Utah is selecting Isaiah Collier at No. 29, sources say. https://t.co/IcO6MAtllj
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 27, 2024
He was gonna be the #1 overall at one point.
***********2023-2024 San Antonio Spurs Thread********************
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Last: 3 mo ago by Guitarsoup
He was gonna be the #1 overall at one point.
We didnt' get Matas, but maybe we can get Mantas tomorrow. I like his highlights. Supposedly going through a late growth spurt.
Mantas Rubstavicius
Mantas Rubstavicius
He gets it already. I'm excited for Castle.
"I've never been one to run away from competition; I've always tried to play against the best players in the world. I just can't wait." 🗣️@TaylorRooks caught up with Stephon Castle, who's ready to bring the championship mentality back to the @spurs 💪 pic.twitter.com/it6n9CuaPj
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 27, 2024
The all UConn class is still in play. Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton.
Guitarsoup said:
The all UConn class is still in play. Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton.
I'd love to get Tyler Kolek at 35. I think he's got better shooting Tre Jones written all over him.
SVP and Bilas roasting the Spurs right now for trading the pick for a 2031 pick.
Tyler Smith is still available.
I like him, but not sold we should go PG with Castle, Tre, Wesley.West Texan said:Guitarsoup said:
The all UConn class is still in play. Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton.
I'd love to get Tyler Kolek at 35. I think he's got better shooting Tre Jones written all over him.
I think 2nd round is firmly BPA and that could be Kolek. Also wouldn't mind Flipkowski or Djurisic
Guitarsoup said:I like him, but not sold we should go PG with Castle, Tre, Wesley.West Texan said:Guitarsoup said:
The all UConn class is still in play. Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton.
I'd love to get Tyler Kolek at 35. I think he's got better shooting Tre Jones written all over him.
I think 2nd round is firmly BPA and that could be Kolek. Also wouldn't mind Flipkowski or Djurisic
I mostly want shooting at 35, regardless of position. Kolek just happens to be my favorite that's still available. I also like Jalen Bridges. Solid 3 and D prospect.
Stephon Castle will wear number 5 for the Spurs
— Paul Garcia (@PaulGarciaNBA) June 27, 2024
Ajay Mitchell
Antonio Reeves
Kolek
Tyler Smith
Guys I like for tomorrow.
Antonio Reeves
Kolek
Tyler Smith
Guys I like for tomorrow.
How about Zona's Pelle Larsson?West Texan said:Guitarsoup said:I like him, but not sold we should go PG with Castle, Tre, Wesley.West Texan said:Guitarsoup said:
The all UConn class is still in play. Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton.
I'd love to get Tyler Kolek at 35. I think he's got better shooting Tre Jones written all over him.
I think 2nd round is firmly BPA and that could be Kolek. Also wouldn't mind Flipkowski or Djurisic
I mostly want shooting at 35, regardless of position. Kolek just happens to be my favorite that's still available. I also like Jalen Bridges. Solid 3 and D prospect.
6'5 212lbs, 38" vertical, 43% on 4apg 4rpg 13p4a and plays defense.
Guitarsoup said:How about Zona's Pelle Larsson?West Texan said:Guitarsoup said:I like him, but not sold we should go PG with Castle, Tre, Wesley.West Texan said:Guitarsoup said:
The all UConn class is still in play. Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton.
I'd love to get Tyler Kolek at 35. I think he's got better shooting Tre Jones written all over him.
I think 2nd round is firmly BPA and that could be Kolek. Also wouldn't mind Flipkowski or Djurisic
I mostly want shooting at 35, regardless of position. Kolek just happens to be my favorite that's still available. I also like Jalen Bridges. Solid 3 and D prospect.
6'5 212lbs, 38" vertical, 43% on 4apg 4rpg 13p4a and plays defense.
I like Larsson. Also could be talked into Furphy and Cam Christie.
Another interesting thing Hurley told me: When I mentioned Spurs Twitter is upset they got another guy who can’t shoot, he said Castle would’ve shot a lot more - and been better at it - on a bad team. UConn didn’t need him to work on it.
— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) June 27, 2024
“His mechanics are great” Hurley said.
AggieEP said:
SVP and Bilas roasting the Spurs right now for trading the pick for a 2031 pick.
As they should. Dumb.
Guitarsoup said:Another interesting thing Hurley told me: When I mentioned Spurs Twitter is upset they got another guy who can’t shoot, he said Castle would’ve shot a lot more - and been better at it - on a bad team. UConn didn’t need him to work on it.
— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) June 27, 2024
“His mechanics are great” Hurley said.
Mike Finger is kind of a coward. Why even mention that? We know it's a question you have too.
Finger thinks Pop does no wrong. Pop could **** on his head and Finger would thank him for a new hat.
LCE said:AggieEP said:
SVP and Bilas roasting the Spurs right now for trading the pick for a 2031 pick.
As they should. Dumb.
Meh. Just looking for a take. Spurs do something atypical in a crappy draft. They have to sell something. And if they aren't spinning the other side of it, who cares.
I like this answer by Wright.
Why are the Spurs stockpiling all these draft picks?
— Spurs Central (@SASpursCentral) June 27, 2024
Brian Wright: pic.twitter.com/vQaN8OcjHl
We’re ready for you, @StephonCastle 🙌 pic.twitter.com/F4OsHzl4fu
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) June 27, 2024
Spurs games about to look like 2005 finals game.
Sounds like an idiot
Woo of ESPN
Quote:
San Antonio is going to eventually put a contender around Wembanyama one way or another, and I felt the return it got from Minnesota was massive, particularly for a top-10 pick in what was considered a down draft who became a talented but divisive playmaker in Dillingham. I'll bet the Spurs eventually take those picks and turn them into something much more useful when the time comes.
LCE said:
Sounds like an idiot
Please go away.
Enzo The Baker said:We’re ready for you, @StephonCastle 🙌 pic.twitter.com/F4OsHzl4fu
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) June 27, 2024
Spurs games about to look like 2005 finals game.
"Yo, It's Victor"
"I KNOW WHO YOU ARE BRO!"
I actually like what the Spurs did. They can focus exclusively on developing Castle and maintain enough future assets to continue to build around Wemby as needed. There wasn't an obvious good pick at 8 and I think the spurs are smart to avoid the 'youth' trap that a team like the Rockets are about to be in. The Rockets have 7 lottery picks on rookie deals and it's gonna be tough knowing which players to prioritize. Conversely the Spurs can pour all their effort into building a defensive nightmare with Castle+Sochan+Wemby. They'll have the luxury of finding out if that trio can work together or not as opposed to 'hoping' they pick the right core.
As for the 2031 pick...it could be pretty valuable but I doubt the Spurs hold on to it. This pick will be a nice 'get out of jail free' card to correct any FA/trade mistakes. Had Sarr, Clingan, or Sheppard fell to 8, I think the Spurs keep the pick but once those guys were gone, I think they did the smart thing punting on a weak class and stockpiling trade assets.
As for the 2031 pick...it could be pretty valuable but I doubt the Spurs hold on to it. This pick will be a nice 'get out of jail free' card to correct any FA/trade mistakes. Had Sarr, Clingan, or Sheppard fell to 8, I think the Spurs keep the pick but once those guys were gone, I think they did the smart thing punting on a weak class and stockpiling trade assets.
I wouldn't say that Wright sounds like an idiot, but it sounds like the Spurs are laser focused on asset accumulation. As he mentions, it's usually a pretty good strategy, and I do not deny that at all. There are two things that bug me about how the Spurs are going about it though.
First, outside of Wembanyama, the Spurs have actually been pretty terrible at taking the best player in the draft. When you look at the picks they've made, I think we're all happy with Vassell, but that happiness wanes a bit when you remember Haliburton went one pick later. We're ok with Sochan... but again Jalen Williams went three picks later. In 2021 of course we have the Primo pick, when Sengun could have been had. It's obvious revisionism and would mean we likely wouldn't have Wemby because we would have been better with Haliburton, Williams and Sengun on our team, but the point is that the Spurs have whiffed pretty hard when it comes to knowing the best player available to take. Throw in Wesley and Branham to the mix and I think most of us can agree that since 2021 we're really only happy with Wemby and Vassell with four other picks having questionable outcomes. That's a 33% hit rate, good in baseball, not good in the draft.
