点击查看原文：San Antonio, Wemby ready for a rebound amid injuries
San Antonio, Wemby ready for a rebound amid injuries
Columnist Mike Finger, and beat reporters Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn discuss the Spurs first loss of the season, the loss of Dylan Harper to injury and why the after only a couple of weeks Wembanyama’s playoff expectations might not have been too far off.
Suggested reading:
Why Spurs look forward to Dylan Harper’s return, whenever it comes
MRI reveals Spurs rookie Dylan Harper suffered a left calf strain
Spurs’ Stephon Castle always up for defensive challenge
3 takeaways as Spurs suffer their first loss of season
Here is the transcript of the podcast:
Mike Finger: From a highly secure network of top secret locations across North America, this is the Spurs Insider, finally with a loss edition. I am Mike Finger, joined as always by Express News Spurs beat writers, Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn, along with sports editor Nick Talbot. We are joining, Tom and I are joining you from secure locations on the West Coast where the Spurs are dealing with a new injury, dealing with a new loss. Tom, where should we start?
Tom Orsborn: Well, the injury, uh, stands out most. I mean, the loss in Phoenix, um, you know, Phoenix, the Suns did a great job, very, which Wemby conceded, a great job.
Mike Finger: Even though the, uh, even though the, the predictions last week didn’t reflect it, it seemed like once the Spurs won that game at home against Miami, improving to 5 and 0 for the first time in franchise history, something that Tim Duncan and George Gervin and David Robinson and Sandro Mamukelashvili never did, that celebration sort of, I think, let us all to believe that, uh, that Phoenix game was set up for a letdown, and that’s exactly what happened.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, and hats off to Phoenix, as Mitch Johnson said. I mean, they, they did a great job on, on Wemby. Great, uh, great defense.
Mike Finger: But you were saying about Dylan Harper.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, Dylan Harper out with a, uh, left calf strain, uh, which was a good case scenario for the Spurs, no ligament damage, no tear. Um, a team spokesman gave me a rather rosy, uh, you know, timeline for him, uh, saying he’s day-to-day, but yeah, he’s probably going to be out for a while, but the good news is he, he will be back. Um, he suffered that injury in the second, second quarter against Phoenix.
Mike Finger: The those calf injuries can be scary because they, uh, they can linger. Um, the, the doomsday type people worry that, you know, especially when you see a guy land with non-contact, you, you start worrying about all kinds of stuff. The calf is connected to the Achilles, is connected to the rib bone, what have you. But, uh, but you’re right, this was a good case, good case scenario for that type of injury. It’s a, it’s a bad case scenario because Dylan Harper, Jeff, was playing so well. And, uh, you know, he had a couple of rough starts to games early in his first week, but took over some games late, and that one against Phoenix was shaping up to be maybe the best game of his, uh, his young career, six games into it.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, they wouldn’t have started 5 and 0 without him. Yeah. So, um, that’s how important he was to what they were building and are building. And, you know, it is a shame that he’s going to miss some time. And I suppose day-to-day is fine, but I think it’s going to be day-to-day for a lot of days. Yeah. You know, like I don’t, I don’t, I don’t, as you mentioned, like sometimes a calf strain is just a calf strain, and sometimes it’s a blinking red light, um, warning you of an impending Achilles issue. So they are going to take like all kinds of caution with this guy. I wouldn’t expect to see him back, you know, super soon.
Mike Finger: I will say that the that blinking red light is often with, um, guys with more miles on them than Dylan Harper has later in seasons, older guys, but but your point is well taken. You don’t take chances with these. And especially when you look at the way the Spurs have been handling every other injury they’ve been dealing with. None of these other injuries were said to be, uh, month-long type issues or even weeks-long type issues. And yet, you’re still waiting for four veteran guys to make their season debut. You’re still waiting for Luke Cornette. Tom and I are about to head to a practice at USC. We’ll find out more about Luke Cornette and his availability for the Wednesday game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Uh, but that never looked like anything more than an hour-to-hour injury, much less day-to-day. And we’re still waiting for him to come back. So I would not bet, I would not bet at all. This is still an anti-gambling podcast, but I would not expect, I would not expect, uh, Dylan Harper to return probably in the next, for sure in the next week or so.
