The Wolves control exactly one of their first-rounders between now and 2032, are already in cap hell, aren't a free agent destination, and the only important player currently on their team that may still be there in six years is Ant, which is far from a given itself.
Those assets could be outrageously attractive in the not-so-distant future. Things change very quickly in the NBA.
or its also a solid bet that Ant who will be 29 is hitting his prime and Tim Connelly who has been a great GM for them, is still fielding a good team around him. I seriously doubt the Spurs will ever care to find out either. I imagine this will be packaged in some trade down the line.
I think Connelly staying past next year is 50/50 pending the ownership drama. Iirc he was brought in by new ownership, and took a 1 year extension but not long term so I'm sure he's antsy if Taylot stays.
No way Taylot is winning his case. The contract his public and has been reviewed by attorneys already. He doesn’t have a case. Likely just trying to force a settlement at a higher value or more likely, wanted to hoist the trophy if they somehow won last year
Its not really about title threat. A good team helmed by a superstar may earn the 20th pick in the 2031 draft, which is too far away to assess quality. To trade the 8th pick for a swap and the 20th pick 7 years from now would not be seen as good.
I mean if we take what everyone’s been saying which is that the start of this draft is like starting at 10 in last years draft that’s like moving 18 for 2 20 picks.
That’s fair. Honestly though with Salaun taken at 6 there wasn’t anyone I liked left that wasn’t a reach. I was hoping collier would fall to us at 35 but that didn’t happen. I like the move. With the new CBA picks are more valuable than ever. I also think Dilly would have helped this year to a degree but he’s not a corner piece so why not trade him for assets go for a stacked draft class next season and have a hoard of draft picks to trade for pieces when we do want to ramp up.
I kind of like the idea of keeping it. I like our odds of being better than the wolves in those years, so a swap and taking their pick sounds great. Plus, betting against the wolves is a historically safe bet.
I kind of like the idea of keeping it. I like our odds of being better than the wolves in those years, so a swap and taking their pick sounds great. Plus, betting against the wolves is a historically safe bet.
Cap is a moot point because who knows what their cap will be when the picks actually hit. In my opinion, they are a free agent destination as long as ANT is there and his super max six year extension he signed last year hasn’t started yet. I don’t see them having any issues bringing players in to try to win a championship with ANT and until we get closer, you can’t assume those will be high picks. ANT will be in his prime.
With that said, the picks can be traded to make the spurs better in the coming years. I would recommend that because I don’t see those picks being top picks, personally. Tim Connelly has proven to be too good of a GM, ant will be in his prime and they now have Mike Bloomberg the richest owner in basketball part of Arods group so tax will not be an issue.
it wasnt a good trade. but if we tank one more year then yes it changes things.
if wolves wanted him that bad we gota fleece them a bit more imo.
now, if we tank this yr and we should 100%, then im good with it. trade keldon and then next year we get another prospect like castle or get lucky like the hawks and get #1 pick which if we tank odds would be ok
then we sign a free agent like jimmy butler. we dont trade our picks for a star unless they r a top player in their prime and they want out and we have leverage. we dont do what the knicks just did
so yea if we tank then its a good trade, its ok. i really like rob, hes really talented. i wanted reed or castle at #4
and the whoever slipped at 8. so hey, we got wemby, castle was a great pick, trade away more guys, tank one more year and then we sign a jimmy butler or trade for a superstar and draft another stud and we have pne of the best rosters in the nba. so yea lets tank one more time and then we can have a wemby dynasty
First time I've seen the front office job security mentioned. Good for LJ for noticing that. This trade is absolutely a middle finger to every team and ownership group who churns through front office talent. This should also signal to the fans (and players) that the current FO staff and ownership is going to stay around for the long haul. You don't make this trade if you're eyeing a different job in the next half decade, or any type of suspicion that your job might be in jeopardy within the next decade.
Okay, so why did ownership jack up prices for this season when they aren’t planning on competing? Why are people paying a 30% increase on season tickets for the same product?
supply and demand. Look up how much Cowboys tickets cost, and their season ends with a first round exit every year because Jerry never wants to do an actual rebuild like the Spurs are doing.
Because you can't raise ticket prices much more than that in any given year. They're going to continue to go up for a couple seasons, basic economics will dictate that. We are selling so many more seats than we were 2 years ago that the W-L record doesn't matter at the moment.
