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The home stand continues with the first meeting of the season against the San Antonio Spurs. Once a perennial winner the Spurs have fallen on hard times with a 5-29 record. They actually started 3-2 but have since lost 27 of 29 games. They had two early road wins, but in the last two months their only road win was against 9-24 Portland.
In their last game on Thursday in San Antonio the Spurs lost a close one to the Milwaukee Bucks by a 124-121 score. The video of the last minute and a half is worth a watch as is the Victor Wembanyama highlight video of that game.
The thing about Wemby is that if you watch his highlights he’s doing amazing things that nobody else can do and you think you’re watching an All-Star. But if you never heard of him and just looked at his numbers you’d think he’s just another struggling rookie. He averages 19.2 ppg and 10.1 rebounds shooting 45% overall and 29% on 3’s. He plays 29 minutes per game with 3.2 blocks.
However, he’s only in the 16th percentile among bigs in points per shot attempt, the 9th percentile in effective field goal percentage, and the 23rd percentile in turnover percentage. He’s well above average at the rim (77th percentile) but sucks away from the rim (16th percentile on mid-range shots and 13th percentile on 3’s).
He makes some jaw-dropping plays but overall he’s an inefficient scorer. For example, Jarrett Allen averages 138 points per 100 shots while Wemby averages 109.
SG Devin Vassell averages 18.6 ppg, SF Keldon Johnson 17.5, and F Jeremy Sochan 10.8. PF Zach Collins, who averages 13 points on 50% from the field, is out. Johnson and Sochan are listed as game time decisions.
Former Cav Cedi Osman averages 7.5 points on 46% overall and 36% on 3’s. Cedi averages 18.4 minutes per game. If that number stays constant this will be the fifth year in a row his minutes have gone down. In the 2018-19 season he averaged 32 minutes. When you’re 28 years old and your minutes have declined five years in a row, you know that can’t be good. When you’re down to 18 minutes on a 5-29 team, it’s worse. He might be playing in Turkey next year.
As a team the Spurs rank 26th in scoring. They’re 29th in offensive efficiency but they play very fast, ranking 4th in field goal attempts per game and 8th in fast break points. They seem to understand they are poor shooters so they try to score off fast breaks or at least rush the ball up and take the shot before the defense can set up. Being coached by Pops they will pass the ball, ranking 5th in assists per possessions. They just don’t shoot well. They’re 27th in effective FG percentage.
They seem to be trying to develop themselves into a 3-point shooting team as they rank 10th in 3-rate despite ranking 29th in 3-point percentage. It’s like they’re going to keep jacking up 3’s until they start going in, no matter how many they miss. They’re only 26th in offensive rebound percentage so if they miss the first one that’s usually it. Wemby only averages 2.2 offensive boards in his 29 minutes - he’s better on the defensive glass.
They also turn the ball over a lot, ranking 24th in turnovers per possession. The only offensive areas they’re good at are assists and fast break points, so the key is to get back hard on defense so they don’t get easy shots in transition and make them get into their half-court offense.
Defensively they’re 27th in points allowed per game. They’re not good at anything defensively except blocked shots, where they rank 10th thanks to Wemby (3.2 per game). They’re especially bad at defending 3’s with the second worst opponent 3-point percentage. They’re well below average at forcing turnovers.
Obviously this is a team that is not in the Cavaliers’ league. They’ve won two games in the last two months. They did throw a scare into Milwaukee three nights ago (at home) but generally they’ve been very bad. Their point differential of -11.7 is worst in the Association. You have to love the potential of Wemby but beyond that there’s not much to like about this team. I think Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell are solid NBA starters but beyond that I’m not impressed.
Johnson was drafted with the 29th pick of the 2019 draft, three picks after the Cavaliers took Dylan Windler, who then coach John Bielein was in love with. What a mistake that was. Johnson averaged 22 ppg last year and has started 231 games, which is approximately 231 more than Windler has started. In fact, Johnson may have more starts than Windler has minutes played in his “career”.
Talk about sustained excellence, from 1994 to 2017 (24 seasons) the Spurs failed to win 50 games only once, not counting one short season when they went 37-13. They won 60 or more games seven times, including their 67-15 season in 2015-16. That team didn’t even make it to the Finals to face the Cavaliers; they lost in the semis 4-2 to the Durant/Westbrook Oklahoma City Thunder, who then lost in the Western Conference Finals to the Warriors. What an amazing year that was! The 73-9 Warriors lost the the 57-25 Cavaliers in the Finals.
After their 61-win season in ’16-’17 the Spurs dropped a notch, winning 47 and 48 games the next two years before falling another level, winning 32, 33, and 34 games. Last year they slipped another notch to 22 wins and this year they’re on pace for 12 wins, which should be rock bottom. At least they have what is probably the next great NBA superstar to build around. They also have three first round picks this year (including their own which will be top 3 most likely) and three more in 2025. Then two more 1sts in 2026, 2027 and 2028, plus too many 2nd round picks to count. That’s 12 first round picks in the next five drafts and they already have Wemby.
