San Antonio Spurs 2019-2020 season thread: Just here for the HEB commercials

[hornfan785 556]

holy shit, Marco made a shot!

[Radical Larry 28584]

Lonnie will never see the court again now.

[Coach pop a bitch 5459]

Fuck yes Marco 

[Kermit 3156]

Dude, what the fuck is Dejounte doing?

[hornfan785 556]

He's trying way too hard to do it himself.

[hornfan785 556]

Patty, what the hell?

[Kermit 3156]

Just now, hornfan785 said:

Patty, what the hell?

Trying to lose the game himself.

[hornfan785 556]

Jesus Christ...

[Radical Larry 28584]

[Radical Larry 28584]

[Hate 20108]

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

Joke is on us when we end up one ping pong ball short of the number 1 pick.

[youdunnf'dup 2147]

5 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Joke is on us when we end up one ping pong ball short of the number 1 pick.

That’s honestly how I feel. If they are going to be bitches about it and take it this far, it would’ve been funny if pop just came out and said “give them a win. Whatever. We all know what happened in the 4th quarter and OT.”

[hornfan785 556]

https://i.redd.it/pdpvmhgjdo341.jpg

[Kermit 3156]

Baetans. I miss you. Come back. 
 

 

[hornfan785 556]

Baetans. I miss you. Come back. 
 
 

Fuck Marcus Morris.

[Patrick Bateman 3911]

5 hours ago, hornfan785 said:

16 hours ago, Kermit said:

Baetans. I miss you. Come back. 
 
 

Fuck Marcus Morris.

Bertans wasn't a defensive stalwart but you also have to wonder why he wasn't playing more and like this offensively.  Maybe it's just development, but feels like he was shackled last year so we could play Patty and Brynn more minutes.  He's not substantially a different player, just more minutes and a bit more confidence.

 

[Kermit 3156]

28 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Bertans wasn't a defensive stalwart but you also have to wonder why he wasn't playing more and like this offensively.  Maybe it's just development, but feels like he was shackled last year so we could play Patty and Brynn more minutes.  He's not substantially a different player, just more minutes and a bit more confidence.

 

It’s not like this team plays defense anyway. I like the days when this team didn’t shoot itself in the dick.

[Patrick Bateman 3911]

49 minutes ago, Kermit said:

It’s not like this team plays defense anyway. I like the days when this team didn’t shoot itself in the dick.

Me too.  It's surprising how poorly they've done the last 5 years in management.  From the Pau extension, to this Morris bullshit, to the Kawhi trade.  Obviously, these issues aren't all on them.  Who could have expected Kawhi to get so squirrely or for Morris to run a Ronald McDonald Miller scam on us, but they've often extended themselves without getting their T's crossed or I's dotted and its bit them in the ass.  They've also responded extremely poor to unforeseen challenges or issues and their roster construction has been strange.  Remember when players would move on from the Spurs' and not be as successful?  Danny Green, Bertans, and of course Kawhi have changed this perception.  Even Dedmon went on to have two very productive seasons after being on the Spurs (he's been injured and poor this season though).  I want to be fair to them as they've been dealt a poor hand on some of the biggest occasions but some of the recent mistakes is of their own doing.  Pop and RC have some of the most important decisions of their career in trying to rebuild this team and they've left themselves a tiny margin of error.

 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

3 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Bertans wasn't a defensive stalwart but you also have to wonder why he wasn't playing more and like this offensively.  Maybe it's just development, but feels like he was shackled last year so we could play Patty and Brynn more minutes.  He's not substantially a different player, just more minutes and a bit more confidence.

 

The other thing about Bertans is that he's playing on a team with the third highest pace in the league and the single worst defensive team in the league. In addition to the increase in minutes, those numbers are inflated like a motherfucker because of how they play. I'm not big on advanced stats and especially the defensive ones, but his advanced numbers are way down compared to what they were for the Spurs. He's one of 6 players in the league with negative defensive win shares, and 4 of the other ones are his teammates. Who'd a thunk he'd thrive on a team where all he has to do is jack shots and not play any defense? Despite how terrible the Spurs are defensively and were last year as well, Pop was at least going to make him try.

