gibbs2016 said:

---

So what's left? Can and would y'all like a Derrick Rose signing? Maybe Rondo?

Resign Simmons and do you want Gasol back? Or can we find better out there?

I'm guessing we will be shopping LMA and Green all year until trade deadline

---

No thanks to Rose. The Spurs already have two guys coming off of really bad injuries. Rondo hasn't exactly been an iron man himself, can't shoot, and doesn't get along with anyone, yet I actually wouldn't mind picking him up. He's a brilliant passer with a great a:t ratio and superb defense. Good player for Murray to spend some time around.

I'd take Rose or Rondo in a heart beat if they would accept the room exception. I would guess they would get better offers from someone. Clippers were interested in Rose, but they are out of room unless they S&T for ~7mm trade exception they got in the Chris Paul deal.

The Mavs could use Rose (guessing not bringing Rondo back) to mentor Dennis Smith and let Smith play a smaller role initially. Mavs have some cap space.

Milawaukee would be a good place for Rose, but they would go into Lux Tax if the used the MLE on him.

I bet the Lakers sign either Rondo or Rose to a 1y deal. They have room and Lonzo is the only PG there.

Knicks taking thenselves out of J Simmons sweepstakes if ATL doesn't match.

Guitarsoup said:

---

gibbs2016 said:

---

So what's left? Can and would y'all like a Derrick Rose signing? Maybe Rondo?

Resign Simmons and do you want Gasol back? Or can we find better out there?

I'm guessing we will be shopping LMA and Green all year until trade deadline

---

Sign Gasol
Sign Manu
Sign Simmons
Sign Dedmon or Lee or unknown player with Room Exception
Sign Hanga

Gasol/Bertrans/Room Exception
LMA/Gay
Kawhi/Anderson/Hanga
Green/Simmons/White
Murray/Manu/Parker

Forbes cut
White spends a lot of time in Austin, especially after Parker comes back. Hanga may spend time there, too.

Unless Rose/Rondo want to sign for the Room Exception (3.2mm) we aren't signing them.

---

Man that back court is not good, you have to sign a proven pg or sg.

Murray hasn't looked good and is far off from putting in big minutes. Parker may never come back. Mills isn't much on offense against good teams

Manu is old as ****, love what he's done here, he did good in the playoffs, much respect, but he also looked like crap not long ago turning the ball over every chance he got in the playoffs, so we can't really rely on him.

So we still have a problem, Kawhi is still the only person on this team that can create, that is a big one.
Gay, maybe if he comes back to form.

We need a proven ball handler plain and simple

I'm not getting the volume shooter criticism of Gay. In 3 years in Sacramento's feckless offense, he averaged a shade under 46% from the floor and over 35% from 3. Those aren't sharpshooter numbers, but they're rock solid.

West Texan said:

---

I was pretty against signing Gay, but holy crap that's a heck of a deal we got him for.

---

Freaking steal.

To me that's what this team is missing to compete with GS. Don't give me the whole "nobody is beating them" crap. We were up big at GS late in the game. We added Gay, add one more veteran ball handler and we'll be right there with them

It would have been a lot closer if we would have had another offensive weapon in that series, especially with the way Manu played. If Kawhi had not gotten hurt + extra weapon + manu we win that series

Deputy Travis Junior said:

---

I'm not getting the volume shooter criticism. In 3 years in Sacramento's feckless offense, he averaged a shade under 46% from the floor and over 35% from 3. Those aren't sharpshooter numbers, but they're rock solid.

---

Last Year: FG/3FG/FT/TS

Gay: 46/37/86/56
Dirk: 44/38/88/53
Ryan Anderson 42/40/86/58
Eric Gordon: 41/37/86/53
Draymond: 42/31/71/52
Love: 43/37/87/57

2008and1 said:

---

Knicks taking thenselves out of J Simmons sweepstakes if ATL doesn't match.

---

Signed it.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19877577/knicks-sign-tim-hardaway-jr-4-year-71-million-offer-sheet

I think the Spurs have a really good shot at keeping Simmons. I think other teams are really wary of giving him a big contract because really, he didn't play consistently well with regular rotation minutes until the second round of the playoffs, so it would be a big risk to give him a large contract. That's why he hasn't been offered any offersheets (that we know of). I have a hard time believing someone will offer Simmons a long term (4-year) deal due to his limited output for the Spurs. The Spurs know what his value is. I'm not sure the rest of the league does.

