点击查看原文：How San Antonio is getting healthier (and taller) for the upcoming season
How San Antonio is getting healthier (and taller) for the upcoming season
Columnist Mike Finger and Spurs beat reporters Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn discuss the debut of Dylan Harper, the return of Stephon Castle, David Jones Garcia’s NBA dream and his breakout against Utah and how tall Victor Wembanyama really is.
Suggested reading:
Spurs getting healthier as season approaches
Spurs’ Stephon Castle set for preseason debut
Spurs’ David Jones Garcia aims to keep promise to his late father
Victor Wembanyama for MVP? Crazy or not, some NBA GMs believe already
Spurs No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper impresses in preseason debut
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Here is the transcript of the podcast:
Mike Finger: From a highly secured network of top secret locations across North America, this is the Spurs Insider, getting closer to full strength just as the local cagers are getting closer to full strength. I’m your host, Mike Finger, joined by Express News Spurs beat writers Tom Orsborn and Jeff McDonald along with sports editor Nick Talbert.
Jeff is checking in from a secure location somewhere in the American Midwest in a, in a, in a city. Hope he’s hanging in there. Tom and Nick and I are back in South Texas. We are talking about the San Antonio Spurs.
Getting everybody back together, Jeff. Uh, we’re recording this before the Monday evening game against the Indiana Pacers. We cannot fill the the listeners in with the details of that game other than the fact that our Jeff McDonald was among the first, if not the first, to report that the reigning rookie of the year is back in the fold. He, as of the recording of this podcast, was expected to take the court after Dylan Harper took the court last week, after Victor Wembanyama took the court before that. Getting close, Jeff.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, Stephon Castle, back on the floor. And I’ll I’ll get to that. I just thought you guys wanted to know about my my wild night in Indianapolis last night.
Mike Finger: I don’t think any, I don’t think I don’t think any media member um, in town to cover a professional sports game in Indianapolis the next day has had a wilder night than I had.
Jeff McDonald: We do, Jeff.
Mike Finger: Well, that’s saying something.
Jeff McDonald: Uh no, I went to, I went to Buffalo Wild Wings.
Mike Finger: They’re not a sponsor. You’re not supposed to mention company names.
Jeff McDonald: But uh, I did, I at shoot around this morning, I saw our friend Taylor Herr and I told him, I’m, I’m good to see, I’m glad to see you at shoot around this morning because of all the of all the members of the Spurs traveling party, you’re the one I most thought would probably get Sanchezed. And he did not, so.
Mike Finger: For for for those who haven’t been following the news, there’s there’s been some incidents involving uh, it was more TV talent that is susceptible to those types of incidents in downtown Indianapolis. Former former professional athletes, I think Jeff, you’re safe. Uh, I think you’re safe. But but tell us more about Stephon Castle.
Jeff McDonald: Stephon Castle is back, uh from his little, his little knee contusion which, you know, he was saying today and the Spurs kind of acknowledged all ago, all all along was not not much. I mean, it’s the bang knees with Vic. It was sore. Um, they weren’t going to play him in preseason games until it was less sore or not sore, and we’re at that point now. So he is going to play against the Pacers tonight. As you mentioned, Dylan Harper made his debut a game ago against the Jazz. Um, little by little, the Spurs are getting players back and and the one thing I found interesting that I picked up at shoot around today is that it seems like they’re going to as best they can, they’re going to try to treat these last two games of the of the preseason, both of which are against the Pacers, as sort of sort of dress rehearsals, meaning no healthy scratches. They’re not going, they’re not expecting to rush like Sochan back on the field, of court, you’re not going to get Kelly Olynyk or anything like that, but like they’re not going to sit Victor or anything like that. So last, last week when we did the over under on how many preseason games Victor Wembanyama might might play and you set it at 3.5. Uh it looks like he’s going to play in all of them, all five of them.
And so we have that to look forward to. Uh and most of that’s because the last two are spaced out pretty well. They’ve got three days off after this one until they play on Friday and then like, you know, three or four more days till the opener at Dallas on the 22nd.
Mike Finger: I think Tom that makes sense when you consider how little time this group has been able to work together over the offseason. A lot of preseasons, guys have been in the gym together. You’ve seen projected starting fives get some run even away from the cameras, away from official game action. There just hasn’t been a lot of opportunity for that, uh because of Victor’s situation, because, you know, De’Aaron Fox has dealt with his injury situation. Stephon and Devin Vassell and Dylan Harper, all on down the line. It makes a lot of sense what Jeff is saying, where to use these last couple of games to at least get some reps between Victor and and all those guys I just mentioned.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, it’s still, it’s just, still not a big concern for Mitch Johnson. You know, they’re, the guys that have been, quote unquote, injured, sidelined, however you want to put it, they they’ve been doing work with the, the full contingent’s been doing work in, in practice. Um, you know, I watched Kelly Olynyk in, uh, Miami, you know, go through his paces. He he looked fine to me. It’s just Mitch just doesn’t want to push it. Medical staff doesn’t want to push it. Um, but yeah, they’re, they’re, it’s not like they’re not familiar with each other at this point. They’ve, they’ve done a lot of work in practice together during camp.
Mike Finger: Just just have, I’m I’m not, I’m not sure though, there’s been a lot of five on five with those guys. That’s what I’m talking about. Like I think that this group could benefit from as much five on five as they can get. Um, it’s, it’s all because there’s always somebody gone. And it’s, it’s always been an, an injury where you can’t just sort of practice through it. Like I don’t, I, I don’t think Jeff you can correct me on this, I don’t think De’Aaron Fox is playing five on five against guys in practice. Maybe, maybe he’s sneaking some in there.
Um, I don’t think Dylan Harper during those, those, um, couple of weeks between his, his, uh, his procedure and his return was getting a whole lot of five on five in. I think that that remains the most, uh, the most interesting part of the early part of the season to me is is how well does this gel when you haven’t seen a lot of it together yet. And maybe I’m wrong.
Jeff McDonald: To to put, just to put it all out there from what I heard today, um, so Castle’s back tonight. Uh this, this, I mean, this, this should have, the next thing I’m going to say should have headlined the show, uh but they’re thinking Jordan McLaughlin might play on Friday against the Pacers. So he’ll, the optimism is there for that. They are hopeful that Sochan and Olynyk will be cleared to play opening night. And then that De’Aaron Fox would be just a couple games behind that. So again kind of confirming De’Aaron’s not going to be there for that game against Dallas. So he’s, he’s the one that’s out. And I believe tonight against the, in these two games against the Pacers, would be the first opportunity Mitch would have to use the starting lineup that he’ll probably use on opening night. You know, Fox won’t be there, now you get Castle there. He’s got all the all the other pieces there. Um, I I I think the lineup we, I’m going to predict this now before the game, you know, I have to walk over there in about an hour, hour and a half, it might make me look dumb later.
Mike Finger: You’re gonna walk from your hotel to Gainbridge Fieldhouse?
Jeff McDonald: I can see it from here. I’m not gonna…
Mike Finger: I know, but there’s, the alleys and streets there full of former NFL quarterbacks who might be, you know, lying in wait. I can’t believe you’re not gonna cab it.
Jeff McDonald: I’m a 69 year old man with a pocket knife, so I’ll be fine. Anyway, this is probably the, the lineup that we see against the Pacers tonight and on Friday is probably the lineup you’re going to see on opening night against Dallas. That’s my prediction. So I think we’ll have at least some questions answered after these couple of games.
Mike Finger: And this is kind of moot because the listeners are probably going to listen to this after the, there’s going to be some who are on top of it and our our producer extraordinaire, Manny Bacch will have it like up quickly on Monday afternoon. But some of the people who who have made the Spurs Insider a part of their morning routine, part of their, another the guy whose question we answered last week, uh I saw him again out in the world and he came up, he was so excited that we answered his question about Carter Bryant and uh and uh he said he listened to it with his son in the car. And uh I I just love that we’re bringing families together, letting fathers bond with sons, uh mothers with daughters, grandmothers with grandchildren. Um, anyway, the the the listeners might be listening to it as as over coffee in the morning and this might be old news, but just, just to throw it out there, what do you think that lineup is going to look like tonight, Jeff, when you walk over past those alleys, those streets to the arena in Indianapolis?
Jeff McDonald: Well, see, now you’re putting me in a position to look, look stupid in about two hours.
Mike Finger: Exactly. It’s part of our appeal.
Jeff McDonald: Okay, if I’m guessing right now before that game, um, I’m gonna guess it’s going to be Castle. It’s going to be, and by the way, this is a guess, I have not been told this, this is just a guess. Castle, um, Vassell, Mhm, Julian Champagnie, Mhm, Harrison Barnes, Mhm, and Bismack Biyombo. No, I’m kidding. Uh Victor Wembanyama. Yeah.
Mike Finger: Yeah. That sounds like a…
Jeff McDonald: That would be my guess.
