Kicking the Kornet’s nest in free agency | Spurs Insider

Kicking the Kornet’s nest in free agency | Spurs Insider

from a highly secure network of top secret locations across South Texas. This is the Spurs Insider free agency mania edition. I’m your host Mike Finger joined as always by Express News Spurs beat Writers Jeff McDonald and Tom Osborne. We promised you a week ago after the draft we’d be back to talk about all the wheeling and dealing and moving and shaking that the LO local cagers were going to make once the free agency window opened up on the evening of June 30th. And we’re recording this almost 48 hours later. And Jeff McDonald, what have you got to say about Luke Cornet? Um, I I’ll be honest. I have a lot to say about him and this will be the Luke Cornet episode of the Spurs Insider.
I think it should.
I guess but but we have we have we have some very sad news to address as well. We need to pour out
I wanted to wait on that but
some flavor flave uh flavored vodka a whole glass. We need to pour it out for our friend Sandro Mamuklli who is uh no longer no longer with us. I mean that doesn’t mean he’s dead. He’s just in Canada, which uh might as well be the same thing. This is um this is it. This we might as well start here because this encapsulates everything about Sandro, about this podcast, about the dynamic between the people on this podcast. Jeff is making fun of it. He He never after all the years of Sandro Mama Kelli being on the team, he never learned how to pronounce the man’s back last name. Even
I just learned how to spell it and now he’s gone. And uh you just never had the proper respect for the joy that he brought Tom and I and everyone around uh including Flav Flave who came to a Spurs game, including everyone in that locker room, including Greg Papovic, you know, the front office, the the the ball boys, the training staff, the fans. Jeeoff just mocked it all. and uh Tom and I had a true appreciation for Sandro and we’re going to miss him and we’re happy for him that he’s going to get I think more run uh more money than the Spurs are willing to pay him. Um uh you know the better opportunity to show off his many skills with the Raptors in Toronto. Um but yeah, the the Spurs have moved on. Tom Tom, bring it to a serious You think I’m being disingenuous and I am not. I’m being absolutely serious and Tom can attest to this. We were in the media room out at the Vic yesterday because the beat writers were covering a Spurs summer league practice. I realized that, you know, the columnists aren’t going to dain to show their face for that, but the two beat writers were out there and that’s when the Mamu news broke. We were in the media room and it was a very, it was very sad for all of us. We all were like, “Oh no, I’m not being disingenuous at all. He’s my favorite dude and we’re going to miss him a lot.” Okay, that’s good to know.
First of all, I’m envious. Uh Toronto is a wonderful place.
Wonderful place. So, uh I’m envious.
Uh yeah, Jeff showed a you know a acceptable form of uh uh sadness yesterday as did everyone else that was gathered. It was uh
it was a vigil.
Yeah, it hurt. It hurt. We didn’t have much time to mourn though. We had the we had interviews uh taking place um shortly after the news broke. But yeah, I hate to see him go, man. What a great guy. And you know, personally, uh he was responsible for one of the best meals I had last season. Uh
that’s right.
A Christmas night uh trip to Chama Mama in um in the East Village uh in New York City. Uh me and my wife went there after uh Sandro had turned us on to it. Uh he he took before the the um Spurs Christmas Day game, he took uh some teammates, some staffers, his brother, you know, girlfriends. Uh they went to Chama Mama, had a had a hell of a great time. And uh when I went there with my wife, you know, the the um the staff there was singing his praises, saying he comes in all the time, leaves great tips, and um
Georgian food.
Yeah, it was a Georgian. Yeah, I’m sorry, Mike. Yeah, it was a Georgian restaurant with like Zach Beast.
Yeah, and it’s it’s it’s meat, cheese, and bread. That’s that’s the extent of it.
That that is up my alley, brother.
Yeah, I knew you were going to say that. And and some great wine. So yeah, but he great guy, man. Just all the way around just a wonderful guy to cover.
Well, the what from what I hear from uh our compadres that cover the Celtics is we’re getting another sort of uh
yeah that kind of dude in uh in Mr. Cornet. So we can talk about him now if you’d like.
