WOJ: Spurs draft Rob Dillingham 8th, then trade him to the TWolves for an unprotected 2031 first

[Rust_Cohle]

The problem is that Spurs has too much to lose, of Dillingham somehow finds his way to starhood and SAS strugle to put a competitive team around Wemby, this trade will be talked about for the next 7 years.

Far more likely that a player with a mostly terrible summer league and plays below zero defense will be a bench warmer. Spurs off-season this summer alone is better than taking a pint on a severely undersized guard who rarely translate well to the NBA

Dillingham shot poorly the first 4 SL games, but he showed amazing handles and awareness during those 4 games. 5th game he shot the lights out. Dilly did not have a terrible SL. Just shot poorly at first. He was a great shooter at KY and we expect him to be a great shooter with the Wolves.
The Spurs could have drafted whoever they wanted at 8 if they hadn't made the deal with the Wolves. They were under no obligation to draft Dillingham if they had not made the deal.

They are banking on the wolves being mediocre in 2031, while the Spurs have a shot at a high draft pick while (hopefully) contending for titles. A la Detroit pistons summer 2004. Wolves aren’t going to be able to afford to keep their current, could be ugly for them in 7 years.

Dillingham is going to struggle with his lack of size. And his defense is insanely bad. Doesn’t mean he won’t be a serviceable role player but I’m okay rolling the dice on one of the weakest drafts in recent memory to giving the Spurs a potential lottery pick while they aim to be a top 5 team in the league when 2031 rolls around.

[Shock Defeat]

Can't believe there are people defending this deal lmao. It was a horrible deal. Giving away a 1st round draft pick for cash would probably be a better trade IMO.

[KGdaBom]

The Wolves are not loaded with young talent besides Edwards, give me a break. Calling this is the worst trade ever is laughable. And if you've been watching ball for 50 years like you claim then you should be actutely aware of how quickly a team can rise and fall to irrelevance. There is zero guarantee the Wolves will be relevant in 2031 as of today

Loaded with young talent. Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, Dillingham, Shannon, NAW, Miller, Minott, KAT isn't old. We should be very good for a long time. Can things change? Sure. To me it is the worst trade ever IMO because I place virtually zero value on a swap and a first 6 and 7 years from now.

Again McDaniels and NAW are just role players, Dillingham has done nothing yet and the other guys are nobodies. That's like me bragging the Spurs are loaded with young talent and listing off Sochan, Johnson, Branham, Wesley, and Cissoko

You're flat out wrong about McDaniels. NBA first team defense. Yeah he plays a role. He shuts down the opponents best player. That's a nice role. Ant plays a role also. Score a lot of points and play great defense. Gobert plays a role. DPOY is that role. KAT plays a role. Every player plays a role. Our role players are better than yours. Look at our record vs yours. I stand by Wolves loaded with young talent. You may not believe it, but it doesn't make it not true.

[CIN-C-STAR]

Nobody cares about a swap and a pick 6 and 7 years from now. If the Spurs hold those assets 5 years they MAY have some value, but odds are the Wolves will be very good in 2030-31.

Except for the teams that happen to trade for the before then. Again, asset management isn't just for THIS lone transaction. How is that not a consideration? Getting a ton of assets to then flip for a player we are targeting US in fact, good asset management, and roster construction. How did the Wolves acquire Gobert?

Normally teams only trade for picks far away when they are doing a Gobert like trade where they get a first every other year. The swap being 6 years away and the pick being 7 years away is what makes me feel it's idiotic. It's the first trade of it's kind. I personally don't give a sheet about picks/swaps that far out.

7 years from now is Wemby’s prime.
Don’t see what’s idiotic about collecting swaps in a generational talent’s prime. Seems like a very low-risk, high-reward gamble to me.

[KGdaBom]

Except for the teams that happen to trade for the before then. Again, asset management isn't just for THIS lone transaction. How is that not a consideration? Getting a ton of assets to then flip for a player we are targeting US in fact, good asset management, and roster construction. How did the Wolves acquire Gobert?