Mike Finger: Just easing the uh the young fella uh Dylan Harper in off the bench, which is something that the Spurs generally do with rookies. Um, and also that that would create the uh point guard off the bench with De’Aaron Fox unavailable. Things are going to change when De’Aaron comes back and that’s going to be something that um Mitch Johnson is probably going to tinker with throughout the season. But I think that the lineup that you suggested uh makes a whole lot of sense because it it creates a uh an an easy point guard rotation. If when Stephon Castle comes off the floor, I’m assuming that the young fella Dylan Harper will be on the floor running the show. And that leads to a segue Tom to uh Friday night’s game. Jeff can jump in too. Uh this was our first chance to see the number two overall draft pick on the court in an official looking game. Uh it took them like nine seconds to score his first basket, Jeff. Uh how did you think he looked overall?
Jeff McDonald: I was telling someone at shoot around today as we were just sitting around shooting the bull. I was like, I don’t, you know, I don’t want to overreact to one preseason game, to, you know, 18 minutes in one preseason game, but man, he looked good.
Mike Finger: Yeah.
Jeff McDonald: He looked really good. Just like, just and and some of the things you’re looking at from from a 19 year old getting his first taste against uh a quasi-NBA team in the Utah Jazz is just do they look like they belong there and the answer with Harper is hell yes. Yeah. I mean he looked like he belonged on that floor. Um just making the decision, it was the decision making that really stood out to me. Just just knowing where the ball needed to be, knowing how to get the ball to the guys that needed it. Um, he, you know, we made a lot, we made uh kind of some some jokey jokes about the low, uh low alley oop pass he threw to Wemby, but you know, he got it there and you know, learned from it, you can throw it higher. So, um, I mean just a lot to like, every time the ball was in his hands on offense, the Spurs were moving downhill.
And and there was, you know, if you go back to two years ago, they had nobody that could do that. Now between him and Fox and a little bit of uh Castle, like you’ve got a lot of guards who can get the ball, who can touch paint as they like to say uh these days in the NBA. And that’s a really, if you’re the a Spurs fan, that’s a really exciting thing because once the ball gets in the paint and you also have Victor Wembanyama on your team, like a lot of good things can happen.
Tom Orsborn: The pride of Don Bosco Prep High School in Ramsey, New Jersey looked very good. Very good.
Jeff McDonald: I wonder if Bosco is his ATM code.
Tom Orsborn: Um, it’s funny in uh Summer League…
Mike Finger: But he got that in. I, I did, I let it slide. Go ahead, Tom.
Tom Orsborn: Summer League, you know, he looked a little, it’s just, it just shows how much Summer League is ridiculous and you know, uh, you’re not playing with guys who know how to play and and you put him on the court with with guys who know how to play and wham. I mean, he looked, looked like he, you know, looked like he’s going to be in contention to give the Spurs a third straight, uh, rookie of the year.
Jeff McDonald: Again, just kind of, uh, shooting the bull with people while waiting for shoot around to open up. Uh, somebody told me was, he’s just a, he’s a guy that shows up when it’s game time. Like when the, when the lights come on, he shows up. The the the guy told me like I was watching him warm up before the Jazz game and I watched that guy miss like 11 shots in a row. And then as soon as he’s in the game, he’s hitting everything. He’s just a guy that he’s, he’s a game time player and I think, I think that’s one thing, um, you saw from him. He doesn’t, doesn’t act, this may be a cliche, but he does not act like a 19-year-old kid in the NBA. He does not seem impressed by any of this in a good way.
Mike Finger: I mean guys who play their college ball on a, in a, in a, in a true blue blood elite program, they they come ready to play like that. I mean you don’t go, you don’t go, you don’t spend a year in Rutgers without being a game time player. That’s all I got to say. I’m being an ass. Uh while I’m while I’m being ridiculous, um this thought came into my head and it’s a preposterous question, Jeff, because they’re two completely different players. But you were raving about Dylan Harper’s readiness to kind of run the show. And I’m just curious, um, this first, just right off the bat, who is more, like like who would you rather have running the show in a season opener? Who do you think is going to create better shots for the whole team in the opener? Is it rookie Dylan Harper? And again, this is preposterous. But or uh savvy veteran, low ceiling, guy who we all know and love, Tre Jones type? Like like how you you mentioned the the Spurs offense is always going downhill with Dylan Harper on the court. With Tre Jones, he was he was competent and uh and it was always going, like he he he was he was doing what he was told, but I I guess what I’m asking for is what does uh this might be again, this is obvious, but what does a guy like Dylan Harper bring that just a bus driver like Tre Jones didn’t? And are there some bus driver type qualities that you think Dylan Harper needs to improve on over the course of the next days and weeks and months and years?