Well, we could use this the um the Sandro news to kind of uh shed light on the Spurs whole approach to free agency. And uh if you really want to break it down, we’ve we’ve learned a thing or two about what they’re prioritizing, what might be on the horizon, um how they’re going to use what essentially boil down to three open roster spots, which they had after the draft. Um the draft when when they took two first rounders, Carter Bryant and Dylan Harper, uh that gave them 12 contracts uh for next season. uh counting Julian Champeni, which isn’t guaranteed, but which is one of the biggest bargains in the league. Of course, he’s going to come back. Um with three open spots and uh the the money they had to use, if we want to really get into the weeds, was a mid-level exception, which was about $14 million a year. And they uh they had the possible use of a bianual exception of around 5 million a year. and uh you figured you’re going to split those into three players, maybe maybe one player and and a couple of minimums. Uh you knew that they needed a backup center. You knew that maybe they needed some shooting uh power forward type as well. What were they going to prioritize? Um, I think listeners of the of the show last week remember that we mentioned Gershon Yabuselli, a teammate of Victor Wimonyyama’s on the French national team at the Olympics, a guy who uh had a pretty good year for the Philadelphia 76ers that uh that we thought that might have been a priority that the Spurs were going to go after. We also mentioned Brook Lopez, who is a guy who transformed his game from being a a big lumbering guy who did all his work around the rim to be more of a three-point specialist. Um, and we thought that that might be a a target for the Spurs. Uh, I think in Jeff’s preview of free agency, he mentioned Luke Cornett as another possibility um in in the newspaper. And it turned out that the Spurs clearly prioritized a big man uh who does big man things, not a Brook Lopez who went from the inside to out, but Luke Cornet. Jeeoff, you I know you have a lot to say about him. He started his career kind of being a guy a sevenfooter who roamed around the three-point line. I don’t think he’s shot more than I mean he’s he’s shot like 20 in the last three years combined. He is now a a big man who protects the rim. Really really good. The the the stats on his screen and roll numbers are are darn near elite. Like uh I I know it’s small sample size, but um he’s a really he’s really good in the screen and roll game. Really good rebounder. Like I said, really, really good uh uh rim rim protector and uh this is a true center that the Spurs got. And by giving him four years and 40 million, he that’s that’s their number one guy. And that basically meant that they weren’t going to be able to offer Yabelli what he ended up getting from the Knicks. And uh Jeff, I just I’ll just open it up. What do you think of the Spurs choosing this type of player, this specific player, uh, to kind of be their marquee acquisition this this July?
It is very interesting the point you just made that offensively he’s done the opposite of what, uh, basically every other big man in the NBA in the last 10 years has done gone from being he was a decent three-point shooter. You know, he hit the mid in the mid-30s and now just doesn’t take them. And by the way, playing for a Boston team that just shoots them like hot cakes. Yeah, it’s also funny. But yeah, he was uh 0 for three from three-point range last year. Two years ago, he shot 100% though. He was one for one. So, but offensively, he’s it’s it’s um a a throwback, an anacronism. Uh he’s more like you say, a pick and roll player. But where where where he’s going to make his money, why the Spurs targeted him, why they’re bringing in uh this this 29year-old uh uh uh vet veteran center is so that when uh in those minutes when the great Victor Wimyama is not on the floor, the interior defense, the Spurs interior defense does not fall off a cliff. They actually have another rim protector who can uh stop it from being just a complete layup line to the uh to the rim when Vic’s off the floor. I mean, last year we saw it. Number one, Victor only played in half the games, but the games he was in uh when he’s on the floor, the Spurs have a top top 10 defense, top top eight defense, I believe it was. When he’s off the floor, it’s a disaster because the Spurs cannot keep anyone away from the rim without Victor Wumyama around. and Luke Luke Cornett um by the way among um among players who defended at least 200 this is a this is a stat from our friend of the podcast uh that uh Paul Garcia El Paso’s finest uh put out there but among players who uh defended at least 250 attempts at the rim last year only three other players not named Luke Cornett uh limited opponents to a worse field goal percentage. One of them is on Luke Cornett’s new team. That’s Victor Wimyama. The other two are Chad Homegr and Daniel Gaffford. So, what you’re getting is elite rim protection to back up elite rim protection. And that’s why the Spurs went and drafted