Is that Pop has this thing about him where he doubles down on his bad decisions because his ego won't allow him to acknowledge someone else's criticism was correct... He still wants to seem like a basketball genius, and that there's some hidden thing that no one else can see, but will eventually see...
So I fear that if the media constantly talks about how Sohan isn't a PG, and that Wemby needs to play more and have an offense that is centered around him, Pop will double down on forcing Sohan as PG, and running a glorified pick up game at the expense of Wemby's development and joy for playing with the Spurs...
Make no mistake... Wemby is compe ive and DEFINITELY wants to win ROY... and if he feels like everything is working against him here, he is gonna be OUT as soon as he gets the chance... All because of Pop's ego
I think it comes down to (and I know everyone hates to think about this) if we are really trying to win this year or just experiment hoping for another high pick. A Tyrese Proctor would look good in the SL and if the Toronto pick conveys we'd have a shot at a real 3 so we could move KJ to the bench.
3 games in.
Before Victor exploded in preseason, I was convinced that pop was doing another clever manipulation to get another high draft pick. Focusing on defense defense, while letting the offense go to s***. I'm sort of back to that point now that the regular season has started. They spent so much time last year working on ball movement and offense as a priority, it seems weird that they're basically doing pickup basketball now. Now it could be that pop is more like a granddad and just wants to give Victor his ice cream, but I assume pop knows exactly what he's doing, has a plan. And so yeah, I'm back to thinking we're just okay getting back in the lottery.
The problem with experimenting is that if you don't clearly make things resolve around Wemby to where he has a clear path of growth and doesn't look like a bust out there, we are gonna have a disgruntled guy... You can experiment while also making an offense that revolves around him... Or at the very least heavily incorporates him where teammates actually pass him the ball
At the expense of Wemby's happiness and growth? You don't see how that can backfire? These dudes want to look good out there... And if they feel like their coaches and teammates aren't putting him in a position to be great, they're gonna leave... Tim Duncan spoiled us into thinking it's normal for players to just ride with whatever a coach does...I remember before Kawhi left, we always used to talk about how Pop would take him out of games where he is going nuts... And because Kawhi was quiet, we assumed he wasn't bothered by this... These guys are compe ive and wanna have a certain reputation
Too early in the season for all of these people making big pronouncements.
At this point last year Keldon was a better player than Kawhi and the Spurs looked like a playoff team.
Everyone calm your s and let this play out a little bit.
It’s funny that you think Pop GAF about the media, or cares what they say. You, and about 10 other re s here are the only ones on the planet who don’t understand that this is a mulligan season.
What people really don't want to think about is how much the issues could be Victor's team and Pop clashing. Wemby isn't Duncan. He's not an island kid with a semi-paternal relationship with his coach which allows him to trust the coaching he gets. Victor was already a corporation long before he was drafted. He has people who want things from him. He has his own idea of where he wants his game to go. The Spurs are a means to get there. They might be his only NBA team if things go well, but he will leave if he doesn't think he's in the best position to succeed. 100 percent Wemby would ask for a trade. Not this year, but early in that second contract. I think Pop's also trying to make Wemby happy by giving him opportunities that he (Pop) probably knows aren't really good for him. Wemby wants to be KD, and even though he should be closer to Dirk, Pop's gonna give him that chance and hope he can use Wemby's struggles to encourage growth in the right direction. This is what dealing with high picks actually means, and it's probably time for the Spurs to get used to it if their plan is to get another such pick next summer. While Kawhi was worse than average, his situation isn't that far off how it is to deal with NBA stars.
Check back in at 35-45 games from now.
Bears repeating that Timmy Dunks interviewed with Orlando and seemingly 100 legit sources said it was Doc Rivers refusal to let Mrs. Duncan+ ride on the team plane that was the deal breaker. Tim absolutely was willing to join the Magic at that time.
Sniffer lore has since been woven that it was an unbreakable bond between Tim and Popped that kept him in San Antone.
We're all glad he stayed here and won 5 Chips, even if 3 more were robbed by Popped.
And absolutely Tim had an affection for Pop that lasted his whole time as a Spur.
Yeah, it's too soon to say anything conclusively but there are hints. I'm curious to see how the two factors of Pop letting VW do what he wants to do with VW also wanting to win now end up aligning, or not.
Rack it.
And completely ignore Sniffing like this:
But it's not to early to see if Pop will adjust such nonsense as Wembys teamates freezing him out.
That should have been corrected immediately.
I think there are probably elements of that story that are mischaracterized. Like just because Tim ended the idea of going to ORL after Doc refused to let Amy fly doesn't mean that if he had allowed it Tim would've gone to the Magic. It was a necessary but possibly not sufficient condition. It's sort of how the DPE was a necessary condition of Leonard staying in SA but not a sufficient condition. On one hand you can say the Spurs' refusal to fully max Kawhi led to him demanding out, and some folks do argue that. But it's also clear Kawhi was leaving anyway.
