Reply With Quote
he's in Paris working out with Wemby
I agree with this
he's in Paris working out with Wemby
seems a bit high for Speedy Claxton, but I'd still do it.
I think Vassell is the guy you keep for a bigger deal down the line. His contract is perfect for that type of deal (if the Spurs ever want to make such a move).
Trading Keldon would immediately make our team better on both ends, which is why he's first on my "needs to get traded" list.
I agree getting a starting 4 and a back up big is what needs to happen. The back up C can even be somewhat expensive like a Claxton or Gafford since we have a wing logjam with players being overpaid.
Mamu more likely to sign. But I want bassey too. Free agency market thin at center. Would need to trade for one. Wish dum s would get back in second round get Fleming or penn state center. Or Stanford center.
For real? Darn, there goes thoughts about the Spurs are still looking to trade him sometime soon.
I shudder to think how unimproved Jeremy's jumper has to be for Bryant to be in the rotation. I'm also pretty shocked at how many people rank Champ at the bottom of this list. I expect him to be LDN in the next two years.
It seems like they're only open to Barnes, but that was also for upgrades like Durant and Porzingis.
It needs to be Johnson. There's no place on this team for an undersized 3 who can't shoot or defend.
They need a stretch five next to Sochan off the bench and a stopgap shooter on the wing until (unless?) Carter is ready.
Best 3pt shooter on the team. Losing him ain't wise imho. He will be mentoring Bryant, who i doubt lives in Austin this season.
Imho with 82 regular season games you cant have enough good players, expecially at the wings...I like what we have,there willbeminutes for everybody...and then the starting line up Will have time tò rest enough tò avoid injuries...did anybody noticed how many ACL, achilles and other non contact injuries have happend this season? The game Is more and more pushing bodies over the limit and There Is no sign NBA wants tò Stretch the 82 games in s longer period...this means actually that more and more teams Will have to realize they need all 15 plus 3 (2 ways) roster players tò be and effective part of the teams, with more than enough minutes available tò contribute and show their valute and skills...
I am not overly concerned about the PG/SG situation, as between Harper and Castle, there is enough versatility to switch between PG/SG and even SF. Fox, offensively, plays more like a SG, and on defence Harper or Castle can play either the SG/SF roles while Fox takes on the defence on PG, and we don't lose too much size at the PG and SG spot. SF is a little under-height, but strength-wise, Castle can hold his own. I don't see a situation where one of them HAS to come off the bench, they can all play together as long as they start getting better in off-ball movements. Harper and Fox would be very difficult to stop if they can just get the ball and drive hard to the basket. Castle going downhill is also a foul magnet. These are things MATFO has to figure out and work out a coherent offensive system to take advantage of those skills.
Keldon can be a decent bench piece for instant offence, if he ever gets his shot back consistently. His defence is beyond hope, he will likely never be an average, or even slightly below average defender. I appreciate his effort, but he just isn't a defender, he just doesn't think like that. But when he is only focused to battering-ramming his way to the rim, mixed with a few outside open shots, he could be a useful bench change of pace piece when offence is needed. His contract isn't terrible with two years left at $17.5M/yr, and given Wemby, Castle and Harper are still on rookie deals, it doesn't really hurt that much to keep him on the roster. As much as we like to make fun of the power of friendship, him bringing up the morale of the team with his infectious positive at ude does have it's value, whether it's $17.5/yr worth of value is another question.
Wesley is a deep-bench piece so I am not overly worried about this. He has shown flashes of potential, and last year he became a better decision maker. His shooting is ghastly, but he is at least shooting them, to a degree. He is still below average as a player in the league, but if he was above average, he'd be starting. Him doing what he did, keep his head down and improving, as a 25th pick, is something I have to give kudos to him for. I still like him, I wish him further improvement, whether with the Spurs or somewhere else. Hope he can turn it into a Jeff Teague/Lindsay Hunter/Brandon Knight type of career. I will be rooting for him where ever he goes.
Sochan is better suited as a SF on defence, and PF on offence (because he can't shoot at all, or worse yet, won't shoot). He is a good cutter, he is a very good offensive rebounder so those count, but he does bog down the offence and if Carter ever develops fully (not likely in the short term) and a rim running, rebounding PF could be found, Sochan would become expendable. That said, his on ball perimeter defence is very strong, and he has the versatility to guard 1 to 4 (small 4) so that is something that isn't overly easy to replace. I don't think he has to be a lights out, or even average shooter. 32%, 4 attempts a game would help open up his own game, and more importantly the Spurs offence so much.
Barnes I still want to keep for his veteran presence alone. He can stroke it from outside which is a big plus. He may not be vocal but he seems to be patient type who would help guide the younger players to do the right thing. He would occasionally create some offence but those are few and far between. Only if he could rebound like a normal PF, but alas.
Vassell, I don't know. On paper his shooting is needed. In fact, he has a better eFG% than Fox, but he kept putting up these questionable shots and absolutely putrid defence. I think he still has good value around the league so trading him out for a PF or a backup C could help the team. But then we lose an offensive creator who can nail tough shots once in a while. To me, he really isn't that much worse than Cam Johnson, but I really have no patience left for his game.
