Consolidating Resources for Free Agency

Julian Seenny turned twenty five years old today and for his birthday He got a bag and by the way, the Spurs also brought back Harrison Barnes on a one year deal. We got stuff to talk about. Let's go. You are Lcked on Spurs, your Daily San Antonio Spurs podcast, partart of the locked on podcast network. Y team every day. Hello and welcome back to lockedd on Spurs. My name is Matthew Tine and thank you As always, for making us a part of your day. By the way Today's show is brought to you by Fandle, The biggest stage in world soccer is here. Let there be goals on Fandle Visit fanool. com to get started now on today's show. We are going to get into a conversation as Free agency approaches Tuesday evening on whether or not the spur should use sort of their remaining resources to go after depth. or to try to consolidate potentially into one player with that mid level exception We're also going to talk about another trade. I've talked already about the wackiness of the NBA off season so far. And the new calendar, the new MBA year hasn't even begun yet calendar hasn't turned yet. Free agency hasn't even begun yet But John Marink gets traded to the Portland Trailblazers. Uh I got a theory on why I feel like these these trades for guards to teams you didn't think needed them. is happening the way it is and it is spurs related. Don't you worry? But first Julian Champenne Like I said, turn twenty five years old today. And for that birthday. he got a forty five million dollars bag three year deal first reported by Sham Sharania of ESPN Julian Champany who has overver the last several years really had it's really been a great NBA story just in general rarap heap casualty after being cut by the Philadelphia seventy sixers to make room for Mat McClung because he was in the dunk contest. a guy who isn't even really an NBA player Champani signs with the sppurs in the middle of the season back in twenty twenty four, I believe. and has made his way into the starting rotation was a starting forward for the spurs in the NBA finals and gets rewarded for it today. Tyler Prince is back in the building. I'm back God I guess that's a good thing. but Look, First of all, missed you last week You know, taking vacations in the middle of a big a busy, busy summer. Well, vacation is a strong word, but I'm kidding he was out on a work trip. but Julian Champani San Antonio declines his the team option that they had for him for the final year of that deal Th three million dollars So instead of a guaranteed three million He is now guaranteed an extra forty two million dollars on top of that Sham Shirani has said that it this is going to be U what was the what was the terminology in the tweet saying he's going to get paid early. which is basically code for this is going to be a descending contract. The the front loaded contract that will pay him more up frront and less at the end is going to be really team friendly as the spurs continue to have to pay players in the coming years. So J in general, good stuff for Julian Champiny. Well deserved. Well deserved indeed. Very, very well deserved and something that is important for the for the team to. not only Good for Julian getting his money. alsoso good for San Antonio and having a team friendly deal. You can definitely say that Yeah, man, I love this. I think Julian showed us this season in these playoffs that he's a guy who contribute can contribute in a big way, not only with his shooting, but with defense specifically rebounding Um, and You know, outside of Victor Wemanyama, rebounding is definitely a thing that we desperately desperately need, especially on the defensive end to keep guys like Kat off the board and Giving those Nicks a whole bunch of other Chances to score against us, but Yeah, I love this I love Jian Champanne he st standing. He's earned it And we'll see, you know, we'll see he's what the starting lineup looks like next year. I have no idea.. But U Yeahah, his rebounding presence at that. I mean, he's an undersized four. We get all that. That's kind of One of the reasons that we that we looked at Yeah, I mean, he's really a three. onene of the reasons that we looked at the The NBA draft or I did last week in such positive light is that they just they addressed a lot of problems. They addressed areas of need within the draft and we will see what they do going forward here in free agency, but on top of Julian Champanni who The shooting was so needed. you know, San Antonio was I don't I guess you could probably say that they were A. Well, I think I would even say like maybe a little bit better than expected than some expected at least, not nothing spectacular. They were middle of the pack. during the regular season, but during the I looked it up earlier today actually during the playoffs They were the fourth best three point shooting team in the postseason and every single year didn't feel like that I know Well, that's because every single year three point shooting at least percentage wise goes down in the playoffs. It just does unless you're the Nicks, by the way, the