Jeff McDonald: Every injury is different. Every player responds to injuries differently, but Jeremy Sochan suffered kind of a similar injury in like August playing for Poland and still has not played a game for the Spurs yet. Here we are two months later, you know, three months later. How many months? So I’m not saying Dylan Harper is going to be out for three months, but that just illustrates sort of the, the care they’re going to take with that particular injury.
Tom Orsborn: I guess Jeremy’s wrist injury compounded things, but, but you are correct, Jeff McDonald.
Jeff McDonald: They used to live.
Tom Orsborn: Yes, you are.
Mike Finger: Dylan Harper was the news of the week, but there were two games played since we last convened this Spurs Insider podcast. One of them, a pretty fun one back in Frost Bank Center with a local cagers, like I said earlier, did what no team has ever done before, and, uh, they, the, the good vibes continued. The good, Tom, the, the vibes after the game in Phoenix the other night weren’t terrible. You know, I think everybody understood that, uh, something like this was gonna happen. But this still, despite the Dylan Harper injury, despite the sort of blowout loss to Phoenix, even though the final score didn’t quite show how one-sided that was, that it’s still been a pretty impressive start to the season, still a lot of optimism on this team.
Tom Orsborn: Oh yeah, yeah. And as I said last week, coaches love to have a, have a loss when a team’s riding super high, you know, especially in this long NBA season. They gave Mitch something to, you know, point out things and, and as you astutely observed from our perch in Phoenix, um, he got in some faces. Uh, uh…
Mike Finger: Let’s talk to, from, from our perch, it was a pretty decent view down into the huddle. And, uh, it’s a, it’s a view that Tom Orsborn and Jeff McDonald, all of us have had over the years looking down into the Gregg Popovich huddle where he would coach up Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard in much the same way that he was coaching up, you know, the guys at the end of the bench, Malaki Branham, Blake Wesley. And, um, there was a moment late in that game on Sunday where he had Victor Wembanyama sitting right right in front of him, Julian Champagnie, Stephon Castle, and it was a, it was a finger in the face of each of them. And it, and it was very Pop-like. There was a point where he said, you and you and you. And I don’t think he was saying you and you and you are invited to, to, uh, to wine tonight. I think it was take responsibility. And I talked to Devin Vassell about that after the game and he said, yeah, that was just him asking for accountability and the message was received and that’s the way you want to be coached.
Mike Finger: And, uh, no, um, the, the savvy veteran, long-time Grizzly, uh, guy who’s been around forever, second year pro, Stephon Castle, as he noted after that game, it, I think we were getting a little too comfortable after that 5 and 0 start. So, wake-up call, he said. Yeah. So, uh, I think, obviously this is going to happen, obviously they weren’t going to go 82 and 0. Um, I think that, uh, this could be used as well as some of those early season victories were in the long run. Uh, Jeff, what have you seen just big picture-wise after a five and one start?
Jeff McDonald: I got a super hot take. I think, I think they just are, they’re, they are who we think they are. You know, like, I think there was some, understandably so, like a, a pension to after their five and 0, um, thing. You know, we started the season, the Spurs are going to be better, they’re going to win a lot of games. They need to make the play-in. That’s what we said on this podcast. That needs to be the baseline, make the play-in. Or better. Or better. Victor says we’re going to be the sixth seed. We’re like, well, that’s a good goal, but you know, we’ll, we’ll see about that. The West is tough. Um, I think I still feel the same about them. I think there’s a pension after they started 5 and 0 to be like, oh, that sixth seed is a, look, they’re, they’re good enough for that easily. Like we’re going to cruise to that. And I think, um, on the flip side, like losing to Phoenix the way they did shouldn’t cause anyone to overreact that the whole house of cards is crashing down. But I think they just, I, I don’t really think they’re, I think they’re still going to be a team that is going to, um, is not a playoff lock. I don’t think they’re going to be a playoff lock. So they’re a team that’s going to have to fight for it and work for it and, um, that might have been obscured a little in that 5 and 0 start. I mean, I don’t, you know, they won the games they’re supposed to win. That was great. That was great. They played two of the worst offenses in the league, two of the worst defenses, had a really nice win against Miami. I don’t want to poo poo that start, like they needed to win those games. They did a good job. But I don’t think it portended like, oh, they’re one of the best teams in the West already and, I mean, they still have some work to do. And yes, they have some bodies to get back too. That’s the other thing that if you really wanted to be optimistic about that start is they did it without their second best player. So, you can look at it that way, but I don’t, I, I still think this is a team that if six places your goal, that’s a, that’s a nice goal and they could definitely get there, but I don’t think it’s a, it’s an automatic lock by any means.
Mike Finger: I will take the sort of the middle ground between what you’re saying.
Jeff McDonald: That’s what I thought, that’s what I thought I was doing.
Mike Finger: Well, I think that, uh, when you say they’re not a playoff lock, I would qualify that only by saying, um, injuries can happen, things can fall apart. I think barring, uh, continued injury mayhem, um, this is a team that’s good enough, what, everything you said is correct. Um, but when you look around at disasters and you look around at panic, like some of that’s happening in the Western Conference. Um, they’re like just what’s, what’s going on in Memphis? What, Dallas can’t be too encouraged by what’s going on there. The Pelicans weren’t gonna be a playoff team, but holy moly. Uh, things are looking ugly there. All of this is to say, I think that if, if, if you get guys, the guys that you hope to get for the majority of the season, it’s not unrealistic to think that that should be what Victor Wembanyama said it should be, a six seed. I just, I can’t…
Jeff McDonald: Not unrealistic.
Mike Finger: I can’t count six teams that, um, should expect to finish in front of the Spurs, all things being equal. And I, I think, uh, a couple of, maybe I’m a prisoner of the moment, but a couple of weeks ago, I might have been able to count six, seven teams that, yeah, if things go right, they should finish ahead of the Spurs. Now I’m thinking there may be five. Um, and of course, you’re right, they’re not a playoff lock, but I think I’m, I’m getting to the point where the sixth seed is sort of my, uh, if not the baseline, my expectation. I think that’s about right from what I’ve seen so far.
Jeff McDonald: So you, you’ve, you’ve changed your, your tune in, uh, like a week and a half.
Mike Finger: I mean it’s ridiculous. It’s, it’s, it’s absurd, right? But I, I just think that there’s just a combination of not just the Spurs, but, um, some of the rest of the, of the teams in the, in the West that, that clearly have flaws too. And sure, that can change. And the Spurs played the worst schedule in the league through four games. The fifth game was against a better team in Miami. Um, but here’s the, you pointed it out. We have not seen De’Aaron Fox yet. A lot of this has come without Luke Cornette, Jeremy Sohan and even, you know, Lindy Waters and, and, and Kelly Olynyks of the world. It’s been a lot of Jordan McLaughlin minutes. It’s gonna been a lot of, uh, Jordan McLaughlin, by the way. Um, uh, a lot of Bismack Biyombo minutes. And nothing against those guys, but those guys were, uh, signed as veteran guys to be in the locker room, which they’re great. They were signed as, uh, break glass in case of emergency. And the emergency is already here, and the Spurs are five and one. Uh, granted it’s against a not great schedule, but basically what I’m trying to say is yes, I probably am overreacting. Yes, it is probably absurd. But there’s reasons why I think that it’s not crazy to think that that the six seed somewhere right there should be the expectation as opposed to a month ago when I would have thought like, hey, nine seed’s fine. Nine, nine seed could be good. Um, I think…
Jeff McDonald: Not a month ago. A week and a half ago.
Mike Finger: Uh, maybe. Five games ago. Six games ago. You’re right. You’re right. You’re right. I’m ridiculous. But I think…
Tom Orsborn: They should compete for it. They should compete for it. Yeah.
Mike Finger: They’ll be in the mix. There’s a, there’s a, there’s a really tall guy on the team that we haven’t talked about yet.
Jeff McDonald: I was about to bring him up.
Mike Finger: Okay. You’re talking about Luke Cornette? No. Um…
Jeff McDonald: What do we make of, uh, of, uh, the game plan Phoenix, uh, unveiled against, um, Victor and is it repeatable by other teams and, uh, if so, can he and even more especially his teammates figure out a way to beat it?
Mike Finger: In the, uh, in the valley, in the, in the, in the desert of Arizona, a few of us were talking about this and, and I, I, uh, made the observation that, uh, you know, Jeff, Jeff, I’m going to ask you this, this question of all the players who defended Victor Wembanyama during his first two seasons, which player, and there, there might be more than one, but this one…
Jeff McDonald: Dillon Brooks.
Mike Finger: Yes, which player gave him the most difficult time? Dylan Brooks. When we got to the, uh, what is the arena called now, Tom, that we’ve been to a million times and always has a…
Tom Orsborn: Footprint Center.
Mike Finger: Always has a different name.
Jeff McDonald: Different names every time.
Mike Finger: Every time it’s a different name. The we got to the mortgage match up…
Tom Orsborn: MFC.
Mike Finger: Dylan Brooks, the guy who’d given Victor as difficult of a time as he’d endured over his first two seasons, was wearing blue jeans and, and like a designer t-shirt, and, uh, he’s not going to play. So you think, wow, what a, what a lucky break for Victor Wembanyama not to have to deal with that nuisance. You know, because he’s, that’s what he is. He’s just a nuisance.
Tom Orsborn: Nemesis. Yeah.
Jeff McDonald: Pest, a pest.
Mike Finger: And, and not to say that Dylan Brooks got the better of Victor Wembanyama, like Victor, Victor is a much better player, but, but Dylan…
Tom Orsborn: He bothered him.
Mike Finger: Dylan bothered him. So you think, oh, he’s going to get the night off from Dylan Brooks. And what did the Suns do? They gave Victor all kinds of Dylan Brooks like problems without Dylan Brooks.
Tom Orsborn: 6’6" Royce O’Neale did a good Dylan Brooks imitation.
Mike Finger: He, he sure did. And that’s, that’s the way teams are gonna, uh, go at him. They’re going to bring help. They’re going to, they’re going to, instead of putting the, instead of putting the biggest guy on him and leaving him alone, they’re going to put 6’6" guys on him and give him help and, uh, harass him and make things difficult. And another thing is like, um, it could also be just a bad night. It could be a confluence of all kinds of factors. It could be the defense they played on him and the fact that Victor had just been playing what, a lot of minutes, five games in a row, was due for kind of a step back. This combination of this defense, um, uh, an exciting first week, um, maybe a bit of a, a take the game for granted type of outlook, which every player deals with when you’re going to a Phoenix team that isn’t highly respected, highly vaunted after your 5 and 0, all this could play into it.
Tom Orsborn: And Devin struggled, Devin struggled and Harper goes out. So, you know, there was no recovering. And they did kind of recover, but, you know, it was just a tough night.
Jeff McDonald: One thing that, if that defense is so effective against, uh, the freak of nature known as Victor Wembanyama, why doesn’t everyone do it? Why doesn’t everyone do it?
Mike Finger: That’s the point. I think it’s, it, it can be effective, but there are times when Victor’s just going to be, I mean, he’s, he’s a top five player in the league. That might be a hot take, but, uh, he’s, he’s going to be too good for whatever defense is thrown at him sometimes.
