Maybe but they dont have assets to get that star they can only do so thru the draft hence prob why they are tanking and waiting to clear cap. This draft has Sarr and apparently a good crop of PGs so either way they should get a good teammate for Wemby.
They still have picks as assets and they could empty up cap space. Let's say they get back someone like Brogdon, whom they could flip in the future.... They would be in the lotto no matter what so why not plan ahead...... I do question Pop's deference to tanking, it does not look like the Pop who won chips....
Spurs are tanking. It's obvious to everyone except, ironically, Spurs fans themselves. They've deluded themselves into thinking Pop has gone senile or something. A senile Pop who lost half of his basketball IQ would still be good enough to win 35 games if he wanted to.
Yeah, since he is Pop he can handle those bad traits and habits that comes with losing on young players. His comments after the last games speak volumes: Wish they were rewarded more, but I see improvement, yadayadayada.
I wouldn’t take the fans calling Pops senile serious. Lot of ppl in San Antonio don’t like his public commentary on social issues. Imagine pops being our coach and the GARM reacting to some of his takes. I could easily see a narrative developing from a loud minority to say he’s getting old and senile, and that bleeding into criticism of losing.
I don't think they're tanking, he just has the freedom to do whatever he wants. Try to play twin towers of Zach & Vic ? Try to make Sochan a PG? Why not, I own this place. Etc. It does put the lie to the theory that you can give any coach a random collection of 19-21 year olds and make them good at NBA level defense instantly - it takes awhile.
I think he and RC Buford have already determined that this current group even with Wemby aren't going to be contenders even 3 years down the road, so they need to tank as much as possible to draft real all-stars or superstars alongside Wemby. With Point-Sochan it's a win win--they play so bad because of his non-existent point guard talent that they sink all the way to the bottom, or he breaks out into near-all-star status who they can keep or trade with picks for a future disgruntled superstar.
I think Pop's greatest strength as a coach isn't even X and Os. I think his greatest strength is and has been surrounding himself with great asst coaches. If you look at his coaching tree, it's easily one of the best coaching trees of all time, perhaps the best? Has multiple coaches that were under him taht went on to win championships or appear in the finals or go to other leagues and do well for themselves. Another strength of his has always been player development and I think that will show in time (unfortunately) with Vassell and Sochan turning into plus players, in time. It's rare too that the Spurs let go of a guy and regret doing so, usually they don't let good talent leave them (of course Kawhi left because of conflict) so they have a very good eye for spotting talent and developing it. I am always eternally surprised they passed on Sengun, was always surprised they passed on him, but everyone makes mistakes. I think people mistake Pop's strength as strategy but I think it's smart hiring, running a very professional organization that values discipline, and player development. So I'm not surprised the Spurs look so bad, their players have not had time to develop and Popovic isn't really going out there out coaching other teams. Spurs even at their best would win games just on discipline and effort alone and everyone buying into the team mentality. Spurs fans are crying about the lack of usage for Wemby but I'm willing to bet it's down because Pop doesn't want the guy coming in here thinking everything will be catered to him and yeah...I don't think they mind losing.
The upcoming draft class has been described as devoid of superstars and maybe not even all-star potential players. Not a good year to tank me thinks.
I'm sure that's already been taken into account. Which either means that Buford and Pop think that there are some diamonds in the rough, or the current Spurs roster sans Wemby are THAT bad.
Spurs grabbed their fifth win of the season. Wemby had a good night, played only 24min because of minutes restriction from that ball boy incident. Zach officially coming off the bench now. Prior to the game, Pops called out his players (first time in memory this season).