Don't get me wrong, I'd take him back in a heartbeat and the Marcus Morris thing still pisses me off, but somebody is going to give him a horrible contract this Summer.

 

[XYZ 2154]

Remember when the spurs used to have the toughest defense in the league?

[Patrick Bateman 3911]

40 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

The other thing about Bertans is that he's playing on a team with the third highest pace in the league and the single worst defensive team in the league. In addition to the increase in minutes, those numbers are inflated like a motherfucker because of how they play. I'm not big on advanced stats and especially the defensive ones, but his advanced numbers are way down compared to what they were for the Spurs. He's one of 6 players in the league with negative defensive win shares, and 4 of the other ones are his teammates. Who'd a thunk he'd thrive on a team where all he has to do is jack shots and not play any defense? Despite how terrible the Spurs are defensively and were last year as well, Pop was at least going to make him try.

Don't get me wrong, I'd take him back in a heartbeat and the Marcus Morris thing still pisses me off, but somebody is going to give him a horrible contract this Summer.

 

But.... they're not.  Certainly not his overall advanced and his defensive metrics are down, but there are 2 points here.  First, his jump in offense easily compensates for his small decrease in defensive metrics and more.  His OBPM is 5.5.  Do you know who on the Spurs (who's played more than 50 minutes total) has an OBPM this good?  Nobody.  That's it.  No one.  The closest is actually Patty (Kerm, hide your eyes) at 2.2.  But his DWS is -0.1, his DBPM is -2.5, his Drtg is 118 (pace related).  You know who lives around these defensive numbers?  Patty, Brynn, Marco and actually Lonnie (but SSS and he's only played in blowouts typically).  In other words, he provides around the same defense (with a higher pace) than those 3 guys yet offers substantially more offense.  And why is this not surprising?  Because he did the same fucking thing last year.  So again, it's not that he's good defensively (he's not), but he wasn't a travesty for the Spurs and offered more offense.  So why was he moved?  Salary.  He was the easiest to move, because Brynn is cheaper and nobody wants the shitty contracts of Patty and Marco.  He was the better player last and only been better this one.... Again, bad management with shitty contracts.  We knew Patty's contract was bad when he was re-signed and while we welcomed Marco back, his contract made it an average signing at best (turned out to be worse).

 

[Hate 20108]

5 hours ago, XYZ said:

Remember when the spurs used to have the toughest defense in the league?

Tim Duncan ain't walking through that door.  David Robinson ain't walking through that door. Prepare to suck for many years.  I just want to say thank god I was alive to witness the 97-14 years. 

[Lat22 4010]

9 hours ago, Hate said:

Tim Duncan ain't walking through that door.  David Robinson ain't walking through that door. Prepare to suck for many years.  I just want to say thank god I was alive to witness the 97-14 years. 

Sigh.  I fear you may be right.

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

16 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:

But.... they're not.  Certainly not his overall advanced and his defensive metrics are down, but there are 2 points here.  First, his jump in offense easily compensates for his small decrease in defensive metrics and more.  His OBPM is 5.5.  Do you know who on the Spurs (who's played more than 50 minutes total) has an OBPM this good?  Nobody.  That's it.  No one.  The closest is actually Patty (Kerm, hide your eyes) at 2.2.  But his DWS is -0.1, his DBPM is -2.5, his Drtg is 118 (pace related).  You know who lives around these defensive numbers?  Patty, Brynn, Marco and actually Lonnie (but SSS and he's only played in blowouts typically).  In other words, he provides around the same defense (with a higher pace) than those 3 guys yet offers substantially more offense.  And why is this not surprising?  Because he did the same fucking thing last year.  So again, it's not that he's good defensively (he's not), but he wasn't a travesty for the Spurs and offered more offense. 

