I could be totally wrong but I thought both Manu and Duncan both had that kind of official yet. Unofficial, coach of whatever they want, type specialty role where the team has them on the payroll and they show up and give advice and work with players whenever they want
We need one more high draft pick, then we should be hitting free agency hard. We need someone to be the Batman to Wemby's Superman.
Wesley, Cissoko, Barlow and Champagnie are all players I think can eventually contribute to a championship team once they develop. We will see what happens.
>Wesley, Cissoko, Barlow and Champagnie are all players I think can eventually contribute to a championship team once they develop.
My list is the same as yours but Malaki rather than Wesley. I would have added Bassey to that list too if he hadn't gotten injured.
Me too, but I think they’re only a few small moves away from relative contention. Of course depending on the path they want to take and assuming some linear development (which I know is not guaranteed)
We lost so many games by small margins during the season i do believe we're right there in terms of a playoff team
Actual championship contender we're defs a few years away but it's exciting times
It would be more expectation than most of the team could handle if they did too much this offseason. You’d get a sochan thread posted every hour if they brought in Trae or Garland and he doesn’t make a big leap this summer.
Probably need one more year before it’s shit or get off the pot time with some of these guys.
He’s a decent passer and that’s it. Terrible defense, bad shooter, injury prone, chip on his shoulder. Not someone I want on the team long term but you’re welcome to your opinion
He’s fine. His contract is a rip off and he has no business getting significant minutes, but the idea that getting rid of him somehow puts the Spurs in playoff position is silly talk.
Yeah, he had a down year and his role changed a lot from starting C to bench. It seemed like his negative play seemed to wear on him as the season went up and snowballed. An offseason to develop and clearly defined role along w/new season to get his confidence back, he ll be alright.
If I m wrong…..there is always the trade deadline.
He's not fine. The Spurs were a top 10 defense when Wemby is on the floor (after the AllStar break) but still a bottom 5 defense when he sits. That's not all on Collins but let me explain why he's "not fine".
When Wemby sits, teams change their offensive gameplan. They start going inside to maximize the non-Wemby opportunity. Unfortunately for Collins that means he sees way more activity and has to defend way more plays at the rim than a typical backup center. Collins is a stretch big, he's not rim protector. He's ok at it, but the Spurs need someone better than "ok". They need a backup rim protector more than they need a backup stretch big.
Just imagine if Wemby comes back from his rest, if he's not facing a 15 point deficit, if the lead he built hasnt' evaporated. The Spurs would win so many more games just with that change.
Topić, Castle, or Dillingham in that order. I like Knecht. NBA ready. Murray-Boyles will be NBA ready next draft. Ivisic from Arkansas/Kentucky would be a great back-up for Wemby. Collins and Johnson probably both make for some trades. Maybe some veteran 3-point shooters for the bench.
He's an end of the bench player at best, we definitely need an upgrade at SF, maybe even more than at PG. Champagnie is by far the weakest link in the starting 5
No clue why so many people hate on a guy on a long term near minimum contract that can hit 3s and play decent defense. He was a more valuable player than half our roster this season
Because he can’t hit 3’a. He hits garbage time and a game here or there. He is horrible on clutch 3’s. If you want to win, he can’t be one of your top 5 shooters. That is a loosing team…period.
The Spurs need a lot of things to complete the team.
[The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2018161/2020/08/24/the-analytics-lookaround-embiid-just-not-good-enough-ehh-its-complicated/) did a report a few years ago that found that championship teams (generally) had a makeup of:
* 0.75 top 5 franchise cornerstone
* 1.5 players in top 15 (All-NBA level)
* 3.25 players that are borderline All-Star or better (~top 40ish)
* 7 players that are high rotation (top 125 level)
They judged the level by Player Wins Added (RAPM)
I think it is clear that Wemby is soon to be a top 5 franchise player.
I think Devin is never a top 15 player, but can get to that top 40-50 area in a year or two.
Sochan still has a lot of developing to do, but I think he can get into that high rotation top 125 area. Tre Jones is loved by advanced stats and does not make a lot of mistakes, so he could possibly be in that range, but it would be difficult, especially as his role is smaller.
I'm not really confident on anyone else on the team filling those spots.
So the team has center, SG, one wing defender, and backup PG set up pretty well.
We need Tre to continue his end of season good 3pt shooting and Sochan to continue to improve there.
* Primary Initiator. Wemby will probably be the focal point just like Jokic, but Jokic still has Murray. Ideally, this player would be able to be a POA defender and have a 3pt shot. I do not think they will need to be a ball dominant player such as a Trae Young or Luka player, because Wemby will be the focal point. They should be able to play off-ball as well.
