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Dont force JJJ to pass the ball
good defensive playcalling pop
Some random thoughts, drunken bloviations, and armchair psychological analysis after seeing the game in person.
Looking big picture, what strikes me most comparing the energy of last season to this season flying like a lead balloon is that so many of our young players are struggling with finding their iden y. Last year, I imagine many of the young players were excited about the possibilities of their future. This season: a different reality and struggle is understandably setting in. I'm not saying many of these players can't be good, but they're all sort of competing with each other at similar stages of their career. Put another way, there is no logical hiearchy on the team other than Pop is God and Wemby is Jesus, or something like that. Other than Wemby, who knows he is Jesus, it feels like only Tre Jones and Vassell have any confidence in their iden y. I think Jones accepts that he is a backup and is motivated to prove he is a starter. I think Vassel may be overconfident, but after seeing the rest of the team struggle tonight, I fault him less for being sort of a ballhog, or at least appearing that way on television.
I think a player who has struggled the most compared to last year is Keldon. I think his tools are better than ever. Tonight, he showed some impressive handles, yes, overdribbling, but I don't think he ever got picked, and found his way to the basket when he wanted. The problem is that he looks so detached and it feels like the weight coming back is not part of some scientific caloric uptake overseen by a dietician, but a player just resorting to old ways. He in particular strikes me as a player that thought he would be a better player, and now he's struggling to find a role on this team. I would also say it's not like there is a lot of players playing well to get into his way, but back to the overall point, he seems like someone who feels like he has to take a step back...but for a team that is terrible and so I think that is going to be a hard sell for a lot of players who don't want to put a ceiling on their aspirations yet. Zollins is another person that fits this bill.
With Branham, I think his challenge gets to a larger problem with the team construction, which is there are no veterans he has to play better than to earn minutes. Graham is way better, but can't see a minute. What's the lesson here?
I'm not here to hate on Pop. But this team needs less 3 dimensional chess, not even checkers, but just a cheerleader to get people to find motivation on a basic level. That's not Pop. I think that is Becky. Now in person, the Assistant that takes the most charge seems to be Mitch Johnson. I'm not sure Brett Brown is fully awake during the games. Mitch could take a larger role and maybe he will but only if allowed. Who knows what boundaries have been set for him.
As for Sochan, I think this year also really hurt his confidence. He's not THIS bad of a shooter. But he's completey reworking his shot, supposedly, and that's sort of like trauma therapy, you have to face and accept the current reality before moving forward and making progress. I think Pop saw his exuberant confidence and thought he could handle any challenge, but the PG situation, while I liked it at the time, just gave him SO much bad national attention. And yes, I think he cares; he's online all the time. And now reworking his shot, I think he's lost at the moment, but a solid summer could be huge for him. I think he see's an iden y for himself on the team, but he needs to actualize it.
Champ, Mamu - they know their iden y and lucky to be along for the ride.
Wesley is an exception in that he's already hit rock bottom and he's branding himself with his defense. But he's got a long way to go to become a point guard, but I think he's making progress. So that's a bright spot, no matter how dim.
Anyway. Just some ramblings. I'm sure someone will nitpick isolated sentences here and there, miss the overall point, and go in a different direction/black hole. But that's alright.
Ultimately, I sense from a few people I vaguely know who work in the background of the organization that this season was an eye opener for the FO. Hopefully this is their rock bottom and they respond. For all the talk of Pop guiding the team, I think this is a new experience for him in totally building from scratch. I don't sense he's in it for the long haul, and I think he's in it to be around Wemby. If I had to choose what needs a bigger shakeup, the players or the FO, I think it's fairly close. Obviously, the players need to be reshuffled with new people brought in. As for the FO, that will be up to Pop to see if he can find a way to reinvigorate and motivate the young players.
Time for some electrolytes.
Dont force JJJ to pass the ball
good defensive playcalling pop
The Truth #6
You're making good points, especially about iden ies and (lack of) hierarchy.
It's had to instaure one when so many positions are missing, you end up asking some players to do stuff that aren't supposed to be their role, like Vassel handling the ball instead of being the receipient of the passes.