Julian Champagnie is a keeper for sure, incredible contract, doesn't make too many dumb mistakes, plays within his role, can shoot it straight, reminds me of a Temu Danny Green, at a Temu price. The next step really is to have him be more of a threat from inside the arc. He actually shot more than double in 3s than he did 2s last year, which is why his FG% is so bad even though his 2p and 3p %s aren't terrible. His eFT% was actually passable. He has to start expanding his offensive game a little more though. He pretty much cannot create at all, when 97% of his 3s were assisted, and 73.5% of his 2s were as well, and those are his career lows already (used to be about 100% and 85% respectively). That's his role and he does well in it, but it wouldn't hurt if he can start, little by little, expand his game to put some more pressure on the defence. He shoots 90% from the line, but only shoots 1.1 a game, which is sort of a waste. That said, perhaps he did well in his role because it's so limited.
Branham I think should be gone by now, just didn't see any improvements from him in 3 years. He was a swing, and there is a place for him in the league. He can heat up in a hurry but he can also go absolutely invisible for long stretches. The guy actually ranks #5 on the team in points per possession, which is insane. Part of it is small sample size, part of it is he plays in garbage time, but the reality is that he is not afraid to let it fly. Whether that's a good thing of not is up to you (I think it's not), but in the right system, Branham can be a useful bench player, I am just pretty sure that system is not the Spurs.
^^ nice post
Sochan is a major piece of the core and should not be traded imo. He has elite defense for his position and his stroke is looking greatly improved from the latest work he put in.
I would like Barnes to stay. This team needs a vet and he still plays solid defense and that corner 3 is money.
Love our longest tenured Spur Kelden, but he is undersized for a wing and can't shoot good enough to play sg. I know they tried to improve his defense by having him drop weight in hopes he could guard sg's, but it didn't yield good enough results.
Devin is one of those players that seems to play his best when he is the guy, but can't seem to bring consistency when he isn't. With his contract being too high, he is the next to go imo, but finding a team to take him might be a tough sell atm. I think teams are going to take some time to see what they have and a trade is more likely based on need before the trade deadline.
Branham just has to go period. There is no room for him at this point.
First world problems. Harper is far-and away the second best player in this draft with All-Star potential. Worst case, if Fox leaves in a few years, we have an insane Harper-Castle duo. Harper is a super cheap second string guard, that will probably start some games if Fox/Castle sit out. If he improves his jumper, which I'm sure he will, he'll be amazing.
I get the logjam concern, but I’m not rushing to dump guys just to clear space. Sochan is super valuable defensively—switchable, high motor, can guard 1–4—and if he ever figures out the shot or at least plays next to real spacing (Bryant, Vassell, Castle, etc.), he fits fine. You don’t give up on that upside at 21 just because the offense is behind. That’s on the coaching staff to scheme smarter lineups. Vassell still has the highest ceiling at SG. He’s streaky and frustrating, sure, but he's also the only one who consistently creates his own shot on the wing and can shoot off movement. That has real value, especially once Fox and Castle start drawing real defensive attention. Bryant's not ready yet, but if he hits, we’ll finally have some real shooting at the 3/4 to balance Sochan.
Keldon’s the obvious odd man out if someone has to go. Love the energy, love the locker room presence, but his fit gets murkier every year. That said, he’s still a perfect change-of-pace scorer off the bench—basically a turbocharged sixth man.
But trading Vassell just to "solve the logjam" or for some mid-tier PF is a bad idea. Unless we’re getting a real long-term piece back, you don’t deal your best shooting wing when your franchise player is a big who needs spacing.
Sochan provides very good man to man perimeter defense. He defends 2's and 3's very well. he doesnt defend bigs particularly well. he is a reasonable rebounder for a 4. doesnt provide much by way of rim protection. i dont see his team/help defense as anything remarkable.
offensively he plays more like a 4/5 as mostly a cutter/dunker. 75% of his FGA come within 10 feet. on those shots between 3-10 feet, he shot 36%. he's basically a restricted area scorer while being 6'8 and not particularly burly
given the disconnect between what he does on defense and what he does on offense, it becomes quite difficult to assemble a lineup with him that covers our bases on both ends. luckily for him wemby is a stretch 5, but with our subpar shooting from both guard spots, its hard to see sochan working out long term unless his shooting changes drastically. if he is paid as a bench defender/energy guy, then fine, keep him around. jonathan isaac basically has that role for Orlando, is a much more impactful help defender, and he was signed to a 4/59 deal (it was technically 5/84 with a renegotiation but they overpaid in the first year because they had cap room to do so, so he got paid 25 mil that first year). that deal already looks terrible, but thats also due to isaac being consistently hurt.
the silver lining with him is how young he is, as he was one of the younger guys in that draft class. he's a 3 year vet and just turned 22 last month. for reference cedric coward, one of the guys we were looking at with the 14 pick, will be 22 before the season starts
Last edited by spurraider21; 06-27-2025 at 03:59 PM.
Omitting low minutes shared, Wemby's best pairings by net point differential per 100 possessions last season were with CP3 (+6.2), Sochan (+5.9), Barnes (+5.4), and Champ (+4.4), and the worst by far were with Keldon (-3.3) and Vassell (-3.1): https://www.basketball-reference.com..._lineups-2-man. Obviously, that doesn't tell the whole story due to who else is on the court, but I think it matches what my eyes saw. Vassell had a down year so it's fair to think there might be a recovery. Looking at Wemby's rookie season, Vassell was his second best pairing (+1.6) but Keldon was fifth (-4.4): https://www.basketball-reference.com..._lineups-2-man.
I'm not rushing Keldon out the door as he may have utility off the bench, but he's clearly the odd man out in my eyes.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions