El Conclusión: Spurs 115, Suns 114

It sort of feels like we're in for some wacky games this season.

Introducing (or reintroducing) El Conclusión: a post-game format in which a somewhat-educated basketball writer grades the performances of NBA players right after a game without having a chance to go back and watch any film. It’s perfectly irresponsible.

An important note: “El Conclusión” is a play off one of Manu Ginóbili’s nicknames, “El Contusión.” While the article ‘El’ is incorrect here (it should be ‘La Conclusión,’ technically) we just wanted to keep with the spirit of the name alive!

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Wemby | 18 pts, 8 reb, 4 blk, 5 TO | 6-12 FG, 2-6 3P | -3 — 28 min

The positive attention he gets all season will eclipse most of the criticism, but somehow that treatment is thus far deserved.

If you can make critical shots while also blocking critical shots, while ALSO being a physical threat in every imaginable way down the stretch of a close game, you’ll be able to survive all the mistakes in the eyes of the public whenever your team wins.

And there were mistakes on Tuesday. It’s almost silly to do these exercises because he’s just trying to figure things out at this point, but the next steps will come in two different phases:

1. He’s going to slow down and find time to process the situation before he acts on instinct, which currently entails just shooting the ball (because it’s so easy to get a decent look) or trying to make a play even if neither is really there. Funnily enough, he seems to calm down late in games, which is unheard of with players his age.

2. The coaching staff and players are eventually going to understand when and where to get him the ball. It’s not as simple as force-feeding him, or flatly throwing the ball in the air toward the rim whenever he’s near it. Tempting, yes, and a decent solution in tight spots (that’s the beauty of having this guy on your team), but hardly the long-term answer. This whole team is trying to figure this stuff out, and it’s gonna take a little bit.

Grade: B- (Once again, came alive late and the Spurs likely don’t win without him, but was downright bad in the first half. He throws a lot of passes that should never be thrown, and he shoots shots that probably shouldn’t be shot, which were perhaps his biggest criticisms coming into the draft. But when you see the things he’s capable of doing, it’s really difficult to justify attempting to slow him down. He’s unbelievably talented, just needs to find the right speed.)

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Devin Vassell | 18 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast | 7-17 FG, 3-8 3P, 3 stl | -1 — 35 min

Settled for a ton of jump shots, several of which were either bad decisions or forced late in the shot clock. But even as he struggled for large stretches of the game, much like Wemby he hit some HUGE buckets and made up for some of the other stuff with really important defensive plays. It’s all a process.

He’s gonna have to find consistency though. He’s paid now, and they expect those big moments to go through him. Yes, his bread and butter is that mid-range shot, but he’s still got to find more consistency as a playmaker and as a guy who can get to the line and score the easy way.

Grade: B- (Just big swings from Devin in this game. Similarly to Wemby, they don’t win without him, but it was a journey. Vassell’s biggest task this season is going to be finding the right level, but keep in mind, he only played 38 games last season. This is gonna take a second. I’m not sure many doubt he’ll get there.)

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Keldon Johnson | 27 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 3 TO | 10-20 FG, 4-9 3P | +1 — 32 min

I want to say this was vintage Keldon, but it wasn’t. As the team’s top two guys flailed in the first half, he just stayed cool. He wasn’t the dude who lives on an emotional rollercoaster, he was a stabilizer.

Without Johnson’s shooting, the Spurs were dead tonight. Wiped out. Another blowout loss. But he kept the game close until the other dudes woke up. On top of that, he drew a whole bunch of big defensive assignments, which produced a variety of different results, as you’d expect.

But there was no bigger moment than his late steal from Kevin Durant and subsequent game-winning bucket in the closing seconds. And once the ball fell through the hoop he didn’t yell or scream, he just stared. He seemed balanced, like he knew his job and did nothing more than that. Although, I get the feeling it was more than that. But that’s a story for another day… (soon)

Grade: A- (He can get hotter than this, and he got cooked a few times both on and off the ball defensively. But considering the way this game went, no other player was more important. Still, bigger Keldon games are coming.)

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Zach Collins | 14 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast, 3 blk | 6-11 FG, 1-3 3P | +8 — 27 min

He just works his ass off, and beyond that, is the guy the Spurs go to when they just need to slow down and put the ball in the basket.

Collins is really struggling from the 3-point line, but is currently killing it from the block and the mid-post. In a weird way he seems to represent what San Antonio is right now: It’s not always pretty, and sometimes far from it, but eventually it’s all gonna fall into place. And once the 3-pointer starts going down, and his confidence in that shot starts to trend upward again, it’s going to make a massive difference with that starting group.

