If everyone's healthy, this is a playoff team.
Easy.
I would be extremely disappointed if the Spurs don't leapfrog the Grizzlies and position themselves early as the second best team in the Southwest division. Both JJJ and Edey are on course to miss the start of season.They lost Bane and Morant regression and in-and-out of lineup act has ruined whatever chemistry they're building..
If everyone's healthy, this is a playoff team.
Easy.
Alright man, if you want to act like Wemby being a top 3 player in the league is some sort of foregone conclusion because of 2 months of EPM then be my guest![]()
I listed a bunch of things that could go right with the Spurs next year and help propel them into legitimate playoff team status. One of those things was Wemby staying healthy and playing like a top 5-10 player in the league consistently for the whole season. If you think he’s already done that or that that’s a given then we’ll agree to disagree.
I like your list of things that have to go right. Like you said, not all of them need to happen - but the strong majority of them do, as the roster is currently constructed (with health being the top variable, IMO).
It will be interesting to see how quickly the Spurs FO reacts if some of those things don’t go right. For example, if Devin doesn’t adapt to a new role or Jeremy doesn’t show shooting improvement, will the Spurs be willing and able to quickly pivot, or will they continue to hope the leopard changes its spots and we just have to live with it? That will be a key driver in this whole thing.
If Wemby is to 10 player, he was kinda getting there last year, then yeah.
Yeah, things have to go right with the roles of some of these players and how they fit on the team. If it doesn't, you're right, I hope the FO doesn't just sit around and pass up deals waiting until the end of the season and then they can't get any sort of deal for those guys. If it's not working or fitting, they might need to make some hard calls. The flipside is, if they do nothing, there is a chance it all comes together after the trade deadline, but it's going to be a gamble waiting if it's not working before then.
Being a top 10 player isn’t that much of an indication now. Evan mobley and Brunson made all nba 2nd team, Mitc 1st team. Put those guys on the spurs instead of wemby and I don’t see playoffs.
Imagine dreaming about adding Harper and KD/Giannis all off-season only to end up with Harper, Carter, Kornet. This franchise always trying to go out of their way to be the smartest guy in the room.
9th best odds to win the West according to Vegas btw
Well said.
Because adding Giannis/KD without losing Harper of Castle was just that, dreaming.
Or are you going to play dumb and think our charity case offer of #14+Vassell+Barnes was anywhere close to #10+Green+Brooks?
I do agree that Wemby won't be very happy if he has to watch Flagg and Chet playing in the playoffs while he is on the sideline.
We will have to see how serious this FO is at gathering a compe ive team around him but time is starting to tick
I mean the "reaction" would be trading the players but...who would want them?
When we got the number 2 pick, and it was stated we were taking Harper, I assumed teams would call about Devin. I assumed teams would be like "we know Harper going to start playing off ball at the 2 since you got Fox at the point, that means less minutes for Devin, so let's talk about a trade." Man I can't find one report where anybody has called the Spurs about Devin. Because who wants an inconsistent 2 guard who is also hurt quite a bit?
I've seen people propose a Collins for Devin trade, but why would Utah do that? They just got Sexton and Clarkson out of there and have signed no one in free agency. They went straight bpa in the draft. They are going full youth movement. What use do they have for a player at any position going into his 6th year with multiple years left on his contract? Can't think of any.
The type of player Keldon is, terrible defensive player who gets buckets off the bunch semi efficiently is getting completely phased out of the league. Teams would rather score by committee than to have some all offense no defense 6th man doing it solo.
I just don't see what teams trade for any members of the POF crew.
Definitely. As I've said, presuming relative health, there's no more excuses. I don't want to hear about the (strong, but overrated) depth of the West or "not skipping steps".
Yeah, the fit is still suspect, but six seasons out, should have the fifth (Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander, Antetokounmpo, Doncic) best player in the league, 48 minutes of good - great playmaking and rim protection, along with decent depth, while relying on only one borderline old player.
Only the Thunder, Nuggets, Rockets, Timberwolves and probably Clippers should be definitively better.
Maybe the Warriors (Horford expected) and/or Lakers (Ayton, Melton expected) can pull something unexpected out of their ass and join them, but the Mavericks still have a dearth of play making/shooting and the Grizzlies are already banged up on their frontline and somewhat in disarray.
Unless Embiid makes a miraculous return to MVP form (good luck finding anyone who believes that), Wembanyama is already the fifth best player in the league behind the aforementioned four.
Kyrie unlikely to play next season. AD already gone under the knife. Kidd lost his top 3 assistants this offseason (Sweeney, Dudley, Shammgod). Would be criminal if the Spurs finish behind this Mavs team in the West standings next season.
Retina oh ttttt sorry AD
And their starting PG is D-Lo. I don't see the Mavs being better than the Spurs. Especially since Mr. Glass will miss more games as the season goes on.
Mavs still have a lot of depth. they are lacking the star power with Kyrie out, but its still a well built roster tbh
as a stopgap cheap starting PG, you could do way worse than DLo. AD is still a top 10-ish player (when he's out there, so yeah). But aside from that, all of Lively, Gafford, Washington, Flagg, Thompson, Christie are nice players. Naji Marshall is a fine rotation player. And then you add Cooper Flagg to all that.
That retina problem with AD is bad news. The long term chance of permanent blindness in that eye is pretty dramatic and could be caused by a rather insignificant blow to his head. He may or may not play again.
Wemby was already a top 10 player no question. He'll be a top 5 player this upcoming season. If Fox is in form, that's already an incredible one-two punch. The rest is up to team defending the 3 and making shots. That's it. If that comes into play they'll make playoffs.
In the last 6 months, Cissoko, Jones, Collins, CP3, Mamu, Bassey, Branham and Wesley are all gone. 8 players. And really only two (CP3 and Tre) are rotational players.
We have Fox, Harper, Kornet, and Onlynk are all rotational players. Fox obviously is much more than that. The point is, this is becoming a real team.
What's this news that I've missed.
With the additions of Kornet, Olynyk and McLaughlin it's obvious the goal is to compete.
Spurs wouldn't be getting veteran third stringers if there were no expectations to win right away.
240 minutes available, with not many players being guaranteed heavy minutes. I expect Harper and Castle to be guaranteed 20 to 25 minutes, but if they're not positive contributors on that given night, they won't be getting 30 or more.
Guaranteed minutes:
PG: Fox 33 / Harper 15
SG: Vassell 25 / Harper 5
SF: Castle 25 / Keldon 10 / Champagnie 5
PF: Barnes 20 / Sochan 15
C: Wemby 33 / Kornet 15
Wemby and Fox should be the only two players to have guaranteed 30+ minutes, everyone else needs to compete on nightly basis.
I'd like for Vassell to be down to 15 guaranteed minutes, but that won't happen.
Harper, Castle, Vassell and Barnes could get 30+ if they deserve it on that night.
Keldon and Champagnie could go up to 20, Sochan could go up to 30.
Olynyk will be a situational player used in certain matchups against teams with a lot of size.
Bryant will probably spend a lot of time in Austin, but I hope he'll start getting minutes in the second half of the season.
We don't need to go over weak links or our personal wishes again, we know that not having a legit PF is an issue, but this is the direction Wright has decided to go with Spurs roster building, at least for this upcoming season.
Hopefully we can get another Champagnie-like reclamation project down the road.
We have plenty of easily tradeable salaries if an opportunity to get an upgrade presents itself. Or if Spurs exceed expectations and are one or two players away from legit contention right away.
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