Official 2016 Summer League Thread

[Solid D]

Will Hanlan be added to the summer league team for Utah or Vegas?

I'm not sure if he has swapped sides, yet. He looked pretty good vs. the Spurs in their first Utah SL game.

[jyra]

Vegas team is going to be stacked.

[Vic Petro]

[raybies]

[Chinook]

Hope he's better than Cady has been. But no Ndoye?

[raybies]

To me this mean Milutinov isn't making it, that or Jean-Charles.

[Kawhitstorm]

Hope he's better than Cady has been. But no Ndoye?

Jarnell is Blair 2.0 w/o the ego & Whataburger addiction.

[look_at_g_shred]

Stoked for Stokes

[Keepin' it real]

I hear Jarnell Stokes might be joining the Spurs summer league team.

[Keepin' it real]

To me this mean Milutinov isn't making it, that or Jean-Charles.

I thought Milutinov was a sure thing?

[raybies]

I thought Milutinov was a sure thing?

Well with him getting contact offers in Europe, the signs look like he's staying overseas. I guess it's all in the air with Duncan's decision. I don't think the Spurs can do two buyouts. They already need money to buyout Bertans, if my memory serves me correctly, so maybe Milutinov stays. Which is unfortunate cause I think we need him this year to start developing. Kind of wishing we took Zubac instead of Murray, with the glut of guards we have now. But if Murray turns out it'll be worth it

[I. Hustle]

Did you guys hear about Stokes?

[GSH]

Jarnell is Blair 2.0 w/o the ego & Whataburger addiction.

LOL. I just posted the same thing in the thread about him. He's a short ing Dejuan Blair. It's not that I hate him, I've just come to hate ing tweeners. I've gotten excited about way too many of them, and with just a very few exceptions, they always disappoint.

[marinoman]

[Kawhitstorm]

LOL. I just posted the same thing in the thread about him. He's a short ing Dejuan Blair. It's not that I hate him, I've just come to hate ing tweeners. I've gotten excited about way too many of them, and with just a very few exceptions, they always disappoint.

Fat Baby was a rotation player on a Championship team. Upstairs, Stokes comes off more like Big Baby than Blair who would have been getting paid if he had any work ethic.

[raybies]

[SAGirl]

Simmons' biggest strength could also be his biggest weakness. He's got great handles, and a real talent for getting to the rim and finishing. That threat could give him the opportunity to get teammates easy buckets. To me it looks like he's always looking for his own opportunity first, and he gets too deep into the defense before he recognizes that it isn't there.

It's like a young pitcher with a 98 mph fastball. It usually takes them a couple of seasons to realize that, if you throw it too often, big league hitters will light you up. I don't care how good you handle the ball, NBA defenses aren't going to let you keep getting to the rim play after play. Again, just my opinion, but right now it looks like he has to be convinced that he can't get to the rack before he starts looking elsewhere. I'm not sure it's decision making as much as mindset.

That doesn't diminish the fact that he has great handles, and a real talent for getting to the rim and finishing. That would serve him well on a wide-open team, but it's going to be tough for him to get it past Pop. Manu made Pop crazy with his wild style of play, but Pop put up with it because he brought more positives than negatives. But Manu also modified his game to fit more with Pop's expectations. I think Simmons needs to figure that part out. Personally, I love Simmons, and what he potentially brings to the team. But even I think he would do well to spend some time learning how to benefit the team in other ways.

You make some good points. I wanted to mention for my part, that he has improved his handles a lot from where I saw them 2 years ago.

One thing I noticed is that a lot of his TO were just a bad decision. At least a couple were, he got a pass at the 3 pt line, with a guy in his vicinity but not on an aggressive close out of any kind. He chose to drive on a guy who was at least 4 feet away from him. He has an explosive step, which gives him confidence he can dunk on any of these guys whenever he wants to but the guy was still not close enough to him that he could just blow by him like that. Those were TO. It slowed him down just enough to get stripped or lose the handle or for help to arrive, in one he got an offensive foul called. He should have just called up a screen from a big in that situation if he didn't want to take the 3. Those are the kinds of things that I deem in the "decision making" category. He had shot just 1-7 from 3 the night b4 and he had some definite shyness to take the 3 in this game, so his decision making in that kind of situation could improve. Either take the 3, pass out to a teammate for a play if there is time, or if you want to drive, call for a screen. He had this same kind of TO in the RS, exactly same situation, pass up on a 3, dribble onto a TO. The good thing is that it's a correctable problem. I think if he stayed within the system, some TO are avoidable. The fact he was dominating everybody physically emboldened him to such an extent that he got motivated to street ball and separate from the system. Bad things happen when you separate from the system and go into solo shizz, even in SL, so you can imagine in the NBA is that much worse. He kind of hit a rookie wall when they started to defend him like that last season. He has started to hit the midrange shot. He has definitely worked on it bc it wasn't a part of his game. Still part of summer league is probably cleaning up bad habits like the one I mentioned.

