🎧 Spurs Insider️ 播客: 马刺队以超级巨星交易智胜群雄

Spurs Insider Podcast, 2025-02-05 07:03:00

由生成式人工智能翻译,译文内容可能不准确或不完整,以原文为准。

专栏作家 Mike Finger 和马刺队记者 Jeff McDonald、Nick Talbot 讨论了马刺队交易得到达龙·福克斯(De’Aaron Fox)的事件,以及他们在得到第二位超级巨星与维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)搭档方面,比预期做得更好的情况。

建议阅读:

马刺队称赞在达龙·福克斯交易中被送走的球员

在得到福克斯后,马刺队并未回避更高的期望

在得到达龙·福克斯的过程中,马刺队延续了一场大师级的抢劫

马刺队的斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)赢得首个最佳新秀月奖

马刺队与萨克拉门托国王队达成重磅交易,得到达龙·福克斯

通过短信获取最新的马刺队新闻(适用标准短信费率):

发送 GSG 至 (210) 934-9628 以通过短信接收圣安东尼奥马刺队的新闻。

以下是播客的文字稿:

来自北美顶级机密地点的安全网络,这里是马刺内幕,交易后版本。我是你们的主持人 Mike Finger,一如既往地有《Express News》的马刺队记者 Jeff McDonald 和体育编辑 Nick Talbot。本周我们没有 Tom Orsborn 的参与。不幸的是,他正飞往他的下一个安全地点,但我们其余的人有很多关于最新加入马刺的乔丹·麦克劳克林(Jordan McLaughlin)以及达龙·福克斯的看法。

Jeff,经过多年来关于马刺队一直在寻找未来的控球后卫的猜测,他们可能心中已经有了未来的控球后卫,他们得到了他们的人,而且为此付出的代价并不高。你有什么想法?

好吧,在我们讨论我的想法之前,我只想说,我感谢你在介绍中地理位置的准确性。它不是横跨南德克萨斯州,我们现在横跨北美。

没错,你还在孟菲斯。

是的,到处都是。

我还在孟菲斯漫步。

不管怎样,达龙·福克斯和乔丹·麦克劳克林,真是大丰收。你说得对,人们一直在想知道,马刺队的球迷一直在渴望,有时甚至感到沮丧。马刺队什么时候会把所有的筹码都推到牌桌中央,兑换成一位球星,维克托·文班亚马的另一位明星搭档?他们实际上不必把所有的筹码都推出去,甚至不必是最重要的那些。他们得到了达龙·福克斯,而且我并不认为,如果冒犯到特雷·琼斯(Trey Jones)、扎克·科林斯(Zack Collins)和西迪·西索科(Sydney Sisoko),我认为他们放弃的任何东西都不是他们真正不想要的。我认为他们得到了他们想要的人,达龙·福克斯,而且他们放弃了他们可以接受失去的球员。

他们没有放弃他们前八的核心球员中的任何一个,没有那些年轻球员,没有德文·瓦塞尔(Devon Vassel),没有斯蒂芬·卡斯尔,没有凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson),没有杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)。他们能够保持他们的核心阵容完整。他们放弃的选秀权,是可以接受的。夏洛特的那个甚至不会是首轮选秀权。公牛队的那个,你知道,公牛队很可能通过表现糟糕来拿回他们自己的选秀权。所以几乎就像他们得到的是一个可能不会兑现的选秀权。明尼苏达的选秀权可能会变成什么,或者可能不会变成什么,但随便吧。

而且他们放弃了自己2027年的选秀权,但他们那年拥有亚特兰大的选秀权,这可能会比他们放弃的那个更好。所以他们放弃的所有东西,他们得到了一位全明星级别的控球后卫,我认为这是你的马刺队管理层做得非常棒。

听起来像是我为《Express News》、expressnews.com、马刺国度时事通讯等等写了一篇专栏文章,你们可以去看看。我们感谢你们给予我们的所有读者,总是好的。不要只听播客,还要关注我们日常工作的内容。这太棒了。我谈到了这是一场多么大的抢劫,这有点用词过度,当我们谈论NBA交易时经常会这样。很多时候,这并不准确。比如这个周末也包括了卢卡·东契奇(Luka Doncic)和安东尼·戴维斯(Anthony Davis)的交易,这引起了更多的关注,更多的人称之为抢劫。但实际上,湖人队放弃了一位名人堂球员才得到卢卡·东契奇。

我知道这是一边倒的交易,我也知道为什么小牛队的球迷对此如此恼火。马刺队认真地放弃了他们放弃的两个主要球员,无论如何,他们迟早会因为薪资原因而放弃他们。特雷·琼斯无论如何都是一名自由球员。下赛季他没有角色。扎克·科林斯,他的合同是马刺队需要摆脱的东西。他们不再让他上场。Jeff刚刚分析了选秀权。芝加哥的那个,他们很可能会拿回那个选秀权,因为它在接下来的三年里都是受保护的,正如Jeff指出的那样。这基本上什么都不是。夏洛特的选秀权让我发笑,因为对我来说,这几乎是萨克拉门托在新闻发布会上说,我们得到了这个额外的首轮选秀权的一种方式。

在任何情况下,这都不是一个首轮选秀权。夏洛特今年要想进入季后赛,就必须成为首轮。夏洛特必须开始以史无前例的速度赢得比赛才能进入季后赛。他们可能需要全胜。根本不可能成为首轮选秀权。这只是为了让萨克拉门托可以说,我们得到了三个首轮选秀权,而实际上你只得到了两个。实际上,你在这里放弃的只是马刺队自己在2027年的选秀权,当时马刺队预计会争夺冠军,至少是在首轮的后三分之一顺位进行选择。我的意思是,我们预计那个选秀权会是什么?如果一切顺利的话,最多是22、23这样的顺位。然后是他们今年得到的第二个首轮选秀权,在那天晚上,当每个人都在为他们没有选择罗布·迪林厄姆(Rob Dillingham)或道尔顿·克内希特(Dalton Connect)或其他什么人而感到不安时,在他们选择了斯蒂芬·卡斯尔之后。每个人都在大吵大闹的那个选秀权,说为什么他们,为什么他们没有在2024年选秀大会上做出选择,以及为什么他们选择了这个七年内都无法使用的选秀权?他们在七个月后用它得到了他们渴望多年的控球后卫,而且这个控球后卫完美地适合他们的体系,年龄可能不是完美的,比如达龙·福克斯27岁,维克托·文班亚马21岁,但也很接近了。你会得到,你会希望,达龙·福克斯的四年巅峰,也许吧。

