Grades: The Spurs on Day 1 of Free Agency

[sasaint]

If the Clippers strike out on Kawhi, you gotta think they'd be open to a trade involving Demar/Gallo....

You'd also be sending Derozan home so you don't have to worry about the optics of dealing him...

Praying Dog.

[phxspurfan]

Interesting. Agree that other teams (Cough Lakers Cough Clippers) will be more desperate to land a proven all star now that all the major guys besides Mr. Made Apple Lover have teamed up on their respective gravy trains. It will be interesting and not at all surprising if he ends up signing a 1 or 2 year deal to stay in Toronto, especially if Ujiri throws the farm at him and offers some random side deals or promises a huge extension or whatever is possible up there to save his legacy as a supposedly awesome architect (who didn't just get lucky via a desperate team needing to unload a disgruntled star who refused to play for them), and then get lucky again via some bandwagoners and another desperate team unloading their stars via fire sale in a town/market that doesn't even deserve an NBA team (Memphis).

Capt. Made may not have the stomach to leave those great fans after just getting there and winning a ring, especially since they do have a good core. Lakers will be tempting of course and Uncle will try and convince him to go. I'd put it at 50/50.

Clippers no longer make sense to him bc they struck out on landing another star. Doubt he would go somewhere with a meh supporting cast after 1. seeing all these super teams get created, 2. just playing with a decent supporting cast, 3. LeBroom assembling his own super team in the same town and 4. just abandoning his old team because they lacked depth/stars (same as the Clips current situation, unless you count Sixth Man Lou as a star ).

But the only reason it would make sense for the Spurs to trade DeMar would be multiple picks and a decent player in return. Not sure if that is Kuzma + filler, would probably have to involve a third team if so (Beverley etc).

[siraulo23]

youth movement

[Chinook]

I really can't give the Spurs credit for not "giving into the craziness". We thought they avoided that in 2016, only for them to turn around in 2017 and piss on all that "tinder" with the Mills and Gasol deals. Could easily see Murray getting $100 Million, Poeltl getting $50 Million, Forbes getting $32 Million, Bertans getting $24 Million and/or Beli getting $12 Million. Obviously (hopefully), the team wouldn't give that money to all of those players, but all it takes is one or two of them getting stupid deals to ruin cap space for 2021. I would have preferred them to burn that tinder now and do what they could to open up a window rather than playing for a free agent who isn't likely to want to come over (not that 2021 is that great of a year anyway). Obviously don't just hand out a bad deal. But give up a pick to make a trade. Use the full MLE and be willing to go three years to get the best fit. The only way 2021 cap space comes into play here is if most of the role-players or prospects on the team aren't on the roster, so it makes no sense to prioritize holding onto all of them now.

[spurraider21]

will be a middling playoff team for next year or two. real question is the state of the roster in 2021... are sammich/white/murray/walker, etc going to be good enough to lead a team?

[Frenchfred]

I think that Spurs fan have to realize that San Antonio is not an attractive city and market so it is almost impossible to attract stars let alone superstars. The Spurs have always built a good team around players they drafted and have been lucky with Robinson, Duncan, Parker and Ginobilli. They drafted well this year and have a good young core that hopefully will be good together in the future. In 2021, they will have cap space to sign two max players but let's not kid ourselves, it'll be almost impossible to sign superstars.

[Dejounte]

I think that Spurs fan have to realize that San Antonio is not an attractive city and market so it is almost impossible to attract stars let alone superstars. The Spurs have always built a good team around players they drafted and have been lucky with Robinson, Duncan, Parker and Ginobilli. They drafted well this year and have a good young core that hopefully will be good together in the future. In 2021, they will have cap space to sign two max players but let's not kid ourselves, it'll be almost impossible to sign superstars.

I think they have a decent shot at Giannis. Where else would he go during his free agency? Lakers dont have cap room, Brook and NY dont either. He aint staying with the Bucks seeing how they let go of players that mattered during their playoff run.