this guy to fill that very major glaring hole. And yes, there are lineups when where Victor and Luke can probably play together and you can have sort of a twin tower sort of approach. But I would expect the big benefit of this is is to have a really solid bench defender that is going to keep the the thing afloat when Victor has to take a rest. That is uh that is huge. That is priority one. I I uh appreciate you putting that out there. His his uh rim protection numbers are uh almost as good over like the last three years, too. Like it’s not just a single year deal. He’s he’s top 10 over the past couple of seasons. Um, but the other thing is, and this is interesting, too, it’s not just a defense uh move, um, the the Celtics net rating, and and again, we’re in the statistical weeds here where some people’s eyes might be glazing over, including people on this podcast, but, uh, the the the Celtics were really good with Luke Cornet on the floor. And I think one reason if if you want to get beyond his his raw numbers aren’t that great, like he’s averaging what, five points a game. It doesn’t seem like he fills up the box score in a traditional way. But I think one reason why he might be such a good fit on a good team is because you need when you have a team like the Celtics, which over the last couple of years, you just loaded with all-star types with guys who are filling up the stat sheet in traditional ways. Tatum and Brown and on down the line, you need a guy just who’s willing to not need the ball and to and to screen and to offensive rebound. And it it sort of makes sense that the team would look better when you have a guy out there who’s just really good at what he does and focuses on that and allows the guys around him to uh to do what they do. And uh I think that you’re right, Jeeoff, that the uh that the the the plan for this would be to be a backup and to be uh for Cornet to play the non-wim minutes. And that makes a lot of sense. But I think there’s some upside there to uh to Luke Cornet playing with uh with with some of the the Spurs better players and making them better.
Of course. Oh, of course. Uh you know, it’s it’s and and I’m not I’m not telling Jeff this. I’m kind of explaining that for for everybody that this is not just a uh a defensive specialist. It’s not just a necessarily a a 15 to 18 minute a night kind of guy. I think there’s there’s there’s more there. And uh there’s a reason why the Spurs made the obvious choice or not the obvious choice but why the Spurs obviously made the choice to prioritize him over the other types of guys bigger names that we thought that some out there thought might interest them. Like Cornet got more guaranteed money than Brook Lopez. Cornett got a lot more guaranteed money than Yaboselli on down the line. like the Spurs targeted this guy because they wanted him, not because they couldn’t get the other guys. And I think that’s significant. Uh Tom, what do you think? Well, it it continues to what has amounted to an Agrade off season for the Spurs. I mean, drafting Harper, drafting Carter Bryant, uh, who they didn’t have to trade up to get, um, you know, acquiring Cornet to fill a big big need. So, it’s an A-grade off season. Now, it could maybe slip just a bit if if they don’t use the rest of their uh, available funds to acquire someone that can help with shooting and free agency. But yeah, so far Brian Wright has uh done a pretty pretty darn good job uh in this off season.
That’s a that you you never substitute Todd or anything, did you? You never had any interest in being a teacher, Tom. Uh no, not really.
Because what you’re saying here is
I I love teachers though. I love I love teachers. Why?
What you’re say because what you’re saying here is like there’s there’s that school of of teachers giving out grades where where everybody starts with an A and you have to lose points.
Yeah.
And and that’s what that’s kind of what you’re saying is you’re starting with an A even though the even though it’s incomplete. And uh that there’s the other there’s the other school of thought that everyone starts with an F and you got to earn your way up to an A because it seems like there you know that this this is what you’re saying that that the A could slip if they do something don’t do enough with the rest.
And it’s not a big slip either. Slip at all. I mean come on. I mean what they’ve done so far uh has helped them get better uh for years to come. possibly still a hole at uh in terms of uh three-point shooting. Uh Jeeoff, do you expect that to be addressed or is this kind are are those last two spots which are available um going to be third string fill in the margins, you know, third string center, bismac, biombo type of player to just uh provide some insurance or do you expect a true difference maker to be added with the rest of what what the Spurs have to do this off season? I mean, I think they’ll definitely look at it, but what what’s the most they have for for one contract? 5.1 million.
Five. Yeah.
Now, there’s also the trade market. You could do some swing stuff that way.
