Tjarks: The Spurs Turn the Page and Look Ahead to . . . What, Exactly?

[Chinook]

The West wasn't weak in 2018...the Rockets and Warriors were absolute juggernauts and they would have curbstomped that hypothetical roster imo. Hindsight is 20/20 of course but I am super glad the Spurs did not try to get Kemba. Especially since this roster would have fallen off a cliff in 2 years

You're thinking of 17/18, not 18/19 when those teams were hurt at the end of the post-season.

The roster fell off a cliff two years later anyway. They wouldn't lost much long-term value in that deal.

[Spursfanfromafar]

The article is largely right on the limbo that the Spurs are stuck in with a lot of talented young players who are mostly complementary pieces with none looking like breaking out into a star. That is, to an extent, a fair point. What Tjarks gets wrong though is that these youngins' have actually developed quite well from where they came from and the point of entry into the NBA. The least developed one is Lonnie Walker who seems to have many tools but hasn't put it all together, is inconsistent and has been poor on defense.

Murray and White on the other hand have developed really well. Murray isn't still a consistent shooter, but he has become much better at mid-range, decent at finishing and very good at playmaking by especially cutting his turnover rate a lot. His ACL injury hasn't been that huge a setback except possibly it held him back a little on defense. He is still a A- defender overall and one of the best in his position.

White, if not for his injuries, could have threatened an All Star spot last season considering how good he was in the Bubble. He was working his way into shape and becoming a very good contributor for a Spurs team that threatened to make the playoffs before COVID19 hit and he injured his ankle. Plain bad luck for a really good two-way player who can defend 1-3 both in the paint and in the perimeter and most importantly adds value as a shot blocker as well. He has good playmaking skills and his shot has been improving every season. White can still threaten to be at least an All Star reserve if he recovers quickly from his injury.

Keldon is all heart and productivity for a small ball 4 and as a small forward and has a long way to go to be more productive and efficient from the perimeter, but he has willed himself to be a starter quickly in his career and his arc only points upwards.

Poeltl is more than a journeyman center. Ask Timvp who grossly underestimated his worth and use. He was very good on defense last year.. possibly the second best defensive center behind Rudy Gobert and despite being only a roll man/ finisher, he was right up there in efficiency. The free throw efficiency or the lack of it was a bogey, but he corrected it quite well in late season.

Yes, the Spurs are one All NBA player/ two All Stars from contention but they can get one of them from within - White, I would bet on .. and Murray could be a borderline All Star sometime too. If they can develop Keldon, Vassel and Primo well in the next two years and draft well again next year/ strike rich in free agency/ trade by getting that elusive all-Star/ All-NBA player.. They will be back in the hunt. Its not a bleak future at all.

[Leetonidas]

You're thinking of 17/18, not 18/19 when those teams were hurt at the end of the post-season.

The roster fell off a cliff two years later anyway. They wouldn't lost much long-term value in that deal.

yeah, just edited the post right as you were replying

[Truckules]

It's Tjarks. The dude's had bad takes on the Spurs (and basketball in general) for his entire career. One of my favorites is https://basketball.realgm.com/analys...e-Duncan-Spurs. He argued for trading Kawhi after his rookie season and said that Andre Drummond is the best big man prospect since TD.

[TimDunkem]

Looking ahead to getting Chet in a Spurs Jersey

Is he skilled and taller than 6'5? If so, they'll pass on him for another guard project or someone with a massive forehead and glass feet.

[koriwhat]

Is he skilled and taller than 6'5? If so, they'll pass on him for another guard project or someone with a massive forehead and glass feet.

he's 7ft tall and from what I've seen he's bigger than he looks in photos as far as mass goes but he's still super slim like Durant. Seems pretty skilled but I haven't watched much of him at all to really say one way or the other.

[RC_Drunkford]

Nuggets series happened before he ed the Spurs over.

Huh? That‘s what I said. We went 7 games against the Nuggets and our biggest need was a 3-and-D combo forward

[gambit1990]

If anything, the problem with the Spurs wasn't not tanking it was that they didn't horsewhip their roster enough in 2018. They absolutely should've pursued a third star instead of keeping Murray and Walker. Maybe a three-team deal where SA got DeRizan and Kemba along with Toronto's first, Toronto got Leonard and Charlotte got Lonnie, Murray and Poeltl.

