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Not sure if serious…
Thad threw Luka around like a rag doll when Spurs ran with the bulls.
Agree it would be helpful if Luka became positively influential. It is time for him and all the young ones to step it up now that the overrated ball hogs are gone.
Got a feeling him and poop don’t be getting along.
Not sure if serious…
Keeping it 20x5
no cap
Damn itnow I’m really not sure if serious
Im totally cereal.Damn it
im not saying he has to start or be a star. But be a rotation player in year 2 ffs
Ok now I got it
Luka will likely be a pleasant surprise this season. If we surprise everyone and get into playoffs, it will be because of a healthy White, dramatically improved Luka, and of course moderately improved Murray, vassell and Keldon.
Yeah it’s all Pops fault that Luka sucks. I mean he played Derrick year 2, he played DJ, he played Lonnie, he played KJ, but it’s all Pops fault that Luka couldn’t get any playing time last year…
You can’t take a player who barely played and give me advanced stats on them. It doesn’t work that way. Dude was excited to be in the game, but he starts not getting the ball and let’s see how his effort goes. The more he plays the worse that rating will go. The Spurs signed like 4 bigs in the off-season. They do NOT like what they have. Maybe all the player fans here on Spurstalk like Poeltl or Luka but Pop, RC, and Wrong, they don’t.
Dieng, Gay, and Lyles all left (also Aldridge although Dieng took his spot) so they had to get some depth. Lukey Sandwich was pretty much the only 4 still on the roster.
Like it or not, Keldon/McDermott are our starting 3&4 and Vassell will likely be our 3. We do have Amino and Young who can all play 4 too. We actually have too much depth considering all the guys that need playing time. 2 more years of rebuild at the very least.
Some depth sure but they all but placed his butt on the bench with the amount we got tbh. I expect McD to be our 4 in a lot of spots tbh. Or Keldon. And then we have Young to back them up. And Vassell. No real room for Luka at all in the rotation.
We’ll see. Keldon and McD are both crap on defense. If Pop can’t figure out how to play a guy who had done better than Vassel in his limited minutes I pray Pop retires as soon as he gets win 19 for the sake of the club. Personally I am renewing my season tickets the day Pop announces his long overdue retirement.
Some spurs fans are hard on Luka because he was drafted 19th and just hasn't shown what other spurs or other NBA players drafted further into the draft have done. After usually drafting in the mid to late 20's we simply expect players drafted that high to produce fairly quickly at least justifying their draft position. Yes we've been spoiled with the success of olympic Keldon, White, and Murray so we kind of expect someone drafted higher than them to do well also. When they don't, naturally we are disappointed or even a bit angry. Signing or trading for players that play his position doesn't help his cause either.
So this is probably a make or break year for him. If given the chance by Pop, he really really needs to produce and not just 5 points and a few rebounds (a decent G-leaguer can do that for a lot less). if he isn't given the chance, that possibly signals that the spurs have more faith in other players and have seen that enough potential just isn't there. It happens to many players on every team for whatever reasons. Without showing enough and I emphasize enough real progress, it may just be the spurs turn to move on from a player that initially showed lots of potential but didn't quite work out.
I was a huge backer of Lonnie's the past three seasons, but after what he showed me (or didn't show) during the season on defense, I'm really down on him now. I remember seeing pictures of him working out and working on defense with Jrue Holiday last off-season, but ff he can't learn anything from Jrue on the defensive side of the ball, I don't have much hope for him anymore. I hope he can put it together this season.
Yeah. Do you recall what happened with Lonnie? Lonnie got some minutes and was featured in a few select games his second season, but he did not become a regular part of the rotation until his third season. Coincidentally, Lonnie was drafted 18th overall and Luka was drafted 19th. So really what that tells me is that, for the most part, the Spurs drafted both players due to their traits and with the plan of taking the long game with their development.
It's not like it isnt working either. I'm pretty confident both guys will be in the league for 10 years.
And how has that worked out for Lonnie after a third year?
the brass using top 20 picks on guys then don’t even expect to produce for 2+ years is absurd
Non garbage minutes he is our worst offensive player. 8 percentile in points per attempts ; turnover percentage ; assist rate compared to usage rate. He does not hit shots , does not move the ball and turns it over a ton. His value is tied on POA defense against initiating forwards, if the initiation comes from someone he can't guard then there is no point in going 4 v 5 on offense. Also foul rate is second worst only ahead of Q.
The same numbers also shows up in the G-League where he ranked last and second to last in offensive rating on his own team in the past 2 seasons.
He is a mess on offense and situational on defense.
What I will say is this, if he doesn't get a regular rotation spot by this point it's all on him. He has compe ion for minutes but no one who is a star. Everyone is competing for minutes. The Spurs next season aren't really clear on who they are. He can be good enough to push for minutes, same as everyone else that has gotten them eventually. I think he'll get opportunities but it's all on him, and probably how good he can be offensively, because he has struggled there with an inconsistent shot.
If Samanic is going to be a big negative offensively then he'll find playing time outside of garbage time hard to come by. And he shouldn't take even garbage time for granted. That's how everyone on the Spurs eventually proved themselves as an NBA player. Scattered minutes and garbage time. He has to take every opportunity given, not just for the Spurs but for his career.
This is what no one wants to discuss. It's going to be difficult for him in a Spurs team that will struggle offensively at times, even with a few players making improvements.
Young probably won’t be kept, Mc Dermott is a 3. Luka will get some playing time.
Pop will go with his preferred tried and true (whats left of it) starting lineup. When that doesn't cut it, he will make tweaks here and there. When that doesn't work or lots of players are injured he starts experimenting. That's how Luka got his minutes last year, not exactly earning and then keeping them. We may not have as many injuries as last year plus we have some new players who may be hungry for minutes and will to do what it takes to get them and keep them. With the exception of Trey Jones and the rookies, most of the spurs players have lots more experience than Luka (and Jones looked real good in summer league) Luka has a big hill to climb if he just wants to play and a big mountain to climb if he wants to start. After 2 very limited seasons they aren't just going to hand him a starting position just because, he'll have to earn it even on a projected 30 win spurs team.
I disagree with you on both counts. 1) Lonnie broke into the lineup last year and had an ok season, so I’d say it’s working out OK so far. Next year will be really telling. 2) The number of guys that end up sticking around the league and being real contributors that are selected 18th or 19th overall is really, really small.
The Spurs have one thing they still do really well and that’s develop players. From their perspective, drafting highly athletic, toolsy players that have flaws but could be big home runs makes a ton of sense. They just need to hit on one of those guys to validate the strategy, and then turn the other one into a serviceable rotation player that can bring something meaningful to a compe ive (hopefully championship) level team.
The alternative at that range is selecting a guy that is a high floor roll player.
lonnie breaking into the rotation and playing awfully in year 3 is a resounding success
how far we have fallen
Looks like Chip is with Luka during his workouts. Seems the Spurs haven’t completely given up on him yet.
Why would they give up on him?
Such silly thinking.
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