This is hard to admit...

This is pretty wild to hear out loud as there are a lot of questions around the Spurs heading into this season but more so for the next seasons beyond and well one of them has to do with this guys. In a recent athletic article there was talk about a Kelton Johnson extension and the news that was spoken well it it doesn't bode well for Mr. Kelton Johnson. I'll dive into exactly what was said and what it means for the Spurs cap structure moving forward but also a nice little update on Stefan Kassel. Something that Brian Wright said about a month ago has resurfaced recently and it does give the whole backcourt feel and honestly the lineup feel a new look and we also got to touch on something LeBron related all of that coming up on this episode of Spurs Digest. Now there's some good some bad and some weird in this one and I and I am going to start with some of this LeBron stuff. We may have a video coming out a little bit more about it uh very soon but I just wanted to start with this quote from RC Buford after Maximo Bank asked him about LeBron. RC said what I will say is that we're excited about the team we have been able to keep together and to add Tobias Harris to that plus our young draft picks I think our history shows how we build teams. Now this to me kind of answers it without directly answering it and uh you know I like the answer I respect it he's not going to give too too too much but before I dive deeper in this well I gotta get my emotions around LeBron in control because emotion loses data wins and that is why we here at Spurs Digest use Otis Edge analytics where passion meets data. Team of 30-year Vegas pros and next-gen analysts deliver daily expert picks across your favorite leagues powered by real numbers not punches. Take a smarter approach this season build your bankroll the smart way download the Otis Edge app today see why their quick growing community is getting ahead of the game because that is the Otis Edge and you know LeBron right now has the edge in figuring out his whole situation obviously because he's the one that gets to decide it I'm not going to go too too deep on this but this to me I want to dive more into R.C. Buford in particular and talking about how we know how the Spurs build teams. That implies to me that we're not going after a free agent LeBron while we may be sort of a destination now that we have Victor Wembeniyama who was the last big name free agent to sign here like LaMarcus right like probably but even he had Texas connections and it's like you know the Spurs have always and probably will for a long time build through the draft and through their own development and so what R.C. says here really kind of hammers that point home for me and gets me very excited about the future this next generation of the Spurs because we're not getting away from our roots and what has worked in the past but also at the same time obviously they're not going to ignore players that want to come here to play like Tobias Harris who is still a very respected veteran and a very capable player in his own right so I like what I heard here from R.C. Buford again I think we might touch on LeBron a little deeper in another video but I want to quickly move on to Steph Castle now you might be wondering what on earth I was talking about in the intro because look Steph Castle obviously phenomenal player one of my favorite players in all of basketball um just an unbelievable talent fantastic defensively but right now we got these questions around the guard rotation mainly will it be Castle and Fox will it be Castle Harper or will we play all three together well there was a tweet that came out recently from the account Castle for Three pretty Steph Castle related it's a good follow honestly but um it's something I believe Brian Wright actually said this in June now I could be wrong I'd like you guys to correct me on this or maybe I'm just wrong in all this but Spurgeon Brian Wright said Steph Castle has grown two inches Castle now stands 6'8 with a 7'1 wingspan I'm gonna need to see some official measurements first but let's assume this is true if it is does that change your mind about the idea of running a three guard lineup a Steph Castle De'Aaron Fox Dylan Harper lineup I mean Steph Castle has the defensive acumen to play the three and even if he is still 6'6 like you know I don't even really care if he is 6'8 in today's NBA if you're 6'6 and you can play strong defense and can rebound the ball a little bit and you can guard someone that's 6'8 you're pretty good and also with the numbers like the number on his height doesn't really matter it's probably just a difference in lifted height it might be his pineapple hair I don't know like I don't think it actually is much that's you know a tangible difference I it might be but I have a hard time believing that Steph Castle all of a sudden sprouted up another two inches like obviously his wingspan is great obviously he's already whatever 6'6 why don't we try him a small forward you know I I think if his three point shot stays decent it's not a bad idea but this idea of three guard lineups because we have I don't want to say pigeonholed because I don't think that's really true but because we have kind of put Steph Castle in this two guard spot even though what like point guard thing I remember he led the Spurs in assists per game this year which is something I think we often forget I just think we don't think of him as a traditional small forward but a guy who turns the ball over a lot but does get a lot of assists though it's just above a two to one ratio it's not an amazing ratio he fouls a little bit but he gets steals he gets blocks if his