Speaker 1: On this episode of the Heat Check, it's interview time.
Speaker 1: I am super excited to check in with my guy,
Speaker 1: Matt Tynan, formerly of The Athletic Bleacher Report. He covers
Speaker 1: the Spurs on his substack better than anybody else.
Speaker 2: It's called corporate knowledge. But we're gonna do a deep
Speaker 2: dive on all things Spurs.
Speaker 3: So anything my man drop that motherfucking beat that should
Speaker 3: be Rihanna.
Speaker 2: So let's just intro you then real quick, welcome to
Speaker 2: the show. Matt Kynan.
Speaker 1: Matt, as you just said, covered the Spurs for a
Speaker 1: very long time, covered the NBA as a whole, from
Speaker 1: everyone on the Athletic to Bleacher Report to Real to
Speaker 1: sp Nation.
Speaker 2: I think Matt has the best sub stack.
Speaker 1: I think has the best content on the Spurs. So
Speaker 1: I will link how you get there, how you pay
Speaker 1: this man so he can keep giving us our reporting.
Speaker 2: But before we get because I think this team's like
Speaker 2: really fun.
Speaker 1: I think it's like a team people don't really think
Speaker 1: about a lot, and I was. I talked about this,
Speaker 1: I talked about the Spurs on Monday's episode.
Speaker 2: You're gonna come out on Friday.
Speaker 1: Just how perplexed and befuddled I was by the Chris
Speaker 1: Paul signing, like, oh well, this is like a fun
Speaker 1: little story of veteran coming in and now it feels
Speaker 1: like that's paying dividends in the same way that it
Speaker 1: did when he went to Oka se or even went
Speaker 1: to Phoenix. But before we get into kind of the
Speaker 1: team dynamics, do you have any updates on coach Pop
Speaker 1: and when he'll be back or anything.
Speaker 4: No, we have, Well, first of all, like health wise,
Speaker 4: he's doing okay. Everything that we continue to hear is
Speaker 4: that he's doing fine. He's just resting. I'm sure there
Speaker 4: is a lot to you know, moll over from him,
Speaker 4: you know, whether it's himself, his family, everything for a
Speaker 4: seventy five year old man who just suffered a mild stroke,
Speaker 4: Sure there's a lot that he can step back and
Speaker 4: take a look at. So, but health wise he's doing okay.
Speaker 4: He's in constant communication with the team, Like a lot
Speaker 4: of the stuff that you see the Spurs doing now
Speaker 4: his stuff that was already installed prior to the season.
Speaker 4: But he continues to be in contact with everybody there
Speaker 4: as far as his return goes. No idea, like genuinely
Speaker 4: no idea. I don't I don't even think that, you know,
Speaker 4: the team itself really has an idea of what that
Speaker 4: looks like. But they're in good hands because Mitch Johnson
Speaker 4: has been an assistant there since twenty nineteen. He knows,
Speaker 4: you know, all of these guys really well. He's been
Speaker 4: an extension of Pop for a while. He's had pretty
Speaker 4: significant responsibility in the game day huddle. He is a
Speaker 4: major part of their workout routines, a practice and shoot
Speaker 4: arounds and everything, so he is certainly a familiar face
Speaker 4: to have around. Not to mention, Brett Brown is hanging
Speaker 4: out on the bench, so they're in good hands while
Speaker 4: while Pop is tending to his own needs.
Speaker 1: Well, we wish Pop well. I hope he's back at
Speaker 1: some point soon. I think there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: people in the past wondering like who the successor may
Speaker 1: or may not be. So I mean, Mitch doing the
Speaker 1: job that he's doing. Whenever Pop does decide to hang
Speaker 1: his shoes up, it's going to be really interesting to
Speaker 1: see where the team goes. But are you surprised at
Speaker 1: the start of this season for the Spurs because you
Speaker 1: look at this draft class, and I mean outside of
Speaker 1: the Wemby class, I think it's got you know, some
Speaker 1: of the highest anticipation with Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper
Speaker 1: and some of the other kids that aren't even talked
Speaker 1: about nearly as much who should be like VJ. Edgecombe
Speaker 1: and and I think the Cooper flag and the and
Speaker 1: the and the the capture the flag. So I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people were, I guess anticipating maybe San
Speaker 1: Antonio keeping a slow burn of a rebuild, like a
Speaker 1: Utah Jazz like rebuild, and that just has not occurred.
Speaker 1: And some of the moves that were made, you know,
Speaker 1: getting Chris Paul, like I said, kind of befuddling to me.
