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

[nedtugent 28]

cumsteen 3:16

[ztejas 42,963]

2 hours ago, Chad said:

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/sheriffs-office-launches-criminal-investigation-into-ex-spurs-player-josh-primo-221136945.html

 

Pop should retire and Buford should move along, their best days are far behind both of them. I can't even begin to figure out why Pop is still here in the midst of a rebuild. He should've been gone the season after the nephew was dealt away. The Spurs were once the model franchise of the NBA, now they're just a joke in so many ways. They're bad on the court, got all kinds of drama going on behind the scenes. They made so many questionable and terrible acquisitions that fucked the team, talking about overpaying for washed up bums like Pau Gasol for example.

Have you even watched them play this season?

[Patrick Bateman 3,873]

8 hours ago, ztejas said:

Have you even watched them play this season?

I have.  We're a spunky bunch who play hard, run efficient plays and share the ball, but it's still a below average team.  2nd to last in SRS, 3rd worst in point differential.  We don't have the talent or depth to do much.... maybe a misguided charge towards a play-in game?  For what?  Again, this franchise is a long, long way from being an actual contender.  Primo being a monumental bust is a really a blow for the future of the franchise.  Look, there are still positives.  Vassell is looking like a guy who can stick and start in the league. Tre Jones looking like a rotational piece.  Keldon is playing well.  We'll see how the rookies pan out but we have all of the same issues we had before last season.... and the season before and before.  We're younger now..... that's good, but don't go mistaking 10 games of .500 basketball as if this franchise has turned some metaphorical corner.  We still have a bunch of issues and this team's best outcome is to get a top 5 pick..... or best.... a top 2 pick.

 

[chainsaw 9,765]

I read the legal complaint carefully and it seems like he was whipping it out "progressively more extreme" starting in December 2021 until she complained the next month, but she couldn't get a meeting with Brian Wright until March 21, 2022, but Primo whipped it out again "in a public setting" after that meeting sometime before the play-in loss to NOP on April 13, 2022.

If the "public setting" incident is the the last (ninth) exposure, and the first "least extreme" incident was in December 2021 then I don't know what would have been "enough" discipline against Primo for her liking considering the fact that she made her first complaint in January 2021. True, March 21, 2021, is a lot of delay for a meeting to discuss a complaint first made in January 2022, but is it possible that her first complaint was underselling the problem?

The legal complaint said that these therapy sessions were "part of Primo's standard pre-game routine" and that if Primo was on the road then their sessions would take place in "various sports arenas" which tells me that it wouldn't be all that unusual for the players to be expected to have changed into their uniforms or in the process of making that change.

He's old enough to know how to keep his junk covered up. But maybe if I get an e-mail saying "I saw a penis - can we talk about it" my mind doesn't immediately assume there is sexual harassment going on. They're athletes in a locker room setting, after all. As I've said before it really comes down to when Wright heard about the intentionality of Primo's exposure and what was done afterwards.

The delays only look bad if Wright knew what Primo was doing to her at the time he was rescheduling the meetings for March 21. If not, then I think the Spurs can say "hey, she didn't tell us the whole story until that March 21 meeting" and then point to how Wright immediately promised to "develop a plan" by letting her meet him somewhere in public and when that didn't work she was able to avoid having additional sessions with Primo and was even asked point blank what the organization should be doing. She punted so the Spurs told her "we'll get legal involved."

And legal did get involved. From the sounds of it, everything was done by the book starting with an investigation. She says she asked for a "write up" just a week after the legal team said there would be an investigation. I can't imagine this investigation being wrapped up that quickly.

The more I look at her legal complaint, the more I think the Spurs are really just being blamed for, basically, not investigating Primo exactly the way she thinks they should have investigated him.

At the end of the day, I don't think anyone in SA is going to take kindly to any attempts to vilify the organization.

 

[Pam Cummings 9,451]

The Spurs have just built up way too much credibility for me to think that they would throw it all away to cover up for Josh fucking Primo. And Buzbee is a sleaze. Period. His involvement only makes me believe the victim less.

[Braff Zacklin 13,315]

Good stuff, guys. Mildly encouraging. Hope y'all are right.

[chainsaw 9,765]

39 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Good stuff, guys. Mildly encouraging. Hope y'all are right.

It really all depends on the exact wording of the January 2022 internal complaint and what was said and done between that first complaint and the first meeting on March 21.

Edited November 7, 2022 by chainsaw
i'm dumb

[Chad 1,728]

On 11/5/2022 at 3:10 PM, ztejas said:

Have you even watched them play this season?

