For sure, I'm in the minority who thinks that 2017 run was #6 until well you know what happened.
I also do not remember hearing about the Paul George rumors until just a little while ago. I guess it could be true after all KL orchestrated the PG trade in about 15 minutes. The Mills-Gasol situation did weigh negatively on him but ultimately he wanted to go back home, nothing was going to change that want but a cp3, pg13 trade might have delayed the inevitable for some arbitrary amount of time.
I was in elementary school the last time this team felt so hopeless. Can't remember a Spurs team without a cornerstone type player, one that you could really get behind, win or loss. It feels hollow out there right now and the only positive I can find is we have some long athletic young guns out there but the future, overall, sure looks bleak. I'd pretty much have to hear from Kahwi himself that he left cause Aldridge pissed him off to the point he was done to throw all this on LA's shoulders, he is what he is, not a top player, but solid enough, especially compared to the rest of this inconsistent roster.
Like I said, some of the young guys have promise, but at this point I'm indifferent to any moves the team would make, no one has really consistently shown they're 100% worth keeping, hopefully soon the younger guys will prove something.