Looking Ahead To Next Season

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That's why ADT's professionally installed security systems monitor your home twenty four seven They're backed by the most company operated monitoring centers in the industry, so you're always supported during an emergency When every second counts, count on ADD Visit aDt. com to learn more After the longest twenty four hour wait in D in free agency history Bias Harris to San Antonio. it is. As I said in the off season mail bag pod the other day, maybe the spursiest spur to never spur. It's time to talk about it You are Lcked O Spurs, your Daily San Antonio Spurs podcast, partart of the locked on podcast network. Y team every day. Hello and welcome back to Lckd on Spurs. My name is Matthew Tyan, thank you so much for making us a part of your day on the show ahead of us. We are going to talk there's still a little bit of work to be done T bias Harris. Bias Harris signing news has broken. But the squares still have two more roster spots to fill. There's a little bit of work to be done. a little bit of money left over to do so. So we'll jump into that. We will also get into what the rotations are going to look like now because like Believe it or not Um, suddenly things are getting a little bit crowded. on that San Antonio roster within that rotation. But first We got to talk about Tobias Harris. News broke a couple of hours too. We are live for those of you listening after the fact at about five o'clock PM. So a couple of hours ago news broke. that Tobias Harris has signed a or has agreed to a two year thirty one million dollars deal to play with the San Antonio Spurs. That is, by the way, the full mid level exception It is a It is a fully guaranteed two year deal. That means essentially the Spurs have about four and a half million dollars left to spend because they used up their their big Bargaining chip um to get that one piece that they really needed. And I just wanted to, you know, last week we briefly hit on a number of guys who are going to be available to the Spurs once free agency began. Tobias Harris was the guy that I let off with, but I don't I didn't really get into a ton of the specifics why I felt just because we had a whole lot of dudes that we needed to talk about I didn't get into sort of some of the specific reasons why I felt that Tobias Harris was likely going to be the, you know, I don't know this for sure U, but why he was likely going to be the top option for San Antonio has that As that as free agency began yesterday, yesterday evening Aside from the fact that I outlined the cultural fit that he is a hardworking dude, great locker room guy, all of that kind of stuff that And I Some people might make fun of, but San Antonio values it a whole lot. It's important stuff, Vveeran presents. Good locker room guy. gets along with people. This is a locker room that is incredibly tight knit. And kind of always has been when you go back in the annals of Spurs history and when there were guys that didn't fit They typically found their way out of San Antonio relatively quickly. Tobias Harris is one of the good dudes in the NBA. So that part Don't even have to worry about it, not to mention Brian Wright has a lot of familiarity. with Tobias being that he spent time around him in Detroit and I believe all the way back to when Tobias first came into the league as a magic as a member of the magic. I believe Brian W alsoso knows of him knows him from those days as well. but here is One of the reasons and maybe the primary reason to me that Tobias Harris fills a need that thepurs a hole, I should say that the spurs needed to fill badly And that is a guy who can go get you a bucket in situations where the offense isn't working There there is no post up game to speak of. I know that frustrates people with Wembinyama, but at this point K of just is what it is. He's not a great host up player. get him to his spots, get him on the move. You want to get him around the basket. We all know he's difficult to stop, but straight up dropping the ball down to him U That is still a work in progress for Tobias Harris Throughout the course of the twenty twenty five twenty six season, Tobias Harris had two hundred there were the pistons, I should say, had two hundred and thirty two possessions that began with a Tobias Harris post up includluding toobias Harris shots out of the post up and toobias Harris passes post up The Detroit pistons shot fifty five plus fifty five percent from the field. That is nine full points higher percentage wise than the San Antonio Spurs did as a team on any post up situation. The Spurs and I know post ups are becoming part of the kind of a dying breed in the NBA, but there are still Parts of the game, areas of the game, times of the game When you need to get the ball to somebody who can score on his own who can go G a basket Beyond that, he is a, you know, not a spectacular reboundnder at the four, but a very solid, a good rebounder at the four He was doing some great work on the boards during the post season. I believe he averaged the The last two games He and the entirety of the Detroit Pistons roster fell off Terribly But in the twelve games prior to that, Tobias Harris was actually quite good during those minutes. The other thing is He is a more than serviceable three point shooter. Like I said the other day, he is not dead eye. He's not a guy who's going to shoot. forty two percent from three or anything like that But he will hit in that thirty six, thirty seven percent range. S nights he can