Nick shot almost forty percent three point line in the entire postseason. I think a lot of that was probably that they just went crazy against the Hawks and the Sers U and obviously against San Antonio. they had a couple of games where they shot really well, but but yeah, three point shooting goes down in the playoffs Just in general, Julian Champani, great performance much needed He wasn't like okay, maybe not maybe the shooting wasn't there in every single game, but like at a certain point when you are like pretty clearly the best shooter on the team and your're attracting the kind of attention that he was. It's kind of going to happen. It's going to be difficult to get some of those shots off. That's where the sppurs are hoping for internal improvement hoping to add depth. Speaking of depth there and the for position for that matter. They're bringing back Harrison Barnes one year, eight million dollars. and I think that is just fine. I've said it I said a last week on the podcast that prioritizing the just getting guys back in the building. and Harrison was a nineteen million dollars player last year. eightight million dollars is great. This is a guy who talk about needeing eighty two game guys. You need eighty two game guys, you need sixteen game guys. By that, I mean you need regular season and you need post season. Harrison at the very, very least fits the mold of the eighty two game guys and he's a dude who prides himself on playing every single night if he can. Um And then I did mention it on the pod last week, but I was a little bit surprised that he didn't get some sort of run in the postse or at least in the finals, maybe a little bit more But this is just a kind of a no brainer for eightight million dollars one year. It's just a it's a nothing off your back type of deal brrings back depth veteran leadership in the locker room. He he really has enjoyed his time in San Antonio. The Spurs have valued his presence in San Antonio. He's really made a kind of a home for himself, not just as a person and a player, but within the community and he and his family have donated a lot of their time and money to the community. So this is just a no brainer bringing back on on a contract like that Yeah, and he's done that in every community where he's played. Yeah Harrison's great. He's well known as a guy who gets involved in community and tries to make things better. I love this. I think the veteran presence alone, even if he wasn't going to be on the floor much is Like that's an easy eighty million dollars. you know, keeping Victor and his book club going is probably worth the eight million dollars. That's right. And I agree Terce Reed is a big reader too. So like so I love this. I love that there's going to be like a whole Spurs book club. I wonder if the l not just the book club but a chess club. Jadden Quts is a huge chess player. likeike they they're not only drafting great athletes they got nerds. love it. They're trarafting nerds. It's exactly right. Yes. We love that around here Yeah, absolutely. I think that so far So far, nothing out of the ordinary has happened in San Antonio. I think that this is largely what att least I expected. I think maybe even we. I was I I felt like if I if I had to bet any sort of small amount of money, I would have bet that Harrison Barnes was going to come back because of everything I just said from a relationship standpoint from, you know, an opportunity to contribute to a winning team. The roster and the rotation are getting a little bit crowded. Who knows what his minutes look like going forward, but he he accepted a roll off the bench last season He's already had to ease his way into that Look man. there's still room for a presence like his on the court, especially if he's going to continued continue to shoot corner Thes the way that he did this past season You need regular season, guys. It's a long, long season You need all of that stuff. If you want to get all the way back to the finals, it's like Victor said after afterfter game five he's like it I'm going to I'm struggling to come to grips with the fact I got to do this for a hundred more games before we get back here or whatever the case might be You need guys to fill that time. So Congrats to Julian Chhampani. again, just getting that he deserves that paycheck. Absolutely those those paychecks. And welcome back Harrison Barnes. All right, coming up next. I got it. I said everything is calm and normal in San Antonio. It is anything but that aroundround the NBA these days. We're going to talk about the John Morant trade to Portland and what at least in my eyes, my theory of what is going on in the Western confference. We'll be right back Today's episode is brought to you by Fanuel. The biggest stage in world soccer is here and every match feels like it has the potential for a memorable moment. One goal can completely change the energy of a game, shift momentum, and alter the outcome in an instant. That's what makes soccer in the World Cup and the World Cup so far in the knockout round has been incredible. 