Second, if your strategy is asset accumulation, I think you have to have an idea of how you are going to cash these in. I've already covered that the Spurs are... pretty bad at the draft, and you only have a limited amount of roster slots, so they can't make all of these picks. So now the question is, how do you cash out, and for who? Well the problem is that the kind of guy that would make us better will be wanted by other teams as well. While others might not have the number of picks we have, desperate stupid teams like the Knicks will pay 5 1sts for Mikal Bridges. If that's the market.... then even 5 rando 1sts these days isn't buying you much. Essentially, there is no guarantee that we can ever pay these picks off in bringing some elusive star to San Antonio. And even if we do, Wemby will be a super max player soon (look at Barnes's new contract) and this other star would be a max guy as well presumably which would mean we need to somehow keep 50 million in tradeable contracts on our books/cap space indefinitely waiting for the moment when a star is available. That's not good roster management at all, and all done in the hopes of sending 5 picks for one guy.
I'll finish by saying that I don't even really think Dillingham would have been a good fit for this team, but I do think Devin Cater would have been. If Castle is Jrue, then Carter was D White in this draft. We had a chance to put out a roster of
Castle
Carter
Vassell
Sochan
Wemby
And see where that defensive intensity gets us. We'd still have the ATL picks and ours for next year.
Instead, we still have a gaping hole to fill in the starting lineup, and we're left to wait for next year's lottery balls.
First, outside of Wembanyama, the Spurs have actually been pretty terrible at taking the best player in the draft. When you look at the picks they've made, I think we're all happy with Vassell, but that happiness wanes a bit when you remember Haliburton went one pick later. We're ok with Sochan... but again Jalen Williams went three picks later. In 2021 of course we have the Primo pick, when Sengun could have been had. It's obvious revisionism and would mean we likely wouldn't have Wemby because we would have been better with Haliburton, Williams and Sengun on our team, but the point is that the Spurs have whiffed pretty hard when it comes to knowing the best player available to take. Throw in Wesley and Branham to the mix and I think most of us can agree that since 2021 we're really only happy with Wemby and Vassell with four other picks having questionable outcomes. That's a 33% hit rate, good in baseball, not good in the draft.
Second, if your strategy is asset accumulation, I think you have to have an idea of how you are going to cash these in. I've already covered that the Spurs are... pretty bad at the draft, and you only have a limited amount of roster slots, so they can't make all of these picks. So now the question is, how do you cash out, and for who? Well the problem is that the kind of guy that would make us better will be wanted by other teams as well. While others might not have the number of picks we have, desperate stupid teams like the Knicks will pay 5 1sts for Mikal Bridges. If that's the market.... then even 5 rando 1sts these days isn't buying you much. Essentially, there is no guarantee that we can ever pay these picks off in bringing some elusive star to San Antonio. And even if we do, Wemby will be a super max player soon (look at Barnes's new contract) and this other star would be a max guy as well presumably which would mean we need to somehow keep 50 million in tradeable contracts on our books/cap space indefinitely waiting for the moment when a star is available. That's not good roster management at all, and all done in the hopes of sending 5 picks for one guy.
I'll finish by saying that I don't even really think Dillingham would have been a good fit for this team, but I do think Devin Cater would have been. If Castle is Jrue, then Carter was D White in this draft. We had a chance to put out a roster of
Castle
Carter
Vassell
Sochan
Wemby
And see where that defensive intensity gets us. We'd still have the ATL picks and ours for next year.
Instead, we still have a gaping hole to fill in the starting lineup, and we're left to wait for next year's lottery balls.
I don't really think Wright knows what he's doing. He's got job security though as long as he continues to wine it up with Pop and keep them out of financial purgatory.
Asset accumulation is fine in some context, but we have a transcendent player on our roster right now, with poor shooting around him, a bunch of G-League level guys supporting him, and we're trading for picks six years from now?
