REALGM SPURS BOARD EXIT INTERVIEW, 2019 EDITION

[-Sammy-]

Thanks to this forum's regulars, vistors, and everyone in between! Big ups to GREY 1769 for doing the lion's share of running the forum with gameday threads, great postgame commentaries, and value-added threads. Hollers to imagump1313 for contributing consistently-great commentary and reactions all season as well. We're a small community relative to many of the team forums, but I'll put the caliber of our content against anyone's.

With the season over, it'll be interesting to discuss what we want and expect around the NBA for the rest of the year and what we want and expect going into the 2019-2020 season, so feel free to respond to some or all of these.

1.) What is your favorite detail about this season?

2.) Least favorite?

3.) What is your take on the situation at the end of Game 7?

4.) Who do you think will win the 2019 title?

5.) Who are you bandwagonning for the rest of the playoffs?

6.) What is your ideal scenario for the offseason/going into next season?

7.) What is your predicted scenario for the offseason/going into next season?

[-Sammy-]

1.) I like that we put a playoff team together despite reeling some from the Kawhi crisis, losing a key player to injury, and having several pieces that were either questionable fits or not expected to be contributors of much consequence. We held off the 'this is the year the Spurs go back to the lottery' crowd once again.

2.) I don't feel like we have much of a 'basketball identity' right now. It's getting harder and harder to have one in a league that's homogenizing, and some of that feeling undoubtedly springs from the fact that this is the first time in 30 years that we didn't Robinson, Duncan, Parker, or Gino on the roster. It's admittedly disconcerting for a fanbase that's used to having players like that.

3.) I'm troubled by it. I don't like LMA's body language or tone in the postgame interview; he seems more like a guilty man to me than someone who's frustrated at a broken play. I'm not convinced that he didn't start thinking about the appeals of a long summer break and act accordingly.

4.) There's an outside chance that a tiny little startup in the Bay may surprise a few people and eke out a championship.

5.) Candidly, I'm all about being an anti-fan this offseason. Whoever is playing the Warriors is my favorite team; whoever is playing the Raptors is my second-favorite.* There's a lot to like about what they're doing in Milwaukee, though, so if I have to pick a wagon to band, that's the one. Go get it, Coach Bud!

*Please don't take offense, GS and Toronto fans. Y'all know it's all in good fun.

6.) Pop finally figures out how to break down LMA's walls and activate DeMar's Kobe-mode on the regular, Murray turns out to be what we all hope he'll be, Poetl emerges, we somehow land a wing who can complete the picture, and we check Pop into the retirement home with enough rings to bedeck two hands.

7.) The Spurs have rarely been fast movers in the offseason, so my guess is that R.C. wants to see what the best version of this situation looks like. Most of our heavy contracts look a little sketchy right now anyhow, so we have to wait and see if there's any trade magic or FA witchcraft underway.

[G R E Y]

EDIT to add: A big thank you to Sammy for the kind words and help and patience throughout the season and being an all around great fellow mod. I should have started with this to begin with, but sometimes I have the awareness of a turnip. Thought it only right to make it right even though it strains the bounds of courtesy at this later point.

1. We defied the odds, persevered through the challenges of a transition year, within which arose other challenges of injuries, because of which we we forced to improvise and start Bryn at PG and Dante Cunningham at PF (the line-up of Bryn, DeMar, Rudy, Dante and LMA was third in minutes played this season at 168.53). Nine new players, four new starters, learning the system and to play together. But it helped that it was drama free via addition by subtraction. Our success was a screw you to any forces intending to show we couldn't otherwise survive much less do well. "We'll make it great," Pop said the day of the trade. We made the best of it, with lots of room to grow.

2. In a transition/rebuild year forced faster by some elements, and some losses of key personnel by their decisions, we lost a lot of players with 'corporate knowledge' so with Patty as the oldest and most experienced in said values, it was a lot for one main player to instill, albeit with the help of coaching staff who have the knowledge, too. So in short I agree that our identity needs more seasoning. That said, I think Dejounte will emerge as a big contributor and central to instilling the Spurs Way. He's already doing it throughout the season: the day after his injury, he showed up to the practice facility; he has traveled with the team and supported it as soon as he could and has been commended for how positive he is; he has been sitting in on coaching meetings to absorb more of the system. Granted the latter two were initiated by Pop, but by all accounts, Dejounte has embraced it all and is so positive during rehab. Great character. It matters. A lot.

3. I have so much more to say about this than is probably fitting for the parameter of this thread, even after the hours past the event, but I loathe the way Pop was essentially not responded to in a crucial time, and as Sammy said, the way LMA responded to it in the post-game interview. It's part of a larger pattern pattern he's exhibited that concerns me (more on this at some point), though I'm willing to be convinced otherwise with other perspectives or upon further reflection. Bottom line: yes we're a new team, but if players do not respond appropriately, I have no problem replacing them with those who will. Leadership on the court is taking direction and executing, not excusing afterwards.

