Durant traded to Houston for Green, Brooks, #10 pick, and multiple 2nd rounders

Wonder when the press conference will be

 

The Spurs were loaded before the draft and even more so now.

Wemby/Harper/Castle is a very high-end top 3 potential outcome

Sochan is an excellent defender and role player - Bryant has upside as well, and Johnson and Vassel have value.

Fox is a very good bridge as well.

The Spurs also have a lot of draft picks

 

Tbh I've actually been viewing this whole thing through the lens of accelerating our timeline to win now because we'd have been (and will be) unlikely to compete with the next wave of better prospects with Wemby, Flagg and the inevitable LA Lukas rigging. We may be able to sneak a win before it becomes very clear how much more pedestrian our young core was compared to the upper side of the young talent in the league. Obviously if Amen really does break out that gives us a potential franchise star for the future, but I don't think that core 7 was as deep as we thought going in to last season in retrospect and now it's a core 2, 2 "probably decents" and a maybe...

 

It is. It is highly dependent on Wemby or Harper having a very high outcome. I'm much more concerned with Wemby becoming and MVP than I am in Harper/Castle being close to as valuable as Sengun/Tari/Reed/JSJ. Wemby has injury problems, and the Spurs are just a team of poor shooters that can't closely match the Rockets defense.

 

So are you saying only Cooper Flagg is the only rookie with any value in the league? That doesnt make any sense. Dylan Harper is the 2nd ranked prospect in the draft so he isnt even worth a fart?

Player value is determined by both quality and quantity. A year ago the Rox were facing questions on quality ( no franchise star) but had quantity (core 7). Spurs had quality (Wemby), but no quantity in fact it was just Wemby. Now they also have quantity (Harper+Bryant+Castle). OTH Rox lost quantity (Green+Cam) and didnt really add anything they already had before in terms of young core guys.

OKC have SGA, Chet and JDub so they had quality. Now with Sorber and Topic they also have quantity.

In other words before you can argue Rox arguably have a better core because Spurs just have Wemby and OKc just have Chet and JDub (SGA is like 26). But now Rox lost 2 guys with high potential while Spurs and OKC got solid guys to bolster their young stars.

I can honestly say Spurs have a better core of young guys than the Rockets. OKC prob even if SGA isnt included.

 

I wouldnt say Rox are pedestrian but they are def below Spurs and OKC now in terms of young guys. If Rox were in the East they would still be the no 1 core in the East imo. I prefer Amen, Sengun, Jabari, Tari and Reed over Magic, Pistons and Raptors young core.

The hope is those PHX assets and swaps give us lotto picks to bolster our youth in the future.

 

Outside of Wemby, who do the Spurs have that matters?

 

Alpi = Wemby
Amen >>> Harper
KD >>>>>>> Castle

Jabri > Sochan
Tari > Bryant

Fred = Fox

Rest of Rockets >>>>>>>>>>>> Rest of Spurs

no comparison tbh.

 

Whether it's the issues he's already dealing with now or the classic frealkishly big man problems, Wemby most likely isn't going to stay healthy. My guess is he plays less than 400 games in his career.

 

I think you are shrewd and I feel the same. Why give OKC and SA a chance to be even more firmly rooted. The Rockets want to get as many real chances to win as possible and that includes 2025-2025.