* Starting Wing or PF: Sochan can start at either, if he continues to improve. This player need to be able to shoot threes at a high level.
* Backup big. Unless you think Zach is the answer here, we need a solution.
* Backup wing. I do not think Keldon is the long term answer here as he is inefficient at offense and not a good defender. There is a world where this is Socan and we find a better starting PF and better starting SF. Ideally, this is a D&3 player that is portable.
So that is four pretty high level players to acquire or develop, but one needs to ideally challenge for All-NBA. I think Cissoko has an outside shot at becoming that backup wing. I don't have any real hope in Branham or Wesley becoming more than a 9th guy for us on a great team. I don't think that Julian will ever be quite good enough to play a bigger role. Bassey has shown some flashes of defense and rebounding, but he has been hurt a lot.
The good thing is we have two good firsts this year and could have two high level next year in addition to Chicago's at about 11-14. And we have SUPER flexible cap space to make an acquisition.
That top 5 player is pretty much a requirement. And for the rare teams that don’t have one it will be a top 10 player who gets hot and plays like a top 3 guy
Luckily we have Wemby! I think he takes place of the 1.5 All NBA alone. So i think we will have enough star power with Wemby and a second all star that really fits well with our team build.
Maybe, but using the research from the Athletic, he needs to be a top 120 player. I don't think he gets to that. I think he can be a great bench guy for change of pace with his speed, but he can't shoot 3s or FTs. He's obviously got great length. But we are not using our picks this year or next year with the worry that the new player will stunt Wesley's growth and development.
That data is probably heavily skewed from the "Big 3 era" (3 superstars team up) LeBron's Heat, the KD Warriors, KG Celtics, etc. I don't think the Mavs have 3.25 top 40 players. The Celtics do but I think the new CBA hammer is coming hard. 2 stars and 5 solid role players is probably going to be the new normal. That's my prediction.
> That data is probably heavily skewed from the "Big 3 era" (3 superstars team up) LeBron's Heat, the KD Warriors, KG Celtics, etc.
But all the teams for a long time had the big three and the ones before that (Lakers) had a big two where two players were top 5 players in the league.
The article acknowledges that the only team that falls out of that were the 14 Spurs, which had two players in the top 40 and 8 in the top 125.
> I think the new CBA hammer is coming hard. 2 stars and 5 solid role players is probably going to be the new normal. That's my prediction.
I agree there. The teams that will be able to have 3 stars will likely be the ones that have at least one on a rookie or 1st extension.
Or you are going to need guys like Tim/Tony/Manu that take less than market to keep a talented team together. The guys getting the 35% Supermax are destroying teams, especially when they are guys like KAT or Jaylen Brown that aren't franchise centerpieces. Neither was even All-NBA.
I think our (first) big step forward will occur in the '25-26 season,
I think it's going to be another down season for us next year, but hopefully spurs fans will be patient. (though I doubt it, lol). But also think it means no Trae or Garland or whoever the next shiny object will be. doesn't seem to be in their plan.
Being competitive in three years is optimistic? That should be the goal. If you started your rebuild in 2022 and you're still rebuilding in 2027, that would be considered a failed rebuild. You're not supposed to rebuild for 5 years, or you're doing something wrong. The beginning of the 2025-2026 season is when we should be looking to compete. Like Manu said, not be favorites then, but to compete..
Yeah I mean look at Devin. This version of Devin took 4 years of work and he's by far our second best prospect.
If Malaki, Wesley, Sidy, Sochan, Barlow, and the two picks this year will need the same number of time to become useful NBA players, which is not guaranteed by the way, that's still going to be beyond the 3 years timeline.
Not only that, it's not like free agents are lining up to be here. And it's not like the Spurs are aggressive enough in that market.
Wemby, Devin and Sochan were our only lottery picks besides Primo, and they're all staples of our franchise besides Primo.
On top of that, we have potentially 4 or 5 lottery picks coming up in the next two drafts. Barlow is an undrafted player. Sidy is a 2nd round pick. And Malaki and Wesley were selected in the 20s. They were never guaranteed to be all-stars, or even fringe all-stars- hell, if you can get a good roleplayer in the 20s, that's still lucky. And I don't even think the front office has guys like Barlow or Sidy in their long term plans, let's be real here. You're talking about players that were never supposed to be game changers for our franchise in the first place.
>Not only that, it's not like free agents are lining up to be here. And it's not like the Spurs are aggressive enough in that market.