Normally teams only trade for picks far away when they are doing a Gobert like trade where they get a first every other year. The swap being 6 years away and the pick being 7 years away is what makes me feel it's idiotic. It's the first trade of it's kind. I personally don't give a sheet about picks/swaps that far out.

7 years from now is Wemby’s prime.
Don’t see what’s idiotic about collecting swaps in a generational talent’s prime. Seems like a very low-risk, high-reward gamble to me.

7 years away. Who gives a rat's ass. How about getting him more help now.

[G R E Y]

Normally teams only trade for picks far away when they are doing a Gobert like trade where they get a first every other year. The swap being 6 years away and the pick being 7 years away is what makes me feel it's idiotic. It's the first trade of it's kind. I personally don't give a sheet about picks/swaps that far out.

7 years from now is Wemby’s prime.
Don’t see what’s idiotic about collecting swaps in a generational talent’s prime. Seems like a very low-risk, high-reward gamble to me.

7 years away. Who gives a rat's ass. How about getting him more help now.

We... We just did. We shored up our two most glaring needs at PG and SF with quality vets. It just didn't include RD. Having two extra rookies to develop was less preferrable than one more ready one (Castle) who still won't start, thus putting less pressure on him, and we can still use these plus any other picks to continue to build up the roster. Again, these picks can be kicked down the line, or used soon, or any time in between.

[ConSarnit]

5 years from now IF the Spurs still control the swap and the pick they will have some value. They have virtually no value now because they can't be used for so long and almost nobody will be interested in trading for them.

For sure it’s a gamble by the Spurs but they’ve seemingly timed this to mitigate some threat of Wemby leaving. For all intents and purposes they’ve got 6 years before the “Victor might want out” narrative forms if they haven’t built a contender by then. If they’re facing that threat then they can use these assets to improve their team right around the time Wemby’s max contract is coming to an end in a similar way that the Bucks have acquired Jrue and Dame to get Giannis to extend. Time will tell whether they made a mistake on trading Dillingham (assuming that’s who they would have taken). If he’s a legit starter then they screwed up. If he’s in that 6th man microwave ilk of players then they probably played it correctly imo as those types of players aren’t overly difficult to acquire. The Spurs must not have evaluated Dillingham very highly if they were willing to make this trade.

How they value Dillingham should have had almost nothing to do with it. They could have drafted anybody left. It seems they didn't see one player good enough to draft left, but they did because they made their 2nd round picks right?

I would say a few things in regard to the Spurs not wanting to draft at 8.

-they probably didn’t see anyone they liked in that range. If they didn’t want to reach then trading out makes sense given that the assets they could get for the 8th pick are worth far more than trading out of the 2nd round (if they didn’t like anyone there)

-they probably drafted Nunez and Ingram in the 2nd round because they evaluated them as 2nd round talent (taking them at 8 would have made no sense)

-most rumors had scouts equating the #1 in this draft as worth the 6th pick in a normal draft. This means the 8th pick is more like the 13th-14th pick in a normal draft which means if in ‘30 or ‘31 they get a top 10 pick they’ve gotten an asset that is better than the 8th they gave up in a weak draft.

The Spurs probably did the math and thought the upside of the ‘30 and ‘31 picks could outweigh the 8th pick this year (which in this draft is more like the 14th pick in a normal draft). If you weren’t super excited about any of the prospects available and we normalize this draft then wouldn’t you trade the 14th pick for an unprotected pick and pick swap? Especially if you think you will be on the winning end of a swap because you have the best player in the league (Wemby)?

[KGdaBom]

7 years from now is Wemby’s prime.
Don’t see what’s idiotic about collecting swaps in a generational talent’s prime. Seems like a very low-risk, high-reward gamble to me.

7 years away. Who gives a rat's ass. How about getting him more help now.

We... We just did. We shored up our two most glaring needs at PG and SF with quality vets. It just didn't include RD. Having two extra rookies to develop was less preferrable than one more ready one (Castle) who still won't start, thus putting less pressure on him, and we can still use these plus any other picks to continue to build up the roster. Again, these picks can be kicked down the line, or used soon, or any time in between.

I've made my last comment on this. I see not no value in a swap 6 years from now and a pick 7 years from now, but barely any value. You can get all hot and bothered over them. If you try to trade them you will find out that other teams just don't care. If you throw them in they'll take them, but that's about it.

