SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 11*: SPURS AT THUNDER, 14-11-2023, 6:30PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Sochan has to do a better job getting angles and positioning on his defender for that inbounds pass. He has to use his body to protect the inbounds pass. It's his responsibility to ensure it gets to his hands.

[imagump1313]

Yeah this stream blows too.

[G R E Y]

Charles Barkley said it best about Vassell. "You can never be great taking bad shots. Vassell takes too many bad shots. Yes he can make some tough shots, he's a good player. But he will never be great"

Sure its a small sample size of what the TNT guys see of our games, but I agree with him. We need to be better about getting him to take better shots within the offense. Even though our offense is a mess this year.

I think it's true that Dev takes ill-advised shots, but I fully believe he'll get better. He is spreading his wings in what he can do, that's one thing. Another is that shot selection improvement is also something he'll get better at.

Agreed with Chuck when he made that point, too, just don't think Dev is going to get stuck in this lane.

[G R E Y]

Missed shots and TOs make for a bad combination.

[G R E Y]

We have ELEVEN points with two minutes left in this Q.

[G R E Y]

3RD Q: SPURS 66 THUNDER 91

Wherein the wheels fell off, we only scored 18 points, only 1-8 from 3 while adding another 6 TOs.

Middle two Qs usually give us fits, and the pattern of giving up consecutive 30+ point Qs continues.

Consistency and energy need to be better. BBIQ. Playing better together.

[G R E Y]

See when Sochan got blocked there, why is he standing around? Run the **** back on D. That's what he's primarily there for.

[G R E Y]

24 TOs with over 5 minutes left.

TOs and bricks.

[G R E Y]

Holy **** Graham was looking up at the basket while the pass was being made to his open man behind him who made the shot. Incredible LMAO

[G R E Y]

Sure. Julian making 3s when it counts for naught.

[G R E Y]

And then no hand up to contest by Julian who gets a 3 shot in on him.

[imagump1313]

I couldn't get any stream to work for ****........ Doesn't look like I missed much.

Are we done with this stupid tournament now?

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 87 THUNDER 123

I didn't expect us to necessarily win this game, but I didn't expect us to lose it like this. Disappointing.

I get the questions about the point-Sochan experiment and I share the frustrations, and even though progress isn't linear, when bad patterns persist they need examining.

We're 11 games in, or just over 13% of the season. We had all these practices in the summer and reps together, presumably with Sochan at point. It was kept under wraps with it not being made public which player from last season's starting five would have to be coming off the bench. We knew for sure Zach, Wemby, and Devin would be starting. I thought it would be Keldon for a scoring punch/defensive limitations reasons.

For all that D talk, Keldon has continued to be a liability with late rotations, missed switches, late help D in between some good moments like that steal late in the Suns game and some blocks in others. But he wasn't playing tonight.

For all the Sochan good D talk (he is) and our need to shore up our bottom of the league D last season, putting Sochan as Devin's back court mate has not offset him learning point on the fly. He doesn't think like a PG, look at plays developing like a PG, handle the ball well, make plays like a PG. And we're frankly not confident with him at the helm. Too many mistakes with the ball in his hands.

For some reason, we are doing worse in basic fundamentals now than in the beginning of the season. We're not making outlet passes quickly, overdribbling before giving the ball up or picking up dribbles early, too many horizontal passes, missing obviously open team mates, not passing high enough to Wemby on alley oop attempts, and turning it over like we're just playing together for the first time. And that's not just on Sochan, but on the team as a whole.

Whatever the balance is between team confidence and learning resilience, we're at the precipice of it right now. Confidence comes from executing well and getting results, but we can't be expecting good results from what we're doing.

I understand the idea of a point-forward. And Sochan had shown some nice court vision last season -- as an off-ball PF. This may be too much for him right now and tonight was a **** it, head down type of game. Yes he led us with 5 assists, and Devin had 4, but we labour to execute basic schemes when good D teams put the clamps on us. Finding secondary actions is tough for us.

We may be trying too many things at once here. Wemby roaming around freely looking to see where and how he's most comfortable is something we'll adjust and eventually run more designed plays around. If we're doing point-Sochan to keep Keldon in the starting group and hide his defensive liabilities then we're haven't found the balance. It's not all on Keldon when we have, for reasons unknown, five Spurs in the paint as opponents drive and kick out to open first, second, and even third perimeter options. At some point, expecting the mistakes - be they defensive or on O - affects self belief. Again, this same starting group played better and more cohesively earlier in the season.

The issues we had coming into the season - defense and PGing and role for Wemby are the issues we have now, but worse.

It's worse, too, because our mental toughness and competitive spirit isn't there. The weaknesses are magnified and strengths are mitigated by good teams that have players who have been together longer and are farther along in their development.

If Pop sticks to the point-Sochan experiment, there's still room for improvement with the existing group, but it looks like they could use some alternatives. Maybe try point-Sochan either from the bench or in shorter spurts. Even though now anyone can initiate the O, when the ball is in Sochan's or Keldon's hands, we take too long to keep the ball moving. Sochan from lack of experience and needing more time to make right reads, Keldon from just being that type of slower decision maker. I thought after last season being the #1 option that this season decisions would come quicker for him, but when he has the ball in his hands he tends to need that extra hop, probing probing before making a move time span during which defenses adjust.