Jeff McDonald: I’m, I’m kind of jealous of Greg Popovich right now because he doesn’t have to answer convoluted questions like this anymore from you.
Mike Finger: Is there an answer, is there a question somewhere in there? Somewhere in there, Mike?
Jeff McDonald: Do do you see what I’m saying? Does he need more uh, does he need more Tre Jones bus driver attributes or is he do you think he has that? You watched him play. Um, can he get the ball to the right spot?
Mike Finger: I think he’s a very, yeah, I think he’s a very dynamic guard and I think at 19 and I think the more reps he gets, the more times he plays in an NBA system against NBA players, he’ll even have more of those those bus driver qualities that I think you’re you’re alluding to. But I could have used Chris Paul too, by the way. Just that type of guy who’s going to, who’s going to go create stuff. He doesn’t seem to be uh, Dylan Harper doesn’t seem to be in the Tre Jones or Chris Paul mode of…
Jeff McDonald: Go ahead. One thing I’ll say about Dylan, I don’t know if this helps answer your question or not, but it’s one thing that Mitch mentioned after the game and I’ve heard other times, it’s um, he’s not a guy that is is is necessarily um, hung up on show, who thinks the whole game is about scoring points for himself. It’s not about how many points I’ve scored or or trying to get a basket for himself, even though he can do that. Um, it’s, it’s about, um, fitting in with the whole operation. And so I think he’s got some dynamism that can get him his own shot, but sometimes that that that athleticism, that craftiness that he has, it gets him past his guy which creates something for other people. I think we’ll see more of that as it goes along, but he, he, I mean, there hadn’t been a guy that shown up the first preseason game and thrown a successful lob to Victor Wembanyama. I know that sounds silly, but look they took this all the other Spurs a long time to learn how to do that. And then there was another play later for Luke Kornet that was just he found the right guy in the pick and roll and it’s another just the easiest layup you ever saw in your life for a seven-footer. So I think, I think Harper is not a guy that’s going in there just looking to light up the scoreboard, he’s looking to do, you know, to play the game and he has an understanding of how to play the game. So I think if you’re, I think, I think he’s kind of got that ingrained in him already and it’s just a matter of just getting older and more veteran and more experience and and you’ll see even more of that come. I I think there’s a, again, I didn’t, I just said earlier, I don’t want to overreact to 18 minutes of one preseason game, but here I am doing it, but I think there’s a lot to, a lot to like about him. I think you see why they took him number two overall and I think you see why a lot of people thought, you know, in a year that Cooper Flagg didn’t exist, Dylan Harper had a chance to be the number one overall draft pick.
Tom Orsborn: And uh, we, that that got me thinking about back back to 23, 24 and how much ink we spilled and and other outlets spilled on that topic of, you know, perfecting the lob with with Wemby. Yeah.
Jeff McDonald: The other thing is Harper is 6-6. I mean, we’re comparing him to like a Tre Jones or a Chris Paul. Harper’s 6-6. He’s got that size and it does matter in the NBA even, even for guards. It it does matter.
Mike Finger: That was a very awkward and and probably amaterish way to get to the point you just made and that, uh, Dylan Harper, I believe is a true point guard and especially a true point guard and according to the modern NBA definition. Uh, but not necessarily like he, he again this is obvious, but not in the same way that the Tre Jones, Chris Paul guys are true point guards. I think that that just when you look around the league today, point guards are capable of so much more. um and uh that, you know, the way that Jeff McDonald who doom and gloom follows around almost 24/7 is raving around about this kid, almost makes me more optimistic about the kid’s future because if Jeff McDonald’s saying nice things about you, you got something going for you.
Jeff McDonald: Thank you. I don’t know. Do you have any other nice things to say about anything you’ve seen in the preseason so far? Anything I’ve seen in the preseason? Um.
Mike Finger: You wrote a very nice uh notebook lead on uh on on a guy close to our uh our listener’s hearts. Uh Nick Talbert, sports editor who’s on the podcast reports that it’s uh he, two of the two of the most viewed read stories on the site on our on Expressnews.com are about not Victor Wembanyama but about the gentleman you’re about to discuss, Jeff.
Jeff McDonald: Uh David Jones Garcia, uh showed out against the Utah Jazz. He showed out as the kids say and he was not, I I think we sort of alluded to him on in last week’s podcast. He was not having the greatest preseason, just kind of a non-factor up until the fourth quarter of a preseason game against Utah where, by the way, Utah’s playing, you know, rotation players as as as they were. I mean, they’re going to be the worst team in the West, so it’s not like they’re, you know, beating the uh Thunder at full strength or whatever, but they were NBA players on the floor against basically four guys who are going to be in the G League and Bismack Biyombo and one of them was David uh David Jones Garcia and uh, you know, he took it home. I mean scoreless going to the fourth quarter, uh scored 20 in in the fourth quarter in overtime to lift the Spurs to victory and it was a, it was a heartwarming tale, I guess. Um I don’t know that it moves the needle much in terms of what he’s going to do for the NBA Spurs this year, um but it was it was good to see. It was more of his was more of what we saw from him in Vegas.