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We really do appreciate it. All right Hey, even if you don't like what you're listening and watching You can like, share, and subscribe also. I'm fine with If you hit auto download, you don't even have to listen to us. Like that that's the beauty of it. We prefer that we'd prefer that you did. We we try be like do a good job and if you have comomments and suggestions and helpful criticism, we listen to it. We try to at least Um, all right Speaking of criticism H I think that last week's trade of Lameello ball. from the Hornets To the timberwolves Drew from criticism, drew some criticism. Ward, Minnesota. asking why are you trading a big pointo guard. Now you have this gaping hole at the power forward position You let go of not only Julius Randall, which everybody I think understood. It's like okay, we get it. You didn't get much back in return, but we get it. There's a big trade exception that was created. Okaykay. But then you trade Oz Reid. to get Lameello Ball back in return Thus forming a potentially combustible back court in Lame Mello Ball and Anthony Edwards criticism in their direction. and I get it More criticism today mostly in in the form of What are the blazers doing Trading for Jh Morant, trading Jeremy Grant and Chris Murray to acquire Jh Morant team in Portland that already has a ton of guards. Remember Tamian Lillard is on that team. He did play last year as he was recovering from a torn Achilles, but you also have Dreue holidays, shhade and shharp. U It Scoot Henderson. There are a lot of guards in Portland right now. A lot of high usage guards. lot of high usage guards. I have a theory Tyler, but I'm going to kick this to you because I think that Y sentiment on this may be most people are feeling at this point. I mean, I have two thoughts about Jamar to Portland. the first one is basasketball critiques. Im Like I don't get it. I don't understand what it is you're trying to do here Other than that, you just had this Chauny Billips thing last season with like the illegal gambling and there's a lot of drama. and I'm not taking anything away from John Morrant's talent incredibly Incredible basketball player, for sure, but ye Dama comes with it. It's of it's part of the deal So far it has so far it has and maybe I don't know. maybe there is through the fact that like he became really He became really both he and his like camp became really comfortable in Memphis and maybe maybe sort of putting that page behind them results in I don't know, mayaybe there's l distraction, there's less to T him in trouble. I don't know. sometometimes you need I know they say wherever you go, there you are. and I largely believe in that. I don't think it's necessarily a good thing to to run to another place to escape problems. But in this case he's not running. He's he's being moved that direction. So he's kind of being for us to adjust. I don't know. we'll see. o Here is my theory, Tyler I think the NBA at large and I guess we'll stick to the Western confference for now because the Eastern confference is sort of taking on an identity of its own. You're looking at like the Nicks who just won the title that with a big team. you look at now Miami has just become a big team C can't believe they got Yanis and Bobby Portis in that trade. That is And also who's going to play with them Who's gonna play with those guys? Yeah. Okaykay, I know. see you you were out of town and now you're asking all these questions and have all these comments about last week. We've moved on Tyler. we'. You're living in the past. Jomaran going to Portland Lameello Ball Going to Minnesota What did we just see, Tyler in the Western confonference We just saw a team in the San Antonio Spurs who outside of like the only Tom that you can even argue is close in the Western conference in terms of an ability to attack would be Oklahoma City They were They were injured in the Western conference Fals. Not only obviously was Jayalen Williams hurt, but AJ Mitchell got hurt in the meantime But what is the thing that got those two teams? to that final point And that is multiple driribble drive threats, multiple advantage creators at guards on the floor almost in lieu of traditional spacing, traditional shooting. You talk to the Spurs over the last However many months. I mean, actually, even going back to the beginning of the season. I remember Brian Wright saying it This is a group that we believe in having this three headed guard monster. that is always going to be able to attack defenses, attack perimeters. U whether it's your primary action or your secondary action. No matter which side of the court you're on, there's going to be either Darren Fox, Dev Castle or Dyan Harper Pretty much at all times. Sure And I think that We lookook, we've talked about We know that reallyally across all major sports to a degree Whether or not this is always the best course of action is a different conversation altogether We know that for the most part, pro sports are copycat leaks. And I think what we are looking at right now between the Timberwolves and the Portland Trailblazers is