Brian Wright: Any Reason for Optimism?

[ZeusWillJudge]

Good article. Reading this quote is awful:

"The Boston Celtics were pushing hard for Leonard. They were offering mostly draft picks. The west coast teams, the Lakers and Clippers, were actively involved. The New York Knicks made a pitch. Other teams did, too."

It was a bad trade at the time, but god does it look terrible in hindsight. Imagine where the Spurs would be if they had taken some of the Celtics' picks from their Nets haul, traded LMA close to his prime for more picks, and committed to a rebuild? Instead we turned Kawhi into non-valuable assets and wasted our other star asset. Sad.

Yeah, I would have been really happy if they had gone that route. But lot of people were totally against a rebuild - probably most fans, TBH. That all ties into what DPG has been saying abut the Spurs choosing a win-now direction. But then they didn't really commit to win-now.

If they had gone the Celtic route, there would have had to be a third party involved, and they would have to have gotten something for facilitating. Usually that involves picks, so maybe the trove for the Spurs would have been smaller than we would have wanted?

[Kobe'sAchilles]

Well we haven't extended DeRozan yet so there's a small ray of hope on the horizon. I fully expect him to it up of course, but small blessings for now

[UZER]

Spurs should have taken Siakam instead of DeMar and I’m not bashing DeMar. I don’t hate him but long term Spurs should have been thinking future proofing and getting young talent to develop not making a run at playoffs before Pop retires. It’s championships or bust. Develop your players and see what you have and if by a certain time frame you don’t see the type of improvements you want scrap and do again for that position. LaMarcus and DeMar need to be traded so we can develop a young core and possibly go after a free agent or two who can help and wants to be here. The presently constructed team is not consistent enough to warrant keeping together so by the trade deadline I expect major changes to the roster including rotation of current players especially if no moves are
made.

Why? He’d be in the G league right now.

[slick'81]

Why? He’d be in the G league right now.

I think pop would of loved a young athletic pf who can run the floor and defend

[ZeusWillJudge]

I think pop would of loved a young athletic pf who can run the floor and defend

He would... once he got over himself.

[UZER]

I think pop would of loved a young athletic pf who can run the floor and defend

I don’t disagree. My point is just Pop is Pop with young guys.

[spurs10]

I honestly don’t know how much of a role or influence he had in that deal; only that he was definitely involved. He made some “creative” moves I guess this off season which seems to bode well (how he got money for Morris/Carroll) but this is a results business and Carroll is bad and can’t even crack the rotation. Beyond that, it’s clear that just getting Carroll was not even enough and he had a full season to evaluate the team.

I didn't know much about him before the season and still don't. I would guess RC and Pop were the folks that made the final decision on the trade of nephew and didn't have a great hand to play with his expiring contract. I was of the thought that you don't loan him out for a season- take the salary and see what you can build. I say that not knowing how disruptive it was having Kawhi there. I felt it was just all too much for them and they took what they could get.

I see two main issues- first of all no one thought DDR was a fair trade for the nephew. We were getting ed no matter what happened. He took $19 million and 'business-wise' stabbed Pop in the back when he had bigger issues to be dealing with. Pop likely tries not to take it personally, as seen by his outward friendliness to him, but I think it's just both of them being professional. I also think that it was mostly business and bad timing on nephew's part. Nephew is my least liked person in sports and I'm not horribly objective. Him leaving was not the issue, it was all the 'back stabbing' and horrible behaviour to the fans and team.

Secondly, I don't think Carroll was ever 'the plan,' and like DDR, just the best they could do after another figurative knife in the back by Morris. Even he doesn't blame Pop or Spurs fans for hating him. He's right, we should. So those two incidents do play a big part in the shape we are in with losing Bertans being bigger than we want to admit. My guess losing Bertans hurts Pop more than Morris going back on his word. We have ad nauseam been through the 'nephew debate' and it's long over, but I don't think Brian, RC, or Pop consider DDR the answer. A lot to consider in this thread.

I think they are looking for answers and it's likely a trade is being strongly considered. Doubt they'll trade LMA and DDR both, as they'll be fortunate to find a decent trade for one of them. They also aren't being forced to make that trade.

[DPG21920]

No, there is not any proof that he was involved. There is proof that he worked in the office, and somebody mentioned he was allowed to answer the phone sometimes. R. C. Was the GM, spunky, and that is a fact. But I know you little girls are all intent on having a hissy fit with no facts standing in your way, so go ahead.

So he was involved is what you’re saying. Taking trade calls, networking and other activities is involvement. That’s a fact. Why are you so cranky? Pound the rock man.

[MultiTroll]

So he was involved is what you’re saying. Taking trade calls, networking and other activities is involvement. That’s a fact. Why are you so cranky? Pound the rock man.

Because taking calls and making the decision of Kawhi for DD is equal.
FOH.

[DPG21920]

Because taking calls and making the decision of Kawhi for DD is equal.
FOH.

Who said he “made the decision”. He was obviously involved in the process; to what degree? Unknown, but it’s a lot more than getting coffee for RC. Hence the promotion.

