Wembanyama. I'm concerned

[Rust_Cohle]

Yeah but LeBron was in his 3rd year when he was the same age that Wemby is now in his 2nd year. LeBron was 2nd in MVP when he was Wemby's age. LeBron started a year younger because he went straight from high school.

Fair points zimpy, I really love what wemby offers defensively even though lebron averaging 31 ppg back then is insane. I’m not entirely sure that version of LeBron makes the spurs a better team than wemby right now but I’m not going to argue that too much because second in MVP is damn impressive for that age, good call

It's an interesting one. Lebron was a much higher-impact offensive player and much more of a rugged, powerful force on O, right? Dude was smashing his way to the rim without much of a jumper as a younger dude. So fast, so strong, so large, etc. The flip side of that is that even at his best, he wasn't like Wemby on D. He was very good, even a DPOY candidate in Miami for a short spell, but never the same sort of "oh crap, I'd better get this 3 off fast or I'm in deep crap because he's standing.... inside the top of the key" type of fear, right?

So it's a difference of spheres of impact, too.

Love it Tsherkin

Check this out from the hawks/spurs game

https://www.reddit.com/r/NBASpurs/comments/1hj4tc5/highlight_hawks_players_avoiding_wemby_vs_atl/

[Rust_Cohle]

Wemby has been great but he needs to show that he can do this against elite teams

29 & 7 against Houston

14 & 20 against Houston

24 and 13 against the clippers

I agree that his best games of the season are against .500 teams but he’s definitely showing up even against the really solid upper echelon teams.

[tsherkin]

[
Check this out from the hawks/spurs game

https://www.reddit.com/r/NBASpurs/comments/1hj4tc5/highlight_hawks_players_avoiding_wemby_vs_atl/

You can see the hesitation, the concern, anytime he's even looking in their direction. He's in their heads. He doesn't even need to be in what counts as "in range" for him (which is an absurd distance), he just has to establish that he can do it. And then for the rest of the game, they're off.

[zimpy27]

I’d take this version of wemby over second year/rookie James but yeah LeBron second season especially really started to take off

Yeah but LeBron was in his 3rd year when he was the same age that Wemby is now in his 2nd year. LeBron was 2nd in MVP when he was Wemby's age. LeBron started a year younger because he went straight from high school.

Fair points zimpy, I really love what wemby offers defensively even though lebron averaging 31 ppg back then is insane. I’m not entirely sure that version of LeBron makes the spurs a better team than wemby right now but I’m not going to argue that too much because second in MVP is damn impressive for that age, good call

Yeah. But by no means does it mean Wemby won't peak higher.

I could see Wemby having the greatest single season peak of all time.

His defense with a season where he plays inside more and gets a ton of FTs that he hits at 85%. I could see 30pts at 65% TS with the best defense in the league.

[tsherkin]

Yeah. But by no means does it mean Wemby won't peak higher.

I could see Wemby having the greatest single season peak of all time.

It's possible. It's early enough in his career that anything is possible, really. We'll have to wait and see what happens over his first few seasons on offense, though. To threaten anything like that, he's going to have to do more than just bomb 3s, and we need to see him in the playoffs, too. He's been looking wonderful inside the arc when he's bothered to shoot there this season, but if we're speaking of highest single-season peak, right...

[wemby]

[
Check this out from the hawks/spurs game

https://www.reddit.com/r/NBASpurs/comments/1hj4tc5/highlight_hawks_players_avoiding_wemby_vs_atl/

You can see the hesitation, the concern, anytime he's even looking in their direction. He's in their heads. He doesn't even need to be in what counts as "in range" for him (which is an absurd distance), he just has to establish that he can do it. And then for the rest of the this game, they're off.

This is why it's nonsensical to me to just reduce him to block numbers as some do and say x player is close to him... no one has this effect on the opposing teams. You have to watch him time and again to fully appreciate the magnitude of his effect. It's crazy.

[tsherkin]

This is why it's nonsensical to me to just reduce him to block numbers as some do and say x player is close to him... no one has this effect on the opposing teams. You have to watch him time and again to fully appreciate the magnitude of his effect. It's crazy.

Oh, his impact is considerably beyond just blocks. His defensive value is pretty evident in a variety of ways. He's a rounding error away from being 4th in the league in D-EPM, for what that's worth. He's 7th in the league in shots contested per game and he plays less than 33 mpg. 3.5 bpg, 3 other deflections on top of that. Like, he's a disruptive bastard on defense. High-end FG% suppression in close, etc, etc, etc.

He's a monster.

[DCasey91]

I can definitely envision a Ewing/Robinson/Hakeem type setup whereby Spurs are locked in to have a top ranked defence like clockwork year in year out. With the overall offence h'ell get his numbers obviously but because the defence is already all time you can afford to have more offensively orientated players (great two way players is gold as always).

