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2018-19 NBA Thread

Thoughts on our first three games:

1. We want to run, that's fine, we have the personnel for it and we've been unstoppable so far when we do. But we need to get stops and defensive rebounds if we're going to rely on that strategy. The defense has been atrocious these first few games. I miss Lopez.

2. Jail KCP.

3. Credit Joey Buss for Johnathan Williams. Dude balled out vs the Spurs after JaVale and Zubac accumulated 11 fouls vs LaMarcus (albeit a ton of them being BS calls.) He's sending Zubac packing.

4. Jail KCP.

5. We haven't gotten calls. At all. That's fine if the other team is held to the same standard, but they're not. Even LeBron isn't getting calls.

6. Jail KCP.

7. Josh Hart really was a 28th pick that was traded down to 30th and he's sending KCP packing.

8. Jail KCP.

9. Losing Rondo and Ingram for these games really hurts. 2 vs the Spurs, as well as Suns and Nuggets. Three of those are very winnable if we're healthy, that's going from 3-1 to potentially 1-3 or 0-4. Just dumb of Ingram to get himself suspended like that.

10. Jail KCP.

11. Jail KCP.

12. Jail KCP.
 
Yeah well now that we've got lebron there is no need to send him good signals via rich paul. Let kcp ride the bench until he starts playing better, start hart and give the backup mins to svi.
I was also angry about all the bullshit missed calls by refs. I can only guess they're pissed about Ingram talking shit on the dude last game and so are trying to screw the Lakers.
 
Or stops. And we have neither. Maybe we swap KCP and a pick for Vucevic, who will then follow in the footsteps of Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard, hopefully more so the former than the latter. Then in a few years, we get Mo Bamba.
 
So tonight, KAT airballs a three, then immediately calls for his replacement off the bench? Pathetic. Doesn't this guy realize he has the potential to be an all-time great if he weren't such a mental midget?

Well done Wolves. Giving max contracts to guys to clearly don't give a fuck out there.
 
I just saw that and holy shit that's a terrible look. Guys really out here sucking ass after getting (super)max deals.

Also, I hope every Raptors fan is finally realizing how stupid it was to question the Kawhi deal. I mean, all they gave up was Poeltl and dumped a ton of salary.
 
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Kanburi said:
I just saw that and holy shit that's a terrible look. Guys really out here sucking ass after getting (super)max deals.

Also, I hope every Raptors fan is finally realizing how stupid it was to question the Kawhi deal. I mean, all they gave up was Poeltl and dumped a ton of salary.
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Shhhhhh!! You want him to get comfy and stay up there? We need Leonard to get disgruntled and come join lebron in LA. Fuckin Drake will probably suck him off and convince him to stay though D:<
 
Drake is so extra I honestly despise that guy. If I were a Raptor, he'd be the reason I'm leaving that franchise.

Anyways, good to see Luke inserting Josh into the starting lineup and man is he balling. Can't believe he was available at #28. Lonzo's shot does indeed look better on percentages, but it's swish or airball lol, there is no in between. Lance gotta be our backup point guard, he's so much better with the ball in his hands and it shows. Super impressed by his maturity thus far this season. Also, this.
 
Oh hey a home win against the boogers suck it Murray. Nice to see us play some defense for a change. Will be glad when we get Ingram and rondo back
 
So realistically we're 5-0 right now. Lonzo's D in the second half was terrific. Made a lot of plays on both ends that few other 20 year olds in the history of the league have been able to do. Bron also rightfully credited Make 'Em Dance Lance for sparking the run that took the game. Good stuff overall, but curious to see if Luke sticks with Lonzo starting next game when Rondo is back. He's been great with Bron.

Is it too late to change my prediction for first coach to be fired Scott Brooks? Billy Donovan might still be safe but idk...
 
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That shot takes a lot of balls for a sophomore who struggled with his shot in his rookie year to take. Up 2 points with 3 minutes to go vs a playoff team who has a real shot at top 4 seed this year. I guess that's why they call him the Big Baller.

But hey, the Spurs didn't want him at all despite his unselfishness, willingness to make the extra pass (e.g. the one leading to Kuzma's buzzer beater at half), and his ability to find guys. Another player who plays hard and would fit in really well with the Spurs? Josh Hart, a guy whose name never came up in the talks for Kawhi. Instead they went with Poeltl and a salary dump while giving up an expiring in Green. Spurs are a trash organization.
 
Kanburi said:
That shot takes a lot of balls for a sophomore who struggled with his shot in his rookie year to take. Up 2 points with 3 minutes to go vs a playoff team who has a real shot at top 4 seed this year. I guess that's why they call him the Big Baller.

But hey, the Spurs didn't want him at all despite his unselfishness, willingness to make the extra pass (e.g. the one leading to Kuzma's buzzer beater at half), and his ability to find guys. Another player who plays hard and would fit in really well with the Spurs? Josh Hart, a guy whose name never came up in the talks for Kawhi. Instead they went with Poeltl and a salary dump while giving up an expiring in Green. Spurs are a trash organization.
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Lol... I hate the Spurs as much as anyone, but that's an overreaction to a rare poor trade/signing on their behalf. They're still one of the best run organizations in the league and will be as long as Pop is there
 
Del Rio said:
Lol... I hate the Spurs as much as anyone, but that's an overreaction to a rare poor trade/signing on their behalf. They're still one of the best run organizations in the league and will be as long as Pop is there
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They tanked to get Duncan, drafted Tony Parker from scouting, completely lucked out on Ginobili, and then drove Kawhi out of the country by misdiagnosing him or messing up his treatment or rushing him back idk. The longest tenured Spur in the past decade who they drafted was Tiago Splitter lmao. This is an organization whose reputation is built on drafting 3 Hall of Famers almost 20 years ago, of whom only one was because of good scouting. 100% the most overrated organization. Getting Poeltl and absorbing that ridiculous contract was a brainless move. I'd rather have let Kawhi walk.
 
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Double post but new topic.

I definitely did not see Dan Gilbert willing to pay for a firing. Lue was signed to a $35m/5 year deal and he's got 3 years remaining. Also what did they really expect? That roster is cheeks. I know what's it like having Jordan Clarkson as your best player.
 
Kanburi said:
I think "fair" is the word you're looking for.
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No, I like "I swear I thought a 10-year-old posted this."

Even most Laker fans I have interacted with admit the Spurs organization have some of the best scouts and overall a high standard of basketball development and expectations. If you can't even admit that, there's really no point in even entertaining any sort of retort to your post. It's simply that ridiculously ignorant.

There is tons of information on what I just said out there if you cared to look. There is nothing short of a consensus from the entire NBA industry from journalists who cover them, to players who've played for them, to staff who have worked for them that see their structure as almost an ideal structure of an organization (relatively speaking). They are praised by non-basketball sports fans for their structure, ffs.

.. Like nah, bruh. You really making yourself look like a fanbaby salty over some theoretical trade.

Edit: Speaking of that trade, you're delusional if you think they'd send Kawhi TO THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS.
 
DerrickRose said:
Even most Laker fans I have interacted with admit the Spurs organization have some of the best scouts and overall a high standard of basketball development and expectations.
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See, I didn't say they were bad in that regard, I only said they were trash (which can be interpreted in a multitude of ways) because they didn't want Lonzo and Hart, instead opting for DeRozan and Poeltl. Seems to me like a short-sighted move to keep Popovich's playoff streak alive rather than looking into the future.

In the following comment, I mentioned they were overrated because people rate them based on their lucky drafts dating back almost two decades, which they 100% are. And no, it's not the Spurs' fault they're overrated. Imagine if I were to say the Lakers are really well run and draft super well because of their foresight to trade for the Jazz and Cleveland picks that landed them Magic Johnson and James Worthy almost forty years ago.

But anyway, I’ll start from the 1994 draft, Gregg Popovich’s first draft as GM and VP of Basketball Operations of the Spurs.

1994 #22 Bill Curley: traded a month later for Sean Elliott.
Who they could’ve taken: Wesley Person (#23), Charlie Ward (#26), Howard Eisley (#30). Admittedly I don’t know these guys and merely looked at how long they were in the league. I don’t know if their plan from the beginning was to get Sean Elliott back, so maybe there was a pre-arranged deal.

1995 #29 Cory Alexander: waived midway through his third season, never made an impact on the league.
Who they could’ve taken: Andrew DeClercg (#34), Eric Snow (#43).

1997 #1 Tim Duncan: no comment required.

1998 #24 Felipe Lopez: traded for Antonio Daniels, who made no impact.
1998 #52 Derrick Dal: played 2 seasons, made no impact.
Who they could’ve taken: Al Harrington (#25), Nazr Mohammed (#29), Ruben Patterson (#31), Rashard Lewis (#32), Rafer Alston (#39), Cuttino Mobley (#41)

1999 #29 Leon Smith: traded on draft night for Gordan Giricek, who played 15 NBA games.
1999 #57 Manu Ginobili: no comment required.
Question: if they were legit about Ginobili, why take him 57th overall when they could’ve had him at 29th? Instead they drafted Leon Smith with the 29th pick and traded him immediately for a guy they eventually flipped (without ever playing a game for them) for another 2nd rounder used to select Romain Sato, who never played in an NBA game. Seems more likely they lucked out on Ginobili if we’re being honest.

2000 #41 Chris Carrawell: never played a game.
2000 #54 Cory Hightower: never played a game.
Who they could’ve taken: Michael Redd (#43), Brian Cardinal (#44)

2001 #28 Tony Parker: no comment required.
2001 #56 Robertas Javtokas: never played a game.
2001 #58 Bryan Bracey: never played a game.
Who they could’ve taken: Maurice Evans (undrafted), Jamario Moon (undrafted), Andres Nocioni (undrafted)

2002 #26 John Salmons: traded on draft night with Randy Holcomb for Speedy Claxton, who made no impact.
2002 #56 Luis Scola: never played a game for the Spurs, eventually traded to the Rockets for Vassilic Spanoulis and a 2009 2nd rounder (Nando De Colo).
2002 #57 Randy Holcomb: traded on draft night with John Salmons for Speedy Claxton, who made no impact.
Who they could’ve taken: John Salmons (#26), Carlos Boozer (#35), Matt Barnes (#46), Rasual Butler (#53), Jannero Pargo (undrafted), Reggie Evans (undrafted), Udonis Haslem (undrafted)

So, of Gregg Popovich’s 15 picks, we have:
10 never played a game for them (66.7%), of which 4 never played in the NBA.
2 played fewer than 3 seasons for them (13.3%).
3 ended up forming one of the greatest trios in NBA history (20%), though one was a number one pick (Duncan), one was more likely to have been dumb luck (Ginobili), and one might actually be good scouting (Parker), though he did cheat on his wife with his teammate’s wife.

Obviously you can make the argument that the 3 picks Popovich nailed grants him immunity from any misses that he had, but imagine if he had hit on some of those picks too. A 20% hit rate seems really low for someone with Popovich’s reputation, though. Guess that’s why he passed his GM duties onto R.C. Buford.

THE R.C. BUFORD ERA

2003 #28 Leandro Barbosa: traded on draft night to the Phoenix Suns for a 2005 first rounder (subsequently traded to the New York Knicks who selected David Lee).
Who they could've taken: Leandro Barbosa (#28), Josh Howard (#29), Steve Blake (#38), Mo Williams (#47), Kyle Korver (#51)

2004 #28 Beno Udrih: played as a backup before being traded with cash after his 3rd year to Minnesota for a 2008 top-57 protected pick, where he was waived and signed with the Kings instead.
2004 #52 Romain Sato: never played a game.
2004 #57 Sergei Karaulov: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Anderson Varejao (#30), Trevor Ariza (#43), okay this was a weak draft.

2005 #28 Ian Mahinmi: played 32 games total in three seasons for the Spurs before becoming a free agent and joining the Dallas Mavericks.
Who they could've taken: David Lee (#30), Brandon Bass (#33), C.J. Miles (#34), Ersan Ilyasova (#36), Monta Ellis (#40), Lou Williams (#45), Amir Johnson (#56), Marcin Gortat (#57)

2006 #59 Damir Markota: traded on draft night to the Milwaukee Bucks for a 2007 second rounder (Marcus Williams was selected).
Who they could've taken: Lou Amundson (undrafted), JJ Barea (undrafted), CJ Watson (undrafted)

2007 #28 Tiago Splitter: finally signed with the Spurs in 2010 and played five seasons there. At last, we've found someone who actually put in decent minutes for them.
2007 #33 Marcus Williams: played one game for the Spurs before getting waived.
2007 #58 Giorgos Printezis: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Marc Gasol (#48), Ramon Sessions (#56), Joel Anthony (undrafted), Gary Neal (undrafted), Mirza Teletovic (undrafted), Anthony Tolliver (undrafted)

2008 #26 George Hill: mainly played backup in his three seasons as a Spur but put in good minutes and solid production. Eventually traded for the pick that turned out to be Kawhi Leonard.
2008 #45 Goran Dragic: oh look, an All Star! Oh wait, he was traded on draft night to the Phoenix Suns for Malik Hairston (a grand total of 62 games in 2 seasons for the Spurs and never made it to another NBA team), cash, and a 2009 second rounder (DeJuan Blair was selected).
2008 #57 James Gist: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: DeAndre Jordan (#35), Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (#37), Goran Dragic (#45), Anthony Morrow (undrafted), Timofey Mozgov (undrafted)