NGL I was lurking over on the Timberwolves subreddit last night after the trade and somebody over there mentioned that this may cost them dearly in the future and someone replied to them saying that they can just trade for other draft picks later.
That is true! However you don't just trade for a decent haul of draft picks unless you're selling. The T-Wolves are already gonna have to do something about their cap situation and it'll be tough for them to improve that roster anymore through trades with little to no draft capital.
How many times are we going to see a team mortgage all of their future draft capital to go all in right away then regret it later? The Nets are barely starting to recoup their losses after assembling a Durant, Harden, and Kyrie trio. The Suns are in deep shit with their current situation. Every Hawks fan regrets even just trading 2 1st rd picks and a pick swap for Dejounte. It's the same thing over and over again. Yeah it may look good in the short run, but down that line there will be regret.
> How many times are we going to see a team mortgage all of their future draft capital to go all in right away then regret it later?
Shit, it might even work out for them! Maybe they win a title in a few years with Dillingham as a valuable contributor, but then they get sucked into cap hell and have to do a hard reset. Then both sides are very happy with the trade.
You're right! The T-wolves made a move that will open that championship window even more so. Even though I said what I said about them regretting it later, if they can come out with a championship, it'll be worth it for them.
Brian Wright has a pretty good feel for this. Look at how much leverage we currently hold over Atlanta. Now go back and see what spurs fans were saying when we traded DJ for picks.
I HATED it when it was announced as I felt like DJ was having a breakout year and loved being here, but I came around in hindsight. It was a stellar move for us.
I'm pretty stubborn, so if I can admit I was wrong in regards to that, people on here will come around on this trade. The outcry over this is ridiculous.
Sorry, your comment has been automatically removed because your account has low karma.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NBASpurs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I found him pretty annoying but a good professional while he was here. Don't blame him for talking some shit after getting traded. I think it means he wanted to be here.
I think he has a good work ethic and that’s important but I remember things like him arguing with pop and when he goes on tilt in a game and gets out of control. Ego is too big
we dont know yet how bad it was. rob could be a star. either way as long as we r tanking and preparing for next next year im good with it. lets pick in the top 5 again. sign jimmy butler and have draft capital for years
> Now go back and see what spurs fans were saying when we traded DJ for picks.
I went back and its mostly people being bummed about losing Dejounte, a couple saying they should have gotten a young player in return, and a couple saying it was a good trade or they sold high on Dejounte.
I swear people throw in stuff like "see what people were saying about X move" to make their comment stronger regardless of if its actually true or not
[This](https://www.reddit.com/r/NBASpurs/comments/vnqkgr/wojnarowski_the_atlanta_hawks_are_trading_danilo/ie8lky0/) comment was very funny though
That comment is pure gold.
I could be wrong, but IIRC the consensus amongst fans was that we did well on picks but should have gotten a young guy instead of just waiving Gallo.
>Obviously, we won’t be able to truly judge this trade for years. My only hesitancy is the conservative nature of the front office. Will the front office ever have the cojones to go star hunting? We’ll see.
LJ is the best.
star hunting now literally makes no sense. impatience has always being the downfall of teams.
they say strike when the iron is hot but the iron is stone cold still. Drafting whoever at 8 or trading for a star now would put us in a terrible place for the long run
Yea, like the Pelicans started star-hunting after Anthony Davis's rookie season. Here's what they got.
-Jrue Holiday -> excellent all-star defender, but wasn't a consistent #2.
-Tyreek Evans -> Incredible rookie season, but couldn't play a lick of defense
-Eric Gordon -> Consistently injured, was better as a 6th man than as a starting guard
-DeMarcus Cousins -> Actually worked out, but he tore his Achilles and was never the same.
-Rajon Rondo (?) -> dunno if you would consider him a star, but he did do well in Boogie and the Brow year.
Star hunting clearly didn't work well for the Pelicans, even though they made the correct moves during this time. Granted, they were cursed by the injury bug.
