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Yes!
Absolutely!
On the Austin Toros
D White dominated the G league last year, putting up great traditional & Advanced numbers, which led to Wins for Austin, and a G League championship. Then he completely dominated the Summer League, usually looking like the best player on the floor. He's a perfect example of how player development can work. Walker hasn't accomplished anything close to that yet. I still have confidence that he can become a good player thanks to his superior athletic talents & the Spurs' ability to improve the skills of their young players, but he's not quite in the same place that White was at this point last year yet.
Yes!
Absolutely!
On the Austin Toros
About a 4 year difference in age and Walker was drafted on potential which usually means more development time. I think White will be playing the Manu roll and I think eventually him and Walker will make a good tag team. Walker brings more slashing and cutting to the baskets and White will easily set him up for some easy dunks.
Walker will spend the majority of time in G League next year which I am fine with as he was drafted on potential. Plus I know Poop is not going to get rid of Forbes or Mills next year which means no playing time for him.
I doubt we see White stepping back to the 2nd unit when Murray comes back. It is fast becoming like White will soon be the 2nd option of the team, and only because Spurs play in-and-out with Aldridge. But White is the general, the facilitator and later on closer to end games. I expect him to attack the basket more, learn how to break defenses more, absorb contacts, with the first unit, not coming off the bench. Walker, on the other hand, could be that Manu 6th man, with his promising athletic skills, and could be a dizzying Murray/White/Lonnie inside, which could be scary.
He's two years away from being two years away.
Hope he's packaged with Mills before his hype dies down. The less playing time in the pros, the better for his stock.
Lol dude you said the same thing when we drafted White.
Did you watch the ATL game? He is doing or has done all of those things. He amazes me with his ability to get uncontested layups in the half court offense, usually 2-3 per game. I'm with Sean, though. With many mouths to feed in an egalitarian offense, your PG needs to be an opportunistic scorer, not a 30 point monster like Westbrook. I see White putting up averages of 16-17p/5r/6a, checking at the All Defensive level, and the Spurs will be fine.
In last night's interview with Tha Ninja, Sean asked DW4 if he's playing with a chip on his shoulder. White pretty much acknowledged that. If you look at White's BB journey, there's probably a reason why he plays as he does (and cried that night Pop called him on draft night). I'm sure that after he was told that he was too small; too short; too ugly, lol, to play in a Division 1 college BB program, he has worked his tail off to prove the naysayers wrong, & it has payed off & it shows (what an honor to be playing for the Spurs!). LW4 on the otherhand, while he had a rough life growing up in Pa, I just see his driving force and path to be different from DW4's, therefore I think that LW4's maturity level has some growing along with his BB skills & IQ. I'm hoping that he will take it seriously & commit to working on his game & meet or exceed his potintial. Like all the other posters, I can finally see reaping those benefits in two years from now, unless he shows us differently, one way or the other. GSG!!!
White development will be better shooting, and better dribbling in traffic whoch is a bit iffy. Other than that, the guy is already a legitimate starter for a playoffs team. He will be 25 next year, already "old" for today's NBA. Not much room to improve, timewise. Anyway, improving would mean get into the top 10 point guards (those who think he is a SG are wrong), and for that he doesn't have the physical talent nor the explosiveness. To me, he is already an elite NBA player anyway.
Lonnie is nowhere near. Every player picked before and several picked after him are playing solid minutes and contributing. I don't mind him being a project, that's fine. But he is no White or Murray.
I agree about White's defense. But the biggest difference is White has a very high BBIQ and the best court vision on the team. Lonnie is just an athlete at this point. Comparing the two is apples to oranges. I don't see them on the same trajectory at all, based on their disparate ages/maturity as well as their disparate talents
BTW I am quite curious to see next year's starting fives. It is a given that cancer DDR will still be here, hence White-Murray-LA-DDR are locks, who will shoot 3s in the first unit?
Rudy and Bertans both fit that bill.
LOL!!! FORBES, LOL!!!
That's true, except don't forget two things. One, we are seeing White after two summer leagues and a full season in Austin. And two, White was 6ft coming out of high school. At that size, you have to develop not only a solid game against larger guards, but you have to work on court vision, etc. Basically, you have to accommodate for being a 6ft guard. Then, in college, he grew to 6'5. That's huge from a basketball perspective.
Lonnie strikes me as someone who has been athletically gifted and had the right size during every stage of his career. So he could rely on being more athletic and stronger than the other players his size. That gets negated to an extent in the NBA. But it means that he has to learn to adjust to a league where the average player is on par with you athletically or can compensate for it in a greater skill set. Anyone's guess as to whether he can make the adjustment to get consistent minutes in the NBA, but the Spurs do a great job of developing useful players with less raw athleticism and jump shooting ability. Lonnie has good jump shot mechanics that could help him translate into a good all around player.
The thing about having that athleticism is that when your knowledge catches up, and the Spurs have a history of making that happen, you take off like a rocket. I don't think LW IV is an average or par athlete by NBA standards. I think he's elite NBA athlete. He's got a 40" ing vert. If they work on cleaning up his handles, shot selection (his form is very pure), and defense, he could be a monster. Probably not next year, though.
i cant see it... i think he needs another year to hone his game before he has white levels of impact
White could easily be putting up 15 to 20 pts per game if Poop gave him the go ahead. As it turns out he is the 3rd or 4th fidle as far as shooting which is a shame as he easily the best guard on the team.
Think Belinelli will continue to be ahead of him, though he could push him for minutes later next season. He'll probably get spot minutes but not an impact player till year three.
Then he'd wind up being Ben McLemore, a player with a vert, a jumpshot, and nothing else, not even a team. There's a reason that SA is known for player development and Sacto isn't, and it isn't because we rush our players into action and teach them nothing.
So many stupid takes in this thread tbh...
Is Lonnie going to be as good as DWhite is this year? No, he's much younger and raw.
But the bar shouldn't be 2019 Derrick White, the bar should be better than 2019 Fatty Mills or 2019 Bryn Forbes and Lonnie eclipsed that bar the moment he was drafted. Anybody that doesn't think he should be playing above those two losers next season is a ing moron or Pop sucker and probably both tbh.
I agree with this, trade him with Mills to get younger!
Walker has shown only that he can jump and he at times can get his own shot.
He is clueless on individual and man defense.
If he does not have the ball in his hands he stands around with his hand in the air.
He has a long way to go.
He can jump though....
Last edited by GAustex; 03-07-2019 at 08:55 PM.
Yup.
Walker arguably has the higher ceiling. But White is more polished and better right now.
Murray was also 19/20 when he was drafted and was inconsistent but looked good for a year 2 player and defensively he was ahead of the curb. Plus Murray was one of the best if not the best offensive rebounding pg in the league. It was interesting to see Gasol sit at the 3 point line with Murray out rebounding opposing guards. Walker hasn't got that skill set where he is already better in certain areas than other players. He is a prospect that could be in year 3 of his rookie deal as good as Donovon Mitc was in his rookie year which was a relentless scorer with iffy D, hidden due to Gobert being a dominant defensive big.
White was like 22 or 23 upon being drafted. His body was more NBA ready and he had a patient game. The reason behind his success now is that he is far more athletic than people think. He is very sneaky how athletic and fast he is. He just rarely uses it which is great for his long term career.
CD98 post is 100% spot on in my opinion. I think if Lonnie is a hard worker and receptive to coaching he is going to be a really good player. The big thing though is him being receptive to coaching because like the post states most players in the NBA have good to great athletic abilities but the great players work hard on their skill
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