get a lot hotter than that And as long as you have someone who is a threat that defenses have to respect. That's a big deal I'm just going to circle right back around to it because I think it has to be said that San Antonio simply did not have a guy like this This is a player that you can just dump the ball to in the midpost and run your offense in different ways around him And he's going to be able to make things happen, whether that's as a score in the midpost or as a playmaker those spots Spurs needed something like that badly. They have the perimeter taken care of. They have the the multiaceted offensive game of Victor Wimbonyama that we all know is progressing and developing into something else big thing that they were missing during those scoring droughts was just a guy who can get you a bucket. And I'm not talking about the jitterbg guards or the young athletes, all that kind of stuff. I'm talking about the guys where you can slow everything down and say here it is. We're going to put you in your spots. You know where they are. You know where your spots are because you've been you're thirty three years old. you've been around the league. for a long time and you've scored for a long time Go get us a bucket. And again, this isn't the most spectacular signing in the world. This isn't some major splash But it's a very spursy signing. And I do think that he's going to fit in quite well in that capacity And also if anyone tells you who he's a terrible defender, thir They're not They're not knowing what they're watching He's not some traffic cone I'm not saying he's Kawi Leonard or St Sth Castle, but And you don't necessarily want them out there in space like guarding the best isolation players in the NBA But he is a guy that you can trust to defend as a post up player, smart defending the pick and roll doesn't lose track of guys cutting off the ball And like I said, he rebounds. We all saw that San Antonio needed rebounding in the finals badly. to help out Victkor Wimbenyama All right, real quick, Tyler Tyler Prince, Tyler, the producer is here. I think that this is a signing that most people have been most people have been able to get behind. I know that there is absolutely a ingent of folks out there who are hoping for something like a LeBron or a Kawi, but This was always the most realistic U chance at improving the roster. And by the way, like we've talked about improving in the margins, not having to to blow something up or make some massive change, but like you're as close as you were to winning a title G out and see what you can do in the margins. J just improve a little bit And then also depend on your internal development and you're well on your way Yeah You know, I actually think over the years there have teams that have gotten to like the conference finals or even deep in the playoffs and then dramatically overreacted to not winning in that situation and made big changes So I wasn't expecting the sppurs to do anything like that I'll be honest I'm kind of lukewarm on Tobias Harris. I think he's a pretty good he's a pretty good player U If we were asking him to be the second, third or even fourth best player on the team I wouldn't love this move But that's not we're asking for. We're asking him to come in avet do the thing he does well and u I think he makes our team He's gonna to make our team better. A lot better, M But better, for sure. better, better. That's kind of. don' you don't necessarily need the like lightight years better You were you were very close and I do think that this is a Not just like saying it's a marginal improvement to me is probably selling it a little bit short. I think this is like on paper at least This is a real thing like this is a real improvement to the roster, both from a talent and skill perspective and just a leadership and vet perspective. One of the beauties about doing this live is that you can sit here And suddenly as your producer is talking to you, you see news that Jalen Brown has been traded to the Philadelphia seventy sixers for George Oge two first round picks and two second round picks Uh you know what? We can talk a little bit about that next. Absolutely. We'll be right back. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandel. 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 tournament soccer so exciting from the opening kick to the final whistle. Now Fandul is giving fans another reason to stay locked into every match with every goal pays B on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored in that match. More goals mean more bonus bets. All you have to do is turn on your token. 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All right Um I don't want to steer too far from the Spurs conversation because it is an interesting it is an interesting one, but now We live in a world where As we cover the San Antonio sppurs, we also have to be aware of what's happening in the Eastern conference because the spurs are now a title contender every year at least on paper and in theory, unless someone gets injured or whatever But we got to look all over the league and I mean, sending Jail into Philly By the way, interesting And Philadelphia and Boston Those fanbases hate each other Yeah Like I hate each other. The Spurs would never trade somebody like that to like Houston Rockets or the Dallas Mavericks Probably not. I mean, unless they're just desperate. Yeah. That's look, man All I can say is that's going to be fireworks. I do think that Philadelphia just got better I don't know how much like Paul George was pretty good when