To be fair, and not seem like I am hating JSimms, Kyle did engage in some solo stuff of his own at the end too and that didn't end too well for him either. He ran out of gas and the things he attempted ended up in him getting stuck too but with the exception of a couple of plays at the end, Kyle didn't deviate that much from the system the rest of the game. If he wanted to try his own solo stuff he could have called a clear out post up for himself. It prevents bigs, as he now is from getting stuck in no land. He had nice passes to his teammate big when he drew help but Kirk just could not convert on that. I think a clear out post up was needed if he wanted to go one on one within Pop's system. And good things happen in the system, out of the post up he gets a good shot for himself or a lane opens up for a 3 for a teammate. For Simms, if he called a screen on a solo shizz, good things can also happen for himself or a teammate as well.

Also, cannot stress this enough, both guys were very tired towards the end. The game was very fast paced, frenetic at times and they got gassed.

Saying this in all fairness bc I am not in some Simms hate wagon.

In a way, I am torn bc I feel like despite the "domination" both guys could stand to improve a lot still. However, when the disparity in talent is that wide, guys don't necessarily learn a lot from this experience and may pick up bad habits. It's likely to continue as a season long learning process anyways. Predict a lot of chewing outs. Both guys have a lot to work on still and it will undoubtedly have to happen through the season . I am sure for example Pop will continue to develop Kyle's post game and it's a work in progress currently.

[SAGirl]

Simmons is an NBA player who is useful to many teams, I'm sure. Perhaps not a great fit for the Spurs, is all.

To my eyes, the Spurs are intentionally building a roster of snipers, which is one reason I believe the Bourousis rumors. Not that he's a "sniper". But he does have range to serve as a stretch 5.

My su ion requires more development than this quick reply, but the prima facia case is easy to spot. Tony Parker has shot over 40% from 3 the last two seasons, Kawhi will hit at ~45% this season, Green should recover to > 40%, Bertans >40%, and Forbes is at least a 40% shooter from deep.

Mills, Ginobili, Anderson, Gasol, and, if he's added, Bourousis will shoot between 35 and 40% from deep. That's 10 players whom all shoot better than 35% from three.

I'd guess the Spurs are doing this for a variety of reasons. To solve the math problem GS presents, to create more space for Leonard to penetrate, clears space for Aldridge on low block, it's somewhat organic with the players available to team, and, despite their regular season defensive brilliance, the team struggled to keep pace with the Thunder and Warriors in every meeting last season. Without Tim Duncan, it will be difficult to have the same defensive iden y next season. Not that Pop punts on defense, but the team must create advantages elsewhere. This team will look more like the 2012 Spurs.

Maybe Simmons fits this roster as one of the few players who can get to the rim. More space would play to his strengths. But I'm not convinced.

As an aside from the Jsimms subject, I like this point. Without TD its unlikely the team can maintain the same level defensively and even at their best defensively, the team struggled to score at times. It didn't cost them in the regular season that much bc they were just that good defensively, but against the elite teams they could not afford to get behind in even the smallest fashion bc they didn't have the firepower to make runs when they needed them and that goes to shooting. JSimms has a role off the bench. He's terrific pushing the pace in transition and the bench can benefit from that a lot. In fact I can see the perfect pairing that JSimms and Kyle's game makes off the bench now that Kyle is shooting the 3 this well. JSimms needs to continue to work on his 3 pt shot bc he's unlikely to be that ball dominant. There will be times he will be the one spotting up. He showed he could hit the 3, and I think he needs to continue to take it as a way of building good habits and confidence.

[Mnky]

JSimms has a role off the bench. He's terrific pushing the pace in transition and the bench can benefit from that a lot. In fact I can see the perfect pairing that JSimms and Kyle's game makes off the bench now that Kyle is shooting the 3 this well. JSimms needs to continue to work on his 3 pt shot bc he's unlikely to be that ball dominant. There will be times he will be the one spotting up. He showed he could hit the 3, and I think he needs to continue to take it as a way of building good habits and confidence.

I think they fit well together too.I'd prefer sims to play off Kyle being the main handler. Kyle has the cleaner stroke and would be good for sims to start the pick n roll with, but should be much more situational driving off of screens and play action, then straight from the 1. Kyle has a much better handle for ball control, and could take advantage of Sims besting the defense with his good passing and vision. I like seeing them play together. Seems their confidence is much higher.

This is why I don't like older vets getting so many regular season minutes. Young guys need to build chemistry and don't have the chance taking turns being the one roster change here and there.

