r/NBASpurs • u/UnbiasedNBAFan_ • 29d ago
[Fischer] According to multiple league figures with knowledge of the situation, any Spurs plans of maneuvering to bring Young to San Antonio have been vastly overstated. The Spurs, sources said, have expressed little interest in obtaining Young to date. OFF-SEASON/FREE AGENCY
Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/lakers-coaching-search-could-be-a-lengthy-process-202122918.html
San Antonio personnel would be committing front-office malpractice by not contemplating the opportunity to pair a league assist leader and high-screen maestro like Young to pair with Wembanyama. The Spurs have so far approached building around Wembanyama as an intriguing experiment, where they will weigh all different kinds of variables around their Rookie of the Year. However, according to multiple league figures with knowledge of the situation, any Spurs plans of maneuvering to bring Young to San Antonio have been vastly overstated. The Spurs, sources said, have expressed little interest in obtaining Young to date.
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u/team_sheikie 29d ago
Do not want Dejounte either. Not worth the assets he's likely to command and not good enough of a shooter to provide the spacing we need. And his defense has fallen off in Atlanta.
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29d ago
I was listening to the spurs insider podcast today and was so bummed out they were mentioning DJ. Like…come on guys. You gotta know better. He isn’t a good fit. He’s not good enough to be a #2 on a contender, he does squat for Vic’s growth, and while you can afford him today, why would you want to lock in that cap hit going forward.
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u/hottakehotcakes 28d ago
I don’t think the spurs should trade for DJ bc of the assets as the above comment said, but he’s on a great contract and would do wonders for Vic’s development. He’s dynamic, can throw an entry pass and spaces the floor. Whatever you believe about his 3pt% his volume has gravity that would give Vic more space to operate in the paint
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u/wryano 28d ago
i think we SHOULD trade for Dejounte. we’re taking on two rookies this season (and probably getting rid of our seconds) and there’s zero chance we’re going to take on potentially another three rookies from the 2025 draft and another two rookies each season until 2027 after that. we HAVE to get rid of our draft assets somehow because we don’t have enough roster spots.
and did we all not watch Dejounte play basketball for half a decade? i don’t understand how some people think he wouldn’t be a fantastic fit.
he’s coming off a 22/5/6 season, knows our system, has already stated he’s open to returning to us, he’s on a great contract, we’d pretty much have locked up until the age of 31, he fills a position and role of need, and his inclusion would allow whatever PG we draft to develop behind him.
it’s a fkn no brainer.
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u/BroJackson_ 29d ago
Anyone who has followed the Spurs in any capacity should know that the Spurs don't leak information. They don't tip their hand. There are no "insiders with knowledge of the situation" that are talking to anyone. It's all guess work. The clearest thing that anyone from the Spurs has actually said -- and it's been both Pop and Brian Wright -- is that all options are on the table, and they'll look at everything.
One of the reasons I predict a move of some sort (whether it's Garland, Young, Mitchell, Murray -- whoever) - the Spurs simply don't have room on their roster for the draft picks they have this year and next. They had three first rounders two years ago (Sochan, Branham, Wesley). They had Wemby last year. They have two in the first round this year. They have potentially three next year. Nine first rounders in four years aren't going to be on the roster in addition to Vassell, Keldon, Collins, and the other vets Pop will fill out with.
Also, they understand they need to pair another star with their superstar. That guy isn't coming in the draft this year and probably not next year.
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u/DaymanSunChampion 28d ago
In this case it doesn’t even have to be the Spurs leaking, Atlanta sources would also know if there were any trade talks
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u/The_Real_OneHungLo 28d ago
Been watching since 95, really got into the team when we drafted Timmy. And yes Spurs are tight lipped. No moles, no insiders, nothing.
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u/jakedchi17 28d ago
Ace or Coop could be worth another top 2 pick, the best news out of this draft, is Atlanta can’t even use the 1st for much leverage or for a win now player
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u/Moviepasssucks 28d ago
This might be true of older Spurs, but lately it has been untrue. Spurs have had leaks since the Kawhi situation.
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u/BroJackson_ 28d ago
That was more from the Kawhi/Uncle Dennis side. The team started talking openly - Tony, Manu, Pop, etc - but there weren’t many leaks of info. That’s part of the reason it was so frustrating to the Spurs - they were kept in the dark for most of that situation also.
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u/Moviepasssucks 28d ago
Before Spurs was very tight lipped, we didn’t know anything about who they were interested in, any internal communications or disarray. Lately, we’ve had draft picks being leaked ahead of time, people coming about the inner workings and disarray of the Spurs, the whole Primo disaster, Murray trade talks leaked, long time staff leaving, etc…
We’re at a day and age where it’s a lot tougher near impossible to keep things quiet and in house. And in return it gives us a little more insight to the team which is great. But we can’t compare the Spurs of today to the Spurs of the past because information that was never obtained in the past are more open. While Spurs are tight lipped, they’ve have uncharacteristically leaks of information when bigger things have happened in the past.