I mean to be honest building a team around all timers shouldn't be a hard practise but for some unknown reason it can be lol.

Obviously we can't put CP3 in a time machine and that sort of PG is basically unique today but quality all round shooters/cutters/ball play is essential to max out his and the team's ceiling

I'm not high on Johnson/Sochan pairing as non outside threats especially Keldon. They are at 111/116 O & D rating as a team. Hopefully sooner by next season the numbers switch (round about what I had in mind for him) Sub 110 D and 115+ O

Long term guard/two way wings is next priority. They have 4 first rounders next year, use them wisely. Rockets Horry would be the ideal player here

[1993Playoffs]

Yes , get this guy some help

[The Master]

I can definitely envision a Ewing/Robinson/Hakeem type setup whereby Spurs are locked in to have a top ranked defence like clockwork year in year out. With the overall offence h'ell get his numbers obviously but because the defence is already all time you can afford to have more offensively orientated players (great two way players is gold as always).

I mean to be honest building a team around all timers shouldn't be a hard practise but for some unknown reason it can be lol.

Obviously we can't put CP3 in a time machine and that sort of PG is basically unique today but quality all round shooters/cutters/ball play is essential to max out his and the team's ceiling

I'm not high on Johnson/Sochan pairing as non outside threats especially Keldon. They are at 111/116 O & D rating as a team. Hopefully sooner by next season the numbers switch (round about what I had in mind for him) Sub 110 D and 115+ O

Long term guard/two way wings is next priority. They have 4 first rounders next year, use them wisely. Rockets Horry would be the ideal player here

Keldon is pretty mediocre for the 2nd straight season, no one should consider him as a vital part of Spurs future.

Sochan is legit, Vassell can be a legit starter+ option, Castle shows glimpses of huge upside once/if he fixes his jumper.

They need a 2nd option (and 1-2 summers for further growth): every team in the NBA has this button of trading all draft assets for a legit player, let's wait if they acquire a legit sidekick for Wemby.

They're Jalen Williams/Franz Wagner-level/type of a player and role players away from being long-term competition for Thunder IMHO.

[DCasey91]

I can definitely envision a Ewing/Robinson/Hakeem type setup whereby Spurs are locked in to have a top ranked defence like clockwork year in year out. With the overall offence h'ell get his numbers obviously but because the defence is already all time you can afford to have more offensively orientated players (great two way players is gold as always).

I mean to be honest building a team around all timers shouldn't be a hard practise but for some unknown reason it can be lol.

Obviously we can't put CP3 in a time machine and that sort of PG is basically unique today but quality all round shooters/cutters/ball play is essential to max out his and the team's ceiling

I'm not high on Johnson/Sochan pairing as non outside threats especially Keldon. They are at 111/116 O & D rating as a team. Hopefully sooner by next season the numbers switch (round about what I had in mind for him) Sub 110 D and 115+ O

Long term guard/two way wings is next priority. They have 4 first rounders next year, use them wisely. Rockets Horry would be the ideal player here

Keldon is pretty mediocre for the 2nd straight season, no one should consider him as a vital part of Spurs future.

Sochan is legit, Vassell can be a legit starter+ option, Castle shows glimpses of huge upside once/if he fixes his jumper.

They need a 2nd option (and 1-2 summers for further growth): every team in the NBA has this button of trading all draft assets for a legit player, let's wait if they acquire a legit sidekick for Wemby.

They're Jalen Williams/Franz Wagner-level/type of a player and role players away from being long-term competition for Thunder IMHO.

Yep can definitely see a JDUb wing or bigger PF/SF handler in Wags. The problem is that he's this great now even years away from prime/peak and those two have not yet legitimized themselves in the playoffs and that's purely of age and experience.

It's the Luka/Bron scenario over again in recent times. There is risk in trading for a ready made and known quantity and fall short of expectation but on the other who knows with the draft, and that will take 4-5 seasons anyway.

Basically everyone great has lost a handful of times before they broke through goes without saying but hopefully worst case scenario doesn't happen.

[Rust_Cohle]

I can definitely envision a Ewing/Robinson/Hakeem type setup whereby Spurs are locked in to have a top ranked defence like clockwork year in year out. With the overall offence h'ell get his numbers obviously but because the defence is already all time you can afford to have more offensively orientated players (great two way players is gold as always).

I mean to be honest building a team around all timers shouldn't be a hard practise but for some unknown reason it can be lol.