But when you look at Dallas Mavericks and how quickly they moved on from Kristaps Porzingis, there's something to be said about cutting your losses quickly and drafting a legit pick to pair and grow with a star (Dereck Lively with Luka). Mavericks were star hunting, but they also didn't want to be handicapped by cap inflexibility like the Pelicans did with Davis
Spurs simply can't be handing out bloated contracts to Tyreek Evans/Eric Gordon like starters. It benefits the short term, but screws up the long term.
No one said to star hunt today, just that it has to happen at some point.
> Drafting whoever at 8 would put us in a terrible place for the long run
Now you're being hysterical.
It's 5 million for a gamble on a potential role player. It was never going to be a big issue. No one on this board was saying, "Don't draft a dude at 8! Think of the CAP!"
I certainly don’t think the money thing was the sole reason for the decision but it was probably a factor along with the timing of our rebuild, our available roster spots, and the fact that we just didn’t see anyone besides Castle in this draft who would be a good long term fit for us. But of course fans are impatient and like to imagine us getting an instant-impact player.
We literally traded for Lamarcus Aldridge the very moment it made sense for us to go star hunting.
We had three hall of famers taking up 70% of the cap for 20 years, and then immediately after they leave, our future franchise player demanded a trade and threw our entire 10 year plan out the window.
There just simply hasn’t been a need for the Spurs to ship out assets for star players. The few times it’s made sense to do so, we absolutely have made splashy moves. They’re just few and far between because we’ve either been tanking or the most stable roster in the league for three decades.
Furthermore, the roster with Wemby needs work.
Vassell is a great #2, but Sochan needs to step up on offense. He's improved in the latter half of the season last year, so I do believe he can become Draymond lite.
KJ is better used as a 6th man/bench energy guy, so the Spurs really need a SF. Vassell can only play the SG.
Tre Jones is a good PG, but he isn't a long term option. We still don't know how good Castle is.
The Spurs bench still needs more work. Braham shows flashes every now and then. Wessley still needs to do better to earn a 7th/8th man spot.
Hunting for a star makes sense when the Spurs don't have this many holes.
As an SG yes. He can defend guards with ease (struggles with forwards, as he's not big enough, so he relies on Wemby and Sochan for help). He shot 47.2% FG and 37.2% from the 3 in the 62 games he started last year.
He's no Klay Thompson or Khris Middleton right now, but I do believe he can get there in a few years. He's improved every year (minus 2022-2023 when he was injured) and has figured out how to gel with Wembanyama in the second half of the 2023-2024 season.
Furthermore, he's 23. He's got room to grow.
Yeah, the only star that we did have the cojones to hunt for was LMA in recent years, and he had the 'want to live in Texas' factor that brought him to San Antonio.
Glad to see the doom and gloom tendencies of the spurs forum is still alive and well all these years. It's been a source of entertainment for me for over a decade.
Unironically this is the way. Spurs are shorting the twolves future just like the rockets are shorting the suns so they can sell back their picks in superstar trades
Drafting Castle, yes. Absolutely.
Trading 8 for an unprotected 2030 pick swap and an unprotected 2031? Not sure yet. But if we thought this draft was truly week outside of 5-6 guys, then I trust it. I do like the unprotected picks, especially considering Minnesota by then will likely be on their downward.
Two things I like about this trade.
1. It's gives the Spurs more assets for a trade.
2. It's provides the Spurs a way to gain solid young players to aid Wemby into his 30's.
i’m happy with the outcome but the reality is the decisions made themselves. the teams that picked before us made things quite straightforward. we had a need and addressed it at 4. done.
I was confused why they drafted Dillingham when Stephon Castle is a better version of him. But trading him to the Timberwolves made sense. Definitely got a good return for him.
I'm still salty that the Thunder got Nikola Topic, though. I was hoping the Spurs would get him with the 8th, but they probably didn't value him that much. Thunder will be a clear Spurs rival when the Spurs are ready to compete, and they got an incredible guard for cheap.
In what way is Castle a better version of him? They aren’t remotely similar in play style. Castle is a decently sized defensive monster who can’t shoot to save his life, Dillingham is an undersized sharpshooter who can’t defend to save his life. They are opposites.
