It wasn't a mistake though. You can rebuild at any time. Nothing was lost by not tanking, just as nothing would be lost by looking for ways to improve the team. The rush to become another Sacramento is weird.
off topic: i never knew until today that jason kidd had actually committed to the spurs. thank god the media didn't find out. i would've been even more disappointed. too bad he got cold feet.
prime kidd / prime manu / prime bowen / prime duncan... that's one hëll of a starting lineup.
AND the spurs would've gotten something in exchange for tony parker. they could've traded him for a better center than rasho.
spurs would've B2B tbh, maybe even three peat.
San Antonio Spurs
2019-20 Record: 32-39 (4th)
2020 NBA Draft Picks: 11, 41
Free Agents: Marco Belinelli, Bryn Forbes (unrestricted); Jakob Poeltl, Drew Eubanks, Quinndary Weatherspoon (restricted); DeMar DeRozan (player option)
Area to Address: Wing defender
The Spurs’ run of playoff appearances came to an end this season, a stretch that began with Tim Duncan’s rookie campaign. And the team’s time in the bubble wasn’t without positives, as Derrick White played very well and fellow young guards Lonnie Walker and Keldon Johnson made noteworthy strides in their development. One question that will need answering this offseason is the future of DeMar DeRozan, who has a player option worth a little more than $27.7 million. According to an anonymous agent quoted in a survey recently done by The Athletic, DeRozan doesn’t like San Antonio, so if that is the case would he be more inclined to opt out? Given the NBA’s finances after last season, that kind of money may not be on the table for DeRozan in the open market.
As for the area that the Spurs will need to address, it would be to improve defensively on the wing. San Antonio ranked in the top ten in both blocks per game (6th) and defensive rebounding percentage (4th), but the lack of a disruptive presence on the wing was a big reason why Gregg Popovich’s team ranked 19th in defensive rating. Can a player like Walker of Johnson (or both) grow into that role? It’s possible, as both do possess the physical tools/athleticism that you tend to look for in that kind of player, but there’s a long way to go on that front. Dejounte Murray can be helpful at the point of attack, but the wings are where the problems lie.
https://sports.yahoo.com/offseason-n...181958723.html
True. But trading for DD is like tanking without the benefit of adding young players or draft picks. The worst of both worlds. We’re in the lottery now, right? In spite of not trying to rebuild.
JKidd was a s bag who threw coaches under the bus when a player, players under the bus when a coach, stabbed his mentor Lawrence Frank in the back to get his first job, and skipped out on that gig to take a different job.
Sometimes, you think you missed out when you really dodged a bullet. Tony allowed our window to stay open way longer than Kidd would have.
Somewhat weird article. The Spurs have some wings who are good defensively but they were buried behind Marco, Bryn, and DD. The bubble showed lineups with great defense, I thought.
Tanking is a fool’s errand these days, since the NBA flattened the lottery odds. In the two years since, 5 total teams have jumped into the top 4 spots in each of the two drafts. Worst record gets you a three way tie for best odds.
Spurs have guards who are solid on D but no real wings. Spurs closest thing to a wing is either Lyles who is probably more suited to play PF in today's league or KJ/Lonnie who are both short for SF. Spurs need to add a couple of 6'7"+ guys who can play 3 and 4 because right now they basically have none
I see your point, but I think those definitions have evolved in the small ball era. To me, Lyles is a big; Keldon and Lonnie are wings; Patty is a guard, for example.
Are you happy with the Demar trade? I thought at the time it was bad. Tanking may be overrated, but trading for players who are expensive and choke in the playoffs seems worse.
Agree but Lonnie and Keldon cannot switch off of a SF and guard a PF. Likewise Lyles isn't going to be staying in front of any top tier SFs. Spurs need guys that can guard multiple front court positions
They definitely need players to guard 3-4, however we define it. I hope they somehow land Tyler Bey with their second pick for that very reason.
Except they are the Kings, minus a blue chip prospect(s) at the moment.
Once it was clear they couldn't receive commensurate value, the goal should have been decent youth/picks, financial flexibility and not gifting S bag a (tainted) championship.
They failed on all counts, destroyed their reputation, became an embarrassment and now need to hope DeRozan either opts in or if he opts out, has a reason to play ball on a sign and trade to recoup some value.
The Demar/ Keldon trade? Sure. While there would have been a certain satisfaction in making Kawhi fake injury, and sit out another season in his prime, I’d rather have Keldon. Demar won’t be here forever, and I’m thinking one more season is it, with the NBA economy taking.
Keldon redeems it somewhat. If we had traded instead for draft picks with the Clippers, then we possibly still could’ve had him, but it is what it is.
I dont see Lonnie as a 3 Keldon maybe. Lonnie I see struggling against most 3s.
Except they're nothing like the Kings outside of their record.
Why? Why should the goal been youth/picks if that was also going to be massively discounted? There are returns that I would've preferred, even if most of those are theoretical. But the idea that they should've cared about Leonard winning a le is absurd. If they had gotten Simmons from Philly and the Sixers won, would you still be upset? Any team that got him was going to have a great chance at a ring.Once it was clear they couldn't receive commensurate value, the goal should have been decent youth/picks, financial flexibility and not gifting S bag a (tainted) championship.
