Spurs Draft Grades + Free Agency Preview Ft. Lu! | SSPN Live

Spurs Draft Grades + Free Agency Preview Ft. Lu! | SSPN Live

what’s up everybody welcome into another edition of sspn live a special edition Sunday at 3:00 we got Ethan we got me and we got our guy Lou from Miami heatbeat and playoff foul AKA at Saucy takes back on the Pod to do a little draft recap talk some free agency but man Lou you know we could we could sit here and do a little intro talk about all this stuff but let’s just jump into it man you had Stefon Castle on your uh at number one on your big board you know throughout most of the process and about a month ago and we had you on before the draft you said if Stefon castles there at 4 the Spurs should Sprint to the podium and well while they may have taken a little bit of time on the clock they did ultimately end up taking Stefon Castle um just man I’m going to kind of open the floor for here what are your thoughts again on now that this being official the fit with the Spurs and addressing you know needs on the team and then also just why were you so high on Stefon man it’s just uh talk about a player who is going to bring a culture one that wbi is like he said it today I saw U what is Wy most interested in he said winning like he’s obsessed with winning um you’re bringing a winner first and foremost a guy who was a fstar went to Yukon helped them repeat as National as national champions like filled his role perfectly so I think first and foremost the Spurs are getting an elite level competitor next to wemi and you know hopefully we’ll see how the point guard situation irons out but they’re going to give him a chance I think he deserves one and most importantly he he is literally he does whatever your team needs and in a draft like this one where everything was so flat across the board and it was more about fits than finding Talent even though I had Stefan Castle number one and I would have taken him number one um I do think that it’s not just who’s the best player on your board is who fits best because the tiers were so close but Stefan does both of those things I think to t you know you want the shooting to come along I’m not as worried as other people in that aspect just because I I have seen the balance I have seen the pull-up shooting especially going right in the you know 15 fet area I have seen his body control be good like I am really really really high on this player coming you know going to the San Antonio Spurs and I think it’s good it’s a perfect fit for him and it’s a perfect fit for you guys he gets to go out there and prove that he’s a point guard and I’ll take him with the chip on his shoulder because he was playing without a chip on his shoulder and he was playing like a like a dog on both ends of the court so with the chip on his shoulder it’s just going to push him more I am so excited to see the San Antonio Spurs in the summer league like we’re talking talking about like I’m going to be going out to Cali I’m trying to catch their game so bad cuz so much so much talent but I think Castle is really going to shine here with you guys don’t expect him to come out of the gates firing as a scorer because that’s not who he is but in terms of impact and winning games I think he can help you literally off of the tip like game one yeah that’s that’s honestly kind of how I’ve started to feel especially when you think about the defensive versatility me and Ethan have already kind of talked about the starting lineup as much as maybe Devin vasel right now isn’t you know like a Gary Payton you know lock down type of Defender having you know just a defensive core of Victor Jeremy soan uh Stefon castle and Devon vasel we’ll see who plays the three for the Spurs that’s kind of up in the air right now but but having those four guys on the court and specifically Stefon Jeremy and wemy um that’s definitely going to be a big Improvement for the Spurs when we look at you know one of the biggest issues last year was defense but another thing that you talked about that I wanted to touch on and then Ethan you can jump in and ask whatever question you want um is Dan Hurley talked about uh Stefon shooting mechanics and I think he described them as like his mechanics are great you know obviously you know there’s still some work that needs to be done like you said um but there there’s also some promise there and some flashes that we’ve seen as well um but the other thing that he said said about Stefon at the draft was he’s just scratching the surface so I kind of wanted to ask you about both of those quotes from Dan Hurley um just because you know I mean he’s such a respected basketball mind no yeah um Hurley ran a system to win he didn’t run a system to Showcase any one particular player which is why the Intrigue is so high or why my Intrigue is so high with Castle because he has shown flashes of in you know uh just creating advantages inside of the arc both on and off the ball so you know I see people saying obviously you know people always project the player and proving their shot when they like the player I wholeheartedly agree I think that’s what that’s the difficulty of also scouting is what players can you project their shots and I think um the reason my particular reason for projecting Castle shot again is I think his balance is so good inside his free throw percentages weren’t alarming um Alabama let him shoot he made them pay so it’s not like he’s a complete non-factor I do I I like that Hurley says that he’s only scratching the surface because I truly feel that and there’s nobody better to know that than a you know probably like dare I say one of the best coaches in college basketball right now probably even top three like he knows what he’s talking about he was obviously getting big interest from the Lakers say with that would you will but he was garnering attention he knows what he’s doing he’s seen these guys he’s had other guys come in through this program make it to the NBA um you know there’s a part of coaches talking their players up but um like if you if you followed Stefon Castle’s story all the way up until this point it’s he’s not just talking him up and it doesn’t match the tape he’s talking him up but the tape talks for itself too