I'm sorry that I even brought up the advanced stats. I don't think they tell the whole story, which is why I take most of them with a grain of salt. And while I understand that his numbers are adjusted for pace, that doesn't really tell the whole story. Pace just adjusts for the number of possessions. It does not take into account style of play, which when the game is wide open, tends to deteriorate on the defensive end. So when the Bullets are giving up >120/game, the other team typically isn't playing at the same level of defensive intensity. If we are being honest, there is probably a nonlinearity to pace that is not accounted for, because all possessions are not created equally when the contest has turned into a glorified pick up game three minutes into the first quarter. Which is how the Wizards play almost every night.

Don't get me wrong, I still wish we had the guy and for sure Pop should have been giving him more minutes. My real point is that I don't feel like he's having that massive of a breakout season where he is impacting wins and losses. I think he is mostly still the same player as he always was for the Spurs, just getting more burn and playing in a style conducive to his strengths that inflates his numbers. If he were still with the Spurs, would their record be any different than it is today? I don't believe so. I still think Morris would have had a bigger impact on wins and losses and I can't blame the Spurs for that one. They got screwed by the most bush league franchise in sports pulling a complete bullshit move.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Bertans this offseason. I think there are a lot of teams with cap space and it's a weak free agency class. My prediction is that somebody is going to get a hard on for his shooting and overpay the hell out of him. 

 

[Patrick Bateman 3911]

30 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

I'm sorry that I even brought up the advanced stats. I don't think they tell the whole story, which is why I take most of them with a grain of salt. And while I understand that his numbers are adjusted for pace, that doesn't really tell the whole story. Pace just adjusts for the number of possessions. It does not take into account style of play, which when the game is wide open, tends to deteriorate on the defensive end. So when the Bullets are giving up >120/game, the other team typically isn't playing at the same level of defensive intensity. If we are being honest, there is probably a nonlinearity to pace that is not accounted for, because all possessions are not created equally when the contest has turned into a glorified pick up game three minutes into the first quarter. Which is how the Wizards play almost every night.

Don't get me wrong, I still wish we had the guy and for sure Pop should have been giving him more minutes. My real point is that I don't feel like he's having that massive of a breakout season where he is impacting wins and losses. I think he is mostly still the same player as he always was for the Spurs, just getting more burn and playing in a style conducive to his strengths that inflates his numbers. If he were still with the Spurs, would their record be any different than it is today? I don't believe so. I still think Morris would have had a bigger impact on wins and losses and I can't blame the Spurs for that one. They got screwed by the most bush league franchise in sports pulling a complete bullshit move.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Bertans this offseason. I think there are a lot of teams with cap space and it's a weak free agency class. My prediction is that somebody is going to get a hard on for his shooting and overpay the hell out of him. 

 

I got ya, and yea, I don't think Davis is leading us to the promised land, but his situation is an example of one bad decision begetting another one.  He's a good player who probably fits better on this squad then either Patty, Marco or Brynn (he's cheap tho).  It's simply another example of a poor management decision (which are becoming more frequent) and I was excited to get Morris and I understood why Davis had to move but it wasn't optimal.  At the end of the day, I think the Kawhi trade is going to doom this org for a decade because they fucked it up so bad.  

[Hate 20108]

Pops refusal to trade Kawhi within the Western Conference is what doomed us. He knew where Kawhi wanted to go but he refused to do it. I could understand if Kawhi was on an multi year contract, but everyone knew Kawhi was gone from Toronto when his contract was up. I don’t blame Pop for Kawhi leaving, but his stubbornness is what screwed them more than anything.

[Patrick Bateman 3911]

33 minutes ago, Hate said:

Pops refusal to trade Kawhi within the Western Conference is what doomed us. He knew where Kawhi wanted to go but he refused to do it. I could understand if Kawhi was on an multi year contract, but everyone knew Kawhi was gone from Toronto when his contract was up. I don’t blame Pop for Kawhi leaving, but his stubbornness is what screwed them more than anything.