Jeff McDonald: What would help, what would help in those situations like the other night, and, uh, you guys know this and everyone listening knows this, is if they had more three-point shooting. Or more reliable three-point shooting. Um, which they just, they just are what they are at this point. They have to, they have to make it work. And I think that’s the reason we’re talking about them as maybe the sixth seed as their ceiling instead of something higher than that. But like there was a clip someone showed the other, like it’s not just that they’re triple teaming and double teaming Victor like when he gets the ball, they’re doing it before he gets the ball. Yeah. They’re keeping him from getting the ball. So there was a, there was a clip someone showed from the other night where like, Steph Castle’s got, like Victor’s double team by two guys and the third guy is Steph Castle’s guy. This is before he gets the ball. The third guy is Steph Castle’s guy who is, uh, Vic is like free throw line extended on the right wing. Uh, Steph is at the top of the key and or the top of the three-point arc and Steph’s defender is touching Victor. Like he’s not guarding Steph at all. And I think Steph did hit a three out of that. But like more of that, please. Like that’s how you beat that. If they’re going to put three guys on Victor before he touches the ball, so that you have to punish that. You have to.
Mike Finger: There also was…
Jeff McDonald: The Spurs didn’t do it the other night and, and that’s one way to beat it though is to be able to do that. And if they have all their, like if De’Aaron Fox is there and you’re throwing the ball out there to De’Aaron Fox, like you almost can’t defend the Spurs that way. Because De’Aaron’s going to make you pay. Not maybe not with a three-pointer, but he’s going to, you’re going to swing the ball to him. He’s going to attack a wide open lane and it’s over. So, you know, just having more players, better shooters, better scorers around him will help alleviate some of that.
Mike Finger: Victor also should have had, and he did not have a great game. Um, and, and this wouldn’t have changed the outcome, I don’t think, but he could have had probably 11, 12 assists the other night, Tom. Over and over again, he’d, he’d drive, just run into traffic, and he made the smart pass several times to the corner for, uh, to the wing for three-point shots that just missed. And sometimes you’re going to miss. The Spurs are not a great three-point shooting team, uh, but on that night, they were particularly not great.
Tom Orsborn: If they, if Phoenix was particularly good. Phoenix was 75% into, late into the game. It was crazy how many three-pointers they were making.
Jeff McDonald: Like if you could ever add that guy to the roster, like one of those guys in the league that we all know, I don’t even want to mention any names, but just like one of those guys where as soon as the ball swings to them wide open, you’re like, oh crap. Yeah. That’s going in. Like if you could ever put that guy on the floor with, with Victor in those situations, it would be really, uh, helpful.
Mike Finger: But another, another way to attack those defenses that was working against Phoenix and sort of keeping, um, the Spurs within reasonable striking distance in the first half is having a big guard who can get to the rim anytime he wants, even when they’re, um, the defense is swarming Victor Wembanyama. That’s what Dylan Harper was doing. They’re going to have to not have him around for a little bit. But I think he’s gonna, he’s, once he gets back, he’s going to pay some big dividends and he’s going to be of great use on nights like that when Victor’s struggling. Um, him back, De’Aaron Fox back on down the line. Stephon Castle is getting better even though friend of the podcast, friend of a, friend from Marriott breakfast rooms, Zach Zarba the other day, Tom, referred to the reigning rookie of the year as Stephen Castle.
Tom Orsborn: I heard it.
Jeff McDonald: It happens. Slander.
Mike Finger: It happens.
Jeff McDonald: Slander. What did you make, what did you guys make of Vic’s just like energy level in that game and and um, I’ll just speak for like the the nuts on Twitter and they’re not nuts. They’re just, you know, they they went through some traumatic stuff with with Victor last year, you know, sports trauma. Not not life or death trauma for the fans, maybe for Victor, but like there’s a lot of people going like, man, he was lethargic. Like this is how it looked before, before the blood clot last year. And are we worried like, like, uh, just how did you think his energy level was? And do you think maybe it’s just attributed to all the minutes he had been playing leading up to that?
