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Damn that's rough.
Vassell's production compared to last season has fallen off a cliff. Now it could just be a down season cause he came off surgery or that's just who he is when he doesn't get the ball as much. That's on the Spurs to evaluate. As of right now he's massively overpaid.
Damn that's rough.
I think part of the calculus has to be that Devin's never going to get the ball again as much as he did the last two years. His USG% this season isn't that far off where it has been (24.4% two years ago, 23.5% last year, 22.8% this year) but I expect it to start dropping fairly rapidly with Fox here (indeed, it's only 18.7% the last 5 games with Fox). So the question has to be, can Devin be a successful offball 4th option, and will be good enough in that role to justify his salary? Right now he's 21% of the cap. You probably want your 4th option to be more like Barnes' 12.5% of the cap.
One way I could see Vassell's USG% staying up is if he transitions to a 6th Man role and becomes the Go-To guy off the bench. But even if he becomes 6MOY, he's probably still overpaid. Most high end 6th men make more like 15% of the cap right now, not 21%.
It's getting really difficult to envision how Vassell fits here going forward.
Vassell doesnt even touch Neal if we're being honest.
Does he really? I thought someone posted stats showing he was way more efficient on two dribbles or less. It was really frustrating seeing him in the Manu role of just give the ball to him and get the out of the way at the end of quarters. Seems like Vassell would never convert those isos into anything useful.
He'd only fit as a competent defender, say a middle of the road defensive talent. Hard to believe he can be so poor defensively with his size and athleticism, but this ain't the Spurs of the early 2000s to mid 2010s when it comes to player development sadly.
we've seen him drive and dunk in traffic. id bet a lot of those "more than 2 dribble" shots are him dribbling and dancing around and then pulling up from 17
Dudes got kobeitist similar symptoms to HIV and AIDS.
Yeah, maybe Devin needs some sessions with Castles shooting coach. Wouldn’t hurt Jeremy either.
I just hate his IQ. He’s not a team player and he has a black hole IQ as so many on this forum have said time and time again. Just get rid of him and KJ for one decent player next summer pls.
My guess is they both either end up in Phoenix or Brooklyn.
Like KJ, he developed in a losing, tanking culture where he thought he'd be the guy. KJ seems to fully realize he won't ever lead the team in scoring again. Devin is slowly, perhaps too slowly, realizing the same for himself.
So yeah, can he pivot roles to something he hasn't done yet?
Personally, I think he has too much pride, having worked too hard to get to where he is to want to embrace a lower role. Obviously he's going to have to unless he just wants to go to a team worse than us where he can get his shots up.
Charlotte anyone?
Empty calories... I don't know how some of you think that Vessell can still be that guy. it's time to part ways with him this off-season and move on to replacing his roll because he will not be worth the amount on his next contract to keep him around hoping that 1 day he will turn the corner.
He can go to a bottom feeding team and enjoy the rest of his career there , but I do see him more as being a journey man in his future.
We are getting close to March and his usual end of season injury is around the corner.
That will probably be quite coincidentally around the time the Spurs go on a big run and make the Play-In
His falloff defensively is my biggest problem with him. He was pretty good defensively the first 30 games or so last year but then became Keldon level bad and has pretty much remained there just a little over Keldon level since. Don't think you can be starting material being that horrible defensively unless you're a truly high end scorer and creator.
we can only hope this happens.That will probably be quite coincidentally around the time the Spurs go on a big run and make the Play-In
It's gonna be interesting to see how he plays out the rest of the season, post All Star break.
If it wasn't clear already that he's not gonna be "top dog" on the team going forward, Castle's emergence couldn't be making it clearer.
If Vassell doesn't quickly and effectively adapt his game, he'll be the first to go in the off-season, before Keldon even IMO. Too much skillset overlap and not enough talent to overcome that or be worth his pay as a bench player.
Basically for him to embrace his proper role, his stats are going to go down and it just makes his trade value go down further.
Realistically speaking, what are even our hopes for Devin?
I don't think that fans who are hoping for him to become an efficent 20ppg scorer with great defense are being realistic, it's never going to happen.
Current Devin is one of the easiest archetypes to find, even if we assume he's playing well and not in an awful slump.
Off the ball guard with decent size, subpar defense, solid shot creating, a bit above average 3pt shooting and no ability to draw fouls? How much is that player worth?
Yes, the cap is going up, but it's also about roster construction.
With Castle's performances as of late and Fox trade, guard positions should be set in stone for the next 5 years.
Moving Castle away from his natural role just to accomodate an average player like Devin isn't worth it, we need two wings with size, just look at how modern playoff rosters are build, we can't get away with three guard lineups.
The only way for Spurs to be successful with Devin on the roster would be a 3 man guard rotation with him, Fox and Castle. Reliable backup PG for regular season workload management, but wouldn't really be needed in the playoffs.
The issue is that Devin isn't worth the money he's getting if he won't be a positive contributor when it matters while playing a lot of minutes. Not worth it even with the rising cap.
It's just that we've gotten used to losing and lack of talent that we're grasping for straws when it comes to players who can actually dribble the ball and somewhat score shots that aren't wide open.
To build on this, Wemby is and most likely always will be to some degree a finesse big. That's not a knock on him, he's got outlier skill and length, but doing strength and physicality-based like setting strong picks, bodying people on the low block, and boxing people out just isn't what his body type is suited to, nor should it be something that the Spurs force if they want to get the most out of him for the longest time. He's not Valanciunas or Zach Edey. It doesn't mean that he can't do it, just that roster construction needs to compensate for that kind of thing. The last thing you want in a playoff setting is to surround Wemby with guys who are undersized or give up physicality at multiple positions, and putting Vassell in the starting lineup leaves you weak from a physicality standpoint at both the 2 and the 3 if your priority is to develop Castle. Castle is basically the perfect modern day 2 next to a score-first guard especially if his shooting develops - secondary playmaking, +size, +physicality, +defense. Getting rid of Vassell is just addition by subtraction at this point - with his salary you can easily get two DFS and Royce O'Neal type players for not much more than 30 million combined which would fit the starting lineup way better in the near term while you wait for your future draft picks to mature.
I'm hoping he shoots much better between now and the end of the season, but more for trade value than anything. As of right now I'm looking at unloading him for Tobias Harris and picks from Detroit which gives me a bigger body and vet player who doubles as a big expiring for a big trade in 2025 or free agency in 2026.
If Vassell is back at a good level, I've no problem with Spurs keeping him. A starting backcourt of Fox and Castle with Vassell backing them sounds good to me.
There is definitely a spot on this team for a player with his profile. It's up to him to hit his open shots and play with more intensity defensively.
Devin as a no-defense backup 2-guard at $27 million a year? No thanks.
I won't trade him for 3 and D stiffs. Outside of helio offenses they are extremely overrated.
Yeah, Tobias Harris is a target I've got my eyes on as well. He's a rare 3&D wing who actually checks each of the boxes that the team needs in a construction around Wemby/Fox/Castle. Can hit the 3? Check. Plays defense? Check. Can rebound? Check.
I wish he had a little more size, but other than that Harris is a pretty nice fit.
You mentioned the addition by subtraction in moving Devin, but I think we really need to point out how important it will also be for the Spurs to find a way to get off Devin's long term money.
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