Grades: Spurs vs. Clippers - Nov. 20, 2023

[Spurs Homer]

Typical sniffer post with all the sniffer cliches

yeah yeah of course

typical negative nancy who is emotional when spurs dont automatically flip the le switch

grow a pair pal

[TDomination]

Part of the problem is he doesn’t “want” to play in the post. He only likes paint points if it’s a lob or free dunk. The other part is pop not coaching him and just letting him pull up for 15+ foot jumpers as his only form of shot creation

I bet Pop is scared of doing to Wemby what he did to Aldridge. Putting him in a box.

so thats why hes letting him free roam. which is dumb

[duncan2150]

The staff is killing this team by doing nothing. The Sochan's experiment needs to stop, just play Jones and Graham....

Why Champagnie is starting ? Mamu disappears after two intersting games ? ..... and a lot of other things.

[emanueldavidginobili]

Will be interesting to see how Victor will react to all this losing throughout the course of this season, I doubt he's lost this many games consecutively in his entire basketball career.

[Chinook]

It's interesting to see how timvp has grown less "sniffy" and more "edgelordy" as these grades have gone on. Pop's kind of got himself a wolf by the ears at this point. Changing away from "experiment" and his plan with Wemby would be seen as a failure of those two players. If he had started off not playing them that way, then he could've made the change later in the year without it ruffling feathers. He does have to manage his credibility with his players at this point, and he's caught between having to admit he was foolishly wrong or hoping it comes out better while bleeding credibility after every failed game. He might think the only way out for the team is through

[JeffDuncan]

Will be interesting to see how Victor will react to all this losing throughout the course of this season, I doubt he's lost this many games consecutively in his entire basketball career.

We could see him “quiet quit” as they call it. Be there, but just going through the motions. Watch for it. He already seems to be doing some of that. And in truth, why should Victor knock himself out for this crapfest?

[Mugen]

It's interesting to see how timvp has grown less "sniffy" and more "edgelordy" as these grades have gone on. Pop's kind of got himself a wolf by the ears at this point. Changing away from "experiment" and his plan with Wemby would be seen as a failure of those two players. If he had started off not playing them that way, then he could've made the change later in the year without it ruffling feathers. He does have to manage his credibility with his players at this point, and he's caught between having to admit he was foolishly wrong or hoping it comes out better while bleeding credibility after every failed game. He might think the only way out for the team is through

Good point tbh.

[rjv]

i thought tre was awful, tbh. agreed on wemby's lethargy (3rd game in 4 nights?). he really made a habit of camping in the corner and seemed to give up when the clippers pushed him off the blocks. i hope he comes back with a greater sense of purpose on Wednesday.

[rjv]

It's interesting to see how timvp has grown less "sniffy" and more "edgelordy" as these grades have gone on. Pop's kind of got himself a wolf by the ears at this point. Changing away from "experiment" and his plan with Wemby would be seen as a failure of those two players. If he had started off not playing them that way, then he could've made the change later in the year without it ruffling feathers. He does have to manage his credibility with his players at this point, and he's caught between having to admit he was foolishly wrong or hoping it comes out better while bleeding credibility after every failed game. He might think the only way out for the team is through

am i missing something here? a simple verb phrase, perhaps?

[cd98]

Pop says he's "totally satisfied with the game". He "saw a lot of good things and the execution and compe iveness were good". Somebody take his medicine

Pop probably hates these continual post game media sessions where he has to explain how miserable the Spurs are playing like it is the golden turd.

[rjv]

honestly, i don't know what i'd say if i was the coach of this team but these could be some: "this is a trash roster. don't expect too much from most of them." "we sucked last year because we traded away a lot of our talent in order to get a generational talent. i can assure you that most of this trash will be gone within the next two years." "collins isn't a starting center talent but who else can i start?" "mcdermott is less athletic than a 55 year old sean elliiott." "i can't make tre jones grow a few inches." "malikli makes james harden look like one of the best defenders in the NBA."

[scott]

I think this team could benefit from some Wemby load management. Give the rest of the players an opportunity to find themselves away from the Wemby spotlight, give Wemby a little bit of rest, and maybe inject a little boost of excitement into the team when Wemby comes back from a day off.

My first reaction to Pop being "pleased" was that he is completely off his rocker, but upon more analysis I agree with the other posters that he's really caught in a tough spot in terms of what he can do with his public comments. Of course, he's only in this tough spot because of his and the rest of the FO's refusal to have a veteran leadership presence on the team.

At some point, Ownership, RC, Brian Wright, whoever needs to come to grips with the fact that Pop needs a little managing too*. You cannot simply let him run wild with this child-like euphoria of just going out and coaching a hapless group of kids like they are the Bad News Bears. This isn't a feel-good summer movie, it's a real business.

I would general consider myself a Sniffer, but even I can see that Pop needs to feel a little heat under his seat.

*What does managing Pop look like? It can look like "hey, we didn't draft Sochan to be a PG, he isn't a PG, and we don't want him being a PG. Stop playing him at PG." or even "You didn't want vets on this team, so we made these roster moves to force you to accept vets on the team. You will make the best of it."