Speaker 1: And now a team that's game over five hundred or
Speaker 1: we won't know what the record is by the time
Speaker 1: this airs. It it is a little delightful to see
Speaker 1: what they're turning into.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's once they drafted wem Bin Yama. The thing
Speaker 4: that I was told by people in that building was like,
Speaker 4: it's one year to figure this thing out and then
Speaker 4: it's like pedal to the medal. Maybe not pedal to
Speaker 4: the medal, because it's not like they went out and
Speaker 4: tried to trade for whoever. Laurie markin and while his
Speaker 4: contract stuff was up in the air over the summer
Speaker 4: or what you know, they just wanted a year to
Speaker 4: figure out Victor, figure out his body, how he worked
Speaker 4: as a basketball player in an NBA environment. This team
Speaker 4: was the youngest team in the league last year, so
Speaker 4: there is obviously it's not just Victor that they needed
Speaker 4: to figure out. They wanted to understand better how the
Speaker 4: guys who have been in place for a few years
Speaker 4: now would fit around him. So I think one of
Speaker 4: the things that you heard most last season was that
Speaker 4: they just even from Victor, who is a super honest
Speaker 4: and objective thinker, and he speaks his mind. All of
Speaker 4: this stuff is really refreshing. But he talked a lot
Speaker 4: about the fact that they lacked veteran leadership and experience.
Speaker 4: There were a lot of games that they lost, you know,
Speaker 4: where they lost a lead or if they came back
Speaker 4: in a game, they couldn't quite get over the last hump.
Speaker 5: So like, what do they do.
Speaker 4: They go out and they signed Chris Paul and trade
Speaker 4: for Harrison Barnes and who, by the way, just one
Speaker 4: Player of the Week in the Western Conference, which is
Speaker 4: wild not something I ever thought i'd see this year,
Speaker 4: but so far, like their plan has come to fruition,
Speaker 4: Like everything they had hoped had come to fruition. They
Speaker 4: didn't bring Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes in necessarily to
Speaker 4: like pursue a championship right now. They know that they're
Speaker 4: still a ways off from that, but they just needed
Speaker 4: someone to set a tone, whether it was in the
Speaker 4: locker room and practice on the court at the end
Speaker 4: of games. They've been a good second half basketball team
Speaker 4: this year, which has not been the case the last
Speaker 4: few years. They look calm and organized under pressure late
Speaker 4: in close games. It's like these little things that they
Speaker 4: weren't doing last year they're doing this year. And all
Speaker 4: of the guys, aside from their own maturity and development
Speaker 4: and everything, are attributing so much of that to Chris
Speaker 4: Paul and Harrison Barnes. So so far, their decision to
Speaker 4: go after those guys is paying off in a big way.
Speaker 4: And like you said, you're a little surprised, I'm a
Speaker 4: little bit surprised they being nine to eight at this point.
Speaker 4: They've had a difficult schedule. They've only played one Eastern
Speaker 4: Conference team, so to be where they are right now
Speaker 4: and winning games that they would not have won last
Speaker 4: year Flat Lee. They they're taking care of teams under
Speaker 4: five hundred, they're taking care of teams that are on rest,
Speaker 4: disadvantages like on the second night of a back to
Speaker 4: back or whatever. They're winning at home. So, like all
Speaker 4: of these things that competent teams do, they're doing. So
Speaker 4: whatever magic they you know, whatever magic wand they waved
Speaker 4: over the offseason has so far been working pretty well.
Speaker 1: And they're not playing Jeremy Sohan at point guard anymore.
Speaker 5: That's the other thing.
Speaker 4: They replaced Jeremy Sohan with one of the greatest point
Speaker 4: guards of all time.
Speaker 5: Yes, that's true.
Speaker 2: What do you think about Steph Castle?
Speaker 1: Because I thought I thought he should have probably been
Speaker 1: in a draft class where we weren't really.
Speaker 2: Sure about anyone.
Speaker 1: I thought there was a legitimate case to be made
Speaker 1: for Steph Castle to go number one or number two,
Speaker 1: depending on who.
Speaker 2: Who got you know, that pick.
Speaker 1: Obviously with Atlanta and Trey Young, you probably weren't gonna
Speaker 1: do that. But I think he's kind of showing everyone,
Speaker 1: you know, why that would be. What do you what
Speaker 1: are you seeing so far from him? Because he just
Speaker 1: put Steph Curry in in ad seg He put him
Speaker 1: in solitary confinement.
