Bassey has shown point guard skills equal to Wesley at this point.
Sochan is better than both of them. Not sure why you keep wanting to play inferior guys ahead of him.
I don't understand why people have a problem with Sochan being the PG this season. This is not a year where we are trying to win a le. Let Sochan run point and develop his playmaking and ball handling. The team should still be in the playoff hunt and after this season they can focus on trading for a PG and drafting a PG prospect. Sochan being the PG is not a long term solution.
Most of the people who have issues with Sochan at the point are the same ones who want Victor down on the block, shooting jump hooks. They lack imagination or the ability to think outside the box. They see a 6’9” guy, and he’s a PF. They see a 7’3” guy, and he’s a center. It’s the way it’s always been, so it’s the way it will always be.
I like neither of those things
It's fairly easy to tell who wasn't watching Spurs games last year. Sochan was the best point guard on the team then, as well.
That seems to be the problem for a lot of folks. If the coaches want to try it, the results will show if this is the right player for the job of initiator and offense director.
The Spurs showed precisely zero urgency about filling the point position, despite only having Tre on the roster.
My problem is only that he's looked really debilitated trying to move with the ball in his hands. I don't remember him looking like that last year. I want him to be the Spurs' Kuz (but better), with the ball in his hands and just doing whatever is needed in the moment. He just hasn't moved well with the ball so far.
Sochan looks less aggressive and out of plays as a point guard. But then he'll have a spurt of forced shooting possessions in a row in the second half like he was told he had to score
He just strangely looks less involved as a play starter rather than as a connector or finisher.
So I think he looks worse so far. But it's preseason and I don't have a problem with trying it out a bunch of regular season games. I wouldn't mind seeing them try Branham at point at some time this season, he has a little more game as a pick and roll threat
Perhaps because point guards can be ball dominant and they don't want that with this young developing roster -- maybe they want all these guys to handle the ball and pass.
last year he wasnt asked to break defenses down. he would attack closeouts or drive into open space then make a good pass. which are valuable skills, but not what he's asked to do
Well stated. I agree. Building an offense that relies on screens and smart ball movement rather than one guy breaking down his man one-on-one. I seem to recall the team having some success with that about a decade ago.
when parker got a screen, he was always a threat to quickly get to and finish in the paint. or if they switched, parker could dance on a big and abuse that mismatch.
if sochan gets a screen, i dont think he's going to consistently pose a scoring threat, whether it be getting to the rim or pulling up behind a screen. and if a big switches onto him, im not sure he's good enough for that to be considered a mismatch. sochan's ideal mismatch is getting a small onto him, getting into deep position, and taking that to the paint.
maybe im wrong, sochan becomes really good at this, and i eat a lot of crow. i'd be glad for that to happen. i just dont see it.
I don't think people are understanding the meaning of allowing the players to go out there and show you who they are.
The same way that pop is preaching - when asked - about allowing wemby to go out there and do his thing and then AFTERWARDS -
pop and the staff will have a better understanding of who victor is...and then they can instruct/coach/
makes sense also with Sochan.
Sochan made some cool plays last year, has great size and athleticism and isnt horrible with his handles - so it is an intriguing prospect for pop to install a yuge lineup which just might give opponents massive headaches if this defensive unit can gel in about 20 games or so...
then see what sochan morphs into as pg...
I like it and at pops age I am really really impressed that he is consciously trying to keep himself as head coach - open and flexible as he knows very well he has the youngest team in the nba.
Very cool to see - and it is also great that tre jones comes in hungry and terrorizes nba 2nd team players.
They played Branham at point so many times last season. Did you watch last season?
No point guard in history attacked the rim the way Tony Parker does. Nobody expects Sochan to be Parker. The Spurs offense will, like you said, rely on mismatches. Sochan has a very good turnaround jumper and has shown the ability to get his own shot with it.
They certainly played him at point enough to know that they want no part in it. He's proving to be a bit of a black hole early in his career. You damn sure don't want him starting.
People seem to forget that the offense the Spurs built around Parker involved him playing off ball for multiple options. In many ways, the Zipper-series offense the Spurs ran at the beginning of the Medium Three era was the long-two version of what the Warriors ran for Curry in his prime. It had tons of off-ball movement and options for guys to score. This was the offense the Spurs ran for Peak Tony:
Do you see how many people get good shots, despite the fact that Tony is the engine that runs the offense? In case someone worries about the non-PG being passive, this is the same offense but with Leonard being the featured player:
So many people here are bragging about "watching the Spurs", but it seems that's all they do -- just passively watch the game. They don't bother to look into what the team's doing and why it works or doesn't. Tony wasn't like Harden or Lillard, especially in his prime. The Spurs had an offense that could feature multiple scorers. The Motion Weak offense that required a big that was both a good post scorer and a good passer. That was the "Beautiful Game" offense that people associate with "positionless" perimeter players.
Yes, the Spurs will start to build an offense around Wemby, and that offense will have plays and structures that will get analyzed so we can all have more insight into how and why it works. But you can see how having certain attributes on offense can make the lives of other players easier. With things being nebulous now, we're gabbing about what sorts of things we'd like the team to do and if what they're doing looking like it's going to work. We're all just giving our opinions, and none of them will alter what happens on the court. But there also seems to be a huge lack of history in what made the previous iterations of the team work.
Last edited by Chinook; 10-20-2023 at 08:27 PM.
Are we 100 percent sure he's even in game shape yet?
you are the one who brought up the parker offense with your comment about how the spurs had success with a given system a decade ago... when parker was the point guard.
yes, the spurs had great movement and sets that didnt always require parker to be dominant on the ball, but as chinook already laid out, that was still a scheme that was largely built around parker and his ability to attack
im talking about what we saw from him last year when he was in game shape. he wasnt being asked to break defenses down last year, nor did we really see him have the ability to do so.
Yes, same with Sochan.
Difference is last year when he was point it was mostly scrubtown for teammates. This year he's been off the ball. I'd like to see him on ball with Wemby. He had enough feeds to Bassey last year that were good plays I'd like to see it tried with Wemby.
Yea I said the Spurs adapted to a point guard with nontraditional skills. I never implied Parker and Sochan had THE SAME nontraditional skills.
Nor did we see the Spurs trying to win games. We did see the Spurs sitting Sochan to prevent wins.
And a decade ago was the beautiful game. They were relying on passing and screens, not Parker. Go back another ten years for that.
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