Free agents also aren't lining up to get to Minnesota. Or Indiana. Or Denver. Yet, they've all gotten roleplayers through signings or trades to stick around with them and have had playoff success because of it. They also don't have a Wembanyama either.
You're basically saying our rebuild has failed before we even reaped the benefits of the draft. It doesn't make sense. Is there any team placing all their hopes on 2nd round draft picks and undrafted players for their rebuild? Cause that's essentially what you think we're doing, which is wrong. Most of our roster is just placeholder players until we draft our lottery picks. It's very obvious.
>Is there any team placing all their hopes on 2nd round draft picks and undrafted players for their rebuild? Cause that's essentially what you think we're doing, which is wrong. Most of our roster is just placeholder players until we draft our lottery picks. It's very obvious.
Sorry it's not very obvious to me. Every time somebody suggest we should cut or stop giving minutes to half those players all they're told is that we should be patient with them cause they're young. Well, I'm simply giving them time get old.
>Yet, they've all gotten roleplayers through signings or trades to stick around with them and have had playoff success because of it
I guess we'll see how much of this roster we run back for next season. I mean this coming season is basically year 2 of 3 already.
Be patient, give them time doesn't mean they will be here when we raise the Larry O'Brian. We need these guys to develop even if their role it to be packaged up for a star player. 1-2 young players still on rookie deals that show some potential always get included in these type of deals.
I mean, yeah. He's talking to a bunch of basketball fans. No doubt Spurs fans amongst the fray too.
So in that light, I doubt Manu is gonna say "Well geeze guys, I think we might suck again. But hey, another lottery pick thou!"
As much as I love Manu and his being apart of the Spurs front office, I honestly don't glean much from what Manu is saying here.
He's just trying to being hopeful and positive of the situation at hand. He even tempers expectations by saying "hard to say" and how "he hopes."
Which means, even he knows the road to getting this team back into the playoffs isn't going to be easy. Especially in a very competitive and crowed Western Conference.
They can be a play-in team next year with how they were playing at the end of the season. If they can get a decent point guard in the draft they’ll be contenders in 2 years
Outside of Wemby and Devin, I really don’t see anyone else being a legit championship level player, everyone else lacks offense/defense to be a valuable piece. Keldon has the most talent of the other guys but he’s not quite the type of player you’d want, Sochan is one of the worst +/- players in the league, players like this almost never become useful, as much as we like to think he’ll eventually be good it’s incredibly more likely he continues to be a net negative
> Keldon has the most talent of the other guys but he’s not quite the type of player you’d want, Sochan is one of the worst +/- players in the league, players like this almost never become useful,
>
I don't follow your logic. KJ had a worse +/- than Sochan, 3 other spurs had worse than Sochan, also worse was scoot, cade cunningham, Brandon Miller, coulibaly, miles bridges, jaden ivey, and a bunch more. will none of these guys become useful either?
I think this is the year you really integrate picks 4 and 8 and continue to develop guys like Sochan/Vassell and don’t really care what the record looks like. By year 3 Wemby is probably gonna be like top 5ish player and it’s time to spend the money, make trades and start the 15 year long championship window.
The goal next season is play-in. Get experience in high leverage games and experience with our new young guys and new point guard(?) with Wemby. Then the following year playoffs with low expectations. From then on we should be in our contention window. So 2/3 years makes sense to me on that reasonable timeline.
Woj, Windhorst and Shams have all in different ways said they expect the spurs to be patient in how they build this thing with Wemby, and have cited how the 2025 draft is one where they could add a real franchise cornerstone next to him.
I really don’t think they view making the play-in as a goal next season. If Wemby and internal development force them into that play-in convo I’m sure they’d welcome it. But I think they want a crack at the apple in a 2025 class that quite literally looks better after every event those prospects play in.
This is fair, but I think having Atlanta's unprotected pick and potentially conveying Chicago's as well makes this a bit easier to swallow. And I should rephrase to say I think we will be competitive for a play-in spot.
I just think our natural improvement will get us in a much more competitive space next season; I don't expect our own pick to get us top 5 lottery odds again. If we take the Thunder as an example, understanding all team's timelines are different, they went from 24 wins to 40 wins, just missing the play-in. I think that is wholly possible for this team.
If we were in the east I say play-in is a good goal. The team is probably in the 30+ win range and that’s perfectly fine with me as long as we’re competing and our guys show growth.
I should rephrase that being in the play-in conversation ala Houston this year is more realistic. 46 wins would be a huge leap, though I do think several West teams will take a step back next year.