4. GSW

5. I like Steve Kerr and Bud, though Celtics are a nostalgia choice as they were the first team I followed when I started watching the NBA way back when.

6. I really hope Pop comes back for at least one more season, though frankly speaking, his post-game interview has left me feeling discouraged. Still, a post-game 7 article cites a Spurs source who believes there's no doubt Pop will return. In terms of instilling the Spurs system and culture, and more firmly establishing our core identity going forward, Pop is essential to the task. One season has not been enough, and the ups and downs, and our unraveling and reweaving throughout them attest to it. We need to be stronger and more consistent throughout, and need his leadership for it. But I just don't know about the vibe I got from that interview... I hope I'm wrong. Patty said Pop has been as fired up as ever, so hopefully working with the young guys this year, and working with great prospects Dejounte and Lonnie, teaching them to fit in the system and our growing more together is a challenge that Pop takes on. He's spoken positively about seeing guys grow this season, and there is even more to be positive about for next season in terms of a great group of coachable guys who need to learn the Spurs way.

In terms of the roster, the immediate issue is we have a glut at 2 and dearth at 3, and in the not so distant future, at 4 and 5 (perhaps Milutinov is brought over?). Jakob has grown a lot. His rebounding, screens, positioning, cutting, and soft hands show promise, and we have to wait and see how much more he can grow, but right now I'm not yet convinced he's the starter that does more than being an overall utility player, doing a bit of everything, all the little things adding up. It's unfair to compare him to dynamic bigs in a more modern game who have a bigger impact, and it also depends on the roster we have around him. I'm not sure Rudy re-signs with us, and I'm half way to believing that LMA would be ok with being moved, though it's a risk since it's about the value we get back for giving up a steady piece (up until the last two of our final three playoff games). Even moving DeMar has to be explored if it means getting the best pieces back. It's not about blowing it all up, but it only helps to look to see if we can get more long-term pieces back for guys who are here more short-term contract-wise and do not figure to be in the long-term plans.

That said...

7. We return with a more similar roster to this one and less change than we went through from previous to present season. Dejounte returns, Lonnie contributes more, other young guys are more seasoned. Maybe we make a move up in the draft using one of our guards and a pick? Or if the basketball gods grace us with a spell to conjure a favourable bigger trade, some This is the player you're looking for sleight of hand and get the guy we really want that can make a big positive difference for us, that would be wonderful. Here's to some magick to see the gems - what grounded practical people would call doing the hard work of finding them. Still, a bow to the mysteries that find favour in doing things the right way.

[imagump1313]

1.) What is your favorite detail about this season?

2.) Least favorite?

3.) What is your take on the situation at the end of Game 7?

4.) Who do you think will win the 2019 title?

5.) Who are you bandwagonning for the rest of the playoffs?

6.) What is your ideal scenario for the offseason/going into next season?

7.) What is your predicted scenario for the offseason/going into next season?

1.) The growth if Derrick White was a big deal. I was saying in early season threads that he wasn't athletic enough for the NBA. I don't know if it was because he was playing through injuries or what but he proved to me wrong for sure. As bad as it sounds, if it wasn't for Murray's injury we might have never seen what White could do.

2.) The Murray injury really ended the season before it started. I know he still has a lot to prove but I really think that the team itself and the rest of us felt he was ready for prime time this year. It will be interesting next year to have a healthy Murry and White at the same time.

3.) The coaching staff knew what to do but we don't have the player leadership we need to be a championship contender and it showed on those final seconds. Mills is a nice guy and morale leader but he is not a leader who knows how to win on the court. DeRozan and Aldridge are good players but cannot be the main leads on a contending team.

4.) It will probably be Golden State by default. Everyone else is not mentally strong enough to overtake them this year.

5.) I would love to see Portland make a run. Lillard has proven over and over again that he is every bit the star that Giannis. Harden, Durant, or Curry is. However, with the injuries and lack of depth they have with big men I don't think they are winning anything.

6.) I'm still a Jimmy Butler fan and IMO we need someone with a red ass on this team. Someone who will put this team on his shoulders and literally win a game sometimes on will alone. We don't have anyone on this team currently who takes losing personally. I really don't care about locker room personality. I think we need someone on this team who will get in players asses besides Pop I believe he respects Pop enough not to be a distraction.

7.) My prediction is we probably won't do much of anything. Rudy played great to end the Denver series but its not enough to resign him for big money IMO. If he wants to come back for cheap with a smaller role then fine. If we could move DeRozan I would be interested for the right type of player who more compliments Aldridge and would be more of a leader.