Deputy Travis Junior said:

---

2008and1 said:

---

Knicks taking thenselves out of J Simmons sweepstakes if ATL doesn't match.

---

Signed it.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19877577/knicks-sign-tim-hardaway-jr-4-year-71-million-offer-sheet

---

Good news for us.

Also, LOL @ nYk

Hopefully, Patty can teach Slo Mo how to properly wave a towel.

Guitarsoup said:

---

gibbs2016 said:

---

So what's left? Can and would y'all like a Derrick Rose signing? Maybe Rondo?

Resign Simmons and do you want Gasol back? Or can we find better out there?

I'm guessing we will be shopping LMA and Green all year until trade deadline

---

Sign Gasol
Sign Manu
Sign Simmons
Sign Dedmon or Lee or unknown player with Room Exception
Sign Hanga

Gasol/Bertrans/Room Exception
LMA/Gay
Kawhi/Anderson/Hanga
Green/Simmons/White
Murray/Manu/Parker

Forbes cut
White spends a lot of time in Austin, especially after Parker comes back. Hanga may spend time there, too.

Unless Rose/Rondo want to sign for the Room Exception (3.2mm) we aren't signing them.

---

Unless some amazing deal comes I don't see the Spurs spending money on a veteran PG at this stage. They have bigger holes to fill in the front court.

Besides, all these young guys in Murray, White and Forbes each bring something to the table and have shown enough promise to get a shot IMO.
Considering you have Mills and Tony will probably come back I see them just rolling with this group for the first 3 months to see what shakes out. If Manu comes back that makes it even less urgent since he can run point as well.

Btw, the Spurs aren't trading LMA and Green unless Memphis wants to give up Gasol for some reason.
Whoever keeps posting that is rediculous and obviously doesn't pay attention to how the Spurs opperate.

Which reminds me that I forgot to put Patty on there.

Gasol/Bertrans/Room Exception?
LMA/Gay
Kawhi/Anderson/Hanga
Green/Simmons/White
Murray/Mills/Manu/Parker

So Parker spends two+ months on the IR.

Hanga, White and maybe Bertrans probably spend a lot of time in Austin.

That's 15 players with a hypothetical room exception player. So maybe no room exception used. Or maybe Manu retires. Or maybe Hanga doesn't come over.

PLUM LOCO said:

---

From the video he looks like he wants to play.

Good attitude.

---

Looks promising. Looks like most athletes that want to remind everyone how hard they #workout

Quote:

---

The Spurs have the NBA rights of Hanga, they are closely monitoring him for years and he is part of their plans. However after signing Rudy Gay the Spurs don't have enough space in their salary cap in order to make an offer to Hanga that can lure him to the States. This situation has created an opening for Barcelona, which already made an offer to the player and is trying to sign him. If this happens, then Baskonia will have the right of "tanteo" on the player, who is practically a restricted free agent in Spain.

---

I forgot about this video until I saw it on reddit today. Here's hoping Gay can do the same thing to Warriors fans.

So do y'all see Gay as a starter or a bench player? Also, assuming Simmons re-signs is he a starter or a bench player? Same question with Patty.

Seems like both Gay and Simmons need the ball in their hands alot and Patty plays best with Manu who creates shots and also needs the ball. That's alot of folks wanting the ball and shots if you don't start one of Simmons or Gay.

I do like that Gay can play a small ball 4 and see that as his primary role and wouldn't mind him starting. We have needed one of those since Diaw left.

I'm hoping this is an indication that LMA and Gasol will alternate at Center and PF will be Gay, Bertrans, Anderson.

First unit

Murray/Parker
Green
Kawhi
Gay
LMA

Bench unit
Manu
Mills
Simmons
Bertrans
Gasol

Fillers:
Anderson
White or Forbes
Lee or Dedmon or unknown big

If Murray develops and Gay is healthy, then that's a pretty salty defensive lineup with some length against small ball teams.

To start out the season I think Gay will come off of the bench. I think his minutes will really be closely monitored and I'll be surprised if Pop plays him more than 15-20 mins a game in the beginning. If our team is struggling with the regular starters early in the season maybe he will make a change.

Unfortunately, I think we will see Patty as our starting point guard. But I can see Pop tinkering with the starting PGs throughout the year too, throwing any of our guards out there at any time.

Avery Bradley traded to Pistons for Marcus Morris.

claym711 said:

---

I think y'all are a bit optimistic on Murray. For any legit contender, he's not starter or heavy minutes guy.