Speaker 2: He was inside of his jersey the other night, making
Speaker 2: his life a living hell.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, he's I think that one of the concerns
Speaker 4: obviously was his shot come out of school if he
Speaker 4: was you know, right now currently or at least since
Speaker 4: he's been inserted into the starting lineup. He's shooting like
Speaker 4: thirty seven point five percent from three, which is a
Speaker 4: really good number for a guy that you were concerned
Speaker 4: about coming out of school. If he had a better
Speaker 4: shot at Yukon, Like, I think there was a legitimate
Speaker 4: chance that he could have gone number one if he
Speaker 4: had a more defined position. I think there was a
Speaker 4: legitimate shot he could have gone number one. But he
Speaker 4: didn't have those things. And at the same time, he
Speaker 4: was like everything the Spurs have been looking at in
Speaker 4: terms of prospects over the last especially like once they
Speaker 4: started the rebuild in Earnest. It's like, these big, versatile,
Speaker 4: multifaceted defenders. We'll figure out the other stuff later. We
Speaker 4: don't really care what position you play.
Speaker 5: We're not.
Speaker 4: We're not concerned with fitting everything together perfectly right now.
Speaker 4: That'll have and as time goes along. So he's been
Speaker 4: like everything they could have asked for and more. He's
Speaker 4: first of all, super smart, a very fast learner. You
Speaker 4: can see the shot coming along. He can play anywhere
Speaker 4: from the point guard to the small forward or to
Speaker 4: the three, if not the four. In certain matchups he's
Speaker 4: been he's been a revelation in San Antonio. Like, obviously
Speaker 4: this is Victor win Benyama's franchise now and he gets
Speaker 4: the most attention. But in terms of the biggest story
Speaker 4: this year, it's been the immediate impact of Steph Castle.
Speaker 4: Greg Popovich even back at Summer League said like, oh no,
Speaker 4: he's gonna play like right away, he's going to play quickly.
Speaker 4: And by the second game of the season he was
Speaker 4: playing crunch time minutes and going to.
Speaker 5: The line with the game on the line and all
Speaker 5: of this stuff.
Speaker 4: So he's just every single game he's doing stuff, he's
Speaker 4: improving on certain areas of the game, and it's just
Speaker 4: been really impressive and fun to watch. And he's kind
Speaker 4: of one of these he reminds people a little bit
Speaker 4: of Kawhi and like the good days for the Spurs,
Speaker 4: But the bigger difference is like he's just he loves
Speaker 4: talking to people in front, he loves being in front
Speaker 4: of microphones. He's cerebral, like he's just sort of the
Speaker 4: entire package so far. And I'm sure that the I
Speaker 4: know that the Spurs are absolutely thrilled with what's going
Speaker 4: on there.
Speaker 1: How did that evolution take place inside of him? Because
Speaker 1: prior to the draft he was telling teams or telling
Speaker 1: the world like listen, I'm a point guard, that's what
Speaker 1: I am. And and like you said, he's got so
Speaker 1: much positional versatility and as a player like Chris Paul
Speaker 1: comes in that could definitely rub a young guard the
Speaker 1: wrong way.
Speaker 2: But it feels like it hasn't done that at all.
Speaker 5: No, not at all.
Speaker 4: In fact, it's kind of the opposite. Like we know
Speaker 4: the it's been reported ad nauseum over the years that
Speaker 4: Chris Paul tends to sort of grind on people, especially
Speaker 4: over time, but like these young guys on this team
Speaker 4: have been completely receptive to everything and Chris Paul. Chris
Speaker 4: Paul has said on a number of occasions now that
Speaker 4: he does not stop talking to Stefan Castle. And we've
Speaker 4: we've asked uh Steph about that and he said, no,
Speaker 4: I love it, Like this is this is everything that
Speaker 4: I've I've wanted. I have one of the greatest of
Speaker 4: all times of all time, like teaching me right now,
Speaker 4: and so he's been incredibly receptive to that. And then
Speaker 4: I think like when you watch the Spurs play, like, yes,
Speaker 4: Chris Paul when he's in the game, he's controlling the game,
Speaker 4: but he's not doing it the way he used to.
Speaker 4: You know, where he is like super duper high usage,
Speaker 4: Like this is Chris Paul's offense. He's sort of blended
Speaker 4: into how the Spurs like to play, which is which
Speaker 4: is everyone's gonna have the ball in their hands at
Speaker 4: some point, and they are major proponents of like if
Speaker 4: you found go we've seen playing like Trade Jones kind
Speaker 4: of everyone in their in their system right now has
Speaker 4: been interchangeable, and I think Steph at a certain point
Speaker 4: was like, oh, I'm gonna have plenty of opportunity to
Speaker 4: initiate offense here, whether that's as the lead initiator or
Speaker 4: in like secondary actions or even out of the short
Speaker 4: pick and roll like he's able to. He has the
Speaker 4: ball in his hands a lot, and I think it'll
Speaker 4: be interesting to see how it does look when everyone
Speaker 4: is back and fully healthy, like Devin Vessel, like Jeremy Sohan,
Speaker 4: you know, it's going to be a really interesting dynamic
Speaker 4: just in general. But like so far, because I remember
Speaker 4: when he said that over the summer and I thought,
Speaker 4: this is gonna be's It'll be interesting to see how
Speaker 4: this works out.