[james evans]

After missing Wemby on literally dozens of lobs and open paint throw ins before tonight, I dont blame his lack of effort tbh. Hes ing 19. Hes hyped as the next Lebron. Pop barely even runs plays for him.

If were going to go 3-79 and lose him after his rookie contract to LA, can we do a lot more 4 down (or 4 up or whatever Vic is comfortable with) please??? Thanks in advance, asshole Pop

if Wemby asks for a trade, Pop's diksuckers will still be saying, "trust the process, you're not an NBA coach". This man is done and need to be forced into retirement

[spurraider21]

Osman and Bassey were the two best players. and that sentence is a big problem

[Sugus]

He might think the only way out for the team is through

With his military background - is there any doubt?

[Chinook]

am i missing something here? a simple verb phrase, perhaps?

https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-...s-through-mean

or put another way:

[rjv]

https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-...s-through-mean

or put another way:

gotcha. i can see that with pop. i guess we'll see how the rotations will look later this season (barring injuries).

[MannyIsGod]

I really wonder if the Spurs are active at all in the trade market right now. They should really be looking to pick up a veteran PG. Letting the one we had on our roster walk is turning out to be a pretty damn poor decision - especially if the young fringe players it was done for are legit this bad. I really wonder what Pop thinks the best care scenario with the Sochan experiment is at this point. Does he really feel there's a chance it just clicks into place with him at point and he all of a sudden looks like an NBA playmaker? Right now this looks so bad that I'm not sure if you stuck with it for years it would work out well and right now I have a hard time seeing him stick with it for another month much less years.

Its honestly impossible to see if guys like Collins or Keldon have a future with Wemby because the system is so atrocious right now that I don't think you can take anything away from these games. I'd feel much more comfortable saying this seasons struggles are the result of a lack of talent if we had anything that resembled cohesive offensive and defensive systems out there. Most of these players have extended time in the system at this point and they still look lost as so either we have an incredibly dumb and hopeless roster or this is a coaching issue. I tend to think its the latter.

[sammy]

I think this team could benefit from some Wemby load management. Give the rest of the players an opportunity to find themselves away from the Wemby spotlight, give Wemby a little bit of rest, and maybe inject a little boost of excitement into the team when Wemby comes back from a day off.

My first reaction to Pop being "pleased" was that he is completely off his rocker, but upon more analysis I agree with the other posters that he's really caught in a tough spot in terms of what he can do with his public comments. Of course, he's only in this tough spot because of his and the rest of the FO's refusal to have a veteran leadership presence on the team.

At some point, Ownership, RC, Brian Wright, whoever needs to come to grips with the fact that Pop needs a little managing too*. You cannot simply let him run wild with this child-like euphoria of just going out and coaching a hapless group of kids like they are the Bad News Bears. This isn't a feel-good summer movie, it's a real business.

I would general consider myself a Sniffer, but even I can see that Pop needs to feel a little heat under his seat.

*What does managing Pop look like? It can look like "hey, we didn't draft Sochan to be a PG, he isn't a PG, and we don't want him being a PG. Stop playing him at PG." or even "You didn't want vets on this team, so we made these roster moves to force you to accept vets on the team. You will make the best of it."

First of all, Pop didn't make those moves that idiot incompetent Brian Wright did and these players suck other than Wemby and Vassell! All of these scrubs wouldn't make the G League that's how bad they are! Pop can only coach what he has but I am disappointed on him being satisfied when they stink! Maybe he's looking at who to cut and showcase some of the losers that can shoot/then package them off in a trade for better pieces who knows! All I know is that they're wasting Wemby's talent and the multiple ballhogs refuse to pass the ball to him! Smh

[sammy]

Osman and Bassey were the two best players. and that sentence is a big problem

At least they tried and Bassey was defending the paint unlike gazelle Collins running away from his defender!

[J_Paco]

All in all, this roster lacks, simply put, talents. Wemby ceiling is off the charts but he is obviously a work in progress. I thought his sole presence would improve drastically the Defense but this is not the case, his length, shot blocking etc... don't translate so far. On offense we are ing but we are scoring enough to win games, our defense is putrid.

Vassell is a nice role player, Sochan is struggling (we know the story), Collins is a role player, Keldon is meh etc etc... Truth is, outside Wemby, none would be ular in any decent NBA team.

With the Wemby experiment we are even worst than last year. It is what it is.

We have a future potential franchise player and decent role players with one or two with the potential to be good enough starters... Spurs FO and coaches have a lot of work in front of them.

This.

Spurs need to really execute adding talent (through the draft) around Wemby, and pulling off one or two big trades to net some quality veterans.

I like a lot of the current Spurs - definitely thought one or two would 'break out' this season - yet clearly this team is in need of (a lot) more high - end talent/prospects and a bigger veteran presence.

The team is gonna have to dip into it's cap room quickly to start filling these glaring holes (PG, 3&D Wing, more veterans).