See, you're talking like the sky fell on the Spurs, and yet they're still in a way better position than Sacramento, which is in absolute shambles besides the fact that they have Fox. Like for the Spurs, you get a better PF, play the right guys and stay healthy, and you have a great shot at the playoffs with the number of other Western teams stalling. The Kings, for all their blue-chipper is worth, don't have a realistic chance at making the playoffs because they lack fundamental talent, have ty coaching and aren't even a good cap place in the future considering that they have to max out Fox. This horrible, embarrassing season has only been beaten by the Kings once since 2008.They failed on all counts, destroyed their reputation, became an embarrassment and now need to hope DeRozan either opts in or if he opts out, has a reason to play ball on a sign and trade to recoup some value.
Becoming the Kings means falling into a pit of horrible seasons with no real path to get out. It means celebrating mediocre seasons, not as the norm, but as the peak of a decade's worth of struggle. Would you really rather be a Kings fan, hoping that Fox can take your team to a place DMDR and LMA hadn't missed in six seasons before this year? Nah, the Grizzlies and even the Sixers should team folks that you can hold on for as long as you want, trade away future picks even to try to make one last run and that you can still flip the tanking switch and immediately start seeing high picks and young players. DeRozan walking doesn't matter in the context of the team rebuilding. If they miss out on a late-first this year and have to settle for one next year for their cap space, it won't mean anything in the grand scheme.
They're a lottery team AND still have win-now players. So now they'll be able to add that pick to DMDR and LMA and still have picks and young guys to use for win-now moves. That gives them a better immediate future than it would've if they have tanked and doesn't do anything against their long-term future.
Nah. They don’t have win now players. Hence the not winning. They don’t have the pieces to add the amount of talent that would turn DDR & LMA into win now players either.
Good news is I’m 75% certain lma and/or ddr are gone.
They're the same caliber team, only the Spurs have no blue chip prospects at the moment.
Because decent youth/picks have better resale value and provide flexibility. Build up enough of both and there's a myriad of options at your disposal. Way to conveniently leave out the part where I said: once it was clear they couldn't receive commensurate value. Once forced to accept due to S bag's antics, they should have brought his reputation down with theirs. Neither the Celtics or 76ers were likely to win the '19 championship with him for different reasons.
The sky did fall (they literally made the worst possible trade one can make) and they're not in a better position than the Kings. The Spurs have slim odds at the playoffs in the best case scenario, no chance of advancing (barring opponent injury luck) and no centerpiece to build around at the moment. The theoretical cap space will likely mostly go to extensions for the youth and some overpaid, sub star free agent/salary dump.
Again, packaging DeRozan with 11 could conceivably get them up to 6-7, thereby increasing the odds of netting a core building block.
Aside from the rest of your argument, which I'm not getting into (aren't y'all tired of complaining about the Kawhi trade by now? Damn) - the Kings are nowhere near the Spurs as a team. A team isn't just the 15-man roster (where besides from Fox, I'd still give the edge to the Spurs in terms of young pieces, tbh, I don't like most players on the Kings); the Spurs' training, development, coaching and personnel departments are all better and have solid track records. A young player drafted into the Spurs has a much better chance to reach his ceiling than he would being drafted to Sacramento. This isn't even some far-out-there theory, it's just a fact, tbh. No team can suck for as long and as consistently as the Kings have, without serious holes and issues from the top, all the way down. Can't develop for , for sure cannot draft for , there's no real plus there. And having to pay Fox the max when he hasn't proven to be a player that can even take the team to the playoffs, let alone a meaningful run, certainly isn't a good situation to be in.
I agree with Chinook there, tbh, your evaluation of the Spurs is way too over-dramatic. They definitely haven't destroyed their reputation - if anything, the recent Kawhi blunders and antics have lent a lot of credence to the Spurs' original diagnosis and side of the story, vindicating them -. And how can a team missing the POs for the first time in more than twenty years suddenly be "an embarrassment"? Like, seriously! I'm not happy we missed the POs, but no need to be ridiculously hyperbolic about it. Anyone outside of this rotten forum, where anti-Spurs sentiment is strong, would laugh at you if you said that out loud, and they'd laugh harder the more they know about basketball, tbh.
You mean organization, which is a different discussion and ultimately overblown because how does the Spurs being regarded as better manifest itself?
For one reason or another, superstars/stars don't want to play here, which is by far the most important thing for any organization (being a non glamour market obviously doesn't help, but their history/reputation hasn't made any difference). So even if they're more likely to help cultivate a non blue chip prospect into becoming one, in the end they'll probably end up a feeder system for a glamour market.
They're an irrelevant laughing stock who have constantly made embarrassing decisions for the past 3 years, culminating in arguably the worst trade of all time (I don't even care if Johnson becomes Butler or a poor man's version; he was a 29th pick).
Spurs have better depth of youth (Fox and Bagley somehow comprise the entirety of their youth), but in a star driven league they at least have a player who definitely possesses those qualities and another who might.
This again?! Spurs would be fine, they have 2 top 100 guys in Dejounte and Derrick. Jakob and Keldon may soon get there next year. They have 2 skilled project players in Lonnie and Luka.
They competed the last 2 years even after losing a top 5 player.
The only draft that matters is next years draft, everything points to the spurs being in position for a high pick in that draft.
I'd argue only White is "top 100" among the youth (Johnson appears a possibility to join him) and that's not something to be proud of or build your team around.
Competed for the 7th-8th seed, so they could embarrass themselves against a top seed or fall short and either way delay the likelihood of finding their next star by picking mid roundish.
Every draft matters and they'll fight to the death to avoid picking high because they're too busy being caricatures of themselves to prioritize doing what's best for the franchise.
The Clippers double picks, of which we were offered one, were the year before, when we got Lonnie.
Keldons going to be really good. Like maybe Jimmy Butler late first round good, without his team mates hating him. He got more respect from the refs than any Spurs rookie since Tim.
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