Speaker 5: But so far it's been.
Speaker 4: It's been great, and Steph has been super happy with
Speaker 4: the way things are going.
Speaker 2: He said, it's obviously Wemby's team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And what I've been really pleased to see or
Speaker 1: intrigued to see is like the Wemby three point attempts
Speaker 1: are just through the roof and a lot of people
Speaker 1: were giving you know him a lot of shit online
Speaker 1: really because the three point percentage had someone had taken
Speaker 1: a dive early on in the season. Things have kind
Speaker 1: of come to a level now obviously a monster defensively
Speaker 1: leading the league in blocks, Like what are you seeing
Speaker 1: from Wemby that we don't see?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 4: The conversation about you know, him being around the basket
Speaker 4: or him being at the three point line is not
Speaker 4: just something that's like shit on nationally on the internet,
Speaker 4: Like it's something that fans here locally have been consistently
Speaker 4: wondering about. It's something those of us in the media
Speaker 4: have been wondering about because you look at his shot profile,
Speaker 4: and I haven't actually looked at it in a few days,
Speaker 4: but like his his field goal attempts are like basically
Speaker 4: split down the middle fifty to fifty two pointers and
Speaker 4: three point attempts. So like, this dude is really has
Speaker 4: the green light to shoot from you know, whenever he
Speaker 4: has what they call a you know, a good opportunity.
Speaker 4: They don't want him to just be jacking stuff up
Speaker 4: all over the place. They want it to be a
Speaker 4: good shot, which for him looks a lot different than
Speaker 4: most people because that dude, whenever he releases the ball,
Speaker 4: nobody is nobody can can test him, even if they're
Speaker 4: right in front of him, because of how tall he is.
Speaker 4: So is he's always got clear eyesight to the rim.
Speaker 4: But one of the like really interesting dynamics that we
Speaker 4: haven't had a chance to see in a while that
Speaker 4: we were starting to get a glimpse of, and I
Speaker 4: think this is funny going back to the Sohon point
Speaker 4: guard conversation, is early returns were sort of showing that
Speaker 4: the Spurs were basically playing sohn as like the five
Speaker 4: on offense, and Victor was basically playing a perimeter position.
Speaker 4: So it was like this inverse looking thing of what
Speaker 4: it should be. But it was working really well. Victor
Speaker 4: just wasn't hitting his shots. Now he is another interesting
Speaker 4: thing to kind of go back on earlier this season,
Speaker 4: Greg Popovic, I think it was their last they play
Speaker 4: we're recording tuesday. They play in Utah tonight. I think
Speaker 4: it was their last game in Utah this season. It'll
Speaker 4: be the fourth time they played Utah already this year.
Speaker 5: By so ridiculous.
Speaker 1: But they hate that, by the way, like these baseball
Speaker 1: things like I'm like, wait, you just played them twice.
Speaker 2: What game is which?
Speaker 5: Right? Right?
Speaker 4: So we're just we're just wiping it all out right now,
Speaker 4: never to see him again the rest of the year. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but Greg Popovic even said they view Victor Wimbanyama as
Speaker 4: a perimeter player right now. And I think one of
Speaker 4: the the areas you're start arding to see little developments
Speaker 4: in is like he's he's getting opportunities at the elbow
Speaker 4: a little bit more. It's kind of like the Dirk days, right,
Speaker 4: like the Dirt Noovinsky days at the elbow. If he
Speaker 4: can get into those situations and make people pay from
Speaker 4: the mid range, it's going to open things up even more.
Speaker 4: But I think one of the things that it surprises me,
Speaker 4: even when I hear former players talk about how he
Speaker 4: needs to get into the block more, when you watch
Speaker 4: him play, he can't get leverage on anybody because he's
Speaker 4: so tall and they stick like these Dylan Brooks types
Speaker 4: on him and these Draymond Greens who can sometimes like
Speaker 4: recently against the Lakers, it was Lebron James like shoving
Speaker 4: a forearm into his back over and over, Like he
Speaker 4: can't get leverage on these smaller everyone smaller than him
Speaker 4: defenders that that teams stick on him, and so it's
Speaker 4: tough for him to get into those those spots. They
Speaker 4: obviously try to run stuff where there are these little
Speaker 4: downs and he can come off a screen and catch
Speaker 4: it in the lane, uh and get up for easy
Speaker 4: shots stuff that they're they're using to get him loose
Speaker 4: around the around the basket. But like teams are always
Speaker 4: waiting for that, you know. The the last thing they
Speaker 4: want is when Banyama in the paint because it's kind
Speaker 4: of game over. So he's really been developing the out shot.
