Redrafting the Spurs first spherical picks: Spherical 4: It’s time to sink or swim

The Spurs have a well-earned repute for being nice drafters. From superstars to elite position gamers, San Antonio has historically gotten contributors even with out excessive picks within the Gregg Popovich period. The query is, simply how deep is the expertise pool, actually? The PtR employees got down to discover the reply.

Jacob Douglas, Jesus Gomez, J.R. Wilco and I participated in a snake draft to construct groups from the pool of Spurs’ first-round draft picks of the Pop period — perhaps it’s too overly-specific however you’ve received to start out someplace. (And if we now have lots of enjoyable — trace, we’re — perhaps we’ll do it once more with a a lot wider pool to select from.) The pool begins with Tim Duncan via Stephon Fort for a complete of twenty-two gamers, together with draft evening acquisition Kawhi Leonard however not picks who by no means performed for the Spurs. Beneath are the gamers drafted to this point:

Staff Jacob

Dejounte Murray, PG (twenty ninth, 2016)
Kyle Anderson, SF (thirtieth, 2014)
Victor Wembanyama, C (1st, 2023)

Staff J.R.

George Hill, PG (twenty sixth, 2008)
Tim Duncan, PF (1st, 1997)
Tiago Splitter, C (twenty eighth, 2007)

Staff Marilyn

Tony Parker, PG (twenty eighth, 2001)
Derrick White, SG (twenty ninth, 2017)
Jeremy Sochan, PF (ninth, 2022)

Staff Jesus

Devin Vassell, SG (eleventh, 2020)
Keldon Johnson, SF (twenty ninth, 2019)
Kawhi Leonard, PF (fifteenth, 2011)

And listed below are the gamers nonetheless ready to be drafted:

Beno Udrih, PG (twenty eighth, 2004)
Ian Mahinmi, C (twenty eighth, 2005)
James Anderson, SG (twentieth, 2009)
Cory Joseph, PG (twenty ninth, 2011)
Lonnie Walker, SG (18th, 2018)
Luka Samanic, PF (nineteenth, 2019)
Josh Primo, PG (twelfth, 2021)
Malaki Branham, SG (twentieth, 2022)
Blake Wesley, SG (twenty fourth, 2022)
Stephon Fort, PG (4th, 2024)

That is getting more durable because the expertise (and availability) pool is waning, and now it’s extra a matter of discovering gamers with out too many weaknesses who complement your present workforce essentially the most. The strengths of your prime few gamers are necessary, however so is what the fourth and fifth gamers on the court docket can do when the others are attracting all of the defensive consideration. It’s make or break time with spherical 4! (Reminder, as a result of this can be a snake draft, the order of selecting is the reverse of the earlier spherical.)

13. Jesus Gomez: Ian Mahinmi (twenty eighth, 2005)

It’s time to get some dimension and inside protection. The Spurs haven’t drafted lots of large males within the Tim Duncan period, so the sphere was not robust to start with, however now the one middle out there is our outdated pal Yawn, and he’ll do. Mahinmi was not nice throughout his time in San Antonio however had a 12-year profession within the NBA and began 71 video games for a Pacers workforce that gained 45 video games in 2015/16, so he wasn’t a scrub. On protection, his dimension and athleticism made him a great rim protector and he had some mobility. The largest points with him had been his apparent limitations on offense and his fouling on protection, but when he may be disciplined and play off our scorers, he might be the low-usage middle the workforce wants.

14. Marilyn Dubinski: Lonnie Walker (18th, 2018)

Uh…Jesus simply nabbed the final “large man” on the board, and I’m abruptly in panic mode whereas realizing Sochan would possibly really must be my middle. About the one factor I can do now could be embrace the small-ball, run-and-gun workforce strategy greater than ever. I additionally desperately want extra dependable outdoors taking pictures since Parker and Sochan may be sagged off of on most nights, so the best choice I’ve left is Lonnie Walker, who was inconsistent from three with the Spurs however has been extra regular in his two seasons with the Lakers and Nets. I simply must hope that I get this model of Lonnie most of the time. If nothing else, at the very least this workforce can be quick and be capable to push the ball in transition if they’ll get stops and rebounds.

I’ve at all times been a Cory Joseph fan, so I’m very glad to take him right here. An entire unknown when chosen the identical evening as Kawhi Leonard, Joseph has been regular if unspectacular for each workforce he’s performed for. An environment friendly shooter that doesn’t flip it over and is aware of how contribute in each part of the sport, he’ll match nice subsequent to Hill within the backcourt and don’t have any issues pulling down his pictures when groups swarm Timmy as they’ll must. Stable manufacturing with out sacrificing a lot past dimension is simply what I wanted this spherical since I have already got extra dimension than most likely obligatory.

16. Jacob Douglas: Stephon Fort (4th, 2024)

I’m grabbing another shiny new toy earlier than my last choice. Regardless of not taking part in an NBA sport but, Fort ought to be an impression position participant on this squad. I like Fort’s versatility to play each guard positions and a bit of bit on the wing. He’s going to protect like loopy and supply sufficient ball-handling and slicing to make up for his offensive inefficiency. I’m conscious that my squad would possibly lack some ground spacing for the time being, however I didn’t really feel nice concerning the different three-point shooters out there. I’ll take a wager on this top-5 choose as an alternative.