这对于维克托·文班亚马和斯蒂芬·卡斯尔以及德文·瓦塞尔和杰里米·索汉以及整个马刺队的核心阵容来说是非常好的。他们在这笔交易中做得如此出色,这让我感到震惊。这可以追溯到两年半前,当时他们将德章泰·默里(Dejounte Murray)交易到亚特兰大老鹰队,换来了当时所谓的四个首轮选秀权。其中一个就是夏洛特的选秀权,这显然不会成为现实。其中一个是互换,明年可能会互换。德章泰·默里无论如何都不是他们未来的一部分。交易德章泰·默里让你变得足够糟糕,从而得到维克托·文班亚马。你得到维克托·文班亚马,你可以保留所有这些亚特兰大的选秀权,因为亚特兰大正面临着一个他们不知道与特雷·杨(Trey Young)的未来是什么时候。最重要的是,你得到了一位比德章泰·默里更适合你的控球后卫,时间线方面,也许是天赋方面,所有这些方面。我通常不是阳光泵,蓝天,乐观主义者,但你有点想为一项出色的工作,一项精心执行的计划,所有这些类型的事情致敬。现在他们必须开始赢得比赛,现在他们必须开始用它做一些事情。我无法想象他们在过去两三年里能以更好的方式完成这件事。

如果你在周六告诉我,马刺队最终会得到达龙·福克斯,而且他们不必放弃德文·瓦塞尔或斯蒂芬·卡斯尔中的任何一个,而且他们仍然可以保留他们从亚特兰大得到的一切,我甚至不需要听其他的细节。我会说干得漂亮。但我也认为那里会有凯尔登·约翰逊之类的球员,但甚至没有。所以干得好。现在,你说到获胜,我想我们可以讨论达龙的适应性,我们可以讨论他们从哪里开始,我们可以讨论期望是什么,也许是本赛季最后30多场比赛,以及之后,有很多东西需要分析。有很多东西要谈。

这里还有另一个,只是为了给这种抢劫类型的交易画上一个句号。你说保留瓦塞尔和卡斯尔是最重要的事情,这绝对是,就像这两个人一样。我肯定他们必须交易其中一个。

好吧,我不确定。我不这么认为。我认为他们有杠杆作用。我认为凯尔登·约翰逊是那个必须离开的人。就像你认为萨克拉门托想要的可利用的球员,以及马刺队愿意放弃的球员。这种情况没有发生。这让我感到震惊。

我真的认为会发生的是,国王队会想要瓦塞尔或卡斯尔,而马刺队会说,我们现在不会这么做,这笔交易就不会完成。我真的认为会发生这种情况。马刺队所做的是,很明显,国王队想要天赋。他们想要,他们想要天赋,就像现在的天赋一样,也就是斯蒂芬·卡斯尔。马刺队不会加入这个行列,所以你拉拢了第三方来提供交易中的那一部分,也就是扎克·拉文(Zach LaVine)。

考虑到国王队所处的困境,他们在这件事上做得并不像公牛队那么糟糕。国王队做得还不错。

这次盗窃案的受害者不一定是国王队,而是芝加哥公牛队,他们基本上只是拿回了他们最初的东西。太疯狂了。

他们摆脱了一份他们多年来一直试图摆脱的拉文的合同,基本上自从墨迹未干的时候就开始了。是的,真正帮助他们的是,拿回那个选秀权是,如果他们在这里做出更多的举动,他们实际上现在可以摆烂了,他们有点处于那种奇怪的境地,但他们在这笔交易中仍然做得不太好。他们可能做得和独行侠队在他们的交易中一样糟糕。他们只是没有得到任何回报。

你看,关于公牛队选秀权的误解是,公牛队实际上在拿回选秀权之前就被激励摆烂,因为如果他们表现糟糕,那就和亚特兰大相反了。如果他们表现糟糕,他们就可以保留选秀权,因为它受到前10名和前8名的保护。所以现在他们以一种奇怪的方式可以自由地不必担心这个问题。如果他们,如果他们,如果他们明年开始获胜,他们就可以保留选秀权,而当马刺队拥有它的时候,如果他们一直在摆烂,如果他们开始获胜,马刺队就会得到像前11名的选秀权,无论如何。

我之前要说的是关于马刺队保留了什么,当我们分析马刺队在这个截止日期前获得达龙·福克斯的想法时,他们可能不得不放弃什么,以及我们正在关注的2025赛季的剩余时间里,我一直在想的是,如果马刺队完成这笔交易并可能增加达龙·福克斯,那么突然之间,第二阵容中就会出现一个空缺,而凯尔登·约翰逊就在那里,或者会有一个空缺,我不认为这种情况会发生,但在首发阵容中德文·瓦塞尔的位置上会出现一个空缺,或者如果国王队坚持继续争夺他们的附加赛席位,他们甚至会说,嘿,我们放弃了我们的控球后卫,你把克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)还给我们。所以马刺队会在克里斯·保罗的位置上出现一个空缺。马刺队基本上增加了一位前全明星,对他们的轮换阵容产生了巨大影响的控球后卫,而且没有从他们的轮换阵容中放弃任何人。他取代了特雷·琼斯,但扎克·科林斯无论如何都没有上场,西迪·西索科也无论如何都没有上场。他们几乎,不是几乎,他们在各个方面都比现在更有能力在接下来的几个月里进行竞争。我知道这并不是这里的优先事项,但这笔交易让我感到惊讶的是,我认为在他们重组并弄清楚他们的未来是什么时,接下来的几个月里可能会有所退步。他们可以继续努力获胜。昨晚对阵灰熊队的比赛中,他们没有这样做,因为灰熊队每次和他们比赛都会把他们打得落花流水,而且达龙·福克斯还没有到。

他们今年可能不会进入附加赛,但我认为在剩下的赛季里,提升几个位置并进入附加赛并不是一个不切实际的目标。是的,我同意这一点,但我也想缓和大家对期望的看法,因为我认为当你增加像达龙·福克斯这样的球员时,每个人都会很兴奋。这是有充分理由的,因为他会和维克托·文班亚马配合得很好。我不认为这种情况会立即发生。我认为今年年底可能会出现一些成长的烦恼,部分原因是,我不知道会是什么,部分原因是我不知道阵容会是什么样子。