Beyond their (Pop and RC) stubbornness about not wanting to trade him within the Western Conference was their inability to get the side pieces right.  Taking DeRozan was a mistake, especially for the roster.   However, even if they felt this was the best main player they could get (I don't believe it was), they should have insisted on a better side piece than Poeltl (who I like) and instead told them either Siakam (probably a hard no) or Anunoby (gettable) and insisted they take Patty rather than Danny.  If they said no, I would have told him then good luck with getting to the semis again and I'll trade Kawhi to Philly (bluff) so they get to the Finals.  Instead, what we know is this deal came together very quickly (within a day or two) and the Spurs were so giddy to send him to Canada (still funny) that they seemed to take an inferior offer. 

Fans can take things personal and give impassioned takes or opinions (god knows we do that a lot here), but front offices should be more objective and more prepared.  I know, I know, I'll get all of the, "this is the best we could do", "you don't think PATFO did everything possible", and "you have no idea what other offers were", etc, etc.  And to a degree I concede fandom doesn't have all the pieces on the table, but we have enough of a sample size and reporting on the trade to understand it was a bad one.... what they get for DeRozan may end up deciding if the trade was historically terrible or just really poor.

[XYZ 2154]

Also Bruce Bowen ain’t walking through that door.

[LFS 57]

meh.... need to keep playing well and have DDR keep looking very marketable. the guy can score and is a good rebounder and ass-man.

our only hope.  just get expiring contracts, please. maybe a first round draft pick.

God forbid this pretty good team make the 8 seed - wh/ is VERY likely if DDR isn't dumped.

 

[Kermit 3156]

This team making the playoffs as an 8 seed and then having to play the Lakers will be nightmare inducing. Demar might call in sick.

[Patrick Bateman 3911]

Unless one of the young guys (or two) simply goes supernova and becomes fantastic really quickly, there's no upside to making the playoffs in a bottom 2 seed.  I know PATFO will disagree but IMO, it would hurt the future of the franchise and decrease the chances to rebuild.  Basically, it's do we rebuild (reload has come and gone) or simply embrace mediocrity or below mediocrity.

 

[Patrick Bateman 3911]

This could be an interesting little detail.

Doubt it comes into play, but it would give an acquiring team a little bit of wiggle room or leverage to work out a 1-2 year extension if they want to keep him.  

[miguelito 11262]

RIP Charlene McCombs, 91.

[Kermit 3156]

This team is a fucking embarrassment.

[Kermit 3156]

When did Dejounte become the worst guard in the league?

[Kermit 3156]

What the fuck am I watching? Zone defense actually working? Lonnie being absolutely awesome? FUCKING TRADE DEMAR ALREADY SO THAT LONNIE CAN ASCEND THE THRONE!

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

Fucking Derozen. 

[hornfan785 556]

DeRozan has really sucked at shooting free throws this season.

[Radical Larry 28584]

Pinche DeMar

[Kermit 3156]

Did Tim already quit?

[hornfan785 556]

Jesus Christ. 3 overtime games in a row?

[Radical Larry 28584]

2 minutes ago, Kermit said:

Did Tim already quit?

Maybe he's suiting up.

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

4 minutes ago, hornfan785 said:

DeRozan really sucks. 

Fify

[Patrick Bateman 3911]

Wow.  We love us some OT.

[hornfan785 556]

Oof, Patty.

[Kermit 3156]

Demar can go fuck himself.

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

Lol. We are fucking horrible. On five days rest at home with Cleveland, one of the absolute worst teams in the league sporting an eight game losing streak, playing the second night of a back to back after traveling from Cleveland and playing to the wire last night. Just a terrible, inexcusable horrific loss. 

[Patrick Bateman 3911]

I would say that's an embarrassing loss, but this team is lousy so there are no unbelievable losses or bad wins.  This team is simply going to struggle..... most likely all season.

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

They still shouldn't be this bad. That game last night was about effort. And their effort sucked until the fourth quarter.

I don't get it with this team. They are 9-15, habitually lose to the dregs of the league, and act like they can flip the switch to pull out wins whenever they feel like it. If this were any other franchise in the league, the head coach would be on the hot seat.