he came back from his like suspension thing for whatever reason it was. I think we have an idea of maybe what it was, but Does Paul George make you more likely to win an NBA championship? Th Jaylen Brown No So well like, I don't I don't necessarily gettinget once Tatum is back and healthy like Tatum and George is a pretty good duo and Paul George is not a high maintenance guy anymore outside of You maybe want them to stay healthy. How would that how would that matchup go with San Antonio? I'm not sure that that it changes things markedly. Like I, uh I think the that one of the things well, By the way The The Celtics also signed Mitchell Robinson So they're just going to be a glass crashing mononstrous rebounding team with Nimi Kata and And and Mitch Robinson. so good thing for San Antonio if they do make the finals again and there is definitely a chance that they would face Boston. good thing that they went out and got some dudes who can rebound becauseute That would be their undoing once again if that were the case. Also the Mitchell Robinson Celtics move and just generally their rebounding moves feel directly related to the Spurs being in the finals last season. Who knows Um, to me U I do think that like that On the whole, u And this is going back to to to Bias Harris and like at this juncture, if you had to make me guess Wh's going to be starting and who isn't? I guess I would say Bias is probably going to be starting. I'm guessing that's part the pitch come to San Antonio. Yeah, I bet so like do you don't he take don't Julian Spot or Yeah, it would be Julian Spot. I don't look, I don't know this for sure. This is all totally brand new But sometimes that goes of conjection to the that sometimes does go into the negotiations in terms of like Okay I do want to play there, but like here's this and this and this that I would like to happen or that my client would like to happen. So who knows? this is like I said, this is all Super fresh. so we don't know anything yet. haaven't even had a chance. I'm guessing we'll he won't be meeting with us, meeting with the media for another week or so like after the moratorium ends, but The other thing, I know that I pointed out a couple of times there his offense, but really the rebounding part of this and he rebounded really, really well in the post season and having a dude who is not just a threat off of the ball like being able to play off of Victor Wimbenyama offensively, but he's also going to be a decent threat on the offensive glass. He's not some offensive rebounding monster, but he is a guy who can get in there, especially if you're looking at some sort of small ball lineup and he's got a smaller player defending him or there's a lot of attention being paid to Victor Wimbinyama. He can slip inside. He can create some chaos onn the interior, a very good interior score when he gets in there and he has size on people. Yeah the cutter Good cutter and I think probably bigger than people think he is like he's six nine easy six nine to forty. likeike he's a big dude Yeah u, ty mayaybe, forty somehere weter Why al he That you said, I don't know. Wiry? Yeah, wiry. I don't know. He's he's a the other thing though is the rebounding and the Victor has to go chase people away from the rom and there are lineups where Victor isn't playing with obviously he rarely played with Luke Cornett this past season. Now that Terace reads in the equation and we'll see what happens with Jaden Jayen CQuaintence. I, you know, I wouldn't expect that to be a thing until later in the season and the very earliest at least I'm not going to I'm not going to speculate on that right now. We still don't know what their plans are. with his knee especially considering that he's going to be at suummer League with them, not playing but at summer League with them Um, But you're looking at a much deeper front court now and a in a plethora of different options in that rotation between Victor, Luke Cornet u Teris Reed Junior, who I do think is going to be playing early and then toobias Harris. And then you're also going to have the flexibility to go small And toobias can be a four in a big rotate in a big lineup or he can be a four in a small lineup. likeike Yeah, this is a dude who think is veryable in that capacity. I think his small ball five days or well behind him probablyably. probablyrobably not this point probablyably not going to be doing of that. I'm going to disagree with. No need to do any of that by the way. No need to do any Toby at the five Um I uh I'm going to disagree with you He may start and that may be part of how they got him to come to San Antonio, but I think if he does Devin Vasll goes to the bench U, because that lets U Julian Champenny really play the three, which is his real position, and then you've got more shooting and spacing on the floor. I do not think that that will be the case, but don't make me do the thing that I do on the newsletter where I say I'll eat my hat if I'm wrong. I'm not prepared to do that yet. stakes like this are not that high. Honestly, really We make our own stakes around here. You do not tell me when they are too high or too low. If I want to threaten to eat a hat I will threaten to eat a hat but I'm not I'm not prepared to do that just yet. I I don't think that I don't think Devin Bisll is going to be going to the bench. I think that that dude deserves to be in the starting lineup. and I think he's a guy who probably likes being there. So I'll kind of leave it at that, I guess, but I think everybody likes being in the starting lineup. but