Grades: Spurs vs. Thunder - Feb. 29, 2024

[timvp]

https://www.spurstalk.com/2024-spurs-thunder-grades-60/

[TheBallsbreakers]

Thanks for the grades TIMVP

[tbdog]

You're the real mvp

[Cry Havoc]

Victor Wembanyama is already arguably a top 15 player in the league. He just completely dominated a team that some people have going to the WCF if not the Finals this year. He destroyed his counterpart for ROTY (what a joke that race is) on multiple possessions and showcased an offensive arsenal that the Thunder had no answer for. "Hope he misses" is quickly becoming the Modus Operandi of anyone who guards him. I'm not sure there's a single player in NBA history who would/will be capable of guarding Wemby a year from now or so. He's simply going to get any shot, at any time, whenever he wants, and if the Spurs get an elite PG he could easily end up with 6-10 points per game on a nightly basis solely on lobs. Given the increased pace of today's league and i would not rule out several 30ppg seasons for Wemby on top of a perennial DPOY candidate.

He's a top 3 defender., and carrying the offensive load on a terrible team with only one other real nightly threat.

When this team gets a PG and some solid defensive players he's going to be an unimaginable monster on the court. I imagine the Spurs will go the Duncan route and have everyone funnel drivers baseline right to Wemby, giving the defense easy rotation and pressure to cause a full reset or a heavily contested shot with a high % chance of being blocked. It's going to be a complete nightmare, because even when Wemby is on the far side of a play, if it's going to the rim he can alter or block nearly any shot from any player.

Wemby could be a top 10 player by the end of his rookie season. That's just obscene. And he's doing all this in roughly 30 minutes per game, assimilating all of this new data, still acclimating to his athleticism, and ingesting an entirely new offensive and defensive scheme as a rookie who isn't old enough to drink.

He has the highest ceiling of any athlete I've ever seen. In any sport. His passing touch from basically half court to the rim is ridiculous, his mental fortitude and ability to naturally read defenses is PG-like, and his reaction times are obscene for a 6'8" player, to say nothing of a 7'4" guy.

I just have no idea how to put into words where this guy might be in 2 years. He might be a top 5 player by this time next year. It's not inconceivable that he's the 2026 NBA MVP. I would say he'd make a run at it next year, except I'm not sure the Spurs can consolidate a contending team that fast.

One thing is for sure: If I was a premiere PG looking for a team to maximize my ability to get assists and make 5-10 deep post-season runs over the next decade, the Spurs would be at the top of my list without question.

I don't think you can rule out Wemby finishing top 2 in the DPOY voting THIS SEASON, either.

[John B]

Thanks Timvp for the grades. That was a very satisfying win against Chet and co. The Spurs showed up tonight wanting to make a statement after the disastrous rodeo trip, and in the process helping Wemby on his ROTY bid against Chet. It was a team victory where everybody brought their A game to help Wemby, maybe except for Wesley, and he should realize that he will lose his earned minutes fast if he doesn’t. I would give everybody an A for that win especially against the team with the best record in the West, well not anymore after that defeat, and against Wemby’s becoming arch-rival. I especially like how they didn’t hang their heads when OKC rallied and tied the game. Instead they continued playing and made tough shots. It also helped that every shot was falling. Still, I hope that they would learn a lot from this momentous win. GSG!

[Raven]

again tre getting at least 2 votes too high imo... that and one caused alone should get any A rating off the board. I don't think i have seen any good pass out of him since 2023, all his assists are passes either to the closest player, or prayers into triple coverage that we somehow got lucky to get calls for.. Let's not talk about getting scored on automatically either. At least he shot well and had a positive attitude though.

[baseline bum]

Last night has gotta be up there with some of my favorite regular season wins in franchise history. Like David's first game finally seeing the Spurs beat Magic's Lakers or Manu's 48 points vs the Suns. Still can't believe that sequence with Victor hitting the three in Chet's face, then Chet isos on him, and Victor picks his shit out of the air like he's guarding his nine year-old to effectively end the game.

[JPB]

Fun win, still suspicious defense (despite OKC "only" scoring 114) but spurs shooting lights out on 3. That's the game here.

Now, back to another 7 game, bad, losing streak.

PS1: Wemby gotta cut those off balance, forced, uncontroled drives.
PS2: Wemby's gotta stop biting at every and any Chet fake...
PS3: Chet amazing (looks like a nice guy too). Wemby something else.
PS4: Trade for Trae.

[D-Robinson 50 fan]

I was so proud of the team last night. They took care of the basketball, didn’t give up when the lead was lost, and actually hit open shots. Such a fun game to watch.

[r0drig0lac]

9ast 1to for Devin, nice.

[Mugen]

Favorite win of the season tbh. Fuck RefKC :lol

[onechance87]

9ast 1to for Devin, nice.

we need more of this

[RC_Drunkford]

great win. For once the team played focused basketball and played smart. OKC collapsed in the paint and Devin did well finding guys instead of shooting contested pull ups. Sochan took over in the 4th. This is the 2nd time that happened and he did it against the 1 and 2 seed. That means something, he's just young and inconsistent. Wemby destroyed Chet. We got some easier opponents coming up, so I hope the team can carve out some more wins. I'd love if they could at least finish the season strong although that seems like a long shot.

