Grades: Spurs vs. Rockets - Oct. 27, 2023

[emanueldavidginobili]

He's only 19 years old, that's all I can add to it, his literal brain isn't even fully developed yet. Spurs are the luckiest franchise in the world.

[objective]

The alleged benefit of playing Collins next to Wemby was to have a good defensive center holding his own and spacing the floor with his shooting.

If he's just going to get wrecked by opposing centers and brick so much that Pop forbids him from shooting threes again like last year ... Then that's a problem. Because benching him during the season for Bassey or Barlow will make his new extension very uncomfortable.

He's better on defense than Mamu at least

[TD 21]

Maybe his lack of athleticism and bulk then? I don’t know. He looks undersized to me.

He's 6'10.25'' barefoot, which is solid height for a C, but it's a combination of his 7'1'' wingspan, 245 pounds and lack of bounce (not that he was ever an above the rim type, but safe to say his leg injuries have sapped most of what he had) that ostensibly make him undersized.

[Kawhi Duncan]

Ehh sometimes I think people forget the other player responsible for not finding Wemby: Wemby. He doesn’t really do a good job getting proper position and other times he calls for the ball in the post when the paint is already crowded. Like what is he going to do when he gets the ball? That’s an easy strip with how tall he is if he gets the ball and drives it in. Finding Wemby is easy. Finding Wemby when he’s got good position is harder. The players are justified when they dont pass it to him because they see that there’s more than just his primary defender behind him.

Funny how these are never issues when Tre is in the game

[TDMVPDPOY]

even with all the spacing or wendy playing out on the perimeter, are the mental midgets on the team going to pass him the ball?? no...fck that get rid of tfhem

[polandprzem]

Can't give a C+ to a guy who takes the game over in the clutch both on offense and defense and changes the outcome... What is underrated on defense is how his mere presence disturbs the opponents... Bad first half, no doubt, but when it mattered, Wemby delivered... And to his defense, he got 2 or 3 hot potatoes at the end of possessions in the first half where he was forced to launch a bad 3. You can also blame his teammates for not setting him right, just throw the ball down there ffs... He was much more comfortable with Tre at the helm, reason why Jones finished the game.

Against the Rockets...

7of19 4 turovers. Gave multiple lanes on D...

If he had better % and was decent in 1st half put few more points and be anyhow active.
What would be his grade? Also A?

[PhantomDashCam]

- Totally agree with persevering with the Sochan PG experiment for long term betterment of the team.

- I really like Vassell and his constantly improving shot creation tools. But damn, boy oh boy does some of his new found Scoring responsibilities have that short circuiting offensive tendency that plagued DDR. I’m sure he’ll figure it out though.

- Tre J has been terrific as a backup PG to start the season. If the Spurs continue to utilise him in this matter, he could be a smoky 6th man candidate when the season wraps.

Small tidbit: I really liked the 3 pt play they ran for McBuckets out of a KJ post up. Simple, yet quality look for a shooter who was running hot at that point. Would like to see more of KJs post ups when Wembys out of the game.

[Fireball]

Sadly the 3 point shot already abandoned Tre after 1 game ... but otherwise he has been awesome! Hope he gets his stroke back on the road ...

[Obstructed_View]

Tre is starting off solid. Just what you want from a second teamer.

[JeffDuncan]

…

- I really like Vassell and his constantly improving shot creation tools. But damn, boy oh boy does some of his new found Scoring responsibilities have that short circuiting offensive tendency that plagued DDR. I’m sure he’ll figure it out though.

Vassell took 13 shots from the field and scored 25 points.

Who do you think should have been shooting, instead of him, on those possessions?

The comparison with DDR is asinine. When have you ever seen Vassell drive to the free throw line, then pump fake pump fake pump fake, jump into the defender to draw a foul while missing the shot, and then make one of two free throws? C’mon now.

[RC_Drunkford]

Vassell is a better player than DeRozan this season. Just off 3-point shooting and defense alone, while scoring the same amount of points. They completely different players

[Mr. Body]

Vassell isn't ball-stopping anymore than Parker was when he peppered teams with his midrange shots. These are intentional parts of the Spurs' offense.

[Truckules]

Tre is starting off solid. Just what you want from a second teamer.

More than solid, he's been the second best player on the team and maybe the most impactful. As a Tre Jones doubter, he's looking like he should be starting instead of Sochan.

[exstatic]

Ehh sometimes I think people forget the other player responsible for not finding Wemby: Wemby. He doesn’t really do a good job getting proper position and other times he calls for the ball in the post when the paint is already crowded. Like what is he going to do when he gets the ball? That’s an easy strip with how tall he is if he gets the ball and drives it in. Finding Wemby is easy. Finding Wemby when he’s got good position is harder. The players are justified when they dont pass it to him because they see that there’s more than just his primary defender behind him.

You don’t do a post entry pass, you do a lob at 11’ +, and no one else is getting that. He’s shown that he has an unreal lob/dunk range. That Miami dunk play was off two feet, from outside the restricted area. Sochan is a pretty damn good athlete, and in the Houston game, Wemby just took it out of his hands and dunked it. Just as he’s open for a jumper anywhere, if he’s within 10’ of the rim, he’s in position for a one step lob, anytime.

