Reply With Quote
Barlowe being able to stick with guys on the perimeter after switches has been really impressive. That and his middy being automatic has been pretty damn exciting. Wonder if it can translate to the regular season.
Blake was always going to be a 2-3 year project tbh. It's 1 step forward, 2 steps back with him sometimes. Frustrating, but too early to give up on him yet IMO.
Barlowe being able to stick with guys on the perimeter after switches has been really impressive. That and his middy being automatic has been pretty damn exciting. Wonder if it can translate to the regular season.
Barlow and Sidy both have made a case for main club but man, we are in a numbers crunch
I really like what I'm seeing from him. He has a lot of potential and he's getting there.
I think he and Bassey will fight to back up the C.
Eh, my patience has paid off in players I believed in before. I’ll forgive you because I don’t really remember you posting on here until only recently…That's ridiculous, but I'll allow it because I was your age once.
But you don't actually see any ap ude at seeing the floor from him, right? You just want to be loyal to him?
Wesley is uber compe ive. Again everybody knows that audition vs Malaki. Blake will work hard to get there. I don’t remember DJM better. The guy couldn’t shoot at all and he fumbles dribbling through traffic. Wouldn’t go hard to the basket, always that two pumps who couldn’t convert. At least Wesley is fearless, at a fault, but still he just needs to tweak. I think he shows the ball too early when he goes up for the dunk. Ahd he needs to throw his body to the defender. Whatever it is, the Spurs have the best development coach. I’m not worried. And once Blake gets over that, he’ll be a stud.
I lurked for several years. I read your posts.
Your patience may have paid off in imaginary internet kudos before, but I'm more interested in if you actually see any point guard ap ude when you watch Wesley play. I think he's a good shooting guard.
I guess two more years trying to force him to run point in Austin is what the Spurs want. I just wonder if you and the other guys who understand the game feel the same way.
Watching the replay. Champagnie is another ballhandler out there who can pass
Sidy with some of his nifty passes
Push comes to shove we can waive a bunch of expiring guys if we can’t find trades/consolidation moves. Birch, Stevens, Bullock, Osman
these are all expendable guys. But obviously would be ideal to be able to hold them and try to sell expiring as cap relief. But if Cissoko is really getting a real contract and Barlow refuses a 2-way, the math simply is the math
Last edited by spurraider21; 07-12-2023 at 12:50 AM.
You might be right. I remember him playing PG in Atlanta, but maybe that was due to injury like you said.
Every rookie is at least a 2-3 year project. But except wishful thinking and being a spur, I don't see anything that lets suggest Blake has the tools to be more than a 3rd string PG at best... He can't really shoot, has mediocre court vision, can"t finish at the rim, can't really defend... So I'm not sure where the upside is... Simply getting better with time? Maybe a little but nothing that could make him a real rotation player IMO...It's not like he just has things to fix, things are just not really there, he lacks talent...You can see the upside with Malaki and Sochan who got drafted the same year, you can't see it with Blake.
And Blake compe iveness might be his problem. He's trying to play like a player he's not, to force himself into it. Confidence is one thing but you gotta be realistic about your game. And that's what most players in the NBA have to cope with at some point, that they're not the best kid in town anymore and then try to adapt their game to find a role in this league. Stars are the minority, not the norm, and Blake will probably never be a star, like the majority of people drafted there. For one Malaki, you have 3 Wesleys.
Last edited by JPB; 07-12-2023 at 05:56 AM.
I’ve stated my position on this before. I don’t look for “point guard ap ude” in my starting point guards. Most championship teams who get those types of players (before they become championship teams) are replaced by usually one of the following: stars, shooters, or combo guards.
These “set up” point guards aren’t as common as people think they are, and the idea of it is mostly rooted in the traditional mindset that “point guards have to pass because that’s what they do in basketball 101”. Those fundamentals are taught at an early basketball age but in a practical NBA sense, has rarely been the case on winning teams. All through Parker’s career people thought he should have distributed the ball way more. There’s Derek Fisher who had no point guard skills to speak of. Billups had basic passing skills. Stronger championship teams have had point guards who contributed in other ways and passing was the least important skill in many of those point guards. They’re more known for being clutch players who made critical shots at the end of games, or taking over a quarter with their scoring prowess. We’re all too fixated by this idea that a guy has to come in and quarterback (control offensive sets by handling the ball a ton) the team on offense.