在理想的世界里,你不会同时让克里斯·保罗和达龙·福克斯首发。你不会让阵容变得那么小,但为了本赛季剩下的时间,你不得不这样做。你不会告诉克里斯·保罗他必须去板凳席。你不会让达龙·福克斯从板凳席上出场。你可能会把斯蒂芬·卡斯尔调回板凳席,并且阵容会变得非常小,这不是赢得比赛的最佳篮球阵容。每个人都知道这不是赢得比赛的最佳篮球阵容,但仅仅出于人性考虑,你可能不得不这样结束本赛季。当克里斯明年不会回来时,我认为这笔交易可能已经消除了我们记者们的一个梦想场景,那就是马刺队不增加控球后卫,克里斯·保罗再回来一年。他可能不会回来,因为他不想从板凳席上出场。他不想成为一个配角,他想掌控一切,当你交易得到达龙·福克斯时,他将成为你的控球后卫。我认为他们会这样结束赛季,除非截止日期前发生什么事情,如果发生其他事情。我认为他们会以克里斯和达龙一起打球,斯蒂芬从板凳席上出场的方式结束赛季,然后他们在夏天弄清楚他们真正想要的是什么,并进入下一年。

如果这不仅仅是一个我们会全力以赴进入附加赛的自动反应,我也不会感到惊讶。但我也要敦促马刺队的球迷们不要惊慌,如果它不能立刻看起来那么漂亮,因为他们仍然有需要组合在一起的碎片。达龙·福克斯和文班亚马的挡拆将会非常难以防守,当你能围绕它布置一些投篮时,马刺队将会非常难以防守。一些真正顶级的投篮,球转移到那个人那里,就像,哦,我的天哪,他要投进了。那种围绕它的投篮,一旦他们得到它,那真的会开始运转。这将是一件很难防守的事情,但仍然需要更多的努力,管理层需要做更多的工作才能达到最终的产品。

好吧,有很多有趣的东西,我并不一定不同意。我不一定不同意很多东西,但是,我在这里做了一些笔记,试图跟上我想和你讨论的几件事。首先,绝对不能保证他们今年会进入附加赛,赛季就会神奇地扭转,他们就会开始获胜并最终进入那里。但我认为我的观点是他们的情况并没有变得更糟,没有理由认为那是不现实的。我认为他们会有机会。在接下来的几个月里,他们至少会有一次机会,我认为,你知道,如果他们进入附加赛,可能接近掷硬币的概率。我认为他们的胜算可能那么高。我不会感到惊讶。其次,关于首发阵容的事情,我认为我们大多数人都倾向于过多地关注这一点,Jeff,你可能有这方面的信息,但我不是,让我们暂时把首发阵容放在一边。我认为这笔交易在接下来的几个月里所做的一件事是,让马刺队处于这样一种境地,即在每晚的大部分有意义的时间里,我的意思是,我要说像90%的时间里,要么是克里斯·保罗,要么是达龙·福克斯在掌控一切。

不管这意味着他们都首发,或者意味着,我不认为会这样。如果他们让克里斯·保罗从板凳席上出场,我不会感到震惊。他不是他们未来的一部分。他是一个很好的篮球运动员,而且这里还有另一件事。我只是认为他们太尊重了。他最初来到马刺队的原因是,好吧,部分原因是维克托·文班亚马,部分原因是格雷格·波波维奇(Greg Popovich),但即使在他的介绍新闻发布会上,他来到圣安东尼奥的第一天,他说这并不是最重要的,因为这是唯一一个允许他打球的地方。他们对老将非常好。他们想善待克里斯·保罗。但这并不是说其他地方都给克里斯·保罗提供了首发的机会,也不是说其他地方明年都会给克里斯·保罗提供首发的机会。克里斯·保罗去年从板凳席上出场。就像他以前做过的那样。

但他很讨厌那样。他会告诉你这是他一生的工作。好吧,如果你把他调到那里,那将违背他的意愿,你可以这样做。米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)可以去告诉一位比他年长的控球后卫,是的,我们要把你调到板凳席上。我只是认为这不会发生。我认为,在剩下的30场比赛中,意识到附加赛并不是真正的目标。我认为他们会这样做。

我认为你可能是对的。我质疑,这很酷。马刺队在正确对待球员和尊重老将方面已经走了很长一段路,所有这些。

但我在想,作为一个特许经营权,他们是否不应该更好地了解他们明年将要使用的首发阵容。如果我们确定克里斯·保罗会离开。这就是为什么我认为,而且我认为克里斯·保罗也理解这一点,而且我不认为克里斯·保罗去年是一个糟糕的队友。我认为你有点夸大了他有多痛苦。

他去年从板凳席上出场时似乎并不高兴。好吧,我的意思是,好吧,这没关系。这是我没有说马刺队会做什么。我建议看看达龙·福克斯、德文·瓦塞尔、斯蒂芬·卡斯尔、哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)、维克托·文班亚马的首发阵容会很有好处,因为我认为这将是明年的首发阵容。我认为杰里米·索汉可能会,好吧,也许他可以在某个时候取代哈里森·巴恩斯,但我认为杰里米·索汉可能会演变成一个长期替补球员。我认为有了凯尔登·约翰逊,这是一个相当不错的替补阵容。

如果你把他调到板凳席上,你很快就会把他换上场,你会给他很多维克托·文班亚马的出场时间,因为这是马刺队今年最好的二人组阵容。我不确定我想看到达龙·福克斯和克里斯·保罗一起首发的阵容打满30场比赛。也许这会让,这就是现在热门的播客。我不知道。

关键是,即使像维克托说的那样,这些球员可以被视为物体,但他们不是物体。他们是有感情的人,这并不总是重要,但我确实认为马刺队会给克里斯·保罗一些尊重。

我认为你可能是对的。我认为你可能是对的。所以我也不会,我不知道任何事情,但我不会感到惊讶。我也不会。

我没有否认这一点。你说的正确的部分是,你可以随心所欲地开始比赛,然后调整你的轮换阵容,让那些家伙在一起打的时间不会很多。也许如果你想看到那样。

如果你想看到明年首发的阵容,你也可以调整你的轮换阵容,让这五个人一起获得足够多的出场时间。这可能是我们解决分歧的方式。你可以让克里斯·保罗继续首发,在那里他被介绍,他坚持担任首发球员的角色,然后你确保有很多时间让你的未来阵容出场。

我认为这增加了一点额外的复杂性。但首发的事情也是收官,那是克里斯·保罗擅长的。他真的擅长这个。当首发球员认为他们是首发时,他们也认为他们会收官。

这绝对是真的,这也是我要说的一件事,那就是你希望克里斯·保罗帮助他们收官。总的来说,Jeff 已经报道了NBA 97年,他可以对此发表评论。当比赛进入关键时刻时,球队往往会变得更小。

在比赛结束时,让克里斯·保罗、达龙·福克斯都成为维克托·文班亚马的挡拆选择,这非常棒。只要你有另外两个射手在那里保持防守的诚实,这似乎是一件很棒的事情。

达龙·福克斯在两年前赢得了年度关键球员奖。有几年他都是联盟第四节得分的领先者。就像你说的,这是另一个第四节关键时刻的选择,如果马刺队还能把比赛拖到关键时刻的话。

我认为我对所有这一切的看法是,他们需要找到一种方法,无论是让他们两个都首发,还是让一个从板凳席上出场。我不认为每场比赛都不应该有12分钟,既没有达龙·福克斯也没有克里斯·保罗出场。那将会是一个错误。如果你有这两个家伙,你希望在大多数时候都有一个在场。我认为Mitchell会弄清楚的。你试图做一个非常好的过渡,但被我破坏了,关于马刺队不再打接近的比赛了。想谈谈这个吗?