like you don’t even need to listen to Dan Harley talk about him and you can see the things that Dan Harley is that Dan Harley is done talking about so I’m I’m like you know I came onto your show I was doing another show and I came onto your show during the pick and I was just geeking for you guys man I was super excited because I wanted this for you more than you can imagine because wemy is so special man and one of the best ways to get the best out of wemi is to make his job easier offensively cool but defensively so much better uh with him on the court with him off the court you guys were two different defensive teams literally from the worst team to an above average defensive team I think that that Gap is now G to W uh like narrow down it’s not going to be as wide especially with castle with some of the guys you got later on in the draft as well um so it’s going to be I think you guys are building this correctly I I have seen a lot of Spurs talk on trades and whatever we’re going to get into that I’m pretty sure but I you need to build the foundation Brick by Brick man you don’t skip steps look at where OKC’s at they didn’t skip steps they still have all their picks and now they see what their team is they can go and build whichever way they want to you guys were like I saw a lot of people saying like you know get just give it all up go get whoever take take your time man it’s it’s a it’s a slow gradual ual process but one that um gives you more years of competing as opposed to pleasure like it’s delayed gratification is the way I right the thing that shocks me the most about people that are upset about castle I think they’re pointing out his shooting and his lack of um like he has hasn’t had that many minutes as like a ball dominant traditional point guard playmaker right um but at the same time when you think about where we picked who was available who who is that guy that was there at for that was a better solution than Stefon Castle because if those are the only two negatives on his game he does literally everything else like you’ve been talking about um in his press conference I think one of the things that caught me was he talked specifically about setting screens and getting other players open in other ways than just passing them the ball coming off a high screen and roll so like it’s things like that and that’s really what the spur system is is setting screens dribble handoffs and everyone having uh opportunities to play make not NE neily like a Trey young James Harden top of the key you know that’s all he’s going to do is dominate the ball and dribble the air out of it so I’m I’m super excited about this pick obviously it was youu that really kind of put him at the Forefront for me but my question is this um we saw what Deonte Murray was able to do when we brought him into the Spurs system obviously he had a very like a very similar game uh I think most people compare Stefon to Jimmy Butler his rookie year but I see a lot of shades of Deonte Murray uh and de was not a natural playmaker in college he ended up getting to seven or eight assists a game I think his last year with us and then with Atlanta do you see any similarities between the two of them and can their impact be similar or do you think his ceilings even higher than that um okay so first of all absolutely in terms of like playmaking and impact uh I would say castle is realistically I know he wants to play point guard and I think you guys should give him a chance to because why not like you took him this High give him an opportunity don’t just give it to him either but like let him get some of these reps because you never know where it’s going to go in the long term like I fully expect him to be playing on ball this entire summer league and you know the guy you took later on to maybe get the secondary reps but uh I expect 80% of the time he’s gonna be on ball that doesn’t mean a point guard doesn’t need to be the one initiating because like you said he play he first of all in Yukon they didn’t run a ball dominant offense it was a lot of high post dhos pin down curls horn sets and he this is where he’s comfortable at gez doesn’t that sound lot like San Antonio Spurs it does like come on it’s it’s a it’s a very similar fit in terms of impact defensively I think Murray was and still is you know very impactful on ball Defender but he has some like size limitations in terms of like strength and stuff that’s not an issue with Stefan I would feel very comfortable with Stefan guarding one through four like one through three some fours as well um not that he’s going to be a a world stopper towards bigs but he can hold his own he could do enough to impact that part of the floor the I will say if there’s a knock on stefon’s C on stefon’s defensive game is that he wasn’t that much of a defensive quote unquote playmaker he he’d rather force people into tough shots than go and gamble for steals maybe that’s something that was schemed dependent maybe you guys can allow him some more freedom to do some of these things because I do think his feel is good enough to explore some of these options but um it’s just you know I’m excited for what you guys are doing man and in terms of comps I don’t I don’t think Stefon Castle has a onetoone comparison if I’m being very honest um I’ve seen Anthony black floated it around I think he’s I think he’s a better athlete than Anthony black was or at least played more under control than Anthony black did I keep coming back to like Marquel folz and what he’s turned into but like you’re getting Marquel at 18 or 19 like you’re not getting this version of Marquel folz where you know it’s like due to like a a nervous issue that he can never improve his jump shot it’s you know bigger body like hybrid playmaker you know cast’s more off ball like that’s why again I don’t like comps but he is that shade of Defender if you can bring out some of the offenseive juice and and and stuff like that I think it’ll be a a pick definitely worthwhile and to your point I don’t know who was there on the board at four that you could have said you know for sure like this is the guy that we would want I think as much as I love castle if Reed Shepard was there at four I do think you would have to consider