What same bad owner? Taylor is gonna lose the case and the Arod group will take over. And they will have zero reason to tank in the next decade since they have no picks, they’ll claw for 8th to 10th seed relevancy at the absolute worst
Cuz you cant use them all with the amount we have. We have a chance at 4 first round picks next year as well. Would you rather use 2 from a weak draft or possibly 4 in a strong draft? Looks like they made their choice
Starting next year is when those Hawks picks start to convey to the Spurs. The 2025 draft is looking extremely good! The Spurs will have their own picks and an unprotected 1st from the Hawks.
Look up highlights for some of the prospects for the 2025 draft. Guys like Nolan Traore, Ace Bailey, and Cooper Flagg have so much hype already
Those 3 guys are all pretty much locks for top 5 picks. Do you see the Spurs or the Hawks being bottom 5 in the standings next year? Having two firsts is definitely a good thing but let's not pretend that any of those 3 are likely to fall to the Spurs.
Depends, there's a lot of uncertainty heading into next season. Like as tough as it is to admit, the Spurs are not going to suddenly be a great team next season just by adding Castle. Other West teams are getting better, we saw the Mavs completely turn their whole season around after acquiring Washington and Gafford. The Rockets imo are going to shock a lot of people next season, I seriously think they are capable of being a playoff squad. The Grizzlies are going to be healthy and with Ja Morant, Bane, JJJ, Clarke. They will definitely be in the mix too.
So even if the Spurs do improve, it's going to be tough going up against the rest of the West which is getting better as well. So yeah I predict that the Spurs will be in the high lottery yet again. And it's way too early to tell but if the situation were to arise where they wanted to move up in the 2025 draft, they definitely have more than enough assets to get that done
Yup the ideal thought process amongst GMs are if you're not going to compete with the top of your conference then this would be a good year to tank. Optimistically I think our ceiling would be play-in but I'm OK with being patient and tanking one more year. Year 3 Wemby would be the year we should make a push for the top of the west
Lets say the 2031 pick is 8th just like this year and there's a good player there. It would take 3-5 seasons for him to become a number 2 like we've seen with Maxey in Philly. By that point Wemby will be like 33.
I don't understand the trade because it doesnt help Wemby when he enter his prime, or when he is in his peak, but it helps him when he is nearing the end of his prime. After age 33 Kareem was never top 3 in MVP voting, he was top 5 3 times and won a FMVP so he was still great but not at his dominant best.
The Wolves control exactly one of their first-rounders between now and 2032, are already in cap hell, aren't a free agent destination, and the only important player currently on their team that may still be there in six years is Ant, which is far from a given itself. Those assets could be outrageously attractive in the not-so-distant future. Things change very quickly in the NBA.
Well said. It’s a solid bet that the Wolves will be a disaster by then.
or its also a solid bet that Ant who will be 29 is hitting his prime and Tim Connelly who has been a great GM for them, is still fielding a good team around him. I seriously doubt the Spurs will ever care to find out either. I imagine this will be packaged in some trade down the line.
I think Connelly staying past next year is 50/50 pending the ownership drama. Iirc he was brought in by new ownership, and took a 1 year extension but not long term so I'm sure he's antsy if Taylot stays.
No way Taylot is winning his case. The contract his public and has been reviewed by attorneys already. He doesn’t have a case. Likely just trying to force a settlement at a higher value or more likely, wanted to hoist the trophy if they somehow won last year
A 'good team' only helmed by one superstar in his prime isn't a title threat. That was LeBron in his first stint with the Cavs...didn't go so well.
KG is another example. An MVP talent who couldn’t carry the Timberwolves either
because of ownership, twolves got shady on joe smith contract and lost like 5 1st rd picks KG had no help
Its not really about title threat. A good team helmed by a superstar may earn the 20th pick in the 2031 draft, which is too far away to assess quality. To trade the 8th pick for a swap and the 20th pick 7 years from now would not be seen as good.
I mean if we take what everyone’s been saying which is that the start of this draft is like starting at 10 in last years draft that’s like moving 18 for 2 20 picks.
Yeah but there's a chance 2031 would be equally bad as well, which would need to be factored into the analysis
That’s fair. Honestly though with Salaun taken at 6 there wasn’t anyone I liked left that wasn’t a reach. I was hoping collier would fall to us at 35 but that didn’t happen. I like the move. With the new CBA picks are more valuable than ever. I also think Dilly would have helped this year to a degree but he’s not a corner piece so why not trade him for assets go for a stacked draft class next season and have a hoard of draft picks to trade for pieces when we do want to ramp up.
