2022-2023 San Antonio Spurs Season Thread - Tits, Ass, N’ Keldon

[Lat22 4010]

Surly gonna surly. I was just thinking it’s been a pretty dismal 5 or 6 seasons. 

[YGIFS 19449]

YEah, they're definitely in a rough patch for sure.  I just don't think it's Greg's fault.  They've drafted fucking terrible and ownership seems pretty tight with the purse.  Or so their front office folks said as much.  I dunno anything about the NBA.  But I like Pops, and I like it when Texas pro franchises do well.  It's good for the state.  He also seems like a decent human being which is rare these days for a rich white guy in the Lone Star State.  

[BurdineBandit 815]

This was year 4 of not making the playoffs. 5 years ago we lost in the first round with a team led by DeMar DeRozan and a 33 year old LaMarcus Aldridge. I think Pop did fine with what the GM gave him to work with that year.

4 years without playoffs is about right for the talent we have. We got stuck for a few years in no-man's land, with mid-to-low 1st-round picks and no real star to build around. This year the franchise was 100% in on the tank from top to bottom. So really Pop can (possibly) be put to blame for 3 years of playoff-less basketball....... but if you want to make the argument that he's at fault for the performance of this young team without A-level talent, go for it. But be sure to name someone who can take a team without a Giannis, Tatum/Brown, Ja Morant, Jokic, Embiid/Harden, Booker/Durant, etc. to a Top 4 seed. Only the Kings have come close, but they also have 3 top-10 picks on their roster. We need that type of talent first. 

TLDR: Pop don't need to go anywhere. Blaming him is silly. 

[Lat22 4010]

Paging R.C. Buford. 

[Patrick Bateman 3910]

On 4/11/2023 at 11:26 AM, YGIFS said:

YEah, they're definitely in a rough patch for sure.  I just don't think it's Greg's fault.  They've drafted fucking terrible and ownership seems pretty tight with the purse.  Or so their front office folks said as much.  I dunno anything about the NBA.  But I like Pops, and I like it when Texas pro franchises do well.  It's good for the state.  He also seems like a decent human being which is rare these days for a rich white guy in the Lone Star State.  

It definitely feels like a player personnel issue, but it was vision or ideal issue and I'm going to guess Pop was centrai in it.  He didn't want to tank.  He had convinced himself that they could rebuild without tanking and for the record, I do think you can rebuild, even in a small market without actively tanking or "rebuilding", however you want to term it.  But that way can't be with mistakes in the draft like Josh Primo or Lonnie Walker or Samacic and you have to be more active than the Spurs looking under every rock for some sense of value. 

We rode LMA and DD out for way too long, we committed to rebuilding half assed and finally reality set in and we figured out if a place like SA is going to get a generational talent or leader, it almost always going to come through the lottery and typically through a top 5 pick.  Let's see if the ping pong balls go our way, because for the first time in forever, there is actually a path to a really good team in a couple of years, but things will have to line up really well for the Spurs, they'll have to snatch opportunity when it presents itself and they'll have to get lucky......