Mike Finger: Hope he does get uh an NBA game because there’s a, there’s a fun, there’s there’s a a moving story there, right?
Jeff McDonald: That is interesting. Yeah, yeah, he um he had, he got a lot of, he had significant interest, let’s put it that way. Significant interest from teams in Europe this this year, could go over there, get a get a full contract for much more than he’s making as a two-way player for the Spurs. It’s a good life over there, you know, playing overseas, it really is a, it really is a good life. It was a good, was a good option, but he decided he wanted to to sign with the Spurs on a two-way contract, which means he’s going, I mean by definition means he’s going to spend a lot of his time in the G League this year and the point was to stay close to the NBA because he had promised his father before his father died in 2023 that he was going to play at least one game on an NBA floor, and not a preseason game, but a regular season game that counts. So by signing that two-way contract, it kept him kind of in the Spurs orbit and with a chance to to make that um, you know, make good on that promise. And to be honest too, unless something happens, he will get an NBA game this year. Like they’re I don’t I don’t think the Spurs have ever had a two-way guy for an entire season and he doesn’t get um, you know, doesn’t step on the floor once. David Duke got into five games last year, you know, so I think as long as he’s healthy, I think that’ll get it.
Mike Finger: Yeah, that’s that’s good. Hope he hope he does. I bet he will get it. Tom, I don’t want to put you on the spot, but who is the guy who was a two-way player, I think it might have been during the COVID season uh where the the running joke among the uh Spurs insider panelists was that we weren’t sure if he existed because we’d never seen him. It it was like months before we saw this guy. Do you remember who that was?
Tom Orsborn: I remember that joke, but I can’t recall the player.
Mike Finger: Yeah. I think we finally, I’m I’m not sure he ever appeared in the game. I want to, you guys uh talk amongst yourselves.
Jeff McDonald: That is a good point. Yeah.
Tom Orsborn: We’re talking amongst ourselves now. Okay.
Mike Finger: Let let let me leave you with a, let me leave you with a topic. Victor Wembanyama’s height. Victor Wembanyama’s height. I’m I’m going to leave you with that topic and I know Jeff and Tom both have interesting things to say while I do some research.
Jeff McDonald: That actually is a good topic because we do need to clarify this for people because um…
Mike Finger: He’s 7 foot 10.
Jeff McDonald: By the time this is over, he’ll be 7-10. No, there was some confusion because uh um on the Spurs website currently it lists Victor Wembanyama at 7-5. Whereas everywhere else including other other official Spurs documents and and game notes and that sort of thing, it lists him at 7-4. They told us on media day he was 7-4. So we’ve been trying to clear that up and apparently best best we can gather, the 7-5 on spurs.com is uh is a mistake and they are trying to get that corrected and I’ve actually been told, they’ve actually pleaded with me, please just say he’s 7-4. So, I’m like, what, it doesn’t matter a whole lot to me. So if you tell me he’s 7-4, I’ll I’ll go with 7-4.
Tom Orsborn: And if you go to basketball-reference.com, he’s 7-3. It you know, it’s just a, it’s all over the map.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, last year I think the Spurs officially called him 7-3 and a half, which I wasn’t doing. I just, you got to pick one for me. I don’t know. But for for all the for all everyone out there who was wondering how tall are the Spurs saying Victor Wembanyama is, it’s it’s 7-4 and it’s been that way for at least a month. Yeah.
Mike Finger: Is is Finger dead? He’s doing research. I don’t think it was Jaylen Morris, was it?
Jeff McDonald: No.
Mike Finger: No. I don’t, I I’ll I’ll I’ll have to look it up before next year, year.
Jeff McDonald: Before next year.
