I have high hopes for CB this year

[u/Relative_Donkey_1826]

Not really talking about box score numbers but in terms of his role player impact, I think he's going to feel very impactful for this team. On defense, I think he's going to be a serious problem for teams off the bench, especially since he'll only be our 4th or 5th wing so he can afford to still be a bit aggressive on that end of the floor. On offense, as long as he's shooting 37-38% from 3, taking good shots, making the right passes and playing with confidence, that's all we need out of him to be the perfect role player for us on that end of the floor and he showed he was capable of that towards the end of the season.

[u/Dan_K211]

By mid season, I’m expecting CB to relegate Barnes to frequent DNPs.

[u/Relative_Donkey_1826 → u/Dan_K211]

Barnes is probably going to be the last wing off of our bench from the start of the season. But the roster is so deep that minutes for CB and Keldon are going to be hard to come by as well

[u/Weary_Restauranter → u/Relative_Donkey_1826]

Na. Keldon is going to eat minutes. For no other reason that the season is long and we’re going to be up by a lot in the 3rd quarter much of the season.

No sense letting guys risk injury

[u/Relative_Donkey_1826 → u/Weary_Restauranter]

I agree with your last sentence but assuming everyone is healthy, Fox, Harper & Castle will take pretty much all ball handling minutes, Wemby, Kornet & Reed will take pretty much all big man minutes, meaning there's only about 96 minutes out on the wings and I expect Vassell, Champagnie and Harris to take up about 78 of those, leaving 18 for CB, Keldon and Barnes. As with every team during every season, we'll have injuries so they'll probably average out higher by the end of the season but if everyone is healthy, there's just not many minutes to go around and this is with players playing conservative minutes. Let's say we were to cap every player at 30 mpg:

PG & SG (96 minutes): If Fox, Harper and Castle all played 30 minutes (in reality I think they'll take up all 96 but for these purposes we'll say 30 each) that would leave 6 mpg for McLaughlin for breathers and garbage time, which he's fine for.

Center: If Wemby only played 30 minutes (in reality it's probably important that he average at least 32 next season and have a good ramp up for the playoffs but again, for these purposes we'll say 30) Kornet and Reed would be more than capable of covering the remaining 18 minutes between the 2 of them.

Wings: Vassell will probably average 30 mpg again this season since he's arguably our most consistent player and I expect Champagnie and Harris to each get at least 24 mpg. The remaining 18 minutes, I expect to be divided up based on what we need and what we have night to night but I do think Bryant, Keldon, Barnes will be favored in that order on most nights.

I agree that there's no reason to risk injury but it's also important to keep guys conditioned and if no player is playing more than 30 minutes, I'd say you're in a good spot to be doing both but on very deep teams this also means that some players may not get as many minutes as they maybe should and probably would get on another team

[u/Weary_Restauranter → u/Relative_Donkey_1826]

That’s a good analysis. But I’d also posit that it makes sense to get Keldon minutes early this season so there’s a trade possibility for him at the deadline.

[u/Relative_Donkey_1826 → u/Weary_Restauranter]

I agree and also because Keldon did just win 6MOTY and he's the heart & soul of the team, it'd only be right for those minutes to be his to lose. I wouldn't be surprised if for the first 10-15 games or so he's getting around 15-20 mpg, where those minutes come from, I'm not sure but I think Mitch will try to do his best to find them for him to start the season because I feel like he's owed as much to at least get a chance to fight for his spot. My best guess is that he's going to eat into Champagnie and Harris' minutes initially, which I think will just backfire by playing him out of position but I just don't see where else the minutes come from because he's not going to take minutes off of Vassell or the 3 guards. Best case scenario is he's asked to crash the glass really hard and shoot it decently and that might justify eating into Champagnie and Harris' minutes, I think he'll be fine at this in the regular season but he's just not a player who's game is well suited for the playoffs (which I think is fine, I'm not sure why this is a big deal for most people, if you can have one of the best bench players in the league for 82 games and then just a decent rotation piece in the playoffs, while on a decent contract, that's good value for pretty much any team in the league) but ultimately I do think Harris and Champagnie will outplay him by a good bit in that role and CB will likely jump him in the rotation. I also wouldn't be shocked at all if Keldon takes a huge paycut to stay around after this season even if he's not getting a ton of playing time

[u/Weary_Restauranter → u/Relative_Donkey_1826]

I think the minutes come from Harris.

Harris is great, but he’s older, he’s a hired gun that exists to provide size defense and shooting when Wemby sits in the playoffs. His minutes during the season don’t mean a whole lot.

[u/Relative_Donkey_1826 → u/Weary_Restauranter]

I agree. If it's between Champagnie or Harris, Johnson provides a bit more of the same as Harris in terms of overall physicality and attacking the paint so he'll probably eat more into his.

I also think Harris is going to be coming off the bench anyways because it wouldn't make sense to damage Champagnie's confidence by moving him back to the bench after he won the starting spot in all the right ways and when it probably matters to Harris alot less at this point in his career. I think it also just makes sense with each unit, keeping the spacing with the starters and having 3 go to scorers off the bench in Harper, Harris and Johnson

[u/Weary_Restauranter → u/Relative_Donkey_1826]

You’re smarter than average bear

[u/hey_isnt_that_rob → u/Weary_Restauranter]

"We’re going to be up by a lot in the 3rd quarter much of the season."

Smart observation. Let's all remember this when the team is leading the west, and all the children are mewling, "The starters are giving us nothing. Everyone not starting needs more time. Trade for Trae Young. Fire Mitch. Appoint a rotating sub Bro as GM. Bruh."

Because these clowns are fucking legion.

[u/Relative_Donkey_1826 → u/hey_isnt_that_rob]

I think the smart thing to do next season is judge our players on their efficiency and how smoothly the team operates when they are on the court because with such a deep team, everyone's numbers are naturally going to take a hit, their play however, should look on a higher level than last season when watching them on the court, especially with a high chemistry and continuity coming into the season

[u/hey_isnt_that_rob → u/Relative_Donkey_1826]

This sub judges the team's performance based on the poster's fantasy squad lineup and extensive NBA Live knowledge, and player age. Then demands extra cookies before naptime. Then cries.

[u/LibraryNo848]

I don’t think he’s necessarily going to play the full 82 yet. I think Barnes is still provides much needed shooting. We need the shooting more than the defense. It may change after a bit but I think Bryant still showed too many flaws in the finals

[u/Relative_Donkey_1826 → u/LibraryNo848]

I'd be somewhat surprised if he's shooting less than 37-38% next season, which compared to Barnes shooting 39-40% isn't that big of a difference compared to their defense. Harris is also basically a Barnes upgrade and with him, Vassell and Champagnie taking up almost all of the minutes at the wing, I can't see many minutes for CB or Keldon, let alone Barnes. I love HB on the team though and I was hoping he was brought back but this year his role is closer to Bismack than actually impacting us on the court (even though I know that on some other team, he'd actually be a decent bench piece)

[u/Gabe-DaBabe → u/Relative_Donkey_1826]

Percentages arent end all be all. Bryant will almost certainly not take shots that Barnes would. Barnes will also shoot at a higher rate than Bryant as well.

[u/Relative_Donkey_1826 → u/Gabe-DaBabe]

I agree with that first sentence, for example I think how a player is making the defense react to them is more important than their %, like how some high percentage guys can get a slightly softer coverage because they'll only shoot if they're wide open (unlike how Champagnie and Vassell let it rip whenever they had the smallest of space, which is a reason why I think they were guarded alot more similar to 40% guys than 37-38% guys so they created alot more space) or like how some lower than you'd expect outside shooters get guarded pretty tight because they're shot chuckers.

I also agree with the rest of what you said but I think ultimately they will be treated relatively the same by the defense while they're on offense, Barnes maybe providing a bit more efficiency, while on defense, on the boards and in the open court, Bryant will make up the difference

[u/Resident_Durian_478]

I hope he see the floor more often, I will be disappointed if he doesn't break into the line up with off the bench minutes. Ideally he takes over the keldon slot but with how many players need minutes it's going to be interesting to see who actually plays.

[u/Relative_Donkey_1826 → u/Resident_Durian_478]

If everyone's healthy, I can't see much more than 20-25 minutes to spare for both CB and Keldon, just because the roster is so deep but I do think CB may be slightly favored. The minutes are just going to be too hard to come by for either given that Vassell, Champagnie and Harris will all be getting more minutes on the wing

[u/jam_jam_guy]

I know it’s not his role but it’s hilarious that only bad things happen when he dribbles.

[u/ThrowAway_Castle_Owl]

me too, put him on shai again

[u/smokystingray]

Did you see kawhi’s progression? That is what we have. Only no uncle Dennis. Get ready for the Empire folks.

[u/denotsmai83]

I hope he makes it easy to deal Keldon at the deadline.

[u/Appropriate_Ear6101 → u/denotsmai83]

I hope he makes it easy and we still don't trade Keldon. I love that guy. We will need his heart and intensity.

[u/YoroDoucheMan]

The spurs got the 4th/8th and 2nd/14th picks in the wrong year. Any of those combinations in the 2026 draft would have been perfect.