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, he was going through a tough night.
Mike Finger: And, uh, and that happens. And there, I will just say in watching him for three years, um, there are moments in the game where he sort of drags. And I think there was a game, I was, it was one of the games I was watching next to Jeff McDonald, uh, over the past couple of weeks when I said, uh, man, Victor looks tired. Do you remember this? Um, and I, I said, man, Victor looks tired, kind of dragging. And within like six seconds of me saying that, he exploded down the lane and and dunked. I think just sometimes when you’re seven foot five, seven foot seven, seven foot nine, whatever he is, you look like you’re, you’re dragging every now and then up and down the court. I think, I’m not going to overreact to, uh, lethargic body language.
Tom Orsborn: Two words, uh, two words to solve the, the, this, uh, problem. Luke Cornette. Yeah.
Mike Finger: Hey, look, look, he, Victor has played a lot of minutes. He had not played in eight months. You got to remember that too. He’s played a lot of minutes after, after not playing at all. I know he, he was in pickup games and, and kickboxing and doing all kinds of stuff over the summer, but NBA game action is much different than all that.
Tom Orsborn: The, the, the 40 minutes against, I think I have this right. Uh, the 40 minutes he played against the Heat just the game before, I think it’s only the second time in his career he reached 40 minutes in regulation.
Mike Finger: Yeah. Yeah.
Tom Orsborn: So it’s, it’s more minutes than he’s used to playing.
Jeff McDonald: And a lot of that like Tom mentioned is the Cornette issue. You can’t, they can’t, they can’t survive, I mean they kind of, actually did survive the non-Wemby minutes against Miami, like surprisingly. But long term they can’t just, they can’t survive a lot of minutes with Bismack Biyombo at center.
Mike Finger: I don’t have the, the, uh, box in front of me, but, uh, Tom, I think it was we, we were noting this after the game the other night. As bad as Victor was, by far his worst game of the season, one of the worst of his career in a game that the Spurs were blowed out, I think he was minus three.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, plus minus, it was minus three, whereas, uh, yeah, Devin minus 23, Harrison minus 25. Yeah.
Mike Finger: Right. He’s still, he’s, they’re still really good when he’s out there. And even when they’re bad, even when he’s bad, he keeps them in games.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah.
Mike Finger: And…
Jeff McDonald: Did you just have, that was the hottest take I’ve ever heard. Yeah. The Spurs are really good when Victor Wembanyama’s on the floor. Well, well, I’m saying it, I, I’m…
Mike Finger: I’m saying…
Jeff McDonald: Changing analysis on Spurs…
Mike Finger: You’re making fun, but you’re, you just mentioned, uh, uh, the overreaction from people talking, worried about how horrible he is and how terrible he looked. And him in that situation, even when he’s that, when he looks that bad by his standards, the Spurs are minus three with him out there. That’s, that’s incredible. Um, anyway, I just wanted, I just wanted…
Jeff McDonald: I just wanted to take, take care of the fans on the social media who are asking questions. I just thought I’d throw that out there for the group and you guys answered it well.
Mike Finger: All right.
Tom Orsborn: Devin, uh, Devin had his worst game. Um, but you know, someone who’s hasn’t had a bad game yet is Keldon. Yeah. 19 points, eight of 14 against Phoenix. Guy’s playing good ball.
