Spurs talk begins

Mark and I start talking about the #Spurs and begin to get excited about the upcoming season. #GoSpursGo

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
And we're back fan Pulled Sports, a true tech sports
podcast for the true tech sports fan.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Once again. I'm your host, Ronnie Lanford.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Back at it under the stars at night because they're
big and bright with my main man fifty fifty five grand,
the Double Nickel himself, Mark Ramirez.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome back, buddy. What's going on?

Speaker 3 (00:22):
I gotta finish that for you deep in the heart
of Texas. Hello, Hello too, and Oho and it's Go
Spurs Go time again.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Oh Man, I tell you what, it has been a
long off season if you're a Spurs fan, because basically
the off season started when Wenby got hurt way back
in February. And you know, we did have some exciting moments,
We did have some cool stuff to talk about before
the season ended last year. But at the end of

(00:52):
the day, man, that season was not quite what we
had hoped it would be. Obviously, a lot of things changed,
especially at the top with with coach Johnson being the
interim coach after coach Coach Pop had to take out
a bit of a bit of a break, a bit
of a sabbatical so to speak, from the coaching ranks,
and ultimately stepping away from from the coaching ranks earlier

(01:15):
this summer. So Mitch Johnson now the full time coach
of our San Antonio Spurs, lots of excitement. My friend
Dylan Harper, the number two pick, Carter Bryant the number
eleven pick. Big time rookies could have an impact this year. Obviously,
Daron Fox has been locked up, He's got the contract

(01:36):
that he was hoping for. He's going to be a
Spur for at least the next five season, it looks like.
And then they made moves in free agency.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Man. We talked about it.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Before, Cornett, Olennock and just all kinds of different guys
that they've picked up along the way, veterans to sprinkle
in with these young guys vsel Sohn, Johnson coming back years,
a few more years of service under their belt, a
few more things under their belt. They're not the young

(02:07):
guys that they once wear, but they're not quite the
veteran guys that you need in your locker room.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
But the Spurs filled some of those voids.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
I don't know how much of these preseason basketball games
you've seen, man, but there's a dude. There's a dude
that some are speculating maybe seven foot five and he's
starting to put it together. And I'm talking about Victor

(02:37):
Winn Banyama and some of the highlights, bro some of
the things that I've seen, some of the things that
I've read, some of the things that I've heard.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
This dude could be scary.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
And you know, the other night they played Indiana, he
played I think twenty nine minutes. He had twenty seven points,
fourteen rebounds, like three assists, three steals, a block.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
I mean it.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
I know it's preseason, I get it, But dude, if this,
if this kid puts it together and these other guys
continue to develop, this could I'm not saying.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
They're gonna win a championship there this year.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
But they could do some real damage in the season
and make a push for the playoffs. Your impressions of
the Spurs and what are your excitement levels right now
as we get ready for the season a tip off
next week.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Man, there is nothing better than October because that it's
like buying a brand new newspaper. You know, back when
we used to do that, we used to get those
these schedules. You know, you could pick them up at
the grocery stores or the corner stores and you had
that season, right, that fresh smelling you know, minted printed

(03:57):
season holding you're holding in your hand and you're thinking, Okay,
which games do I want to watch? Which games do
I want to go to? Which games do I want
to get together with my boys to watch? I mean
that October feeling always kind of just get you that
that chill of like, great, man, it's it's time, it's NBA,
it's San Antonio Spurs, it's it's our only kind of

(04:19):
I guess, uh show in town, that's that's major League.
And man, you're right the same. I have the same excitement.
Let uh just just for Winby man, just the thought
of him and what he's done in the past year
and the off season. Obviously you had to have that
surgery and and I'm glad that and and hopeful that

(04:40):
he's he's healthy. H Wow, man, I can't wait. I
can't wait. There's Castle, there's Fox, there's Bryant, There's there's
a Garcia kid out there that he's showing me things
from what I've watched in the preseason. And man, this
team is going to be a team to be reckoned with.