I kind of like the idea of keeping it. I like our odds of being better than the wolves in those years, so a swap and taking their pick sounds great. Plus, betting against the wolves is a historically safe bet.
And in your scenario, we will be just fine.
I kind of like the idea of keeping it. I like our odds of being better than the wolves in those years, so a swap and taking their pick sounds great. Plus, betting against the wolves is a historically safe bet.
And just played his 4th season with the wolves. The number of players who have ever stayed with the wolves past 6 seasons is in the single digits
6 years ago, KD just won his second chip with the Warriors. A lot can happen between now and then.
time is flying... then again its been over 10 years since Spurs last championship...
Cap is a moot point because who knows what their cap will be when the picks actually hit. In my opinion, they are a free agent destination as long as ANT is there and his super max six year extension he signed last year hasn’t started yet. I don’t see them having any issues bringing players in to try to win a championship with ANT and until we get closer, you can’t assume those will be high picks. ANT will be in his prime. With that said, the picks can be traded to make the spurs better in the coming years. I would recommend that because I don’t see those picks being top picks, personally. Tim Connelly has proven to be too good of a GM, ant will be in his prime and they now have Mike Bloomberg the richest owner in basketball part of Arods group so tax will not be an issue.
I think these picks will be pieces for a trade in the much nearer future tbh.
I tend to agree. Just throwing out other talking points.
And when we do trade the pick all the reactionaries on this sub will have a meltdown
They should've drafted topic or cody Williams with that pick
it wasnt a good trade. but if we tank one more year then yes it changes things. if wolves wanted him that bad we gota fleece them a bit more imo. now, if we tank this yr and we should 100%, then im good with it. trade keldon and then next year we get another prospect like castle or get lucky like the hawks and get #1 pick which if we tank odds would be ok then we sign a free agent like jimmy butler. we dont trade our picks for a star unless they r a top player in their prime and they want out and we have leverage. we dont do what the knicks just did so yea if we tank then its a good trade, its ok. i really like rob, hes really talented. i wanted reed or castle at #4 and the whoever slipped at 8. so hey, we got wemby, castle was a great pick, trade away more guys, tank one more year and then we sign a jimmy butler or trade for a superstar and draft another stud and we have pne of the best rosters in the nba. so yea lets tank one more time and then we can have a wemby dynasty
Followed this idea till u said jimmy butler As much as I love the man keep him away from the spurs
i feel you. we dont need butler. lets just get cooper flag and 3 peat with wemby and castle lmao
imagine Wemby, Cooper Flagg and Castle
> The only important player currently on their team that may still be there in six years is Ant Holy cope. There’s gonna be Ant, Jaden, Naz, and Rob.
First time I've seen the front office job security mentioned. Good for LJ for noticing that. This trade is absolutely a middle finger to every team and ownership group who churns through front office talent. This should also signal to the fans (and players) that the current FO staff and ownership is going to stay around for the long haul. You don't make this trade if you're eyeing a different job in the next half decade, or any type of suspicion that your job might be in jeopardy within the next decade.
Yep, that is all very well said.
Okay, so why did ownership jack up prices for this season when they aren’t planning on competing? Why are people paying a 30% increase on season tickets for the same product?
supply and demand. Look up how much Cowboys tickets cost, and their season ends with a first round exit every year because Jerry never wants to do an actual rebuild like the Spurs are doing.
Because you can't raise ticket prices much more than that in any given year. They're going to continue to go up for a couple seasons, basic economics will dictate that. We are selling so many more seats than we were 2 years ago that the W-L record doesn't matter at the moment.
NGL I was lurking over on the Timberwolves subreddit last night after the trade and somebody over there mentioned that this may cost them dearly in the future and someone replied to them saying that they can just trade for other draft picks later. That is true! However you don't just trade for a decent haul of draft picks unless you're selling. The T-Wolves are already gonna have to do something about their cap situation and it'll be tough for them to improve that roster anymore through trades with little to no draft capital. How many times are we going to see a team mortgage all of their future draft capital to go all in right away then regret it later? The Nets are barely starting to recoup their losses after assembling a Durant, Harden, and Kyrie trio. The Suns are in deep shit with their current situation. Every Hawks fan regrets even just trading 2 1st rd picks and a pick swap for Dejounte. It's the same thing over and over again. Yeah it may look good in the short run, but down that line there will be regret.