I watched two games, the Spurs won't even be a fringe playoff team like they were in the DeRozan era. The Spurs are in the same rut they've been stuck in, young team with a few proven players and no super star. In today's NBA you need at least two super star caliber players to make noise which the Spurs are clearly lacking.

[Radical Larry 28,493]

[hornfan785 548]

[Pam Cummings 9,451]

 

Sucks....i like Zatch, he was playing well. 

[ztejas 42,963]

Damn. Dude has had tough injury luck. 

The tank is fully on if guys are going to be in and out all the time like this. 

[Kermit 3,121]

Can we have more Bassey, please?

[ztejas 42,963]

Up 5 heading into the 4Q. 

[ztejas 42,963]

Our 4Q offense is so fucking bad. We're still in this one somehow, however. 

[ztejas 42,963]

To OT. Which will likely be an L. 

This team is fun to watch. Still can't figure out if we're a Wemby contender or not. 

[Kermit 3,121]

2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

To OT. Which will likely be an L. 

This team is fun to watch. Still can't figure out if we're a Wemby contender or not. 

If we play Bassey more, we’d be a top contender.

[Mitch Cumsteen 18,483]

Rough ot. They had two good looks to win it at the end of regulation.
But make no mistake, we’re in the Wemby sweepstakes. 

[ztejas 42,963]

Bless his heart but Tre Jones just isn't a starting level NBA PG. 

Vassell and KJ are both solid starting pieces or will be but neither of them are stars. Sochan will be good but he's a baby. 

If you put a top 10ish player on this team they'd make the playoffs easily. I still don't think they're going to be bad enough to have a good shot at a top 2 pick. Maybe we'll get lucky in the lottery again.  

[Radical Larry 28,493]

[ztejas 42,963]

Ummmmmm

I'm watching the Grizz feed and their announcers are fucking losing it hahahah

Edited November 10, 2022 by ztejas

[ztejas 42,963]

It's like 4-5 seconds at most. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18,483]

Oh man. He got a pretty good look at it. Great game. 

[ztejas 42,963]

9 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

But make no mistake, we’re in the Wemby sweepstakes. 

Can you quantify this? I don't like this team's chances at finishing with a bottom 5 record. I mean we could easily be 6-6 right now. 

I'm sure we'll have another lottery pick but as it stands this isn't a sub 25 win team. It just isn't. They are visibly trying to win every game and they have the faculties to do that more often than we'd probably like. Especially if Sochan gets better as the season goes on. 

[Kermit 3,121]

They probably aren’t winning a game until November 20th.

[ztejas 42,963]

5 minutes ago, Kermit said:

They probably aren’t winning a game until November 20th.

This team isn't losing 9 straight. I bet they go 2-2 over the next 4. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18,483]

36 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Can you quantify this? I don't like this team's chances at finishing with a bottom 5 record. I mean we could easily be 6-6 right now. 

I'm sure we'll have another lottery pick but as it stands this isn't a sub 25 win team. It just isn't. They are visibly trying to win every game and they have the faculties to do that more often than we'd probably like. Especially if Sochan gets better as the season goes on. 

Quantify? No. I just think that any good team that plays hard against them is going to beat them soundly. Good teams that mail it in against them (like Memphis tonight or Denver the other night), can pretty much turn it on in crunch time and pull off a w. They have next to zero chance of beating any team in the league if they don't play their A game, even the shitty teams. They play hard and are trying to win, but they don't have the horses. They have such a small margin for error. Look who they've beaten - the awful twolves 2x, the sixers who they caught napping on an early start, the bulls without Lavine and Ball, and the pacers without Turner. 

Looking around at the bottom of the league, I think the worst 5 teams are Houston, Orlando, Detroit, OKC and the Spurs. Sac is right there with that group, but they have some talent that should win them some more games compared to the rest of that cluster. Charlotte will get Lamelo back. The Lakers don't have their pick so they aren't going to be tanking. So yeah, I think they are going to be bottom 5.

[ztejas 42,963]

23 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Quantify? No. I just think that any good team that plays hard against them is going to beat them soundly. Good teams that mail it in against them (like Memphis tonight or Denver the other night), can pretty much turn it on in crunch time and pull off a w. They have next to zero chance of beating any team in the league if they don't play their A game, even the shitty teams. They play hard and are trying to win, but they don't have the horses. They have such a small margin for error. Look who they've beaten - the awful twolves 2x, the sixers who they caught napping on an early start, the bulls without Lavine and Ball, and the pacers without Turner. 

Looking around at the bottom of the league, I think the worst 5 teams are Houston, Orlando, Detroit, OKC and the Spurs. Sac is right there with that group, but they have some talent that should win them some more games compared to the rest of that cluster. Charlotte will get Lamelo back. The Lakers don't have their pick so they aren't going to be tanking. So yeah, I think they are going to be bottom 5.