Mike Finger: I think that’s what the, that is what, this is Jeff’s going to make fun of this too, but like when you’re a role player, that you can sort of bring that role every night. I don’t know if this is deep basketball analysis, but role players, I think when you’re an energy guy, in a way, you’re more, um, like coaches say defense travels, that type of stuff. I think, uh, uh, energy travels. Energy is always there. And so when you rely on shooting, when you rely on, if Keldon was a guy they needed 20 points from every night, he’d have his off nights. But when they just need him to be Keldon, like I think you can count on that every night. I think that’s a cool thing. That’s a, that’s a good observation there, Tom.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah. Well, the thing about him is, as you guys know, he’s so into that role. You know, he’s, he’s embraced it so much after an initial, you know, initial reluctance or adjustment period, but he’s, he’s so into it now, so good at it.
Mike Finger: Yeah. Um, of the, of the non, um, Dylan Harper, Luke Cornette group, who, who do you, who do we think is going to come back first? Who do you think would be the biggest help? Um, and I guess there’s what, four other guys? Well, anybody you’re looking forward to seeing out there?
Jeff McDonald: The answer’s Fox, right? Is that…
Mike Finger: Oh, of course, of course, of course, of course. I was thinking of that, I was trying to get into the idea of where, uh, how Jeremy Sohan would fit into this and I’m still not sure.
Jeff McDonald: I’m still not sure either. I mean, he does things that will be helpful, but I’m not sure how, I’ll have to see it, but he’d, he’s going to be able to guard some guys for you. Um, he would have been helpful in this time with Cornette out, even though he’s not a big guy, he, he’s probably a better option at center than Bismack Biyombo. A better small ball center. Yeah. You know, um…
Mike Finger: That’s sort of, from the Spurs standpoint, that’s sort of the frustrating thing about this is so many of these guys who they might not be counting on as much would have been able to offer something at this point. Like you take, uh…
Tom Orsborn: Olynyk, yeah.
Mike Finger: You take Lindy Waters. Like he’s, he’s two weeks ago we, we were not thinking about him at all in terms of this season. He’s a, he’s a, in that last five of the 15, he’ll play when he needs to. But over the past couple of weeks, he could have played a lot. And he’s just not available. The same thing with, uh, Kelly Olynyk, same thing with Sohan to a lesser degree. Like, with, um, Cornette out, he probably could have been your backup big guy.
Tom Orsborn: And, and Waters would have taken McLaughlin’s minutes and…
Mike Finger: A lot of McLaughlin’s, or Carter Hart’s minutes. Probably a better shooter from three. Yeah.
Jeff McDonald: I mean, McLaughlin’s minutes will, well, now Harper’s out though. I was going to say McLaughlin’s minutes would go away when Fox came back because that trickle down effect, but now Harper’s out, so…
Mike Finger: Yeah. It’s, it’s, uh, we’ll, we’ll see if they start to get some guys back. I think the, the, the plan before the Harper, uh, injury was to, Tom, I think you can speak to this, sort of stagger the returns. Like not bring everybody back at once, but they, they were thinking about best case scenario where you maybe you bring back one guy on the road in LA and another guy back home and and slowly get back to full strength. I’m not sure how the Harper thing changes this. And Tom, you asked a good question after Phoenix, um, and, uh, this, this is, it was a very, it was an expected answer, but the a question that that fans might have had, uh, about Harper being out, does this create more urgency to bring some of the injured guy back, guys back? And Mitch Johnson said absolutely not.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, emphatic no. Emphatic no.
Mike Finger: Um, but I, I will, I do think we’ll, we’ll see some of those guys back soon.
Tom Orsborn: I think that’s, that’s maybe what I, a little part of what I’m getting at earlier is, well maybe I wasn’t, maybe I was just thinking in my head and I forgot to say it out loud. But it’s going to be hard to win five out of every six games with half the rotation out. Eventually that catches up to you.
Mike Finger: And against just better teams. I mean both, yeah. Um, but we’ll see. Um, the week ahead is a, is a big one before we meet again. The, uh, starting with the Lakers on Wednesday, Tom. Uh, what do you, what do you think? I’m going to look at the, the whole thing that we got Houston in a big showdown on Friday back at the Frost Bank Center. And beyond that, there’s a Saturday game against the, uh, reeling New Orleans Pelicans. And a Monday game at Chicago. That is four games before the next podcast at the Lakers, home against the Rockets, home against the Pels, at the Bulls. Who you got, Tom Orsborn?
