No One Has The Answers

There is no perfect way to build a team, folks

The Spurs have two picks in this year’s “weak” lottery. Brian Wright, the GM, says that there is no such thing as a “weak” draft and if we are to believe anyone, it is him. Now, there are some drafts with Victor Wembanyama and those without him. It was easy to choose Victor last year, and there is no clear-cut winner in this one. Sucks for the Hawks, who won the lottery, but two bites as the apple for the Spurs is not terrible at all.

This is a franchise that has made a reputation finding diamonds in the rough (the second round) and should be able to find some quality with the two highest picks (excluding the Wemby one) in a long time. Spurs critics will point out that there have been misses in the past, but picking talent is like taking shots: you want to take high-percentage shots and live with the misses.

Having two lottery picks helps to hedge against a bad evaluation or a watered down pool of talent. You want at least a borderline All-Star teammate capable of helping the Wemby squad do damage in the playoffs. You can find someone needing development. The timelines will still match up. Devin Vassell was picked 11th as a three-and-d guy and has turned himself into a nice playmaker and scorer.

All that said, even the most advanced and well-put-together franchises don’t win it every year. The Spurs? Well it has been a decade since the last river parade. The Warriors? Sure, their dynasty is all-but-ended and instead of transitioning seamlessly into the next version of the team as would befit a team “light years” ahead, they are in a quandary.

The Thunder? Well it has been eight years since they seriously challenged for a title, and while they had an MVP season from Westbrook and some Paul George years, there was nothing supremely amazing about the period post 3-1 lead and now. The future is bright with Chet and SGA, but there have been some very lean years.

The Heat? You know TeamCulture over there? Well they have limped into and through the playoffs the last few years. Getting to the Finals last year was cool, but they looked overmatched and spent, from having rode Jimmy Butler so hard.

The Sixers? The Process progenitors themselves. They are in a perpetual nearly-there cycle and look like they are missing large pieces. They fumbled the Butler scenario, and now are hoping they can get Embiid healthy enough to challenge like they envisioned.

How about these Nuggets? They backed into Jokic, and endured the criticisms for a few years as he looked like he wasn’t athletic enough for the modern NBA. After winning the title (via some sub-500 teams) they are defending their title well. The two-game punch from the T-Wolves was a scare that required some soul-searching but they seem to have righted the ship for now.

Speaking of those Wolves, they were built by the guy that built the Nuggets and they were heavily criticized for the Gobert deal — they wanted size to compete with Denver’s length. They garnered many an apology after the first game, and even more after the second. Then Denver changed up some strategy and punched Minny in the mouth. So now people are criticizing Gobert again.

Winning is about getting a lot of big things right, and then focussing on the details. After that it is good fortune. The right matchup, the right hamstring staying intact, the right ankle not being stepped on, and so forth.

The idea here for the Spurs going forward is to get some guys that will allow for some room for error. You need some dudes that are willing to get over themselves because as Pop told Kawhi so long ago, “the play is for the San Antonio Spurs to score, not Kawhi.” It is a subtle difference in philosophy and for 82 games in the regular season it doesn’t matter so much. In the hot house of the playoffs, when you are heavily scouted and are asked to reach deep into your bag of tricks for buckets, you need guys that are willing to take tough shots — and to sit on the bench. “This series is not for you” is common among elite level teams. Richard Jefferson said as much about those Cavs teams that went to the Finals. For the stars it is about big moments. For the supporting cast, it is about staying ready mentally.

It is incredibly difficult to find that in a 19-year old kid, but you can get some sense of their personality. This organization has been around all kinds in the last 30-years, and they know who will work hard and get better, and who will whine and complain. Occasionally those whiners change after a couple of hard years in the league, but they can be someone else’s problem for a while until that happens.

In any case, there is a long road ahead even if the rumors about guys wanted to team up with Wemby are true. Not everyone wanting to jump on the bandwagon is the right kind of teammate, after all.