Post-Mortem: 2021-22 San Antonio Spurs

[BK_2020]

There's nothing unique about the Spurs being a young team. Basically everyone except the Lakers are young among the bottom of the NBA. No reason to expect the Spurs players to improve more than other teams, if anything the other teams' high end blue chip prospects are more likely to take leaps.
A solid treadmill team and an eternal 10th seed imo.

[Slim Charlez]

There's nothing unique about the Spurs being a young team. Basically everyone except the Lakers are young among the bottom of the NBA. No reason to expect the Spurs players to improve more than other teams, if anything the other teams' high end blue chip prospects are more likely to take leaps.
A solid treadmill team and an eternal 10th seed imo.

How many Spurs games did you watch this season if you don't mind me asking?

[BK_2020]

There's nothing unique about the Spurs being a young team. Basically everyone except the Lakers are young among the bottom of the NBA. No reason to expect the Spurs players to improve more than other teams, if anything the other teams' high end blue chip prospects are more likely to take leaps.
A solid treadmill team and an eternal 10th seed imo.

How many Spurs games did you watch this season if you don't mind me asking?

As few as possible

[Slim Charlez]

There's nothing unique about the Spurs being a young team. Basically everyone except the Lakers are young among the bottom of the NBA. No reason to expect the Spurs players to improve more than other teams, if anything the other teams' high end blue chip prospects are more likely to take leaps.
A solid treadmill team and an eternal 10th seed imo.

How many Spurs games did you watch this season if you don't mind me asking?

As few as possible

Exactly. You saw maybe one or two games all season and feel qualified to say this group of players is not going to improve at all? Well I'm convinced.

[BK_2020]

How many Spurs games did you watch this season if you don't mind me asking?

As few as possible

Exactly. You saw maybe one or two games all season and feel qualified to say this group of players is not going to improve at all? Well I'm convinced.

Try to invest some skill points into reading comprehension.

[cupcakesnake]

Curious to see how Spurs fans feel internally about their young guys. How would you rank: Primo, Vassell, Keldon, Lonnie Walker in terms of potential. Do you think any of them will surpass Dejounte?

[Johnny Bball]

They have 3 firsts and cap space and half the forum votes treadmill. Geniuses.

[Slim Charlez]

As few as possible

Exactly. You saw maybe one or two games all season and feel qualified to say this group of players is not going to improve at all? Well I'm convinced.

Try to invest some skill points into reading comprehension.

You're the one calling a current 10th seed full of young players a 'perennial 10th seed" like if young players don't improve. Not saying they all will but the Spurs are still better than most at drafting and developing players, also how many of the top 3 MVP candidates this season were "blue chip prospects" coming into the draft? just Embiid. Not saying you don't have a higher chance to get one at the top of the draft but this notion that you can't get a franchise changer outside the top five picks is just false. I mean ya'll have two top three picks and haven't gotten close to winning a title yet, the bucks didn't have any top five picks, the Raptors didn't, the Warriors before Durant only had Bogut who was a role player, but hey you watched the play in game so you're definitely an expert when it comes to the future of this roster.

[Slim Charlez]

Curious to see how Spurs fans feel internally about their young guys. How would you rank: Primo, Vassell, Keldon, Lonnie Walker in terms of potential. Do you think any of them will surpass Dejounte?

I'd have it

Vassell
Keldon
Primo
Lonnie

It's hard to judge Primo still because he's so young and physically still has a lot of maturing but he's a crafty offensive player with good form on his jump shot plus has shown defensive flashes. Next season will tell us more about his potential I think. I personally like Vassell the most because of his two away ability, he reminds me so much of Middleton, Keldon has improved his three point shooting tremendously but needs to improve his finishing inside even if he's athletic and strong enough to get to the paint, Draymond has said he sees him as a future all star for whatever that's worth. Lonnie shows flashes but he's definitely more a microwave scorer off the bench. IDK if any will surpass Dejounte but then again a lot of us didn't think would get to this level, just as a lot of us didn't think Kawhi would get to the level that he did so a lot of credit still has to go to the Spurs development staff.

[SK21209]

They need a little lottery luck. If they somehow managed to get into the Top 3 and came away with Banchero or Jabari, all of a sudden they're one one of, if not the, most promising young cores in the league (that title would still probably go to Memphis).

[LAL1947]

Feels like the Spurs and Mavericks should merge in order for them to become contenders.

The Spurs have the role players but no star.... while the Mavs have the star but a crappy roster.

Dejounte................ Brunson
Vassell................... Lonnie/Primo
Luka....................... Bullock
Keldon.................... DFS
Poeltl...................... Kleber

The other players they currently have can go to the new teams being formed in Seattle, Vegas or Vancouver.

[anotherhomer]

i feel like Spurs have a good organizational structure, solid young talent

just need star talent

i wouldn't tear it down at the risk of the organizational culture

[TunaFish]

Pop did a great job. They are still one of the best organizations at acquiring talent and it is likely they will continue to improve even with low picks.

The only question is whether they can land a top twenty talent to add to a decent youthful squad.

[CIN-C-STAR]

They need a little lottery luck. If they somehow managed to get into the Top 3 and came away with Banchero or Jabari, all of a sudden they're one one of, if not the, most promising young cores in the league (that title would still probably go to Memphis).

Exactly how I feel as a close observer.
Lottery luck, or a star FA to realize this is a tailormade situation to be "the guy" and compete for championships for years to come.
I don't know if either will happen, and it sure seems most stars would rather team up in destination markets, but all it takes is one lucky ping pong ball or one guy that wants to beat the best rather than team up with them.
I don't think they are as far from contending as most think, nor do I think bottoming out is the only path to contention for a treadmill team.
And as a fan, I'm glad i don't have to endure years of tanking where the only thing to look forward to is the lottery and the draft.