Speaker 4: They have a ton of confidence in it. It's really
Speaker 4: been funny to watch, like Victor Wimbanyama getting a screen
Speaker 4: from Chris Paul and running the pick and roll, I
Speaker 4: mean stuff like that. He's he really is unlike anything
Speaker 4: we've ever seen. And as he gets stronger, he'll get
Speaker 4: more opportunities inside, I'm sure, But for now they really
Speaker 4: do view him and treat him as a perimeter player
Speaker 4: who's going to get sort of some set you know,
Speaker 4: design plays here and there to get him loose inside.
Speaker 4: But in general this this dude's playing on the outside
Speaker 4: and and the Spurs are just fine with that.
Speaker 1: How do you compare how he's being used, how Wemby's
Speaker 1: being used on the perimeter and contrast that with how
Speaker 1: OKAC wants to use Chet. Is it as similar as
Speaker 1: kind of the average fan thinks or are there nuances
Speaker 1: that we don't really see?
Speaker 4: I mean, I think the one of the bigger differences
Speaker 4: between those two. And like, obviously they have similar capabilities
Speaker 4: in terms of, you know, what they're able to do
Speaker 4: on offense. But Oklahoma City has Shay Gilders Alexander all
Speaker 4: World MVP candidate handling the ball and you want the
Speaker 4: ball in his hands, and Chet has been a lot
Speaker 4: more of a pick and pop type of player, whereas
Speaker 4: it's kind of the inverse with Wen Benyama. He doesn't
Speaker 4: really do a ton of picking and popping. He obviously does,
Speaker 4: and having Chris Paul and a Devin Bissell and a
Speaker 4: Steph Castle now to run the two man game with
Speaker 4: has has worked well. But like when you watch a
Speaker 4: Spurs game, just just notice how often he brings the
Speaker 4: ball up the court and takes like step back three
Speaker 4: is off the dribble And I think that's probably the
Speaker 4: bigger difference.
Speaker 5: But the biggest difference between what.
Speaker 4: Chet does and what Victor does is that Victor is
Speaker 4: the guy with the ball in his hands more often,
Speaker 4: whereas Chet is sort of the beneficiary of the gravity
Speaker 4: that Shay possesses. I think that would probably be the
Speaker 4: bigger different The biggest difference between the two, if that
Speaker 4: makes sense.
Speaker 1: Is that a function, to you, Matt, of just the
Speaker 1: roster or is that a function of how Wemby sort
Speaker 1: of will demand to play? Like if you had a
Speaker 1: I know it's a lot to ask, but say you
Speaker 1: had a Shade Gilgess Alexander type player in San Antonio,
Speaker 1: would would it still operate the same way that it
Speaker 1: does now.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's a it's a great question. I still
Speaker 4: I still think that because of like, even when you
Speaker 4: go back for you know, several years and look at
Speaker 4: Victor Wembanyama's tape and look how he's played for a
Speaker 4: while now, where he is like the guy he has
Speaker 4: the ball in his hands, it I would still venture
Speaker 4: even if he had a Shay on his team, I
Speaker 4: would still think that he would probably have more on
Speaker 4: ball reps than than Chet would, just because we've seen
Speaker 4: it already. But but it's a great question. Uh, it's
Speaker 4: when you when you when you don't have a guy
Speaker 4: like Shay, Gilgess Alexander, it's a hell of a lot
Speaker 4: easier to be like, you know what he's the like
Speaker 4: when Binyama is developing.
Speaker 5: Now, let's put the ball in his hands.
Speaker 4: Let's get him accustomed to this job and what it
Speaker 4: entails and everything that he's gonna have to do going forward.
Speaker 4: But I still do think that even if he had
Speaker 4: someone like that, that there would still be it wouldn't
Speaker 4: be like apples to apples between he and Chet. I
Speaker 4: still think that he would be like I don't know,
Speaker 4: if you wanted to, if you wanted to make the Okay,
Speaker 4: see analogy, maybe he is like the Jalen Williams or
Speaker 4: something on that team, if that makes sense. Obviously I'm
Speaker 4: not like comparing the two players, but in terms of
Speaker 4: their usage. Yeah, yeah, so I think it would be
Speaker 4: probably more similar to him than to Chet just because
Speaker 4: of everything the victor can do with the ball in
Speaker 4: his hands out.
Speaker 1: Out West, there's like a lot of ambiguity in terms
Speaker 1: of how the standings is gonna look. Right Like, sometimes
Speaker 1: you look at a team like Sacramento and you say
Speaker 1: they could be really good or they could fall out.
