Grades: Spurs vs. Mavericks - Oct. 25, 2023

[wildbill2u]

I've been pretty hard on KJ, but I have to give him some props for this game which might have been his best effort ever...until he reverted to dumb, bullish KJ in the last few minutes. He just got excited, lost his head, and tried to do too much on his own.

[Obstructed_View]

I've been pretty hard on KJ, but I have to give him some props for this game which might have been his best effort ever...until he reverted to dumb, bullish KJ in the last few minutes. He just got excited, lost his head, and tried to do too much on his own.

I tend to probably be the opposite toward KJ because I love his passion for the game. He did get excited and try to do too much. The mistake he made was thinking he would get veteran calls from a Tony Brothers crew.

[Killakobe81]

I noticed early on that Victor had one possession where he wasn't close enough to challenge a three point attempt, but still jumped straight up with his arms extended as a distraction, and the shot missed. This is a trend popularized last season by back up center Luke Kornet of the Celtics, and I think in Wemby's case it's a legit item for the tool box. He only registered one block last night, but the number of times players altered their arcs and missed, plus the number of times players avoided his zone-- not as in a zone defense, but as in his own personal zone-- was significant.

Noticed this too …
I get he is young but I would suggest to pick spots on that for a couple reasons…
One injury is probably the only thing that stops him from becoming a star …potentially a superstar.
I’m
Not ready to anoint him as potentially greater than Tim (but upside is immense) but jumping to alter 3 point shots comes fraught with risk.
I believe there is only so much jumps in someone’s knee I don’t want to waste them on a shot most shoot under 40% …
Plus him suffering a Kawhi type injury landing on a players foot should be ever Spur fans worst nightmare…
In key spots to win a game stop a run in a key game or if he chasing Steph or Dame on a switch I say go for it but I’m not …
encouraging that as frequent strategy..
plus it will be even more effective if he chooses his spots.

[Vince Carter's ankle]

Pop has done this before

I know a ty player when I see one and Sochans highest possible ceiling is Ime Udoka

[CorrectCrusader]

the problem is that he’s 7’5” and all of his jumpers are technically clean looks. I mean, if that’s the case he should shoot 10 3’s a game if he’s going to average >=60%

Exactly, he can just shoot over people. Y'all are gonna have to learn to live with the jumpers. They'll be the most efficient jumper in the league

[CorrectCrusader]

I tend to probably be the opposite toward KJ because I love his passion for the game. He did get excited and try to do too much. The mistake he made was thinking he would get veteran calls from a Tony Brothers crew.

Can't wait for the overreactions to end when we play a ref crew that isn't braindead

[Chinook]

We wouldn't know if it's offense or what Wemby can do if they spam A because they didn't even ing bother to get him the ball. I'm not saying run every single play thru him. But the guys on the court need to recognize when he is in a position to score rather than looking around to run some stupid play when Wemby has position. He can literally just shoot over anybody. So I think him running down the court calling for the ball warrants passing him the goddamn ball to see what he can do. Again I'm not saying run every play thru him but it's pretty obvious that they were not running the offense thru him at all

Like I said, instead of looking for Vic they were running offense like it was last season, like they didn't have the most sought after prospect in two decades on the court. Even with foul trouble, 9 shot attempts in 23 minutes is inexcusable

The question I would have is if he's in a position to score when he's calling for the ball and if his teammates are in a position to get him the ball. In my memory, there were times those conditions were met and guys didn't get him. But there were also times where he was running down the court looking for his while were in the middle of a play or before the ball had even crossed the timeline. As I mentioned before, Wemby's going to struggle to hold a seal on a lot of defenders for a while, so he needs to be more selective about when he does it. Throwing a lot of long passes down the court is how you end up with a lot of turnovers and no rhythm.

There are some pretty straight-forward things the Spurs could do to get Wemby the ball consistently in a good position to score. For example:

[IMG]https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:509/1*xT-07I7Y4EBUxuXcQNk8yg.png[/IMG]

This is an extremely simple action. Let’s say 1 is Vassell, 2 is Wemby, 3 is Johnson, 4 is Sochan and 5 is Collins. Have Sochan bring the ball up the court and pass it to Vassell at the top of the arc. Sochan then runs down to the bottom baseline and screen Wemby’s man. Wemby then runs around the screen for the jumper. If his man runs under the screen, he can sit behind it for an easy 8-10 footer. If his man goes over the screen, he can step inside for a dunk or drop it off to Collins for a dunk if Zach’s man slides over. No matter which way Wemby’s man goes, Victor can run out the three-point line just as easily. From there, he can take the three or toss the ball to Sochan for a close-in post opportunity. If Devin’s man gets in the way, Vic can make the easy pass to Vassell for an open three. If Vassell’s man presses up to disrupt the pass, Devin can call for Zach to screen to open up a three, a drive or a PnR.

I understand this is an experimental season, but it's also a long season. Bad habits can be formed if there's no offense. I would much rather the team be stunted as they ignore prime opportunities in pursuit of establishing fundamentals than everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off with the one rule in their minds being to throw it to one player. Wemby is already very good, but he has a lot of learn about how to use his body effectively in the NBA. It would do him a lot of good to get his openings from an offense that features him rather than instilling in him that he has to run down and make and hold his own opportunities.

[Chinook]

True, but in crunch time it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to throw the ball to wemby or Vassell. But wemby also needs to do a better job of getting near the rim which as you noted is something he will need to learn

I don't know that throwing the ball to Vassell when he's not open is a good strategy. He doesn't have a lot of floor game right now without being sprung. The team just lacks a crunch time play-maker ala even DeRozan. Maybe someone will grow into that player, but there aren't any good candidates right now.

[sfernald]

This post is so ing stupid, I'm embarrassed for whoever wrote it.

it was cathartic tho. I’m good now.

[Atl Spur]

it was cathartic tho. I’m good now.

Smh….lol

[Amuseddaysleeper]

I don't know that throwing the ball to Vassell when he's not open is a good strategy. He doesn't have a lot of floor game right now without being sprung. The team just lacks a crunch time play-maker ala even DeRozan. Maybe someone will grow into that player, but there aren't any good candidates right now.

True. I hope we are also done with the Sochan as PG experiment for now.

[JPB]

Wemby comes in and scores 9 points in 3 minutes the gets 1 touch the rest of the game. Everyone decided to play hero ball the last 5 minutes of the game.

Pop gotta fix that and make everyone un derstand this is Victor's team.