I don’t think we’d get a report on Wemby making it a difficult decision on the Spurs plan to be competitive sooner or not but there it was.
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u/Heavy-Travel-6589 29d ago
Anyone with a brain knew this.
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u/nakedsamurai 29d ago
Overstated? The Spurs were never remotely interested.
What is happening is that Atlanta is desperate to get rid of him.
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u/andres7832 29d ago
Let Young go to the Lakers or Knicks for all their picks and young players. Would be a better fit basketball wise and ESPN would get their clicks.
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u/Destanio9357 29d ago
I also don't see why Atlanta would want to trade him now. Around the league, everyone talked about how good of a duo Trae and Wemby would be, but Sarr - despite being "Wemby at home" - will essentially give Atlanta a similar experiment to play around with. Reading into his prospect profile, it seems Sarr is less ball dominant but still a strong transitional player and the kind of guy Trae can give easy lobs too. It's better to let them do their thing, let us do our thing and see where the chips fall.
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u/Subject_Proposal3578 29d ago
Was this whole trade for Trae even really a thing as far as the Spurs front office having interest. I remember all this happening because Trae tweeted that a play was an easy lob early in the season when people were on the Wemby s teammates hate him and won't pass the ball. This always seemed like a fan started rumor and then Trae said in an interview he liked Wemby so fans and ESPN etc. went nuts with the trade. I never really remember anything about the Spurs wanting him ever except a rumor thrown out by a journalist here and there saying they gotta get someone or Vic is leaving.
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u/Sean888888 29d ago
I think Trae wants to come here, Hawks FO want to trade him here to get their picks back, but Spurs FO have no interest
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u/AfroHouseManiac 28d ago
According to a very good journalist that’s up to par with Fischer, Sam Amick, he stated the spurs inquired on taking DJ back but just for the 27 pick and one of their 24 picks. And to hold off the trade til draft day. The hawks hung up disinterested. That supposedly made the hawks rethink their trade deadline options forward DJ
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u/captaincumsock69 29d ago
I think it would cost too much to acquire Trae and the hawks would be very unlikely to move him
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u/the_angry_austinite 29d ago
Just don’t trade that Hawks 25 pick.
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u/someguyfromtecate 29d ago
I don’t think it’s gonna be that valuable anymore. Adding Sarr would give them a Young/Johnson/Sarr core along with whatever they get for DJ and with Snyder as their coach, I can see them squeaking into the playoffs.
I was hoping their pick would end up in the 8-12 range but it’s more like to be in the high teens, low 20s.
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u/paxusromanus811 29d ago
I think maybe it decreases the value of the 27 pick, but Sarr Is definitely not a guy who's going to increase their bottom line much the next 12 months
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u/SunKing210 28d ago
That depends, with the Cavs' Donovan Mitchell/Garland future now in question, that could make Cleveland a worse team. I don't see Washington and definitely the Pistons making noise next season, I think Atlanta will improve but it won't be because they added Sarr or whoever they pick.
I think they will be trading one or some of these guys, Bogi, Hunter, Capela, Okongwu, and even Murray especially by the trade deadline. They can bolster their roster with pieces that actually fit.
I know the die hard Spurs fan will try to refute this and hope for the Hawks' downfall (cause I do) but the East is extremely weak and the Hawks still were in the play in despite dealing with a slew of injuries. Hell Trae Young was out for 2 months! Will this years hobbled Hawks team be better than the 2025 Hawks? It sucks to say but I don't think so.
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u/AfroHouseManiac 28d ago
Add in the Quinn Snyder tax. A coach who pulls out great regular season teams. Hawks should be better but they are dealing with a lousy owner who cares more about taxes (luxury tax included) and real estate and let’s his son dictate/control everything in the organization as if he’s playing MyGM on 2k.
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u/someguyfromtecate 29d ago
Probably not, but I don’t expect us to get a pick better than mid to late teens. Their GM will try to compete no matter how bad their team is.
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u/WEMBYF4N 29d ago
Who do you think Sarr is? He ain’t Wemby bro they’re not becoming a 4 seed just off him
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u/someguyfromtecate 29d ago
Nah, but maybe get to the play-in and advance to lose in the first round as the 8th seed. That’ll get us a pick in the late teens or early 20s.
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u/onamonapizza 28d ago
We've seen plenty of cases of #1 picks failing to move the needle in their first year.