that fit just because of the floor spacing that he brings right away but you know you guys didn’t have to make that hard of a decision in my opinion so right right yeah man there there’s a lot that I want to touch on there just going back to something we were talking about a little bit earlier with the shooting I mean the last time we were on here we brought up Tyrese Maxi’s College percentage I’ve seen some Drew holiday comparisons as well he wasn’t a great shooter in college uh Paul George wasn’t a great shooter in college I mean we could go Jaylen Brown wasn’t a great shooter in college I I mean and obviously a lot of these guys are Allstars so you know you never know for sure like you’re gonna have to wait and see how things play out but this is a top five pick like and there were a lot of other people throughout this process that that had Stefon at number one on their big boards as well um I saw there was an Eastern Conference executive that basically said if if Stefon drops to four and goes to the Spurs OMG they’re going to be a b word you know what I mean and so it’s not I mean that that’s some that’s an Eastern Conference executive right there so I mean anyways we’re gonna have to see how the shooting plays out but there’s been a ton of examples of you know guys not being great Shooters in college and and improving and we we talked on that last time but just to wrap up this Castle discussion let’s let’s all give out our grades here Lou I know you’ve already given yours out on Twitter but just for the people who haven’t seen uh what is your grade on this fourth pick here for the Spurs it’s an A+ it’s an A+ like you in my opinion he was the number one player on on in this entire draft class I’m willing to be wrong on that too like you know it is what it is but what I saw on tape how I think it’ll translate and just the impact that he makes alongside with the fit culture-wise and like on the floorwise along with your best player I think it was a no-brainer it’s an A plus pick for me you can go ahead Ethan appreciate it Jud uh I also going to go with A+ for every reason that Lou just stated as well as there’s nobody else at the fourth spot that I think would have been anywhere near as good of a pick for us and our fit looking forward and you can talk all you want about how terrible of a three-point shooting team we were last year that is all completely true but you have to also address defensively like L said without wmi we were the worst defensive team I have probably ever had the displeasure of watching on TV so this is an immediate addressal addressal addressment of that that’s a word yeah I mean I know this is on a Spurs Channel and we’re here giving we’re all going to end up giving him an A+ I’m going to give it an A+ too but the reason that I give it an A+ is just because bluntly I think he was the best player on the board at four like regardless of of big boards and all that stuff at four in my opinion he was the best overall player on the floor um and there’s a lot of people also that I didn’t mention you know earlier talking about the Eastern Conference executive that felt like he’s the most thing or you know has the highest chance of being an Allstar uh in this draft as well and again we’ll have to see how all of that plays out but um you know to be hearing that from people around the league on top of you know our own thoughts on this um it just gets me so excited and and as we’ve talked about earlier I’m just really excited especially being in the western conference with Luca donic in our division uh sheay gilis Alexander Anthony Edwards you know bigger more physical guards as much as you know it’s going to stefon’s just a rookie next season but we actually have somebody who can physically match up with those guys which was such an issue for the Spurs matchup wise this season so I’m I’m so excited for that need to be addressed and with the assets that we’re gaining like that’s the other thing it’s you know we’re taking our time with this and there could be a move you know in the near future or in a year to you know address that shooting very aggressively yes yeah no 100% but yeah let’s move on to the second pick that the Spurs made in the draft and we’re not sure if he’s going to be on the team as of late me and Ethan uh talked after the stream that we did last time I believe it was after maybe it was on air um but I thought that you know maybe Juan Nunes could potentially Play Summer League but I totally forgot about him being on the Olympic roster for Spain so he will not be on the Spurs summer league roster um but Lou I don’t know how much you’ve heard about you know us potentially stashing him in Europe for a season um but what are your thoughts on the pick as him as a player um and fit with as well as you know him potentially being stashed um I’m you know one thing I’m not going to do is lie I wasn’t a fan of the selection I’m Gonna Keep it very very honest I think there was other ways that you guys could have gone to improve the roster as opposed to trying to force a I felt like you really wanted to get a traditional point guard and you know some of the things Juan Nunes does with the ball and hands he has you know I had a scout reach out to me he was an International Scout and he was like you know this is the best pick and roll passer I have scouted this year and that’s a lot of Praise I don’t know if I fully agree but he’s definitely top three so that’s right away that’s what he brings you want a ball dominant like pick and roll playmaker somebody who can make skips with both H with both hands off a live dribble see the entire floor all that is absolutely wonderful the knock on him is the jumper I don’t think it looks beautiful I don’t think the percentages back it up either so uh shot 55% from the free throw line that is not where you want to be especially as a guard the three-point has a little bit of a hitch to it but I do think offensively in terms of just spraying out the ball once you do start getting some of these shooters in here and and you know maybe he is a stashed candidate I would I if I was you guys I would like for him to be stashed personally mhm um so it’s just I wish basically you guys came into the draft with four