Mike Finger: I don’t know who it was. We we we never, but the other thing about the the height issue is like we, we still have readers who email us about this and ask us questions about like one of you guys calling or call, why did, why did sometimes you call him 7-3 and sometimes you call him 7-4 and sometimes you call him 7-5. Like it’s an issue that we need to figure out. This and the Spurs need to figure it out. They they need to get their website and their roster and their game notes and all that and the basketball reference updates like all on the same page. Um, because I know, I know Victor doesn’t, I, I think, I shouldn’t say I know. I believe that the deal with him not wanting to be 7-4, 7-5 last year is just because he you didn’t want to be. Like, you know, he wanted to, he didn’t want to be looked at as a some kind of a, you know, freakish, you know, I mean, it’s ridiculous. You know, he he didn’t want to be 7-4, he wanted to be 7-3. How dare he? Now he doesn’t want to be 7-5, he wants to be 7-4. How dare you call him 7-5 like I’m some kind of freak. I am 7-foot-4, dang it. But you look at him standing next to Rudy Gobert or next to Luke Kornet or next to David Robinson and Tim Duncan and the dude is not 7-3. The, the 7-4 is, 7-4 is like uh cutting it awfully close.
Jeff McDonald: The upshot of the whole argument is whatever the Spurs are saying, it’s a lie.
Mike Finger: Whatever number you get…
Jeff McDonald: Whatever number you get, it’s not tall enough.
Tom Orsborn: As a befuddled fictitious senator said in Godfather II, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m going to find out. I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.
Mike Finger: Well, for for for foreseeable future on Spurs Insider in Expressnews.com and the in the Express news uh Dead Tree Edition, he’s going to be 7-4, right? We’re we’re all on on the same page on that? Yes.
Jeff McDonald: Yes. Until what the Spurs tell us next. Yes. As of today.
Mike Finger: We can’t get a tape measure, we can’t just sneak up to him with a tape measure and confirm, so. But the dude is 7-5, at least. And and by the way, the Spurs have asked, will you please, like they’re begging us. Yeah.
Mike Finger: Okay. Well, we can do them that favor. He’s 7-4. Officially 7-4. He’s grown a half inch since last year. That’s good. And uh like it’s it’s sort of amazing that a week into the preseason, a week away from the season opener, just having him around and doing crazy Victor Wembanyama things, we’re taking so matter of factly that we’re not even really talking about it a lot in on this podcast. Like he’s back after an almost eight month absence due to a blood clot, deep vein thrombosis, terrifying diagnosis. Yeah. Uh he’s back on the court doing Victor Wembanyama things and there’s not even any question that he’s going to be great again. In fact, um it’s a a fun preseason ritual in the NBA is the uh nba.com General Manager Survey, which is done every year and sometimes it’s on the money, sometimes there’s, the general managers like the rest of us, like podcasters, like sports writers, miss the mark every now and then. But there’s no shortage of Spurs respect in that general manager survey, including um two two notable questions and answers about Victor Wembanyama. The the one that he wins overwhelmingly that he’s won overwhelmingly for the past three years is if if you were starting a team from scratch, who would you, who would you want first? I think he’s up to over 80% of the general managers picked Victor Wembanyama in that category. I was sort of, um, intrigued by the fact that 7% of the general managers, which I believe is, uh, is rounded up from two of 30, which is 6.6%, uh, picked him to win the MVP this year. Like that seems absolutely outrageous to me. Uh because this is a team that didn’t come close to the playoffs last year. He hasn’t come close to playing in the post season. He’s never played more than 71 games, but as outrageous as it seems, maybe it’s not. Like how outrageous is that to think that he could win the MVP this season?
Jeff McDonald: I probably wouldn’t put my whole paycheck on it, but can you see a path, like some sort of path where that happens, where, yeah, like if he dominates and he’s so, if he’s, if if he dominates to the point where he’s in the in the MVP discussion, then that would mean good things for the Spurs as well, right?
Mike Finger: Like they would be, that’s it, yeah, up there as well. He’s not gonna win the MVP from the seventh seat, I don’t think, unless he’s averaging a triple double and even then, you know, Jokic and SGA and Luka and all those guys are in the league still. Um there’s a there’s so much talent in the league and somewhere you think there’s going to be somebody having a stupid good season from the one or two seed. Yeah. But if the if the Spurs are in the, like if in the running for home court advantage in the first round, which I I believe is a stretch, like I don’t want to set that expectation out there, but that and and he’s just lighting up stat sheets left and right, like maybe it’s not outrageous. I think he’s going to win one. I think he’s going to win more than one. Yeah. The question is could it happen this year and two general managers apparently believe that, or or were trolling.
Jeff McDonald: My yeah, my takeaway from that general manager survey and this is where my black cloudness comes in. Um I call it more realism than pessimism. I’m just being realistic. But the consensus among the general managers has the Spurs ninth in the West. So there’s a whole section…
Mike Finger: That’s not true. Did I miss something? Well, here’s, here’s my quibble with uh the way people read these results. They they receive the ninth most votes for uh who’s going to finish in the top four, if you understand what I’m saying. Teams uh um the only votes were for one to four. Okay. And the Spurs received a couple of votes to or maybe one vote or two votes to finish fourth, which which put them in ninth place in terms of those votes. But those really aren’t accurate unless you’re you’re picking the league from…
Jeff McDonald: Oh, I see what you mean.
