how much they pay him for a 1yr deal. If he wants 1yr/16mil then go for it because it doesn't hurt them in the summer of 2020 which frankly is a much more important offseason for this franchise.

It does matter as it could effect the MLE. If we go with non tax paying MLE we get a higher MLE (hopefully better player) then if we are tax paying MLE. Also if we pay the tax that means the Spurs would have to pay the tax as well not getting the refund from the teams paying the tax. If we go with non tax paying MLE we in essence have a hard cap.

[NASpurs]

So more of the same ? Even less games I'm going to watch next year.

[DPG21920]

Man that would be the exact opposite of what this team needs to do. Forbes actually showed up this year. He's younger, cheaper and shows he has no fear in playoffs. If they need to make room for guards, they gotta move Patty/Marco.

I agree, but like with Hill/Kawhi if some combo of 19/29/Forbes gets SA their SF of the future it’s worth it

[DPG21920]

Won't happen. Their best hope is that White becomes a lot better from a catch and shoot perspective and Instagram isn't a complete liability from outside.

Lonnie looks to be capable too

[MoSpur02]

okay nevermind, that pretty much puts a damper on this summer. ugh.
i just want marco and patty gone. i don't care for who or how they are gone. just please don't be here anymore.

What is he supposed to say? That they can't wait to break up the core?

[monty4329]

How so? White should shoot more, they discussed DeRozan shooting more, Lonnie will shoot them and Murray should too. There are concerns that I see for sure, but right now at least we can address defense and ball handling and shot creation. Plus, there is free agency and the draft to address that.

You mentioned possibly trading Forbes. And Beli/Mills either traded or anyway vastly reduced in minutes. White is not a natural shooter, Murray is not a threat. Lonnie, frankly, cannot play meaningful minutes. Unless we trade for or sign one or two established volume shooters, it is going to be even worse than this season.

[exstatic]

For now (although we know SA would not divulge any big plans anyways), it seems like the logical off-season path is:

1. Keep LMA and DeRozan. Unless one of them demands a trade or someone calls SA with a great offer, I don’t think they will explore trading them. I believe keeping them one more year, then having more control over the contracts (LMA only 7M guaranteed after this season, DeRozan is a player option and expiring) makes sense. Run it back one more year with these guys before you make the big decision. I really hope they do not extend DeRozan though.

2. Fold Lonnie/Murray into the mix. This alone should help solve some problems in theory. Both offensively and especially defensively. Having those two take minutes from Mills/Beli should really help raise the teams ceiling.

3. Draft/MLE/Rudy: These feel like the big decisions vs it being LMA and DeRozan. Do they keep Gay? If so, one year deal or multi-year? Do they use the MLE and if so for what? What are they going to do in the draft. These 3 things appear to be the biggest questions heading into next year.

4. Trading a guard: There is a logjam. No doubt about it. If they really want Murray/White/Lonnie in the fold and we know Bryn stepped up, then with Beli/Mills/DeRozan there are serious minutes concerns. Can sa move Mills/Beli for a SF? Will they have to move Bryn instead even if they dont want to?

If you TRULY want to create a logjam at guard, go ahead and trade for a SF, and displace DDR back into the guard pool. Even your hypothetical of Mills/Beli for a SF still leaves DM/DW/LW IV/Bryn/DDR. That's a lot of guards for 96 minutes.

[NASpurs]

[Dex]

I for one am happy. I know many want him gone. But I really wanted to see what he could do with a healthy Murray/White/Walker.

But his love for Patty is pretty sickening though

People who want Pop gone are gonna be in for some serious disappointment with whoever gets picked to succeed one of the greatest coaches of all-time.

[exstatic]

People who want Pop gone are gonna be in for some serious disappointment with whoever gets picked to succeed one of the greatest coaches of all-time.

Yeah, no .