We'll see what happens. I took the over on us last season here and I was right. Not sure anyone else did. I don't think Memphis was mailing it in tonight. I don't think the Clippers were mailing it in when they went up 15 in the 1Q the other night and then had to come back late to win it. 

This team is different than some recent iterations and I think they're going to fuck around and win more games than we'd like them to sans some major injuries. 

The Lakers had no reason to tank last season and we finished well above them. They're 2-9 right now and LeBron looks like he's hurting already. 

I mean, in a perfect world we go 20-62 and everyone on the roster is on board and cool with it but I'm just not seeing it. If KJ and Vassell stay healthy this is a 32-34 win team. 

[Pam Cummings 9,451]

[Mitch Cumsteen 18,483]

10 hours ago, ztejas said:

We'll see what happens. I took the over on us last season here and I was right. Not sure anyone else did. I don't think Memphis was mailing it in tonight. I don't think the Clippers were mailing it in when they went up 15 in the 1Q the other night and then had to come back late to win it. 

This team is different than some recent iterations and I think they're going to fuck around and win more games than we'd like them to sans some major injuries. 

The Lakers had no reason to tank last season and we finished well above them. They're 2-9 right now and LeBron looks like he's hurting already. 

I mean, in a perfect world we go 20-62 and everyone on the roster is on board and cool with it but I'm just not seeing it. If KJ and Vassell stay healthy this is a 32-34 win team. 

Yeah... we're just going to have to wait and see. They play hard and unselfishly. That could get them closer to 30 or 35 wins, I suppose. I hope not.

I went to the Raptors game last week and we had ridiculously good seats -- I'm talking center court, row 3. And I know the Spurs were without their best players and got drilled by 40, but being that close, the thing that stood out was how much more physically imposing and long Toronto was than the Spurs. Siakam, Barnes, Koloko, Anunoby, Bouchet, Achiuwa. The Spurs looked like children next to them. I dunno. Maybe that debacle jaded me but I can't get it out of my head. The difference was stark. And Toronto isn't even that good.

You may be right about the Lakers though. Lebron got hurt last night. He's old. He's not playing 82 games this season. Davis is always hurt. Outside of those two, they have the absolute worst roster in the league. They could have one of the worst five records in the league. Shit, so could Minnesota. And we haven't had a season ending injury to any of the league's superstars yet. That could throw another team into the mix.

[TommysTinyTowels 779]

Jesus Christ it's a sad day when I'm worried another team is going to suck worse than us.

 

[Pam Cummings 9,451]

At least it isn't like the NFL where worst record gets the first pick. Just be bottom 5 and cross those fingers.

[ztejas 42,963]

Soooo... did Milwaukee just say fuck it tonight? 

[ztejas 42,963]

On 11/10/2022 at 11:07 AM, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Yeah... we're just going to have to wait and see. They play hard and unselfishly. That could get them closer to 30 or 35 wins, I suppose. I hope not.

I went to the Raptors game last week and we had ridiculously good seats -- I'm talking center court, row 3. And I know the Spurs were without their best players and got drilled by 40, but being that close, the thing that stood out was how much more physically imposing and long Toronto was than the Spurs. Siakam, Barnes, Koloko, Anunoby, Bouchet, Achiuwa. The Spurs looked like children next to them. I dunno. Maybe that debacle jaded me but I can't get it out of my head. The difference was stark. And Toronto isn't even that good.

You may be right about the Lakers though. Lebron got hurt last night. He's old. He's not playing 82 games this season. Davis is always hurt. Outside of those two, they have the absolute worst roster in the league. They could have one of the worst five records in the league. Shit, so could Minnesota. And we haven't had a season ending injury to any of the league's superstars yet. That could throw another team into the mix.

Whatever record we finish with - these cats are fun to watch. And I don't think we've been able to say that since 2017. 

[ztejas 42,963]

I love Sochan so much already.

[ztejas 42,963]

Our best 5 is just killing these guys. They did make a big run when we had to put G leaguers in the game. We aren’t exactly deep. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18,483]

This team is winning the title if they can get every opponent to rest their three best players every night. 

[Radical Larry 28,493]

[Kermit 3,121]

Excuse me, do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior Charles Bassey?

[kingkoopa6 8,281]

GSG!

[Kermit 3,121]

Tank is back on!

[Kermit 3,121]

I know it’s out of necessity, but Richardson playing PG tonight has been…entertaining. 

[ztejas 42,963]

I'm surprised we only lost by 37. 

[Kermit 3,121]

Bates-diop and Keldon with the incredible choke job to ice this game.

[BurdineBandit 805]

12 hours ago, Kermit said:

Bates-diop and Keldon with the incredible choke job to ice this game.