(05:00):
And I guess my first question would be for you,
and I know you had seen some type of images
or him Wemby touching base with with Hakeem Olajuwan one
of your one of your idols. What are your thoughts
on that and what you saw and whatever you took
away from that.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Okay, let's let's let's be clear. Okay, Alajue's not an idol.
Was he one of my favorites growing up at times? Yeah,
but I wouldn't say that he was my idol. But
it's still exciting, uh because in a world of step
back threes and crossovers and handles and YadA YadA YadA,

(05:41):
all this flash and go type of you know, offensive
minded game, it's great to see a young player go
to one of these all time Hall of Fame greats
and say, teach me some of what made you great
so I can put together with my game. There's no

(06:01):
doubt Wimby can shoot. There's no doubt he can he
can do a step back. He's got ranged from three.
But you know, the big, the big knock on this
guy was what he was too thin, he was too tall,
He didn't play in the post. He was always on
the outside, you know, And that was a criticism and

(06:22):
I think finally someone got into his head and said, look, man,
you need to get together with some of these greats.
You need to put a well rounded, uh low post
game together with the rest of your game and go be.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Dominant out there.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
And if you've seen some of these highlights of him
basically bullying people, knocking people around and getting to the
rack and getting some and one's and stuff, you didn't
see that early on in his career. You know, his
first year he was very timid. He he got pushed
around quite a bit. His second year, I think there
were times where he still was like that, but then

(07:02):
he started to develop a little bit of an attitude,
a little bit of a low post. But then he
got hurt and then he was out. And now to
see him go throughout the summer, get bigger, get stronger,
I mean, you can see it, dude. If you've seen
pictures of him, or if you've seen video of him,
you can tell that he's filled out physically. I think

(07:25):
he said he's at two forty now. I believe it
doesn't look like it because I mean he's so damn tall,
But I mean two forty on a seven five seven
sixth frame. I mean that's pretty impressive, dude. As far
as him hanging out and learning from Hakeem, There's there's
like a three minute video, dude where Dream is teaching

(07:49):
him the high post move where he's dribbling and he's
stutter steps and he spins and he's right at the rim.
You know, he showed him that. He showed him the
Dream shake, he showed him the pump fake, he gave
him the up and under. I mean, like watching that video, dude,

(08:11):
I was excited because I started thinking, if you can
put that together with your skill set and then still
have guys like Tim Duncan David Robinson that can help
you with other parts of your game, both offensively and defensively,
who the hell's gonna stop him?

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Who the hell is gonna be able to slow.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
This guy down? And Elajuan has been interviewed already. They've
asked him his thoughts on working with Wimby, and he
said the thing that he took away from that was
the fact that this kid was so humble and so
willing to learn, and he took the coaching. He took
the teaching, and he applied it the way it was

(08:57):
supposed to be. And I mean, for for for someone
as young as him, But is he twenty twenty one?
For someone as young as him to meet someone like
a Keem and Hakim give him that opportunity and walk
away from it and say, man, he was humble, he
was this, he was that. That speaks volume for this kid.

(09:18):
And the sky's the limit, bro, the sky is the limit.
And the rest of the NBA better take notice and
better be ready.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
And I don't know that they are.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
You know, I really don't know that the rest of
the NBA is ready for what this guy is going
to be. Because if he stays healthy and he continues
to develop his game, and he continues to build to
want to be a winner, it's going to be hard
to keep this kid from winning at a high level

(09:50):
because he has the right mindset, he has the right attitude.
Now it's just a matter of putting it together. You know,
we talked about it before.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
If you want to.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Keep this guy long term, they're going to have to
start winning. So this is the year that they need
to take those steps again. Not win a championship. They
don't have to win a championship right now, but they
have to show the progress and get to the point
to say, Okay, now we're gonna start to make the
playoffs on a regular basis. We're gonna put the pieces

(10:21):
around you that you need to be successful, and we're
gonna go out there and do everything we can to
get there. So it'll be interesting to see when you
look at the rest of this roster right now, your.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Thoughts on Fox, Harper.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Castle, you know, all those guys. But Sell Johnson, like,
what are your thoughts on this roster? I mean, obviously
there's like twenty guys on it right now because of
the training camp, but.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
We're talking about the main guys. What are your thoughts.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
What are your thoughts on those main guys and where
they're gonna head this season.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
I'm just thankful that the spurs me some moves to
pick up some some veterans.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
You know.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
Cornette comes to mind, and to me, I think he's
gonna be pivotal.

Speaker 4 (11:05):
He was a big instrumental piece. He was used a.