[Dejounte]

You don’t do a post entry pass, you do a lob at 11’ +, and no one else is getting that. He’s shown that he has an unreal lob/dunk range. That Miami dunk play was off two feet, from outside the restricted area. Sochan is a pretty damn good athlete, and in the Houston game, Wemby just took it out of his hands and dunked it. Just as he’s open for a jumper anywhere, if he’s within 10’ of the rim, he’s in position for a one step lob, anytime.

He’s hardly within 10’ of the rim as we saw in the first half of the Houston game with him chucking up 3’s. It got better in the second half and it was no coincidence that he was getting better looks from his teammates because he was there, which proves my point. If he continues that trend of being in better position a la the fourth quarter of the Houston game, then people will have no issues about who’s passing/ lobbing it up to Wemby.

[R. DeMurre]

Vassell's aggressiveness is such a positive sign-- he has 16 free throws in two games, compared to 100 FTs in 38 games last year. Small sample size of course, but that represents getting to the line more than 3x the amount he did last season, and is more than 5x better than his career average. Still too many long twos for my tastes, but as long as his scoring and shooting efficiencies stay up, I can't fault him much for those.

[TD 21]

- Tre J has been terrific as a backup PG to start the season. If the Spurs continue to utilise him in this matter, he could be a smoky 6th man candidate when the season wraps.

Not a chance. That foolishly remains the domain of scoring combo guards, on solid or better teams.

[PrimeMinister]

dev is an actual three level scorer which automatically makes him better than derozan

[Obstructed_View]

More than solid, he's been the second best player on the team and maybe the most impactful. As a Tre Jones doubter, he's looking like he should be starting instead of Sochan.

Lol that's idiotic. He's played closest to his ceiling for sure. Why with that?

[Obstructed_View]

dev is an actual three level scorer which automatically makes him better than derozan

And he passes the ball. And he can contribute without the ball in his hands.

[PrimeMinister]

And he passes the ball. And he can contribute without the ball in his hands.

the list really goes on and on

[Fireball]

Derozan became a much better passer with the Spurs ... Vassell is not on that level yet. I don't like Derozan either but stop kidding yourself with regards to Devs passing ability

[PhantomDashCam]

Vassell took 13 shots from the field and scored 25 points.

Who do you think should have been shooting, instead of him, on those possessions?

The comparison with DDR is asinine. When have you ever seen Vassell drive to the free throw line, then pump fake pump fake pump fake, jump into the defender to draw a foul while missing the shot, and then make one of two free throws? C’mon now.

I think the DDR comparison, at times, is apt.

Both like to take contested long 2s which suggests they enjoy the affirmation that comes from making them, which inevitably leads to more, and then usually settling too much as a result...

You make good points though about FTA and the fact being he made 7 of 13 shots in this game.

[Seventyniner]

I think the DDR comparison, at times, is apt.

Both like to take contested long 2s which suggests they enjoy the affirmation that comes from making them, which inevitably leads to more, and then usually settling too much as a result...

You make good points though about FTA and the fact being he made 7 of 13 shots in this game.

For things like this the stat I like to look at is the percentage of a player's shots that come from each distance range (0-3, 3-10, 10-16, 16-3P, 3P)

Vassell has only played 173 games but that should be enough for this stat to be useful. For his career 12.5% of his shots are long twos (16-3P) and 47.8% of his shots are threes.

DeRozan, by contrast, has 28.8% of his career shots as long twos and 9.4% as threes. He shot fewer long twos as a Spur but still at a far higher clip than Vassell.

https://www.basketball-reference.com....html#shooting
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/derozde01.html#shooting

They have similar TS% stats for their careers (0.543 Vassell, 0.553 DeRozan) but Vassell has some room to improve seeing as he's only 23.

[PhantomDashCam]

For things like this the stat I like to look at is the percentage of a player's shots that come from each distance range (0-3, 3-10, 10-16, 16-3P, 3P)

Vassell has only played 173 games but that should be enough for this stat to be useful. For his career 12.5% of his shots are long twos (16-3P) and 47.8% of his shots are threes.

DeRozan, by contrast, has 28.8% of his career shots as long twos and 9.4% as threes. He shot fewer long twos as a Spur but still at a far higher clip than Vassell.

https://www.basketball-reference.com....html#shooting
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/derozde01.html#shooting

They have similar TS% stats for their careers (0.543 Vassell, 0.553 DeRozan) but Vassell has some room to improve seeing as he's only 23.

Thanks for sharing Seventyniner.
It shows you and JeffDuncan are right and that I'm unfairly putting Devin into DDR territory.
For clarity, I was classifying any shots from outside the key to inside the 3pt line as a "long 2", which appears to be an oversimplification on my part.

Here were a few of the shots from the Houston game that had me concerned though.






This shot was late game and although he made it, I believe it subsequently influenced him on the next couple.

It won't let me upload anymore gifs but here is a link to the next two shots he took:

https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFI...t&section=game

at 2:17 mark of the 4th and the contested 3 at the 3:26 mark of OT.