Official San Antonio Spurs 2021 Free Agency Discussion Thread

[The Truth #6]

Or maybe it's a classic Spurs misdirection to ensure we can lock up Patty again and make a run at stealing Bryn Forbes.

The oldest trick in the book. Classic.

[The Truth #6]

I want no part of his contract, especially since he is afraid to shoot. He has had the Yips his entire career. that.

Agree. But there is evidence/speculation that he has been shooting with the wrong hand most of his career. Evidently does everything in life right handed but shoots left handed. Seemingly, there is a path to him becoming a better shooter but he refuses to switch back to his normal hand. Until he does he needs to play the 4, but refuses that also. So my issue with him is less about talent and more about mentality/ability to adapt. Those needed changes, plus moving to San Antonio? Seems like a revolt waiting to happen. But perhaps Patty would be his whisperer? Still probably too much to take on.

[exstatic]

Agree. But there is evidence/speculation that he has been shooting with the wrong hand most of his career. Evidently does everything in life right handed but shoots left handed. Seemingly, there is a path to him becoming a better shooter but he refuses to switch back to his normal hand. Until he does he needs to play the 4, but refuses that also. So my issue with him is less about talent and more about mentality/ability to adapt. Those needed changes, plus moving to San Antonio? Seems like a revolt waiting to happen. But perhaps Patty would be his whisperer? Still probably too much to take on.

One thing about SA: the press here are cream puffs compared to those jackals in Philly. That alone may improve his mental outlook.

As for the left handed thing, it shouldn’t matter. He’s shot competently in the past, and was trained by his father as a left handed shooter since he could pick up and dribble a ball. Everything wrong is between his ears.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

One thing about SA: the press here are cream puffs compared to those jackals in Philly. That alone may improve his mental outlook.

As for the left handed thing, it shouldn’t matter. He’s shot competently in the past, and was trained by his father as a left handed shooter since he could pick up and dribble a ball. Everything wrong is between his ears.

When has he shot competently? His shooting splits have been terrible outside of 3 feet form the basket throughout his career. His FT% has always been around 60%, which I guess you could argue is amazing compared to his last playoff heroics.

[The Truth #6]

A video on the theories about his shooting preference and why he needs to switch back to right handed.

https://youtu.be/VgPb7cP2mj4

[LeBowen]

When has he shot competently? His shooting splits have been terrible outside of 3 feet form the basket throughout his career. His FT% has always been around 60%, which I guess you could argue is amazing compared to his last playoff heroics.

He was decent in summer league.

[R. DeMurre]

The 76ers have an MVP level center, a combo forward who averaged 19.5/6.8/3.5, five guys shooting over 37% from three, and an all world defender in Thybulle... and are looking to get rid of Simmons. I look at it this way: If the Spurs were fortunate enough to draft a guy this year who becomes an MVP candidate and they sign a couple of really good shooters and Vassell becomes a DPOY candidate and Keldon & Lonnie & Luka reach their absolute ceilings, the Spurs might be where the 76ers are now... trying to unload Ben Simmons. Also, the 76ers had the flexibility to do things before signing Simmons to a max contract-- a luxury the Spurs wouldn't have. I'd rather they just find a different route to improving.

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[Teamduncan21]

The 76ers have an MVP level center, a combo forward who averaged 19.5/6.8/3.5, five guys shooting over 37% from three, and an all world defender in Thybulle... and are looking to get rid of Simmons. I look at it this way: If the Spurs were fortunate enough to draft a guy this year who becomes an MVP candidate and they sign a couple of really good shooters and Vassell becomes a DPOY candidate and Keldon & Lonnie & Luka reach their absolute ceilings, the Spurs might be where the 76ers are now... trying to unload Ben Simmons. Also, the 76ers had the flexibility to do things before signing Simmons to a max contract-- a luxury the Spurs wouldn't have. I'd rather they just find a different route to improving.

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It's about having a known star in the roster, that will be able to attract more free agents.
I'm not a big fan of him. But I get the rationale behind. It's about trying to be relevant and hope to make playoffs again and to cut the rebuild time.

I guess another option is complete rebuild.

[R. DeMurre]

Also, the vibe I get from Simmons is really weird too. Jimmy Butler had the option of staying with an obviously very talented team, but decided to leave. Ben's own coach and teammates just after their last game of their playoff run were so exasperated with him that they pretty much said he was their main problem, not attempting to sugar coat it or be even a little bit diplomatic. Plus he dated a Kardashian-- the surest sign of bad decision making tendencies!

