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He does kind of remind me of a tier version of russ. Hes definitely a work in progress
My confidence in this kid is low. He has a Westbrook-esque ability to make bonehead decisions too often.
He does kind of remind me of a tier version of russ. Hes definitely a work in progress
I remember Dejounte unable to get it past Lonzo Ball in one game. It was like a wall. Not long after, he was the better player and was picked 27 slots later (in a different draft).
Eh, I don't think this is remotely true.
DJM started over half the games in his SECOND year and did a good enough job that the Spurs told Tony they were moving him to the bench.
Does anyone here realistically think that has a chance of being the case with Wesley? I don't see that at all.
Last edited by MannyIsGod; 07-12-2023 at 10:49 AM.
Just remember that this is his time to make mistakes. If he has 20 turnovers in summer league nobody gives a if he's learning what and what not to do when the games start to matter.
Which part? People being overly critical, or DJM being worse than Beedub? (yes, serious question)
Hard to compare Wesley to our memories of Murray. What Dejounte became clouds our understanding. We didnt need Murray at that point, hadn't seen such a development, and now we're seeing raw materials again and there's a lot of impatience.
To me, Murray had some nice things going. His length, defensive potential, his rebounding.
People are critical of Wesley but overly so? No. But also, he's not anywhere near where DJM was going into his second year IMO.
He legit couldn't run a passable pick and roll until season 4. He did miss season 3 with his ACL tear, so, his third season.
I think Bev bullied him all over the court at one point it was painful to watch. DJM didn’t have good handles, too high, all hypedEasily Wesley is wayyy better than DJM then. Chilax people. Wesley is already a very good defender, can shoot and dribble. He doesn’t defer like Lonnie. He just added some 10 lbs muscle over the Summer and could be affecting his shots somewhat. He’ll be fine.
DJM has a VORP of 1.1 his second season in the NBA. Mainly due to his defense, but I really don't think Wesley gets anywhere near that this year. I just don't see it. Feel free to bump this if he does.
Im completely bullish on Wesley. I wasn't even on Friday. He creates advantages on both sides of the ball that are not easy to do. The Spurs have done well in drafting guys with superior skills and talents in certain categories who need development elsewhere. Malaki has incredible scoring skills for his age, but is a bad defender. Cissoko is a great movement passer and solid defender but needs to straighten out his scoring. Wesley has a great burst and really nice defensive chops but is very raw.I think Bev bullied him all over the court at one point it was painful to watch. DJM didn’t have good handles, too high, all hyped
Some of y'all are seriously underrating what DJM was in year 2 because he wasn't the best offensively.I think Bev bullied him all over the court at one point it was painful to watch. DJM didn’t have good handles, too high, all hyped
If we compare rookie year stats, DJM was pretty bad with a -4.8 BPM. This is mainly due to him being very bad offensively, but even then he was already pretty decent on D. Especially for a rookie. But overall a -4.8 BPM is not a good player
Blake Wesley was literally twice as bad, with a BPM of -9.6!!!! He was way worse offensively than DJM but way worse defensively as well. Its just not even close.
Wesley has some great abilities, but he is RAW AF and he's got a whole of a long way to go.
Yeah I agree on the first, disagree on the second. My real issue, and his improvement can talk me off that ledge, is that he's a shooting guard. Let him run, let him barrel down the court, let him shoot, just don't make him initiate in half court. In the role that matches his skillset, I think he's far past where Murray was at the same point.
As for his defense, I think his individual defense could definitely become elite if he would learn Bruce Bowen defense and stop reaching in, which he currently does without ing fail. Also if he improves on his closeouts, which have been the absolute worst part of his game.
I'm gonna take every defensive stat from last year with a grain of salt. Defense did most of the heavy lifting for the tank, tbh.
Instagram Baller was worst. He couldn’t dribble in traffic without getting picked. He couldn’t shoot the 3. He didn’t once attempted to attack the rim without that double-pump layup. Come on
Parker was told to give the helm because he was getting old and Spurs are transitioning to a new era. Not because DJM was outplaying him. DJM didn’t avg double figure until his 4th season.
Murray was starting games in his rookie season for a 60 wins team and holding his own.
What are you smoking people? Dejounte >>>> Wesley at this point of their careers.
People are comparing Wesley rookie tanking year with a playoff team that DJM had. DJM was getting good space. He had Ginobili, TP and a playoff team to play with. Wesley had… Graham and half of the season he was recovering from injury.
He only started 8 games during his rookie year and only played a total of 38 games.
Uh, YOU are comparing the two by saying he's further along than DJM. Don't start the comparison then complain when people point out its not even close?
DJM was definitely FAR from the worst in his second season. There's virtually no indication Wesley will be a net positive player in the NBA this season. If you think Wesley will out perform DJM's second season I'd be happy to make a bet on this.
Wesley has his nice things too. The uber athleticism, the speed, the pesky defense.
He's 100% a more gifted scorer - or a more natural scorer if you prefer - than DJM, so right out of the gate he had an advantage on DJM there. But literally every other facet of the game he's way behind so its not fair to say he's ahead of the developmental curve than DJM was at the same point. The implication here is that he's going to exceed what DJM has become which I put at a very low percentage outcome for Wesley.
As for the defense, I don't totally buy that we should disregard the stats from last year, but even if we do that Wesley was STILL far worse than DJM offensively in their rookie seasons.
And even with starting 8 games, he was averaging 8.5 minutes per contest, and essentially playing SF, since he could neither shoot nor dribble at an NBA level.
I’m just saying people are too critical of Wesley. 1. He was coming off injury that took half of his rookie season. 2. He was playing with a tanking team with the likes of Graham, etc., the line-up was different every game, no continuity, so it’s not fair to run any rating. I’m comparing him to DJM, because I don’t remember DJM any better. As mentioned, he couldn’t dribble in traffic, no outside shots, not even attempting to attack the basket. I trust Spurs development coaches throughtout the years. Wesley is uber compe ive (unlike Lonnie). And he’s working day and night as per his interview. So yeah, I’m confident he’ll be fine, is all I’m saying.
It’s unfair to use the “DJ was starter on so and so teams” argument not because of what others said above, but because we can’t assume Wesley wouldn’t perform just as well. There are so many factors involved that you can’t compare both situations. There are synergies that need to be factored in. It could very well been that DJ was at the right place, at the right time when he got that role. He didn’t exactly earn it. The Spurs thrusted him into it, as he was one of the few projects they had at the time. No win loss record ever truly tell the story. If that was the case, we would see more consistently good teams or consistently bad teams but the reality is, one season a team could be great and then the next, they could be . That happens to teams that don’t even make much changes.
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