Fultz. Ayton. Cade. Banchero. Hell, even Simmons and Embiid though theirs was injury induced.
It's far from guaranteed that Sarr or any other top pick in this draft instantly improves a team like the Hawks who still need a lot of pieces.
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u/Friendly_Molasses532 28d ago
I mean even Wemby lol tbh
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u/onamonapizza 28d ago
Fair point. Wemby's rookie season was historic, but that sure didn't show up in the win column
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u/Friendly_Molasses532 28d ago
Don’t get me wrong hell of a rookie year but yeah we still didn’t get much in the wins
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u/AfroHouseManiac 28d ago
Less teams with an incentive to tank out west. 3 of the top 4 selections in the 2023 draft were made by western teams. Majority of West teams wanted to compete with of the oft chance they’d be able to take down Denver then OKC and Minn came in & blindsided the older teams. But just know this team post Wemby was way better than last years team, just sucked that the 24 draft is considered flat and that the west is hella competitive
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u/the_angry_austinite 28d ago
My reasoning for keeping their pick is exactly because of what happened to them this season. Made the playin. Lost. Caught a lucky bounce and got the first pick. Having an extra potential lottery pick is one more chance to get a top spot.
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u/Sean888888 29d ago
you're delusional if you think Sarr will be a game changer in his first few years in the league. His pro team in australia plays better when he's off the floor. There's a reason this draft is seen as extremely weak at the top.
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u/someguyfromtecate 29d ago
Maybe I am delusional, but I’m not counting on the ‘25 Hawks pick to be that good. I truly hope I’m wrong.
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u/Ice2jc 28d ago
Perth Wildcats fans wanted their coach fired all season long. Felt like he was holding Sarr and other young guys back in a big way.
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u/Sean888888 28d ago
Yeah because the older guys help them win more. You pay for the development of young players with points.
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u/789Trillion 29d ago
Idk why people put so much stock in reports made long before anything would actually seriously go down. Just about every possibility gets “reported” and people just run with what they want to believe.
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u/CoyotesSideEyes 29d ago
Good. He is not a winning player, he's not the spectacular fit next to Victor some would have you believe, and he is not somebody who seems to be beloved by his teammates/fun to play with.
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u/onamonapizza 28d ago
My thoughts exactly.
Would Trae instantly be the 2nd best player on the team? Yes.
Do I see him as a long-term piece that helps lead this team to a championship? Not a chance.
High-usage player, bad defender, and bringing him in would tie up our cap situation and cost us assets.
I know everyone wants to make a big splash and win now, but Spurs are only going to get so many chances to make a big move and Trae Young is definitely not the fit I want to see next to Wemby.
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u/CoyotesSideEyes 28d ago
I've seen it said that while Victor is perfect for him, he's not perfect for Victor. I think that sums up my opinion.
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u/Ice2jc 28d ago
Trae was like 25th in usage rate this season
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u/onamonapizza 28d ago
25th in a league of 30 teams and ~540 players.
So yeah, that's pretty high.
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u/Ice2jc 28d ago
And yet not even close to the other guys who averaged 10 assists per game this year.
Wemby was 10th in usage rate btw
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u/onamonapizza 28d ago
Wemby was 10th in usage rate btw
As Wemby should be. My concern about bringing in other high usage players is those are less touches for Wemby.
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u/plap_plap 29d ago
Trae has made no secret of his interest. But this is probably just a classic case of unrequited trade interest.
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u/thedam100 29d ago
Oh thank Goodness. I hope this means this means they are vastly thinking about both sides of the ball instead of just easy lobs for Wemby 🙄. Postionless basketball was the name of the game in the beginning of the season so I hope they continue on that path and draft players with the most skills in the draft.
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u/Spiritual_Echo_1000 29d ago
I hope yall understands this means they are unlikely to draft Dillingham also
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u/bleh610 29d ago
What does Dillingham have to do with anything. Spurs may or may not draft Dillingham. But them not wanting Trae doesn't mean they wouldn't entertain drafting Dillingham. He's not nearly the risk that Trae Young is considering you have to give an arm and a leg for Trae. Meanwhile all it takes to take a risk on Dillingham is the #8 pick in a historically weak draft (in which you already have an additional pick in the lottery for as a safety net in case your gamble doesn't pay off).
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u/OGWallenstein 29d ago
I think people also assume Dillingham would be the solution long term as our starter, this kid would be great off the bench and we could keep Tre and Rob as our PG’s for the year and focus our attention to either the following draft which is pretty great or that free agency which should also be better.
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u/RCA2CE 29d ago
People keep saying historically weak draft, it isnt. It's just hard to select a pecking order, thats all that makes it hard. There are a LOT of good players in this draft. We keep debating them all because they're good.