We need secondary creation. We need as many ball handlers and dribble drive threats in and drink stirrs if you want to call it that as we can get. In Minnesota, you're looking at Lameello Ball and Anthony Edwards. That is a deadly back court. I mean, it is and and not only those two guys, but we saw The we saw Taren Shannon Junior come on. They have also resigned Bones Island or I'm sorry, Iyodasumu in Thland used to be it He used to be in Minnesota Is he still in Minnesota? Yes he's still in Minnesota. Anyway it doesn't matter. I Oa Sumu is a guy who was also extended. So now you're looking at a back court in Minnesota of Lello Ball, Anthony Edwards, out to Sumu, Ternt Shannon Junr. That's a lot of dribble drive stuff. That's a lot of advantage creation. That's a lot of drink stirring. Now look at Portland Joh Morant, Dame Lillard Uh Scoot Henderson, Drew Holiday. That's a lot of of ball handling bothoth sides of the floor Mix that in with what Danny Avia gives you and look back at that series that San Antonio played. against Portland, what killed them Okay, sure, you can absolutely talk about shooting The thing that killed them most Because what San Antonio did was just show Denny a crowd The whole series They did not have the shot creation. They did not have the playmaking. the secondary facilitating to do anything against San Antonio's defense theory right now is the reason that the teams are just going for crowded back courts and at this point The we see sort of these evolutions in the NBA over the years U One of them that's happening right now is that justust get a bunch of advantage creation on the floor even in lieu of your traditional spacing, likeike I said a couple of minutes ago traditional two guard and your traditional three and D wing or whatever. like nope Gott to get ball handling out there. Gota get creation out there. I don't know. that is that's my theory. I'm sticking to it for now. I still think it's weird, but I think most of the time heading into last season for San Antonio We all kind of thought it's a weird fit, right? We all thought like Darren Fox, Steh Castle, Dylan Harper That seems weird And then the more the season went on, the more it made sense. And I think that we're going to kind of come around to what we've seen from Minnesota and Portland in the same vein. I don't, I'm not saying like to the level that San Antonio was because Only one of those teams has Viictor Wimbinyama But you get what they're maybe what they're looking for is all I'm saying. Does that make sense It does make sense. I would look at the other teams and look at the spurs and say that Our three headed monster is gonna to be better than news, probably Um, especially because like we talk about Drew Holiday. Drew Holiday is not really an advantage creator anymore on the offensive end. He's still more of a defensive guy R Scot Henderson, although he played well Well for a game played well in playoffs still coming a long way It is definitely a copycat leag. We saw it after the Wriors had those teams that shot tons of threes and how that affected the league U It's still affecting the league right now like look at the Boston Celtics, but I Like you you can try and copycat stuff, but I that doesn't mean the personnel that you pull. is going to be good at the thing you're trying to do because As we all know, on paper On paper is one thing, On the court's another. On paper, I would say we probably should have won the NBA finals On the court the Kicks for the better te Yeah, so Well you know, the other interesting part of this is like one of the things that makes Dylan Harper and Steh Castle so special is they are legit two way play players whereereas when you're where you're look you' is not a two way player. Johnarant and Dame Lillard are not exactly guys that you're going to be super excited about when it comes to the defensive end of things and I think you could say to a degree the same about Minnesota You're not super excited about the defensive side of things, even though like guys like Andnt Edwards and Lameello Ball can create steelals can can get deflection, stuff like that The thing that made San Antonio really special this year was was not just the offensive ability of their guards, but the the defense that they played as well. And by the way,solutely I know I know on the squad show that Devin Brown gives Darren Fox a hard time defensively. Dereren Fox is a fine defender. He's fine. He he gets in there is physical. He's not the biggest guy in the world He stays physical. He is he gets his hand on a lot of basketballs. He's fine. He's fine. He's like an average NBA defender gets critique of his defense is like box out more, please. otherther than, that's one good. Yeah boxing out booxing out is I think. Okay Final segment coming up next. We're going to get into sort of the strategy of San Antonio Eers free agency tomorrow. Do you go with the idea of breaking up your money into depth Go after one guy and lock that down. We'll get into that next All right Time for the final segment Qality or quantity, Tyler Printince. I you know, I got