2009 #37 DeJuan Blair: 4 seasons as a bench player for the Spurs, only lasted a total of 7 seasons in the league and was quickly forgotten about.
2009 #51 Jack McClinton: never played a game.
2009 #53 Nando de Colo: eventually signed with the Spurs in 2012 and lasted one and a half seasons before being traded to the Toronto Raptors for Austin Daye. Never saw meaningful minutes with the Raptors.
Who they could've taken: Jodie Meeks (#41), Patrick Beverley (#42), Danny Green (#46), Aron Baynes (undrafted), Joe Ingles (undrafted), Wesley Matthews (undrafted)

2010 #20 James Anderson: played about two and a half seasons with the Spurs, never made an impact.
2010 #49 Ryan Richards: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Hassan Whiteside (#33), Lance Stephenson (#40), Boban Marjanovic (undrafted), Jeremy Lin (undrafted), Alexey Shved (undrafted)

2011 #29 Cory Joseph: played four seasons with the Spurs, cracking the rotation in his third season but didn't get an extension. Eventually signed with the Toronto Raptors and later traded to the Indiana Pacers for Emir Preldzic in a salary dump so they could sign C.J. Miles.
2011 #59 Adam Hanga: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Isaiah Thomas (#60), Justin Holiday (undrafted)

2012 #59 Marcus Denmon: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Kent Bazemore (undrafted), Jonathon Simmons (undrafted)

2013 #28 Livio Jean-Charles: never played a game.
2013 #58 Deshaun Thomas: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Allen Crabbe (#31), Ian Clark (undrafted), Robert Covington (undrafted), Seth Curry (undrafted), Dewayne Dedmon (undrafted), Matthew Dellavedova (undrafted)

2014 #30 Kyle Anderson: played four seasons with the Spurs but only really saw more minutes in the fourth season. Signed with the Memphis Grizzlies this summer.
2014 #58 Jordan McRae: traded on draft night to the Philadelphia 76ers for Nemanja Dangubic, who has yet to play a game.
2014 #60 Cory Jefferson: traded on draft night to the Brooklyn Nets for cash.
Who they could've taken: Nikola Jokic (#41), Jordan Clarkson (#46), Tarik Black (undrafted), Langston Galloway (undrafted), Sean Kilpatrick (undrafted), Travis Wear (undrafted)

2015 #26 Nikola Milutinov: never played a game.
2015 #55 Cady Lalanne: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Larry Nance Jr. (#27), Kevon Looney (#30), TJ McConnell (undrafted)

2016 #29 Dejounte Murray: it's been a while since we got a decent player. Looked promising this past season but the verdict is still out.
Who they could've taken: I'll give them a pass because he does look promising. Other players in the draft include Malcolm Brogdon (#36), Patrick McCaw (#38), Yogi Ferrell (undrafted), David Nwaba (undrafted), Fred VanVleet (undrafted)

2017 #29 Derrick White: played 17 games as a backup, bounced between the NBA and G-League.
2017 #59 Jaron Blossomgame: never played a game.
Who they could've taken: Josh Hart (#30), Semi Ojeleye (#37), Jordan Bell (#38), Dillon Brooks (#45)

2018 #18 Lonnie Walker
2018 #49 Chimezie Metu

30 picks between 2003 and 2017 for R.C. Buford:
13 never played in an NBA game (43.3%)
5 were traded on draft night (16.7%)
5 played fewer than four seasons for them (16.7%)
3 played four seasons for them (10%)
1 played one game for them (3.3%)
1 played five seasons for them, already longest tenured! (3.3%)
2 just finished their rookie/sophomore season so we'll hold judgment. (6.7%)

So that begs the question: do they really have some of the best scouts, or did they just hit the jackpot with a 1st overall pick, lucked out on a late 2nd rounder, while really only relied one their scouting for one pick that turned out to be Tony Parker? And fine, I'll throw in Kawhi Leonard in there because it was a draft night trade. But then what about all the serviceable players they passed on or drafted then traded on draft night? Why don't we give the team that robbed the Spurs of those players any credit? Instead we bank on the reputation built on three picks from almost two decades ago.

The Spurs remained relatively successful because Orlando screwed their free agent meeting with Tim Duncan, and I say relatively because they never even repeated. Once you have that, you can legit just plug in role players who know their role, and I give Popovich credit for being able to maximize talent. Kind of like having Steph, Klay, Dray, then filling in the rest.

There are different ways to run a front office and build a team. The Spurs, for the most part, relied on tanking and luck to draft Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili. I just hope 20 years later you'll still be giving Golden State credit for the way they're run because they managed to snag Steph, Klay, and Dray.
 
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