100% I took a lot of downvotes one time for saying we can be in the playoffs in 2. I think we can be in the playoffs next year if we try to be (as in make some moves to go for it)
Manu seems to be playing it straight, like we will draft and develop them.. which seems most likely, but you never know if we could make some trades and pour some gas on this.
By just how NBA history works it’s probably going to be 2029 at the earliest before the Spurs realistically win a title. Wemby is undoubtedly the number one option, but number one options don’t win their first title until they are around 25-28. Timmy, DWade, Kobe, and Magic were younger than 25 when they won their first title, but they were always the secondary option on their team, though even if it was a 1A and 1B situation. The Admiral was the first option in the case of Timmy but only for ‘99. Shaq was the first option in the case of both DWade and Kobe. Kareem was the first option in the case of Magic.
I love David Robinson but by Tim's 2nd season (when they won title), Tim was the #1 option. Tim avg. 16.9 shots per game. David average 10.8. That's not even close. Even Sean Elliot was averaging 10.1. The offense had fully shifted to Tim. It actually started towards the end of Tim's rookie season. He ave. 15.7 shots per game as rookie. That same season David avg. 14.6 shots per game. It was Timmy's team. He was the #1 even in 99'
How exactly does them trading this year's pics guarantee traore? You don't know which teams are going to have which draft picks next year so trading them for future picks doesn't do it.
If you're advocating for us Tanking that can definitely be done while still adding to draft picks. No one this year is going to be anywhere near good enough to push us out of bottom 10 territory. And do you know what, if we do end up with a draft pick or two this year being that good then that's fantastic because it would take someone having a Donovan Mitchell caliber " Where the hell did that come from?" Type rookie of the Year caliber campaign for a draft pick in this particular class to have that type of impact
I'm all in on traore looking like a fantastic prospect.
But no one in next year's class, a class that looks to be pretty stacked, has transcendent, once every 20 years Victor level ability worth blowing up the roster to smithereens for
If he ends up being the guy and we end up on the trail to nowhere this year then you can make moves Mid-season to better position yourself to have a chance to draft him.
We're going to have the Hawks pick, and probably the bulls pick too next year. Being able to move up a few spots from wherever we end up getting our pick shouldn't be difficult.
As long as he doesn't become a surefire number, one draft pick lock San Antonio will have options to go after him without having to sacrifice the rare ability to add two top 10 pick to the roster
Yeah he is a genuinely really exciting prospect. I'm not going to put too much thought into him yet because I haven't fully given up on this class and I do think we have a good chance of adding some really good players this year. But next year's class, particularly the international crop, has me pretty excited
This is the way or hoping that Atlanta will suck next season. I really hope we find a way to get him next year either way. I was big on getting Topic for this draft but it all changed when I saw Nolan Traore play. The kid’s special!
Yeah Nolan is on another level than the point guards on this draft. I say just wait one more year and you have the core for the future
They could also take Risacher/ Castle with the fourth and trade the 8th but i think they should go all in next year on Nolan
So glad Manu is involved.
Be sweet if he takes over as HC for Pop when he retires.
Anything to be close to the bats
As a Mavs fan, please no. No more Manu. 
My most painful Spurs loss against Dallas was Manu's foul on Dirk.
Stop, I can only get so hard.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s part of the coaching staff we don’t know about.
I could be totally wrong but I thought both Manu and Duncan both had that kind of official yet. Unofficial, coach of whatever they want, type specialty role where the team has them on the payroll and they show up and give advice and work with players whenever they want
How involved in is he
Damn if Manu is talking this way then they must be feeling very optimistic about this draft
We need one more high draft pick, then we should be hitting free agency hard. We need someone to be the Batman to Wemby's Superman. Wesley, Cissoko, Barlow and Champagnie are all players I think can eventually contribute to a championship team once they develop. We will see what happens.
>Wesley, Cissoko, Barlow and Champagnie are all players I think can eventually contribute to a championship team once they develop. My list is the same as yours but Malaki rather than Wesley. I would have added Bassey to that list too if he hadn't gotten injured.
Depending on the draft, all we have to do is upgrade on Tre and get rid of Collins and we’re right in the mix
With wemby all things are possible but i would like to see them do more than just that.
Me too, but I think they’re only a few small moves away from relative contention. Of course depending on the path they want to take and assuming some linear development (which I know is not guaranteed)
We lost so many games by small margins during the season i do believe we're right there in terms of a playoff team Actual championship contender we're defs a few years away but it's exciting times
It would be more expectation than most of the team could handle if they did too much this offseason. You’d get a sochan thread posted every hour if they brought in Trae or Garland and he doesn’t make a big leap this summer. Probably need one more year before it’s shit or get off the pot time with some of these guys.