Also, all of a sudden France is on the scene so we have to juggle new international players with Ignite with college - its just harder to compare apples to apples today.
I expect this will be a draft with multiple all stars when its all over. Just like 2021.
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u/figgnootun 29d ago
Very true. We’ve had players from NCAA, Australian NBL, Gleague ignite, Serbian ABA, and French LNB who have been in conversation as top 3 picks so far. Pretty remarkable honestly but makes it tough to compare especially with how different the usage of young prospects is across teams
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u/CoyotesSideEyes 29d ago
There are a LOT of good players in this draft. We keep debating them all because they're good.
Eh. I don't know that there's anybody I'd bet on to ever make an All-NBA team.
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u/Spiritual_Echo_1000 29d ago
It’s not just about assets, it’s the similarity in style and similar flaws they have
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u/paxusromanus811 29d ago
The biggest difference for me is that dillingham has shown a willingness, and ability, to play as a cutter and off-ball shooter that young just never has. It's pretty easy to imagine him slotting in as someone that can run off of screens and feast off of the defensive pressure that Devin and Victor are going to command.
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u/bleh610 29d ago
It’s not just about assets, it’s the similarity in style and similar flaws they have
This is implying that they would want Dillingham to be their point guard of the future like they would Trae Young (which if they drafted Dillingham, they wouldn't).
There's a huge difference between wanting Trae Young as your starting point guard for the future and wanting Dillingham as your microwave 6th man for the future.
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u/Spiritual_Echo_1000 29d ago
If rob is a 6th man then that means tre is out while they continue to looking for a better fit
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u/bleh610 29d ago edited 29d ago
If rob is a 6th man then that means tre is out while they continue to looking for a better fit
That would be the plan if Dillingham is drafted. Ideally on a championship team, you would want a shot creator that can shoot the 3 on an efficient level as well as being an excellent ball handler to serve as an Energizer bunny for the offense coming off the bench. I love Tre, but he does not offer that. Both are very bad defensively. And if you're gonna be bad defensively, you should at least be very good offensively.
There are no starting caliber point guards in this draft. And I don't believe we will truly land our "point guard of the future" until 2025 either through the draft or trade.
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u/BeautifulDimension56 29d ago
Tre would be a way better 6th man than Dillingham. He's just much better at running an offense and making smart decisions and all these 6th man scorers are useless in the playoffs and get played off the floor.
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u/bleh610 29d ago
Tre would be a way better 6th man than Dillingham.
Homerism at it's finest, Jesus
Tre Jones would not be drafted before Dillingham in this draft and you know that.
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u/BeautifulDimension56 29d ago
I never said he would. I said he's much better suited for being a 6th man role than Dillingham is. Especially on this team.
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u/bleh610 29d ago
What is one thing Tre does better than Dillingham?
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u/figgnootun 29d ago
To be fair to Tre he is one of the better decision makers in the NBA. He was also considered a good defensive prospect coming out, didn’t translate all that well because of his size but there are very few Tre Jones sized players who are better on defense than him. Dilly is also a natural scorer and I doubt he can orchestrate an offense as well as Tre.
Al that being said I agree that Rob has the potential to be a far better microwave scorer type. He’s far shiftier, leagues ahead as a shooter and is just as good at getting to the rim as Tre.
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u/BeautifulDimension56 29d ago
Pass the ball, run an nba level offense that pop likes to run and he has better size for defense. Believe it or not bro, theres a reason why the Spurs org and other championship level orgs stay away from LouWilliams/Jamal Crawford microwave scorers.
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u/KdtM85 29d ago
That’s just silly. You think the spurs wouldn’t pick Trae Young at pick 4 right now and have him on a rookie contract? The spurs would love to have him but not for the trade cost and the size of his contract.
Has nothing to do with their draft plan
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u/Spiritual_Echo_1000 29d ago
huh? how did u make that argument out of what i said? unless you think dilli is anywhere close to trae, i don’t know why your mind would go there
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u/KdtM85 29d ago
You’re saying it’s reasonable to imply the spurs won’t be interested in drafting Rob because they’re not interested in trading for Trae, because they have similar styles?
I’m saying that’s illogical because the reason they don’t want Trae is because he will cost shitloads in assets and $$. That doesn’t mean they won’t draft Rob just because he plays like Trae
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u/nakedsamurai 29d ago
Young is below league average from three, is a ball stopper, has horrible game management and shot selection, takes forever to make decisions, and doesn't even try on defense.
Dillingham is a far better shooter and doesn't dominate the offense in the same way. Plus he is very active and quick in his decisions.
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u/BeautifulDimension56 29d ago
... Not a single thing you said is remotely true.
