Let’s get this out of the way at the start: Everyone loves Gregg Popovich. He is a five-time NBA champion, the league’s all-time winningest coach and led the U.S. men’s national team to a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Moreover, if a tragic event were to occur in the world, the person in the NBA he would most want to hear from is Pop (Doc Rivers and Steve Kerr are next in line). But love cannot overcome a difficult problem. Here’s the thing: Why are the San Antonio Spurs so bad?
This year the Spurs’ winning percentage is under .200. After playing 55 games, they barely managed a double-digit win (11-44). The Spurs also have one of the best and most exciting players in the NBA in rookie Victor Wembanyama, along with other talented youngsters like Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson and Jeremy Sochan. Can we really live in a world where the New York Knicks are paragons of decision-making and the Spurs are somehow jerks? But perhaps there is a method to the team’s recent madness; For the sake of the fans, let’s hope so.
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Heading into the 2023-24 season, the Spurs were the biggest winners of the season. They had the right to select Wembanyama with the first pick in the 2023 draft. The 7ft 4in big man from France has been breathlessly hyped as the best prospect in the history of team sports. He can shoot from outside, dribble like a winger, and defend like a spruce tree. However, as Wembanyama said, he came to the NBA not wanting to play center. With a lean frame and a desire to show off his outside skills, he didn’t want to have to just hit the bottom of the basket.
So the Spurs, led by the Hall of Fame coach who recently signed a reported $80 million extension, acquiesced and began the season playing with a starting lineup that included middling center Zach Collins and no true point guard. To the surprise of several NBA fans, the team got off to a slow start despite a couple of big wins against the Phoenix Suns in November. But when asked during a game in Portland in late December if he had observed rookie Scoot Henderson before the game, Pop replied, “Have you checked our record?” he replied. So he wasn’t spending time thinking about other players while his season was going on. This bad.
But Wembanyama, who is currently averaging nearly 20 points, 10 rebounds and more than three blocks per game (including 10 in the last win), is game Center. Collins is on the bench and Pop has finally started adding young point guard Tre Jones. As a result, the Spurs even enjoyed a two-game winning streak in mid-January. In the second, San Antonio beat Minnesota, one of the league’s best teams and one with many talented big men. In this match, Wemby recorded a triple-double with 23 points, while Jones recorded 12 points and 11 assists. But the question is, has 75-year-old Pop done this before? And if so, why didn’t he do it?
Koç said that he and his team will work with a wait-and-see approach before the 2023-24 season. Development of Wembanyama. They wanted to bring him in slowly and let him and those around him make mistakes; Better now than later, they thought. And that’s okay. Rookies need time, games and years. Spice. Although Wemby should be on par with the likes of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, very few rookies will be competing to begin with. And both Pop and Wemby seem to be getting along well so far. Regardless, the real concern is: Could a poor 2023-24 season have a negative impact on his development? Or that of the young supporting cast? Is Pop’s strategy really too risky?
Maybe. Every result every time possible. Despite the best care and intentions, injuries or malfunctions can occur. But when it comes to someone the size of Wemby, the anxiety becomes even more severe. As his career progresses, the Frenchman’s best-case scenario would be an NBA life like that of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, another very tall, towering center who was famous in his youth. Kareem played for two decades. But the worst-case scenario is giant, otherworldly talents more like Yao Ming or Ralph Sampson whose time is cut short due to lower-body injuries. There is no guarantee that any rookie will excel in the future. And it seems even less so for a giant like Wembanyama. Simply put, do Spurs really have time to linger?
So where is the senior leadership to help? None other than the rarely used Devonte’ Graham or journeyman Cedi Osman. Despite plenty of young talent, San Antonio has no established players as winners. For Wembanyama, who often looks like a fawn on the field as much as he is a generational player, he needs someone to tell him that from time to time. go there, do that. He plays the ball outside most of the time and that’s exactly where his opponents want him. He’s not near the rim, he can touch his toes. In the Spurs’ last game before the All-Star break, the team lost 116-93 to Dallas, which had two great point guards. Is it good to lose by 23 points? Wemby is 20 years old. Where are the adults who will step up their game?