I also think in this organization Wh starts and who doesn't is less important as long as you're getting the minutes that you deserve. My early prediction and this will probably upset people for different reasons than the one we just outlined. My early prediction, very, very early prediction is the starting lineup is going to be Jaron Fox Steph Castle, Devon Bisll Toby Harres. W Bbanyam That's my prediction. Okay. And That's my prediction at the very beginning of July Who cares cares? We will see I think that's the right The right take, who cles Don't make me threaten to eat my hat. Okay Final segment coming up next. There is a little bit more wiggle room. Spurs have a bit more money, a couple more spots to fill We will get into that next Be back in ten seconds t Disney World, you're in my world. Oh, you came app play huh? We had the best week ever dad. I hugged Mickey Mouse, rode Mickey and Minny's runaway railway, ate Mickey Waffles. Mickey Mickey, Mickey. I thought I was your favorite. Stom up Dad. Well, after the fireworks, we can go home. Home. No. You don't wan to go to our yacht Club resort home Oh that home. Yes, goofy girl. And we can play again tomorrow. Ready to play? Visit Disneyworld. com backslash cameame to playay. So you know that uneasy, anxious feeling you get when you think about dealing with your insurance company? Well, there's actually a term for that. It's called inureinoia And if that sounds like something you're way too familiar with, you should really think about getting NJM insurance They go to great lengths to do what's best for their policyholders. likeike providing dedicated reps whose priority is you. And that means you'll find more peace of mind with them. Relieve your insuranoyia with NjM insurance by visiting njM. com for a quote today Okay, we are back for the YouTube audience, but you just told the audio listeners that we'd be back in ten seconds when very clearly that is not the case. They just promise something that is not true That's what they get for not being live on YouTube. Hey. No, we appreciate, noope. we appreciate. Aud do you listen I love you Please stick around. Listen to this guy. just back from his weak hiatus start saying stuff like that All right The spurs have two roster spots left They have about four and a half million dollars to spend. They can utilize the biannual exception, which is What it sounds like. You get this exception every couple of years, a biannual exception it is worth aboutbout five point four million dollars. They can spend all of that if they would like to. But if they do, they'll go over the luxury tax line by about a million dollars, a little bit less than a million dollars, which by the way isn't the end of the world. if it takes if they really want to guy and it takes the full biannual exception to go pay for him. then they can do it. they'll really try to convince them to say, hey will'll give you as much as you need. We just need to stay below the luxury tax line. byy the way, they could also just go out and and use two veteran exceptions to go pick up two veterans stay below the tax line their hands and move on. But when I say that it's not the end of the world if they do exceed the luxury tax line, that's because they can get they they have till the very end of the season to get under it. So not a huge deal. and Um And by the way, like at some point they're going to have to probably spend a season or two, at the very least at some point spepending some luxury tax money. Maybe the cushion between the luxury tax line and the first apron isn't very much. So like you might as well avoid it alogether You also don't want to be paying luxury tax by going like eight hundred thousand dollars over, if that makes sense Like that's just such a small amount of money to be throwing away like once you get into the luxury tax line and you have to double the payment and all this stuff. like it kind of just doesn't make sense. So I would imagine they're going to try and stay below it, but they still have flexibility to go fill out the roster without much real concern. They're also armed with the capability to sign and trade They are also armed with the capability to take on more in salaries than they're sending out in any other sort of trade. like the Surs are not strapped in any sort of way other than That little y luxury tax line, which really in the in the totality of things on the whole isn't really that big of a deal. And It's inchs there's one guy out there right now. still I'm saying this just off the top of my head because I saw it mentioned, by the way in the substack chat earlier The cororporate K knowowledge newewsletter. That is Matthew Tyan. sububstack d. com someomeone was throwing out Ken Rich Williams's name who is is Unless since we've unless since we've started recording he's signed a deal somewhere. I don't know. I don't think he has. But this is a guy who is playing on the very cheap Oklahoma City And I don't think It's out of the realm of possibility you could be looking at that guy saying, Hey, we'll give you a slight raise. He's a he can shoot, he can rebound. he can score and pass a little bit like he's a really solid undersized sort of Like he's even played small ball five and stuff for them. He's a very versatile physical type player that I think could come in very handy for the spurs even though like I said at the top, Things are getting a little bit crowded in that in the back court in the front court, U now more the front court than anything. lastast year we were like, man this back court is crowded. What