Obviously we can't put CP3 in a time machine and that sort of PG is basically unique today but quality all round shooters/cutters/ball play is essential to max out his and the team's ceiling

I'm not high on Johnson/Sochan pairing as non outside threats especially Keldon. They are at 111/116 O & D rating as a team. Hopefully sooner by next season the numbers switch (round about what I had in mind for him) Sub 110 D and 115+ O

Long term guard/two way wings is next priority. They have 4 first rounders next year, use them wisely. Rockets Horry would be the ideal player here

Yeah, our perimeter defense is beyond tragic. We collapse in the paint way too much even when wemby is there. We also need better outside shooters. I imagine Keldon will be traded at some point.

We also really need to do something about the bigs rotation outside of wemby.

[The Master]

It's the Luka/Bron scenario over again in recent times. There is risk in trading for a ready made and known quantity and fall short of expectation but on the other who knows with the draft, and that will take 4-5 seasons anyway.

Basically everyone great has lost a handful of times before they broke through goes without saying but hopefully worst case scenario doesn't happen.

I feel you, but:

1. Cavs were cooked once they gave ~max contract to Larry Hughes, and then traded his contract for washed Ben Wallace - and then traded Wallace for washed Shaq. Folks may not remember, but Big Ben and Shaq were still earning all-star level money in Cavs, lol.
2. Mavs in 2020 had Brunson and Porzingis on their roster.

Spurs made majority of the moves right (drafting Sochan and Castle, CP3, Barnes, some nice undrafted players like Champaigne, trading Poetl and Murray for awesome package, trading Dillingham for potentially great Sota picks), so I'm not concerned that being poorly run will be a case for Spurs. Sochan, Vassell, Castle and plenty of Hawks/Sota/Kings/Mavs picks is a great situation asseets wise.

The bigger concern for me than Spurs not having 2nd option for now is that OKC looks like an alltime great team in the making.

[SNPA]

I remain unconcerned.

[dautjazz]

Double post. Mods please delete

[dautjazz]

I remain unconcerned.

He aight. Third best center this season? Behind Jokic and AD. Obviously if Embiid could stay healthy he'd be the clear number two, but he's been hurt.

[The Master]

He aight. Third best center this season? Behind Jokic and AD. Obviously if Embiid could stay healthy he'd be the clear number two, but he's been hurt.

I don't think Davis is a superior player to be honest. He may be more polished offensively, but he's not an offensive anchor by any means, Wemby is already a better defender and Lakers aren't that much better than Spurs, while Wemby's on/off numbers are miles better. In fact, I'd rather take Wemby for now.

[DCasey91]

I can definitely envision a Ewing/Robinson/Hakeem type setup whereby Spurs are locked in to have a top ranked defence like clockwork year in year out. With the overall offence h'ell get his numbers obviously but because the defence is already all time you can afford to have more offensively orientated players (great two way players is gold as always).

I mean to be honest building a team around all timers shouldn't be a hard practise but for some unknown reason it can be lol.

Obviously we can't put CP3 in a time machine and that sort of PG is basically unique today but quality all round shooters/cutters/ball play is essential to max out his and the team's ceiling

I'm not high on Johnson/Sochan pairing as non outside threats especially Keldon. They are at 111/116 O & D rating as a team. Hopefully sooner by next season the numbers switch (round about what I had in mind for him) Sub 110 D and 115+ O

Long term guard/two way wings is next priority. They have 4 first rounders next year, use them wisely. Rockets Horry would be the ideal player here

Yeah, our perimeter defense is beyond traffic. We collapse in the paint way too much even when wemby is there. We also need better outside shooters. I imagine Keldon will be traded at some point.

We also really need to do something about the bigs rotation outside of wemby.

Yeah I think Spurs have like 20mil and change next season (120ish) plus Barnes expiring and Zach. No real max money (30+ mil per year) as of yet so they have a ton of flexibility which is what you want medium/long term especially now with the aprons.

I have a list of half dozen young bigs that deserve better opportunities so the big rotation shouldn't be a big deal.

The positional stuff sh*ts me to tears lol It's like players don't realise they don't have 15 feet wingspans, open corner 3's after the perimeter defender is either ball watching, not getting close to the on ball player in no man's land is hilariously bad. It's like the traffic lady walking out to the middle of the road and ushering both sides to come on through.

Just make a box on the wings and be like you stay there don't get sucked in.

[Milenkovic]

If the Fox rumours (they're not) anything that could potentially happen, what a pairing that could be

[The Master]

If the Fox rumours (they're not) anything that could potentially happen, what a pairing that could be

I don't think he'll be traded soon and to be honest, I don't like fit neither: he's certainly a very good player, but not an impactful defender nor decent spot up shooter nor pass-first point guard. Fox is obviously a decent on-ball scorer and nice playmaker, but I don't think he would be long term that impactful for Spurs/potential championship-level team.

Unless there's a discount, I wouldn't go into this direction. But he has 2-year contract and he may be available for a really affordable price in the summer, so who knows.