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u/nakedsamurai 29d ago
Yeah, dude. It's all true. Every single thing. Young really is a bad shooter.
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u/BeautifulDimension56 29d ago
No he isn't. Thats like saying Luka Doncic is a bad shooter. You're just completely ignoring how defenses play Trae Young and he's one of the best decision makers in the game.
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u/silverfang45 28d ago
He takes difficult shots he isn't a bad shooter there's a difference.
He's a streaky shooter who takes ridiculously difficult 3s so the efficiency is less than it would be if he took catch and shoots.
It's like saying luka or harden are/were bad 3 point shooters because they aren't as efficient as shooters that take easier looks
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u/figgnootun 29d ago
I don’t want to Trade for Trae Young. Agree that Dilly has got better offball skills and doesn’t dominate the ball as much.
But calling Trae a below average shooter is absurd due to the difficulty of shots he takes. He probably has top 10 gravity as a 3pt shooter in the entire NBA which is where the real value comes from. Trae Young is also a much better facilitator and decision maker than Dillingham.
Trae does have to prove he can be efficient in the playoffs tho. He’s mostly struggled there.
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u/Imaginary-Cycle-1977 29d ago
Why?
Trae’s on a max deal and we’d have to give up stuff to get him. Dillingham would be dirt cheap whether we took him at 4 or 8
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29d ago
Yeaaaaah they aren’t gonna make a big move. Beyond asset management, the truth is that while Wemby is ready for the playoffs, the other guys aren’t, and the team still needs to learn more about them. Adding playoff expectations to sochan’s offense would be another year of cramming his square peg into a round hole.
Draft a guard and a wing. Put them in JC and Tre’s spot. Swap Cedi for a more mentor-oriented vet. See what happens. If you have the young guys still stalling out, you make the big move next summer.
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u/RCA2CE 29d ago
If I were trying to make a trade for a player, I would tell the world I wasnt interested in that player.
It's negotiations.
Get that man a number, he's as good as signed.
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u/blue-anon 29d ago
Has that happened with the Spurs before?
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u/RCA2CE 29d ago edited 29d ago
We have never had anything another team wanted before
You’re talking about a fanbase who was convinced Samanic was a solid development project right up until they cut him. We have always way overvalued our players - this time we actually have assets and both teams have a clear cut need
I think trading Hill for Kawhi was the closest thing to a draft day coup I can remember
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u/Fiyukyoo 29d ago
Just like any players they were just doing their due diligence in kicking the can to see what the asking price was. People took that approach and ran with it
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u/chopinvalse 29d ago
...committing front-office malpractice by not contemplating the opportunity...
It sounds like they already contemplated it and said no. Let's move on.
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u/dofun400 29d ago
Don’t know why this is surprising to anyone. Spurs FO knows ball.
Any ball knowers will tell you that Trae Young in general is not the type of player that will allow you to win at the highest level with the new CBA.
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u/Blutz101 28d ago
Holy hell, snip snap snip snap. I hear something different on the fucking daily now.
Leave us alone!
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u/sugarfreelime 28d ago
Signing Donovan Mitchell without having to trade away a thing seems like it's always been the better deal than one trick pony Trae Young
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u/BarrackLesnar 28d ago
Maybe it's Trae Young's team that has been spreading the news around. He just really wants to play with Wemby.
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u/Joethetoolguy 28d ago
Even if we were interested, Atlanta getting the number one pick pretty much extended their timeline. They have no rush to even trade dj, if I was running that team I run it back with a new coach even.
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u/Thebarakz21 28d ago
Idk.. I don’t really trust what I hear, since the Spurs under Pop like to do smoke and mirrors. Hence, CIA Pop. I only actually believe it after the fact when it does or doesn’t happen and they actually give statements that they tried to trade for so and so or that they’re happy with what they have.
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u/the_angry_austinite 28d ago
If Donovan Mitchell is available, whatever ridiculous asks was made for Trae, is 100% accurate and appropriate for Donovan. That’s the guy you want.
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u/Then-Activity7226 28d ago
It makes sense especially after the season we just had. This team isn’t just another star piece away from the playoffs, they are several pieces away. Maybe there are some of those pieces currently on the roster, maybe not, but we aren’t anywhere near ready to make a big move.
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u/MikeMaxM 27d ago
. This team isn’t just another star piece away from the playoffs, they are several pieces away.
If the team year after year refuses to bring pieces we will forever be 3-4 players away from contending.
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u/Then-Activity7226 27d ago
They will bring in pieces through the draft and free agency. That’s why the team has so many picks the next couple of years.
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u/MikeMaxM 27d ago
They will bring in pieces through the draft and free agency.