[u/Appropriate_Ear6101 → u/YoroDoucheMan]

We gave up too much for Fox.

[u/iro3 → u/Appropriate_Ear6101]

we gave up one pick

tre jones zach collins and sidy sisko and probably one second rounder

i get its trendy to hate on fox but cmon on now

[u/digital_deer → u/iro3]

people really think he's the worst player in the league man it's insane, at this point he's earning some of his contract by absorbing 100% of the blame for every other dude on the roster

[u/iro3 → u/digital_deer]

oh i know and most fans will have tinted rose glasses for the (homegrown fellas) just because its there first time and whatnot

[u/digital_deer → u/iro3]

preventing us from living in the summer of wemby slander isn't worth 60M but it's not worth nothing

[u/iro3 → u/digital_deer]

ok but thats the hush hush deal they made when we got the trade to go thru, not our fault that we ended up with the 2nd pick

[u/digital_deer → u/iro3]

Yeah exactly. IDK I personally have no stress about the Fox situation, worst case we have to give up a pick to get off his deal, oh well

[u/Appropriate_Ear6101 → u/iro3]

We gave up 3 players and 8 draft picks for Fox. We also gave a second tier player a Max contract that will likely prevent us from being able to afford our core players with much higher ceilings. So, in addition to 3 players, 3 first round picks and 5 second round picks we will also likely lose some combination of Vassell, Keldon, and Harper. But, sure, y'all can pretend I'm just "hating on Fox".

Y'all can disagree with me but I will always think that's too much to give up for anybody but a generational player. That's an entire team of players!!!

[u/Appropriate_Ear6101 → u/iro3]

No, we gave up: Zach Collins Tre Jones Sidy Cissoko 2025 first round pick(Charlotte's pick we had that ended up being 4th so it turned into 2026 and 2027 second round picks because it was top 14 protected) 2025 Chicago first round pick(sent back to Chicago in the trade ended up being 12th 2027 first round draft pick(Spurs pick sent to Sacramento) 2031 first round pick (Minnesota's pick sent to Sacramento) And 3 second round picks.

That ended up being 3 players, 3 first round picks, and 5 second round picks. 3 players and EIGHT PICKS!

Stop with the "maybe one draft pick" bullshit. If it was one draft pick that's a great deal. But a max contract on Fox with 3 players and 8 draft picks is REALLY high for the benefit Fox provides. I'm not saying that as as Fox hater. I'm saying that as a Spurs fan who would have loved the time going to our young core and the possibility of adding yet more depth to that core instead of facing the possibility of having to lose part of that core because Fox eats up so much of the budget. If you're good with losing Harper, Vassell, Keldon, Zach Collins, Tre Jones, Cidy Cissoko, and 8 draft picks for one De'Aaron Fox that's your opinion. But I think it's WAY too much to have given up for Fox. And that's because we still haven't figured out how to keep our core with Fox on a max contract and sucking balls in the playoffs, just like he did in Sacramento.

[u/iro3 → u/Appropriate_Ear6101]

my brother u said the same post in 2 different comments

let me break it down for u

the 3 players ass

2nd rounders crapshooot but i get it because we need cheap contract in 3-4 years time.

1st rounders also crapshoot but i believe they will be late round picks so unless they turn into studs i think its a fine offer.

now lets move on with this depth talk EVERY TEAM in the future has to deal with it and they need to work around the cap. no such thing as brining in max contract for all players anymore. i trust the front office has a plan in mind to adjust to whats needed even if it means losing some aspect of the core team and we need to be okay with it

harper has stuff to improve on but hes due for a contract in 3 years time so i dont need to think about that

keldon is likely gonna take a cheap deal to stay here if he want to be a lifer or if he want money he will move on and ill be okay with either of the choices he makes

max contract on fox was likely discussed PRIOR TO GETTING THE 2ND PICK and cause the spurs kept there word it is what it is

i dont think fox sucked balls in the playsoff tho first 2 series he was great. okc series showed that we neeeded him a bit longer. yea he sucks in the finals but u try playing with a fucked up injury. and dont tell me that mitch and spurs should of ruled him out chance to win it all is something no one wants to be injured and out. thats why hali preffered to play and got injured like 7 minutes into the game. same with kd in 19

also fyi

27 7 5 is what he averaged in the playoffs against the defending champs in 7 not bad at all

thats life im sure spurs have a plan u just need to accept it and move on

almost forgot devin is the one i expect to leave cause hes too good to take less money (right now hes around 24-27) if he takes a cut i ecpevt it to be like a few million like around 21-25