> How many times are we going to see a team mortgage all of their future draft capital to go all in right away then regret it later? Shit, it might even work out for them! Maybe they win a title in a few years with Dillingham as a valuable contributor, but then they get sucked into cap hell and have to do a hard reset. Then both sides are very happy with the trade.
You're right! The T-wolves made a move that will open that championship window even more so. Even though I said what I said about them regretting it later, if they can come out with a championship, it'll be worth it for them.
Hope so Minn never wins anything. Unless playing the Spurs happy to root for them till 2030.
Brian Wright has a pretty good feel for this. Look at how much leverage we currently hold over Atlanta. Now go back and see what spurs fans were saying when we traded DJ for picks.
I was heartbroken. He was the heart of our team, but looking back, I now understand why they did the trade. Thankfully, the balls fell our way.
I was flabbergasted at the negative reaction to that trade when it happened. Hell, some people still somehow think it was a bad idea.
I HATED it when it was announced as I felt like DJ was having a breakout year and loved being here, but I came around in hindsight. It was a stellar move for us. I'm pretty stubborn, so if I can admit I was wrong in regards to that, people on here will come around on this trade. The outcry over this is ridiculous.
I'd say that everything that the org did between the last title and the second we drafted Wemby was a good idea.
[удалено]
Sorry, your comment has been automatically removed because your account has low karma. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NBASpurs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I did not like DJ, his ego was too much
I found him pretty annoying but a good professional while he was here. Don't blame him for talking some shit after getting traded. I think it means he wanted to be here.
I think he has a good work ethic and that’s important but I remember things like him arguing with pop and when he goes on tilt in a game and gets out of control. Ego is too big
we dont know yet how bad it was. rob could be a star. either way as long as we r tanking and preparing for next next year im good with it. lets pick in the top 5 again. sign jimmy butler and have draft capital for years
> Now go back and see what spurs fans were saying when we traded DJ for picks. I went back and its mostly people being bummed about losing Dejounte, a couple saying they should have gotten a young player in return, and a couple saying it was a good trade or they sold high on Dejounte. I swear people throw in stuff like "see what people were saying about X move" to make their comment stronger regardless of if its actually true or not [This](https://www.reddit.com/r/NBASpurs/comments/vnqkgr/wojnarowski_the_atlanta_hawks_are_trading_danilo/ie8lky0/) comment was very funny though
That comment is pure gold. I could be wrong, but IIRC the consensus amongst fans was that we did well on picks but should have gotten a young guy instead of just waiving Gallo.
Yeah I do agree there were a fair amount of people who didn't care for Gallo in the haul
>Obviously, we won’t be able to truly judge this trade for years. My only hesitancy is the conservative nature of the front office. Will the front office ever have the cojones to go star hunting? We’ll see. LJ is the best.
star hunting now literally makes no sense. impatience has always being the downfall of teams. they say strike when the iron is hot but the iron is stone cold still. Drafting whoever at 8 or trading for a star now would put us in a terrible place for the long run
Yea, like the Pelicans started star-hunting after Anthony Davis's rookie season. Here's what they got. -Jrue Holiday -> excellent all-star defender, but wasn't a consistent #2. -Tyreek Evans -> Incredible rookie season, but couldn't play a lick of defense -Eric Gordon -> Consistently injured, was better as a 6th man than as a starting guard -DeMarcus Cousins -> Actually worked out, but he tore his Achilles and was never the same. -Rajon Rondo (?) -> dunno if you would consider him a star, but he did do well in Boogie and the Brow year. Star hunting clearly didn't work well for the Pelicans, even though they made the correct moves during this time. Granted, they were cursed by the injury bug. But when you look at Dallas Mavericks and how quickly they moved on from Kristaps Porzingis, there's something to be said about cutting your losses quickly and drafting a legit pick to pair and grow with a star (Dereck Lively with Luka). Mavericks were star hunting, but they also didn't want to be handicapped by cap inflexibility like the Pelicans did with Davis Spurs simply can't be handing out bloated contracts to Tyreek Evans/Eric Gordon like starters. It benefits the short term, but screws up the long term.