a finish We did a mail bag on Friday For Friday's episode. Thank you again to everybody who submitted questions. and I was Finishing some of the sort of last second submissions or just some stuff that I wasn't able to get to on Friday for the newsletter the cororporate knownledge newsletter at Matthew Tyan dot sububstack d. com and one of the questions and by the way to all of those to those of you who are waiting for that article to come out. It will hopefully be out by the time you're listening to this episode. We will see However, I digress I I did find it interesting. One of the questions was was addressing the idea of okay, San Antonio is going to be over the cap which is expected. They will be below the apron, which is how exactly where they want to be that gives them access to the full mid level exception. It also gives they also have access to the biannual exception this year The question was geared more toward If you're looking at the mid level exception and you're looking at the fifteen million dollars or so that they're going to have to play with, would you rather split it up, like let's just, you know, whatever, whatever salaries you're looking at. the fifteen million dollars up into two players who might be helpful or try to find someone that you can get for the full mid level exception. My thoughts. on the idea was What we saw overver the course of the playoffs. So was how Critton. This is nothing new. Everybody knows this. like by the end of the playoffs When you're getting into the conference finals and the finals The rotation just starts shrinking. It just does. You need your best players on the court as much as you possibly can in that the San Antonio sppurs in the finals, the rotation was like six or seven players. It was very short And and you don't want that. You don't want it shrinking To that point. No, you want to probably want to be at least nine, eight or nine. I would say you want at least you want at least eight. You want at least like I think it got to the point where you weren't even comp like confident confident in seven. Yeah confident in seven would be great U I think eight would be a wonderful number to any if you talk to a general manager and said, you're eight deep. No questions asked in the NBA finals, you good with that? I think they'd say, yeah, you're probably good with that. So I what I lean toward in this capacity because because of a couple of things is you consolidate and you if you if you have a fifteen million dollars player out there who wants to play for you for that amount of money gives you a more complete package then you would get with maybe two specialists who are each cheaper. If you can kind of get a lot of it rolled up into one player with this roster as presently constituted You go with that. And the reason I say that is because of a couple of things Number one, I really do think that a lot hinges I don't want to say a lot because they were so close to winning already But a lot does hinge on the improvement or the leap from Carter Bryant from year one to year two.ure H position, his archetype is exactly what San Antonio needs from a defense and rebounding standpoint. We talked a little earlier about the three point shooting And what San Antonio needs in that capacity which is a little jump, but like it doesn't need something across the board like sweeping changes M so more so that he takes them confidently when they're open That's more important like by the end of after the Portland series like he was taking threerees and knocking them down. Yeah he he did just backtracked a little later on in the playoffs But he did. I and I get that, but I am I look at his shot. It's The mechanics are beautiful. Theyre there. Like it would be a surprise to me if he was anything Anything below evenven like an average three point shooter, you know, in that thirty six percent range. somethingomet like that. It would it would really surprise me if like the same guy that shot thirty three percent this past year, whatever. I don't think that's him. I think it's I think hisis real mark is well beyond that. So I do think that San Antonio just in general is counting on a big leap from Carter Bryant from year one to year two That's going to take and occupy solidify a spot in that rotation. Okay. So that's another player added at least in your at least what you're hoping The other thing When I when I look at this and I'm like you're looking at now that Harrison Barnes is back by the way because I think that was also a piece when you're talking about the rotation. I also think that that you that rotation is starting to fill out now And so to me Once you get deep into the playoffs, you want guys who are on the court who can do who can play on both ends of the floor. Yes. And I think that there is a tendency as the playoffs go on. If you have two guys who are kind of specialists in one capacity or the other A lot of times those dudes tend to get played off the floor when the competition is at its highest. So You might have two guys on paper, but by the end of the day, you don't have any Whereas if you're