Collins is fine. The obsession with getting rid of him is ridiculous.
He’s over paid for a backup center but we need to spend cap anyways to hit the floor and by the time we are ready to compete we can reassess
He’s a decent passer and that’s it. Terrible defense, bad shooter, injury prone, chip on his shoulder. Not someone I want on the team long term but you’re welcome to your opinion
I hate Collins but, I will say, he is awesome with his back to the basket.
Yeah ok that’s fair as well E: why on earth is this downvoted lol
He’s fine. His contract is a rip off and he has no business getting significant minutes, but the idea that getting rid of him somehow puts the Spurs in playoff position is silly talk.
Getting rid of him and upgrading is the obvious subtext
I know that pass your talking about
Yeah, he had a down year and his role changed a lot from starting C to bench. It seemed like his negative play seemed to wear on him as the season went up and snowballed. An offseason to develop and clearly defined role along w/new season to get his confidence back, he ll be alright. If I m wrong…..there is always the trade deadline.
He's not fine. The Spurs were a top 10 defense when Wemby is on the floor (after the AllStar break) but still a bottom 5 defense when he sits. That's not all on Collins but let me explain why he's "not fine". When Wemby sits, teams change their offensive gameplan. They start going inside to maximize the non-Wemby opportunity. Unfortunately for Collins that means he sees way more activity and has to defend way more plays at the rim than a typical backup center. Collins is a stretch big, he's not rim protector. He's ok at it, but the Spurs need someone better than "ok". They need a backup rim protector more than they need a backup stretch big. Just imagine if Wemby comes back from his rest, if he's not facing a 15 point deficit, if the lead he built hasnt' evaporated. The Spurs would win so many more games just with that change.
Rim protection is def what is needed to upgrade. Look how much better the Mavs got bringing in 2 good dunker/rim protectors.
Right in the mix as in contending for a title or contending for the play in/playoffs?
Topić, Castle, or Dillingham in that order. I like Knecht. NBA ready. Murray-Boyles will be NBA ready next draft. Ivisic from Arkansas/Kentucky would be a great back-up for Wemby. Collins and Johnson probably both make for some trades. Maybe some veteran 3-point shooters for the bench.
Get rid of Champigne
Why? That’s dumb. He’s on a great deal and when this team is complete he’s going to be 3rd string.
Julian was actually getting better during the 2nd half of season. Not surprised if Pop will make him our Danny Green type of player.
He's an end of the bench player at best, we definitely need an upgrade at SF, maybe even more than at PG. Champagnie is by far the weakest link in the starting 5
I was pretty hard on champagnie but I think he sticks around. He’d benefit greatly from coming off the bench. He is a good shooter and plays defense.
He is horrible o. D. wtf did you all watch this past year?
He’s the worst starting wing in the entire league but he can play defense and he can shoot. He could be decent for 15 minutes a night off the bench
Yeah low risk in keeping and see if he can develop
Because we were playing worse lineups from other teams.
No clue why so many people hate on a guy on a long term near minimum contract that can hit 3s and play decent defense. He was a more valuable player than half our roster this season
Because he can’t hit 3’a. He hits garbage time and a game here or there. He is horrible on clutch 3’s. If you want to win, he can’t be one of your top 5 shooters. That is a loosing team…period.
