Analysis Brian Windhorst: “Spurs are a playoff contender”

[poopbox]

I can't wait for all the overreactions after we lose a couple of preseason games.

Jokes on you. Most people won't even know how or where to watch Spurs preseason games

 

[LeBowen]

Jokes on you. Most people won't even know how or where to watch Spurs preseason games

If you get what I'm saying.

 

[Exstatic]

I don't think they did. I think Pop was legit senile enough to think Sochan could play point guard. 7 years from now we will find out that this is when early onset dementia kicked in. I his postgame pressers he seemed legit dumbfounded that the team was losing so much.

That’s just haterade. What do you expect him to say?

yeah, we really weren’t trying to win…

 

[Corso]

even though i joined ST back in '09, i never really paid attention to how so many posters had tens of thousands of takes but, being present in the genesis of this forum, i can see now how so many of us just post the same take over and over again. can't wait for next week so we can have something new and original to post about. because i dont' really care whether or not pop, or the players, or both, were the reasons for the past couple of crappy seasons. i'm just curious to see how this roster pans out.

 

[spurs10]

One can appreciate everything Pop did for the franchise and hold him in great reverence while acknowledging that he has not been doing a good job the last few years. That doesn't negate or change his contributions to the franchise. He shouldn't be above criticism because of his past achievements. I love Pop and think he's the GOAT coach but I also think that he has been over the hill for awhile and needed to step back from coaching at least 2-3 seasons ago

And the fact that he is as old as he is and recovering from a stroke but is still the president of basketball ops is fucking nuts. We all saw how he looked when he announced his decision to step down from coaching. This man should be retired and focusing on being healthy and enjoying the rest of his time on earth, not running a fucking basketball franchise while in active stroke recovery

I don't disagree that Pop should be relaxing and not burdened by the administrative duties of being the president of operations. When we were tanking to get Wemby, a long-shot at best, I think he did a good job of making sure we kept in the running by not winning. Most of all I hope he is in his new role more as a ceremonial title than active hands on actor. Yes, his stroke did not appear to be a 'small one.'

 

[Shmurs]

So what’s the theory - that RC is the actual president? Or that he and Wright tag team it? Do they have autonomy or is there veto power from Pop?

I have a hard time believing that Pop isn’t going to be a gatekeeper for any material transactions. A gatekeeper that is awake 12 hours a day and can’t take calls from other executives because his cognition dropped by some significant degree.

It’s harsh to say but he really should have zero influence in how the franchise is run at this point. His influence will be > 0

 

[scott]

Didn’t realize the man played 70 games that season. Just figured he was hurt as always. My point is though that injuries happen to main guys and some teams figure out how to atleast make the playoffs. Like the Warriors made the playoffs with Curry playing 54 games 3 years ago. Now we can’t lose the guy for the whole season. But if Wemby is hurt for 20 games hypothetically we should have the coaching and the horses to still be in the playoff mix. I mean Kawhi has been hurt every year and Lue has his team with a winning record still.

I’m not sure we are that team from a coaching perspective and a talent perspective. Any Wemby injury is going (imo) to have devastating results to our win loss record.

I hear ya. It's probably the smart approach for teams to approach their roster construction with the idea in mind that players are only going to play 65 games and build the roster with the ability to achieve your organizational objectives with that limitation in mind. If you can ONLY hit your goals if the team is completely healthy, then you've failed to build your roster to be strong enough. I think this is your point, and I 100% agree.

 

[pad300]

I don’t even understand the premise. You’re going to be in the lottery anyway and the draft is awful, where pick 3 and pick 10 were going to be rated about the same. So you’re going to kill your hyper competitive franchise player’s rookie season so you can draft a project player?

It might have just been that it was the worst players and coaches in the league that were responsible for the losing record.

I agree with Exstatic, they did tank Wemby's rookie year, and it was apparent in the coaching decisions. They knew damn well that the best (and only legitimate NBA level) PG on the roster was Tre Jones, and did everything they could get away with to avoid playing him...
The strategic reasoning was a) they needed the best talent they could get to put beside Wemby, and b) that year was the only year you could expect to be able to tank effectively with Wemby on the roster. After his rookie year, a healthy year from Wemby was (and is) expected to mean a minimum of a play-in team, no matter what games you play with the roster and the coaching...

 

[Exstatic]

I agree with Exstatic, they did tank Wemby's rookie year, and it was apparent in the coaching decisions. They knew damn well that the best (and only legitimate NBA level) PG on the roster was Tre Jones, and did everything they could get away with to avoid playing him...
The strategic reasoning was a) they needed the best talent they could get to put beside Wemby, and b) that year was the only year you could expect to be able to tank effectively with Wemby on the roster. After his rookie year, a healthy year from Wemby was (and is) expected to mean a minimum of a play-in team, no matter what games you play with the roster and the coaching...

Yeah, but he didn’t have a healthy year, limited to 46 games in year two.

 

[pad300]

Yeah, but he didn’t have a healthy year, limited to 46 games in year two.

Yes in year 2, they ended up tanking, after Wemby went out with DVT. But, unlike Wemby year 1, they didn't open the season tanking. (In Wemby year 1, we started the season with point Sochan...). If Wemby had stayed healthy in year 2, we would have been trying to compete all year. Judging from what he put together in November and December, we would have definitely made the play-in, and maybe the play-offs...

