Spursfan today would have given up on Manu 20 games into the 03 season because he didn't shine early.
Spursfan today would have given up on Manu 20 games into the 03 season because he didn't shine early.
Which the Spurs rightly didn't match, because he clearly wasn't worth it. If they really thought he would fetch that kind of money, they would've traded him before then and at least get something in return.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's gone.
I did the right thing and gave him an honorable mention in the same post as the list. In reality, Indiana beat the Spurs to the punch.
No they did not. His rights came in the Nephew trade, IIRC.
To be fair to OP, he did say Walker had potential but was glued to the bench. Pretty sure everyone was on the Walker hype train all season except Pop and the really hardcore sniffers. (See "Lonnie wasn't compe ive" thread).
I never mentioned walkers game because he hasnt played but we saw it in summerleague and finally he broke through.Poodle and lonnie need consistent run to be effective from here on out
There are people who legit don't like Walker and don't like Pop. It's not a sniffer view to dislike him. It might be a sniffer view to say that the onus is on Lonnie, DJM and the others to play well and not Pop to force them into the rotation. I still hold a similar view to that. I think this is pretty much how Pop wants this to go. Walker seemed to have the confidence from his SL stint AND the hunger to make his defense effective. It's not clear that he would have brought this kind of effort if he hadn't been scrapping for minutes. You could argue that Murray has been struggling with complacency too after being anointed as the future so early and having been given the starting job without compe ion after how well White handled it last year. Walker looks more like a two-way player than he's ever looked, and it's weird for folks to believe that has happened despite Pop. It's not like Lonnie's had that rep in the past.
As it is, it was a great next step, and hopefully Pop has Walker firmly in the rotation now. But does this make it to where the team should "build" around Walker and trade DeRozan and Aldridge? No. He can and should learn to play within their contexts until/unless he shows he can consistently handle a star's offensive load. In that regard, there will be people who use this as evidence to continue to overrate the Spurs' youth. But hardly anyone wants the team to keep rolling out Beli, and it would be nice for one of Mills or Forbes to fall out of the rotation.
Lol at everyone doubting the Spurs and their development program all along. Suddenly sending players to the G-League doesn't seem all that awful, eh? Sure Lonnie was misdeveloped and every other franchises' 19th picks are dropping 29pt games, right? Gtfoh, tbh.
Bench Lonnie one game, maybe two. But to dig yourself a massive hole and allow the franchise to get embarrassed to “groom” Lonnie. Nah. Don’t buy that.
Oh no, I don't think Pop was right to not start off the season with Walker in the rotation, let alone block him out for a quarter of the season. After he called out Lonnie, he should have let him play the next game to see if he was better. If he still didn't compete hard enough, then bench him. I'm not saying that Pop's done a good job coaching this year (I've said the opposite a lot). I'm saying that Walker's responded well to it, and in that regard, Pop's getting what he wants out of the decision he made. He a better player for the tough love, even if I think the message was clear way early. And Pop totally didn't lose these games on purpose -- he's just done that bad of a job this year.
I agree with that
Watching Walker jerk off in between OP's eyes was pretty satisfying tbh. Should be a nice future bump.
But the biggest thing to me is we have seen the one thing that Pop and many others have fretted over be wrong: Murray/White/Lonnie CAN play together.
White can absolutely shoot from 3 and space the floor. Lonnie can shoot from 3 and space the floor. Those 3 represent a great defensive trio possibly and to not play them because you “need shooting” around Murray has been definitively shot down IMO.
They can all play together.
This is such a shortsighted overreaction, tbh. If it took 10-15 games or whatever it was to get through to Walker that he will only be allowed to play if he plays hard on both ends of the court, that's a microscopic price to pay.
In the grand scheme of things, that's literally nothing.
" But what about those few other games Walker could have played if Pop wasn't being mean and let Walker do what he wanted to do " = Amazingly myopic.
Pops tough love getting through to lw4
What? You dont think this season would have looked different and playoffs be a lot more in play if Lonnie (and other rotation decisions) were made?
Pop just likely threw away what could be a playoff season to teach Lonnie a lesson? You are ok with that?
You actually agree with how Pop handled this and not having Lonnie in the rotation at all? You can’t teach him a lesson and be hard on him while giving him minutes consistently?
This thread did not age well (or at all).
I don't know that they can. It's not about being "able to shoot threes". Spacing isn't just about having an okay 3P%. It's about the gravity distribution around the court, and right now, none of those three have the gravity from three to really force the defense out of the paint. White is too hesitant to shoot threes if there's any chance for a pass. Murray's wind-up is way too slow to force guys to play on him, and he too would rather dribble. Walker is the only one who might really be able to space the floor, but he'd have to show he can hit shots before anyone's gonna let him warp the D. It's more than that too. Even if White and Walker could space for Murray, Murray can't space for them, and both of them are better offensive players than him and should have the ball more. Murray has to figure out his shooting problem to be on the court. Otherwise, you're either playing four-on-five offensively or forcing him to be the main ball-handler, which isn't his strength.
You think 10 games of this season isn't worth crafting a two-way player? Seriously?
That shortsightedness is astounding, tbh.
There are like 15 players to manage and the Lonnie slow walk occured in the context of Murray and Lyle's promotion. Maybe there's a point to try players in batches. Pop did a little changes and did not do all the change Is people go crazy
Overstated, but some validity to this. Murray needs to get consistent from the corner three if nothing else. If he does that, he can be like a skilled Bowen out there with his defense being what it is.
I dunno, TIMVP. You're the GOAT and a master motivator, and the only tool you have in your box is to glue him to the bench? I don't see anything he learned on the bench that he couldn't have learned on the floor in all those losses. Unless you're saying that he got really pissed off and came out angry. Pop isn't THAT CIA.
It's the usual imbecilic suspects like El Nono, TD 21, tm whatever the his name is.
No one ever claimed the Spurs young players will be elite, but for where they were drafted they are all solid value picks.
Hopefully, two or three amount to solid players but no one may become a "franchise building block" or future superstar.
Nah, instead we should all and moan that non-lottery picks aren't good enough to compete in a league that thrives on elite talent.
And of course Lonnie explodes the night he posts this pandering bull .
Spurs youth is fine and we have a chance to turn this around quickly. The kids probably want to take over but are deferring to vets like Aldridge and DD. The time to trade those dudes is now. If you can get a Gordon and/or a Bamba
please get it done. Gay and mills off the bench as the vets is fine with me. But let's get more youth get what you can for DD they at the very least could become future trade assets. Trade Aldridge as well if you could get Gordon and Bamba for DD and belli whatever pieces to make money work. You can then trade Aldridge for either an expiring or acquire some more youth and obviously take back a serviceable player to make the money work. Now is the time to trade these two let's let these kids play add some more youth keep our pick and maybe add someone else's pick. Pleassssssseeeeeeeeeeee the writing is on the wall but man can they really right this ship quickly.
But White and Murray both played with Forbes/DeRozan. I’m not saying it’s ideal; I’m saying for this team? Yeah, if Forbes/DeRozan can start with one of them, they can all 3 play together especially factoring the defensive uptick.
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