I think it’s far from that and I think the Spurs think the same, too. That’s why they’ve been cycling through combo point guards, like Murray and White, with hopes of finding a permanent one. Murray and White weren’t drafted at all for their point guard skills, with the former being questioned for his PG skills for most of his time here. They were drafted because of their versatility and their X-Factor abilities in other aspects of the game.
Brian Wright was interviewed recently and stated that the way they’ve been playing these past several years is how they want to play going forward. Well, guess how they’ve been playing on offense? With a lot of ball movement and versatility on offense. And that type of offense doesn’t require a traditional point guard.
Maybe, but is Wesley that type of player? The answer is no to me. Traditional PG or not, what you're talking about is playmakng skills and Wesley lacks some.
Dereck fisher and Chancey Billups actually had PG skills, court vision and BBIQ. Billups was the archetype of your traditional PG and Fisher had to play throught the triangle and stuff, and his main role was to set up Kobe.
But those guys would be much less usefull nowadays and it tells you had to go back 15 years. How many similar PGs in today's NBA?
Versatilty is one thing but if Wesley doesn't really have PG/playmaking skills as a PG, what is his role then on the court, understanding he can"t really shoot not defend, the later both Murray and White were very good at? Blake is precisely NOT a versatile player so if he can't be PG'ing ou there or finish at the rim, what would he be here for? If you're not an elite 3pt shooter for a player like him, you're useless.
Saying it's OK if Blake has no playmaking skills, other players can take care of that is the wrong way to set the paradigm... Spurs don't absolutely HAVE to find a way to put Blake on the floor. How about putting on the floor a playmaking PG wo can shoot. It's about adding talent, not hiding lackthereof. It's about putting Lukas at PG, not Wesleys.
With passers like Mamu and Cidy, we could bring back the BEAUTIFUL GAME!!!
And of course, Victor and Sochan, omg >>>> four super passers
All you’re saying is “Dejounte, you’re wrong because I watch him and he’s no good” when another person can come here and say “I watched him and he looks good”. These are takes that can be made by anybody, including myself tbh
Your counter argument is based off an opinion that’s completely subjective since there have been many successful players who showed way worse early on in their careers. Spurstalk, in general, has had a poor track record in their player evaluation. I could be wrong, and I’ll readily admit that when it’s concrete. You’re so confident in how you think he’ll fail that I don’t trust you’ll come back here to admit you’re wrong if he turns out the opposite. People who are that confident don’t easily bend their belief when presented with credible facts tbh
Last edited by Dejounte; 07-12-2023 at 07:19 AM.
This isn’t a debate where one side believes he’ll for sure be good vs another side that believes he’s doomed
this is a debate where one side believes he’s doomed and can’t bring themselves to agree with the other side that says they see some nice things that are worth waiting for and being patient about
I absoultey agree 100%. From the first time I saw him, I felt he was a SG, and right up until now, I still think he's a SG and have no idea why they are running him at PG. I see no PG ability AT ALL. I am guessing it's because of his speed and being able to breakdown the defense with his penetration is what they're seeing, but what good is that if he has no PG skills?
Did you copy and paste this from yours or someone’s older takes about Dejounte Murray? Before anyone rewrites history, there are so many posts similar to this one that were said about Murray. No— majority of people did NOT think Murray had any PG skills. Anyone who says otherwise is just outright lying. I can pull them up easily.
This is what I was saying about Spurstalk’s player evaluation.
Most recent championship teams have had either Kobe, Durant, Wade or Lebron. Those guys are very ball dominant and aren't guys you can just go snatch from the end of the first round. That said, all those championship teams had a true point guard on the roster.
So you can take a Derek Fisher who started 82 games at the point and make him sixth in minutes when he has Kobe, Artest, Pau, Bynum and Odom next to him. Still a point guard, but surrounded by elite passers.
Dejounte is going to be the closest thing that exists to support your theory. He was a shooting guard with elite handles, rebounding and defense. He developed his game. Good for him. He is now a non-clutch stat padder for play-in teams. He has yet to move the needle as a basketball player.
I don't see anyone saying Wesley is doomed. I and others are suggesting that he's being misused. I am here saying I have watched him and he looks good, but not as a point guard. As I said, I think he could start at shooting guard. Give him less responsibility running the offense and rely on his energy and suddenly he's a very good player.
It's not lost on me that you didn't answer my question about whether you see an ap ude for court vision or decision making in Wesley after an entire year and an offseason to develop. But that's okay. None of us see it either.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
