PMOTT3 and Chuck Texas Early Off-Season Review: San Antonio Spurs

[Texas Chuck]

PMOTT3's Review

Key Losses:

Tiago Splitter

I don't really know a lot about their backup center Euro they just signed and brought over but Tiago looks to be a big loss to them at the moment.

Other Losses:

Corey Joseph
Arron Baynes


I thought Detroit massively overpaid for Baynes services as did Toronto for Joseph. So its understandable these guys chose to chase the money instead of stay in a winning environment. At the end of the day these aren't very big losses anyways.

Draft:

#26 Nikola Milutinov
#55 Cady Lalanne

Don't really know much about these guys except that they are stash prospects to develop overseas. I do think they should have taken RJ Hunter while he was still available when they were OTC.

Trades:

. Tiago Splitter for rights to Printezis and top 55 protected 17' 2nd
. Future 2nd for Ray McCallum

I don't like that they are now thin at the 5 spot from trading Splitter but they did just sign one of the best PF's in the league by doing so. So they get a free pass here.

Also liked the McCallum addition as their 3rd string PG to develop. Cost them essentially nothing.

Free Agency:

LMA
Tim Duncan
Manu Ginobli
David West
Kawhi Leonard
Danny Green
Jimmer Freddette
Boban Marjonivic

Well there is no way around it gentleman, the Spurs just had the best off-season in the league. They locked up their future star and current DPOTY. They re-signed Green on a steal of a contract. They signed a very good PF in David West who just took basically a 10 million dollar discount to come play for them. Brought the core back together on the cheap (Duncan & Ginobli). Oh and not to mention they got some dude named LaMarcus Aldridge. He's probably the least important of their additions made this off-season and will spend most of his time in their d-league affiliate but still a solid deal. Yea, the Spurs didn't just hit a homerun. They pitched a no-hitter perfect game as well.

Current Depth Chart (rough sketch):

PG: Parker/Mills/McCallum
SG: Green/Ginobli/Freddette
SF: Leonard/Anderson/Bonner
PF: Aldridge/West/Diaw
C: Duncan/Marjanovic

Needs:

They need some bigger bodies. I expect LMA to play a lot of minutes at center even though he apparently doesn't want to. I'd like to see them sign a vet center like Dalembert or O'Neal if possible. Zaza would have been huge for them had Dallas not just traded for him. Health is always a concern as well when you have guys like Manu and Tim approaching their 40's.

Additional Thoughts:

This team is a paper juggernaut. A starting 5 of Parker/Green/Leonard/LMA/Duncan just seems almost unfair for the rest of the league. Not to mention their SF/PF prospect Kyle Anderson just went beast mode in SL so I expect him to have some big moments off the bench this season. I'm still kind of in shock that they actually got a big fish in FA for once and not only that but a top 3 PF in the league. I really dont know how they could have had a better off-season. Giving them an A+ seems like selling them short honeslty.

Win/Loss Prediction: 60-22

Off-Season Grade: A+++

I just couldn't give them an A+. They deserved so much more than that with the off-season they just pulled off. Truly amazing.

Chuck Texas' Review:

Losses:

Splitter
Baynes
Joseph
Belinelli

Splitter is the biggest loss, but I think they will be fine. LMA will have to play some center which he doesn't like but the whole league is going small so he was never avoiding it. I also think Baynes is an underrated loss. He was a nice depth big. I don't like Joseph at all and would have supported replacing him even at half his current cost. Belinelli is a small loss, but you simply can't keep everyone.

Draft:

some foreign guys to stash and in 4-5 years be solid role players because this is the Spurs and that's what they do.

Trades:

Splitter for rights to Printezis
Future 2nd for Ray McCallum

The Splitter deal doesn't seem like quite enough value in a vacuum, but I understand wanting to get it arranged quickly and since the deal was made with a long-term Spurs guy I understand it. I like the flier on McCallum.

Free Agency:

Duncan back super super cheap A+
Manu back super super cheap A+
Danny Green back super cheap A+
Kawhi back with out even entertaining other offers A+
David West on a vet min deal A+
LMA signed to the max A
Bonner back -- meh
Jimmer on cap deal -- meh
Marjonvic -- I don't know much about him other than he's tall and raw-- C?


Hard to criticize any of this. Managed to get LMA, keep Green, and only dump one player of note in Splitter. Got Duncan and Manu to take the deals the team needed them to take and as a sweet little cherry on top David West was willing to come for the minimum. Oh yeah and Kawhi is back too with no offer sheet with provisions the Spurs wouldn't like to have to match.

Depth Chart: (best guess)

Tim Duncan/(LMA)/Marjanovic
LMA/David West/Boris Diaw/Matt Bonner
Kawhi Leonard/Kyle Anderson/(Diaw)
Danny Green/Manu/Jimmer
Tony Parker/Patty Mills/McCollum

Needs:

I'd like to see a veteran true center. Jermaine O'Neal lives in Texas and might want to ring chase and he would be perfect as guy who would play well when called upon but who would be okay with DNP-CD's on a lot of nights. Can't see them on Dalembert or McGee so they might have to settle for a Stiesma or Withey or Muhammed type. Could use another wing with size. Maybe a Dahntay Jones or Tayshaun Prince type of player.

Additional Thoughts:

This might be the last hurrah for Timmy and almost certainly is for Manu. And how amazing that they are still contending for titles. LMA takes a huge load off the declining big 3 offensively and keeps Kawhi from having to do what Jimmy Butler did last year in sacrificing defense for offense. This is a strong contender if they can get their older players to the PS healthy and rested and no one is better at that than Pop.