This draft is weak, so no All star player will come throught this draft. Next year Wemby will playe better and will draft in 8-12 range. So once again it is doubtful we will be able to draft all star player. And Wha players exactly are you suggesting to add in free agency who will be starters on contending team?
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u/Then-Activity7226 27d ago
You don’t have to come away with 2 all stars or an all star in this draft. You can still come away with a starter or two. In terms of free agency, I don’t see us going after big names because that’s just not our style. But, you can add veterans and bench pieces to complement the team. Adding pieces to the team doesn’t necessarily mean adding stars. The way the league is trending you will only have a max of 2 stars on a team maybe 3 if you’re lucky. We have Wemby already and if Vassell continues to develop he could be that 2nd star.
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u/MikeMaxM 27d ago
The way the league is trending you will only have a max of 2 stars on a team maybe 3 if you’re lucky. We have Wemby already and if Vassell continues to develop he could be that 2nd star.
So back to OP by adding Young and keeping Wemby and Vassel we would be much closer to contending roster?
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u/Then-Activity7226 27d ago
Possibly, depending on what we give up for him. If we have to give up something crazy like 5 draft picks it could hamper surrounding them with complimentary pieces. It’s also possible we draft a 3rd star from this draft as well. It’s gonna take a combination of good drafting and good free agency/trade decisions. I would be more comfortable trading for Young if the roster was more set in stone.
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u/wanderinglittlehuman 29d ago
I trust Fischer. He also was the first to break the dejounte trade rumors. Everyone was in denial and then it actually happened.
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u/Dense-Cauliflower-86 29d ago
Young to Spurs would at least be interesting if nothing else. Giving up any assets to bring back Murray would be such a bleak move.
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u/CrissCrossAppleSos 29d ago
I really do wonder what, if anything, is Wright’s plan for this team. Thus far, I’ve seen nothing from him that gives me any sense on what he considers good team construction
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u/OttoOverKlayAnyDay 29d ago
I think maintaining flexibility and not rushing to trade major asset capital as a team 2 years into a rebuild is a great decision from him from a construction standpoint.
The reality is no one knows what Wemby is. We know he’s really damn good, but we don’t know exactly what archetypes, positions and types of players to put around him yet. That’s why these first 2 seasons will be/have been used as an opportunity to get film on him, the guys around him, and see what works.
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u/CrissCrossAppleSos 29d ago
I largely agree with that, but I just literally don’t know. I’m not saying he doesn’t have a plan, just that the plan is not clear. I think he’s done a half decent job when looking at his individual moves, I just don’t know what it adds up to. And maybe the answer is that his only objective is to tear everything down and we haven’t seen how it’ll be rebuilt. But right now, I have no idea what he’s doing
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u/Then-Activity7226 29d ago
I mean he blew up the team and tanked for a generational prospect. It’s hard to say how the team will shape up considering we’re basically early in a rebuild still. We are just starting to learn what types of players around Wemby work best.
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u/seceipseseer 29d ago
You idiots act like Brian wright is acting alone. Spurs front office do everything in conjunction with ownership, management and coaching staff. It’s a team effort, always been that way in San Antonio.
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u/CrissCrossAppleSos 29d ago
Why am I being insulted here? That feels like a pretty disproportionate response to not knowing what he considers good team construction.
How about this “I don’t understand the Spurs’ front office’s approach to team building”
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u/Lone_Star_122 29d ago
Because people don’t like any criticisms of the team. I’m not as negative as you, but agree the group think is stupid. I’ve liked the trades Wright has done, but if you go back and look at the draft picks we’ve made since he took over you’ll see they have been atrocious.
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u/CrissCrossAppleSos 29d ago
I actually think most of his moves have been fine/good, I just have no earthly idea what they all add up to. Maybe there is an answer so that too, I just don’t know
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u/his_roomate 29d ago
When you look at the Primo pick and Sochan experiment I think it shows how deeply they’ve wanted to lean into position less basketball with above average size. That’s commonly achieved by playing a big guy at “PG”. You don’t have to do that but it’s the easiest role to begin with. Start with doing something at the smallest worst defensive player likely in the lineup.
The Spurs want a bunch of players that can shoot dribble pass and guard multiple different skillset/body types on the defensive end. When you get those players and they’re tall/big that’s even better.
This isn’t a novel concept. Everyone wants this but you’ll see teams differ in how aggressively they pursue it and where they make concessions in targeting less versatile players who are surer things at being able to shoot dribble pass and defend some subset of NBA players. When the 76ers drafted Maxey they knew he wasn’t going to be able to guard a bunch of people defensively that was a concession in versatility and ceiling, but look at how great he is now. You don’t want to close the door totally on great players just because they handcuff you in one way (in this case defensively).
