Spurs select Blake Wesley with the 25th pick

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I do find myself sleeping on him, even in the context of Barlow. It feels like an "extra" selection, when in reality, he and Branham fill different needs. Obviously there are "too many" guards right now, but that doesn't mean only one of these guys is going to get the short end of the stick. They could both be part of the team for a while.

So what gives then Chinook?

[John B]

I thought I’d bumped this thread. Blake seems to have been playing much poised, avoiding a lot of mistakes. Imo he is playing great defense out there. I wonder what he’s defensive rating, but would be very small sample. But I noticed his POA defense is elite, slowing the opposing PG to setting up plays. Pop has put him on Ja and last night on Dame, even playing along Tre. I’m really hoping Pop could find more minutes for him especially in keeping the lead or avoiding get steamrolled. I like Tre for his PG qualities setting up Wemby, but he’s often getting overpowered by the opposing starting PG. Wesley still need to make crisp passes, but his dribble penetration is effective in creating open looks.

[RC_Drunkford]

you really need to get a pair of glasses

[mo7888]

I thought I’d bumped this thread. Blake seems to have been playing much poised, avoiding a lot of mistakes. Imo he is playing great defense out there. I wonder what he’s defensive rating, but would be very small sample. But I noticed his POA defense is elite, slowing the opposing PG to setting up plays. Pop has put him on Ja and last night on Dame, even playing along Tre. I’m really hoping Pop could find more minutes for him especially in keeping the lead or avoiding get steamrolled. I like Tre for his PG qualities setting up Wemby, but he’s often getting overpowered by the opposing starting PG. Wesley still need to make crisp passes, but his dribble penetration is effective in creating open looks.

They are definitely taking a look at him right now and evaluating him at the PG spot much like they did Sochan and Branham before.

[BacktoBasics]

I thought I’d bumped this thread. Blake seems to have been playing much poised, avoiding a lot of mistakes. Imo he is playing great defense out there. I wonder what he’s defensive rating, but would be very small sample. But I noticed his POA defense is elite, slowing the opposing PG to setting up plays. Pop has put him on Ja and last night on Dame, even playing along Tre. I’m really hoping Pop could find more minutes for him especially in keeping the lead or avoiding get steamrolled. I like Tre for his PG qualities setting up Wemby, but he’s often getting overpowered by the opposing starting PG. Wesley still need to make crisp passes, but his dribble penetration is effective in creating open looks.

This is a good assessment. Blake looks way more under control and seems to pick and choose his moments with much more care and measure. He still has a long way to go but I think this is a solid move in the right direction. He’s making the most of his limited time on the floor.

[spurraider21]

He still has a lot to figure out. He's avoiding mistakes, but also not taking risks. he played 15 minutes yesterday, and sure he had no turnovers, but he also had no assists and only attempted 1 field goal, which was the layup that got swatted when there was a trailing wemby ready to hammer it home (and the block led to an easy fastbreak dunk for portis)

his defensive effort has been great though, and historically thats a way to get on the floor on a pop coached team. he also played some of his minutes alongisde Tre to be fair. with branham out there wasn't really a natural reserve SG when vassell had to sit. if they really wanted to play 2 small guards, a wesley/graham pairing would have made more sense in those minutes.

but tbh i have no idea what's going on with graham. thats its own discussion

[BackHome]

I think this is the way for him to be coached and grow meaning we don’t expect you to be our starting PG we want you to be a good to great 3 and D type of guy. Yeah, he can use his speed to get to the rim but until his finishing and court vision improves that should not be his go to move. As everyone knows just create enough where you can give Wemby good looks as long as you can feed him and hit the occasional 3 and lock up opposing guards you will have a place on the team

[John B]

He still has a lot to figure out. He's avoiding mistakes, but also not taking risks. he played 15 minutes yesterday, and sure he had no turnovers, but he also had no assists and only attempted 1 field goal, which was the layup that got swatted when there was a trailing wemby ready to hammer it home (and the block led to an easy fastbreak dunk for portis)

his defensive effort has been great though, and historically thats a way to get on the floor on a pop coached team. he also played some of his minutes alongisde Tre to be fair. with branham out there wasn't really a natural reserve SG when vassell had to sit. if they really wanted to play 2 small guards, a wesley/graham pairing would have made more sense in those minutes.

but tbh i have no idea what's going on with graham. thats its own discussion

His stats may not show assists, but his dribble penetration and kicks created connecting passes. You really need to watch the game because even Reggie Miller was praising Blake with his dribble penetrations and collapsing the defense.