This front office continues its hubris based on getting Tim, TP, and Ginobili back in the day, while several other organizations in the league have caught up or surpassed it.
It's disgusting and if they don't do something soon besides accumulate future picks, Wemby's camp gonna be bouncing as soon as he can.
It does seem they are putting all their eggs in the 2025 draft basket, but I also have little faith they will pick worth a damn.
Asset accumulation is fine in some context, but we have a transcendent player on our roster right now, with poor shooting around him, a bunch of G-League level guys supporting him, and we're trading for picks six years from now?
This front office continues its hubris based on getting Tim, TP, and Ginobili back in the day, while several other organizations in the league have caught up or surpassed it.
It's disgusting and if they don't do something soon besides accumulate future picks, Wemby's camp gonna be bouncing as soon as he can.
It does seem they are putting all their eggs in the 2025 draft basket, but I also have little faith they will pick worth a damn.
FTAG 2000 said:
I don't really think Wright knows what he's doing. He's got job security though as long as he continues to wine it up with Pop and keep them out of financial purgatory.
Asset accumulation is fine in some context, but we have a transcendent player on our roster right now, with poor shooting around him, a bunch of G-League level guys supporting him, and we're trading for picks six years from now?
This front office continues its hubris based on getting Tim, TP, and Ginobili back in the day, while several other organizations in the league have caught up or surpassed it.
It's disgusting and if they don't do something soon besides accumulate future picks, Wemby's camp gonna be bouncing as soon as he can.
It does seem they are putting all their eggs in the 2025 draft basket, but I also have little faith they will pick worth a damn.
So you think Brian made this decision in a vacuum and did not consult the coach and president of the team that is Hall of Fame coach Greg popovich or the CEO of the team RC Buford?
How many guys under 23 do you think the Spurs can effectively develop at one time?
The Spurs need a lot of players right now and if there was no one at value for their building plans at 8 getting more assets they can trade is the better option. Especially when those assets come from a historical dumpster fire team.
Even if they use the pic, there's not a path for the Spurs to be contenders this year
If the Spurs didn't feel good about any of the guys available at 8 (And you can't blame them for that, all those guys have huge question marks and would typically go in the late teens / early 20s anyway), why all the handwringing? Especially if their hit rate isn't as impressive these days, why take another whiff at 8 instead of punt to a time when your needs should be much more narrowly defined.
I would have rather they squeezed that pick swap with zero protection (Minnesota might have a 20 something percent chance of hitting the 1st pick that year), but it was highly unlikely you were gonna get a better offer than that. Two firsts from a better team with less of a time lapse would not really be an improvement over what they ended up getting. As pointed out already, Minnesota is a miserable franchise and all the college and pro teams in that whole state generally suck really bad.
I would have rather they squeezed that pick swap with zero protection (Minnesota might have a 20 something percent chance of hitting the 1st pick that year), but it was highly unlikely you were gonna get a better offer than that. Two firsts from a better team with less of a time lapse would not really be an improvement over what they ended up getting. As pointed out already, Minnesota is a miserable franchise and all the college and pro teams in that whole state generally suck really bad.
You do realize that the asset accumulation strategy is the best strategy because nobody is great at drafting the eventual best players. I'd challenge you to do the same analysis of every team. 33% hit rate is actually really strong. So if you double or triple your number of picks it gives you the best chance of building a monster.AggieEP said:
I wouldn't say that Wright sounds like an idiot, but it sounds like the Spurs are laser focused on asset accumulation. As he mentions, it's usually a pretty good strategy, and I do not deny that at all. There are two things that bug me about how the Spurs are going about it though.
First, outside of Wembanyama, the Spurs have actually been pretty terrible at taking the best player in the draft. When you look at the picks they've made, I think we're all happy with Vassell, but that happiness wanes a bit when you remember Haliburton went one pick later. We're ok with Sochan... but again Jalen Williams went three picks later. In 2021 of course we have the Primo pick, when Sengun could have been had. It's obvious revisionism and would mean we likely wouldn't have Wemby because we would have been better with Haliburton, Williams and Sengun on our team, but the point is that the Spurs have whiffed pretty hard when it comes to knowing the best player available to take. Throw in Wesley and Branham to the mix and I think most of us can agree that since 2021 we're really only happy with Wemby and Vassell with four other picks having questionable outcomes. That's a 33% hit rate, good in baseball, not good in the draft.