那是对阵迈阿密的那场比赛,他们在蜂鸣器响起时输了,但除此之外。这是真的。大胜之城。他们可以在没有文班的情况下打一场势均力敌的比赛。

也许文班是问题所在。我认为我已经开始了解文班的情况了。我害怕这样。那是你喉咙后部的那种感觉。

文班从巴黎回来了。他昨晚听起来很糟糕。他上了讲台。我们刚在更衣室找到他,他听起来比那天晚上更糟。他听起来很糟糕。

孟菲斯是为数不多的我们仍然在地板上的地方之一,所以我可以看得更清楚,而且他呼吸困难,伙计。我注意到他似乎没有精力。如果你更了解他们,有时你会认为他在偷懒。他投失了一个球,而且回防时非常迟缓。然后你在赛后和他交谈,他说,哦,他病得像条狗一样。

他感觉不太好。所以我认为这是值得关注的事情。这不是开始客场之旅的好方法。他通常会在最后才这样。希望他能摆脱它。好吧,对于你们当地的球员来说,开始客场之旅的好方法是不要去孟菲斯。

他们和那支球队就是合不来。他们也在三月份在那里结束了。我确实看到了一件让我感到惊讶的事情,播客的一位朋友叫 John Schuman,他在NBA.com工作,他每月都会分析赛程强度。本月,你们当地的球员完全不在当地,他们整个月都在远离 Frost Bank Center 的地方比赛。2月1日对阵迈阿密的比赛是唯一一场比赛,预计马刺队将拥有联盟第四轻松的赛程。这让你感到惊讶吗?这只是很多夏洛特和华盛顿的比赛,仅此而已。亚特兰大打得不好。亚特兰大看起来像新奥尔良。这些都被算在里面了。

重点是他们正在客场,但这不是一次令人畏惧的客场之旅。他们确实在奥斯汀有两场比赛,这些比赛是所谓的“主场比赛”。一场是对阵底特律,一场是对阵摇摇欲坠的菲尼克斯太阳队,太阳队可能有也可能没有吉米·巴特勒(Jimmy Butler),可能有也可能没有凯文·杜兰特(Kevin Durant)。如果凯文·杜兰特回到金州勇士队,那将会很疯狂。我不认为那种级别的球员会在赛季中期被交易。这不会是这个周末第967次关于卢卡·东契奇的播客。我们不会过多地谈论它。

我们不得不说这太疯狂了。这是我的看法。这太疯狂了。你给独行侠队打了一个巨大的 F。这就是你需要知道的。这就是任何人能说的。他们给他们的球迷打了一个巨大的 F。这是真的。我们不会深入讨论它。

让我感到疯狂的是,我们就像,第一批名人堂球员就这样被解雇了,什么都不是。我认为这对独行侠队来说是一笔糟糕的交易。我认为人们有点低估了安东尼·戴维斯,但我要指出一点,因为这是你对马刺队提出的观点,马刺队如何能够做出他们所做的一些举动,并收集他们所收集的一些资产。

我们会接受七年后的选秀权互换。这是因为他们的管理层人员可能会在七年后仍然在这里。尼科·哈里森(Nicoh Harrison)在新闻发布会上这样说过。我不在乎十年后会发生什么,因为我们不会在这里。我只关心未来的三到四年。所以马刺队总是与那些这样认为的人打交道。

马刺队只是从他们刚刚进行的交易中窃取。他们总是与那些赊账购买的人打交道。我不,你可以拥有七年后的东西。这对我来说并不重要。而马刺队知道,七年后,如果他们做出那个选择,他们可能会由这些人做出选择。在管理层拥有这种连续性和长寿以及工作保障,可以让你做一些如果你总是需要担心明年和明年和明年都无法做的事情。

这是一个我们之前谈论过的很好的观点。这是一个很好的本周播客的结束语,它可以追溯到我们忠实的听众,我们忠实的读者偶尔向我们表达的,可以理解的沮丧,关于我们在这个播客中的一些人有时不太愿意因为马刺队所做的一些读者和听众不理解的事情而称马刺队为白痴。有时人们一直在恳求,尤其是在马刺队经历这些低谷时期的时候。为什么你们不因为他们没有做出更大的举动而批评他们?为什么你们不在他们有机会的时候因为他们没有追逐特雷·杨而批评他们?为什么你们不因为所有这些毫无意义的事情而批评他们?

交易这个选秀权,他们本可以拥有罗布·迪林厄姆,他们本可以拥有道尔顿·克内希特。他们为什么要交易到2031年呢,迈克·芬格和杰夫·麦克唐纳永远不敢出来说布莱恩·莱特(Brian Wright)是一个白痴,因为他做出了这些糟糕的举动。并不是我们认为一切都会奏效,而且我们也不是主场球迷。我认为在大多数时候,我们远不是主场球迷。我们知道如果我们那样做,很有可能七个月后,我们就会看起来像白痴,因为事实证明他们一直都有计划,并且得到了他们想要的人。

马刺队在制定计划并坚持执行并使其奏效方面有着非常好的记录。仍然有很多工作要做,本周没有任何保证。达龙·福克斯作为一名球员也有他的缺点。如果他的三分球命中率能超过33%,那就太好了。

他是否是那种在30多岁时能够保持良好状态的球员?但杰夫说得对,马刺队总是着眼于长远计划。他们有知道自己会在这里待很多年的人,因为他们不怕被解雇。从所有权到首席执行官,从上到下,他们都明白有长远的计划要坚持,而且你不能解雇他们。

如果你希望他们坚持这个计划,我只是认为他们现在正朝着正确的方向前进。你仍然希望他们展示进步的步骤。如果他们不展示进步,如果他们不增加下一个人,我认为在某个时候还会有另一个人加入。也许在维克托和达龙之后,第三好的球员还没有出现。

就像杰夫说的那样,他们会提前思考,而这又是另一个例子。你认为他们必须在现在到星期四之间增加一个人吗,还是他们现在就可以完成了?这样做不会有坏处。在昨晚的比赛中,查尔斯·巴锡(Charles Bassey)的膝盖看起来又受伤了。我认为他最终还是没事了。但他并不是未来或接下来几个月的关键人物。这再次提醒了我们在那个位置上的实力有多薄弱。如果他要缺席,他们会陷入困境。他们现在有一个空缺,因为他们送走了三个人,又带回了两个人。这可以在截止日期后使用吗?就像他们可以在买断市场上增加一个大个子,对吗?我只是在看那些可用的球员类型。