Probably
because with 5.1 million, you know, you’re not the names you’re you’re the names you’re going to chase are probably names that are I can’t even come up with right now. Like if you like some of the names we looked at be before um or we talked about before free agency started like oh maybe they could get Luke Canard. Well he went for $11 million. Maybe uh Duncan Robinson. Well he went for 12 million a year and you know so you’re going to have to look a tier below that on a team where if you look at it the Spurs have 10 players that could play right now. Like they have 10 solid a solid top 10. Those
not counting Carter Bryant. You got a 10 and then you got Carter Bryant waiting in the Wings is probably 11. And those 10 aren’t gonna play like you usually play eight, you know. So you’re asking
h teams play. You can play 10 now. I think you can play.
I think 10 guys are going to be playing a lot.
You’re ask you’re asking a guy a shooter to come in for 5.1 million uh with a very limited role. Like the the the the um the pool of players you’re going to be pulling from is going to be pretty uh small if you go that route. Now, if you want to, like you mentioned, if you want to try to figure figure out some way to swing a trade, in a lot of ways, that makes a lot more sense to me. You get a better player and uh you move someone that opens up playing time for the new player coming in. I mean, so to answer your question, I would I would expect them to to look at that in every way, shape, or form because everyone knows they need shooting. Um, it did surprise me this week when I was putting together my um my uh free agency preview that the Spurs actually ranked seventh in the league in three-pointers made last year.
So, that that surprised me. The percentage was bottom third still, but even that’s been on the rise. Um, so it’s definitely a need. Like I’m not going to sit here and argue that it’s not a need, but I think it’s clear that the big man was more of a need and now they’re going to try to patch the rest of it together with the with what they got. And I looked having looked at those uh those three-point numbers like you did, Jeff, did anything stick out to you in terms of this player already on the roster is going to be or at least has the the potential to be a lot better next year. I mean, some of these guys have kind of settled, you know, the water has has reached its own level. Like, we kind of know what they are. Is there room for improvement from a youngerish player on the Spurs roster where some of that three-point percentage improvement can come with it from?
I mean,
sure. Like, you’ve got minutes. You’ve got I mean you’ve got you’ve got I mean this may not be the answer people want people want to hear, but you’ve got a guy like Steph Castle whose percentage was so bad last year that it
it could improve marketkedly this year, you know, or I I think Victor Wimyama can be a better three-point shooter. I think a lot of his issues to start last he started last season in a horrible three-point slump. I think part of many of his issues to start last season was just shot selection. and once he figured out where to get better three-pointer, he was on a pretty good groove before he went down.
So, I think there are I’m not going to sit here and say this roster is is awesome as is competing for a championships, got all the three-point shooting it needs. That’s obviously not the case, but there are some guys that can be better. Um I I one thing you might worry about is like Harrison Barnes had the best three-point shooting career season of his career and is he due for some slippage? Just natural slippage. So, do you whatever gains you make with other players, do you lose it there? I don’t know. Yeah. Um, I think that if you look at just the games that De’Arren Fox was around for, he shot 27% from three-point range as a Spur, I think that probably gets better. He’s not elite, but he’s he’s better than 27.4. I think that uh Stefan Castle will be better than 28.5. Um, Harrison Barnes, like you said, might be worse than 43.3. There was like a there was a a a video going around on the uh internet uh where it looked like a Jeremy Sohan impersonator was making like seven three-pointers in a row at some workout in some gym. Some Did you see that? Yeah. Like maybe.
Yeah. It was a Clark. Uh I think it was AI.
Oh, was it a Was that a Clark?
Yeah, I think it was AI though.
Yeah. No, I mean to to to be completely serious like he’s working on his shot. He’s we talked to him at an event he did a month ago or so, a few weeks ago. He is working on his shot. He’s taking that hitch out. Uh look good in those videos. But I’ve heard this from countless players every year about all the work they put in in the summer. You see the videos that look awesome. Sometimes it shows up on the court and sometimes it doesn’t. And so I would like to reserve judgment until you see it happening on the court in games
that matter.
