Misc MISC Spurs 2025-26 Season Thread

[spursparker9]

Like the simplification of the protection idea of either top 4 protected or top 14 protected.

Not allowing team selecting top 4 for 2 years in a row. Does this mean that Cavs getting 3 First pick in 2011, 2013 and 2014 is not rigged actually?

This would help prevent OKC destroying the league with potential 2 top pick from LAC. Please make this happen

 

[Exstatic]

I like the protections idea, those are usually the reason for teams that shouldn't tank doing it.
For example Mavs sitting Luka a few years ago because their pick was top10 protected.

Limiting consecutive top picks is also a good idea, Spurs getting Harper was bs, tbh.

It would have stopped Castle, too.

 

[Ariel]

This would help prevent OKC destroying the league with potential 2 top pick from LAC. Please make this happen

I assume that would apply to a team's own picks, not those they're owed via a trade, which would open a whole other can of worms. I mean, what's next, stopping a team from trading for a top pick once the order is set? That doesn't seem to be an anti-tank measure tbh.

 

[Ariel]

It would have stopped Castle, too.

No, likely it would have pushed the Spurs back where they could have drafted Castle anyway. Or they'd have had to trade up from whatever position they landed into, I don't think there's any way to prevent a team from trading into a protected range without causing a whole lot of complications.

 

[Paramore]

 

[spursistan]

Spurs are elite, but it's pretty clear this OKC barnstorming start was a function of a cakewalk schedule.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2003674740259758560

 

[Seventyniner]

Spurs are elite, but it's pretty clear this OKC barnstorming start was a function of a cakewalk schedule.

Coming in to tonight, OC had by far the weakest schedule in the league. -2.25 strength of schedule according to Bkref, 2nd easiest is Detroit -1.53.

Full credit to the Thunder for utterly destroying the decent and weak teams, but they are now 0-2 against the Spurs, barely beat the Rockets in 2OT, and have yet to play Denver.

 

[spursistan]

Cam Johnson goes down with knee injury. We should all be rooting for Denver against Wolves on Christmas.. Need to break Minnesota's momentum a bit; they're sneakily rounding into form. Nuggets will lose random games as they're still shorthanded for couple more weeks

 

[Biggems]

IMO, the best move the Spurs made this off-season was hiring that defensive assistant from the Mavs. Our D is swarming, especially now that we are healthy. It will only get better as grows.

As a huge lover of defense, this has warmed the cockles of my heart.

 

[timtonymanu]

Cam Johnson goes down with knee injury. We should all be rooting for Denver against Wolves on Christmas.. Need to break Minnesota's momentum a bit; they're sneakily rounding into form. Nuggets will lose random games as they're still shorthanded for couple more weeks

The Twolves do not scare me one bit.

 

[Mugen]

Perfect night of basketball tbh, gonna savor it

 

[Ice009]

Locking lottery positions will probably just accelerate the tank and expose matters even more when teams suddenly improve after the cutoff date, and disallowing teams from picking top 4 on consecutive years feels too punitive for a team who genuinely sucks, there's a high rate of misses and one year doesn't guarantee you get even a single cornerstone. I think I would favor a scheme of points that (inversely) rewards position (bad -> better odds, like it does today) and is penalized by the lottery results of the last few years, so if you get a no. 1 pick and next year you're the worst team, it's the equivalent of having the 6th worst record or so, if you get lucky 2 years in a row you go back to basically the end of the lottery, etc.

I think probably standardizing protections for picks and swaps could be a reasonable way to bring some order into utter chaos, trying track the owner of a pick these days in some cases is ridiculously complicated. I'd probably come up with a few scenarios to choose from: unprotected, and 2/3 different protection schemes, all of them descending and ending in unprotected or very lightly protected to prevent teams from scheming around this (like Charlotte did when they decided to tank the year we were owed a pick from the Dejounte trade).

Yep, I agree with all of that. Those rules suck. One draft is not the same as another. You could get the number 1 pick one year, but then the following year, the number 2, 3, 4 pick could be better players than the guy that was picked number 1 the year before. These rules suck. Locking the lottery after March 1? What is the point of that?

Like the simplification of the protection idea of either top 4 protected or top 14 protected.

Not allowing team selecting top 4 for 2 years in a row. Does this mean that Cavs getting 3 First pick in 2011, 2013 and 2014 is not rigged actually?

This would help prevent OKC destroying the league with potential 2 top pick from LAC. Please make this happen

Surely if the pick is from another team, that shouldn't count? For example, how is it fair that if the Spurs have a pick swap with Atlanta or the outright pick, if Atlanta ends up in the lottery, the Spurs shouldn't get penalized for that.

 

[spursistan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2003675977180934539

 

[LeBowen]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2003675977180934539

KBD was better than Sochan, tbh.

10/4/1.5 with almost a block in 22mpg on 51/39/79.
Would be just the 10th man PF we need until Bryant develops.