Tom Orsborn: Uh, Lakers get Dončić back after a one-game injury management absence. Yeah, I’m going with the Lakers. Um, although the Spurs could have a bounce-back game after that get-in-your-face moment that you observed. Victor loves the big stage, too. But, uh, yeah, Houston, that’s always a fun game. I’m going to be pessimistic and go one and two.
Mike Finger: There’s, but there’s four games.
Tom Orsborn: Oh, four games. Okay. Two and two. The Bulls, at the Bulls. The pesky Bulls. So you got them beating the, uh, the Pelicans and the Bulls.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah.
Mike Finger: Okay. There you go. Jeffrey?
Jeff McDonald: I’m, I’m looking forward to that Lakers game. That’s going to be a tough one, uh, shorthanded. At LA. Luka’s, Luka’s playing as well as anybody in the league. That’s going to be a tough one. Um, looking at the four as a whole, I’m going, I’m going two and two, but man, as banged up as the Spurs are, like a one and three wouldn’t shock me. But I’ll go, I’ll give them two and two. I, I don’t, I that Rockets game is gonna be a bloodbath too. Like that’s gonna be a rough one. So if I’m giving him two and two, I’m, I’m obviously giving him the Pelicans game because that team is a mess. And then, um, you know, the Bulls started five and 0.
Mike Finger: The Bulls started five and 0. And I, the Spurs seem to…
Jeff McDonald: Have trouble winning there, but I’m going to give him that game if I’m giving him two and two.
Mike Finger: The point is like one and three would not be, would be far from a shock.
Jeff McDonald: That’s what I’m saying. That’s what I’m saying.
Mike Finger: I’ll give him, I’ll, I’ll cop out here. I’ll it’s, it’s a cop out. I will go two and two as well, but I’m not gonna specify where the two are. The vibes are not as good on this, this week’s edition. They’re not as high.
Mike Finger: I mean, you’re, you’re and, and another question is like, do you get De’Aaron Fox back for any of these four? Do you get, uh, Luke Cornette back? I, I’m thinking that Luke Cornette will, I would expect Luke Cornette to for sure be back for one of these four. Um, I’d be surprised if he’s not. Um, but yeah, that plays into it. I think if they can get, I’ll, I’ll say they get two of the four, but I’m not confident as to where those two are.
Tom Orsborn: When we convene next, we’ll know if there is a funding mechanism in place for a new arena. Dare we, dare we make a prediction?
Mike Finger: Well, I’m not going to make a prediction on…
Jeff McDonald: Two and two.
Mike Finger: This might not, this might not, uh, when people listen to that, they, they might already know. A lot of people listen to this Wednesday mornings. Good point, Mike. Good point. And and we’ve avoided this discussion for as long as we we have, and why, why not avoid it for one more day technically?
Tom Orsborn: For consistency’s sake.
Mike Finger: Yes.
Jeff McDonald: Well, I have things to say. No, I’m kidding.
Mike Finger: That’ll be, uh, that, that’s big news. I know the, I know the Spurs are really, really, really looking forward to finding out what happens, as are a lot of people. So…
Tom Orsborn: What’s the weather like in San Antonio, Jeff, for election day?
Jeff McDonald: It’s beautiful. Okay. It’s, it’s David Flores beautiful. Okay. All right. Friend of the, friend of the podcast, David Flores, nobody appreciated a beautiful day like he does.
Tom Orsborn: Yes.
Mike Finger: Um, okay, that’s it. We will know the answer to the election question when we meet next. We will find out how the, uh, Spurs weather this injury storm, get through the next four games. And until we see you next time, take care of each other and keep it real.