I agree. No, no uh disrespect intended. Um but he’s sort of he’s sort of 30% until he proves otherwise like he said under the lights. Um
did we mention it would it would be huge if he could get to 35. like that’s that makes him such a a more effective player um in so many ways and and makes the team so much better because defenders have to guard him there. I’m not sure they have to guard him there if he continues to make 30.
I had some
I had someone tell me um and you know this is sort of the unbridled optimism time of the year right after the draft but like if things pan out Carter Bryant could be the best shooter on the team right now. Well, that that says two things.
He’s Yeah, exactly.
It says something about Carter Bryant. It says something about the team that he’s
Exactly. And I I think we we maybe you guys can correct me if I’m wrong. We think Carter Bryant’s probably starts in the GLeague mostly for the first
um are we like Tom’s the G-League expert. That season doesn’t start right away. Right. Right. That’s what I mean. But once it starts, but once it start, we’ll see. We’ll see how he fits in before the G-League starts. And uh maybe maybe there are some minutes there for him. The skill that does not need a whole lot of um like NBA repetitions to uh to be able to get on the court is to defend the dog out of somebody. And if he can defend people,
right,
like there might be a place for him. um now learning the whole team defense, learning all the ins and outs and all that type of stuff, that might take some time.
But if he steps in right away and can prove that he can defend people and make an open three-point shot, like maybe that’s the type of player that can get some early run. Um
we talked to the Mike about that yesterday and uh yeah, he he said that the uh the emphasis, you know, he said the emphasis with Carter is on defense. Um, and then Carter echoed that
saying, you know, it’s the quickest way for him to get on the court.
And, uh, yeah. No, back to the three-point shooting. I don’t think we mentioned Champenny. Um, he was at 37% last year. He could be better.
I think that’s probably who he is. Like that’s like 37’s pretty good. Yeah,
you don’t think he could be better.
I think he could be
37’s pretty good.
Yeah. Yeah, like what you the the ones that they need the the obvious holes are the like Castle at 28 and uh and Sohan at 30 and even Fox at 27. Like those numbers need to go up. Um and if they do go up, then you’ll see a teamwide improvement. Um, but uh, yeah, like I guess this is just a a convoluted way of saying that if they don’t add that Luke Canard type of player on the free free agent market, there’s a way for them to not be quite as bad um, from three-point range as they were.
And bad is probably the wrong word. Uh, uh, in ineffective.
Go ahead. The other point I’ve been making about this is like people need to not look at this as the finished product roster. Whatever comes out of this offseason, this is the Spurs rolling this out here and going, “All right, we’re competing for championships now. There’s still going to be holes. There’s still going to be deficiencies. If they don’t address the three-point shooting need uh completely this summer, that’s okay. If they don’t address it uh in season of the trade deadline, that’s okay. I think that’s probably what they will look at next summer. use that big mid level exception instead of now that you’ve got Luke Cornet, you’ve got your your front court stabilized, you can go next summer and look at look at to spend on the Luke Canard of next summer, whoever that might be. Um I I think people still need to realize this is not a team that’s that’s expecting to compete for a championship this year. And so it’s going to not have a roster that’s championship worthy. I think the expectation to complete compete for a playoff spot are absolutely uh in line and I think this team has the roster to do that even if they make not one other move this this off season.
By the way, like like competing I agree competing for a playoff spot absolutely should be the expectation.
It’s still really freaking hard in the Western Conference to get in. Like look at just look up and down the
This is another game we played just summer league. Yeah. every every team uh like there for the Spurs to make the top 10, not necessarily the playoffs, just to play in, you’re going to need either um like a Sacramento to take a step back and Sacramento’s not terrible. Sacramento still got some guys. Um Memphis to take a step back and Memphis traded Desmond Bane, but they still have some guys. Uh Golden State still has Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green for crying out loud. like they’re not as deep as I used to be.
But those are the types of teams that would have to drop below 10 for us to make the play in. And that’s no guarantee there. There’s all we we mention this every year. There’s always a team that gets hurt that has that just where everything falls apart like the Pelicans have in recent years. Um there’s always a team that kind of drops out and Spurs should be poised to move in when that team falls. But like it’s not guaranteed that you’re top eight or even top 10. We played this we played this game again. We we had a long time waiting for summer league practice to open up uh yesterday. So we played this game too uh with another friend of the Don uh the the podcast, the great Don Harris. And I said uh what do you think the expectations should be for next year if they make don’t make another another move? Will they win 40 games? Oh yeah, sure. They’ll win. They’ll win 40. Well, 40 wins last year gets you 10th place in the West
by one game.