Second, if your strategy is asset accumulation, I think you have to have an idea of how you are going to cash these in. I've already covered that the Spurs are... pretty bad at the draft, and you only have a limited amount of roster slots, so they can't make all of these picks. So now the question is, how do you cash out, and for who? Well the problem is that the kind of guy that would make us better will be wanted by other teams as well. While others might not have the number of picks we have, desperate stupid teams like the Knicks will pay 5 1sts for Mikal Bridges. If that's the market.... then even 5 rando 1sts these days isn't buying you much. Essentially, there is no guarantee that we can ever pay these picks off in bringing some elusive star to San Antonio. And even if we do, Wemby will be a super max player soon (look at Barnes's new contract) and this other star would be a max guy as well presumably which would mean we need to somehow keep 50 million in tradeable contracts on our books/cap space indefinitely waiting for the moment when a star is available. That's not good roster management at all, and all done in the hopes of sending 5 picks for one guy.
I'll finish by saying that I don't even really think Dillingham would have been a good fit for this team, but I do think Devin Cater would have been. If Castle is Jrue, then Carter was D White in this draft. We had a chance to put out a roster of
Castle
Carter
Vassell
Sochan
Wemby
And see where that defensive intensity gets us. We'd still have the ATL picks and ours for next year.
Instead, we still have a gaping hole to fill in the starting lineup, and we're left to wait for next year's lottery balls.
For example Presti, who is widely regarded as a great evaluator, gets all kinds of credit for his great picks. And nobody brings up his misses because it doesn't matter as long as you have enough hits to build a nice roster.
FTAG 2000 said:
I don't really think Wright knows what he's doing. He's got job security though as long as he continues to wine it up with Pop and keep them out of financial purgatory.
Asset accumulation is fine in some context, but we have a transcendent player on our roster right now, with poor shooting around him, a bunch of G-League level guys supporting him, and we're trading for picks six years from now?
This front office continues its hubris based on getting Tim, TP, and Ginobili back in the day, while several other organizations in the league have caught up or surpassed it.
It's disgusting and if they don't do something soon besides accumulate future picks, Wemby's camp gonna be bouncing as soon as he can.
It does seem they are putting all their eggs in the 2025 draft basket, but I also have little faith they will pick worth a damn.
It's the first offseason after Wemby playing a year of nba basketball. They have time to figure this out. And Wemby is okay with it. Why rush into things now, particularly when the West is a death gauntlet and we aren't even close to competing with those guys?
I agree we need shooting but who are the spurs supposed to take there? Knecht that fell to 17 that may or may not be as good as Doug McDermott who we just traded? And undersized Dillingham who weighs 160 pounds that didn't understand plays at Kentucky? Then we have a team full of teenagers and 20 somethings not knowing wtf they are doing on the court. More than anything, this team needs some veterans and high iq players who can teach these kids how to play.
The Spurs felt that they got the most they could out of the 8th pick by punting (unprotected and top 1 protected for a team in minnesota that advanced in the playoffs for the first time in 20 years is pretty damn good. Also, Tim Connelly has proven he can build contenders but that dude will be gone from Minnesota to build the next thing well before those picks convey leaving Minnesota in cap hell with no picks). It's not exciting but I'm okay with that. We are building for flexibility for Victor's future. We need to be real picky in the draft going forward and 2025 is the last real chance for us to get someone good before we ascend into playoff contention. Then, we are set up to trade assets to turn into a contender or organically grow with the draft assets we have. We are in great shape, and I'm just as big of a critic of Wright as anyone at times.
Guitarsoup said:
Even if they use the pic, there's not a path for the Spurs to be contenders this year
No way, Rob Dillingham was going to lead us to the finals next year /s
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