Being a 6th man is clearly not for KD who's a volume scorer and needs starters min to shine. I hope for him he gets traded this summer
The absence of veterans is handicaping the whole team
Did not expect to watch slapstick comedy backetball in the morning but oh boy ... a bit embarassing this was
Wow, that must have been one of the worst NBA games I have ever seen.
collins and sochan...can these 2 losers defend anyone? or even attempt to block anything?
Just isolated the last part, but great post overall.
I also believe (hope), there was some kind of reality check for the FO, and pretty recent actually. For players too. That Pop ITV for L'equipe may have been the swang song for the long rebuild project with the current roster. I mean, we need to emphasize the fact they probably gonna win less games than last year, after adding Wemby, while "winning" was a genuine point of emphasis in preseason.
No one, including them, was expecting that, and I'm fairly sure the FO was expecting more development from the youngsters, and simply more talent. they may have overrated these kids... I was more exciting about Jeremy last year than I am this year. Blake and branham actually are what you'll get where they were drafted, more often than not.
It seems they, the FO (and we) realized their limitations and ceiling in the NBA, which as you said may take some adjustment and acceptation. All these kids were the best players around since high school and entered the NBA with big expectations, then the reality strikes where you'll probable never gonna be a star and yuo need to find a niche... Problem is, as you also explained, in a team without clear hierarchy, is it's open bar for everyone to come out and do their thing with no veteran or coach to put them into a specific place in a year of "observation". And as a rookie Wemby can't really boss them around.
Major move or not, I expect spurs to bring some more proven talent in the roster this offseason.
I would have to check the tape again, but I'm pretty sure Wemby made every three he attempted after taking a dribble, and missed all of his catch-and-shoot threes.
The numbers bear it out: for the season Victor shoots 26.4% on 3.1 catch-and-shoot 3PA per game, while shooting 39.7% on 2.0 pullup 3PA per game.
If he's going to be that bad of a catch-and-shoot threat on the perimeter he probably shouldn't drift out there on the strong side.
On the other hand, to channel Michael Wilbon, this is Victor F Wembanyama. Victor's solution will likely be to just become a 40% catch-and-shoot 3PA player.
The worst game in the worst season I've ever personally watched. Instead of showing growth, we've only gone backwards besides Wemby and Vassell. And Vassell, as talented as he is, IS NOT a second banana as he should be by this stage of his career. Everyone on the roster not named Wemby has underperformed - it's inarguable. That should lie squarely at the feet of the one paid to inspire them to perform.
I hope Pop finds someone else to set that high screen for a PnR instead of Victor. They wear him out running out there and setting wide legged screens while the ball handler rarely waits for the screen to develop before taking off. They all try to do things too fast. Denver should be a good example of how to run an offense, especially how Joker takes his time to get to his spots and get the shots he wants (or creates for others).
As much as I've supported Pop all these years, he might ultimately be the biggest problem of all now, and not just as a coach, but for the weight he has on the franchise. Can Wright really talk to him? Does Pop care? Or is he just "having fun" developing these kids as he mentioned himself in ITV... Not sure he really is now.
I hope all these losses and terrible BB have humbled him and make him realize there's no point spending the next 3 years going and only developing that core. And I'm actually not sure he's the right coach for SA anymore. I hope he proves me wrong.
Wtf… Vassell is not just a catch and shoot guy to just be a recipient of passes. Vassell is one of the few who can create his own shots and for others
KD doesn’t play for the Spurs. But anyway, Keldon cannot be in the “starting line-up to shine,” with Wemby and Vassell already taking the most touches, plus some to Tre, Sochan and Champ.
lol ive been saying that the last couple of weeks.See what some our austin spurs players got like cissoko and duke jr.
Rather them over branham and champ at this point.
Create for himself yeah, Devin has a couple pet moves. For others, not really. He's not a playmaker.
1- come on man Devin can’t be the guy with the ball in his hand in the clutch, he’s just not good at it, he struggles to create a separation for himself and takes bad/tough shots most of the time. Forget about the others, he’s shown he can technically but can’t be reliable.
2- yeah I meant Keldon, he sucks, I’m not saying he should be a starter of get more balls just that he was impacted as well by terrible coaching. My point is that the casting of this roster is horrible. You can’t build a hierarchy when so many skills are missing or not adapted.
Pay attention to Keldon and Malaki when they sub in.
Honourable mention - Jermey Sochan.
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