Speaker 2: Of the plan. Same thing with La both Las.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I kind of am curious in your opinion.
Speaker 1: Say the Spurs are somewhat hovering around the plan like Cusp,
Speaker 1: like six seed Cusp. At the trade deadline, do they
Speaker 1: become bias?
Speaker 2: Is that like a realistic possibility or.
Speaker 1: Is it stand just keep things flowing, or is it
Speaker 1: a situation where they're like the Dallas Mavericks a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, and if we're not out of the
Speaker 1: play in then we're fined and miss the playoffs as
Speaker 1: a whole.
Speaker 2: Considering how good the draft classes.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm glad you asked this question.
Speaker 4: I've been thinking about, like, not just that scenario, but
Speaker 4: some other, uh, what to me, are are really interesting
Speaker 4: potential scenarios. If the Spurs are in that range that
Speaker 4: you talked about, I don't think they're going to be
Speaker 4: buyers because I don't believe they see themselves as like, oh,
Speaker 4: we're a piece away from challenging for a title, and
Speaker 4: ultimately that is the goal for them right now. It's
Speaker 4: not you know, grab what the fourth seed or something like.
Speaker 4: It's it's not get home court advantage or something at
Speaker 4: best in the in the NBA playoffs, like they want
Speaker 4: to be ready to go for it all, and they
Speaker 4: have all these draft picks come up, there's still a
Speaker 4: really young team. So I think they're much more likely
Speaker 4: to stam pat than to be buyers because I don't
Speaker 4: think they want to give up this stuff for some
Speaker 4: you know, to be sort of premature in making the
Speaker 4: run to me, and I know this sounds crazy when
Speaker 4: when you're watching the way they're playing right now, but
Speaker 4: to me, the most interesting conversation is going to be
Speaker 4: around if they are in that play in bubble by
Speaker 4: the time the trade deadline rolls around, is someone like
Speaker 4: Chris Paul, if he's playing well, gonna be a trade ship.
Speaker 4: Is Harrison Barnes, if he's playing well, gonna be a
Speaker 4: trade ship? Because like the way those guys are playing
Speaker 4: right now, there are certainly contenders that could use either
Speaker 4: one of them on their roster. And we've seen this
Speaker 4: from teams before where they like, go out, they sign
Speaker 4: this player or they trade for that player with the
Speaker 4: intention of like, Okay, this might be a piece for
Speaker 4: us later on. And because like Chris Paul's on a
Speaker 4: one year contract, he's thirty nine years old. This isn't
Speaker 4: a guy who is likely who's going to be around
Speaker 4: for like when the Spurs are truly ready to go
Speaker 4: challenge for a title. And he knows that part of
Speaker 4: the reason that he came to San Antonio was to
Speaker 4: teach these kids how to play the game the right way,
Speaker 4: how to prepare the right way, how to practice the
Speaker 4: right way. And so in my head, I'm thinking, like,
Speaker 4: if they're that good by the time the trade deadline
Speaker 4: rolls around, and maybe like the switch in their head
Speaker 4: has been flipped, and like the Spurs view this team
Speaker 4: as something like, Okay, they got what we needed out
Speaker 4: of Chris Paul, he taught them the lessons that we
Speaker 4: wanted him to teach them, and he he gave his
Speaker 4: stage thirty nine year old wisdom to these twenty year olds,
Speaker 4: like Okay, now let's go get more first round picks
Speaker 4: or something like that. Like, to me, that's the more
Speaker 4: interesting conversation if they are indeed in that picture by
Speaker 4: the time February rolls around, which you know, to start
Speaker 4: the season. I don't think many people did, other than some.
Speaker 2: Sort of say like say, if Mike Conley were to
Speaker 2: go down.
Speaker 4: Or something, right, yeah, I mean for sure, or any
Speaker 4: number of teams there's like, you know, we could really
Speaker 4: use someone to initiate offense for us. And we've already
Speaker 4: seen injuries playing a major role in the NBA this season,
Speaker 4: as it always seems to do, as they always seem
Speaker 4: to do. So to me, that is the more interesting
Speaker 4: conversation that we could be having later on in the year,
Speaker 4: because I really don't think that the Spurs are gonna
Speaker 4: be like unless it's like a no brainer young player
Speaker 4: becomes available somehow, I don't think they're gonna be buyers.
Speaker 4: I think they're actually more likely to be sellers, which
Speaker 4: I know that sounds crazy, but I genuinely do think
Speaker 4: that could be the case.
Speaker 1: And if they say are sellers and obviously they have
Speaker 1: a boatload of draft picks and who knows, you know,
Speaker 1: we saw Landa get the number one overall pick when
Speaker 1: they had no reason to get the number one overall pick.