[AussieCeltic]

Trade Poeltl and unleash my boy Jock

[slicedbread2]

San Antonio to me did as about as expected and they are a team that's on the rise for now with good role players and a great coaching and developmental staff that's getting the most out of their talent.

Dejounte really killed them in the play-in game and melted by making a bunch of terrible decisions down the stretch where the smarter move would've been to keep feeding the guys that have it going but alas the size of NOLA was too much and their lack of a true 4 killed them and it's something they'll need to get addressed whether it be via draft/FA/trade. FA don't come to San Antonio much if ever so they'll really have to go scavenger hunting and hope for the best. Was very impressed with Devin Vassell as he really showed great composure out there and is emerging as a 2-way player.

They do have some major decisions with regards to the off-season:

-Keldon Johnson's rookie deal will expire next year. Good thing he'll be an RFA but hopefully the Spurs lock him up to a solid deal as he's really been impressive. Had a bad game in the play-in, but who cares it happens to everybody.
-Lonnie Walker IV. He's up for a new deal, but honestly he seems like a bench piece and I could see them letting him go elsewhere if he gets an offer that's way more than what the Spurs are comfortable with.
-Jakob Poeltl. He's a great defensive anchor and an underrated passer who's improved offensively with 39% of his shots coming from the 3-10ft range and he's highly efficient. However the FT line has been a nightmare for him. He was a 60.5%FT shooter(44% Fr., 69% So.) in his 2 years at Utah so the transition was gonna be tough with the best case scenario being that he'd be a 60%FT shooter which would be nice, but he's stuck at 50% which is gonna hurt the Spurs b/c teams can hack him. I honestly see the Spurs locking him up for a good deal knowing how much he's progressed and he's a great fit in their system. If he can improve the FT shot, it'll make a huge difference in his game. They may ultimately trade him but who knows. There will be plenty of suitors lining up if they go that route depending on what they want to do.

Best thing to do for now is just hopefully hit on that high pick and maybe find a rotation player or 2 with the later picks(not gonna nail them all but whatever). With FA, it's gonna be a thin pool so if all else fails, just use the cap space to help facilitate S&T for contenders as going forward they won't have as much to work with due to Johnson and Poeltl needing new deals.

[Ballerhogger]

Just stay the course

[Godymas]

I voted fire the coach for the kekw moment

but this might be Pop's last season, maybe he coaches another?

I watched this team in person this year, honestly Pop is still phenomenal as a coach. The team came out slow, Pop calls a time-out, and then it was like a switch flipped and the team was playing immediate play-offs level defense. I watched the Wizards completely unable to do anything with the ball for the full 24 seconds, it was great to see. Then the game kind of devolved into a double OT mess which was hilarious to watch.

Dejounte Murray is a stud, he's a proper two way star, he gives this team a great foundation. He led the league in steals and really might get some All Defense consideration again. But the rest of the roster is a big question mark. Obviously the Spurs got off Derrick White which makes a lot of sense cause White is just a little bit ahead of their timeline. He's better off in Boston. They signed him to a solid extension too, and to get off the money that quick is really impressive honestly because it's not like San Antonio as a team had any real pressure to accomplish something this year.

Otherwise the roster is a mismash of other franchise's failed projects and journeymen.

Jakob Poeltl is still a very good NBA player, he's not a star, just a solid starter/role player. He was hilariously taken ahead of Dejounte Murray (and Sabonis too) in the 2016 draft, obviously Dejounte was the right pick. He was a return for the Kawhi trade, not even close to equal value, but still not a bad player at all, just maybe not a starting championship level center or franchise cornerstone center that the Spurs would like considering how important Duncan had been for so long.

Josh Richardson finds himself on the Spurs, it has not been a fun career for JRich since leaving Miami, lol. Every where he goes it never works out, now he finds himself on the least relevant team he's ever played for. Doesn't fit their timeline. San Antonio actually extended him after trading for him. He'll probably get traded next year or in the off season, lol.

Otherwise the rest of the roster is just uninspiring young guys..Devin Vassell, Lonnie Walker, Zach Collins (another franchise's failed project). Honestly most of these guys are probably not on the team in 5 years.

With that said what the Spurs have is a young stud, a nice collection of draft picks, and cap space.

Oh yeah, they drafted Josh Primo, which was a massive surprise. He's kind of been whatever since joining, played in the G League too. A project player, I guess? Kind of weird to take him there, they could've had Duarte, Moody, Kispert, Sengun. All these guys have been performing better than Primo and Duarte/Kispert are older, they are closer to Dejounte Murray's age and timeline. Kispert would've definitely been a much better pick-up. They could've selected Sengun in the lottery too.

So hopefully they draft better in this years draft, compared to last year. They've got picks, they will be in the lottery.

The other thing I expect this team to do will be to throw offers at some of the nice RFAs this off-season. 100% they are offering DeAndre Ayton a max, they might go for a guy like Sexton, maybe they think they can salvage Mo Bamba's career, Miles Bridges, Anfernee Simons, there are some nice young names that potentially could end up joining SA if they luck out.

It's definitely a rebuild mode though, rebuild in terms of finding GOOD young talent. That doesn't meant that SA will be bad next year, but this off-season is pivotal for the franchise. They need to find better talent to surround Murray with or consider a full reset for the future.

[Blazing_royale]

Only guys i'm digging on this roster is Murry and Keldon, the rest can be traded.

[Bornstellar]

Only guys i'm digging on this roster is Murry and Keldon, the rest can be traded.

I would definitely trade Keldon before either of Vassell, Primo, or Poeltl