[spurs10]

Who said he “made the decision”. He was obviously involved in the process; to what degree? Unknown, but it’s a lot more than getting coffee for RC. Hence the promotion.

What's your point? Okay he was there when decisions were possibly made. How would you ever know the degree of someone's involvement in those decisions? I don't think Brian's promotion is the cause of what we are seeing.

[JeffDuncan]

So he was involved is what you’re saying. Taking trade calls, networking and other activities is involvement. That’s a fact. Why are you so cranky? Pound the rock man.

Guy, earlier you were talking about Wright as if he made the deal. Anybody with any sense knows better than that. That's a fact. Why are you such an idiot? Kiss my ass, man.

[ZeusWillJudge]

Because taking calls and making the decision of Kawhi for DD is equal.
FOH.

What's your point? Okay he was there when decisions were possibly made. How would you ever know the degree of someone's involvement in those decisions? I don't think Brian's promotion is the cause of what we are seeing.

Guy, earlier you were talking about Wright as if he made the deal. Anybody with any sense knows better than that. That's a fact. Why are you such an idiot? Kiss my ass, man.

Wright didn't "make the deal" But DPG never said that Brian Wright "made the deal". And the reason he never said that is because he knows that an Assistant GM doesn't have the authority to "make a deal" - unlike you three wits.

What we do know is that he was working hard behind the scenes to make the deal happen. And there's pretty good inference that he was doing that because he wanted to see it get done. A lot of trades get proposed, all the time. Very, very damn few of them ever get made. It would help to have an Assistant GM running interference, and according to what the Toronto side said, that's what he was doing. Usually people do things like that when they're sold on the idea. The question this thread was asking is what kind of judgment and deals we can expect, now that he has a lot more authority.

The three of you need to go find a safe space and calm down.

[ZeusWillJudge]

I can sense JeffDuncan feverishly composing his biting response.

Should be along any minute now.

[TimDunkem]

I can sense JeffDuncan feverishly composing his biting response.

Should be along any minute now.

Emotional guy, isn't he?

[RD2191]

Spurs traded a career winner for a career loser, they ed up big time.

[TheCerebral1]

This team hit the wall hard, and should have traded vets at the deadline last year. Get what you can and begin to rebuild. This is the start of the next wave.

[K...]

Debating whether he did the DeRozan is pretty pointless. When pop and rc walk out the door they won't walk out, they'll remain around, and probably give advice. Final say on tanking is probably with the holt kids so you might as well start a thread: holt babies? Any reason for optimism? It has been assumed that the spurs can't tank, the pride of too strong, but the team and pops retirement are forcing their hands.

[JuneJive]

What we do know is that he was working hard behind the scenes to make the deal happen.

But we don't know if DeRozan was his pick as the main piece or was it Pops.

The answer presents itself right there.

[K...]

This team hit the wall hard, and should have traded vets at the deadline last year. Get what you can and begin to rebuild. This is the start of the next wave.

We made the playoffs, got a favorable matchup, saw the warriors at a weak point, had a good record against nephew, appeared to uncover a new talent, made a strong late season push, had two prior first round picks coming back, but you think last year should have been blown up? WTF it's with your hurry? You don't have to moneyball the whole ass team, let them blow a season and bottom out naturally!

[baseline bum]

Spurs traded a career winner for a career loser, they ed up big time.

Can't believe it's turned out this way, but man did they ever up not getting Jaylen Brown and a pick.

[baseline bum]

But we don't know if DeRozan was his pick as the main piece or was it Pops.

The answer presents itself right there.

It was Ujiri's main pick, he was salary dumping DePression.

[DPG21920]

Guy, earlier you were talking about Wright as if he made the deal. Anybody with any sense knows better than that. That's a fact. Why are you such an idiot? Kiss my ass, man.

I said he made the deal? For person so angry and fired up about facts, you sure don’t seem to care about them. I said he played in integral role and based on everything we’ve seen reported (not just the ol angry old man Jeff Duncan rage posting) that is true.

He didn’t make the deal by himself, but you are flat out fooling yourself if you think he wasn’t heavily involved. This isn’t DPG reporting this; it’s been reported by several people that covered the situation.

You think it’s a coincidence that just 2 seasons later Wright is the GM?

[DPG21920]

I can sense JeffDuncan feverishly composing his biting response.

Should be along any minute now.

Seriously - this guys posts like a 15 year old version of TPark. It’s very unpleasant but I still love him as a member of this fine community.

[DPG21920]

Debating whether he did the DeRozan is pretty pointless. When pop and rc walk out the door they won't walk out, they'll remain around, and probably give advice. Final say on tanking is probably with the holt kids so you might as well start a thread: holt babies? Any reason for optimism? It has been assumed that the spurs can't tank, the pride of too strong, but the team and pops retirement are forcing their hands.

The Holt kids have the ownership but make no mistake, they are not just going to throw their weight around and start dominating player decisions. They will be involved, but as long as Pop, RC and others are there? Yeah, just like previous owners they leave that stuff to the people running the show.

Don’t try to minimize the new GM role; that is silly.