This time final yr, San Antonio Spurs followers had been lighting candles, burning sage and praying that the basketball gods would rule of their favor. As these ping pong balls whizzed across the see-through receptacle, the destiny of the franchise was at stake. Everyone knows what occurred – Victor Wembanyama is now the face of the group due to a bit of little bit of lottery luck.
That luck continued for the Spurs a yr later. Whereas the stakes weren’t almost as excessive on Sunday, there have been nonetheless causes to be nervous. The Spurs may have dropped to the second half of the lottery, and the Toronto Raptors may have moved into the top-6, which means San Antonio wouldn’t get their choose. All that fear was for naught, because the Spurs not solely obtained the fourth choose, however the eighth courtesy of Toronto.
Right here is the official draft order:
The 2024 Draft class is an attention-grabbing one. It’s not full of celebrity expertise or a surefire primary choose. Nonetheless, it does have an enormous group of gamers who appear to be long-term NBA starters or high-end position gamers. Given the Spurs have already got a generational participant in Wembanyama, they’ll be on the lookout for his supporting solid within the draft.
Finest out there strategy continues to be very a lot in place, however Wright mentioned discovering items to enhance Wemby is, in fact, a precedence: “You wish to construct a group that’s cohesive and may develop collectively.”
— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) Could 12, 2024
Spurs Basic Supervisor, Brian Wright, talked to reporters after the draft. In typical style, his responses had been pretty imprecise, however allude to a possible technique for the draft.
A really blissful Brian Wright: “Two lottery picks provides us an incredible alternative so as to add two younger gamers to our younger core or additionally see what else is on the market. Like we do with all the pieces, we’ll consider all choices.”
— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) Could 12, 2024
The fourth and eighth picks within the draft are good locations to pick high-end expertise, however they’re additionally good belongings to incorporate in commerce discussions. Rumors of the Spurs eyeing a top-end level guard to play with Wembanyama have been rampant because the commerce deadline. The Atlanta Hawks may have loads of choices to make after shockingly getting the first-overall-pick, however Trae Younger and Dejounte Murray’s futures stay in query. The Cleveland Cavaliers may have an attention-grabbing summer season with Donovan Mitchell getting into the final yr of his deal. San Antonio is primed with ammunition to be on the forefront of nearly any main commerce dialog this summer season.
If the Spurs resolve to maintain their picks, they’ll have loads of attention-grabbing prospects to select from. The present roster has a serious want for guards and wings who can shoot the ball. This draft’s power, if any, is it’s depth at these positions. At 4 and eight, the Spurs ought to be capable of draft among the finest out there guards and wings within the draft.
Some extent guard will seemingly be a excessive precedence. PATFO will hope that certainly one of Nikola Matter or Rob Dillingham falls to them at quantity 4. Matter is a robust passer and processor of the sport, however hasn’t shot the ball at a excessive stage. Dillingham is an explosive scorer who was one of the environment friendly shooters in faculty basketball, however has defensive deficiencies. Of the groups drafting forward of them, solely the Washington Wizards actually wants level guard assist. Not accounting for trades, the Spurs ought to be capable of seize a stable younger guard at 4.
With the eighth choose they might goal a wing. The G League Ignite’s Ron Holland and Matas Buzelis are each attention-grabbing choices. They scored the ball at a excessive stage and have star upside with their mix of expertise and motor, however neither of them shot the ball extraordinarily effectively this season. Zaccharie Risacher could also be off the board at eight, but when he falls, the Spurs will assume lengthy and onerous about deciding on the massive wing with a candy capturing stroke. Look out for Dalton Knecht, Stephon Citadel and Reed Sheppard as potential targets who had nice faculty seasons.
It’s a serious lengthy shot, but when the Spurs do resolve to take an enormous man with certainly one of their picks, control Alex Sarr and Donovan Clingan. Sarr is prone to be a top-3 choose, but when he falls, the defensive potential subsequent to Wembanyama is tantalizing. The man-Frenchman is a flexible defender who must develop his offensive sport. Clingan is a tank of a participant who protected the rim for the NCAA Champion UCONN Huskies. A giant swing ability for each of those gamers is their capturing means. In the event that they present the aptitude of hitting threes within the pre-draft course of, which will pique the curiosity of PATFO.
The Spurs discover themselves ready with almost infinite prospects. On Sunday the basketball gods despatched them two belongings that might assist them construct a contender round Wembanyama. Whether or not that’s carried out patiently by the draft, or aggressively by trades, they’ve the belongings to get it carried out. Now PATFO might be tasked with discovering one of the best path ahead earlier than the 2024 NBA Draft on June 26-27.