[meekrab]

7 years away. Who gives a rat's ass. How about getting him more help now.

We... We just did. We shored up our two most glaring needs at PG and SF with quality vets. It just didn't include RD. Having two extra rookies to develop was less preferrable than one more ready one (Castle) who still won't start, thus putting less pressure on him, and we can still use these plus any other picks to continue to build up the roster. Again, these picks can be kicked down the line, or used soon, or any time in between.

I've made my last comment on this. I see not no value in a swap 6 years from now and a pick 7 years from now, but barely any value. You can get all hot and bothered over them. If you try to trade them you will find out that other teams just don't care. If you throw them in they'll take them, but that's about it.

What about in 4 years when they're trying to trade for a superstar teammate for Prime Wemby and that pick is only 2 summers away and Minnesota's bigs are old?

[Wargreymon]

Interesting...learned something new today. Never knew T-Wolves and Spurs fans disliked each other. Maybe it stems back to Duncan vs KG? Anyways it's hard to predict who wins this trade until another 7 years lol...

[JDR720]

I actually think the Spurs "won" this trade. Nobody they were drafting 8th would've helped Wemby any time soon.

And an unprotected 1st is still an unprotected 1st. For all we know, the Wolves won't be very good by then. Gobert, Towns, Reid etc. will likely be gone by then. This will be Ant + whoever the new rebuilt Wolves core is.

So the Spurs basically traded something they didn't want anyway for something that could be very useful down the road. They could even trade this pick for something in a couple years too. They don't have to wait until 2031.

[SweaterBae]

I actually think the Spurs "won" this trade. Nobody they were drafting 8th would've helped Wemby any time soon.

And an unprotected 1st is still an unprotected 1st. For all we know, the Wolves won't be very good by then. Gobert, Towns, Reid etc. will likely be gone by then. This will be Ant + whoever the new rebuild Wolves core is.

So the Spurs basically traded something they didn't want anyway for something that could be very useful down the road. They could even trade this pick for something in a couple years too. They don't have to wait until 2031.

This entire post is just conjecture.

[SweaterBae]

Interesting...learned something new today. Never knew T-Wolves and Spurs fans disliked each other. Maybe it stems back to Duncan vs KG? Anyways it's hard to predict who wins this trade until another 7 years lol...

Everyone hates everyone.

[JDR720]

I actually think the Spurs "won" this trade. Nobody they were drafting 8th would've helped Wemby any time soon.

And an unprotected 1st is still an unprotected 1st. For all we know, the Wolves won't be very good by then. Gobert, Towns, Reid etc. will likely be gone by then. This will be Ant + whoever the new rebuild Wolves core is.

So the Spurs basically traded something they didn't want anyway for something that could be very useful down the road. They could even trade this pick for something in a couple years too. They don't have to wait until 2031.

This entire post is just conjecture.

Yeah... which is the exact same thing you could say the other way around too.

[SweaterBae]

I actually think the Spurs "won" this trade. Nobody they were drafting 8th would've helped Wemby any time soon.

And an unprotected 1st is still an unprotected 1st. For all we know, the Wolves won't be very good by then. Gobert, Towns, Reid etc. will likely be gone by then. This will be Ant + whoever the new rebuild Wolves core is.

So the Spurs basically traded something they didn't want anyway for something that could be very useful down the road. They could even trade this pick for something in a couple years too. They don't have to wait until 2031.

This entire post is just conjecture.

Yeah... which is the exact same thing you could say the other way around too.

Except that the other way around they know very soon which way is up, instead of just hoping and praying something happens 7 years from now. Wemby might get hurt, he might not even play for the Spurs in 2031. This is a massive, illogical risk. I don't know why it's an argument.

[Liver_Pooty]

Normally teams only trade for picks far away when they are doing a Gobert like trade where they get a first every other year. The swap being 6 years away and the pick being 7 years away is what makes me feel it's idiotic. It's the first trade of it's kind. I personally don't give a sheet about picks/swaps that far out.