 

[Shmurs]

I agree with Exstatic, they did tank Wemby's rookie year, and it was apparent in the coaching decisions. They knew damn well that the best (and only legitimate NBA level) PG on the roster was Tre Jones, and did everything they could get away with to avoid playing him...
The strategic reasoning was a) they needed the best talent they could get to put beside Wemby, and b) that year was the only year you could expect to be able to tank effectively with Wemby on the roster. After his rookie year, a healthy year from Wemby was (and is) expected to mean a minimum of a play-in team, no matter what games you play with the roster and the coaching...

just replying to say Devonte was our best point guard that season, and this team has never looked more functional over the last 2 years than when it was big doses of Devonte, Mamu, Julian and Cedi on that stretch run in ‘24.

Jones is just a guy who knows how to dribble and do layups. I never saw any other skill, but I guess I don’t have to speak ill of the dead.

 

[pad300]

just replying to say Devonte was our best point guard that season, and this team has never looked more functional over the last 2 years than when it was big doses of Devonte, Mamu, Julian and Cedi on that stretch run in ‘24.

Jones is just a guy who knows how to dribble and do layups. I never saw any other skill, but I guess I don’t have to speak ill of the dead.

Even if you figure Devonte was the best PG on the team that year, as opposed to Tre, you're missing the forest for the trees. Devonte played 313 minutes over 23 games. They didn't put the best lineup they could on the floor for most of the season; they tanked.

 

[spurraider21]

Keep in mind that even when they gave up on point Sochans they began starting freaking Branham at point. Only when Branham got hurt did they begrudgingly start Tre and he won the job the rest of the way

 

[LeBowen]

Keep in mind that even when they gave up on point Sochans they began starting freaking Branham at point. Only when Branham got hurt did they begrudgingly start Tre and he won the job the rest of the way

It was a blatant tank to get Wemby.

As for Sochan, the question was if they played him at PG because they actually thought he might be capable of some ballhandling duties or because they thought it's the only way to make him useful since a non-shooting wing is useless off the ball.

 

[Shmurs]

Even if you figure Devonte was the best PG on the team that year, as opposed to Tre, you're missing the forest for the trees. Devonte played 313 minutes over 23 games. They didn't put the best lineup they could on the floor for most of the season; they tanked.

Yeah I guess my point was that Jones really f’ing sucks just like the rest of them, and the team knew it. It was weird that they treated him like a dead end, while all their other busts got the red carpet, though.

Jones couldn’t see anything on the court. Not just because of his height (but maybe because of his height), he just literally had no clue what to do other than drive and kick with 2 seconds left on the clock.

Point being Tre was a total blank. Jeremy was much worse but both were losing options, so I think it’s the soft tank theory where part of it is the “seeing what you have” thing.

 

[Kick-Stand]

Especially if he shows minimal improvement or zero fit to this team. It hurts my eyes everyday seeing his defenders on reddit overrate the shit out of him and say stuff that he's as important as guys like Castle and Harper or like Kawhi needed time to develop his shot. But where Jeremy is in his development, Kawhi was already at franchise player potential.

LOL reddit. Kawhi may be a snake, but that dude completely remade his jumper in one summer after about 2-3 days of coaching from Chip Engelland before the 2012 lockout. Sochan has never shown that kind of work ethic.

 

[spurraider21]

It was a blatant tank to get Wemby.

As for Sochan, the question was if they played him at PG because they actually thought he might be capable of some ballhandling duties or because they thought it's the only way to make him useful since a non-shooting wing is useless off the ball.

Well when point Sochan failed they continued to start him. Zollins got benched

 

[LeBowen]

Well when point Sochan failed they continued to start him. Zollins got benched

Obviously, because he was a rookie on a tanking team that needed development.

 

[scott]

Obviously, because he was a rookie on a tanking team that needed development.

Point Sochan (and then Branham starting) was in Sochan's 2nd year, and we already had Wemby.

This also followed Popovich saying that winning was as important as development (which obviously was bullshit if they were tanking again)

 

[Exstatic]

LOL reddit. Kawhi may be a snake, but that dude completely remade his jumper in one summer after about 2-3 days of coaching from Chip Engelland before the 2012 lockout. Sochan has never shown that kind of work ethic.

Sochan’s shot was way more fucked up than Kawhi’s.

 

[Kick-Stand]

Sochan’s shot was way more fucked up than Kawhi’s.

Not sure I agree. Sochan shot better from the three at Baylor on slightly higher volume than Leonard's sophomore year at San Diego State and Kawhi had a completely jacked up shot where he brought the ball behind his head and chunked it forward.

 

[spurraider21]

Obviously, because he was a rookie on a tanking team that needed development.

He was not a rookie

 

[LeBowen]

He was not a rookie

My bad, I mixed it up. He was still a player in need of development minutes.

 

[eric365]

Yes in year 2, they ended up tanking, after Wemby went out with DVT. But, unlike Wemby year 1, they didn't open the season tanking. (In Wemby year 1, we started the season with point Sochan...). If Wemby had stayed healthy in year 2, we would have been trying to compete all year. Judging from what he put together in November and December, we would have definitely made the play-in, and maybe the play-offs...

Year 2, they were not tanking until the wemby injury but not trying for reel either

No one could expect to contend with the big rotation last year after the Fox trade

This is the 1st year without a giant hole in the rotation

 

[DAF86]

Are the Spurs trading Keldon Johnson or something to make this a reality?

Fixed it for you, tbh.