selections so if you traded one away for a future asset and then you’re stashing another one so you’re coming out of the draft with just two picks maybe that’s intentional 25 draft is gonna be [ __ ] insane I’m gonna be very honest so maybe you guys did that intentionally I don’t know but um in terms of just for a pure like pick grade he wasn’t I wasn’t the biggest fan of him I have some questions some limitations athletically but he is very crafty I don’t think he has the best touch either very grounded player but he does some things offensively where you can see him translate that’s why I would just like to see him get stashed and see what happens but all in all Juan Nunes is a very ve like if there’s if you’re picking in the second round my whole thing is what is your Elite trait you know because I I don’t want to take somebody in the second round who does a lot of things at an average level like that to me is just if you do a lot of things at an average level uh prior to coming into the NBA draft it’s very hard for those things to maintain average into the league so you get what I’m saying you’re not a specialized player so in in nunes’s case he does have an elite trait and that is his passing in his vision so it it gives him a higher chance a STI I don’t completely hate the pick I just would have gone in another direction that that’s all I’ll say so what’s your what’s your official official grade it’s okay uh no I think the great is a c minus I don’t completely hate the pick I don’t think it’s horrible I think it’s a it’s it fits um a need clearly you guys scouted him very deeply I was hearing rumors about Juan nun being a second round pick to you guys throughout the entire course so you know didn’t do a great job of keeping that under WS but you got your guy like there’s something that they saw that they identified that they like in him um and he you know he does have this again I keep going back to it but an elite elite passing trait his jumper actually looks a lot better when he does it off the dribble than off of the catch off the catch it looks a little funky especially off the dribble on step backs it looks a little better than off the dribble going forward but again it’s it’s let’s see how his athletic athleticism translates into the league and how some of his craft and you know lack of he he’s not a small player at the position at least he he measured like 6’3 and a half so he’s goingon to be like six5 in shoes it’s pretty good point guard size but C minus is kind of ultimately where I probably ended up with that yeah Ethan what are what are your thoughts on Juan Nunes and your personal grade I haven’t given him too much uh investigation I do know that he is one of an elite playmaker but like L said that’s really the only thing that has come like jump jumped off of his highlight reel and off the draft profiles that I’ve been reading for him uh he is very young so he has the potential I guess to be you know everyone on Spurs Twitter keeps comparing him to Manu job I don’t know if you’ve caught any of that I have SE I haven’t seen that believe it or not well you know you get the parallels you get the the people that think this is the worst pick of all time like this is the next Milos tiad doich or whatever the Clippers took a few years back yeah and then you have people that are like no this is the next Manu and I get it because we’re the Spurs and we have a history with foreign prospects that no one really knows that much about and it could be nicoa milov who we took a few years back in the first round that we never see in an actual Spurs uniform or he could be M jobi who’s a of Famer that was picked 57th and was a 99 that nobody heard about so I get that there’s I guess low risk because he was a second round pick and to be honest I don’t know who else was available at that time Lou would know more about that somebody that could meet be a little more impactful uh but if he does work out if he can figure out his jump shot if his athleticism somehow finds a way to translate U I think his ceiling’s probably closer to like what a Ricky Rubio look like and that’s not just because of the Spanish correlation but because of his limitations but the one thing that Ricky Rubio had for sure was his ability to playmake and and somehow you know find gaps in the lane so that’s I would go with a C+ maybe just a little bit more positive than Lou um but I’m not expecting anything crazy from this guy yeah you know Ethan you said a lot of my thoughts there and obviously Lou you covered a bunch as well um the thing that I would say about Juan Nunes that that the first thing that I think of that hasn’t been said is just that even if he was on the roster this year he’s probably going to be in the G league so that’s the thing about stashing him that I’m not too mad at is that it’s it’s it’s kind it’s not necessarily Apples to Apples but it is very similar especially if he ends up moving up a league we’ve had some people comment that he could potentially play uh in the Euro league next year I know he was in the German league and and we we kind of had some thoughts about this you can you can maybe if you have some info on this that we don’t L please jump in but could he maybe Elevate to lmb proa in the French league like do you know how that works so yeah so actually what happened is he signed a contract with FC Barcelona so if he does decide to get stashed he’s going to be playing in Barcelona so that is a like like that is the top ACB team in like you know that’s a top ACB league in Spain so yes he would be Euro league eligible because he was playing in the second league in Germany so if he had to elevated would have been to the first League he was playing alongside Pome daddy a which I have a love affair I wish he would so does Jude so does Jude yes it it it happened late in the process but but that happened to me too and I definitely I I would have preferred him as well but I also see why the Knicks picked him where they did um but to give my grade on Juan Nunes I’m gonna go in a sandwich I’m gonna go with C we had C+ C minus I’ll go with C here um and it it’s just kind of as much as that the elite trait is there for sure and I hope that down the line it works out and maybe he