Amico: Spurs Exploring Trading One or Both Picks for Veteran

[BatManu20]

The San Antonio Spurs are exploring trading one or both of their first-round draft picks for an established veteran, league sources told Amico Hoops.

The Spurs hold the Nos. 19 and 29 overall picks, as well one second-rounder (49th overall). Sources said the Spurs may be willing to throw in a future first-rounder for immediate help.

[BatManu20]

This doesn’t sound very Spurs-like, and it’s Amico so take it with a grain of salt, but Spurs might going all in for the next season or two while Pop’s here instead of trying to draft and develop young guys.

Jae Crowder and Robert Covington come to mind.

[Russ]

This sounds very unSpur-like . . .

[slick'81]

Both!? Woah easy there rc

[cool cat]

Probably if they miss on who they want to draft they will trade the picks.

[playblair]

i would puke.......if spurs r looking for veteran help they can sign dejuan blair from austin spurs

[John B]

[timvp]

Meh. Historically, when rumors have surfaced that the Spurs are desperately trying to trade their first round pick, that usually means they've promised to pick a player and they're pretending to shop the pick in hopes of throwing other teams off the trail.

[Chinook]

Amico sucks.

[BatManu20]

Amico sucks.

yep. That’s why I said take it with a grain of salt.

[spurraider21]

sounds terrible if true tbh, though it also means they're swinging for the fences in a year where GSW is hurt and HOU is falling apart

[Nivek_ogre]

i would puke.......if spurs r looking for veteran help they can sign dejuan blair from austin spurs

Lol. Your relentless.

[Gandalf]

Meh. Historically, when rumors have surfaced that the Spurs are desperately trying to trade their first round pick, that usually means they've promised to pick a player and they're pretending to shop the pick in hopes of throwing other teams off the trail.

Hopefully, but you'd think the other GMs would have picked up on this by now. We saw how well 'win now' worked out for us last year. I'd rather not mortgage the future to achieve nothing other than several more years of middling picks.

[Dennis the Menace]

Someone take away the alcohol from RC and Pop. This team ain’t winning with Derozan taking up a max slot. No matter how much help you get

This is essentially saying the Spurs front office is removing the only facet of their operations that they do well. Draft.

[spurs10]

Meh. Historically, when rumors have surfaced that the Spurs are desperately trying to trade their first round pick, that usually means they've promised to pick a player and they're pretending to shop the pick in hopes of throwing other teams off the trail.

CIA

[apalisoc_9]

This doesn’t sound very Spurs-like, and it’s Amico so take it with a grain of salt, but Spurs might going all in for the next season or two while Pop’s here instead of trying to draft and develop young guys.

Jae Crowder and Robert Covington come to mind.

Covington is the best 3&D player in the league. A 19th pick is not enough for that kind of player

[8FOR!3]

Trading up 5-10 picks would make more sense to me than trading for a vet. Seems like some of those guys have higher upsides than just being a role player for a few years.

[kobyz]

We need to try shed salary to have enough cap space to go all out on Al Horford and beat the Mavs

[Uriel]

Meh. Historically, when rumors have surfaced that the Spurs are desperately trying to trade their first round pick, that usually means they've promised to pick a player and they're pretending to shop the pick in hopes of throwing other teams off the trail.

So the Rui promise is real?

[apalisoc_9]

We need to try shed salary to have enough cap space to go all out on Al Horford and beat the Mavs

We dont need two Lamarcus in the team

[Chinook]

Meh. Historically, when rumors have surfaced that the Spurs are desperately trying to trade their first round pick, that usually means they've promised to pick a player and they're pretending to shop the pick in hopes of throwing other teams off the trail.

Maybe you'd know more than I do. I just see this as Amico throwing at the wall. I simply don't see the benefit in making a promise to a player in the middle of this draft. You just don't know who will fall. Like sure, maybe you promise to take Samanic at 19. But what if Doumbouya falls? What if Hunter is still hanging around at 9, and Washington is willing to make a deal? You let the chips fall where they may, or you jump in and make an aggressive move to secure a guy, but you don't lock yourself into a player when there's so much mystery available.

Now at 29, that's a different story. That first-round contract might be the only thing that kept someone like Okeke, Roby or Horton-Tucker in the draft this year. Almost all of the toss-up guys decided to stay in this year, and promises could have had something to do with it. Something about Kabengele really does feel like he's on PATFO's radar in the same vein that Metu was. If they're trying to smoke-screen their interest in someone, he's a really good candidate. It's really easy to overlook him or think he needed to go back to school. But he has a lot of raw talent and should be a long-term fit for the Spurs whether they play big or small going forward.

[ZeusWillJudge]

This popped up in another thread earlier. Sounds like he's saying the Spurs want to send a pick and get back a "established veteran". So how would that work, exactly? The Spurs can't take on the salary of an established veteran, without shipping salary to balance. So some team is going to give the Spurs a veteran player AND take on Patty Mills' ridiculous contract, in exchange for 19 or even 19 and 29? "Here... let us hand you a good player, in exchange for a couple of iffy picks, and the chance to salary dump your albatross."

Is there anybody so desperate for late first round pick(s) that they would do that?


It can't be DDR or Aldridge, because then it would be a player swap, with picks thrown in as a kicker. Not at all what Amico is talking about. Who else do the Spurs have with enough salary to move the needle in a trade for a proven veteran? Bertans plus Belinelli? Once again, that's a player swap with the pick being a kicker.

It's late and I'm tired - am I missing something here?

[kobyz]

We dont need two Lamarcus in the team

We need to try to go somewhere, trying to contend by bringing great addition or go full rebuild, Al is another force both defensively and offensively, both LA and AL could fit well together...

[timvp]

Maybe you'd know more than I do. I just see this as Amico throwing at the wall.

It's Amico so he's probably just making it up. But if we see the rumor spread as the draft approaches, I'd think a promise is likely.

I simply don't see the benefit in making a promise to a player in the middle of this draft.

A promise at 19 is dangerous but if the Spurs have a target they feel is being undervalued and the target wants to be on the Spurs, it's probably worth the risk in a draft like that this levels off pretty quickly after the first three picks.

[Chinook]

It's Amico so he's probably just making it up. But if we see the rumor spread as the draft approaches, I'd think a promise is likely.

I still haven't ruled out the possibility that PATFO started the DeRozan trade rumors to pump up the value of their guards. They did the same thing with Parker before the Hill trade. Fans on RealGM have White and 19 as worth 6 or 7. Doesn't mean anything, but that's possibly high enough to grab Hunter, Barrett or Reddish, and it's almost certainly high enough to grab Doumbouya. A lot of teams seem to believe this isn't a strong draft for sure-fire impact players, so it could be a situation where the Spurs get 9-11 without having to give up 19.

A promise at 19 is dangerous but if the Spurs have a target they feel is being undervalued and the target wants to be on the Spurs, it's probably worth the risk in a draft like that this levels off pretty quickly after the first three picks.

Maybe. With the clutter, maybe a guy does fall to 19. Every rumor of Bazley or Okpala getting picked before 19 helps. Little, Hachimura and even Reddish haven't had a great pre-draft season. I doubt anyone but maybe Rui would be tanking their value to become Spurs, but the general scrum could help the team pluck their guy if they can work the other teams a bit. I just struggle to think of who it would be.