Regardless, I was talking more in the sense that top picks are treated like businesses as much as actual prospects. Top guys usually come in with an entourage and cachet they aren't afraid to use to meet their interests. After being burned by LMA and Kawhi, Pop seems way more apt to bend than ever. We sort of saw this with DeRozan having seemingly no accountability to fix his obvious flaws. We might be seeing it as an element for why every prospect seems to want to be a star rather than focusing on developing legit NBA skills. Who knows? I'm just saying that Victor wants to play a certain way, and if he's not playing that way, he's already shown he'll look for a better situation. Pop has to start narrowing Wemby's on-court options to put him in good situations, but it's also possible that Pop and Wemby disagree on what those positions are, which is messing up the team dynamic.
I'm about to start a falling earth thread. Most of this stuff will age badly as soon as 6 months down the road.
Trade wemby in 5,4,3….
lololol
It's also possible that some of those weaker areas could be improved upon to at least make them more manageable. Sometimes its just the player needing to see for himself that the things he did elsewhere won't fly here.
Wemby over dribbling into traffic is one in my mind. He needs to do it less but its not inconceivable that if he continues to do it and Pop allows it that he could improve that area enough that he might be able to get himself out of trouble from time to time. The argument here has always been that Pop has the leash too tight and doesn't let guys play free and develop... now that they're seeing all this la ude the collective armchair QB's want it reigned in. This group isn't happy unless they're miserable.
I don't disagree with that and i expect we'll see that at some point this season..
This is by far Pop's biggest challenge in his career. Wemby underachieving would be squarely placed upon his shoulders, regardless of whether it's truly his fault or not.
Furthermore, Wemby underachieving would likely see the youngun bolt. That would be lame and cost the Spurs about 20 years of massive profits, so the pressure (for the first time since Timmy's rookie year, IIRC) will be on from the ownership side as well if things go south too long.
Not saying Pop would get fired or anything, just to be clear. Just that this is a massive challenge despite Wemby's (thus far) lack of ego and eagerness to learn/win.
One of the things that can get lost in the shuffle for a team like the Spurs and a coach like Pop is how long sections of the team's timeline are. The Spurs are into their 10th season since winning a le. That's longer than most coaching careers. I think with the exception of Kerr and Spo, none of the other championship coaches from that area are still with their team and both of those guys have won or at least made multiple Finals since then. The Spurs have been in the "every prospects should be a point-guard" phase for a whole decade now. What folks complained about Pop doing back then doesn't matter. It may as well have been a different team. Just as it's possible that he was right then and right now despite taking different approaches in each situation, the criticism could've been justified then and justified now despite the criticisms potentially conflicting.
They're just entirely different situations. Giving a guy a chance to make plays on an older contending team and lacking structure on a young team that hasn't seen success since before any of the main guys were even in the league is basically night and day. The former situation was going to have natural barriers due to the rest of the guys on the team knowing their roles and exuding more clout on the court. I don't think it'd've been hard to get Branham to find Prime Duncan in the post or have Keldon defer to Prime Manu or Tony. It's completely different to expect them to naturally defer to a 19-year-old Wemby who doesn't seem to know how to get open and is likely to take an unideal shot or turn it over trying to be flashy. For the good of the team, they need to defer more. But they've been conditioned to try to be the man due to the monoculture developmental system of the Spurs, and when nothing on offense seems to be working but individual effort, it's easy to see why they often fall back into attempted hero-ball.
We have seen Pop stick with an obviously bad decision for multiple seasons...
To be clear: It's going to be pretty hard for Wemby to not win ROY or at least be a top-three rookie. He's too good, and things like turnovers and efficiency are understood to not really matter for rookies. If there are no changes, he's still going to average close to 20/8/3/2/1, I'm guessing. The Spurs will get their marketing, and Wemby will get his accolades. The question is if that's the best route to take for everyone involved. If this year of loose reins is truly what Wemby needs to trust Pop's coaching, then it is worth it. If the difficulty the team faces hurt Wemby's trust in the organization, it's obviously not worth. It's a long season. No year-long trends can be gleaned now. Everyone is going to continue to transform this year, and we might see sizeable roster moves on top of that. There's no reason to freak out about any of this stuff. But there are points I find interesting to speculate on.
But Pop isn't tho... Pop isn't running anything through him... U mean to tell me if KD came to the Spurs, pop wouldn't design an offense around his strengths? Because that's what's happening here... Nothing is designed for Wemby... They're playing pickup ball without a PG
No one wants it reigned in (at least not me)... I want the offense to be structured around him, and I want an actual PG to run the offense to help facilitate his growth... That's not a crazy ask
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
