On Thursday night, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics, winning their fourth championship in eight years and closing their doors in the 2021/2022 NBA season. Exactly a week later, on June 23, the next season will kick off as the NBA draft gives teams the first chance to make upgrades.
For San Antonio Spurs, this event will set the tone for their off-season. Two months ago, when the San Antonio season ended for the second year in a row, I wrote: “(Spurs) now has the resources to move in any direction he chooses, be it A: making money. “The first season of the rebuilding was a success, as it set the stage for the franchise to decide how they want to rebuild the team. Now the next few months will show them which way they’re going: A or B. This Thursday is the first opportunity to see what in the direction of the Spurs office decides to go.
Neither option is necessarily bad. For certain players, depositing assets means that the Spurs may be in the play-off hunt again from next season, and if new additions click on any of the current Spurs, they could be in jeopardy for years to come. But after this year’s NBA Finals (and taking into account Spurs’ own success story), one has to wonder if building a draft isn’t the best way to go. Eight of the ten starters in the NBA Finals were made by their current team and developed by the same coaches. Most of the players had played together for years and developed chemistry over time, which is a huge reason why both teams were able to go through three grueling playoff series.
The Spurs agency has certainly noticed this trend and, given their high level of trust in their scouts, they could rely on their knowledge through Spart’s own development system to select the right players and the development system in San Antonio and Austin. , as they have done in the past. They already have many young talents of varying caliber, from Dejounte Murray, who just won the stars, and Keldon Johnson, the US gold medalist, to Devin Vasselli and Josh Primon, who have been selected in the last two lotteries. Silver & Black may not have many star talents, but they are definitely not lacking in the youth department.
So the question is, would the addition of four other drafts help Spurs achieve its long-term goals? It is possible, but they will have to decide sooner rather than later which young players they like best, because 1) they cannot pay them all and 2) they do not have enough minutes to move around to achieve sufficient development. . So even if they decide to continue the youth movement, the clock is ticking. Maybe it’s time to take some chances that Spurs seems ready to do it.
Looking back at the content of last year’s draft, I found a piece of writing I wrote about San Antonio’s director general, Brian Wright, and his post-draft comments to the media that could be applied to this year’s draft that could give a good idea of who Spurs might choose this year.
“The best player available, the best potential long-term ceiling. Some of the key targets we want to hit are versatility and shooting, ”said Wright shortly after the 2021 draft.
It seems that whoever is the best player available will get the 9th choice, choosing San Antonio, even if it is another guard, which is the right approach. If the Spurs don’t fund their choice for a star, they’ll have to find it and develop it, as Boston and Golden State did. Unfortunately, players with a certain midpoint potential are likely to disappear from the top five, so they may need to move toward fences in the event of a riskier prospect.
Take Shadeon Sharpe, for example. According to reports, the former potential top five will start to decline after hard training in the pre-draft process. With so little information about him, he could fall to ninth, where San Antonio would have a chance to choose him. Sharpe certainly has a high ceiling and some still consider him one of the best players to come out of this draft, despite being a bit mysterious after not playing last year. He can hit the ball and is definitely versatile with his 6’5 frame and 6’11 wingspan. Sharpe stands out as a potential target, but there may be others who would make good targets if what Wright said last year is true this Thursday and whose ceiling is at the top of Spurs’ list of desired qualities.
With eight guaranteed contracts on the list, four unguaranteed, and the free agency possibly costing more than $ 30 million, it seems unlikely that Spurs will bring in four new entrants, three of which are guaranteed in the first round. However, if Silver & Black makes every choice they currently have, expect the same approach for both. Wright made it clear last year that they are not deviating from the BPA mindset, so there is now a wait until Thursday as the NBA’s most secret organization keeps their cards close to its chest.
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