“If you think the Spurs made any significant moves last summer other than the No. 1 pick, that’s your responsibility. They told us they didn’t. Whether you agree with their approach or not, they were upfront and spoke publicly about it.” Jeff McDonald, Spurs beat writer, recently he wrote on Twitter. HE Additional“[T]”The Spurs wanted to scout Victor all season, see how he adapted or didn’t adapt to the NBA game, then go out and buy the pieces that fit best.”
In Kareem’s second season, the Milwaukee Bucks traded for Oscar Robinson and won the 1970-71 championship. Later in his career, he played with Magic Johnson and “Cap” won five more rings. Yes, it is important to have an all-world playmaker. However, to date Spurs have refused to bring a guard to play at Wemby. There were rumors of a trade for Dejounte Murray earlier this year. Before the season, future Hall of Famer Damian Lillard had his sights set on the series. In the summer, San Antonio could sign restricted free agent Austin Reaves off the Lakers. Or they could package up some of their promising young players — Vassell is averaging close to 20 points per game, Johnson is scoring around 16 and three others are scoring in double figures for the big-name vet. The Spurs also boast a number of high draft picks – their own and a few others; The deal that sent Murray to Atlanta included a handful from Atlanta. But all they gave Wemby in year one was Jones, a talented albeit untested second-round pick who Pop inexplicably refused to start in the first half of the year. From where?
“Spurs’ chance of escape is zero percent” [it] We will be back next season. If they do that, I will help you all sharpen your pitchforks,” McDonald said. he tweeted.
Maybe this summer will be the turning point. If so, the Spurs would have a year to watch Wemby adapt to the NBA. Theoretically, they see who plays well with them and the team could put together an asset package to trade for a star like Trae Young, LaMelo Ball, Darius Garland or Cade Cunningham, all of whom could be acquired for the right price. And there are other point guards who could be signed below a level, like Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, Mike Conley or Malcolm Brogdon. Or maybe Jones himself will turn into an All-Star. He’s averaged nearly 12 points and 6 assists per game over the past two years and is only 24 years old. And although he’s only six feet tall, Wemby will be behind him to close the circle like a T-Rex does the sun.
All of these may be true. But what’s most puzzling is why Pop, whose last winning season came in 2018-19, is seemingly dragging his feet. It all started at the start of this season, when he decided to bring on not only Collins but also striker Sochan to replace Jones. In a way, the only explanation for this could be that Spurs are guaranteed. there was This year is bad. Maybe that was Pop’s master plan? After all, there is something about the NBA that encourages being bad. The worse the record, the better the draft pick. Or maybe there is another possibility.
Maybe Pop was stacking the psychological deck against his budding star at Wembanyama? Perhaps Pop gave him a way to prove that – without a reliable playmaker – Wemby’s rookie ambitions were untenable, as the brilliant Frenchman spoke after being drafted about playing forward and controlling the ball rather than center. (It is known to send a message, after all.) In the same way that parents force their children to smoke a carton of cigarettes when they catch them inhaling, perhaps Pop was playing mind games? Maybe, maybe not. However, in pre-season he spoke passionately about:add more wins.” Now Pop says it’s gonna increase Wemby’s workload after the All-Star break.
So far there doesn’t seem to be any real harm or real foul play. No matter what the Spurs did this year, they weren’t going to win a championship. Playing at a Wemby All-Star level historical usage outrage(albeit limited minutes) and after 55 games he inevitably has a better idea of where he is and who he’s working around in the current squad. These are victories. And with a few moves in the offseason, the Spurs could become a playoff team, perhaps pushing their win total to more than 30 or even 40 games. But if you’re not careful, bad habits can grow like mold in a petri dish. Some members of the team regressed this year, including Johnson. While it should have bloomed, its minutes were cut off. Johnson, who scored 22 points per game as a starter last year, dropped to 16 this year and is regularly coming off the bench.
In fact, every strategy has undesirable consequences and collateral damage. Maybe a regression like Johnson’s is inevitable. But in the end, why Spurs have been so bad this year is partly clear (sitting Jones), partly unclear (is this all part of a plan?). The hope, of course, is that Wemby becomes a skyscraper. now an NBA shooter, has not or will not lose ground as a budding star. Given the Spurs’ bottom-feeding record, there’s nowhere to go but up. Many fans hope so. The NBA is better when the Spurs are good. The NBA is better when its first-year rookie plays in meaningful games. Fans want to see Wemby against the best and as mentioned above everyone loves Pop; even though we don’t always understand it.