Yeah.
Don said actually I think they could be five or six games over over 500. Like easy. Okay. So, you’re saying they could win 47 games? Yeah. 47 games. All right. If the last year 47 games gets you ninth, it gets you ninth by a lot, but like eighth place Memphis had 48 wins last year. So, still with with that kind of improvement, you you know, based on last year’s standings,
47 wins get you another lottery pick.
Yeah. Yeah. You’re still in the playin having to fight your way out of that. So, I mean, well, we can we can do this more in October and September, but it does feel like we may be in the spot where the Spurs are going to be much improved over last season and still like I don’t know about the playoffs or not
related to that. And this this sort of uh plays into the w the the Spurs restraint this off season. um patience, if you will, when you look at Houston. And I understand the u impulse of certain fans um who have suffered through a lot in recent years watching the Spurs play and have have been waiting for for the longest period in in many Spurs fans lives of of waiting for the competitive window to open again. I understand the the feeling of antsiness and to see what Houston has done this off season where they’ve really said our time is now and we have all these long-term players and we’re going to build for the future, but we’re going to start getting some guys who can help us right now. And I understand why Spurs fans are some Spurs fans are saying, “Hey, that should be us and we should start doing that, too.” But in a way, this almost makes it um make more sense for the Spurs to show restraint because let let these these teams that are that are playing for now do that now while you kind of wait it out. You wait out the time for Oklahoma City’s roster to get really, really expensive, which is about to get. You wait out the time where Houston kind of has to pay the piper for going in on Kevin Durant and, um, Dorian Fenny Smith and some of the veterans that they’ve added, uh, Capella and and Adams. I think Houston’s doing a great job of team building and I think they are going to be a force for a long time, but they’re moving their window up. the Spurs are keeping their window in the same position if that makes sense. And I think that’s the right approach if you’re the Spurs. Like you still want to you still want to target I’ve said it many times like 2027 through 2032. Like that’s when you think you’re going to be the class of the conference. And uh you shouldn’t feel compelled to keep up with Houston who had a really really good off season. Don’t get me wrong. like I think that they’re going to be a force, but I don’t I don’t think you speed up because other teams are speeding up. I think in some ways you do the opposite. Um does that make sense to anybody?
Yes. Houston won 52 games last year and was second place in the West. So that’s the time you want to you want to go all in or or close to all in.
Um now that said, they won 52 games and were second in the West, but they were also 16 games behind the Thunder, you know, with 52 wins. But I I think I think when the time comes where the Spurs are winning 52 games and are right there near the top of the conference, I think that’s where you’ll see them make those Durant like moves, you know.
Mhm. And I mean there there’s going to be um if there’s if there’s hope for uh for what I mentioned earlier, you know, that that 2027 to to into the next decade range, like you’re starting to see the other teams that we can pencil into the playoffs this year. Like without any doubt, like the Denver Nuggets uh got better this off season. Um Golden State has Curry and Butler like I mentioned, they’re probably going to be there. Those are the types of teams that are gonna they’re they’re approaching sort of a cliff and you know more power to them for maximizing what they’ve done so far. Like um great job by the Nuggets to uh to add some help for Joic this off season. I think the Warriors still have some hope to to maybe make one more run and they should be trying to make one more run, but 2027, 2028, like that’s when they’re going to start paying for those moves and that’s when there will be opportunity for the Spurs not just to move past them, but to be up towards that OKC Houston type level. Um, not sure what the how the Lakers fit into this. This is not a Lakers podcast, but that’s sort of fascinating what’s going on there with their two timelines. Um, I think it’s just the the point here is I I I think the Spurs are going about this the right way, even if uh a podcast about Luke Cornett isn’t the sexiest uh offseason podcast in the in the NBA this week. I mean, from from their perspective, they have their core they have their core of stars that they’re building around and their and their number one star that they’re building around. And so, taking a couple off seasons to now fill in the blanks with a Luke Cornet with something next summer that’s that’s going to move the needle. Um, that’s that’s seems a smart way to do it to me. Back real quick, back to our rookie class. Um, another thing that stood out yesterday about Carter Bryant, his hand, he’s got some big mits, you know, uh, uh, as, as our late colleague Tim Griffin used to say, he’s got got a poor man’s version of Kawhi Leonard Hands. uh you know
oddly is his body is kawawaii like uh when first came in
and they were really impressed you know and this was on his scouting report too just the way he moves you know he doesn’t let guys turn the corner on him and you know we talked uh Jeff and I talked to him yesterday about Shawn Elliot um what it was like you know being on that campus where Shawn is a god and then coming here where Shawn is you know in his 25th year. We just asked those questions for the benefit of Sean. So yeah, there’s no there’s there’s comparison. People might for forget, but you know, for the first portion of his career, he was a heck of a defender.