新奥尔良有丹尼尔·泰斯(Daniel Tys),他的薪水几乎没有,只是一个老将类型的大个子替补。莫·班巴(Mo Bamba)刚刚被交易放弃。他对我和马刺队来说非常有趣,因为真正的竞争者对他感兴趣,所以马刺队不会得到他。一个薪水很低的人,这将会非常棒。

韦尔森·亚布塞莱(Vershon Yabusele),我今年夏天在巴黎观看他和维克托一起打球。76人队可能会把他交易给一支有竞争力的球队,但再次把他放在维克托旁边作为替补将会非常酷。我认为很明显马刺队需要在维克托身后增加更多深度,也就是替补大个子。就像联盟中的每个人一样,他们需要更多的投篮。我只想提醒大家,这不是我们必须在星期四之前,年底之前完成的事情。他们可能需要在下赛季开始之前解决这些问题。如果他们没有在休赛期加强他们的大个子深度,没有增加至少一个可以投三分的家伙,那么我会说那会很麻烦。但这不一定非要在现在到星期四之间完成。

马刺队仍然没有说我们要打附加赛,我们今年必须进入季后赛。这并不是真正的目标。如果它偶然发生,那很好。这是两种不同的讨论,在今年剩下的时间里,这是两种不同的优先级,无论是在一个非常小的交易中,还是在未来一个月左右的买断式收购中,都有助于增加另一名大个子来填补你的15人阵容。这与休赛期的优先事项完全不同,在休赛期你想要增加投篮,在更长的时间里增加替补深度。

点击查看原文:Spurs outfox competition with superstar trade

Spurs outfox competition with superstar trade

Columnist Mike Finger and Spurs beat reporters Jeff McDonald and Nick Talbot discuss the Spurs’ trade for De’Aaron Fox and how they made out even better then expected in getting a second superstar to pair with Victor Wembanyama.

Suggested reading:

Spurs praise players shipped off in De’Aaron Fox trade

Spurs aren’t shying away from heightened expectations after adding Fox

In landing De’Aaron Fox, Spurs continue a master heist

Spurs’ Castle earns first Rookie of the Month

Spurs acquire De’Aaron Fox in blockbuster trade with Sacramento

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Here is the transcript of the podcast:

From a highly secure network of top secret locations across North America, this is the Spurs Insider, Post Trade Edition. I’m your host, Mike Finger, as always joined by Express News Spurs beat writer, Jeff McDonald, and Sports Editor, Nick Talbot. We are not graced with Tom Orsborn’s presence this week. Unfortunately, he’s flying to his next secure location, but the rest of us have lots to say about the newest Spur, Jordan McLaughlin, as well as De’Aaron Fox.

Jeff, after years and years of speculation that the Spurs were looking at a point guard of the future, guard of the future, that might have a point guard of the future in mind, they got their man and they did not pay that much for him. What what what are your thoughts?

Well, before we get to my thoughts, I just want to say I appreciate you being geographically accurate in the uh, in the intro there. It’s not, it’s not across South Texas, we’re across North America right now.

Correct, you’re still in Memphis.

Yeah. It’s all over the place.

I’m still walking in Memphis.

Anyway, De’Aaron Fox and Jordan McLaughlin, what a haul, what a haul. You’re right, they’ve been, he’ve been wondering and uh, Spurs fans have been pining and sometimes frustrated. When are the Spurs going to push all their chips to the center of the table and cash them in for, you know, a star, another star running mate for Victor Wembanyama? And they didn’t really have to push all their chips in or even the most important ones. They got Dero Fox and I don’t, you know, with no offense to Trey Jones and Zack Collins and Sydney Sisoko, but I don’t think they gave up anything that, that they really didn’t want to. I think they, they got their man, De’Aaron Fox, and they gave up, you know, players they could live with losing.

They didn’t give up any of their top eight core players, none of those young guys, not Devon Vassel, not Stefan Castle, not Keldon Johnson, not Jeremy Sohan. They were able to keep, keep their core intact. The ticks they gave up are, um, picks you can live with. The Charlotte one’s not even going to be a first rounder. The Bulls one, you know, the Bulls probably could have got their own pick back anyway just by being bad. So it’s almost they’re getting a, they’re getting a pick that probably wasn’t going to convey. The Minnesota pick will probably end up being something or could end up being something, but whatever.

And they gave up their own 2027, which they had Atlanta’s that year, which is probably going to be better than the one they gave up. So all the stuff they gave up, they got an All-Star caliber point guard and it was pretty good work by your Spurs front office, I would say.

It sounds like I wrote a column for the Express News, expressnews.com, Spurs Nation newsletter, all that stuff which you can. We appreciate all the, all the, um, readership that you guys have given us, always good. Don’t just listen to the podcast, check in on what we do at our day jobs. That’s, that’s great. I talked about what a heist this has been, and that’s overused, that’s tried when we talk about NBA trades. A lot of times, it’s not really accurate. Like this weekend also included a Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis trade, which got a lot more attention, had a lot more people calling that robbery. But really, the Lakers gave up a Hall of Famer to get Luca Doncic.

I know that’s a one-sided trade and I know why Maverick’s fans are so exasperated about that. The Spurs seriously gave up the two main players they gave up, they were going to have to get rid of at some point for salary reasons. Trey Jones was a free agent anyway. He had no role next year. Zack Collins, that contract that he had was something that the Spurs needed a way to get rid of. They weren’t playing him anymore. Jeff just broke down the picks. The Chicago, there was a good chance they were going to get that pick back anyway because it was protected for the next three years, as Jeff pointed out. That is basically nothing. The Charlotte pick cracks me up because to me that’s almost a way for Sacramento to say at the press conference, we got this extra first round pick.

In no universe is that a first round pick. The only way that Charlotte has to make the playoffs this year for that to be a first round. Charlotte has to make the playoffs. Charlotte has to start winning games at just an unprecedented rate to make the playoffs. They might have to run the table. Like there’s no way that’s a first round pick. That’s passed along just so Sacramento can say, we got three first round picks when in fact you just got two. Really all you gave up here were the Spurs’ own pick in 2027, when the Spurs expect to be contending, at least picking in the bottom third of the first round. I mean, what do we expect that pick to be? At best, 22, 23, something like that if things go well. And then that pick that they got for the second, first round pick they had this past year, that night when everyone was upset that they did not take Rob Dillingham or Dalton Connect or whatever, after they took Stefan Castle. That pick that everyone was up in arms saying, why did they, why did they not make their selection at the 2024 draft, and why did they take this pick that isn’t going to be able to be used for seven years? They used it seven months later to get the point guard that they have coveted for years and one that fits perfectly into their system, and the age fit might not be picture perfect, like De’Aaron Fox is 27, Victor Wembanyama’s 21, but it’s pretty close. You’re going to get, you would, you would, you would hope, four years of De’Aaron Fox’s peak, maybe.

