I started to put this in the regular season thread but it's time to put last year in the rear view mirror. They lucked into #2 in the lotto and if they don't take Harper and do some stupid shit instead, I'm going to lose my shit.
Biggest needs: outside shooting and outside shooting, size and muscle on the front line, and more vets who have been there done that.
I could take or leave KD. I have faith that they won't overpay for him. If it's Vassell, Barnes and 14 plus some second rounders, fine. I'd honestly be more upset about losing Barnes than Vassell. Barnes was fantastic last year. But they can't trade Sochan in the package. Not because I think that he's ever going to become a reliable shooter or even competent, but look at the west over the next 5 years and they need someone who can match up defensively one on one against guys like SGA and Jalen Williams at OKC and Luka in LA and Ant in Minnesota. Between Sochan and Castle, they have two very, very good on ball perimeter defenders. I think Harper can be a plus defender too. Fox isn't a shut down guy, but he's capable enough that he's not going to get hunted every possession.
I'll have some more thoughts on the draft in the next few days. If they don't move 14 (and my hunch is that they will for a similar package they got for Dillingham last year), I'd like them to target Rasheer Fleming or Cedric Coward. If Queen were to fall that far down, then he'd be my favorite but I don't think he lasts that long. I haven't seen enough of Essengue, Collin Murray-Boyles, or Asa Newell to have an opinion. I see Carter Bryant mocked to them a bit, but his shooting makes me nervous. Same thing about Demin, but I like his upside a bit more than Bryant's as a creator. But I'm not sure they need more shot creation with Harper assumingly coming on board. Sorber's injury scares me.
I think this is going to be a wild ass off season. Too many owners will look around, see that the league has had 7 different champions in 7 years, see how the Pacers made the finals, and say, "why not us?" I'm expecting the Spurs to not get caught up in the frenzy and stay the course. There's going to be a lot of action and nobody outside of Brooklyn has real cap to play with. Teams are trying to avoid the apron penalties like the plague. At the end of the summer, there are going to be some bargains and good deals to be had. There are just too many dumb owners/GMs and bad contracts out there. So I hope they're patient with whatever they do. I also hope they hire some veteran coaches to put around Mitch.
GSG