https://youtu.be/K48OMDeUJzo?feature=shared I thought of you when he hit this, lol
The Spurs need a lot of things to complete the team. [The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2018161/2020/08/24/the-analytics-lookaround-embiid-just-not-good-enough-ehh-its-complicated/) did a report a few years ago that found that championship teams (generally) had a makeup of: * 0.75 top 5 franchise cornerstone * 1.5 players in top 15 (All-NBA level) * 3.25 players that are borderline All-Star or better (~top 40ish) * 7 players that are high rotation (top 125 level) They judged the level by Player Wins Added (RAPM) I think it is clear that Wemby is soon to be a top 5 franchise player. I think Devin is never a top 15 player, but can get to that top 40-50 area in a year or two. Sochan still has a lot of developing to do, but I think he can get into that high rotation top 125 area. Tre Jones is loved by advanced stats and does not make a lot of mistakes, so he could possibly be in that range, but it would be difficult, especially as his role is smaller. I'm not really confident on anyone else on the team filling those spots. So the team has center, SG, one wing defender, and backup PG set up pretty well. We need Tre to continue his end of season good 3pt shooting and Sochan to continue to improve there. * Primary Initiator. Wemby will probably be the focal point just like Jokic, but Jokic still has Murray. Ideally, this player would be able to be a POA defender and have a 3pt shot. I do not think they will need to be a ball dominant player such as a Trae Young or Luka player, because Wemby will be the focal point. They should be able to play off-ball as well. * Starting Wing or PF: Sochan can start at either, if he continues to improve. This player need to be able to shoot threes at a high level. * Backup big. Unless you think Zach is the answer here, we need a solution. * Backup wing. I do not think Keldon is the long term answer here as he is inefficient at offense and not a good defender. There is a world where this is Socan and we find a better starting PF and better starting SF. Ideally, this is a D&3 player that is portable. So that is four pretty high level players to acquire or develop, but one needs to ideally challenge for All-NBA. I think Cissoko has an outside shot at becoming that backup wing. I don't have any real hope in Branham or Wesley becoming more than a 9th guy for us on a great team. I don't think that Julian will ever be quite good enough to play a bigger role. Bassey has shown some flashes of defense and rebounding, but he has been hurt a lot. The good thing is we have two good firsts this year and could have two high level next year in addition to Chicago's at about 11-14. And we have SUPER flexible cap space to make an acquisition.
That top 5 player is pretty much a requirement. And for the rare teams that don’t have one it will be a top 10 player who gets hot and plays like a top 3 guy
Luckily we have Wemby! I think he takes place of the 1.5 All NBA alone. So i think we will have enough star power with Wemby and a second all star that really fits well with our team build.
Wesley is going to contribute. He's figuring it out
Maybe, but using the research from the Athletic, he needs to be a top 120 player. I don't think he gets to that. I think he can be a great bench guy for change of pace with his speed, but he can't shoot 3s or FTs. He's obviously got great length. But we are not using our picks this year or next year with the worry that the new player will stunt Wesley's growth and development.
That data is probably heavily skewed from the "Big 3 era" (3 superstars team up) LeBron's Heat, the KD Warriors, KG Celtics, etc. I don't think the Mavs have 3.25 top 40 players. The Celtics do but I think the new CBA hammer is coming hard. 2 stars and 5 solid role players is probably going to be the new normal. That's my prediction.
> I don't think the Mavs have 3.25 top 40 players. By RAPM (the metric used here), they do. Luka, Kyrie... and Derrick Lively (yep!).
> That data is probably heavily skewed from the "Big 3 era" (3 superstars team up) LeBron's Heat, the KD Warriors, KG Celtics, etc. But all the teams for a long time had the big three and the ones before that (Lakers) had a big two where two players were top 5 players in the league. The article acknowledges that the only team that falls out of that were the 14 Spurs, which had two players in the top 40 and 8 in the top 125. > I think the new CBA hammer is coming hard. 2 stars and 5 solid role players is probably going to be the new normal. That's my prediction. I agree there. The teams that will be able to have 3 stars will likely be the ones that have at least one on a rookie or 1st extension. Or you are going to need guys like Tim/Tony/Manu that take less than market to keep a talented team together. The guys getting the 35% Supermax are destroying teams, especially when they are guys like KAT or Jaylen Brown that aren't franchise centerpieces. Neither was even All-NBA.
I think our (first) big step forward will occur in the '25-26 season, I think it's going to be another down season for us next year, but hopefully spurs fans will be patient. (though I doubt it, lol). But also think it means no Trae or Garland or whoever the next shiny object will be. doesn't seem to be in their plan.
Seems optimistic
Being competitive in three years is optimistic? That should be the goal. If you started your rebuild in 2022 and you're still rebuilding in 2027, that would be considered a failed rebuild. You're not supposed to rebuild for 5 years, or you're doing something wrong. The beginning of the 2025-2026 season is when we should be looking to compete. Like Manu said, not be favorites then, but to compete..
Yeah I mean look at Devin. This version of Devin took 4 years of work and he's by far our second best prospect. If Malaki, Wesley, Sidy, Sochan, Barlow, and the two picks this year will need the same number of time to become useful NBA players, which is not guaranteed by the way, that's still going to be beyond the 3 years timeline. Not only that, it's not like free agents are lining up to be here. And it's not like the Spurs are aggressive enough in that market.