Parker obviously had a major setback, he won't be in great form.

Manu is running on fumes.

LA is unhappy, and charmin soft.

---

It doesn't matter what we think. Pop plays the young guys. I suspect he'll use Murray at first to see how comfortable he gets. He will have Patty and Kawhi there to take over in games where Murray flames out. He might have Manu to do the same. White has shown some steadiness as well, he might be an interesting wrinkle as well. I like that he's a little older and more physically mature.

The dirty little secret to getting production out of young players is you need to play them even if they aren't ready. The season is a marathon, not a sprint. The only guarantee is that they absolutely won't be ready for the playoffs if they don't play significant minutes during the season. Remember Pop made Parker his starting PG as a 17 year old rookie. He wasn't ready and older guys stepped up in critical moments. But he was serviceable most of the year and had good moments... and then he developed into an all star eventually.

I think the Spurs will finish 4th/5th in the west.

Boom. There, someone said it.

Obi Wan Ginobili said:

---

I think the Spurs will finish 4th/5th in the west.

Boom. There, someone said it.

---

I'll take that bet.

A healthy Kawhi all season and this team is at worst a 3 seed. He's that good.

When the hell is Manu gonna make a decision. Seems like a lot is wrapped up in him trying to decide what hes doing. If he is going to retire then hopefully he will decide w enough time for the front office to make some moves.

ToHntortoFsh said:

---

When the hell is Manu gonna make a decision. Seems like a lot is wrapped up in him trying to decide what hes doing. If he is going to retire then hopefully he will decide w enough time for the front office to make some moves.

---

There's no big move to be made based on Manu's decision. If he leaves it will just open up a spot for one of the rookies or gives them an excuse to resign Anderson.

Its still a bit early for a final assessment but I'll give it a shot. Assuming we sign Simmons and Gasol but make no other significant changes, I think the Spurs are the 5th most talented team in the west behind GSW, Houston, OKC and even Minnesota.

I think the system and continuity, plus an elite two way player in Kawhi is still good enough to finish 3rd in the west as far as record goes. I expect the win total to drop a few games.

The playoffs will be a real challenge starting in the 2nd round.

A WCF loss seems to be the best case realistic scenario, so about the same peak as last year. It's hard to complain about a being a top team in the NBA yet we didn't close the gap with GSW and we didn't find Kawhi's sidekick and our old guys are a year older.

Some moves must be made or a star developed (Murray) before we are real title contenders.
The go big to beat the warriors with Gasol and Aldridge strategy has mostly failed and I expect more small ball going forward. We maintained pretty solid flexibility for next year, but it's admittedly a not so great FA class.

I give the Spurs offseason a solid B so far. Not bad, but not great. Probably just a bit worse a team overall than last year and the west got tougher.

It may seem extreme, but we have a bunch of old, injured players outside of Kawhi. Look at how they folded once Kawhi went down as exhibit A.

Every other team I named would have faired better without their best player. Simmons straight out of the D league was legitimately our best player at the end of the year.

Now add an extra year to all these old all-stars a couple of which are injured and the talent level is nowhere as near as high as the names.

If LMA is a top 20 player again then this can change, but right now I'm not certain he is top 40.

Rank the teams top to bottom on talent and see who you would trade for who. Obviously Kawhi being elite helps but all those teams have elite top 10 talent too.

Malcolm52 said:

---

For all those b*itching and moaning, what would have had us do that would have CLEARLY produced better results? We resigned Mills and signed Gay. Sure we could've let Patty walk and brought it some other mid level pieces instead of Gay, but doing that would have us more or less in the same uncertain boat.

We were a WCF team who got swept without our best player. We won 60 games. We will have cap flexibility going into next off-season. We have a top 5 player in the league( I would say top 3) who is getting better every year.

Let's see how we truly match up with GS with a healthy team before we hit the blow up button. I expect Simmons, Murray, Slo Mo, and Bertans to keep improving. LMA should hopefully be a bit more motivated to prove his worth headed towards potential free agency. Kawhi has gotten better each and every year. We have a great system, coach, and front office.

---

I don't think it is just matching up with Golden State that should have been growing concerns for Spurs fans while nothing much seemed to be happening in free agency. Much of the Western Conference is going to be loaded next season. Could be a real blood bath, with a real fight for the Spurs to even get the #2 seed in the conference playoffs with OKC adding Paul George, Patrick Patterson, Houston adding Chris Paul and so forth.