[tav1]

As an aside from the Jsimms subject, I like this point. Without TD its unlikely the team can maintain the same level defensively and even at their best defensively, the team struggled to score at times. It didn't cost them in the regular season that much bc they were just that good defensively, but against the elite teams they could not afford to get behind in even the smallest fashion bc they didn't have the firepower to make runs when they needed them and that goes to shooting. JSimms has a role off the bench. He's terrific pushing the pace in transition and the bench can benefit from that a lot. In fact I can see the perfect pairing that JSimms and Kyle's game makes off the bench now that Kyle is shooting the 3 this well. JSimms needs to continue to work on his 3 pt shot bc he's unlikely to be that ball dominant. There will be times he will be the one spotting up. He showed he could hit the 3, and I think he needs to continue to take it as a way of building good habits and confidence.

If Simmons could hit at 35-38% without hesitation, he'd be an NBA starter. So it's hard to be too critical on him. In that regard, he reminds me Corey Maggette, with less size. We'll see. I'll maintain my position Spurs will attempt a high volume of threes and intend to spread out the offense vs. last season.

[ceperez]

If Simmons could hit at 35-38% without hesitation, he'd be an NBA starter. So it's hard to be too critical on him. In that regard, he reminds me Corey Maggette, with less size. We'll see. I'll maintain my position Spurs will attempt a high volume of threes and intend to spread out the offense vs. last season.

Wait... why are we all grading him from the offensive perspective. I say he should be more like Tony Allen... he's just as big and just with a lot more patience, he should be an adequate defender.

[GSH]

One thing I noticed is that a lot of his TO were just a bad decision. At least a couple were, he got a pass at the 3 pt line, with a guy in his vicinity but not on an aggressive close out of any kind. He chose to drive on a guy who was at least 4 feet away from him.

The truth is I really, really like Jonathan Simmons. I like him because he's a good kid who I'd love to see get a break. I like him because he's a high-flyer, and I think the Spurs need some of that. I like him because for the last several seasons the Spurs can't get out in front on fast breaks for , and he can. There's part of me that is an absolute bandwagon fan of the guy.

My point is that a lot of his "bad decisions" don't happen at the point where he makes the decision. They happen because he's always thinking about making a break for the rim, and he puts himself into positions where he has to make bad decisions. He waits too long to make decisions, because he always wants to make the decision to put his head down and take it to the hole. When it's not there, he's behind the curve. That's the way I see it, anyway.

Oh, but when he does get loose he's a beast! He'd get a lot more minutes and touches on the Wizards or Sixers, and probably get a much bigger payday next year. What I'd really like is for him to play so well that the Spurs will give him $5M a year. But to do that, he's going to have to do more than score, and he can't turn the ball over like he did in that last game - whatever the reason for the turnovers.

[CGD]

Man the Spurs are going to carry at least 3 rookies this year. Has that ever happened?

[Drom John]

Man the Spurs are going to carry at least 3 rookies this year. Has that ever happened?

Only including the Duncan era, and ignoring 10-days, but for when four temps combined enough to maybe count as one carry.


2011-2012, kind of, Cory Joseph, Kawhi Leonard, and starting in January, a combo of DLeaguers (Malcolm Thomas, Eric Dawson, Justin Dentman and Derrick Byars)

2010-2011, James Anderson, Gary Neal, Tiago Splitter

2008-2009, light carry, Malik Hairston, George Hill, Anthony Tolliver

[Obstructed_View]

The truth is I really, really like Jonathan Simmons. I like him because he's a good kid who I'd love to see get a break. I like him because he's a high-flyer, and I think the Spurs need some of that. I like him because for the last several seasons the Spurs can't get out in front on fast breaks for , and he can. There's part of me that is an absolute bandwagon fan of the guy.

My point is that a lot of his "bad decisions" don't happen at the point where he makes the decision. They happen because he's always thinking about making a break for the rim, and he puts himself into positions where he has to make bad decisions. He waits too long to make decisions, because he always wants to make the decision to put his head down and take it to the hole. When it's not there, he's behind the curve. That's the way I see it, anyway.

Oh, but when he does get loose he's a beast! He'd get a lot more minutes and touches on the Wizards or Sixers, and probably get a much bigger payday next year. What I'd really like is for him to play so well that the Spurs will give him $5M a year. But to do that, he's going to have to do more than score, and he can't turn the ball over like he did in that last game - whatever the reason for the turnovers.

He's got all kinds of talent, but he's reckless on both ends, and it gets him in trouble. The biggest worry is that the reckless mistakes he made last year are still there. I'm hoping against hope that he's not happy about his performance in last night's game. Someone who is happy to break the scoring record in the Utah summer league with 9 turnovers isn't going to make it as a Spur.