can become a rotation player for us like that’s what I hope and and wish for um you know with the defensive limitations as much as there are some flashes with the jumper you know it not being that consistent um I’m I’m rolling with that there too especially like there there were some other guys that maybe were potentially on the board like Johnny Fury when we first picked him I was actually pretty excited about that I know he’s very young but just because that would bring in immediate shooting um but before we move on to the Spurs next pick Lou I want to ask you what are other players maybe that were available there um that you would have preferred I’m putting you on the spot a little bit here oh no man I came ready man uh perfectly like honestly if I was San Antonio there I would have considered fury because I did like Fury actually I was a lot lower on Fury than most people I had him in like a second round grade but he fell exactly towards like where I kind of projected him so I’m you know paded myself on the back for that one too but I would have probably considering I took Castle earlier I would have considered gerich I really like Nicola jerich he went 43 to the to the Atlanta Hawks after we traded back with them but he’s an upside swing kind of guy but if you were looking at more somebody to come in right away I really really liked uh you know AJ Mitchell really really like Bobby Clinton uh jayen Wells talk about immediate shooter I really liked him I lik cam Christie 18 and an immediate shooter as well so I just I wish you guys would have um if I if I was there I would have probably considered one of those three guys Clinton is more of a 34 right um Wells is more of a 23 and Christie is more of like a pure two but I think Wells would have probably Wells or Mitchell would have been my pick but you know that still I I understand the whole process here like I do think you guys are going to let him like he went to I think it’s just ironic that he signed with Barcelona there were rumors about him and you guys so I do think it was all intentional yeah no I I can totally see your train of thought there L you got anything Ethan before we move on I think the Olympics will be a perfect time for us to see what this guy’s about because he’ll be playing against Elite competition I don’t know what the Spanish roster looks like I don’t know if he’s starting or if he’ll be a bench piece for them but either way it’ll be it’ll be fun to watch 100% that is a great Point Ethan and that will be starting up soon speaking of which I’ve already seen some Jeremy soan highlights popping up on the TL with Poland playing in some friendlies um so definitely looking forward to the basketball that will come next week um but finally we have our last pick which was Harrison Ingram from North Carolina and Lou you immediately texted us when we had the pick I saw Kevin oconor tweet that that he felt like this was a perfect fit and I don’t I don’t know if he said it was necessarily a steal but I think at where we got him he he liked it a lot me and Ethan you know we we really were introduced to him right then and there when he got picked so Lou please give us your breakdown on Harrison Ingram man he was somebody I again I don’t think it was a steal because you got him like what it was 48 if I’m not mistaken but I do think it was very very good value I think I finished with him like 43 or 41 on my big board but in terms of like again culture fit uh played several years in college goes to North Carolina and literally leads the ACC in rebounding as a power forward and as a 65 and a quarter inch power forward like an absolute absolute just dog on the rebounds on the glass defensively does a lot of the little things well really really liking him to like a PJ Tucker that’s kind of The Vibes that I was getting when I was watching him not because PJ Tucker was an exceptional rebound or anything like that but just in terms of intangibles he has them hello San Antonio um 65 six really he’s like 66 and a half in shoes 240 235 seven foot wingspan like this guy is going to go out there and he’s going to do a lot of the dirty work he’s going to you know he’s going to guard up sometimes he’s gonna guard down sometimes but um I just think he does enough things at a very good level that he’s going to be you know somebody who’s going to be impactful I do expect him to get some rotation burn at least at least a chance to get some of these minutes because um he the jump shot just came across this last year but he did shoot a lot of them so yeah I saw that four four 4.6 per game Sorry to interrupting yeah so 4.6 per game shot like 38 and a half% the free throw percentage isn’t what you wanted it to be but it just shows that he’s a he’s only 21 as well so it’s not like he’s an older older Prospect like I think 21 is probably like the average age for an NBA draft pick so I do think that there’s still some untapped uh like shooting that can probably progress a little bit or even if it doesn’t progress if you get a 38% three-point shooter I don’t think you’ll complain especially if he’s a three and D guy um the concerns obviously are he’s not the most Adept ball handler he’s not the best finisher um he does have some good connective passing but it’s mostly like you’re he’s a three and D guy he’s a three and D guy who does the Dirty Work who helps rebound at a very very high level but he is you know he kind of his athletic limitations are kind of subdued I think due to the fact that he is 235 with a s foot wingspan I think just I think he weighs more than wemi right away so like it’s it’s it’s you know it’s a nice combat to him and a nice little like piece to put alongside wemi or alongside some of your bench units to help aid in you know gang rebounding and he he closes off defensive possession so I think this is another guy that you took because of his defense because of his you know ideal ideally to like space eventually in the n ba but we’ll see where he goes I thought it was very very good value where you guys took him and I think culture-wise it was a very like you you identified the Spurs identified the guys that they that fit into their not just their team but like like the way that they like to go about things