That’s pretty good to have around Victor Wembanyama and Stefan Castle and Devin Vassel and Jeremy Sohan and the whole Spurs nucleus. It’s staggering to me how well they did in this deal. And it dates back to two and a half years ago when they traded Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks for what was then called four first round picks. One of those was that Charlotte pick, which obviously won’t become one. One of them is a swap, which probably will be swapped next year. Dejounte Murray wasn’t part of their future anyway. Trading Dejounte Murray allows you to get bad enough to get Victor Wembanyama. You get Victor Wembanyama, you get to keep all these Atlanta picks as Atlanta is sort of facing a time when they don’t know what their future is with Trey Young. On top of all that, you get a point guard that’s better for you than Dejounte Murray was, timeline wise, maybe talent wise, all that stuff. I’m not usually the sunshine pumper, the the the blue sky, the the optimist here, but it it’s just you sort of want to tip your hat to a job well done, a plan well executed, all that type of stuff. Now they have to start winning, now they have to start doing something with it. I can’t imagine a way they could have pulled this off better over the past two, three years.

If you had told me on Saturday, the Spurs are going to end up with De’Aaron Fox and they will not have to give up either Devin Vassel nor Stefan Castle, and they’d still get to keep everything they got from Atlanta, I wouldn’t even need to hear the rest of the details. I would have said good job. But I also would assume like there’d be a Keldon Johnson in there or something like that, and there wasn’t even that. So good work. Now, now you talk about winning, I guess we can talk about De’Aaron’s fit, we can talk about where they go from here, we can talk about what the expectations are, maybe for the final 30-some games of this season, and then beyond, there’s a lot, there’s a lot to break down. There’s a lot to talk about.

Here’s another just to put a bow on that heist type of deal. You said keeping Vassel and Castle was the biggest thing and that absolutely is, like those are the two. I thought for sure they would have to trade one or the other of them.

Well, I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t think that. I thought that they had leverage. I thought that the like Keldon Johnson was the, the guy that had to go. Like that’s the usable piece that you would have thought that Sacramento would have wanted there, and the one that the Spurs would be willing to give up. That didn’t happen. That’s what kind of blew me away.

I really thought would happen was the Kings would want either Vassel or Castle and the Spurs would say, we’re not going to do that right now and the deal wouldn’t get done. That’s what I really thought would happen. What the Spurs did obviously, the Kings want talent. They wanted it, they wanted talent, talent like when now talent, which was what Steph Castle would have been. The Spurs aren’t going to include that, so you rope in a third team to provide that piece of the deal in Zach LaVine.

The Kings did not do as poorly in this as the Bulls did. The Kings did okay considering they’re over a barrel.

The victim of this larceny here was not necessarily the Kings as much as it was the Chicago Bulls, who basically just got back what they, what they started with. It’s crazy.

They got out of a LaVine contract they’ve been trying to get out of for years since the ink was dry basically. Yeah, the only thing that really helped them is they, getting the pick back is, if they make more moves over here, they can actually tank now, they were kind of in that weird situation, but they still did not do very well in this deal. They might have done almost as bad as the Mavericks did in their deal. They just didn’t get anything back for it.

See that’s the misconception about that Bull’s pick is that the Bulls actually were incentivized to tank before they got the pick back, because if they were bad, it was the opposite of Atlanta. If they were bad, they kept the pick, because it was top 10 and then top eight protected. So now they in a weird way are free to not have to worry about that. If they, if they, um, if they start winning next year, they, they get to keep the pick, whereas when the Spurs had it, if they had been tanking, if they started winning the Spurs would have gotten like a top 11 pick, whatever.

What I was going to say before about what the Spurs kept, is when we were running through the idea of the Spurs acquiring De’Aaron Fox at this deadline, what they might have to get up, give up, and we were looking at the rest of this 2025 season, one thing I was thinking about is if the Spurs make this trade and may add De’Aaron Fox, well, then all of a sudden there’s a hole in the second unit where Keldon Johnson was, or there’s a hole, I didn’t think this would happen, but there was a hole in the starting lineup where Devin Vassel was, or if the Kings were insistent on continuing to compete for their play in spot, that they would even, hey, we’re giving up our point guard, you give us Chris Paul back. So the Spurs would have a hole where Chris Paul was. The Spurs basically added a, a former all-star, hugely impactful point guard to their rotation and gave no one from their rotation up. He’s replacing Trey Jones, but Zack Collins wasn’t playing anyway, Sydney Sako wasn’t playing anyway. They’re almost, well not almost, they’re better equipped now in every way to compete for the next few months. I know that’s not the priority here, but that sort of surprised me about the deal is I thought there would have been maybe a step back over the next few months as they retool and figure out what their future is. They can continue to try to win. They did not do that last night against the Grizzlies because the Grizzlies just kicked their tails every time they play them, and De’Aaron Fox wasn’t there yet.

They might not make the play in this year, but I think that’s not an unrealistic goal for the rest of the season to move up a couple spots and get into that play in. I’m, yeah. I agree to a point, but I also want to temper expectations for everybody, because I think there’s a tendency when you add a guy like De’Aaron Fox, everyone’s excited. For good reason, like he’s going to be great with Victor Wimber Goma. I don’t think it will happen immediately. I think there might actually be some growing pains towards the end of the year this year, in part because I don’t know what, in part because I don’t know what, what the lineups are going to look like.

In an ideal world you’re not going to start Chris Paul and De’Aaron Fox together. You’re not going to start that small, but you kind of have to for the end of the rest of this season. You’re not going to tell Chris Paul he’s got to go to the bench. You’re not going to bring De’Aaron Fox off the bench. You’re probably going to move Steph Castle back to the bench and just be really small and it’s not the best basketball lineup. Everybody knows that’s not the best basketball lineup to win games, but just for human reasons, that’s how you’re probably going to have to be how you finish the year. When Chris won’t be back next year, I think this trade probably did was kind of eliminate that dream scenario for us reporters that the Spurs don’t add a point guard, Chris Paul comes back for another year of this. Probably he’s not going to come back because he doesn’t want to come off the bench. He doesn’t want to be a sidelight, he wants to run the show and when you traded for De’Aaron Fox, that’s going to be your point guard. I think they finish the way, the season unless something happens before the deadline, if something else happens. I think they finish the season with Chris and De’Aaron playing together, Steph coming off the bench, and then they and then they kind of figure out what they really want to be over the summer and going into next year.

