El Conclusión: Out with the old, in with the new (Part II)
How the rest of the roster is playing not just for today, but for its future in San Antonio.
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Welcome back to La El Conclusión, where a somewhat-educated basketball writer grades the performances of highly educated professional basketball players. It’s perfectly irresponsible.
“El Conclusión” was born in the ESPN TrueHoop Network days of 48 Minutes of Hell, and is a play on words borrowed from one of Manu Ginóbili’s nicknames, “El Contusión.” Now, it’s been given new life here at Corporate Knowledge.
Note: All players are graded on a curve here at CK. A Victor Wembanyama ‘A’ is not the same as a Julian Champagnie ‘A.’ No offense, Julian.
Chris Paul had the right approach after the Spurs lost a close one against the Knicks in New York on Christmas Day. He knew the stretch of schedule that loomed ahead would give this team a test it hadn’t yet experienced, but he also knew the basketball gods didn’t care a lick about whether they’d been there or done that.
“I think we just gotta get to that point where all that ‘young guy stuff’ gotta go out the window," he said. "We're pros just like anybody else, and there’s a grit and will that you gotta have in this league in order to figure out ways to win those games.“
Paul is no dummy. He understands the reality of the situation — that this is a young group still fully in the building stage, and not one person on the roster has accomplished what he and Harrison Barnes have — but he does not want them to believe this is what they are. It’s been a crutch, which is alright during the years clearly bookmarked for development (to a degree), and yet has no place in the middle of a playoff race.
San Antonio is no title contender at this juncture, to be sure, but there’s no time like the present to start preparing like one, because the expectations that have been cranked up as the season has sped along are going nowhere.
It’s why there was real frustration after the Spurs fell apart in the second half against Memphis on Wednesday, when before the halftime break they seemed in control. Only a couple of nights earlier it had been the inverse in Los Angeles, where San Antonio executed an almost perfect fourth-quarter gameplan and smothered the Lakers down the stretch.
But this is where the reality of the situation does rear its ugly head, where youth and personnel issues are put on display, and it’s impossible to simply ignore the “young guy stuff.”
There’s a blueprint to giving this Spurs team problems if you’ve got the right roster build: Pressure Chris Paul with a big, athletic guard or wing so he struggles to get San Antonio into its sets; defend Stephon Castle and Jeremy Sochan with big men until the two prove they can consistently hit shots or make defenses pay with their movement and activity in general; and lastly, of course, load up on Victor Wembanyama and be as physical with him as possible within the rules.
On Wednesday night, the Grizzlies were about as successful with this approach as a team could be without completely taking away all three aspects. Paul, who finished with only five assists, was being picked up by the time he got to halfcourt on nearly every possession by Jaylen Wells and others, and often had to rely on teammates to get the offense moving; Castle eventually found a rhythm driving to the basket, but his 2-for-9 performance from the 3-point line on mostly wide-open shots put a dent in his efficiency numbers and dulled his overall impact; and Wembanyama, who had eight blocks AT HALFTIME, finished the game with eight blocks and did not seem to have his legs on either end. He was a step slow on defensive rotations and contests as the game wore on, a number of his shots were short with a couple of air balls to boot, and he appeared to be laboring well before even his final stretch of the night — the result of having to play in a crowd over and over again.
So the reason we talk about “young guy stuff” is because it’s a real part of the conversation. There are key cogs not fully developed, future key cogs not yet on the roster, and still more current key cogs who may not even be in San Antonio by the time the Spurs are ready to roll. In just about every way imaginable, this is a team whose capabilities are not even close to being fully realized, and it’s OK to still talk in those terms.
At least for us.
On the flip side, Paul is correct when it comes to that locker room. The “young guy stuff” has to be extinguished in that environment, because it does them no good as a group trying to compete — not just for a playoff spot, but for their futures on the team.
How do they fit around Wembanyama, and how well do they play off him when defenses put a massive amount of effort into taking him away? How do they respond when the opposition puts them in positions that expose their weaknesses? Can they survive the minutes without their superstar on the floor the way they did in Los Angeles, or do they get killed by bench units the way they did against Memphis?
The objective observer can expect inconsistencies in these areas for now, because that’s how all of this works. Fans may not WANT it, but dig down deep enough and you can probably talk yourself into understanding this is the normal experience during this portion of a rebuild process.
And to an extent, so can the players. Wembanyama knows he’s not going to gain 10 pounds of muscle and 100 experience points by tomorrow, just like Castle and Sochan know they’re not going to become true 3-point threats by the time Spurs-Grizzlies Part II tips off Friday. So the question becomes, what else can they do?
Even if it’s just the little things, like finding and covering an open Luke Kennard in transition or Jay Huff when the ball swings to him, that’s a good place to start.
Now, if you’ve still got the time, here come player grades…
In case you missed Part I:
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