and I think with castle and Ingram it was you know two for two in that sense for sure now I love his personality I don’t know if either of you watch his press conferences with the Spurs but he speaks so easily fluently like he doesn’t have to think about his questions he doesn’t feel scripted at all he does speak Spanish so I love his character I like his personality fits with San Antonio agree with everything that L said the comp that I thought of literally just now and I think he’s a more physically gifted a obviously a little bit bigger version of Josh Hart what he is able to do with the Knicks because of the rebounding three and D pretty much that’s all he does Josh Hart’s not really a put it on the floor kind of guy he does push in transition so I guess there is that um uh part of his game that Ingram can work on developing but if if he can work on his dribbling I think he could be maybe a rotational three four combo but right now I think he’s absolutely like the third string four and the only reason I don’t think he’ll get much rotational burn this season Lou is because of cidi Soko and I think he’ll get the nod before inam uh and I think he’ll be playing kind of the third string power forward this season so he’ll probably start off in the G League uh but I do think he’s got a lot of um like Swiss army knife ability to be like you said the the do the Dirty Work kind of guy off the bench and Jude and I talked about it we haven’t drafted yet kind of our version of Lou Dort like OKC has Lou Dort who does all the dirty things that like they have a lot of star potential that can score and then they have L Dort as well so I think this could be like our version of L Dort for our team yeah L please respond to that no no absolutely like um yeah and that’s exactly what I’m saying like he’s a guy who does the things that the stat like the the stat sheet doesn’t say but you know he sets a good Hammer screen here gets a shooter open it’s a good back door here like you know Cuts well occupies the space which allows somebody else behind him like he’s somebody who is a very unselfish player on the court and he doesn’t really care what his shine is and then also uh like he came from shooting 32% 31 and 32% his first two years at Stanford to jumping up to like 38 and a half and you know going from 113 to 170 attempts that is pretty good he shot 39% on catch and shoot and 46% when he was open like on thre it’s somebody who showed that look I know that this is my Niche to get into the league defense rebounding and this I’m gonna perfect my craft again it’s a second round pick you’re not expecting this guy to do everything it’s what can he do at Elite level rebounding defense and ideally space the floor in the NBA and I I do think he will uh you know the thing with City the if City can shoot I think he can play more of a three than a four rle I view Ingram solely as a four okay like a small ball four just because I don’t think his but again you have wemi so you know typically your four and fives don’t dribble but wemi does whatever but in his case I like his handle and his inability to create for himself off the dribble might Amper some of his ability to play the three yeah I I wanted to ask kind of where you viewed him you know positionally coming into the NBA but the the wingspan I did not know that as much as he is a little bit undersized height-wise uh he is definitely not undersized in weight and in wingspan so that definitely gives me some comfortability and and that kind of ties into the PJ Tucker comp again the last thing with Harrison Ingram for me is I’m just not sure if the if the Spurs are going to put him on a two-way basically and you I think we’re going to have to wait and see how that plays out they kind of last year with Sidi they kind of dragged it out for a while we weren’t sure if he was going to be a two-way or if he was going to be on full contract he ended up being on full contract still spent most of the league in the g-league um but that’s kind of the main thing that that I’m watching with Harrison Ingram um but man with with everything that that you’ve talked about and the flashes that I have seen on top of the shooting Improvement that kind of reminds me a little bit of Devin Carter’s shooting Improvement just in the sense of the way that you know had two seasons prior then took the most of his career while increasing the percentage you love to see that um and the other thing is we just tendered a qualifying offer to Sandro mamuk kesy who had a really good uh end to the season as much as you know it was the end of the season with a lot of Team sitting guys um the four was the most open spot on our roster so for you to tell us that he’s a four um that that slides right in for us positionally um and if we want to play Mamu for the season depending on what contract it is he can develop in the G League maybe take over for him if he continues to develop um but man speaking Spanish and San Antonio and having all the character traits that he does um I’m I’m very happy with it but what’s your official grade Ethan will will’ll dish it to you after that and then we’ll end with me I think I think it’s an A minus again I think it’s a very like considering the pick at 48 you’re typically the guys who get picked here don’t play much like but still you know I do you think culture-wise I think fitwise I think what he can bring to you is something that you guys desperately need um your four spot now obviously isn’t the most Adept and you know Sohan does some things for you there um with Mamu as well didn’t he slim down a lot for you guys I felt like he was bigger in in Milwaukee and he looked a little bit I didn’t watch enough in Milwaukee give you an honest answer no no okay no it’s fair but he did he did showcase some things but even then like he’s somebody who can he’s very versatile so I really really just like the pick I think it’ll work I think you know at at the minimum he’ll be an NBA level player depends if he gets burnt or not like that’s kind of where it is but I don’t think he’ll ever be some kind of crazy Superstar but he’ll be somebody that you will keep on your roster I I know I comp them to PJ Tugger but I do think like hey with high Smith kind of Vibes