For me those post-covid seasons when we were pretending to compete just because of Pop were worse than two seasons of tanking.

 

[scott]

On Tanking Prevention:

I like that the league is doing SOMETHING… they needed to. However…

I don’t like the idea of standardizing pick protections, because IMO that limits the ability to fine tune market value in trades. This is just the trade valuation nerd in me speaking I guess, but the ability to have a range of protections is really critical. A Top 4 protected is not the same as a Top 6 protected which is not the same as a Top 10 protected, etc. Having the ability to fine tune really greases the wheels on trades.

I like having a penalty for repeated tanking, but being barred from the Top 4 after one year is too much. As we know, rebuilds take more than one season, so I feel like this attempt to prevent tanking will actually just result in teams staying in the gutter longer. Look at teams like Utah and WAS who have had bad lottery luck and are just kind of stuck. I don’t see how that is any better than tanking for a few years.

I like @Ariel’s concept of a point system. Maybe you get positive points for advancing in the Cup. Or perhaps the lottery teams get ranked by their record after Mar 1 (with a better record getting you more ping-pong balls). So there is an incentive for them all to play hard at the end. That will create some interesting scenarios where a fringe play-in team will be playing hard for a play-in spot or a top pick. If the goal is to encourage competitiveness, I think this would do it.

 

[scott]

KBD was better than Sochan, tbh.

10/4/1.5 with almost a block in 22mpg on 51/39/79.
Would be just the 10th man PF we need until Bryant develops.

For me those post-covid seasons when we were pretending to compete just because of Pop were worse than two seasons of tanking.

You are right, Post-Covid KBD would be quite useful for this team

 

[bozhemoi]

Is that right? Also was he even a available at our SRP?

But yeah, I take the point, the next inefficiency for the Spurs to explore in their operation is nailing these SRPs

The word is that Reynaud wanted to go to Sacramento and asked teams not to draft him.

He went to school nearby.

 

[bozhemoi]

I don't think tanking needs to be fixed. Bad teams need a way to get more talent.

The problem is more that very good teams can still get great players. Theres no reason the Thunder should be looking at a top pick this year or, to be honest, the Spurs for that matter.

Punishing bad, losing teams seems like it just makes the problem worse. There must be solutions elsewhere, as in developing the talent they get, rather than the picks themselves. Every sport has bad teams giving up at the end of a season. I don't get why the NBA thinks their problem is unusual.

 

[spursparker9]

Anyway, these new ideas need at least 23 team owners to sign off before implementation right?

So seems unlikely for these 3 new rules to pass

 

[Exstatic]

Anyway, these new ideas need at least 23 team owners to sign off before implementation right?

So seems unlikely for these 3 new rules to pass

The way they get them to pass is to kick them down the road a few years, like starting in 2030.

 

[ace3g]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2003972675409191298

 

[Ice009]

I don't think tanking needs to be fixed. Bad teams need a way to get more talent.

The problem is more that very good teams can still get great players. Theres no reason the Thunder should be looking at a top pick this year or, to be honest, the Spurs for that matter.

Punishing bad, losing teams seems like it just makes the problem worse. There must be solutions elsewhere, as in developing the talent they get, rather than the picks themselves. Every sport has bad teams giving up at the end of a season. I don't get why the NBA thinks their problem is unusual.

The Spurs and Thunder put themselves in this position with smart moves. It's not the Spurs' fault that other FOs have screwed up their teams and traded picks and assets that ended up not working out. It's not the Thunder's fault that the Clippers caved into Kawhi's demands and traded a crazy amount of picks for Paul George. They should not be penalized for other teams/FOs stupidity.

 

[Em-City]

Kawhi playing 42 minutes in a December game is wild... supposedly Ty Lue told the team their goal for the rest of the season is to go 35-20. With Kawhi going 42 minutes and Harden going 41 seems like they view that game as a must win for their season.

I'd actually prefer losing every regular season game to the clips of it means the OKC pick is a few spots lower

 

[RC_Drunkford]

Like the simplification of the protection idea of either top 4 protected or top 14 protected.

Not allowing team selecting top 4 for 2 years in a row. Does this mean that Cavs getting 3 First pick in 2011, 2013 and 2014 is not rigged actually?

This would help prevent OKC destroying the league with potential 2 top pick from LAC. Please make this happen

Hold on man, you know how many swaps we own? Kings 2031 looking juicy

 

[spursistan]

- Denver play their next 7 games on the road (@Magic, @Heat, @Raptors, @Cavs, @Nets, @Sixers, @Celtics)..Should pick up few Ls while still shorthanded (Gordon might be back for last two). Spurs could open a 3-game lead on them after this stretch.

- I prefer facing Suns over Warriors in potential 2-7 seed match-up. Golden State can still out-veteran us.

- Lakers are the worst 19-10 team in recent memory. Total fugazi. (-0.5 net rating )