Shot charts and fits around Wemby

[Spursfanfromafar]

This is a good piece by SpursFanSteve at PTR - https://www.poundingtherock.com/2025...y-need-to-make ..

The tl;dr of it is that Vassell is a good fit in terms of spacing for Wemby apart from CP3 and Barnes while Castle (who is still not a finished product on shooting), Sochan (poor shooter), and Johnson (a misfit because of sharing the areas that he is good at with Wemby). It also says that Fox seems to have retooled his spots after joining the Spurs (small sample size though).

This article makes it even more imperative that the Spurs move away from Keldon Johnson. And try their best to pry away Cam Johnson from the Nets. Who will be a seamless fit with Wemby. Look at his pristine shot chart -



Here's hoping that the Spurs manage a Top 4 of their own which will help them dangle their other lottery pick and Keldon to get Cam Johnson. It should be an off-season priority. Maybe even given up the 38th pick for this purpose.

[ginobilized]

This is a good piece by SpursFanSteve at PTR - https://www.poundingtherock.com/2025...y-need-to-make ..

The tl;dr of it is that Vassell is a good fit in terms of spacing for Wemby apart from CP3 and Barnes while Castle (who is still not a finished product on shooting), Sochan (poor shooter), and Johnson (a misfit because of sharing the areas that he is good at with Wemby). It also says that Fox seems to have retooled his spots after joining the Spurs (small sample size though).

This article makes it even more imperative that the Spurs move away from Keldon Johnson. And try their best to pry away Cam Johnson from the Nets. Who will be a seamless fit with Wemby. Look at his pristine shot chart -



Here's hoping that the Spurs manage a Top 4 of their own which will help them dangle their other lottery pick and Keldon to get Cam Johnson. It should be an off-season priority. Maybe even given up the 38th pick for this purpose.

Great info, thanks for sharing!

Building an offensive team around Wemby will be interesting to watch. I don't mind Vassell as a spot up shooter, but, his calling of his own number and excessive dribbling totally disrupts the flow. I didn't realize his shot chart was so seamless with Wemby. KJ for Cam in some form would be optimal. Cam Johnson is pretty much a perfect fit for most teams. A SL of Wemby, Fox, Castle, Reid, Cam and a bench of Vassell, Barnes, Champagne, Sochan, Wesley, rookie, and C/PF would certainly look good on paper.

Reid and Cam would put a lethal shooter in each corner, that is nearly impossible to defend. This is pretty much a dream scenario.

[Dejounte]

IMO, we will all interpret this the way we want to

The biggest IF in the article is this:”though maybe we’ll see more post ups as he gets more comfortable taking advantage of mismatches and develops more lower body strength to keep from getting muscled further out of the paint.”

I don’t believe Wemby will get there because it’s not only a physical change, but a mental one too. So you have to plan for who Wemby is right now and not some idealized version of who he is, no matter how much better he seems to be in another area. If he’s a guy who’s 50/50 inside outside, that’s what people need to accept. the problem with the article and articles like this is that it ignores Wemby’s position in a basketball lineup. Reality is, he’s one of the two bigs in a 5 man lineup. It cannot be ignored that bigs in general are the ones who are most effective at being physical, screening, boxing out, and rebounding. Now combine that fact with the reality that Wemby is a guy who loves to shoot and now we’re taking one of those bigs away from the rim and you lose a lot of that effectiveness.

This analysis shouldn’t just assess how to build around Wemby’s shot diet and end its conversation there, there are consequences to it that have to be acknowledged.

If Wemby was a big with normal big shot tendencies then surrounding him with Cam Johnsons does make sense because Wemby is there in the paint to fulfill his other big man duties that are traditionally meant for guys his size.

To me, my analysis of these shot charts is that we need a big whose shot diet consists of shots in the paint and corner 3’s.

[rankingtear]

That is why you need more versatile shooters so you can hide either castle or fox on their preferred spots on the perimeter. Corner 3 wings does not work with our guard rotation. Avoid the Bruce Bowen types like Herb Jones and Jaden McDaniels, Toumani Camara etc. Another big who may or may not shoot in the starting lineup would be throwing a monkey wrench on our offense.