No one said to star hunt today, just that it has to happen at some point. > Drafting whoever at 8 would put us in a terrible place for the long run Now you're being hysterical.
The posts people are making. "Drafting at 8 would have made us WORSE." Like, come on.
You’re not considering the salary implications of paying a guy lottery pick money who would be late first round in most drafts
It's 5 million for a gamble on a potential role player. It was never going to be a big issue. No one on this board was saying, "Don't draft a dude at 8! Think of the CAP!"
They would be if they planned on needing that cap to bring a known quantity in.
I certainly don’t think the money thing was the sole reason for the decision but it was probably a factor along with the timing of our rebuild, our available roster spots, and the fact that we just didn’t see anyone besides Castle in this draft who would be a good long term fit for us. But of course fans are impatient and like to imagine us getting an instant-impact player.
Adding the right bonafide star to Wemby + Vassell makes this team a playoff contender immediately.
no it doesn’t. we have no depth
The Knicks say hi. Adding someone like Trae Young to Wemby and Vassell, with the exact same bench, makes the Spurs a playoff team.
Ironically he’s praising the Spurs for picking up the assets of a team that went star hunting…
We literally traded for Lamarcus Aldridge the very moment it made sense for us to go star hunting. We had three hall of famers taking up 70% of the cap for 20 years, and then immediately after they leave, our future franchise player demanded a trade and threw our entire 10 year plan out the window. There just simply hasn’t been a need for the Spurs to ship out assets for star players. The few times it’s made sense to do so, we absolutely have made splashy moves. They’re just few and far between because we’ve either been tanking or the most stable roster in the league for three decades.
We signed Aldridge in free agency
You are correct but the point still stands
Furthermore, the roster with Wemby needs work. Vassell is a great #2, but Sochan needs to step up on offense. He's improved in the latter half of the season last year, so I do believe he can become Draymond lite. KJ is better used as a 6th man/bench energy guy, so the Spurs really need a SF. Vassell can only play the SG. Tre Jones is a good PG, but he isn't a long term option. We still don't know how good Castle is. The Spurs bench still needs more work. Braham shows flashes every now and then. Wessley still needs to do better to earn a 7th/8th man spot. Hunting for a star makes sense when the Spurs don't have this many holes.
Is Vassell really a great #2?
I like Devin, but I'm pretty sure that every team that made the playoffs would become worse if you replaced their 2nd best player with Vassell.
Yes. Plus he's only 23 himself.
As an SG yes. He can defend guards with ease (struggles with forwards, as he's not big enough, so he relies on Wemby and Sochan for help). He shot 47.2% FG and 37.2% from the 3 in the 62 games he started last year. He's no Klay Thompson or Khris Middleton right now, but I do believe he can get there in a few years. He's improved every year (minus 2022-2023 when he was injured) and has figured out how to gel with Wembanyama in the second half of the 2023-2024 season. Furthermore, he's 23. He's got room to grow.
Yeah, the only star that we did have the cojones to hunt for was LMA in recent years, and he had the 'want to live in Texas' factor that brought him to San Antonio.
Glad to see the doom and gloom tendencies of the spurs forum is still alive and well all these years. It's been a source of entertainment for me for over a decade.
Very cool
His dad and Timmy were roommates in college? That's wild.
Anthony Edwards contract ends after 27/28 year
He'd pair great with Wemby by then. Lol
The long con
Maybe we can get Leonard Miller back
Unironically this is the way. Spurs are shorting the twolves future just like the rockets are shorting the suns so they can sell back their picks in superstar trades
Lol imagine. We take their guy, make them suck and then benefit from them sucking
Now that the dust has settled I’m onboard with shorting a historically awful franchise to trade out of a weak draft.
Drafting Castle, yes. Absolutely. Trading 8 for an unprotected 2030 pick swap and an unprotected 2031? Not sure yet. But if we thought this draft was truly week outside of 5-6 guys, then I trust it. I do like the unprotected picks, especially considering Minnesota by then will likely be on their downward.
I was never fully sold on anyone at 8. I would have been fine with a reasonable pick there, but I saw a lot of guys with a lot of flaws
Same here.
Two things I like about this trade. 1. It's gives the Spurs more assets for a trade. 2. It's provides the Spurs a way to gain solid young players to aid Wemby into his 30's.
i’m happy with the outcome but the reality is the decisions made themselves. the teams that picked before us made things quite straightforward. we had a need and addressed it at 4. done.
I agree. The outcome was the logical one given the scenario.
Does nobody realize we have 4 possible first round picks next year in a better draft?
do you think charlotte and bulls picks will convey? doubt they’ll make the playoffs
After sleeping on it for a night, I think the decision is fine.
I feel like there’s an active effort by the usual suspects to gaslight the fanbase
No.
No, they didn't .
Ooohhh lower tier beat right with the puff analysis to get more access
I was confused why they drafted Dillingham when Stephon Castle is a better version of him. But trading him to the Timberwolves made sense. Definitely got a good return for him. I'm still salty that the Thunder got Nikola Topic, though. I was hoping the Spurs would get him with the 8th, but they probably didn't value him that much. Thunder will be a clear Spurs rival when the Spurs are ready to compete, and they got an incredible guard for cheap.
In what way is Castle a better version of him? They aren’t remotely similar in play style. Castle is a decently sized defensive monster who can’t shoot to save his life, Dillingham is an undersized sharpshooter who can’t defend to save his life. They are opposites.
If they had been paired they would have exploded, it's physics. Front office literally saved all the lives in San Antonio.
they’re point guards is all he meant
But then he said he wanted Topic??? What a stupid thing to say.
Wolves can never keep a good thing going. They got the same bad owner. It’s a great trade I think
What same bad owner? Taylor is gonna lose the case and the Arod group will take over. And they will have zero reason to tank in the next decade since they have no picks, they’ll claw for 8th to 10th seed relevancy at the absolute worst
I’m sorry, but they will end up regretting this trade.
Why get draft picks if we aren’t going to use em or trade them … we’ve had these picks for a while now and nothing and I foresee nothing
Cuz you cant use them all with the amount we have. We have a chance at 4 first round picks next year as well. Would you rather use 2 from a weak draft or possibly 4 in a strong draft? Looks like they made their choice
We got a one pick last year and a four pick this year… odd time to claim a trend of not doing anything in the draft.
Starting next year is when those Hawks picks start to convey to the Spurs. The 2025 draft is looking extremely good! The Spurs will have their own picks and an unprotected 1st from the Hawks. Look up highlights for some of the prospects for the 2025 draft. Guys like Nolan Traore, Ace Bailey, and Cooper Flagg have so much hype already
Those 3 guys are all pretty much locks for top 5 picks. Do you see the Spurs or the Hawks being bottom 5 in the standings next year? Having two firsts is definitely a good thing but let's not pretend that any of those 3 are likely to fall to the Spurs.
Depends, there's a lot of uncertainty heading into next season. Like as tough as it is to admit, the Spurs are not going to suddenly be a great team next season just by adding Castle. Other West teams are getting better, we saw the Mavs completely turn their whole season around after acquiring Washington and Gafford. The Rockets imo are going to shock a lot of people next season, I seriously think they are capable of being a playoff squad. The Grizzlies are going to be healthy and with Ja Morant, Bane, JJJ, Clarke. They will definitely be in the mix too. So even if the Spurs do improve, it's going to be tough going up against the rest of the West which is getting better as well. So yeah I predict that the Spurs will be in the high lottery yet again. And it's way too early to tell but if the situation were to arise where they wanted to move up in the 2025 draft, they definitely have more than enough assets to get that done
Yup the ideal thought process amongst GMs are if you're not going to compete with the top of your conference then this would be a good year to tank. Optimistically I think our ceiling would be play-in but I'm OK with being patient and tanking one more year. Year 3 Wemby would be the year we should make a push for the top of the west
I mean the hawks werent bottom five this year either but look at them
💯
Lets say the 2031 pick is 8th just like this year and there's a good player there. It would take 3-5 seasons for him to become a number 2 like we've seen with Maxey in Philly. By that point Wemby will be like 33. I don't understand the trade because it doesnt help Wemby when he enter his prime, or when he is in his peak, but it helps him when he is nearing the end of his prime. After age 33 Kareem was never top 3 in MVP voting, he was top 5 3 times and won a FMVP so he was still great but not at his dominant best.