Brian Wright post-draft press conference

[CGD]

The 'roster crunch' gets much easier next summer than now, at least potentially. Right now we have thirteen players (assuming they are all kept), not including Victor and Sidy:

Devin Vassell
Keldon Johnson
Jeremy Sochan
Zach Collins
Tre Jones (resigned)

These are 'core' players. If they are not kept, they can be traded, as they have value. Only Keldon seems likely to be moved. The next season will give clarity about fit.

Devonte Graham
Doug McDermott

These are the veterans whose shooting and experience can help, but no one expects them to be here long.

Sandro Mamukelashvili
Julian Champagnie
Blake Wesley
Malaki Branham
Charles Bassey
Dominic Barlow

Players picked up this last season whose fit or ability is unclear. It's easy to see Branham sticking. It's easy to see Barlow moving on.

A key issue right now is that the talent of the last group is not yet clear. They each have nice skillsets, but we don't know. The next year will tell. Added, we can see how Keldon fits. in a universe where every single one of these players 'hits,' we do face a roster crunch. More likely, we say goodbye to Barlow, a couple of the other second year players, and the two veterans. At that point, we know whether we need to aggressively upgrade certain positions.

On the other end, it doesn't make sense to add any players right now, even a FA point guard.

I hope they stick with Barlow a little longer. Just have a feeling about him.

Im less concerned about this roster crunch folks are talking about. Doug and Devonte move on next year, and I think they could end up moving Zach for value by February if they want to accelerate Victor at Center. In any case he’s an expiring and could get a big offer next summer elsewhere. And, the end of roster churn is the churn. It’s more likely than not that the majority of those guys are gone next year.

[RC_Drunkford]

I think Zollins will look so good next to Wemby that the Spurs will want to keep him tbh. He'll be expensive if he hits FA

[baseline bum]

I think the plan is clear now. They’re looking for a second star to pair with Wemby. They assessed who in the 2023 draft had that potential and tried to trade up high enough to get one of them. Nothing materialized; they failed.

The next step is to see whether anybody on the current roster will develop into a star. Sochan, Branham, and Wesley will get lots of run so the team can see what they have.

Next is the 2024 draft. If none of the current players pan out as secondary stars, the team will lose a lot of games again and draw another lottery pick. The Toronto pick will probably convey. Maybe they can package the picks to trade a little higher or maybe they’ll just take two swings.

Then they’ll see what they can develop for 2024-25. If things still aren’t coming together during that season, you could start seeing more aggressive moves to build at least a winning team by Victor’s third year.

I'd prefer to wait a couple of years, but those Atlanta picks start in 2025 and are the team's best assets so might need to start making a push for vets next summer. Bulls pick is in 25 too and could be a great trade chip with Ball's career over. With Bufkin going #15 and Atlanta sure to ask for one of their picks back if the Spurs were trading with them, I'm happy they didn't spend the Toronto and Chicago picks to trade up high enough to get Bufkin. If he was going closer to 20 maybe the Spurs could have gotten him for one of those picks plus the Charlotte pick and #33, but both of those picks was too much.