Kemba
White
DeRozan
Gay
Aldridge

Considering how weak the West was that year, it was Pop's last shot at a ring, and they should've gone for it instead of clinging to their young guys.

still believing in demar

thinking a starting lineup with demar / gay / la would get anywhere in the playoffs wtf

[The Truth #6]

They should have gone all in on DDR if they weren’t exploding the roster. I suppose both options indicate big changes, but surrounding DDR with 3/D players was the only way to go in my opinion. A homeless man’s Harden type of team but it would have at least been an acknowledgment of reality. An appreciation for reality is barely coming back. If Forbes is packaged I will have a lot more faith. But as of now the FO needs to prove themselves.

[The Truth #6]

But the author does say idiotic things, don’t get me wrong. Zach Collins is our most promising signing? It’s much closer to a money laundering scheme than creating a winning roster.

[cd98]

At first I thought the Spurs had a trade in mind and they were pulling moves to get the trade done. But no trade has happened. So in my mind, what they probably did was flood themselves with pieces that could be used in various types of trades and see what happens the rest of the summer. If nothing worthwhile materializes, then they will have to dump a few players, but I believe they will keep as many options open so they can take advantage of any opportunities that come. Their main compe ion for any moves will be Thunder and the Hornets.

[NO LIMIT ARMY COMMANDER]

Everyone needs to buckle up and accept the fact that we're probably not going to see another Spurs ring in our (or grandkids lifetime).
It took a pretty amazing confluence of cir stances to do what we did. Not going to happen again.

Let’s frame this.

[spurs1990]

None of it was DeRozan’s fault. He’s just not the future Hall of Famer his predecessors were. He did everything the Spurs asked him in his time with the franchise, averaging 21.6 points on 50.1 percent shooting, 6.2 assists, and 5.3 rebounds per game. DeRozan turned himself into a point forward in his first season there after Dejounte Murray tore his ACL. Then he changed positions in the bubble and played as a small-ball forward to help develop their young players. It would have been nice if he had taken more 3s, but it wouldn’t have changed much in the big picture.

I don't know... DeRozan being ranked 315th in 3pt ATTEMPTs implies he definitely should've taken more three's.
He on multiple occasions purposely stepped on or over the 3pt line as it was a psychological impediment.

Great PR paragraph by the author for DeRozan.

[8FOR!3]

Imagine getting paid to write that is obviously about at team you have never watched. Walker hasn't met a shot he won't take? What the actual ? Murray hasn't gotten back on track? Really?

I'm not arguing the Spurs are going to be world beaters or even good, but I HATE when people post this kind of from national writers that obviously have no ing clue what they're writing about.[/FONT][/COLOR]

Yeah it's insane at least I've only written about the Spurs and Cowboys two teams I watch religiously if I'm going to talk about them. But damn it makes me wonder should I just apply to write for sports in general and just talk narratives and not care to actually watch the games

Even if you're just looking on paper, Murray clearly got back on track last year lol so he didn't even look at the stats. And he's improving and developing his game each season. White starts sometimes and comes off the bench sometimes and he needs to be consistently healthy but the talent is there. If anything he can disappear in games sometimes and then other times be the best player. Walker lacks confidence as a scorer, so it's a joke to call him a chucker...

And then they made a snark comment about us being good at lucking into Hall of Fame talent with top picks (Robinson/Duncan) and how that's what brought us to the table. Which yes there is truth to that. But also we were the team that really brought international talent to the table in Ginobili/Parker. AND we (and a few other teams) first used the G League to really develop NBA talent. We also drafted Kawhi #15 and through our staff and his hard work turned him into a generational talent. Even if that story doesn't have a happy ending, we got a ring out of it and he has multiple. Article is so lazy.

[LeBowen]

Huh? That‘s what I said. We went 7 games against the Nuggets and our biggest need was a 3-and-D combo forward

My bad, I just skimmed through your post and misread.

[objective]

It's kind of weird how Bill Simmons sells The Ringer for hundreds of millions of dollars, and Tjarks, one of his premiere writers there for the NBA after KOC, gets cancer and has to hold fundraisers and beg for money to save his life.