Pops turns 75 this month. Better beat him while you can; he’ll be back on top before very long.
In their last game on Thursday in San Antonio the Spurs lost a close one to the Milwaukee Bucks by a 124-121 score. The video of the last minute and a half is worth a watch as is the Victor Wembanyama highlight video of that game.
The thing about Wemby is that if you watch his highlights he’s doing amazing things that nobody else can do and you think you’re watching an All-Star. But if you never heard of him and just looked at his numbers you’d think he’s just another struggling rookie. He averages 19.2 ppg and 10.1 rebounds shooting 45% overall and 29% on 3’s. He plays 29 minutes per game with 3.2 blocks.
However, he’s only in the 16th percentile among bigs in points per shot attempt, the 9th percentile in effective field goal percentage, and the 23rd percentile in turnover percentage. He’s well above average at the rim (77th percentile) but sucks away from the rim (16th percentile on mid-range shots and 13th percentile on 3’s).
He makes some jaw-dropping plays but overall he’s an inefficient scorer. For example, Jarrett Allen averages 138 points per 100 shots while Wemby averages 109.
SG Devin Vassell averages 18.6 ppg, SF Keldon Johnson 17.5, and F Jeremy Sochan 10.8. PF Zach Collins, who averages 13 points on 50% from the field, is out. Johnson and Sochan are listed as game time decisions.
Former Cav Cedi Osman averages 7.5 points on 46% overall and 36% on 3’s. Cedi averages 18.4 minutes per game. If that number stays constant this will be the fifth year in a row his minutes have gone down. In the 2018-19 season he averaged 32 minutes. When you’re 28 years old and your minutes have declined five years in a row, you know that can’t be good. When you’re down to 18 minutes on a 5-29 team, it’s worse. He might be playing in Turkey next year.
As a team the Spurs rank 26th in scoring. They’re 29th in offensive efficiency but they play very fast, ranking 4th in field goal attempts per game and 8th in fast break points. They seem to understand they are poor shooters so they try to score off fast breaks or at least rush the ball up and take the shot before the defense can set up. Being coached by Pops they will pass the ball, ranking 5th in assists per possessions. They just don’t shoot well. They’re 27th in effective FG percentage.
They seem to be trying to develop themselves into a 3-point shooting team as they rank 10th in 3-rate despite ranking 29th in 3-point percentage. It’s like they’re going to keep jacking up 3’s until they start going in, no matter how many they miss. They’re only 26th in offensive rebound percentage so if they miss the first one that’s usually it. Wemby only averages 2.2 offensive boards in his 29 minutes - he’s better on the defensive glass.
They also turn the ball over a lot, ranking 24th in turnovers per possession. The only offensive areas they’re good at are assists and fast break points, so the key is to get back hard on defense so they don’t get easy shots in transition and make them get into their half-court offense.
Defensively they’re 27th in points allowed per game. They’re not good at anything defensively except blocked shots, where they rank 10th thanks to Wemby (3.2 per game). They’re especially bad at defending 3’s with the second worst opponent 3-point percentage. They’re well below average at forcing turnovers.
Obviously this is a team that is not in the Cavaliers’ league. They’ve won two games in the last two months. They did throw a scare into Milwaukee three nights ago (at home) but generally they’ve been very bad. Their point differential of -11.7 is worst in the Association. You have to love the potential of Wemby but beyond that there’s not much to like about this team. I think Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell are solid NBA starters but beyond that I’m not impressed.
Johnson was drafted with the 29th pick of the 2019 draft, three picks after the Cavaliers took Dylan Windler, who then coach John Bielein was in love with. What a mistake that was. Johnson averaged 22 ppg last year and has started 231 games, which is approximately 231 more than Windler has started. In fact, Johnson may have more starts than Windler has minutes played in his “career”.
Talk about sustained excellence, from 1994 to 2017 (24 seasons) the Spurs failed to win 50 games only once, not counting one short season when they went 37-13. They won 60 or more games seven times, including their 67-15 season in 2015-16. That team didn’t even make it to the Finals to face the Cavaliers; they lost in the semis 4-2 to the Durant/Westbrook Oklahoma City Thunder, who then lost in the Western Conference Finals to the Warriors. What an amazing year that was! The 73-9 Warriors lost the the 57-25 Cavaliers in the Finals.
After their 61-win season in ’16-’17 the Spurs dropped a notch, winning 47 and 48 games the next two years before falling another level, winning 32, 33, and 34 games. Last year they slipped another notch to 22 wins and this year they’re on pace for 12 wins, which should be rock bottom. At least they have what is probably the next great NBA superstar to build around. They also have three first round picks this year (including their own which will be top 3 most likely) and three more in 2025. Then two more 1sts in 2026, 2027 and 2028, plus too many 2nd round picks to count. That’s 12 first round picks in the next five drafts and they already have Wemby.
Pops turns 75 this month. Better beat him while you can; he’ll be back on top before very long.
He's a top 3 basketball coach of all time, and I fucking love him. Wish other head coaches could be that refreshingly honest