Basketball is simple sometimes, but it doesn’t always appear that way when you’re going through the muck. Shots are going to fall for a few of these guys soon, and perception is going to look a lot different.

Grade: B+ (Jusuf Nurkic got a lot of flack following the Deandre Ayton trade, but that dude is a handful right now. He’s shooting, rebounding, posting, screening, distributing — big job for Collins to deal with on top of other obvious responsibilities protecting the paint, and I thought Zach outlasted the Suns’ big man. One of the most important Spurs on the floor in this one.)

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Jeremy Sochan | 8 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast | 3-8 FG | -7 — 30 min

With every game he looks like he’s picking up the pace more and more, which is what you’d expect. There were no careless turnovers in this one — there were no turnovers for him, period — and it seems as though the on-court relationships look a bit more stable.

I don’t know exactly how to grade the Sochan stuff right now outside of monitoring progress, because there are clearly issues. But we knew there would be. He knew there would be. They knew there would be. It may seem pejorative to point out a very normal point-guard type of play and applaud it, like you’re patting a grown man on the head for something that’s expected of him, but there is genuinely stuff he’s doing that stands out as progress.

There’s a lot going on right now, including figuring out how exactly to use Wemby. That is a gigantic piece to all of this, and it’s not really a coincidence the Spurs went on their fourth-quarter run while the superstar rookie was on the bench. The guys who know one another best got things going. And in the middle of everything, it’s been Sochan’s job to orchestrate the entire experiment, even as he’s in the middle of one all on his own.

Point-Sochan results aren’t nearly as cut-and-dried as many people make them out to be. And it’ll look a lot better once teammates start actually hitting shots around him, like the tough one Vassell hit after a really pretty dump-off along the baseline late in the fourth quarter.

Grade: C+ (Slowly getting better, but still a struggle.)

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Tre Jones | 10 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl | 3-4 FG | +13 — 23 min

Jones is playing every game like he’s been shot out of a cannon off the bench. You can tell the added bulk is paying off, as well. Not only is he getting the paint touches and sucking in the defense, but he’s shown an improved ability to absorb contact. He’s just so steady, and the errant passes from Sunday night were nowhere to be found on Tuesday.

For all intents and purposes, he’s the team’s safety valve right now. When Pop wants to push the pace and take things up a notch, Jones is the guy.

Grade: A- (I swear if he hits that 3-pointer it’s at least an ‘A,’ but this is the kind of game you want out of Jones — fast and smart.)

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Cedi Osman | 9 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast | 4-7 FG, 1-2 3P | +6 — 19 min

Need someone to hit an open shot? Or get out in transition? Or attack the basket? Or find teammates moving without the ball? Or scrap on defense?

Osman is proving to be your guy. Outside of totally missing Johnson on a fast-break opportunity — honestly have no clue what that was — he’s been great so far.

Grade: B+ (Have to dock him for that fast-break brainfart. Still puzzled by it. But his transition to San Antonio has been borderline seamless.)

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Malaki Branham | 3 pts, 1 stl | 1-7 FG, 1-4 3P | +2 — 9 min

Just did not have it in this one, but Braham was an active participant in San Antonio’s third-quarter comeback. And I don’t mean that sarcastically. His one 3-pointer mattered at a time the Spurs were hanging by a thread, even as nothing was falling for him in general.

Grade: D (He at least deserves a check for that 3 in a game the Spurs won by a single point. He also just stayed aggressive, kept the pressure on. Momentum started to swing with that bench group.)

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Doug McDermott | 6 pts | 2-3 FG, 2-2 3P | 0 — 16 min

Still trying to find his spots, and seems a little frustrated at times. This offense is not operating fluidly right now, and he’s being forced to take the majority of his shots out of scramble plays or in transition. It felt like the 3 he hit off the dribble-handoff with Collins in the first half was the first set look he’s had all season. (I’m sure I’m exaggerating, but it definitely FEELS like that.)

Grade: B- (Hit his shots, that’s what he’s paid to do. Probably won’t have a big night until the offense figures out what it’s doing.)

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Charles Bassey | 2 pts, 3 reb, 1 ast | -13 — 15 min

There’s no question teams feel him as a defensive threat, but he’s all too often a fraction of a second late or step in the wrong direction. Timing just isn’t right at this point. The Spurs don’t want him to lose his aggressiveness, but they’re for sure going to need him to be more sound on both sides of the ball. Takes too many risks.

Grade: D- (For now, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt after missing many months of court time in the spring and early summer. Full disclosure: Gonna take a lot for me to give a professional athlete a failing grade in the sport they play.)

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