[rankingtear]

I don't understand what the guy who "would take the nipple 3rd overall" is saying but their main offense next year is Wemby-Fox pick and pop and Castle weak side isolation, neither benefits from another big man in the paint.

[exstatic]

That is why you need more versatile shooters so you can hide either castle or fox on their preferred spots on the perimeter. Corner 3 wings does not work with our guard rotation. Avoid the Bruce Bowen types like Herb Jones and Jaden McDaniels, Toumani Camara etc. Another big who may or may not shoot in the starting lineup would be throwing a monkey wrench on our offense.

That’s not remotely true. Barnes had his best career 3% season this year, probably 80% shot from corner 3s. Corner 3s aren’t the problem, players not making them is. If you find good corner 3 shooters, they will get open looks,make them, and thrive in this offense. We were even able to generate open corner looks without Wemby or Fox in the lineup.

[Dejounte]

I don't understand what the guy who "would take the nipple 3rd overall" is saying but their main offense next year is Wemby-Fox pick and pop and Castle weak side isolation, neither benefits from another big man in the paint.

Good one, rank. I’d take Kon 4th or 5th with VJ and maybe Jase above him ( , on some days I feel like Queen should be above him which would push him to 6th). What will be funny is if Kon does go as high as I think he should, then it’s not really funny then, is it?

In a pick and pop, having a big in the paint for Wemby to pass to if they’re crowding him isn’t beneficial? Or if Wemby does make it to the paint, the big sliding to the corner isn’t beneficial?

Castle’s ISO’s this year has led to him dumping it off to a big plenty of times or even doing an alley oop.

Not sure what’s hard to understand, but I don’t think you made that post to try to understand anything… you only wanted to insert a snide remark which… good for you, I guess?

[rankingtear]

That’s not remotely true. Barnes had his best career 3% season this year, probably 80% shot from corner 3s. Corner 3s aren’t the problem, players not making them is. If you find good corner 3 shooters, they will get open looks,make them, and thrive in this offense. We were even able to generate open corner looks without Wemby or Fox in the lineup.

I did not consider Barnes a Bruce Bowen type cause he can put the ball on the floor when he is above the break giving him about the same gravity as in the corners.

[Spursfanfromafar]

IMO, we will all interpret this the way we want to

The biggest IF in the article is this:”though maybe we’ll see more post ups as he gets more comfortable taking advantage of mismatches and develops more lower body strength to keep from getting muscled further out of the paint.”

I don’t believe Wemby will get there because it’s not only a physical change, but a mental one too. So you have to plan for who Wemby is right now and not some idealized version of who he is, no matter how much better he seems to be in another area. If he’s a guy who’s 50/50 inside outside, that’s what people need to accept. the problem with the article and articles like this is that it ignores Wemby’s position in a basketball lineup. Reality is, he’s one of the two bigs in a 5 man lineup. It cannot be ignored that bigs in general are the ones who are most effective at being physical, screening, boxing out, and rebounding. Now combine that fact with the idea in this article that we’re taking that one of those bigs away from the rim and you lose a lot of that effectiveness.

This analysis shouldn’t just assess how to build around Wemby’s shot diet and end its conversation there, there are consequences to it that have to be acknowledged.

If Wemby was a big with normal big shot tendencies then surrounding him with Cam Johnsons does make sense because Wemby is there in the paint to fulfill his other big man duties that are traditionally meant for guys his size.

To me, my analysis of these shot charts is that we need a big whose shot diet consists of shots in the paint and corner 3’s.

The two big lineup with Wemby as part of it isn't going to work simply because Wemby is behemoth and works much as the center. He isn't taking many post-ups but his game still thrives on scoring in the paint through P&Rs, lay-ups, alley-oops, lobs, face-up jumpers and the occasional hook/baby-hooks. That Wemby mixes this up with three point shooting in volume has made him a much more effective offensive player than last year. There are just two issues with this - he takes some bad 3Pt shots sometimes (early in clock, catch & shoot instead of penetrate and take more % shots) and he is thus far not so much of a factor as a behind-the-basket player in the post.

There is good reason to believe that he can get better in the second as he gains more experience and physical strength. As regards the first, he just needs to be surrounded by better talent so that he doesn't take it up on himself to do the heavy lifting on offense. That should automatically take out some of the bad shots from his 3P diet. Having a world class consistent shooter (who not only shoots from the corner a la Barnes) in someone like Cam Johnson would go a long way in helping Wemby in this regard.