Turned on the last 5 minutes to see Keldon fumble a pass and then cough up the ball off the dribble in the last 2 minutes, when it was still a game. That sucks, but we're trending in the right direction at least.

(In all seriousness, I said before the season that I think Keldon and Devin are too good to let us lose the number of games we need to lose to have a shot at the Top 3 picks..... and it still kinda seems that way. Maybe we get into the Top 8, but we're not a Houston-level shit show.)

[Mitch Cumsteen 18,483]

We are starting to see some familiar patterns with this team.

If the opponent is worth a shit and takes the game seriously, the Spurs are getting blown out. And especially on the road. The Warriors game this week is a perfect example. The W's were coming off a bad loss at SAC and needed to get right. If the opponent is worth a shit and plays just fair, the Spurs are most likely going to lose in crunch time when the other team steps it up. Portland last night is a good example. Maybe they pull out a game like this every 3/10 times overall and probably 1/10 times on the road.

This team is going to win games when:
1) it is a schedule loss or load management/injury fest for their opponent
2) the opponent is just as shitty as the Spurs
3) the opponent comes out completely flat (and can't flip the switch in crunch time)

Lottery Watch: Spurs have now moved to #13 in the west. 1-7 in the last 8 and that 1 was against the Bucks minus their best 4 or 5 players. Only Houston and the Lakers have worse records in the west, and Orlando, Charlotte and Detroit in the east. That puts the Spurs at #6 overall and trending in the right direction.

For sure tankers: Houston, Orlando, Detroit - these three are locked in with an admirable yet shameless "go ugly early" attitude.

Should be tanking but seem competent: Indiana, SAC. OKC, Utah
Between Halliburton, Hield, Mathurin and Turner... the Pacers might be too talented to tank. Same thing with the Kings with Sabonis, Fox and Huerter. SGA gives OKC a puncher's chance each night. Utah got way too much back in the Minnesota and Cleveland trades to be abjectly terrible.

Should be competent but seem like they're tanking: Charlotte, Brooklyn, Lakers
Getting Lamelo back should move Charlotte up. I have to believe that the Lakers will get closer to .500 eventually, but they just may be that bad. Brooklyn is interesting -- KD is enough to keep them from the bottom, but that swap with Houston probably isn't happening so this might be their only chance to get a good young asset for the foreseeable future. All the attention is on Wemby, but this is supposed to be a loaded draft even besides him. KD is leading the league in minutes, which is absurd for a 34 year old with a history of leg problems. His being out for even a couple of weeks would destroy them.

[ztejas 42,963]

21 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Should be competent but seem like they're tanking: Charlotte, Brooklyn, Lakers
Getting Lamelo back should move Charlotte up. I have to believe that the Lakers will get closer to .500 eventually, but they just may be that bad. Brooklyn is interesting -- KD is enough to keep them from the bottom, but that swap with Houston probably isn't happening so this might be their only chance to get a good young asset for the foreseeable future. All the attention is on Wemby, but this is supposed to be a loaded draft even besides him. KD is leading the league in minutes, which is absurd for a 34 year old with a history of leg problems. His being out for even a couple of weeks would destroy them.

The Nets have to trade KD and try and get rid of Kyrie and Simmons while they're at it. They should have done that when Durant requested out. Having him keep them in play-in territory couldn't be more worthless for that franchise. 

As for the rest - 

If were looking at the blowouts so far, we literally didn't have a PG available for the Ws and pulled the starters with most of the 2nd half to go. Similar game against the Raptors game where Keldon and Vassell didn't play and we pulled everyone early. Another blowout was against Charlotte in the 1st game of the season where Primo played 26 mins. The last one was @DEN and we legit got our asses kicked. All of that is to say I'm not sure this team is going to get blown out a bunch unless we are down key pieces or it's something like a SEGABABA against a rested team. However both the Ws and TOR games highlight how thin we are - especially at PG - and that's going to cause us to lose quite a few games in itself. At full strength I don't think we're a squad that you can easily run out of the gym, but assuming guys keep missing games there's going to be more ugly contests. 

The ability to close out games is still really poor. I suppose there's a chance Keldon or Vassell develops into someone that can put some of these games away. If that happens or if we stay super healthy from here on out while other teams don't then we may string some more wins together. Assuming we keep rolling these random ass players and lineups out there and not scoring down the stretch we're going to drop a lot more. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18,483]

Aaaaaaand the Primo situation looks to be done -- at least from the Spurs POV. She got her bag. Spurs put out some lip service to her and the organization will strive to be better in the future.

 

[Radical Larry 28,493]

RIP Sabonis

[Kermit 3,121]