Speaker 1: To you, who's like the best player fit in this
Speaker 1: upcoming draft class to integrate into this burst?
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, I have not even I have not
Speaker 4: even gotten into that line yet.
Speaker 5: No, that is one of those what sorry, go ahead,
Speaker 5: Like what.
Speaker 1: Role I mean not even necessarily like a person specifically,
Speaker 1: but what like archetype of player? Like do you do
Speaker 1: you feel like is when you talk to folks on
Speaker 1: the team, like is really needed?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I think, first of all, it's it's still just versatility.
Speaker 4: But if we are, if we are going into the archetype,
Speaker 4: the fit so does speak. I do feel that the
Speaker 4: team needs more size on the wings, especially like when
Speaker 4: Jeremy Sohan is out. You can you just notice this
Speaker 4: size discrepancy at like the three and four spots. So
Speaker 4: to me, they could really benefit from another wing to
Speaker 4: be able to pair with some of these guys. And
Speaker 4: ideally this is again this is going to be the
Speaker 4: case every single offseason because we know Howla what player
Speaker 4: movement looks like these days, and they're gonna have to
Speaker 4: continue to build something around Wemby, you know, every single summer.
Speaker 5: But they need shooting.
Speaker 4: It's it's gonna be a critical element to everything they
Speaker 4: do going forward. They have been really building the defensive
Speaker 4: side of things, like eventually there's gonna be a world
Speaker 4: where Jeremy Sohan, Victor wimbin Yama, and Stefan Cassel are
Speaker 4: playing together and that could potentially be just a monstrous defense.
Speaker 5: It's a trio.
Speaker 4: But to continue to add to that versatility, but they
Speaker 4: have not really and they're not. They have not been
Speaker 4: in this mode of like addressing a specific skill set
Speaker 4: in the draft. It's just who do they think is
Speaker 4: the best player, which is how you're supposed to do
Speaker 4: it when you're a rebuilding team, Like you're not looking
Speaker 4: for fit all that stuff. You just want who you
Speaker 4: feel is the best player available at the time. But
Speaker 4: outside of Victor obviously who's shot. I don't know if
Speaker 4: he's ever going to be like a forty three point shooter,
Speaker 4: but you know, thirty five plus percent, thirty six thirty
Speaker 4: seven somewhere in there for his career is certainly attainable.
Speaker 4: And but other than that, it's like Stefan Castle, whose
Speaker 4: shooting has been a welcomed surprise, although albeit it's not elite.
Speaker 5: And then Jeremy.
Speaker 4: Soans shot, who is a work in progress every single
Speaker 4: day and he does work his ass off with shooting
Speaker 4: with the shooting coach Jimmy Barron. It is still a
Speaker 4: work in progress though, that's for sure. So I think
Speaker 4: it's size on the wing. They obviously are always gonna
Speaker 4: want defense, but size on the wing that can shoot
Speaker 4: is gonna be a huge deal for them going forward.
Speaker 1: Nice, Before I let you go, I have a general
Speaker 1: NBA question cool for you? Who is surprise you the
Speaker 1: most this NBA season in a positive way? And who
Speaker 1: I think are you most disappointed in or you feel like, wow,
Speaker 1: this has really not worked out the way that a
Speaker 1: lot of people thought it would.
Speaker 5: I think that.