I like the idea of a 3&D at the 3. Someone who moves off ball better, who doesn't need the ball in his hands so much. I like the idea of better true position balance with the experimentation of point-forward (it's not Graham; I don't mind Tre there of course). I would like to see either Sochan or Keldon come off the bench at times. If we're experimenting, find other mixes that work.

Inefficient games happen. When they do, we have to have some bread and butter foundations from which proceed. Defensive IQ and effort. Ball protection. Toughness. Ways to get cheaper points.

Defensive IQ speaks for itself. We're allowing too many 30+ point Qs on repeated mistakes - bad habits like no hands up on a 3s shooter in front of you, five guys in the paint, not running back on D. Ball protection - 24TOs which cost us twenty-three points, and these came on 19 steals against. We're not making the right quick easy passes, we're not getting the right height on them, we're not getting the right body angles and targets for the side inbounder, we're trying too many risky passes through too little space or telegraphing them. Toughness - well Zach and Sochan had some frustration fouls, ok, but that's not resilience. That's not consistently protecting our paint - we lost PITP a whopping 60-38 tonight. Many opponents are bigger than us, but a lot of these are from bad D decisions, and effort. Cheap points - we were 6-9FTs. When teams are down, they find ways to stop the clock and get to the FT line. It's a tried and true method of stopping the team in rhythm and getting fouls to stack up which affects how defenses cover us. More alley oops. More P&Rs or pick and pops. Easy basic go-to plays.

Right now it feels like there are too many moving pieces to try and fit and guys are overwhelmed. If we can take these same steps but one at a time not all at once, we may fair better. Have to switch something up. Can't keep repeating the same mistakes expecting different results. There's pounding the rock, sure. We won the rebounds 43-40, and a convincing 13-4 on O boards. Better effort. Just goes to show that effort, speed, and positioning can make up for size. But there's pounding the rock, too, in trying different schemes, more set plays now, trying the two players who takes too long with the ball in their hands to make reads and execute. Get Wemby more catered plays.

At some point, if a more experienced guy is not executing on D, he has to sit and sit longer. If the ball sticks in someone's hands or he is not contributing beyond chucking and missing, sit. Simplify. Pick the non-negotiables that have to be there for every game so every player understands what they have ton contribute to get playing time.

I say that like I'm some pro coach and our coaching staff hadn't thought of it lol. I'm sure they have options no one even suggests here. And there are long term plans that none of us are privy to. But instead of the sky is falling hot takes, and no a PG isn't a cure all, though of course we'd look better with a true high quality one, the patterns I do see as a fan are just that with keeping in mind the balance among few reps together, long term plans, experimentation, and staying together through the tough times.

Some tightening of lanes especially D effort or sit, more sets for easier looks for #1 option Wemby now, play who passes and executes plays quickly. Together regardless of changes of who plays with whom.

[G R E Y]

I couldn't get any stream to work for ****........ Doesn't look like I missed much.

Are we done with this stupid tournament now?

Weird how sometimes they don't work for me, sometimes for you. Yeah we were decent to start, good Sochan man D, then the 3RD came along and the wheels came off. Really started to end the 2ND. Just bad to worse. Needs fixing. Sit whoever doesn't feel like running back on D or getting hands up to contest or doesn't pass ahead.

Anyway, *as far as I understand so far*, Tuesdays and Fridays in November are designated in-season tournament games. After that, depending on the standings in the groups, teams progress but I don't get it at that point lol

Something something then final in Las Vegas

[imagump1313]

I couldn't get any stream to work for ****........ Doesn't look like I missed much.

Are we done with this stupid tournament now?

Weird how sometimes they don't work for me, sometimes for you. Yeah we were decent to start, good Sochan man D, then the 3RD came along and the wheels came off. Really started to end the 2ND. Just bad to worse. Needs fixing. Sit whoever doesn't feel like running back on D or getting hands up to contest or doesn't pass ahead.

Anyway, *as far as I understand so far*, Tuesdays and Fridays in November are designated in-season tournament games. After that, depending on the standings in the groups, teams progress but I don't get it at that point lol

Something something then final in Las Vegas

I was hoping since we are 0-2 we had no chance to win the group so we would be done. I hope.........

[G R E Y]

I couldn't get any stream to work for ****........ Doesn't look like I missed much.

Are we done with this stupid tournament now?

Weird how sometimes they don't work for me, sometimes for you. Yeah we were decent to start, good Sochan man D, then the 3RD came along and the wheels came off. Really started to end the 2ND. Just bad to worse. Needs fixing. Sit whoever doesn't feel like running back on D or getting hands up to contest or doesn't pass ahead.

Anyway, *as far as I understand so far*, Tuesdays and Fridays in November are designated in-season tournament games. After that, depending on the standings in the groups, teams progress but I don't get it at that point lol

Something something then final in Las Vegas

I was hoping since we are 0-2 we had no chance to win the group so we would be done. I hope.........

Next tournament game is at home on Friday! I think it's three losses and you don't advance to the next round. It may be for different reasons, but we're both going to be keeping our fingers crossed hahaha

[G R E Y]

p.s. I just noticed we have about a 10 day break in early December. Probably related to the tourney thing if I understand it correctly. We'll be at around the quarter mark of games played with a lot of time to implement some tweaks we are surely looking at now.

If 10 games is too few to make any relevant assessments based on too few reps together, then 11 are as well lol

We'll see how we are coming out of the post-Dec. 1 to Dec. 11 break.

[G R E Y]

Watch on YouTube

Man if Pop ever said he was disappointed with my effort I'd probably cry and then never let it happen again.

Watch on YouTube