Win/Loss Projection: 56-26

I don't see them pushing for a top seed because I don't think they are afraid to play anyone on the road and being healthy and rested is more important. But they are good enough to still push for 60 wins.

Off-Season Grade: A+

I don't see any real argument against the best possible grade. Replaced Splitter with LMA and West, kept everything else they wanted to keep. All their players worked with them contractually without the slightest hiccup or problem and there is no thought whatsoever about guys complaining that worse players on the team will be making more than them. Total non-issue. As a Mavs fan it kills me to admit it, but this is the best organization in professional sports and its not really very close in basketball either.

[HartfordWhalers]

A+.

[DK-All Day]

A+ with a smiley face sticker. They got the main prize of the 2015 FA Class, got Danny Green on a steal of a contract, and somehow got David West for the minimum. I don't know how you can do better than this offseason.

[stitches]

I think I'm one of the few people who thinks the Spurs might not be as good as advertised next season. Sure, getting an all-star for nothing is great, but I'm not sure the fit works great and there are already signs of Parker and Manu being on the way down. I think this is the year the age will show itself. Not that they won't make the playoffs or something, I just think they'd be closer to the 8th seed than to the 1st. My prediction would be about 51-31...

Still the off-season should be an A+, having resigned all their key FAs at great team-friendly deals, adding Aldridge, adding West... They are prolonging their relevancy and that's not easy in the West, but I don't think they'd be contenders.

[Domejandro]

A++

They turned in the essay and got extra-credit points this off-season, absolutely phenomenal. I generally grade harshly in comparison to most, but you really cannot hate the off-season.

Also, we need a poll Chuck! It's what the people want, haha.

[Hawk Eye]

Totally forgot about Bellinelli in my write up but nonetheless its still an A+ for me. Just an amazing off-season for them.

[Worm122]

A+ for me

[Texas Chuck]

Totally forgot about Bellinelli in my write up but nonetheless its still an A+ for me. Just an amazing off-season for them.

was going to edit that in for you, but then wanted to make sure I looked smarter than you


And screw polls.

[Chinook]

Simmons is the one with the guaranteed contract. He's above Jimmer in the pecking order, and he and Anderson just won the MVPs in the summer league. That doesn't mean a whole lot, but the Spurs have some pretty decent prospects at the end of their bench. Marjanovic is huge, and the Spurs seem to have chosen him over comparable minimum free-agent centers. Hope he can be what they need.

My concern with the team isn't age, as they actually did all they could to NOT have to depend on their older players to carry the team. It's really with chemistry. The Spurs are going to have a lot of new faces to integrate, and it's going to be hard to balance that need to build chemistry with the need to rest the old guys and the need to resolve some roster competitions (mainly the fourth wing spot). The team has thrived off consistency, so hopefully Pop can earn his money by building a cohesive unit by April.

[Chinook]

Totally forgot about Bellinelli in my write up but nonetheless its still an A+ for me. Just an amazing off-season for them.

I want Simmons to win the fourth-wing spot, because I think he can do most of what Beli did but with more athleticism and better defense.

[loserX]

Not really sure how to value the Splitter trade: in a vacuum, the value is not good at all. We overlook that because they got Aldridge out of it, but they nearly didn't (sounds like his dalliance with the Suns was serious)...in which case that trade would have looked like a disaster. I bring up my usual comment that you can't re-evaluate a trade by conflating it with later independent moves, so I'm going to stick to my guns and call it a strike against the Spurs. (I did note that Budenholzer and the Spurs FO are tight. I wonder if any other team would have gotten Splitter quite so cheaply.)

That said, their free agency was so outstanding I give them an A+ anyway.

[bondom34]

Well you put 2 options in the poll, I can only resist so much.

[Laimbeer]

It would be an A+ if they hadn't allowed the Pistons to deftly steal Baynes on a bargain deal.

[Hawk Eye]

Totally forgot about Bellinelli in my write up but nonetheless its still an A+ for me. Just an amazing off-season for them.

was going to edit that in for you, but then wanted to make sure I looked smarter than you


And screw polls.

I'll remember that next time Chuck...don't be suprised if your review for our next team seems a little short

[cammac]

Last tango in SAS A+

[bigmean]

they still need a rim protector and another shooter, ... like they need a shooter for very bottom of the roster, just give some older vets so blow

Greg Stiemsma, Greg Smith, Empe Udoh, Jeff Withey and maybe Robbie Hummell or Jason Richardson

[sonictecture]

The Spurs had a wonderful off season, getting LMA was the product of over a decade of culture building and a willingness throw some of it aside to trade Splitter in an attempt to upgrade. I want to question Danny Green's agent to see why he settled for so much less than the market seemed to indicate Green would get. I suppose we cannot question West's desire to win after he gave up nearly 10M in salary to go to the team in which he thought he would have the best chance to win.

The question I have is in the back court. Is it strong enough and deep enough to carry the weight of a championship team. Injuries have hampered this group of Parker, Ginobili and Mills for years. The Spurs had developed the bigger Joseph for 3 straight years and were just starting to see some good dividends. Why not match the offer and pay some tax? I like the trade for McCallum as a big point guard option, but there is some risk here. There seems to be some vulnerability here, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Are the Spurs a better defensive team after the offseason?