[spurraider21]

His stats may not show assists, but his dribble penetration and kicks created connecting passes. You really need to watch the game because even Reggie Miller was praising Blake with his dribble penetrations and collapsing the defense.

i was watching. pretty sure i commented at least once in the game thread that wesley was playing well. and while there are always hockey assist situations, at some point you expect to see those counting stats

[exstatic]

I thought I’d bumped this thread. Blake seems to have been playing much poised, avoiding a lot of mistakes. Imo he is playing great defense out there. I wonder what he’s defensive rating, but would be very small sample. But I noticed his POA defense is elite, slowing the opposing PG to setting up plays. Pop has put him on Ja and last night on Dame, even playing along Tre. I’m really hoping Pop could find more minutes for him especially in keeping the lead or avoiding get steamrolled. I like Tre for his PG qualities setting up Wemby, but he’s often getting overpowered by the opposing starting PG. Wesley still need to make crisp passes, but his dribble penetration is effective in creating open looks.

He’s the best point of attack defender we have on the roster. I’d just start him and live with the offensive growing pains.

[Seventyniner]

He’s the best point of attack defender we have on the roster. I’d just start him and live with the offensive growing pains.

The offense has been pretty putrid without him, last night notwithstanding. There isn't a lot to lose on that end.

[TrainOfThought5]

He’s the best point of attack defender we have on the roster. I’d just start him and live with the offensive growing pains.

the only PG experiment that should’ve been done was with Wesley. Soaking up all these losses to find out Sochan isn’t that guy when it should’ve been Wesley gaining all the EXP is frustrating as .

[cd98]

Hope Blake works out. He definitely has speed but he made a ton of mistakes last night.

[spurraider21]

He’s the best point of attack defender we have on the roster. I’d just start him and live with the offensive growing pains.

you could, but for the sake of balance i would still prefer Tre/Vassell pairing, with Wesley/Branham (or frankly, Wesley/Graham) off the bench.

not opposed to giving wesley some opportunities with the starting unit. much rather work through those pains than point sochan/branham experiments. at least with wesley if you squint you can see the light at the end of the tunnel

[The Truth #6]

We need help with defense and someone who can drive and kick and he's improved in those areas in the last two games. He has a long way to go but he was so bad before his progress is impressive.

[Seventyniner]

the only PG experiment that should’ve been done was with Wesley. Soaking up all these losses to find out Sochan isn’t that guy when it should’ve been Wesley gaining all the EXP is frustrating as .

I don't like this way of framing it. Wemby's usage rate is 30.1% (#15 in the league) and Sochan's is 18.1% (6th on the team and below the league average of 20%). It's not like taking a few % from Sochan to add to Wemby will help Wemby's development. This isn't some shared-EXP JRPG where you can funnel the EXP to one character by killing everyone else.

[spurraider21]

I don't like this way of framing it. Wemby's usage rate is 30.1% (#15 in the league) and Sochan's is 18.1% (6th on the team and below the league average of 20%). It's not like taking a few % from Sochan to add to Wemby will help Wemby's development. This isn't some shared-EXP JRPG where you can funnel the EXP to one character by killing everyone else.

he said wesley not wemby

[Seventyniner]

he said wesley not wemby

Oops, thanks for catching that. My mistake.

Wesley's usage rate is 14.5% and if he's going to develop as a player that needs to go up some.

Wesley is such a bad and reluctant shooter, though, that he will have to start forcing things to increase his usage and that might make things worse.

It's a long season, there's plenty of time to give both Sochan and Wesley 20 starts each.

[spurraider21]

Oops, thanks for catching that. My mistake.

Wesley's usage rate is 14.5% and if he's going to develop as a player that needs to go up some.

Wesley is such a bad and reluctant shooter, though, that he will have to start forcing things to increase his usage and that might make things worse.

It's a long season, there's plenty of time to give both Sochan and Wesley 20 starts each.

its less about comparing wesley's usage rate to sochan's, so much as wesley's minutes at PG vs sochan's