Oh, yeah. The ninja.
Yeah. And and Carter Bryant’s certainly in that mold. And um also, I just want to say real quick, I made a mistake. Chama Mama is in Chelsea, not the East Village. Oh,
I went to the wrong location.
In case you’re going to New York City, this uh I was in the car. I was in the car driving there and I’m with the wrong location.
To our excellent producer
to our excellent producer, Montybach. I think we have to start over. I think I think because Tom messed that up, we need to stop and just re-record the whole thing.
I corrected it
cuz Tom got that wrong.
Well, that’s good to know. Anyway, but uh one more thing on C one more one one last last thing on Carter Bryant. I think there’s kind of a timeline and a way of thinking where he spends this year kind of in the G-League, maybe just kind of on the fringes of of playing time the NBA, gets better um next summer, and he’s really one of your big additions um to next year’s roster.
All of a sudden, he’s a guy that’s he’s your shooter off off uh that you’ve added, you know. So, on on that note of of watching him progress, Jeff and Tom both will be able to get some firsthand looks at Carter Bryant. Uh we’ll discuss
Carter. I only get to see Carter Dylan.
Yeah, that’s what I wanted to get into. We’re going to be uh back on a twoe schedule on the podcast here. We’ll uh we’ll see you in two weeks. And that on that podcast, we’ll be discussing some summer league. Jeff will be in San Francisco. Tom will be in Vegas. real quick before we go. Anything to look forward to for the people watching Summer League from afar over the next couple of weeks? I mean, like I said, I get to see Carter Bryant. I get the first crack at him. Dylan Harper, I don’t know if we’ve actually mentioned it on this podcast, but he’s been ruled out for the San Francisco portion of the proceedings with a minor groin issue, which by the way, I saw video of him doing one-on-one workouts at summer league practice. Uh the groin issue must be pretty minor or they wouldn’t have him doing anything. Um but he’s not allowed to do onc court work right now. So I I’m going to get to see Carter Bryant. Um
looking forward to that just to see
um what uh what he’s got. Um you know, as as Tom mentioned, everyone told us yesterday uh you know, from the coaching staff to Carter himself that um we’re going to see him defend the heck out of people in San Francisco. So, I’m looking forward to seeing if he can live up to that promise.
And then maybe some Dylan Harper in Vegas. Uh Tom will be there for that. We will discuss it all in a couple of weeks. Until we see you again, take care of each other and keep it real.

Columnist Mike Finger and Spurs beat reporters Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn discuss the Spurs free agency goals, the signing of Luke Kornet to be Victor Wembanyama’s backup and where it all puts the teams next season.
 
*Suggested reading:*
NBA changes Gregg Popovich’s record after long absence: _https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/nba-changes-gregg-popovich-coaching-record-20416285.php_
Spurs rookie Dylan Harper’s Summer League debut delayed due to injury: _https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/rookie-dylan-harper-injury-summer-league-20403065.php_
Spurs lose fan-favorite Sandro Mamukelashvili to Toronto: _https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/spurs-sandro-mamukelashvili-free-agent-raptors-20402965.php_
Spurs land Boston big man Luke Kornet to back up Wemby: _https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/spurs-land-boston-big-man-luke-kornet-20401680.php_

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