paying fifteen million dollars for one guy then and then round out the rest of your roster from there, whether it's with the b annual exception, which is about five and a half million dollars by the way or veteran minimums, you go out and do that. too me Considering the level of competition that San Antonio plans on entering once again this upcoming season or next season. I say this upcoming it's still months away next season return trip to the finals is going to require att least one other body to be sure that you that you have confidence in in the middle of games, down the stretch of games, whatever the case might be at least one other guy that you know you have confidence in and you're much more likely to find that with that fifteen million dollars going into one player than you are splitting it up for two guys who don't who are not considered worthy of fifteen million dollars on the open market. That's my take. I would consolidate Yeah, I mean, I would say generally in all facets of life, I'm a quality over quantity guy. but also to your point Doesn't matter how much depth you have on the court if it can't get on the floor or on the bench. we can't get on the floor during the biggest moments of the season U I think ideally, I'd love to see us bring in A solid two way player. Like a We're not going to get somebody as good as OG Ananobi because he commands much more money, but somebody in that vein like I Big body closest the closest thing you would say would be like Rui Hachimura Sort And he might be in the in the fifteen million dollar market. like that I think I've read some reports that he's looking for twenty million annually. I don't think he's going to get that U So I don't know, might be a possibility U But when I say OG, I really just mean a big wing that shoots well and plays good defense Um and preferably somebody who is not new to the NBA, who's played playoff basketball for who's been around who has experience U And I think it wouldd be great to have someone who knows how to play next to like a big superstar like Victor Weemminyama You know Ri had Mamara I think is a great option in that vein. I think Jeremy Grant If he had been available could have been a good option Um, but that kind of player Yeah, well, Jeremy Grant's too expensive, also not a free agent. The other guy will be John Collins his defense makes feelings about John Collins' so bad The last couple of years. I don't know if that's an avenue San Antonio would go. I'm not sure. who knows I think but But I think John Mura that archetype. I'm with you like that archetype right there Ruy, I think would be ideal guys Yeah happens. I'm a big personal fan of John Collins. We're both Air Force Bats. seems like a nice guy He lost a step or so athletically and ever since then, he just hasn't been the samera level of impact playerra or twenty seven, something like that. Yeah, but he relied pretty heavily on that athleticism to be effective Thank you all So much for listening once again to locked on spurs where we cover the San Antonio sppurs every every every single day. Well, I guess During the wee during the week, sometimes on weekends, you never know. If anything big is going on, it's every day Do us and yourselves a favor and smash that subscribe button so you get notified about every episode. You can find me on Twitter at Matthew Underscore Tyen As well as the corporate knowledge newsletter, Matthewtyan. sububstack dot com if you like the written word. also we sometimes do podcasts over there, some live video stuff. So so it's kind of an all in one deal. Tyler, where can they find you, sir? You can find me at Instagram at Tyler Printince Film. That's myem cinematographer account. You can also find me at the video manan. sububstack. com where I will be writing about some behind the scenes video and multimedia stuff. hopefully in the near future, we'll see if I ever have time to actually get to it. the goal Sorry Are you saying if this podcast doesn't take up too much of your time? is that where you're getting at Tyler No this podcast is The thing I do that I enjoy. So Okay. that's all good. We love to hear that. We hope You all are enjoying as well ahead by the way, we are going to be continuing to do the squad show twice a week Um, over in the foreseeable future. I don't think that's changing at all. Obviously, we're going to be Monday through Friday every week, but squad show this week Tuesday, tomorrow night, we will be live at like nine thirty or so We'll probably have something to talk about on the free agency front. We'll also see you all tomorrow for this show sometime in the afternoon and by I would tease something But this is the NBA. I don't know if you guys have been paying attention to the news feed, but it is just constantly updating. So I guess all find out together What we talk about Tuesday. We got our first two segments about three hours ago. So it it's one hundred percent true. All this stuff just happened before we started recording Anyway. For Tyler Printince, my name is Matthew Tynan. than you all for listening and we will talk to you tomorrow Oh