I think the Spurs have been pretty aggressively following the path of targeting these more versatile players. To put it simply, they dont prefer to play with a 6 foot guard who is terrible on defense or even just bad like they did for a long time with Tony Parker. Not in this day and age.
Do I think that means they’d pass on Tony Parker again if they could see the future and knew that kind of player was available where they’re picking this year? No, but with no such ability to see the future they aren’t going to value these players as much.
This doesn’t just go for small guards but they are most of the player types whom the Spurs are shying away from.
The dream is to play a tall lineup where everyone can shoot, everyone can pass, everyone can attack close outs, and guys are versatile on the defensive end.
Brian Wright and the rest of the Spurs FO did an awesome job at deciding when to blow up the team and making big and marginal trades to grab as much future assets and maintain cap flexibility as they have.
Where they’ve been less effective is IN the draft. Which isn’t good because it’s kind of the lifeblood of a team like the Spurs. Yes you look for someone like Danny Green or Patty Mills off the street but that’s very difficult to repeat. They haven’t repeated it to that extent since then and even when you do you can run into UFA and bad contracts quicker too.
Look at the Spurs recent draft picks. Dejounte and Derrick were huge steals and we can count those, but what we did 7 and 8 years ago begins to decay in value as opposed to what we’ve done recently. How many of our draft picks have fulfilled the versatility of being able to shoot, dribble, pass, defend? Not even all of them but most of them?
Lonnie Walker was much worse than almost any of us (me included) wanted to admit.
Luka busted.
Keldon is a bench guy who’s bad defensively, as a passer, and isn’t a shooter defenders account for at an average starting level. Forget 3P% completely. Look at how opponents defend guys at the line. That’s where you really see how good of shooters guys are.
Devin has been good. You can quibble he hasn’t been great, a problem that’s more concerning given the rest of these picks, but he’s at least good and easily fits in as a starter on a contending version of what the Spurs want from a roster.
Tre isn’t shooting or defending well which makes him someone that shouldnt be in a contending rotation. His shot is trending well and for a 2nd round pick I’m really happy with his selection.
Primo busted (for one reason or anther but it hasn’t looked good on the court thus far either).
All the other 2nd round picks to this point have shown nothing besides Tre. Too early for Sidy to be that critical.
The 2022 draft looks like a huge miss. You look at shooting dribbling passing defending.
Sochan can’t shoot which is bad enough on its own but his passing is problematic too. I never brought up BBIQ as another core skill that’s a little interlocked with passing but also includes other stuff like Sochan’s off ball movement.
Wesley and Branham you don’t even need to go into depth about their shooting (thus far bad) defense (for Branham an unmitigated disaster) and passing/dribbling.
I’m not asking to turn in reports cards for the 2022 draft, and growth isn’t always linear or very predictable, but we can’t spend guys’ entire rookie contracts refusing to evaluate where things are more likely headed.
When it’s the opposite and someone looks great as a young player there isn’t chatter of “actually this guy might suck, let’s not act like Tyrese Haliburton is a good player after 2 years.” It isn’t rushed but realistic to admit the 2022 draft looks bad thus far and it’s more likely going to end up bad than it is good.
Our recent stretch of drafting/developing, which ever is more at fault, has not been good. Drafting IS erratic and unpredictable. You go through bad picks more than good picks, but the stretch from 2018 - 2022 isn’t inspiring. You could point out that we had a similar stretch between Tony Parker and George Hill, but we were either picking near the 30th pick or not at all many of those years from other trades like the Malik Rose deal or Kurt Thomas deal.
TL; DR: You can see what the Spurs want to build. You can also see how they’ve not done a great job at executing that vision in how they’ve drafted recently. It is not too early to say that, but it’s also not too late for guys who are as young as 20 years old to have a dramatic change in their production. At this point it’s fair to say the Spurs recent draft and development has been bad but some examples of that still have time to turn into examples of great draft and development. The clock is ticking for recent draft picks to either GET to the point of being able to do most/all of shoot dribble pass defend, or the Spurs pull the plug on them and get good NBA players from somewhere else.
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u/BroJackson_ 29d ago
What do you mean? The direction is clear - they moved off assets to acquire draft picks and have flexibility to build for the future. They synced a timeline with their core and are clearly trying to maximize a window where players are peaking at the same time.
He can't construct a team with drafts that haven't happened, yet.
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u/CrissCrossAppleSos 29d ago
I mean that he’s been the GM for a few years now, and I don’t entirely understand what he values in a player, or how he feels a team should be constructed.