[Pauleta14]

Great win and happy overall of course...

However I'd like to see more simple P&R or plays that lead to easier baskets for Victor, we need to save his energy for the defense.

Devin is showing real improvement at least in his intents in that regard but Tre really disapoints me with his lack of chenistry with Vic, maybe he's too limited I don't know

[kace]

thanks for the grades.

I'm going to see the game now but from the highlights, Holmgren seemed to have a lot of succes attacking Victor one on one, didn't he ?

Everybody is talking about Victor late three an block on him, but i don't know if it really tells the whole story of their matchup. I will see that.

And hell, Victor does sure take to heart this matchup. Much more than Holmgren it seems.
I know that Victor doesn't have a lot of wins to celebrate, but sometimes, i find he's making too much of this matchup, don't know.

Anyway, great win and thrilled to see this game.

[manufan10]

thanks for the grades.

I'm going to see the game now but from the highlights, Holmgren seemed to have a lot of succes attacking Victor one on one, didn't he ?

Everybody is talking about Victor late three an block on him, but i don't know if it really tells the whole story of their matchup. I will see that.

And hell, Victor does sure take to heart this matchup. Much more than Holmgren it seems.
I know that Victor doesn't have a lot of wins to celebrate, but sometimes, i find he's making too much of this matchup, don't know.

Anyway, great win and thrilled to see this game.

Chet had some success. Wemby fell for a lot of his ball fakes. Wemby didn't really get a chance to return the favor because Chet rarely defended him on that end.

[rjv]

it'd sure be nice if maliki could learn how to throw an inbound pass.

[Spursfanfromafar]

it'd sure be nice if maliki could learn how to throw an inbound pass.

What upsets me most about Malaki Branham is that in phases of play, he seems too nonchalant and lacks a winning player's mentality. There have been several plays where he has lollygagged into turnovers, being apathetic about defense by not going toe-to-toe with his man, been too lackadaisical with the dribble, and seems like he takes his mind off in quite a few plays.

Sochan has been up and down, Wesley still has a long way to go, Collins has been a huge disappointment, but the guy who makes me feel most frustrated is Malaki. He has a relatively good midrange game and he can finish well, but he never seem to put it together on offense and on defense, he is a very clear liability. I think he is the guy with the most to prove in the Spurs team. 22 more games to showcase his positives or I guess, his tenure will end this season.

[Spursfanfromafar]

I heard somebody (the Starters/NoDunks crew?) say that Wemby and Chet remind them of Jordan and Drexler. Drexler was a HoF but Jordan was way ahead of him and made it a point to showcase that as well. Its similar with Wemby and Chet. Holmgren is a really good player who has been a tremendous addition to OKC, but Wemby always wants to show him up as inferior to him. Great battle.

[widowmaker]

Again not about the wins but last night’s game looked better as far as cohesive basketball goes. Im still not a fan of those double teams on defense.

[Chinook]

Has anyone talked about this yet:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmvomgPNLI8&ab_channel=AwfulCoaching

This guy's channel has been a running companion for our forum this season. I actually like the guy a lot (especially now that he's gone back to not screaming all the time), and he adds a lot of insight about what goes into good team defense. However, it's important to contextualize what he says. If you only watch his Spurs videos, you might get the sense that Pop is doing a worse job than he is. You can see that the Thunder also run drop coverage, for example, and they have an elite defense. So this guy doesn't like it and thinks it's antiquated, but it's still a pretty common coverage and can work with the right personnel. Also, he comes off as if he hates every coach in the NBA. I'm not saying he doesn't particularly dislike Pop, but the vitriol is his shtick.

[ambchang]

^ The issue I have with that channel is that he goes back and pick out mistakes of the losing team (and some of them aren't even major mistakes), then blame the coach as it's some systemic issue.

To your point, drop coverages are common in the NBA, it's not some moronic defensive scheme like this guy is making out to be.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Has anyone talked about this yet:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmvomgPNLI8&ab_channel=AwfulCoaching

This guy's channel has been a running companion for our forum this season. I actually like the guy a lot (especially now that he's gone back to not screaming all the time), and he adds a lot of insight about what goes into good team defense. However, it's important to contextualize what he says. If you only watch his Spurs videos, you might get the sense that Pop is doing a worse job than he is. You can see that the Thunder also run drop coverage, for example, and they have an elite defense. So this guy doesn't like it and thinks it's antiquated, but it's still a pretty common coverage and can work with the right personnel. Also, he comes off as if he hates every coach in the NBA. I'm not saying he doesn't particularly dislike Pop, but the vitriol is his shtick.

Watching him play inverted screen after inverted screen and just getting angrier and angrier blaming his coach and everyone else in between as hilarious.