like when I was watching him you know watching you know seeing Miami obviously PJ and heith I do think he gets a little bit of that thing and you know heith apparently has a lot of value apparently in the open market so okay Ethan I’m gonna jump in here because I just had a player comp jump into mind what about like a bigger former heat heat player I’m pretty sure Derek Jones Jr o not the level of athlete I will say because Derrick Jones J [ __ ] incredible right right but in terms of like defensively switchable you can put him on just about anybody um I like it I just you know think 35 pounds heavier right right and some sizable strength difference but yeah definitely that mode of three and D player like you don’t want Derek Jones Jr dribbling much at all right just play finisher shoot and you know do your thing on defense crash the boards yeah exactly crash the boards on both sides of the Court he had an insane rebound percentage number for forward it was like 20% rebound percentage which is really really high I’m also going to go with an A minus for my grade and there’s no sense in me repeating exactly what L said so I won’t uh but I do want to ask L one quick question Jude does not have to be a long answer uh what do you think of seeing Derrik Jones Jr play so well in the playoffs for the Mavericks I loved it man I loved it I I hold no grudge against like guys when they leave Miami I’m the complete opposite I want them to thrive unless hits h on wh side I’ll be very compl with that I’m not a fan but like you know it’s it’s amazing to see players develop and and you know even Derrick Jones Jr bounced around after Miami went to Portland went to Chicago then ended up in Dallas and then that’s on a minimum and you know credit Jason kid for giving him a role that he thrived in making it simple for him it a lot of these players just come down to like role fits and schematics more than talent because Derrick Jones Jr is not was not the one of the five most talented guys on that uh Dallas roster but it’s how well can you fit around the stars and right again credit to San Antonio Harrison Ingram does that Stefan Castle does that and has the potential to be even if it’s a low tier All-Star I think he does so you know credit to you guys for knocking it out of the park there thank you we try our best yes we do and that’ll basically wrap up this one I’m going to go with you guys and give it an A minus as well um and with all that being being said let’s jump straight in to the free agency discussion what are y’all predictions for free agency this doesn’t have to be too long but just what are your thoughts on the Spurs and and just free agency coming up here soon go ahead Lou oh man um I don’t really know what’s going to happen in free agency I feel like every there’s so much rumors flying around there’s so many players not signing or signing and and teams that need c space and don’t need c space and it’s it’s just a lot of I think free agency has kind of been on the decline for several years now I’ve actually been very adamant like you know aside from Jaylen Brunson who’s been the best free agent that has been signed over the last five years and you know it’s there’s not really many guys like I’m gonna be honest you have to acquire these guys via trade now that’s kind of the market that we’re in but I do think you can find some of these lower quality role players who can fit in but I don’t think you’re going to find any stars I’m curious to see what you guys do at the forward position I do think you still need some kind of shooting especially getting Castle now offensively so I’m curious to see who you go after whether that’s via trade or via free agency for the small forward Wing position in particular no I would agree with that statement it’s hard to kind of predict what the Spurs are going to do anyway in free agency but this one feels especially difficult to figure out um if I was a betting man I would say we just bring back pretty much the same exact team minus cheddy Osman who I think will probably go to a different team uh who’s an unrestricted free agent that we had last year at the backup small forward position if we were to make a move you know weirdly it feels like the bigger names are more likely than some of these little names which is strange to me because I think we we’ve been rumored to be talking with Paul George I really doubt that’s going to happen I think he’s more so a Philly or a Warriors guy at this point um I think to some of the other power forwards that are available like a Tobias Harris who’s looking to prove his worth after a really rough playoff birth he was rumored to come to San Antonio I also don’t think that’s very likely uh but then you start looking at some of these other names and you know there was a name I was looking at the other day it was Kendall Brown who was a second round pick a couple years back I think he’s 21 six7 can play three or four terrible stats but do the Spurs take a reach on this guy see if he can have like a better showing on on a poor team with some with some consistent minutes possibly but I’m I’m with Lou I’m not ready to really make any solid predictions because there really haven’t been that many rumors of real credibility to to discuss and for agency yeah I mean we’re just gonna have to see how it all plays out you never know you can never predict any of this stuff but the one rumor I will say me and Ethan talked about it last time W did mention on the draft and we we’ve heard some more stuff about this I don’t think this is going to happen there’s definitely a lot better teams in play that I think Paul George will be going to but he did mention the Spurs as a team to watch I think that would be a perfect fit um obviously I don’t think that we’re going to do it I don’t think it’s very likely but I would love to see that and I would also just love to see maybe an upgrade at at the backup too um we also did tender A qualifying offer to David Duke Jr so that’s something else that you know could potentially you know maybe he could end up taking the backup two spot with how he played in the g-league last year um but otherwise really we’re just going to have to wait and see how it all plays out but I would like to