Simmons knows how to take care of his guys

"Jonathan, you've helped build The Ringer into what it is today. So let me help you out: you can do a BBQ plate fundraiser, and make sure people see your baby as they drive by, you can get more sales that way. And don't wear your hat, let them see your chemo head. Good luck out there, I gotta go re-watch Necessary Roughness in my guest house theater room."

[TD 21]

site owner called it 50/50.

Any ownership there or wanna blame it all on the Klaw?

Even if true, that doesn't absolve his unprecedented unprofessional behavior which intentionally and successfully tanked his value in a failed attempt to strongarm them into trading him to L.A.

Yes, the Spurs are one All NBA player/ two All Stars from contention but they can get one of them from within - White, I would bet on .. and Murray could be a borderline All Star sometime too. If they can develop Keldon, Vassel and Primo well in the next two years and draft well again next year/ strike rich in free agency/ trade by getting that elusive all-Star/ All-NBA player.. They will be back in the hunt. Its not a bleak future at all.

Every non contender could say all they need is a myriad of unlikely things to break their way and they'll be "back in the hunt" . . . and all of them have a better starting point than this one. This is as bleak as it gets.

[MultiTroll]

Even if true, that doesn't absolve his unprecedented unprofessional behavior which intentionally and successfully tanked his value in a failed attempt to strongarm them into trading him to L.A.

Is this an acknowledgement that management could have contributed to their own demise?

[TD 21]

Is this an acknowledgement that management could have contributed to their own demise?

Nah, it's an acknowledgement that no matter what they supposedly did, it's not an excuse for doing what he did. Wanting out for whatever reason(s) is fine, making it impossible for your in bent team to receive commensurate value isn't.

[MultiTroll]

Oh i myself if on the Spurs Board would have voted to let him sit.
Then go to Workmans Comp board (which NBA like all legit employers are under) and ask for a ruling on whether his salary needed to be paid since team Dr.s said go.
Work Comp would have assigned a panel to decide. If panel ruled he was able to play he would then have to play or forego salary.

See how far your "LA or nothing" bull would then go.

[MultiTroll]

Truth is ed by Kawhi or not, they did a bunch of self inflicted after that.
50 Mils, Traitor Gasol on and on.

[TD 21]

Truth is ed by Kawhi or not, they did a bunch of self inflicted after that.
50 Mils, Traitor Gasol on and on.

Of course . . . I damn sure haven't let them off the hook. Just saying, the national media's portrayal of the "trade" is asinine.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Whatevs....

There are more insightful posts in this forum than anything this bozo wrote.

[ElNono]

How the do people get paid to say the Spurs plan isn't clear? Its 100% clear. They plan to compete for a play in/ play off spot this season with the team they have. They are not tanking and will probably never intentionally tank. If you don't agree with that, fine, but how can people say its not clear? They have cap flexibility going forward, a ton of young players who may turn into assets or all stars, but they likely are never going to tank with the current ownership group. There's never been a season where the Spurs went into it planning to tank and I don't know why anyone would expect that to start now. You can argue all you want about tanking in order to get better, but please point me to the team that has won an NBA championship doing that?

This is ing tired. its been years of people clamoring for a tank that is not going to come. When are y'all going to understand that this team simply won't do that? There are 100% some merits to tanking. But there are also merits to doing it the way the Spurs are doing it.

Because they seemingly are absorbing ty contracts and collecting picks (something tanking teams do) while also handing out future cap space and ridiculously long contracts (which is what contending teams do).

So there's no clear goal here to turn this team into a contender. "Making the playoffs" is not a goal in this league, it's actually the absolute worst place to be.

Are they trying to get there via picks? via trades? via free agency? It's not really clear. Ok, this team isn't tanking, fine. Then what are we doing? This team seems completely averse to do any kind of big trades. Then we go to free agency, and we end up throwing ridiculous cap space on injured players, middle-of-the-road talent, people we gave up on a few years back...

[ElNono]

BTW, not defending the article (haven't read it yet), but pointing out that it's entirely fair to say this FO has shown no clear direction.