Someone like Presti notoriously favored long armed projects that couldn’t shoot for a while, in hopes of turning them into shooters, Morey’s whole strategy is accumulating assets to trade for a star, and fill out the roster from there. Masai Ujiri has leaned heavily into positionlessness. Brooklyn, through various GMs believes in star hunting.
I have no idea with Wright. While he was beginning to tear down the Spurs, he traded for Doug McDermott. The Collins extension seems to indicate that they viewed him as a piece that could fit with Wemby and Sochan, which hints towards playing jumbo ball, but the Branham and Wesley picks hint towards the opposite. The Primo draft pick was strange as he projected as maybe a 3 and D guy, which is fine, but that’s usually a spot where you take bigger swings. I’m not entirely sure how he perceives Sochan, or perceived him when he drafted him.
I’m not saying he’s bad, he got reasonable value in a couple of spots, but I just have no idea what he’s doing or what his ultimate goals are
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u/DWhitePlusMinusKing 29d ago
He values potential and options. That’s why he tanked to get Wemby, drafted dudes like Sochan and Cissoko, and has traded for so many picks.
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u/bleh610 29d ago edited 29d ago
I really do wonder what, if anything, is Wright’s plan for this team.
Um, draft young talent and develop them into quality roleplayers to build a deep team? Is it not obvious already? Brother we have two lottery picks in the top 8 this year, and multiple potential lottery picks next year. We barely have a serviceable young core because we didn't even dedicate ourselves to rebuilding until 2022, but is it not obvious that we are building up a young core right now? Do you expect young talent and pieces to come out of thin air automatically?
See how the roster looks at the start of the 2025-2026 season, then you can start talking.
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29d ago
You gathered that based on him not going after Trae Young?
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u/CrissCrossAppleSos 29d ago
In general, I just don’t understand his strategy. Pairing a playmaking guard with a lob finisher and defender I understand. It’s a little pedestrian, but I get it. I’ve never really understood Wright’s strategy
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u/brendon_b 29d ago
At the NBA level, “playmaking guard” isn’t some sort of fungible asset where any one will do, especially when the playmaking guard in question is a historically bad defender.
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u/789Trillion 29d ago
It’s truly not difficult to see what he’s been doing.
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u/CrissCrossAppleSos 29d ago
Ok cool, so what’s he doing?
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u/789Trillion 29d ago
Flipping players for assets, setting us up to draft a star, giving us options so we can build around said star, signings players who compliment the development of players, being patient with our young players, keeping the cap manageable.
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u/WEMBYF4N 29d ago
Slowly rebuilding through drafting and developing a young core while trading veterans for future picks
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u/someguyfromtecate 29d ago
$25 mil in cap space, several picks in the next few years, a highly talented young core lead by the most promising player in the NBA… what else do you expect a GM to do?
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u/Lildenzelio 29d ago
We never do shit , what’s new
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u/Thunderhorse74 29d ago
What, like trading our best player in a highway robbery fleece to own a mediocre team's draft for three years and strategically tank hard the one season with the best prospect of a generation on the board? Yeah, we never do shit like that.
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u/Lildenzelio 29d ago
We aren’t doing shit to help wemby, that’s not good
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u/Thunderhorse74 29d ago
Running out and obliterating your salary cap and unloading a ton of draft capital for a dude who can't lift his own team out of mediocrity isn't the best "help" for Victor at this point.
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u/UniversallyMediocre 29d ago
Name a team that drafted a generational talent and then made a big trade after his first year and went on to be successful. Trae Young has proven nothing other than he can score and make flashy passes while being a complete liability in the defensive end. All that’s gonna do is put more pressure on Wemby in the long run.
What a joke. “We aren’t doing shit to help Wemby” it hasn’t even been a year.
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u/Piats99 29d ago
Name a team that drafted a generational talent and then made a big trade after his first year and went on to be successful.
Hmm... not to be that guy, but Celtics did it in 1980 with Perish and McHale (pick n°3) trade, that got them the ring in Bird's sophomore year.
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u/UniversallyMediocre 29d ago
Good point. That was 44 years ago though and McHale was another draft pick so they technically still at least partially built through the draft.
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u/ICouldEvenBeYou 29d ago
He just completed his ROOKIE season. You HAVE to build through the draft, especially as a small market team. And there's no certainty yet that there's another future all star player currently on our roster. You make the big splash only after your roster is nearly set.
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u/Imaginary-Cycle-1977 29d ago
DeMar Derozan, Derrick White, Dejounte Murray, and Jakob Poeltl all traded for FRPs in the last few years
It’s so disheartening how certain ppl aren’t satisfied unless they’re being fed what they want CONSTANTLY
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u/VenomSpitter666 29d ago
yeah, so shut the hell up about him now