are they going to do U now the front court' a little bit crowded. And so I do think earn your minutes. You're going to have to earn your minutes and I do think that it will be wise. I don't we obviously don't know what their plans are for Jacobbe Gillespie yet I think there's a lot to like about that dude, but he's young and he's small But he's a really good rebounder and he's a really good shooter. Really quick. I'm sorry, really good defender, really good shooter. my bad.ally quick and he likes to take shots from well behind the ark We never really know very confidently he does that. does that. eight man, he was like a forty two percent spot up sh know at Tennessee. He can shoot the thing But we still need to see what, you know, what comes up. We just need to see him play in suummer League first. How about? Oh for sure You take a highlight reel with a lot with a grain of salt because it is a highlight reel, but I was watching some highlights from Gillespie and I liked what I saw could be a lot of fun. They yes They they Highlight Reels do a really good job of making you like what you saw. That is for sure. No, but he really there's going lot to like there. Yeah. he does. He has the he has the numbers to back up the eye test U, the only thing that you're that probablyroably scares most teams away is his size Having said all that, like this is still a situation where the sppurs are going to be looking to add depth in the back court as well. We can talk about all the front courts up. I just brought up Ken Rich Williams, who I don't think is going to be very expensive. man. This is a tough year for free agents right now Um And maybe he'd be amenable to like a short term small money contract and figuring out a way to reallyally just spitballing here, by the way. This is not informed at all. I am I am spitballing here. a little bit informed on Tobias Harris, but I am spitballing on this one Internet says the OC picked up Ludort's oion making con is an unrestricted free agent Yes, they picked up Dort's option knew that, but' as far as I know, he hasn't been signed by anybody else. But anyway, I think he's a really interesting to look at. but beyond that, they are going to have to look for another guard. notot only because of way we know the way that San Antonio likes to play and it depends a lot on that back court. It depends a lot on the advantage creation those three guards We also saw what happened to them when Daron Fox went down with injury. We saw the way they struggled to run off initiate offense run offensive efficiently. They struggled like hell to keep to take care of the ball They were turning it over left and right Granted Castle and Dylan Harper are going to grow up a little bit and they're going to be Better players, you would think at least. Steph is already posting training videos. He's back in the l. O of course they. Listen, listen to me. If you're an NBA player out there And you are not posting videos of yourself Working out. During the summer months, you're doing you're doing it all wrong. You are not achieving potential that you could be. You are not doing your part to fool anybody out there. Yeah. I do remember the Ben Simmonss summer training videos where he looks like Steph Curry, but where he's just draining through Yeah Um, but yes, that look, they will be better. the now have another year under their belt in terms of like learning how to initiate offense. Victor Wimbanyyama is going to be better. L I think that this is sort of a subtle Um Part of his game that that does need to be worked on is that there are moments and times during the game where it almost doesn't it doesn't quite look like he knows exactly where he wants to be or needs to be if that makes sense. Like there's a little bit of freestyling. that goes on with Victor. And I think that as and as we've talked about on this podcast as he's sort of shrinks into that box a little bit, like finds what that box is over time. It's going to be easier to run offense. I also think having Plers like to bias Harris. who is a a player who whose role and position and abilities are all very well defined. Having another guy like that on the court to run your offense through and with is going to be super helpful. Like this is the other element of these veterans that make a big difference. and that's the organizational stuff, the on court organizational stuff Um, and now I just think you need to go figure out another guard who's going to be able to help you manage that. like doing the the game manager thing, you know what I mean? The true point guard It' be very nice This is, you know, this is one of those times where you're like You're like, well, first of all, I miss him as a person because he was just a really good dude, but Trade Jones, man. Yeah. Trade Jones would have been aw. Trade Jones would be great here But he's doing really well in Chicago. Happy for that So Zach Coins, conongratul Zach Collins being resigned by the Bs. Got another paycheck, man, resur guys got another paycheck All right Toby' Harris is a spur Very exciting. Let's see what happens It's like I said At the top when I said he is like the spursiest spur who's never spurred. I I I say that. in a in a bit of a joking sense and that like this is This is a nice guy a like cerebral player Uh yes, nice guy hardly fits the description of splashy He's a good teammate He knows what he's doing out there. He's a true professional I do think it's going to pay off for the Spurs. I think he's going to be a good signing. And as we spoke about at the top of the show