see maybe you know a little upgrade here there Ethan mentioned a Tobias Harris I wouldn’t be mad about that um but at the end of the day it’s just so unpredictable one one name I did forget to mention kavus calwell Pope I think he’s also somebody that would rather go to a contender I think about the Mavericks he’d be a perfect fit next to Luca uh but if he’s not about winning and the Spurs are willing to give him a contract he’s one of my favorite players and would immediately you know he may be a 65 slightly undersized small forward but if we want to start him at our small forward spot that’s an immediate upgrade uh for us at that position and just to name this guy because everyone wants to talk about him Chris Paul um if he did want to come for a vet minimum sure like let’s bring him in he’ll throw lobs to wmi he’ll he’ll probably do similar things that he did with OKC a few years back as far as like establishing a winning mentality for some of our young guys and taking them under their wing uh but will he impact winning make us a playoff team like he did for them absolutely not and I think it’s more likely that he’ll go play with like if he’s gonna take a vet minimum anyway I think he’ll go to the Lakers and just play with LeBron like I feel like that’s a way more likely um decision for him than coming to San Antonio yeah completely agree there Ethan um I guess the one thing I would also mention because we’ve talked about this before on the show Ethan is that um lri marinan that is another one name that I would also definitely be into if the Spurs wanted to trade for him obviously that would take a lot and I think that’s a little bit of a pipe dream but I would love that as well can I mention one name I’m sorry l no no I was just gonna say like yeah everybody every NBA team should want Lor Markin in on their roster so right um it’s going to be it’s going to be a straight up bidding I do think Danny a who is now the um like the the one calling the shots over there in Utah he um he likes to win his deals like that’s that’s in his even when he was in Boston like he would not make a deal unless he felt like he comfortably won that deal and I’m just curious as to how much it’ll take for Lori I do think it’s a bit of a pip dream but if you you know talk about a seven-footer who can space the floor uh alongside Wy like yikes like that that is a gorgeous gorgeous fit I’m curious if you guys would even like um try to make a run I I do I really actually even if Tobias is only on a one or twoyear deal with a player option kind of like what Bruce Brown got from the Pacers talk about floor spacing like that’s one thing that he’s gonna provide for you guys right away the defense it’s going to be a little questionable at times but um if you can just encapsulate him and he just be an offensive hub you know or or an offensive not Hub but like an offensive score a go-to guy for you from time to time to take some pressure off of um wemy and and Devon Vel obviously I did want to mention one thing I have one question to ask you guys do you guys how did you guys feel about Barlo not getting the qualifying offer go ahead Jude this is Jude’s guy go ahead I I long I I could do a whole long-winded thing on this but I’ve done it so many times the last thing that I’m gonna say is just that I understand it with the way that Mamu played at the end of the season I think that he just kind of ended up winning that battle um I wouldn’t mind bringing him back on a two-way you know that last two-way as well um it looks like there’s still a potential that the Spurs could have interest in him so if we did bring him back in some fashion I wouldn’t be mad uh but at the same time it you know I get it at the end of the day and it’s sad it’s very sad I’m going to miss my boy Don beey that I made videos about two years and ago and I really liked his upside but I just I just wish him the best in his future I love him if it if it were up to me if it was possible I would just be like okay we’re gonna take Zach’s contract and we’re just gonna hand it to Barlo and then let Zach walk like that would be ideal but obviously that can’t happen no I I loved Barlo that’s why I was shocked when I when I yesterday I was away from my phone but when I finally got into bed and I was like just scrolling trying to catch up I I saw that you didn’t like offer him anything I was like what is I was like is this the guy that I’m thinking this is like let me just double check because I saw bar you know I saw him in the G league and I’m in the summer league and I was like like who is this I had to go back and find out who he was because I I didn’t know who he was up until then and I saw the OT games and I was like oh I’m sold on this kid and I I watched him play for you guys last year at times and he looked really really good too so and he’s only 2021 I was just shocked that’s my initial reaction was like whoa Miami please go get yeah right that’s a guy Miami would just turn into like an Allstar like in one year you know what I mean even if he’s just a backup for now and you I’m I’m a fan of of Barlo I had to ask because I you know I wanted to get it straight from Spurs fans Not Just from like my I guess bias opinion on what I saw him play well with that being said guys we appreciate all y’all being in here and I think that will wrap up okay one more thing Ethan sorry I wanted to say this earlier but I forgot to say it real quick real quick uh if we are going to make a big move I also think we should try trading for cam Johnson from the Nets because I think they’re blowing it up and I think he’d be an immediate upgrade at small forward for us I definitely would like the fit there Ethan and I would like the spacing as well I think we’re going to wrap this episode up here guys we appreciate all you guys being in here today and if you have any Spurs thoughts and things like that be sure to leave them in the comments tell us what your free agency predictions are and we will catch y’all in the next one o

Ethan and Jude are back and joined once again by Lu (@SaucyTakez) from Miami Heat Beat and Playoff Foul to discuss all three of SA’s 2024 draft picks and preview free agnecy! 🏀🎙️

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