What I mean is that it's just an opinion that it's been to be bad than mediocre. I used to be pro-tanking, but I think I'd rather the team make aggressive but smart moves to try to be better.
They're not. Neither DeRozan nor Aldridge are max players (they aren't making anywhere close to their maxes and didn't sign deals that were maxes in their day). The rest of those moves are sorta "win-now" in the sense that they aren't tanking. But they haven't made a single trade of a future asset unless you count Bertans for Carroll. There were moves like Bogdanovic that I wanted the team to make that they didn't seem to consider. They have all of their future picks except their 2022 second, and they have five players on rookie deals (six if you count Metu). They've certainly not exhausted the well to make this roster.They are trying to win now. It’s why they have two max players in LMA/DeRozan and re-signed Rudy Gay and brought in an aging vet in Carroll. Along with keeping Beli, Mills, etc...They absolutely are trying to win now and that has been the goal. I dont think they can acquire a better talent than LMA to pair with DeRozan either so I don’t see much improvement with DeRozan led Spurs on the horizon. You listed 3 terrible franchises. Unless you think SA is poorly run as a whole (I don’t) then it’s not really comparable.
Eh, both guys have been on teams that have won more than that. The Spurs have a better record against team's at or above .500 than the Raptors do and comparable to a number of playoff teams. Their problem is they can't close against bad teams. Their 12-11 record against the dregs is in the bottom-10 in the league. It's totally within the realm of possibility for them to clean that up, especially if they improve their role-player talent. Everyone currently on a 47-win pace is at least plus-10 against the bad teams. If the Spurs had that same differential, they'd be at 24-18, or a 47-win pace. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Just showing that it's not really a hard margin to realize.Good teams do good things and bad teams do bad things. Winning 45-47 is a noble cause; SA isnt there and I don’t think they can be with this core.
EDIT:
Forgot that I pulled out your statement on MKE, Philly and MEM. That's a weird list, since the Bucks didn't tank and the Sixers and Grizzlies spent years treadmilling before eventually blowing it up. None of those teams are examples for why the team should try to get bad as soon as possible. I'm also not convinced the Sixers would be good had they not fired Hinkie. Even if you counted them all, their current success at tanking certainly doesn't outweight how long SAC. PHX and Minny have been bad outside of the Wolves one season of not trying to force their young core into star roles.