It wouldn’t surprise me if this isn’t just an automatic we’re making a run to the play in now. But I also, I would urge Spurs fans not to panic if it doesn’t look so pretty all at once, because they still have pieces to put together. That a De’Aaron Fox Wby pick and roll is going to be pretty ungudable and the Spurs are going to be super ungudable when you can put some shooting around that. Some really top shelf, the ball swings to that guy and it’s like, oh my god, he’s going to make it. That kind of shooting around it, and once they get that, that’s really going to be clicking. That’s going to be a hard thing to guard, but it’s still going to take some more doing, some more work from the, from the front office to get it where, to get the final product, you know.

Well, that that’s a lot of interesting stuff and I don’t necessarily disagree. I don’t necessarily disagree with a lot of it, but a couple of, I was taking mental notes here trying to keep up with a couple of things that I wanted to run past you. First of all, absolutely, there’s no guarantee that they’re going to make the play in this year, that the season’s just going to magically turn around and they’re going to start winning and punch us and get there like, but I think my point was they’re no worse off, there’s no reason to think that that’s not realistic. I think they’re going to, they have a run in them. They have at least one run in them over these next few months and I think that, you know, it might be close to a coin flip if they make the play. I think that their odds might be that high. I would not be surprised. Second on the starting lineup thing, I think that most of us tend to dwell too much on that and Jeff, you might have some, some Intel there, but I’m not, let’s just throw the starting lineup for aside for a second. I think one thing this trade does over the next few months is it puts the Spurs in a situation where for most of the meaningful minutes every night, by most, I mean, I’m going to say like 90%, either Chris Paul or De’Aaron Fox is running the show.

Whether that means that they’re both starting or whether that, I don’t think it would be. It wouldn’t knock my socks off if they brought Chris Paul off the bench. He’s not part of their future. He’s a good, he’s a good basketball guy, like, and here’s the other thing. I just think they respect too much. The reason he came to the Spurs in the first place is okay, partly Victor Wembanyama, partly Greg Popovich, but even at his introductory press conference, the first day he was in San Antonio, he said it wasn’t really that as much as this was the one place that allowed him to ball. They don’t, they’re very good to veteran players. They want to do right by Chris Paul. But it’s not like other places were offering Chris Paul the chance to start and it’s not like other places will offer Chris Paul the chance to start next year. Chris Paul came off the bench last year. Like he’s done it before.

But he hated it. He will tell you it’s the work of his life. Okay, like if you move him in there, it’s going to be against his will and you can do that. Mitch Johnson can go tell a point guard you’re older than him, yeah, we’re moving you to the bench. I just don’t think that’s happening. I think whether the last 30 games, realizing the play isn’t really the goal. That’s what I think they’re going to do.

I I think that you’re probably right. I question, that’s cool. The Spurs have come a long way with treating people right and showing respect to veterans, all that stuff.

I wonder though, if they wouldn’t be better served long-term as a franchise at getting geting a look at the starting lineup that they’re going to be using next year. If we’re sure that Chris Paul is gone. That’s why I think, and I think Chris Paul understands that, and I don’t think like Chris Paul was not a bad teammate last year. I think you’re sort of exaggerating how miserable he was.

He didn’t seem thrilled coming off the bench last year. Well, I mean, okay, that’s fine. This is me not saying what the Spurs are going to do. I would suggest that there would be benefit in looking at a De’Aaron Fox, Devin Vassel, Stefan Castle, Harrison Barnes, Victor Wembanyama starting lineup, because I think that’s going to be the starting lineup next year. I think Jeremy Sohan probably, okay, maybe he could replace Harrison Barnes at some point, but I think Jeremy Sohan might be evolving into a guy who might be a long-term bench piece. I think with Keldon Johnson, that’s a pretty good bench there.

If you move him to the bench, you bring him off the bench quickly, you get him a lot of Victor Wembanyama minutes, because that’s been the best two man lineup with the Spurs all year. I’m not sure I want to see 30 games of a lineup with De’Aaron Fox and Chris Paul together starting. Maybe this makes, this is the hot take podcast now. I don’t know.

The thing is, even though, as Victor says, these players can be treated like objects, they’re not objects. They’re human beings with feelings and that doesn’t always matter, but I do think the Spurs will give him some difference to Chris Paul.

I think you’re probably right. I think you’re probably right. So I wouldn’t be, that’s all I’m saying. I don’t, I don’t know nothing about nothing, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I wouldn’t either.

I’m not disputing that. The part you’re correct about is you can start the game however you want and then tweak your rotations where those guys aren’t playing together a whole, whole lot. Maybe that’s if you want to see that.

And if you want to see that starting lineup from next year, you can probably tweak your rotation where those five get good chunks of minutes together. That’s probably how we split the difference here. You get to, you let Chris Paul continue to start, where he gets introduced, and he, he holds on to that role as the starting guy, and then you make sure that there are a lot of minutes featuring your lineup in the future.

I think that adds a little extra layer of complicatedness. A thing was starting though is also closing, which is Chris Paul’s. That’s really it’s really good at. and when the starters think they’re starting, they also think they’re closing.

That’s absolutely true and that’s one thing that I was going to get to is that you want Chris Paul helping them close games. Generally, Jeff can speak to this having covered the NBA for 97 years. Teams tend to go smaller and it when, when, when the game’s on the line.

At the end of games, like having Chris Paul, De’Aaron Fox both as pick and roll options for Victor Wembanyama, like that’s pretty salty. That, that, that seems like a great thing to have as long as if you have two other shooters out there to keep defenses honest, that could be cool.

De’Aaron Fox is two years removed from winning that clutch player of the year award. There’s been years where he’s led the league in fourth quarter scoring. That’s another like, like you said, that’s another fourth quarter crunch time option, if the Spurs can ever get a game to crunch time anymore. Right.

I think my issue with all this is they need to figure out a way, if it’s starting them both, if it’s bringing one off the bench. I don’t think there should be 12 minutes during every game when neither De’Aaron Fox or Chris Paul are out there. That would be a mistake. If you have those two guys, you want one of them out there at most times. I think Mitchell will figure that out. You were attempting a pretty good segue there that I ruined about how the Spurs never play close games anymore. Want to talk about that.

was that one against Miami that they lost the buzzer but other than that. That’s true. Blowout City. They can play a close game without Wby.

Maybe Wby’s the problem. I think I got, I’m starting to get what Wby had by the way. I’m, I’m dreading it. It’s that feeling at the back of your throat.

