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He’s looked better since summer league
Before the season began, we all knew Blakes problems. He couldn't finish, turned the ball over frequently, and was too chaotic on offense.
What do y'all see improvement wise this year so far? I think he's earned more minutes, especially with the lack of guard play.
He’s looked better since summer league
He's finally finishing at the hoop. Game changing on offense since that should be his bread and butter for scoring. His defense looks really good too. Mal needs to start losing minutes to Wesley.
I really see a sense of calm in his face. He seemed totally lost last season. He looks like he's adjusting mentally.
His game is reflecting this with more control and he is using his natural gifts to his advantage. He really looked like a player who had barely been coached.
He looked like a Lonnie Walker type of panicked finisher, but, that seems to be changing. His speed and quickness make him a defensive pest for about any opposing guard.
It's great to see him mature. Branham may be out of a job if Wesley keeps growing.
At least for now, he's reading the floor much better and recognizing opportunities. Before, if he could blow by a defender, he did, leading into a thicket. Before, I said he'd need to figure out the 'middle part' -- what to do once getting past his defender. Now, he's looking up, keeping his dribble, and locating possibilities. This helps read when he can try the basket or not.
He deserves more PT, especially since he's a good defender. This might help move Branham off the lead guards, where he's terrible, and hide him better.
g league play does wonders
Considering the state of our playmaking, he should be the backup point guard.
Give him at least 15mpg in 20ish consecutive games to see if he can be useful in the future.
it's a very small sample size, and could change in a minute, but blake is definitely trending better than maliki is at this time.
He looks better. He doesn't look good though. No reason to give up on him, but it would be nice if he weren't playing.
Why would you say this? Branham is being asked to do far more than Wesley is at this point.
Because whatever he is asked, branham does very poorly. With the exception of pull up midrange jumpers, a near useless skill for a role player
Last edited by spurraider21; 01-11-2024 at 12:45 PM.
dont get this at all
mostly teams are taking us less seriously.
Pop can easily remove or reduce the minutes of either Cedi or Doug to facilitate more minutes for Blake. Either way, I think we are almost at the point of the season where minutes should be allocated to Wesley.
He has too intriguing and unique a skill set on this pretty unathletic team to continue to be glued to the bench. If we can watch 15 or 20 games of Sochan failed experiment at PG, then we can obviously go the rest of the season with Wesley's dynamic & chaotic game at back up, IMO.
Also, I'm of the camp that Malaki would be much better served sharing ballhandling duties off the bench and being able to play off-ball more. Graham isn't being utilized at all this season, so the next best solution is to start pairing Wesley-Branham more.
Last edited by J_Paco; 01-11-2024 at 01:14 PM.
Like I said, he's being asked far more than Wesley right now. He's also playing out of position most of the time. He's not a lead guard at this point.
You guys need to slow your roll on second year players, but I know you won't. It's SpursTalk disease.
If you don't believe Wesley's playing good defense, he hasn't really looked that good. The team should be playing Graham.
but hes doesnt really do much of what you'd want the off-ball guard to do, either.
he's not a floor spacer. he's not much of a threat going to the rim or in transition. and he is helpless defensively no matter what position he's being asked to guard.
at least with a second year devin, you could see the traits he has that had to be refined or made consistent. or murray. heck we're at least seeing positive traits from wesley
thats a big if. you dont think his defense has been a sight for sore eyes?
and ive said multiple times graham should be in the rotation, though i think he should play alongside wesley, not instead of him. branham needs to be banished to the gleague until he can figure out how to be a useful player in any capacity. wesley/graham should be the backup backcourt
im fine with growing pains in a dead season, the caveat is there needs to be some light at the end of the tunnel (unlike the point sochan and point branham experiments). i also still value playing vet types like Tre/Graham because they give the squad on the floor some direction and functionality where you can actually have proper development and experience
Looks better than last year by a mile, but still rushed on the offensive end. It was actually interesting seeing him and Ivey together last night since Blake, with his speed, was billed as the poor man's Ivey during tht draft process.
If nothing else he looks worthy of a roster spot next season. Couldn't say that three months ago.
Probably mentioned but Blake and Jaden grew up together in South Bend. They used to guard each other going hard up and down the court. Wesley is really good guarding full court at this point and that's probably a reason why.
He's not great but making huge progress. It's a developmental year, so...let's continue to develop him. Rewarding him with playing time for playing attentive, aggressive defense is a good idea to me considering our awful defense. It would set an expectation for other players if nothing else.
not much, but we are so bad defensively that his defense helps us a ton. Offensively I haven't seen enough, but I hope he can put it together.
People crap on our 3 draft picks but pretty much everyone who graded that class said we did an excellent job with our picks. I understand we live in a generation that wants instant satisfaction but it is not going to happen with these guys and guess what it is not going to happen with our 2024 draft picks.
As far as Blake I am glad he is looking better but no way I want to throw him back in the Ocean and watch him drown. I think they are doing the right thing in giving him a few minutes every game let him build his confidence and start to better understand the offensive side so no problem with the baby steps. Sometimes you have to take a few steps back before you can move forward which is the case with Blake.
Interesting, I didn’t know that.
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