Thybulle had 5 blocks and 4 steals in 20 minutes.. impressive. What a great weapon to have on your bench.
Watching Morant pour 47 points on the Jazz defense with Gobert in the paint, undaunted by having to win games on the road, watching Doncic laughing with that one footed 3 like he’s toying the Clippers unfazed, comparing that with Derozan choking in the playoffs (for his careeer—not even in his Spurs career)... just move on. Spurs need a franchise player, they should suck next season, start Samanic and don’t draft or sign a single shooter
Thybulle had 5 blocks and 4 steals in 20 minutes.. impressive. What a great weapon to have on your bench.
Spurs passed on him so they could sign the wonder that’s Luka Samanic.
Luka's kinda like the Wizard of Oz-- I've heard reports that he actually exists, but just haven't seen him in real life yet, because Pop is definitely not the Wizard of Id.
good one. I just can't see how others think it's no big deal that he didn't get minutes in a lottery team that lacked big men. Like that's /shrugs worthy and normal... Sink or swim he should play next season and let us see if Oz is real or not.
Maybe because it wasn't a lottery team, it was a playoff team at the halfway mark right before COVID struck? But let's ignore that little tidbit, shall we? No, let's rely on your knowledge of how the season went when you only pop up like whack-a-mole to come and complain about how "your team" should do this and that. Yes, the Spurs should listen to great fans like yourself who aren't around when the going gets tough.
I am skeptical. It's not normal to not have him play when you sit LMA who wants to be traded and looks washed, you lose faith in Lyles who has a mysterious injury and also wants to get traded midseason, and this guy, first round pick that they were so high on, doesn't play. The team has been in the lottery for two seasons in a row and even though it wasn't clear midseason, you are telling me playing him would have resulted in tanking? That also doesn't give me hope.
I am rooting for him, but I am kind of upset that the Spurs didn't play him this season. For what?
Judging from Pop, he seems to see Luka as being young and (reading between the lines) immature. In Europe, I've been told he was sort of moody/crazy and that was why he wasn't profiled higher in the draft. That said, I think he made progress this year. He came out of his s and positively interacted with his teammates and seems to have become part of the team. As for how to interpret his production on the court: in 180 seconds of mop up duty he sucked. When given big minutes, he did really well and shocked everyone here as to how great a defender he could be (even The Ringer commented on it, so it wasn't just homer glasses). I think he didn't play, as Dejounte mentioned, because Pop was trying to make the playoffs and likely fell back into his old habit of shortening rotations and leaning on veterans. I think Pop still inherently doesn't trust young players and my opinion is that he was shocked how well the team did in the bubble by prioritizing the young players, and though he said he wanted to play like the bubble, as the season went on he sort of forgot that and went back to his vets because he likes them and trusts them more. That's my analysis of the Luka Conundrum.
What killed the Spurs’ playoff hopes is that they went 2-10 in the last 12 games of the season. Btw.
It is a legitimate concern that a first round draft pick who stands 6’10” can’t get playing time on a team that needs a PF. But sure, “maybe next year.”
Thanks for your impression, that makes sense with Pop's history but it's so unsatisfying as a fan. I mean if he played enough minutes and wasn't good then you bench him and send him to the Gleague with a list of things to work on, but in reality we honestly truly don't know and with a short Gleague season, the opportunity to get reps was brief this year. I feel like it's difficult for players to improve without playing. His hand injury was such a bummer too, specially because it will likely affect his shooting practices. I am hoping he can still play in summer league though.
I am legitimately concerned and kind of upset that the Spurs didn't play him because even though a lot went on with COVID and the short Gleague season, how can we realistically expect improvement from him next year? He barely played as it is. Him getting 10-15 minutes a game and not embarrassing himself would be an improvement over this year. It's just not a good feeling to have. I suspect his offensive game is super raw and that is why he didn't play. The Spurs were very offensively challenged to begin with without him, so it would make sense Pop would bench him if offensively he's super raw. In that sense not having the full Gleague this season screwed him over.
We shall see what happens next season. Hopefully his hand is well for summer league.
Well, if DDR and Rudy leave this off season, it'll look kinda silly that Luka's development was slowed in order to give those two maximum minutes in a season where the best possible outcome was maybe an 8th spot... it doesn't make sense to me. If there'd been a full G League season and Luka had a chance to average 20/10 and compete for G league MVP, that would've been cool, but he played 6 games down there and then sat on the bench watching DeRozan audition for the part of an outdated 90s baller who doesn't play the right way and isn't over himself.... I'm just not sure what that accomplishes.
I don't know how you can use the playing time against luka when pop is the coach. We won't know if luka is a solid player until he gets a regular role. The spurs are used to burying bigs, boban, mahinimi, splitter, and overplaying veterans. Old people get mad stubborn and the front office is super weak since daddy holt left.
Yeah, unless they somehow sign and trade DDR and Gay (and I seriously doubt that’s happening) then it looks horrible.
Milwaukee about to go up 3-0 on Miami. I didn't get why they were at 10-1 odds headed into the playoffs to win it all, especially after beating Brooklyn twice late in the season. Granted, the Nets were without Harden, but still... seems like people are sleeping on this team.
Did anybody see Chris Paul flop when AD came through…falls to the ground, almost injures himself further…gets back up angry, bumps into the ref incited…and pushes the ref off?
Just a crazy sequence. 9:16 min mark of 1st Q for reference.
Last edited by PhantomDashCam; 05-27-2021 at 09:28 PM.
Has Chris Paul ever lasted a playoff in his career TBH?
Milwaukee winning would be fantastic. May convince future players to stay with the teams that drafted them, instead of bolting.
So will Booker and Crowder magically get suspended for Game 4?
The West looks pretty ty . If the Clippers can't turn around their series with Dallas, the 7th seeded Lakers are going to the finals again.
Suns God the West is dog right now--and there aren't really rosters in the East that look the part of a good champ except for Brooklyn.
I love to hate on the Lakers any chance I get but the rest of the West is proving that their championship last year, although during the pandemic, wasn’t a fluke. And it was foolish to count them out for their late season struggles and foolish to think we would have beaten them in the play in.
The whole league is pretty trash right now. Only the Nets look like they could play against the best of previous eras. Same thing last year.
The Lakers are mediocre, but the West in general just isn't that good. The top 3 teams in the East > the West, albeit I think Denver would be right there if Murray didn't tear his ACL.
Agreed. The 2014 Spurs and the warriors of the past would have beaten this lakers team easily. Yet no other team in the west looks ready to defeat them. Denver had bad luck losing Murray and the clippers will be the clippers like always. Says a lot about how ty the Spurs are right now that they couldn’t make the top 8 in a pretty piss poor conference.
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