But Cam Johnson isn't a big plus on defense. Here's where I think the Spurs need a lot of luck. Getting Cooper Flagg would instantly help the Spurs contend. But if that miracle doesn't happen, the Spurs must strive to get another 3&D player, someone who can guard 3s and 4s. Ace Bailey? CMB? Rasheer Fleming?

[rankingtear]

Good one, rank. I’d take Kon 4th or 5th with VJ and maybe Jase above him ( , on some days I feel like Queen should be above him which would push him to 6th). What will be funny is if Kon does go as high as I think he should, then it’s not really funny then, is it?

In a pick and pop, having a big in the paint for Wemby to pass to if they’re crowding him isn’t beneficial? Or if Wemby does make it to the paint, the big sliding to the corner isn’t beneficial?

Castle’s ISO’s this year has led to him dumping it off to a big plenty of times or even doing an alley oop.

Not sure what’s hard to understand, but I don’t think you made that post to try to understand anything… you only wanted to insert a snide remark which… good for you, I guess?

I think the team prefers a wide open layup or a wide open 3 than whatever your saying. All I am reading is you trying to sell the logic of the other teams rim protector being on the rim and with their best perimeter defender on our primary perimeter action as a good thing.

[Dejounte]

I think the team prefers a wide open layup or a wide open 3 than whatever your saying.

Great, we both agree a wide open layup or 3 is preferred.

[Dejounte]

The two big lineup with Wemby as part of it isn't going to work simply because Wemby is behemoth and works much as the center. He isn't taking many post-ups but his game still thrives on scoring in the paint through P&Rs, lay-ups, alley-oops, lobs, face-up jumpers and the occasional hook/baby-hooks. That Wemby mixes this up with three point shooting in volume has made him a much more effective offensive player than last year. There are just two issues with this - he takes some bad 3Pt shots sometimes (early in clock, catch & shoot instead of penetrate and take more % shots) and he is thus far not so much of a factor as a behind-the-basket player in the post.

There is good reason to believe that he can get better in the second as he gains more experience and physical strength. As regards the first, he just needs to be surrounded by better talent so that he doesn't take it up on himself to do the heavy lifting on offense. That should automatically take out some of the bad shots from his 3P diet. Having a world class consistent shooter (who not only shoots from the corner a la Barnes) in someone like Cam Johnson would go a long way in helping Wemby in this regard.

But Cam Johnson isn't a big plus on defense. Here's where I think the Spurs need a lot of luck. Getting Cooper Flagg would instantly help the Spurs contend. But if that miracle doesn't happen, the Spurs must strive to get another 3&D player, someone who can guard 3s and 4s. Ace Bailey? CMB? Rasheer Fleming?

Listing the variety of 2 pt shots, however many, still makes up about 50% of his shot diet. I don’t disagree that Victor is a supremely talented player who knows how to score in many ways. The disagreement is that, over time, the 50% drastically going to change. I think Wemby’s thinking here is that no one is going to be able to defend his 3’s with how tall he is, and 3 points is more than 2. I also think that it will always be less energy to shoot 3’s, and in order for him to stay on the floor more and break scoring records, he is always going to want to take a large amount of 3’s.

I highly disagree that he’s chucking up 3’s because he thinks he has to compensate for the lack of talent. He does it because it’s legitimately part of his game.

[mo7888]

Good one, rank. I’d take Kon 4th or 5th with VJ and maybe Jase above him ( , on some days I feel like Queen should be above him which would push him to 6th). What will be funny is if Kon does go as high as I think he should, then it’s not really funny then, is it?

In a pick and pop, having a big in the paint for Wemby to pass to if they’re crowding him isn’t beneficial? Or if Wemby does make it to the paint, the big sliding to the corner isn’t beneficial?

Castle’s ISO’s this year has led to him dumping it off to a big plenty of times or even doing an alley oop.

Not sure what’s hard to understand, but I don’t think you made that post to try to understand anything… you only wanted to insert a snide remark which… good for you, I guess?

Kon is 5th on my board, but I think a case can be made for 4th..