Speaker 3 (11:09):
Lot and utilized a lot, and these and these preseason
games that I watched, and there was this connection between
uh Wimby and not just Cornette, but whoever the big
was inside the post.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
They were kind of doing like give and goes. They
were doing these these things, like these simple quick passes
if somebody gets double team real quick, whether there's a
missopportunity or misshot. I mean, they just literally because Wemby
demands so much respect that I mean, it's like easy putbacks.
So those guys are ready for that. They're ready for

(11:45):
them to pick up. You know, I guess the garbage points.
I mean, hey, I'm good with that. Garbage point is
a point. The last two games, I mean, the Pacers
game to me and the Jazz game, they had a
lot of intensity there. It was there were treating it
like it was a real game because you saw some
of the you know, the elbows and the shoving and

(12:06):
the not giving away fast breaks, you know what I mean,
almost like it was a real game. When it comes
to the Pacers, obviously they're one of the elite teams,
right And the sucky thing is, you know is they
were kind of sparingly using Winby in some parts, but
not just him, you know, Castle and LaSelle and all

(12:28):
the other guys. They're kind of like letting some guys
play and then others not, like because they weren't dressed
and that kind of pissed me off a little bit,
But at the same time, I understand it because you're
not trying to win in the preseason, right, you're trying
to win for Friday, You're trying to win for October seventeenth,
you're trying.

Speaker 4 (12:45):
To beat they're playing the Pacers.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
It looks like they tip off at seven, and I
can't wait for that, man, because let's see what coach
Johnson has. Let's see what kind of offense he's gonna run.
And if it's all gonna be Wimby centric, I'm fine
with that because when he com in it's a lot
of respect.

Speaker 4 (13:03):
He uses it and utilizes his teams.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
And not only that, they crash the boards now before
I mean, you know last year and I think the
whole time that he's been in the league, the team's
just dude like.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
And again, it's not just the Spurs, it's every team.
Nobody crashes the boards anymore.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
Like I can remember when you and I back in
the day, right, and we're playing with our boys, and
we're running at house, So we're.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
Running at wherever we're playing.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Right, you know, if it's game point, if it's game point, right,
we don't there's there's no Hey, we're gonna shoot this
and then we miss all we're gonna go back and
play d No, you're gonna kill yourself for that rebound,
that offensive board and you're gonna put it back or
you're gonna reset the game because you fought for that
last rebound in that play. And that's what I saw

(13:49):
a lot of in these last two games, especially the
last one. The last one was very unique because Wimby
was in there kind of late and I thought, what
the hell are they doing? You know, I think it
was the beginning of the fourth came in and he
was he was He wasn't just going through the motions,
you know, he was like, Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna
be an impact right here because I want this win,

(14:10):
Like I want to show these these guys, obviously if
it's a team like the Pacers you know a couple
of years ago or Champs, you know, you want to
make that impact and that lasting impression like, hey, we
ain't no easy win, n Jael. You know what I'm saying, Uh,
you're not just gonna come to my house because obviously
they're going to see him on Friday, you know, So
you're gonna let them know or give them a little

(14:31):
piece of Hey, look this is what you got coming,
so you better bring your a game.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
And I like that. I like the fact that they
were a little bit nasty, if.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
You want to use the pop term. And dude, Cornette, man,
he's just I think he's gonna be a pivotal piece
of this offense because of what he does. What he
can do. He can stretch the that side of the
ball when when they need threes because he can. He's
has got a really good long mid range, kind of

(14:59):
three range, and that's awesome. What about the guys that
you've seen or what you've noticed about what you've seen
for the preseason, Well.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
I think I think it's a good mix right now
of the veterans getting to know the young guys. You know,
I kind of like that high low type of thing
that that Cornet and Wimby are doing. You know, they're
feeding off of one another, one of the floor together,
and that lineup's gonna be tough. Dude, when those two
guys are on the floor together, where where do you

(15:32):
get a bucket from? Because I'm not I mean, Cornet's
not gonna be able to play high, right, he's gonna
have to play around the basket, so you're not gonna
be able to drive that easy on him.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
And then you've got Wimby.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
Who can cover so much ground from the top of
the key all the way into the paint. So where
are you gonna score from If those two guys are
on the floor, like you said, then being able to
bang and to get in there and and rebound and
crash the boards, that's gonna be key. Calden Johnson's looked
pretty solid. He's averaging about fifteen points a game during

(16:08):
the preseason. Uh, you know, Dylan Harper is starting to
look good. He could be something special. It's gonna be
interesting to see who they're gonna start, because obviously the
speculation was that Fox was the starter and Harper would
be coming off the bench to start the season. Well,

(16:29):
Fox is gonna be out still for a few more weeks,
even as the season gets ready to get kicked off.
So you leave do you leave Castle at the point?
Do you put Harper at the point? And then if
you put Harper at the point, what are you gonna
do with Castle? Is he gonna come off the bench?
Is Vasell gonna come off the bench. I mean, there's

(16:49):
so many things that this team could be. The one
guy that I'm wanting to see what he's gonna become
this year.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
We've talked about him in the past.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
We've talked good about him at times, We've talked bad
about him at times. Jeremy Sohan, he's he's coming off
an injury from the summertime. He hasn't played this preseason.
It's gonna be interesting to see how he fits in
with this group. He could be one of those X
factor type of guys. You know what you're gonna get

(17:19):
with him. Defensively, he's gonna scrap, he's gonna hustle. Now
he's got backup Cornett Olenick some of these other guys,
they're gonna have his back if he gets after somebody
and and you know, get some people's faces.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
So I'm interested to see what that's gonna be like.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
But overall, man, you can see the talent, you can
see the potential that this team has.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's exciting to see.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
And one guy that I haven't mentioned much of, Carter Bryant.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
I know he's probably.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
Gonna spend some time in the G League, but dude, defensively,
that guy is gonna special. And you know when we
talk NFL, we talk about lockdown corners. This guy's gonna
be a lockdown defender, a Lah Scottie Pippen, maybe even

(18:13):
a Gary Payton type guy, maybe a Kawhi Leonard type guy.
But he has that kind of defensive potential that you
don't see in a lot of guys nowadays.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
And he can jump out of the gym. So it'll
be interesting.

Speaker 4 (18:27):
What do you got, man, Man, it's funny you read
my mind.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
The sucky thing is, man is his mama couldn't afford
no iron at the draft. But dude, I mean, Carter
Bryant to me is an X factor. If he does
go to the D League or the D League or whatever,
I don't see him being there for long because.

Speaker 4 (18:47):
His impact in the game.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
And I hate said every time I saw him he
got thrown in there at Garbage sign when the kind
of game was no longer in doubt, and I didn't
like that because I wanted to see a little bit
more of him. But man, he covers so much space,
he's so athletic, he's so not like he's not the
tallest guy, he's not the shortest guy. But man, he
can he can close gaps, he can close lanes, and man,

(19:13):
you can't put a price on that. And here's the
one last thing that I do want to say. We
do have a semi redhead the minis guy, but I
don't know.

Speaker 4 (19:21):
That that's up to you. You can make that decision.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Man, their defense, the defense was you notice it. You
notice it right away from from the years of last
year and the year before. You know, when I would
work the games and i'd be there, you know, watch firsthand.

Speaker 4 (19:39):
You know how the.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
Breakdown and the defense would always come, even though they'd
have a lead ten, ten point, twelve points, fifteen points,
and they would just dissipate or disappear.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
I didn't like that.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
But I will say this the commitment that of all
the games that I've seen in the in the preseason.

Speaker 4 (19:56):
They have made a commitment to that.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
So there's blocks, now, there's steals, now there's a.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
Closing of lanes. You know, there's no easy buckets anymore.
And I like that.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
I see the doors being shut on people and not
just anybody's you know, the I guess the perennial players
on the opposing team.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
I like it. Dude.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
I like what I'm seeing because it's what you and
I grew up with. Man, we grew up with.

Speaker 4 (20:20):
Hey, san Antonio is known for one thing and one
thing only. It was always defense.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
You know, talk about Alvin robertson to when you get
to David Robinson.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
You know, you keep going on and on down the line.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
We are a defensive minded team. And I know that
the league is different now. I know it's more offensive centric.
I get all that, but man, Carter Brian fits right
into that. You know, He's He's like one of those
monopoly pieces, right that, Hey, I want that that monopoly piece.
I want the car, I want the little dog, or
I want whatever. You know, everybody fights over that one

(20:53):
particular piece in the family. That's the guy you want.
That's the guy that you want on your team. You
want him on the floor because he makes that difference.
And he may not score a ton of points, but man,
he commends and demands space and respect.

Speaker 4 (21:06):
From what I.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
Saw, even the little bit of time that he was
in there. And man, and I'm looking forward to Dylan Harper.
I'm gonna be honest with you, from what I've seen
on him, is I don't think he's ready. I don't
think he's ready to be the point just yet. But
we'll see if the coach has that final say. But
I think we've got enough guards on the team where

(21:27):
we can manage. You know, to me, like you said, Fox,
that's the guy. You know, he's your guy, He's the man.
He's going to be running the team as far as
as I can see it and believe it, because we
know what he is, what he's capable of, and what
he can do to bring the rest of the team
along with him. Lastly, I guess I'm gonna get back
to Wimby and we'll just go full circle. I think

(21:49):
Wimby is primed and ready to make an impact, not
just on this league but in the world, because I mean,
you don't just seek out knowledge and teachings and tutelage
from a guy like a Hakeem because you know, you're
just you're just doing it for fun. That's not how
life works. You know, you're That means you're coachable. That

(22:12):
means that you're willing to put yourself above not just
the team, but you're putting yourself above your craft, the
game itself, the NBA, whatever you want to call it.

Speaker 4 (22:26):
He's embracing not only this team but the.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
League, in my opinion, and I can't wait to see
what he can do. I can't wait till Friday. I
can't wait until he picks him ups and puts him down, dude,
and we'll see what happens. And good luck to the
rest of the league, man, because Wendy's coming.

Speaker 4 (22:41):
Number One's come into your town. It's like that song,
right man, We're come into your city.

Speaker 3 (22:46):
Bro, We're coming to your city, and you better be ready.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
My last thing, man, is the fact that next Wednesday
can't get here fast enough. This time next week, we'll
be sitting in front of a TV somewhere getting ready
to watch the number one pick, Cooper Flag and his
chump ass Dallas Mavericks go up against the Spurs. So

(23:12):
it'll be a good time, man. I can't wait. The
season's here. I mean it's it's gonna be exciting, dude.
It's gonna be exciting. Last preseason game is this Friday
against Indiana again. But everything gets going next week. I'm
also interested to see what cuts they're gonna make and
who they're gonna send to the G League and stuff

(23:34):
like that man, because, like I said, there's probably about
twenty guys on the roster right now. They gotta cut
that thing down to fifteen and then they'll send a
few guys to the G League and stuff. I wouldn't
be surprised if both rookies end up in the G
League at some point. Garcia may end up in the
G League at some point. That guy, We're gonna have
to talk about that guy a little more extensively.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
That Garcia kid.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
He's a baller, man, he's a eight a baller and
he's he's gonna be exciting. He has a little bit
of that Manu swag. I'm not saying he's Manu. Don't
don't think I'm saying he's Manu. He's not. But he's
got a little bit of that swag to him. He's
got a little bit of that bounce to his step,
and you know, he's he's fearless in a lot of ways.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
So it'll be interesting to see. Dude.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
It's gonna be fun, man, And I cannot wait. Like
I said, next Wednesday eight thirty tip off, they got
the doubleheader on ESPN, so they'll be the late game
on ESPN next week. I can't wait. It's gonna be fun.
It's gonna be a good time. And hey, dude, it's
that time of year again. It's that Gold Spurs go

(24:44):
time of year that we get excited about around these parts.
So it'll be some good stuff. I can't wait to
get Mo on the program, get his thoughts. Maybe we
can get Bob on here as well and talk Spurs.
I know he said he wanted to talk about the
Silver Dancers, but hey man, silver dancers don't exist anymore, buddy,
So so we'll have to see. We'll have to see

(25:06):
what other subjects he'd like to talk about when it
comes to the Spurs. But yeah, man, it's exciting. I
can't wait it's here. Wemby's gonna be big. I'm hoping
for big things from the Spurs this year and.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
We'll get it. We'll get it started next week. Dude.
It'll be a good time.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
So if that's it, dude, if you ain't got nothing else,
I ain't got nothing else.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Are we good?

Speaker 4 (25:30):
Yes, sir?

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Fan Poll Sports a true tex sports podcast for the
true Tex sports fan.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Once again, this has been Ronnie. That's Mark and we're out.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
Peace.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Peace,