Mike Finger: I’m being pedantic here. You know like in the um, in the, in college football and the uh top 25 poll that comes out every week. The AP’s been doing it for a hundred years. Uh they they, everybody ranks their teams from one to 25 and then there’s also receiving votes and sometimes a team who’s in the also receiving votes part of it says we’re number 27. Well, no, you’re not. You just happen to see because because they didn’t rank from one to 27, you just happen to receive some leftover votes for one to 25. That’s a really pedantic like uh like nerdish argument I’m I’m making, but it’s, it’s inaccurate to say that the general managers picked the Spurs ninth. They gave them the ninth most votes for top four. Go ahead.
Jeff McDonald: Anyway, if they did end up, if if if someone were to, were to, uh, uh, rank them ninth, like I don’t know that I could super argue with that. Yeah. Like I don’t know there are eight teams, the eight teams above them are just, there’s absolutely no way those teams are going to finish above them. And I do think that’s something, there’s a whole section of fans over out there that think this is a absolute playoff team and maybe, possibly, you should have way more optimism going into this season than any of the last seven, but I don’t know that it’s a slam dunk in the because the West is so strong. I think you’re, I’m kind of repeating myself from previous podcasts, but I think the Spurs have to improve a lot and also you’re kind of banking on some of those older teams that might finish ahead of you kind of getting old and injured and fading out of there and punting at the end. I mean, and you know, LeBron’s already out for the Lakers, so like guys like that, teams like that.
Mike Finger: But I, there’s always, there’s always a team that that hit where the injury bug just slaps them over the head and they they fall out, a team that underachieves, like you’re saying. Uh the the problem with calling a team a slam dunk playoff team is you’re basically saying that team is sixth or better. Um because if if you’re seventh, you’re in the play-in and that that can be a one-game who’s healthy type of crapshoot too. Um and I don’t think you can say that this is a definite top top six team right now, the San Antonio Spurs. Like there’s a path there to finishing the top six, but then you start asking well who who’s not making it? And you start listing some pretty good teams with some pretty good players. Um, so yeah, I I’d believe anything from six to 10 and I I do think that it’s imperative, um, absolutely must that this team finishes in the top 10 that get in the play-in. If if this team is not in the play-in, something has gone wrong and that’s a very fair expectation for the Spurs fans to have, for the Spurs to have themselves. Like that’s that’s not good if this team finishes 11th. Um but I I think this team will finish higher than that.
Jeff McDonald: Like how many teams in the West would you just be shocked if they don’t make the playoffs? You know, barring some kind of catastrophic injury bug like…
Mike Finger: At least six. You know, at least six that aren’t the Spurs. Um, so, you know, the, the, people just counting out the Warriors because they they’re getting old and they they’ve been in that play in mix the last couple of years. They they were really, really good after they added Jimmy Butler last year. We’re about to see a full season of that. Uh Al Horford is a good fit for them. They’re old, but a lot of people just thrown them into the 6th, 7th, 8th spot. Like it wouldn’t shock me to be to see them return to top four. Um, Minnesota’s not going anywhere. We haven’t mentioned the uh the top three, the the the the presumed top three of uh who the uh the um Nuggets, Thunder and the Rockets. Um, you got the Clippers who are old, uh but really talented. Uh, Lakers, who else, who else is in the mix there? Surely we forgot somebody. And that’s a good list.
Jeff McDonald: You had to you basically had to win 50 games to get into the top six last year, by the way. 49 49 was was was sixth place in the West. And how many did your Spurs win? They won uh 34.
Mike Finger: 34. So you’re asking for a 15 game improvement to get into the top four?
Jeff McDonald: Pretty steep.
Mike Finger: Yeah. I mean this is again, we’ve we’ve had this discussion on preseason podcast, the last few years of this team can be a lot better and not win a lot more games because of how tough the West is. Um but I think this is the year when you have to show that improvement in the standings as well. Does that get you to the top six, looking it up, 49 wins got you sixth place last year in the West, the Minnesota Timberwolves. 48 wins tied you for for seventh and eighth. That was uh Golden State and Memphis who we’ve not mentioned so far in this podcast who I think is probably going to fall back a bit but you never know. They have a habit of making the best of things there. Uh, yeah, so so you could improve by 14 games from 34 and 48 to 48 and 34 and last year that got you eighth place. That’s that’s kind of a sobering uh reminder there. Uh we’ll see.