Speaker 4: This is this is gonna sound funny because I don't
Speaker 4: think people actually like this team, and it's probably mostly
Speaker 4: because of one player. But like the LA Clippers are
Speaker 4: just sort of hammering away and winning games with James
Speaker 4: Harden and a bunch of dudes, and I've I've actually
Speaker 4: just gotten a really big kick out of that. I
Speaker 4: don't know if I actually like James Harden or if
Speaker 4: like the James Harden hate got cranked up to a
Speaker 4: point so much it's so high that I like went
Speaker 4: back to the other side of it. I'm not sure,
Speaker 4: but like I've I've really enjoyed watching the James Harden
Speaker 4: Zooboch Norman Powell show. I know, I'm I'm sure I'm
Speaker 4: leaving someone else out, but the Clippers are the first
Speaker 4: one that popped into my head. They just they it's
Speaker 4: they do this every year where it's like, even when
Speaker 4: people go down, they're just sort of steady, and Tyron
Speaker 4: and and Lou is just such a good coach. They
Speaker 4: have that the depth to make things work. We'll see
Speaker 4: if Kawhi ever comes back. Hopefully he does, because we
Speaker 4: all enjoy watching Kawhi Leonard play basketball. But yeah, the
Speaker 4: Clippers are one that, uh is always especially the last
Speaker 4: couple of years. For some reason, I've always just enjoyed
Speaker 4: like how solid they are no matter what. They obviously
Speaker 4: haven't hit the ceiling that that was the ultimate goal,
Speaker 4: but when you take that out of the equation of love,
Speaker 4: the how how they compete regularly, and then on the
Speaker 4: flip side, whoof it's either like you could go you
Speaker 4: could go through a number of teams here. I was
Speaker 4: really hopeful for Philadelphia. I wanted to see something like
Speaker 4: that work just like once for them. As entertaining as
Speaker 4: it is to just the seventy six ors soap opera
Speaker 4: over the last however many years is always entertaining. But
Speaker 4: I was just kind of hoping that, like this would
Speaker 4: be the year that all of these you add Paul George,
Speaker 4: Maxie comes along, Jared McCain's been incredible, Like it just
Speaker 4: would have been I think that would have been fun
Speaker 4: if they were actually good. Now they might not even
Speaker 4: make the playoffs. Everyone seems so depressed. It just looks
Speaker 4: like a bad situation. The Pelicans are the most injured
Speaker 4: team I've ever seen in my life. And then I
Speaker 4: look at a roster and there are some games where
Speaker 4: it's like, are any of these guys NBA players? They
Speaker 4: are and they actually do compete as best they can,
Speaker 4: but you get to see guys like Eves Missy and
Speaker 4: stuff like that, Jordan Hawkins, but they're just so injured.
Speaker 5: It's unbelievable.
Speaker 4: And the other one though, is like you brought him
Speaker 4: up earlier, but like Sacramento, they just went through the
Speaker 4: easiest part of their schedule and they're eight and ten
Speaker 4: and now they have like one of the most difficult
Speaker 4: schedules remaining. That's gotta be a bit of a scary
Speaker 4: proposition there, because they just have not looked together.
Speaker 5: And I'm a big.
Speaker 4: Tamar DeRozan fan, but it's like another one of these
Speaker 4: situations where it's like, I don't know if he's the
Speaker 4: guy for that team. He's a very unique player that
Speaker 4: kind of requires a unique type of system. He kind
Speaker 4: of becomes the system in some ways, and the Kings
Speaker 4: have been this like really free flowing, fast offense, all
Speaker 4: this stuff, and he just didn't fit that personality, I
Speaker 4: guess the way they've been playing. So I don't know,
Speaker 4: things don't look great for the Kings right now. Those
Speaker 4: would be the three for me that that yeah, just
Speaker 4: haven't been haven't been great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Kings.
Speaker 1: It did feel a little not desperate, but it felt
Speaker 1: a little bit like he's the only high caliber bucket
Speaker 1: getter that was available, and so regardless of how the
Speaker 1: system was, we're gonna fit him in and see maybe
Speaker 1: he can take some of those fourth quarter responsibilities off.
Speaker 2: But it certainly has changed their three.
Speaker 1: Point shooting sort of profile. And yeah, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: fascinating to see how the West shakes up. But I'm
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see you guys play more. One of
Speaker 1: the better defensive surprises. Like you said, they're calling it
Speaker 1: air fifty one.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's been that's kind of taken off.
Speaker 4: I was talking with someone with the team the other
Speaker 4: day and really really briefly and like people are trying
Speaker 4: to get it the nickname to like stick, and I
Speaker 4: don't think the Spurs are really having it, don't. I
Speaker 4: don't know, but it certainly has taken on a life
Speaker 4: of its own on the on the old internet, that's
Speaker 4: for sure.
Speaker 1: Well, thanks so much for coming on, Matt Tynan follow
Speaker 1: him on substack. Like I said, one of the best,
Speaker 1: I think the best Spurs content out there.
Speaker 2: Hop on stock now.
Speaker 1: Because the Spurs are just starting to continue to go
Speaker 1: and Matt's been with them along the way on this journey.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for coming on.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Thank you. Enjoyed talking to you.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it. That's all the time.
Speaker 1: That we have for this episode, but he checked big.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Matt. Go and subscribe to his substack called
Speaker 1: Corporate Knowledge.
Speaker 2: It's awesome.
Speaker 1: I really feel like it's the best SPURS content out there.
Speaker 1: Come back on Monday with an all new episode and
Speaker 1: check out the feed for past episodes of many episodes
Speaker 1: with drop unexpectedly like the New Orleans Pelicans in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference standings, can we say Tank City, do not
Speaker 1: forget to follow the heat check throughout the season.
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Speaker 6: dasher who wanted to substitute shredded mozzarella with block mots, well,
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Speaker 2: Tell them no, I can't make mac and cheese using
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Speaker 1: in weird chemicals to keep it from sticking together. Only
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