No. I think what you and a lot of other fans are doing is letting your emotions cloud your memory. This is what timvp said at the time:
https://www.spurstalk.com/spurs-free...des-first-day/
The idea that all of the sudden it's a two-year window with expiring vets is false. It was predictable that it would be this way.
Yes, I can. I really think you're turtling at this point. They weren't going to sign guys to multi-year deals to win, because they basically don't have a path toward a le. They would just give up cap space for nothing. But the alternative to being a contender is not tearing it down and rebuilding.
Yes. Last year, they were more willing to sign guys to two-year deals, since they had two years left to do it. That's what happened with Morris and Carroll. This year, they don't have the same flexibility to sign guys to one-year deals due to the cap staying flat, and even if they did, they weren't going to sign guys like Beli or Forbes when they have young players. It's really obvious that you're being biased when the same thing you think will make other teams better than the Spurs -- the development of their young players -- is just completely dismissed for SA to fit the argument. Memphis having guys like Ja and JJJ take the next step is inevitable and fine, and boy why can't the Spurs do that. But then the Spurs are hoping for the same thing and it's, "That's dumb, they shoulda signed Torrey Craig instead."
Just no.
Making the playoffs isn't more important than developing their players or even keeping a good amount of cap space open for next summer. "Winning" doesn't mean that they have to hit a certain seed or victory total. It means they are going out there with a mentality of using their best talent and letting their young players come up around the talent instead of moving that talent and having the players try to expand their games into roles they might not be comfortable with. Vassell solidifying himself as a three-and-D player is more helpful to his long-term development than him flailing around with the ball trying to be the lead guy on a team that has no better talent. Same thing with Johnson and Walker. They got way too excited with Murray and tried to short-cut his development by having him focus on off-dribble pull-ups. Murray's impact has degraded to the point where he's a questionable rotation player.
They can't let that happen with Johnson or the others. That seems inconceivable to many Spurs fans. But as promising as he and some of the young guys are, they aren't more talented than the sea of players from perennially bad teams that get huge roles and flame out or at best become extremely flawed and unbalanced minor stars. Constantly churning out those players is how you become a permabad team, and it's why it doesn't make sense to assume some of those teams with "better futures" really will pass the Spurs. A sizeable number of those guys will bust out. Another bit will be okay and get overpaid. The rest will be good and earn their money but then ask out because they don't want to be in that cesspool anymore.