[R. DeMurre]

It's about having a known star in the roster, that will be able to attract more free agents.
I'm not a big fan of him. But I get the rationale behind. It's about trying to be relevant and hope to make playoffs again and to cut the rebuild time.

I guess another option is complete rebuild.

Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid have both seemed completely frustrated by Simmons. I think he's more likely to repel stars than attract them.

[PhantomDashCam]

The Dame Lillard trade chatter on Twitter seems legit.
Lots of reports about wanting out.

Philly better gear up.

[Twisted_Dawg]

I just hope we're not the clueless desperate patsy that helps out the big market teams and takes on Simmons and his contract. Shades of the 80s when we were the Lakers .

[Dejounte]

Holy . What a way to throw your teammates under the bus.

[KobesAchilles]

Holy . What a way to throw your teammates under the bus.

Yeah but he isn’t wrong. I never really got the whole you have to walk on tippy toes when you have sucky teammates to the media. Call them out tbh. If they don’t improve after that, both players and management,
that’s not on you. Larry Bird called Kevin McHale a pussy in the finals. He said the word sissy but I guarantee he didn’t use that word in the locker room.

[Dejounte]

Eh. I get all the old school and doing whatever it takes to have a better winning situation, that doesnt mean I agree with it. Theres always a better way to handle things. In any other professional environment, What Damian said is poor leadership, simple as that.

[SAGirl]

I didn't know where to place this and don't want to create a new thread for it, but the play in is coming back for another season...

[RC_Drunkford]

If the Spurs have a chance at landing Simmons get him. Simply cause we got Chip. He can fix anybody's shot and Simmons wouldn't have any pressure playing for San Antonio. Package DeRozan and White. Keep Murray. Let Simmons play SF and get a 3-point shooting PF and a stretch 5.

The play in tournament is wack

[KDKSpurs24]

If the Spurs have a chance at landing Simmons get him. Simply cause we got Chip. He can fix anybody's shot and Simmons wouldn't have any pressure playing for San Antonio. Package DeRozan and White. Keep Murray. Let Simmons play SF and get a 3-point shooting PF and a stretch 5.

The play in tournament is wack

I don’t know about that.. DeMar’s 3 point shot didn’t get fixed. Ben Simmons is way worse off than DeRozan ever was. And I know Simmons is still young but he’s unusually and historically bad at shooting.

[BacktoBasics]

I don’t know about that.. DeMar’s 3 point shot didn’t get fixed. Ben Simmons is way worse off than DeRozan ever was. And I know Simmons is still young but he’s unusually and historically bad at shooting.

DDR’s shot didn’t necessarily need fixing. His mentality did. Although I think Simmons isn’t much different as far as mental barriers go he has much further to go offensively as a whole. I do think it’s easier to get a break through with a 24 year old Simmons than DDR.

The advantage with Simmons is that if he’s traded here he’ll have less pressure on him to make those mental and style changes. Could take a season or two… whereas with Philly he is basically expected to make that change in one offseason.

For the record I don’t see Ben coming here. There are sooo many better trades for Philly before they sniff at what we have to offer.

[Kurik]

Chip is a miracle worker but he can only work his magic when the player is all in. I don’t see that happening with Simmons, just puts off a bad vibe ever since college.

[Chinook]

My mind is sort of blown by how many people think Simmons wouldn't be a massive upgrade over any player on the roster. I do think there's a limit to what the team can trade for him, but it'd be easy to make a playoff team around him. The only player who'd even have an argument against him is a fictionally fully healthy Derrick White. Theoretically, the Spurs could trade Murray, Poeltl and incentive to take Simmons into cap space. If they then do the DMDR for Kuzma/KCP trade, they'd have up to $10 Million in cap space. Earmark the room exception to bring Dieng back, draft a center like Queta with the not-12 pick (28 in my Capulator mock-up),and you have a pretty chunk of coin to add shooting or even bring Mills back. Round out the roster buy locking up Weatherspoon and KBD to long-term cheap deals, and you get:

White, Mills, Jones
Vassell, Walker, Weatherspoon
Johnson, KCP, KBD
Simmons, Kuzma, Samanic
Dieng, Eubanks, Queta

I'd prefer to swap Mills out for a capable guard who can run an offense when White is hurt, but Patty should fit well with Simmons, and the culture and all that. An alternative to either Kuzma or Caldwell-Pop could be a Schroeder S&T, but I'm not the biggest fan of that. Maybe the Spurs could take back Hill in the Simmons trade while the Lakers sent Dennis to Philly? That might actually work better, and it would be fun to have George back after the last few crazy years to his career. They'd have to find a rotation-caliber forward with the salary saved though.