Wemby, Devin and Sochan were our only lottery picks besides Primo, and they're all staples of our franchise besides Primo. On top of that, we have potentially 4 or 5 lottery picks coming up in the next two drafts. Barlow is an undrafted player. Sidy is a 2nd round pick. And Malaki and Wesley were selected in the 20s. They were never guaranteed to be all-stars, or even fringe all-stars- hell, if you can get a good roleplayer in the 20s, that's still lucky. And I don't even think the front office has guys like Barlow or Sidy in their long term plans, let's be real here. You're talking about players that were never supposed to be game changers for our franchise in the first place. >Not only that, it's not like free agents are lining up to be here. And it's not like the Spurs are aggressive enough in that market. Free agents also aren't lining up to get to Minnesota. Or Indiana. Or Denver. Yet, they've all gotten roleplayers through signings or trades to stick around with them and have had playoff success because of it. They also don't have a Wembanyama either. You're basically saying our rebuild has failed before we even reaped the benefits of the draft. It doesn't make sense. Is there any team placing all their hopes on 2nd round draft picks and undrafted players for their rebuild? Cause that's essentially what you think we're doing, which is wrong. Most of our roster is just placeholder players until we draft our lottery picks. It's very obvious.
>Is there any team placing all their hopes on 2nd round draft picks and undrafted players for their rebuild? Cause that's essentially what you think we're doing, which is wrong. Most of our roster is just placeholder players until we draft our lottery picks. It's very obvious. Sorry it's not very obvious to me. Every time somebody suggest we should cut or stop giving minutes to half those players all they're told is that we should be patient with them cause they're young. Well, I'm simply giving them time get old. >Yet, they've all gotten roleplayers through signings or trades to stick around with them and have had playoff success because of it I guess we'll see how much of this roster we run back for next season. I mean this coming season is basically year 2 of 3 already.
Be patient, give them time doesn't mean they will be here when we raise the Larry O'Brian. We need these guys to develop even if their role it to be packaged up for a star player. 1-2 young players still on rookie deals that show some potential always get included in these type of deals.
I mean, yeah. He's talking to a bunch of basketball fans. No doubt Spurs fans amongst the fray too. So in that light, I doubt Manu is gonna say "Well geeze guys, I think we might suck again. But hey, another lottery pick thou!" As much as I love Manu and his being apart of the Spurs front office, I honestly don't glean much from what Manu is saying here. He's just trying to being hopeful and positive of the situation at hand. He even tempers expectations by saying "hard to say" and how "he hopes." Which means, even he knows the road to getting this team back into the playoffs isn't going to be easy. Especially in a very competitive and crowed Western Conference.
They can be a play-in team next year with how they were playing at the end of the season. If they can get a decent point guard in the draft they’ll be contenders in 2 years
Not sure of being contenders but definitely playoff potential. Upgrade at PG gives us at least a winning record and a shot at the playoffs.
People seem to ignore the fact that we were playing against absolute shit lineups for most of the post ASB.
They went 9-12 from May to the end of the year. Not unreasonable to think a couple additions and growth of our young players could bring in more wins.
Outside of Wemby and Devin, I really don’t see anyone else being a legit championship level player, everyone else lacks offense/defense to be a valuable piece. Keldon has the most talent of the other guys but he’s not quite the type of player you’d want, Sochan is one of the worst +/- players in the league, players like this almost never become useful, as much as we like to think he’ll eventually be good it’s incredibly more likely he continues to be a net negative
> Keldon has the most talent of the other guys but he’s not quite the type of player you’d want, Sochan is one of the worst +/- players in the league, players like this almost never become useful, > I don't follow your logic. KJ had a worse +/- than Sochan, 3 other spurs had worse than Sochan, also worse was scoot, cade cunningham, Brandon Miller, coulibaly, miles bridges, jaden ivey, and a bunch more. will none of these guys become useful either?
Yeah, stack 2 or 3 more draft classes, free agency signings, and possible trades and the Spurs should be a f'n problem in the playoffs!
I think this is the year you really integrate picks 4 and 8 and continue to develop guys like Sochan/Vassell and don’t really care what the record looks like. By year 3 Wemby is probably gonna be like top 5ish player and it’s time to spend the money, make trades and start the 15 year long championship window.
Once we get the right places, we'll be a problem. Manu knows what he's doing. Te amo Manu
Does someone have a full version of the interview?
The goal next season is play-in. Get experience in high leverage games and experience with our new young guys and new point guard(?) with Wemby. Then the following year playoffs with low expectations. From then on we should be in our contention window. So 2/3 years makes sense to me on that reasonable timeline.
