Welcome to the Open Thread. Throughout the month of June, we’re speaking NBA Draft. As we lead as much as the 2025 NBA Draft on June twenty fifth, we will likely be revisiting the Spurs draft selections. At the moment we bear in mind the 2015 NBA Draft.
Properly after back-to-back journey to the Finals, the Spurs have been knocked out within the first spherical of the playoffs in a nail-biter of a sequence towards Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers. The submit season introduced the often nagging questions: was this the tip of the period? Would Tim Duncan retire? Would Manu Ginobili return? And what was to change into of Pop if the Massive 3 have been no extra?
The Spurs put all the power into the free company market sending Tiago Splitter to Atlanta to clear cap house for LaMarcus Aldridge, probably the most coveted free agent of the summer season.
Within the meantime, PATFO used the draft as a little bit of security web. If Duncan retired, Splitter went East, and LaMarcus landed some other place, a necessity for a giant man could be extra imminent.
Because the twenty sixth decide of the draft, Nikola Milutinov introduced peak and athleticism. Sadly for the 7-footer, the positions have been all crammed. Milutinov has garnered honors on a number of ranges abroad together with a 2021 VTB United League champion, 2023 VTB United League MVP, Serbian League Championships, and Greek League Championships, simply to call just a few.
In the identical vein, the Spurs drafted Cady Lalanne within the second spherical because the fifty fifth decide. Earlier than heading abroad, Lalanne performed with the Spurs within the NBA Summer season League Championship in 2015. He additionally performed with the D-League affiliate Austin Spurs in 2015 the place he was named an All-Star earlier than returning to Summer season League motion in 2016. He has performed in fourteen completely different groups everywhere in the globe.
As a substitute of enjoying both draftee, the Spurs signed Serbian middle Boban Marjanović and D-League Cinderella story Jonathon Simmons in the summertime and catapulted the careers of each, watching them pack up and head out for multi-million greenback contracts after one season.
Though Milutinov and Lalanne have proven they’ve basketball chops, neither has but to make it to the NBA. In 2021, the Spurs despatched Milutinov’s draft rights to the Brooklyn Nets. Likewise, the Spurs traded the draft rights to Lalanne to the Golden State Warriors in trade for Marquese Chriss and money concerns.
Glad Father’s Day to all you males on the market elevating the subsequent technology of Spurs followers.
A pleasant reminder that eleven years in the past, the Spurs gained their fifth title on at the present time.
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