White, Hill, Jones
Vassell, Walker, Weatherspoon
Johnson, (FA Wing), KBD
Simmons, Kuzma, Samanic
Dieng, Eubanks, Queta

Or other combos. Either way, I think a team built around Simmons is functional and better than what SA is running with currently. It'd not hard to have good spacing if you don't devote like 60 percent of your minutes to non-shooters. Swapping out Jakob for Dieng or another stretch-five is crucial, so keeping White and Vassell becomes a huge deal, as is getting a guy to spell White and take over for Dieng as he stops being even a technical starter. The center problem would likely need to be addressed with the MLE the following season

[talkspurs]

My mind is sort of blown by how many people think Simmons wouldn't be a massive upgrade over any player on the roster. I do think there's a limit to what the team can trade for him, but it'd be easy to make a playoff team around him. The only player who'd even have an argument against him is a fictionally fully healthy Derrick White. Theoretically, the Spurs could trade Murray, Poeltl and incentive to take Simmons into cap space. If they then do the DMDR for Kuzma/KCP trade, they'd have up to $10 Million in cap space. Earmark the room exception to bring Dieng back, draft a center like Queta with the not-12 pick (28 in my Capulator mock-up),and you have a pretty chunk of coin to add shooting or even bring Mills back. Round out the roster buy locking up Weatherspoon and KBD to long-term cheap deals, and you get:

White, Mills, Jones
Vassell, Walker, Weatherspoon
Johnson, KCP, KBD
Simmons, Kuzma, Samanic
Dieng, Eubanks, Queta

I'd prefer to swap Mills out for a capable guard who can run an offense when White is hurt, but Patty should fit well with Simmons, and the culture and all that. An alternative to either Kuzma or Caldwell-Pop could be a Schroeder S&T, but I'm not the biggest fan of that. Maybe the Spurs could take back Hill in the Simmons trade while the Lakers sent Dennis to Philly? That might actually work better, and it would be fun to have George back after the last few crazy years to his career. They'd have to find a rotation-caliber forward with the salary saved though.

White, Hill, Jones
Vassell, Walker, Weatherspoon
Johnson, (FA Wing), KBD
Simmons, Kuzma, Samanic
Dieng, Eubanks, Queta

Or other combos. Either way, I think a team built around Simmons is functional and better than what SA is running with currently. It'd not hard to have good spacing if you don't devote like 60 percent of your minutes to non-shooters. Swapping out Jakob for Dieng or another stretch-five is crucial, so keeping White and Vassell becomes a huge deal, as is getting a guy to spell White and take over for Dieng as he stops being even a technical starter. The center problem would likely need to be addressed with the MLE the following season

How can you be so high on Simmons yet so low on DJ? I know you and some others on here done believe me but DJ is the better player and will continue to be the better player. You keep talking about spacing but then you want to bring in Ben when DJ shoots and makes more 3s and way more mid range 2s. you mention needing a floor spacing 5 with Ben (which I agree) but embid shot 3s in Philly and it did not work. why would it work here?

[Dejounte]

How can you be so high on Simmons yet so low on DJ? I know you and some others on here done believe me but DJ is the better player and will continue to be the better player. You keep talking about spacing but then you want to bring in Ben when DJ shoots and makes more 3s and way more mid range 2s. you mention needing a floor spacing 5 with Ben (which I agree) but embid shot 3s in Philly and it did not work. why would it work here?

It's called doubling down. Maybe not doubling down at this point, but tripling down. , probably quadrupling down. Chinook really hasn't been the same since the Spurs started utilizing Aldridge differently. From there, it's just constant ting on the team. Doesn't matter if the player isn't even bad.

I'm ing with you, Chinook. You're a good guy. But it is silly when you consistently have the most unpopular opinion every. single. time. I think you're doing this on purpose the ultimate contrarian.

[R. DeMurre]

we got Chip. He can fix anybody's shot

He hasn't fixed DeRozan's shot.

[Mr. Body]

What's disturbing about Simmons is he hasn't improved an inch since he started in the league. Last year was adv. statistically his worst. That's forgiveable, but otherwise he's not doing much of anything right now he wasn't four years ago.