Jeff McDonald: Well, boy, this is not how we usually end these podcasts.
Mike Finger: Well, before we end the podcast, I think uh our producer has entreated uh Tom and Jeff to put their social media skill skills to use, their powers of persuasion to use. They’re apparently still plenty of spots available in our big event on Friday. Friday, October 17th, there’s a live Zoom where you can uh log in and ask questions of the Spurs Insider panelists live on the internet. You’re going to see our faces in the studio. Uh and uh it’s at 1 o’clock and there’s a um there’s going to be a link in the description for this podcast wherever you’re listening to it and Jeff and Tom, I’m going to open the floor to to to your pitches. Why should people do this?
Jeff McDonald: I would say uh um the best question gets to come over and wash my car.
Mike Finger: Tom you got something better than that?
Tom Orsborn: Come for the basketball, or or, come for the basketball but expect some uplifting words from Mike Finger at the end that’ll change your life. That could be life-changing. I don’t know if I can live up to that.
Mike Finger: That’s a good pitch.
Jeff McDonald: Could be life-ending too.
Mike Finger: We don’t want to go there. But yeah, it’s Friday, uh the 1 o’clock, after your lunch, during your lunch, uh come join us and and uh it helps our producer says if you sign up in advance. I know that a lot of you just want to want to log in whenever it happens, but it’s going to help to to make the event go as smoothly as possible. And when you think of the Spurs Insider podcast and the Spurs Insider podcasters, I know what you think of is smooth operation, uh no hiccups, totally professional.
Tom Orsborn: Like Sade.
Mike Finger: Yes, and so uh so it help if you if you sign up in advance, uh make sure there’s plenty of room uh to get those questions in. It should be a, it’s genuinely going to be a fun time, I think.
Jeff McDonald: I I I got a pitch. I got a pitch for it why people should do this. Um, we’ve been told that if we don’t get enough submissions, um you know, beforehand, in advance, that they’re going to, they’re going to make, take like a uh like a beefcake photo of Mike Finger and put them on billboards all over San Antonio trying to get people to sign up. So if you don’t want that to happen, you need to sign up in advance.
Mike Finger: That that might work.
Tom Orsborn: You get to learn things, you know, that uh pop culture, things like IShowSpeed, we we discussed him a couple of podcasts ago. Yeah. Remember that? IShowSpeed?
Jeff McDonald: You get the wrong answers to a lot of pop culture questions.
Tom Orsborn: You get some, you get some dated pop culture like I I talked about Godfather II today.
Jeff McDonald: Jeff had a uh Seinfeld reference in there that just went completely uh unremarked upon.
Mike Finger: It’s, yeah, it’s it’s…
Jeff McDonald: Seinfeld’s a current hit show though, correct? Like that’s uh…
Mike Finger: I think the kids still watch it.
Jeff McDonald: Do they?
Tom Orsborn: I watched The Virginian last night. Yeah, the episode of The Virginian, that’s that’s a hot episode, yeah.
Mike Finger: That’s a hell of an episode. Uh so more, more riveting stuff like that on Friday and maybe even more riveting. Uh and and the other thing is when you watch it live, you get up to the minute uh breaking news alerts. So like like this, this, if if you’re having this uh with your breakfast on Tuesday morning, it’s already 12, 14, 16 hours old. Um, if you tune in with your lunch on Friday, all the latest up-to-date info Tom and Jeff will have for you. Uh ahead of Twitter, ahead of all that stuff. So that’s another pitch for it.
Jeff McDonald: Looking forward to seeing you all there.
Mike Finger: Anything else we need to mention before we go, guys?
Jeff McDonald: Did you mention how to sign up for this?
Mike Finger: It’s in the link. There there’s a link to it in the in the description of the podcast. Making sure. Whether you’re getting it on uh YouTube or on your podcast player of choice, click on the description and there will be a link and uh and you’re going to be set. It it’s a guaranteed good time.
Jeff McDonald: Come on people, don’t make us beg.
Tom Orsborn: You also get some uh, you know, food, food tips here and there from our road travels. I’m going to recommend to Jeff if he hasn’t ever been there in Indianapolis, if you got time tomorrow, Shapiro’s Delicatessen. Wonderful place. Wonderful place. Uh…
Mike Finger: More of that for all listeners on Friday. Uh who knows what else will be in store. Maybe some surprises. We will see you then on Zoom. We will see you next week on the podcast. Until then, take care of each other and keep it real.