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here’s a post about the nba’s most boring team whose very facelessness is now an interesting thing to talk about like i’m jon bois okay here we go YOUR San Antonio Spurs!!! they bad What? okay they’re not bad here’s the deal: the spurs don’t really know what the gently caress they are. for a team that’s done a chameleon act for the past 20 years, retooling and refitting pieces and constantly changing the team’s focal point (it’s tim! it’s manu leading the bench to extend leads! now it’s tony! tim duncan slimmed down it’s back to him! now everybody can shoot! now it’s kawhi’s team! now kawhi is gone and our frontcourt is rudy gay and lamarcus aldridge! now we shoot a lot of midrange jumpers! etc etc), they come out of 2020 lacking an identity earlier this year i made a joke about the team’s interminable supply of lightskinned 6’3 combo guards who can shoot and it was true, but then the best of the group (bryn forbes) moved onto milwaukee. this is important later, we’ll get back to it. how did the spurs do in 2020? not great, but it wasn’t a steep decline from 2019. 2019 was the first season the spurs failed to post a 50 win season (or an equivalent percentage) since 1997, and 2020 is the first season that the spurs missed the playoffs since 1997, and the first time gregg popovich has missed the playoffs as a head coach. boo fuckin hoo, the slide continues why have the spurs started to become butt? short answer: talent drain. long answer: historically, the spurs have not been much different than any other “small market” team; they struggle to sign free agents and are heavily reliant on drafting/scouting and selling high on roleplayers. there was a time that the spurs fo was considered one of the best in the nba for being able to scout consistently and find high value picks in the later parts of the first round and the draft. they still do that (two of their current starters, dejounte murray and derrick white, were taken at the end of the first) but they haven’t been lucky finding stars. they’re not hitting it out of the park with the tony parkers and manu ginobilis in the world; instead it’s just a bunch of luis scolas and fabricio obertos, which is important, but you can’t rebuild around it. it is way harder than it used to be to get euro and south american steals. your only sure way to buy low is to draft guys who aren’t coming over right away. the problem with that is it doesn’t help you get better now. it’s great if you’re trying to reload a title team; it’s less ideal if you’re trying to develop talent and rebuild. [b]so what do they have?[b] not... much. lamarcus aldridge and demar derozan are the two best players on the team. by themselves, they are not good enough to get you to the playoffs. rudy gay is also there. the young guys: dejounte murray is promising, but still developing. he’s a starter but not much more than that right now. there’s derrick white, who is also a starting level guard, and lonnie walker, who is a starting level guard. there’s also jakob poeltl who might be okay. keldon johnson isn’t anything yet. they drafted devin vassell, who will be good, but is also a guard. so yeah. best case scenario is some type of 2003 pistons scenario where everybody Puts It Together but uhhhh i don’t think so chief most likely? 40-42 or the equivalent, another missed playoffs. hopefully we get anything for derozan and aldridge before they skip town, but i’m not hopeful. spurs.
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Dec 5, 2020 00:55
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| # ¿ Apr 18, 2024 10:23 |
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