Spurs fans share instant trade grades for Dejounte blockbuster

The San Antonio Spurs shook up the NBA landscape on Wednesday, opting to finally go into total rebuild mode by trading Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks.

It was a move that became increasingly expected over the week as rumors continued to heat up, but it still didn't make things less painful for fans of the Silver and Black. In my immediate reaction to the trade, I suggested the Spurs may look back at this move and regret it.

Of course, emotions were high at the time -- and while that still might ring true, I've since talked myself off the ledge a little bit with a clearer picture of San Antonio's long-term goal. The Spurs absolutely needed to move away from mediocrity, and although it's not in the direction we all wanted, the reality is they've finally at least picked a lane.

Still, there's rightfully plenty of controversy about whether the Spurs made the right call with their star point guard, especially considering the season he just had. To get a better picture of where fans stood in the wake of the blockbuster trade, I sent out a survey to my followers on Twitter.

The task was simple -- grade the trade from the Spurs' point of view from A to F and state why. In less than 24 hours, 62 people responded, with many having plenty to say on the matter. Let's jump into your grades, from the least popular answer to the most.

F Grade - 3 votes (4.8%)

Kudos to almost all of you for not giving the Spurs the worst grade possible even with tensions running high. Only three people surveyed gave this trade a failing grade. "Trading for the future is absurd," said @thetanishsingh. "All that matters is now. The future is never promised. We cannot sit and hope. We must do."

After the jump, I'll dive into some opinions on the return San Antonio got back and how Coach Popovich's future plays into the situation.

D Grade - 8 votes (12.9%)

Of everyone polled, eight of you gave this trade a D. "This trade is a disaster," said @CamFlowers_.
"I graded this a D only because yes, there’s a slim chance this trade is a huge success. If SA gets the #1 pick after tanking next year or despite stealing Murray or Atlanta continues to be dysfunctional and falls apart, it could look great. But in my opinion, the Spurs just traded Murray for three picks in the 20s."

"Pop’s philosophy doesn’t include tanking," said @austinbritt. "The only way this move makes any sense to me is if the Spurs go fully into the tank and lose at least 62 games next season. I just don’t see it happening. It amounts to a quasi-rebuild but looks more like a rebuilding a future 7-8 seed team."

"The odds that any of these picks are going to substantially change the Spurs' chance of winning is low," added Lauren R. "It'll be a decade before this ship turns around, if ever. We could’ve just traded away the last chance at being a good team."

C Grade - 14 votes (tied with A Grade at 22.5%)

Nearly a quarter of those surveyed chose the middle ground answer of a C grade. "The timing doesn't make sense because unless they blew it on all of the recent draft picks, this team could probably still make the play in without Dejounte -- and that's the problem," said @dakmitch. "Personally, I'd happily max a player that averages 20 points, is an elite defender, and is only 25 years old. If Josh Primo, Devin Vassell, and Keldon Johnson are in line to take a leap, a tank feels unnecessary."

Air Alamo writer Jonah Kubicek was in agreement about the full tank. "Three picks is not a bad return by any means, but the protections are less than ideal. Plus, I don't want to tank any more. I'm from Detroit, I get enough of that up here."

Up next, I'll look at how most of you don't see this trade as a bad one after all.

A Grade - 14 votes (22.5%)

Tied for second place was the highest possible grade, an A. Almost everyone that commented with their reasoning expressed how tough it was to let Dejounte go, but they were able to see what the Spurs' future plans are after sitting with their thoughts for a while.

"They had a high price over Dejounte and got what they wanted, even more than what we expected, I think," said Seth Martinez. "Four picks with two that are unprotected is outstanding. I love DJ, but at the end of the day, the NBA is a business."

Jakob Nordstrom also expressed why fans should be happy that the team finally chose a direction. "The Spurs needed to pick a direction for the future and they have done so," he said. "Most fans can act like there were two options, but trying to capitalize on a roster with a much lower ceiling than contention just wasn't cutting it. I love Dejounte so much, and most fans do too, but a chance at a top-three pick with the current roster means a significantly higher ceiling akin to actual title contention."

B Grade - 23 votes (37%)

Most people surveyed leaned toward this trade being good but not great. Our own Roberto Araiza had plenty to say about this deal, so I'm giving him the keyboard:

"Generally speaking, this was probably the best time to trade Murray. He's healthy, consistently getting better every year, and is coming off of his best season. All it would have taken is one injury or over-priced future contract to diminish a lot of that value he currently has.

Looking at this trade specifically, I don't think the package could have gotten much better than this. While there’s certainly something to be said for acquiring a promising young player, there’s also good reason to believe that the Spurs can find their version of Onyeka Okongwu, for example, in the draft. The impact of a pick won’t be felt as quickly as the addition of a young player, but the value of a 1st round pick—particularly those that are unprotected—shouldn’t go overlooked.

Charlotte's 2023 pick (assuming it conveys) will be very valuable even later in the 1st round given the immense depth of next year's draft class. Then looking at the Hawks' future 1st round picks and pick swap, all it would take is an injury, a cornerstone player demanding a trade, or an increasingly competitive Eastern Conference for those picks to become much more valuable than they may seem right now.

There are *plenty* of ways this trade could go completely upside-down for the Hawks in the next few years and it’s wrong to automatically assume that they won’t end up in or around the lottery at some point in the next several seasons. And even if they are outside of the lottery, have we all collectively forgotten that Dejounte Murray was a 29th overall pick? Brian Wright’s drafts so far have been successful, and I don’t have much reason to believe they won’t be successful in the future no matter the draft position."

Somya Bahadur had similar thoughts. "As much as I love Dejounte, he was always going to be a Robin rather than a Batman," he started. "So I can't see him getting paid a max contract by the front office and could see the possibility of him leaving in free agency.

I can see further moves to see where Spurs actually get. This B- can be a A+ if assets are used right. If not and they get a few more late lottery picks, then this can slip down to see C."

I'm inclined to agree with the majority here and go with a B-. It's tough to swallow and I still think it could backfire, but the important thing the front office did is finally steer the ship away from Mediocre Island. Will it be hard to watch for a while? Almost assuredly. But in the end, it's all about winning more titles -- and the Spurs have to start somewhere.