Who do you think should start for the Spurs on opening night?
Marilyn Dubinski: As a non-gambler, I’d wage ten Monopoly bucks it will be Chirs Paul, Devin Vassell, Harrison Barnes, Jeremy Sochan and Victor Wembanyama. It has been made clear that Paul signed with the promise he would start, and I imagine Barnes didn’t agree to waive his trade kicker to come off the bench, at least initially — although he is certainly the type of person who would accept any role with grace and professionalism. Other than that, Vassell and Wemby are mainstays at this point, and I don’t see Sochan getting benched any time soon.
Mark Barrington: Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama, obviously. The rest of the lineup is a little less obvious. I think that Harrison Barnes starts, because they didn’t bring him in to be a bench player. That leaves Jeremy Sochan and Devin Vassell to round out the lineup, which is a one-big lineup with Victor at center. Collins, Keldon Johnson, Tre Jones, Castle and Julian Champagnie are the second unit unless more changes are made before the season.
Jesus Gomez; The ideal lineup to win now would probably be Chris Paul, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Harrison Barnes and Victor Wembanyama. Paul and Vassell handle the ball, Champagnie and Barnes space the floor and Wemby does Wemby things. But it’s hard to imagine Pop bringing Jeremy Sochan off the bench, which makes sense because he has the talent to be a core player, even if he’s missing a reliable shot. I’m assuming Paul, Vassell, Sochan, Barnes and Wembanyama will start and I’m excited to see how Pop mixes and matches players to find good lineups.
J.R. Wilco: While I love Gomez’s idea of Champagnie in the starting five, I don’t think there’s much doubt about this at all. It’s Paul, Vassell, Sochan, Barnes and Wemby on opening night. The question is whether everybody is making too much of Stephon Castle’s performance at Summer League, or whether he’ll soon be so good that he’ll be pressing Jeremy or Harrison for a starting spot.
Who do you think is on the outside of the rotation looking in right now?
Dubinski: Coincidently, I just wrote about this a few days ago, but Blake Wesley and to a lesser extent Malaki Branham run a real risk of being left out. Without any other notable additions to the roster, Branham could still be a part of the second unit, but he will have to show he can be more of an off-ball shooter since he would be sharing the floor with Tre Jones and Stephon Castle, who are both better with the ball in their hands. Pop showed last season that he’s not afraid to bench Branham if his play gets lackadaisical, and he’ll have Wesley and Sidy Cissoko waiting to pounce on any potential opportunity to get some minutes. Champagnie and Sandro Mamukelashvili will likely be battling for backup forward minutes, while Charles Bassey will be the third string center.
Barrington: I think it’s going to hard to find minutes for Blake Wesley, because of his limited offensive ability. Branham is likely to get the majority of the third string guard rotation minutes. Sidy Cissoko isn’t likely to see anything beyond garbage time minutes until he can become more than a dunking sideshow.
Gomez: I think two of the group of Blake Wesley, Malaki Branham and Sidy Cissoko will not get regular minutes. Wesley and Cissoko are the likely candidates to sit or play in Austin, unless Wesley gets a reliable outside shot in the offseason. The other player who might see his minutes disappear could be Julian Champagnie if Mamukelashvili does well and pushes Barnes and Sochan to the small forward slot part-time, but right now he seems safe.
Wilco: I agree with the consensus that it’s probably Branham and Wesley currently on the bubble. It was far too often last season that I would see either of them on the court and wonder when the last time was that I’d seen them make a play. That said, how many times have we seen guys begin their third season and make it obvious that they’ve made a quantum leap over the summer? I’d love to see Branham and Wesley make things difficult on the rest of the roster because of how much they develop this offseason.
Is there a young free agent (25 or under) you wished the Spurs had taken a flyer on?
Dubinski: Considering most agree the Spurs are still lacking in outside shooting (without some internal improvement), Gary Trent Jr. would have been great, as he’s still young (25) and would have brought three-point shooting to a Spurs’ bench unit that may be lacking it next season. (And this would have been that type of “notable addition” that would have most likely moved Branham to the third unit.) Alas, he recently signed with the Bucks for the minimum, so that dream is dead. They could have also filled out their big man depth more, but the cupboard for young centers is pretty bare. Sandro Mamukelasvili and/or Charles Bassey were probably their best bets when considering the added bonus of already knowing the system and having team chemistry.
Barrington: The most interesting young free agent out there is Precious Achiuwa, but I don’t think the Spurs could fit his salary under the room exception, so it would require some interesting cap gymnastics to bring him aboard. Isaac Okoro would have also been a nice get, but he’s a restricted free agent, and I could see the Cavaliers easily matching any offer the Spurs could make. Nobody that’s a big improvement over Mamu and Bassey was gettable with the current cap situation, so I’m not surprised they brought them back.
Gomez: The desire to go for the really flashy reclamation projects over guys who the Spurs know was huge, if I’m being honest. James, Wiseman, Killian Hayes, Aleksej Pokusevski — how great would it be to see them join the Spurs and suddenly look like the promising players that most considered them to be before they were drafted? But it was probably smarter to go for guys who have actually proved they can contribute in a pinch like Mamu and Bassey.
Wilco: Me want Mamu. Me happy now.