7 years from now is Wemby’s prime.
Don’t see what’s idiotic about collecting swaps in a generational talent’s prime. Seems like a very low-risk, high-reward gamble to me.

7 years away. Who gives a rat's ass. How about getting him more help now.

Because they aren't ready. Next year would've been Ideal.

[Buckeye-NBAFan]

7 years from now is Wemby’s prime.
Don’t see what’s idiotic about collecting swaps in a generational talent’s prime. Seems like a very low-risk, high-reward gamble to me.

7 years away. Who gives a rat's ass. How about getting him more help now.

Because they aren't ready. Next year would've been Ideal.

This doesn't make sense. We're talking about a 19 year old. How are the Spurs not ready to give playing time to a 19 year old? How is it ideal that the Spurs add an 18 year old to play with 20 year old Wemby instead of a 19 year old?

You're acting like they signed a 30 year old vet instead of drafting a 19 year old who won't be any good next year, but can develop with Wemby.

[Klomp]

Ya it was a dumb gamble for a team like the Spurs who need to add as much good young talent as possible. If a contender like the Celtics made a trade like this, I'd understand.

I'd somewhat understand if they wanted to blatantly tank again for Flagg or someone else but then why go get Chris Paul and Barnes this offseason. Spurs could have just grabbed Edey to form their own twin towers again if they didn't like any other young talent at that spot.

The only thing I can see from the Spurs perspective is that they are trying to develop organically. They are not really taking shortcuts. I think Paul and Barnes are as much about overall teaching the guys how to win the right way as it is just taking a playoff shortcut.

I do think there's some wisdom in the approach. They were 24 games back of the PLAY-IN last season. No quick moves are going to get them to make such a massive leap. But I also think they needed to show Victor that they are not just tanking as well. I do think Dillingham would've been a fun fit there, but they probably already planned to target Paul. With him joining the guard rotation, there's really no room for a second rookie guard.

I think there's wisdom in adding to their war chest as well. They may well have as good of an asset pool as OKC now. And while Presti seems scared to make moves, I'm not sure the Spurs will be. And guys will want to team up with Victor a lot more than they will want to team up with SGA.

[Slim Tubby]

This entire post is just conjecture.

Yeah... which is the exact same thing you could say the other way around too.

Except that the other way around they know very soon which way is up, instead of just hoping and praying something happens 7 years from now. Wemby might get hurt, he might not even play for the Spurs in 2031. This is a massive, illogical risk. I don't know why it's an argument.

This is exactly where I'm at. There were a lot of draft picks in the SL that showed incredible potential and most of them were after Pick #7.

The concept that a pick 7 years out, based on a plethora of "what ifs?", has more value than a tangible prospect like Dilly, Edey, Ware, Buzelis, Topic or da Silva (and others) to grow with Wemby is pure lunacy no matter how you try to spin it IMO. I like the Castle pick a lot but they better pray he learns how to shoot.

This is a major, major blunder by the Spurs FO by literally giving away the chance to add another quality developmental piece around Wemby when it matters most. For all we know, maybe he joins Ant up in MIN in four (4) years. Now wouldn't that be fun.

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[SweaterBae]

Yeah... which is the exact same thing you could say the other way around too.

Except that the other way around they know very soon which way is up, instead of just hoping and praying something happens 7 years from now. Wemby might get hurt, he might not even play for the Spurs in 2031. This is a massive, illogical risk. I don't know why it's an argument.

This is exactly where I'm at. There were a lot of draft picks in the SL that showed incredible potential and most of them were after Pick #7.

The concept that a pick 7 years out, based on a plethora of "what ifs?", has more value than a tangible prospect like Dilly, Edey, Ware, Buzelis, Topic or da Silva (and others) to grow with Wemby is pure lunacy no matter how you try to spin it IMO. I like the Castle pick a lot but they better pray he learns how to shoot.

This is a major, major blunder by the Spurs FO by literally giving away the chance to add another quality developmental piece around Wemby when it matters most. For all we know, maybe he joins Ant up in MIN in four (4) years. Now wouldn't that be fun.

Sent from my N152DL using RealGM mobile app

It's an absolutely indefensible decision, even if in 2031 they draft the next Michael Jordan.