Wby came back from Paris. he sounded awful last night. He did the podium. We just got him in the locker room and he sounded worse than he did the other night. He sounded bad.

Memphis is one of the last places where we’re still on the floor, so I could see a lot better and he was sucking wind, man. I noticed that like he didn’t seem to have his energy. If you know them better, sometimes you think he’s dogging it. He missed a shot and just sort of be really sluggish getting back on defense. Then you talk to him after the game he’s like, oh he is sick as a dog.

He’s, he’s not feeling great. So I guess that’s something worth monitoring. That’s not a good way to start a road trip. He usually get that at the end. Hopefully he can shake it. Well, for your local cagers, a good way to start the road trip is not going to Memphis.

They just have that team. They also ended there in March. One thing I did see that I was surprised about, there’s a friend of the podcast called John Schuman, who works for NBA.com, who breaks down like schedule strength every month. This month where your local cagers are not local at all, where they go the entire month playing away from Frost Bank Center. The one, the one game on the first of February against Miami, the Spurs are projected to have the fourth easiest schedule in the league. That seems surprising to you? It’s just it’s a lot of the Charlottes and Washingtons just those two. A few, Atlanta is not playing well. Atlanta looks like a new Orleans is. That’s all thrown in there.

The point being that they’re on the road, but it’s not an intimidating road trip. They do have the two in Austin which are quote unquote home games. One against Detroit, one against the reeling Phoenix Suns, which may or may not have Jimmy Butler, may or may not have Kevin Durant. That would be wild if Kevin Durant goes back to Golden State. I don’t think players of that caliber get traded in mid season. This is not going to be the 967th Luka Doncic podcast of the weekend. We’re not going to talk about that too much.

We have to say that was pretty crazy though. That’s my take. It’s pretty crazy. You gave a giant F for the Maverick. That’s all you need to know. That’s all anyone can say. They gave a giant F for their fans. It’s, it’s true. We’re not going to get into it.

It’s wild to me how we’re just, like first ballot Hall of Famer is just being dismissed as nothing in this. I think it’s a bad trade for the Mavericks. I think people are underselling Anthony Davis a little bit, but the one thing I’m going to point out because it’s a point you’ve made about the Spurs, how the Spurs can do some of the moves that they make and collect some of the assets that they collect.

We’ll take a pick swap seven years from now. It’s because their front office guys are probably still going to be here seven years from now. Nicoh Harrison just said it in that press conference. I don’t care about 10 years from now because we’re not going to be here. All I care about is the next three to four years. So the Spurs are always dealing with people. They feel that way.

The Spurs are just stealing from the trade they just. They’re always dealing with people that are buying on credit. I don’t, you can have something seven years from now. That doesn’t matter to me. Whereas the Spurs know, seven years from now, if they make that pick, they’ll be able to make that pick probably these same guys making the picks. Having that kind of continuity and longevity and job security in the front office kind of allows you to do some things that you can’t if you’re always having to worry about the next year and the next year and the next year.

That’s a good point that we talked about before. It’s a good, it’s a good kind of close for this week’s podcast and it goes back to some of the frustration that our loyal listeners, that our loyal readers have occasionally voiced to us understandably about how sometimes those of us on this podcast have tended to be too reluctant to call the Spurs idiots for some of the stuff that they’ve done that the readers and listeners don’t understand. There’s been times when people have been pleading, especially during these down years that the Spurs have had. Why don’t you call them out for not making more big moves? Why don’t you call them out for not going after Trey Young when they have the chance? Why don’t you call them out for all this stuff that just doesn’t make any sense?

Trading this pick, they could have had Rob Dillingham, they could have had Dalton Connect. Why are they trading for this move in 2031 and Mike Finger and Jeff McDonald will never dare come out and say that Brian Wright’s an idiot because of making these terrible moves. It’s not that we think it’s they’re all going to work out and it’s not like we’re homers. I think most of the time we’re far from being homers. We understand that there’s a really good chance that if we do that, we’re the ones who are going to be looking like idiots seven months later when it turns out they’ve had the planned all along to get the guy they wanted.

The Spurs just have a really good track record of putting a plan in place and sticking to it and making it work. There’s still a lot of work to do, nothing was guaranteed this week. De’Aaron Fox has his flaws as a player. It would be great if he could shoot better than 33% from three.

Is he the type of player who ages well into his 30s? But Jeff’s right, the Spurs always have the long-term plan in mind. They have guys who know they’re going to be here for years and years, because they’re not afraid of getting fired. There’s ownership CEO, all down the line, they all understand that there’s long-term plans to stick to and that you can’t be firing guys.

If you want them to stick to that plan, I just think they’re in a really good place now moving forward. You still want them to show the steps. If they don’t show the improvement, if they don’t add the next guy, I think there’s another guy to add at some point. Maybe the the third best guy isn’t here yet after Victor and De’Aaron.

It’s just, like Jeff said, it’s, it’s they, they think ahead and this is another example of it. Do you think they have to add someone between now and Thursday, or they can be done for now? It wouldn’t hurt. During that game last night, Charles Bassey looked like his knee was bad again. I think he ended up being okay. But he’s not integral to the future or the next few months. That’s another reminder of how thin they are at that position. If he was going to be out, they were kind of in a bad place. They have a spot open now because they sent three guys out and brought two back. Could that be something that’s used after the deadline? Like they could go on the buyout market and add a big man, right? I was looking at just the type of guys who are out there available.

New Orleans has Daniel Tys who makes almost no money, just a veteran type of big man type backup. Mo Bamba was just waved by trading, yeah. He’s really interesting to me and the Spurs will not get him because there’s legitimate contenders interested in him. A guy making no money who would be amazing.

Vershon Yabusele, who I watched in Paris this summer playing with Victor. The sixers are probably going to trade him to a contending team, but putting him next to Victor again as a backup, would be really cool. I think it’s clear that the Spurs need more depth behind Victor, backup big men. Like everybody in the league, they need more shooting. I would just caution everybody that it’s not, it’s not we have to do this before Thursday, before the end of the year. They probably need to get those issues resolved before the beginning of next year though. If they come out of the off season without without shoring up their big man depth without adding at least some guy that can make a three, then that I would say that’s troublesome. But it doesn’t have to happen between now and Thursday.

The Spurs are still not saying we are going to make the play and we got to make the playoffs this year. That is not really the goal. It accidentally happens, that’s good. They’re two different, they’re two different discussions, two different priorities in terms of the rest of this year, when it would help either just as a, as a really, really minor trade or as a buyout type of pickup over the next month or so. That’s where you probably want to add another big man to fill out your 15 man roster. That’s completely different than the priorities for the off season when you want to add shooting, longer-term depth behind.