Most likely because teams were trying to trade up for Haliburton but apparently the Spurs liked Vassell more than the offers they got.
CIA Pop.
On that front though, if you'll recall, the Spurs took every second of their allotted time on draft night. And it even took longer than the 5 minutes as Reece Davis observed that there was some sort of delay.
Makes you wonder if it was just all part of the act so they can pull the ruse sometime down the line, lol
Most likely because teams were trying to trade up for Haliburton but apparently the Spurs liked Vassell more than the offers they got.
According to this article which is a year old Allan Houston states that his original intent was to stay with the Pistons and he was going to use the Knicks as leverage to get a good deal from the Pistons. What ended up happening was that he was impressed by the pitch Patrick Ewing and Knicks threw at him that it changed his mind about coming back to the Pistons.
https://www.newsday.com/sports/colum...ncy-1.30891816
He’s in camp practicing, so the answer must be yes.
In sum: Devin excels at being a weakside defender, is a great team defender.
We could see him REALLY shine if our players can be decent on ball defenders (Keldon, White, Lonnie). If the ball handler sees pressure, they'll make a reckless pass for an easy steal by Devin. This is probably what the Spurs envisioned.
DJ is probably a lesser version of Devin (funny because he was second team defense), but with them both on weakside, there could be a lot of steals this season.
Last edited by Dejounte; 12-07-2020 at 10:29 PM.
The question begs:
Is it harder to develop weakside defense than on-ball defense? Just for discussion only, and try to provide an unbiased answer.
We've all understood on-ball defense as being more impactful, but is that changing?
Good defense can be taught to most anyone. Great weakside defense requires a very strong knowledge of the game to see plays just before they happen.
The NBA doesn’t let you play on ball D the way they used to. You can no longer fight thru a pick without drawing a foul. You have to go under, which creates a shooting advantage, or follow over,which creates a driving advantage.
Devin not only understands his rotation, he understands where his NEXT rotation needs to be, and gets there.
Thinking about it gets me a boner
Dude, go see a doctor. That's not normal
I remember how Kawhi improved every year. It's the same with this guy in every aspect of his game. He's already better than rookie Kawhi offensively. If he's the gym rat as they say, dang Spurs hit the jackpot. I think Keldon can play the one-on-one defender, with DJ and Vassell as help defense?? Geez
I must say, the one thing I miss about Kawhi is his all around impact everywhere on the floor. Almost every play you could see his presence is felt. When I watch Kawhi now, it doesn't show as much. His prime truly was when he cared more about defense than offense. The article I posted a couple pages back seem to indicate Vassell may be capable of the same things Kawhi did when he was a Spur. I think it's a bit of a stretch to say he's better than rookie Kawhi... Let's wait and see.
Btw, Kawhi looks like he's gained weight. Is he committing himself to become a power forward?
Dude is built like a tank.
Can't wait for KJ and Nephew to lock horns...
Yeah, that's what I thought but never heard an announcement.
He signed when Jones did. Spurs tweet out a pic of the two of them putting pen to paper. Might be in the Jones thread.
Thanks man.
Does anyone listen to the Draft Dummies podcast? First of all it's very good, but most important Vassell was their number one prospect this year for months. They love this kid.
I don't think the question is whether he can turn into a very important player in the team the question is whether they will develop him correctly as mentioned by others on this thread and how long it will take.
Yeah, because they always fail at developing young first round players. Oh, wait, that never happened.
Unfortunately that's what i'm expecting too... very little playing time this year... but again I'm convinced Vassell can become a very good player.
For all the whining some have done over the Spurs not making a move, it's quite possible that the Spurs had Vassell really high on their board and were planning on doing a trade of some sort if he had gotten taken before #11. All teams have draft boards and contingency plans. The Spurs are one of the least likely teams to make a move, but that might be due to them getting the players they want and trusting their top-notch player development personnel.
I am OK with what happened so far it’s looking like Vassell is going to be a key player for us for years to come. Still crossing my fingers that Spurs can move one or two players to get draft capital first round or second round it doesn’t matter to me.
He should play a good amount. People focus too much on projected rotations, when in reality it's more rare than not to have the top 9-10 intact regularly and that's likely to be exacerbated this season.
He's next in line when any of them are out (with the possible exception of Aldridge/Poeltl, but even then they could go small before inserting Eubanks depending on the matchup) and since two already are, he'll have an immediate opportunity. If he takes advantage, there's no reason to think he won't continue to play.
Finally
Here's DeMar as a rookie for comparison.
He needs to get on that Keldon diet plan.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)