three point shooting can get above that 33 percent right and we want it up maybe closer to 35 36 I'm not opposed to running a kind of lineup where he is playing the three even though he's probably going to still get some ball handling duty so if he is really 6'8 does that change anything for you do you think you might be open to seeing Steph Castle play some three this year I kind of don't mind the idea um but final thing for today now we talked about this on stream and if you didn't catch the stream I suggest you go watch it um but I'm gonna reiterate what was said in Jared Weiss's recent athletic article about Kelvin Johnson um my boy look um as we said on stream it's just it's an unfortunate reality when you look at the contract structure of the San Antonio Spurs that there are some expiring deals there are some extensions that need to be had there's a roster that is shrinking by the day with all the talent that's coming up like Carter Bryant like bringing in Tobias Harris like where are these minutes going and even though Kelvin Johnson was the sixth man of the year and didn't have a great playoffs I'm not going to talk about that maybe I will but anyway you know what I mean like I don't want to dwell on that these minutes like they got to get spread out right because Champagne plays three slash four slash two slash whatever you wanted to play Harrison Barnes is still there on the bench you got Tobias Harris who's coming in now you got Carter Bryant who's going to get some more minutes so where does that leave Kelvin Johnson well this kind of hurts my heart but while Johnson 26 is eligible for an extension this summer scouts and front office personnel from around the league expressed doubt that he will receive one um Kelvin himself would probably like if he just wants the most money he'd probably be smart to test the open market that I think they would give him maybe more than the Spurs would be comfortable with if the Spurs want to stay you know below these aprons to try and maximize their play with while minimizing payroll and minimize punishments right this whole second apron thing like when we're taking the discount it's got the players association up in arms not about Wemby but about this whole second thing that they agreed to anyway it's a bizarre world out there but um all that said we got to talk directly about Kelvin Johnson because when you look at the talent we have the young talent coming up through his minutes might get squeezed out yes he was sixth man of the year and he was amazing he's one of my favorite players every Spurs one of my favorite players but this guy especially the energy is great and then you look at when his contract is expiring after this year and then you look at the other guys that would need to be extended right around when you would need to extend Kelvin Johnson like how much are you actually willing to give him you just got Tobias Harris for 15 million years yes he's older he's a veteran but Kelvin Johnson's a former 20 point per game score in this league fresh off a sixth man of the year campaign how much is he going to demand on an extension I think if the Spurs offered him one today it would probably be far below what he would want to take and probably far below what he would fetch on the and to me that's where the problem lies what like what scenario does he stick around is like there's a world where Carter Bryant doesn't ever surpass this version of Kelvin Johnson in terms of impact like I you know I don't I think Carter would be better but you really never know like if we've seen young guys playing out before and I don't like I said I don't think that's what's gonna happen for Carter but I mean look at the depth chart it's it's hard to Tobias Harris is 15 million a year you're gonna need to extend Carter in a couple years like do you give Kelvin Johnson two years at that 15 million and you just run with kelp like and then you have Harrison Barnes this year but then you have Kelvin Johnson and Carter Bryant and Devin Vassell and Tobias Harris and Julian Champagne and you just kind of rotate I mean for this year I think that's what you have to do you have to go with whoever's the hot hand which is a great luxury the Spurs have that many other teams don't but when I look at the long-term future of Kelvin I look at how valuable he might be as a trade asset considering again how Dylan Harper will probably be the sixth man this year and how Carter Bryant might start to take more minutes it's like it's just tough I I I really don't want him to leave but executives run off it's like I I first of all it wouldn't surprise me if he stayed if the Spurs offered him some kind of deal because again he's he's I think the things that he brings to the Spurs are things that other teams can't necessarily see from the outside it's stuff that the Spurs see that happens in the locker room this energy this comedy this like just goodness that he brings to the Spurs um but people have connections and I'm curious like would you extend Kelvin he's kind of the heart and soul of the team I'm not saying would you like trade him this year I'm saying like would you extend him because his contract's up after this year but if you would how much would you actually give him knowing who else is on the roster like it's tough maybe he could feel that Tobias Harris role after one more year right you give him a couple years so that he kind of bridges that gap after Harris is done and it's two-year contract I don't know it's tough I'd love to hear your thoughts but that will do it for this episode of Spurs Dye just thank you for watching every single day I've been your host Josh Goss and I will catch you up in the next one.