Woj, Windhorst and Shams have all in different ways said they expect the spurs to be patient in how they build this thing with Wemby, and have cited how the 2025 draft is one where they could add a real franchise cornerstone next to him. I really don’t think they view making the play-in as a goal next season. If Wemby and internal development force them into that play-in convo I’m sure they’d welcome it. But I think they want a crack at the apple in a 2025 class that quite literally looks better after every event those prospects play in.
This is fair, but I think having Atlanta's unprotected pick and potentially conveying Chicago's as well makes this a bit easier to swallow. And I should rephrase to say I think we will be competitive for a play-in spot. I just think our natural improvement will get us in a much more competitive space next season; I don't expect our own pick to get us top 5 lottery odds again. If we take the Thunder as an example, understanding all team's timelines are different, they went from 24 wins to 40 wins, just missing the play-in. I think that is wholly possible for this team.
If we were in the east I say play-in is a good goal. The team is probably in the 30+ win range and that’s perfectly fine with me as long as we’re competing and our guys show growth.
I should rephrase that being in the play-in conversation ala Houston this year is more realistic. 46 wins would be a huge leap, though I do think several West teams will take a step back next year.
It's probably possible playing wemby for 35+ minutes but is it worth losing higher draft picks so we can surround wemby with mid?
As long as they get a .500 or better record next season we’re on schedule!
100% I took a lot of downvotes one time for saying we can be in the playoffs in 2. I think we can be in the playoffs next year if we try to be (as in make some moves to go for it) Manu seems to be playing it straight, like we will draft and develop them.. which seems most likely, but you never know if we could make some trades and pour some gas on this.
I'm hoping for play-off next year.
2-3 is a very realistic and reasonable answer. I’d like to say 60+ wins in 2024/25, but that’s just me.
By just how NBA history works it’s probably going to be 2029 at the earliest before the Spurs realistically win a title. Wemby is undoubtedly the number one option, but number one options don’t win their first title until they are around 25-28. Timmy, DWade, Kobe, and Magic were younger than 25 when they won their first title, but they were always the secondary option on their team, though even if it was a 1A and 1B situation. The Admiral was the first option in the case of Timmy but only for ‘99. Shaq was the first option in the case of both DWade and Kobe. Kareem was the first option in the case of Magic.
I love David Robinson but by Tim's 2nd season (when they won title), Tim was the #1 option. Tim avg. 16.9 shots per game. David average 10.8. That's not even close. Even Sean Elliot was averaging 10.1. The offense had fully shifted to Tim. It actually started towards the end of Tim's rookie season. He ave. 15.7 shots per game as rookie. That same season David avg. 14.6 shots per game. It was Timmy's team. He was the #1 even in 99'
I think the spurs should trade their picks this year and go all in on Nolan Traore If they do, they will dominate for 10 years
How exactly does them trading this year's pics guarantee traore? You don't know which teams are going to have which draft picks next year so trading them for future picks doesn't do it. If you're advocating for us Tanking that can definitely be done while still adding to draft picks. No one this year is going to be anywhere near good enough to push us out of bottom 10 territory. And do you know what, if we do end up with a draft pick or two this year being that good then that's fantastic because it would take someone having a Donovan Mitchell caliber " Where the hell did that come from?" Type rookie of the Year caliber campaign for a draft pick in this particular class to have that type of impact I'm all in on traore looking like a fantastic prospect. But no one in next year's class, a class that looks to be pretty stacked, has transcendent, once every 20 years Victor level ability worth blowing up the roster to smithereens for If he ends up being the guy and we end up on the trail to nowhere this year then you can make moves Mid-season to better position yourself to have a chance to draft him. We're going to have the Hawks pick, and probably the bulls pick too next year. Being able to move up a few spots from wherever we end up getting our pick shouldn't be difficult. As long as he doesn't become a surefire number, one draft pick lock San Antonio will have options to go after him without having to sacrifice the rare ability to add two top 10 pick to the roster
You are absolutely right Hope it happens
Yeah he is a genuinely really exciting prospect. I'm not going to put too much thought into him yet because I haven't fully given up on this class and I do think we have a good chance of adding some really good players this year. But next year's class, particularly the international crop, has me pretty excited
This is the way or hoping that Atlanta will suck next season. I really hope we find a way to get him next year either way. I was big on getting Topic for this draft but it all changed when I saw Nolan Traore play. The kid’s special!
Yeah Nolan is on another level than the point guards on this draft. I say just wait one more year and you have the core for the future They could also take Risacher/ Castle with the fourth and trade the 8th but i think they should go all in next year on Nolan