Do you think Mitch Johnson is being groomed to takeover for Pop when he's ready to retire (hopefully not this year b/c of current health issues) or do you think they will look to hire someone out-of-house with more gravitas/experience? I'm curious b/c of the Wemby factor.
Great question! I'd love to hear more on Mitch! What are his strengths as a coach? Are there differences between him and Pop that might show up on the court?
TOs seem like the biggest problem for the Spurs offense these days, but Wemby, Keldon, Sochan, and KJ all seem like high TO players at this stage in their careers. Given that all of these players need to handle the ball to some extent, what are the prospects for reducing the TOs moving forward?
If ever I don’t submit a question for mailbag, check in and make sure I’m still alive.
Controversial opinion, I want Victor to take as many jumpers as he wants. Either they’ll start to fall, or he’ll see for himself that he can’t play that way efficiently. (I think the former is more likely.)
Also, it’d be interesting to look at KD’s shooting splits at the same age/stage in his career. I’d guess KD is better but I’d be interested to see if there’s any similarities. Seems like that’s who Victor wants to model himself after offensively.
Once Dev is back in the starting lineup, I think Castle will move back to the bench and the team will use Sochan’s absence to see how the starting lineup performs when Vic is surrounded by 4 shooters (CP3, Dev, Champ, Barnes).
I love love love the progress we’ve seen from Jeremy Sochan this year, and I know it’s early sample size and now he’s out for a while, but at what point does the team have to decide whether he can be paired with Victor long term in the front court? Teams are already sagging off his and ganging up on Victor which I feel like has contributed to his messiness on offense thus far. It’s tough because he brings so many other things to the floor but it’s an obvious hole in the starting lineup right now. And it’s not like there’s an obvious solution in the rotation but we can already tell this is going to be a season long topic.
According to NBA.com lineup data, the Castle/Wemby minutes have been dominant on Defense and are about 6 points per 100 better on defense than the Sochan/Wemby minutes. Both numbers are elite, but is there a world where Trevor's prediction comes true because of Castle being a cleaner defensive fit around Wemby? While Castle isn't a shooter, he's harder to hide a Center on which provides better spacing for Wemby. Meanwhile, Sochan has developed a nice chemistry with Collins early on, and it would allow him to prop up the defense of second units a little better. Thoughts?
Vassell has been coming off the bench due to a ramp up and minutes restriction. However, is it reasonable to think that having him remain in the second unit long term would give us an advantage against opposing benches long term (a la Ginobili)?
Random question: Is Blake Wesley good enough to take the mantle from Chris Paul as the starting point guard once his time has come? Or will it be Castle, despite him being more of an off-guard, in my opinion?
Not so much of a question as a thought regarding progress. I think most people that follow the NBA to any degree would say that the OKC model of rebuilding is the gold standard of how to do it. Well, if you compare the Spurs records with the Thunder over the last few years, you can note that they started their rebuild in earnest in 2020-21 and had 2 down years as a result. That's in sync with the Spurs starting in 2022-23 and finishing last year. We're basically behind the Thunder by 2 years given when each team started. From what I can see so far, this team looks like the definition of a 0.500 team. Beating the teams we should beat (mostly), losing to the teams better than us (mostly), but with the same level of competitiveness as always. Just with a better group going out there to compete each night. If you buy-in to the defense being real, then I don't see any reason that the Spurs can't replicate what the Thunder did in year three of their rebuild and approach 0.500 for the season. Thoughts?
Three questions already?! I love y’all.
Do you think Mitch Johnson is being groomed to takeover for Pop when he's ready to retire (hopefully not this year b/c of current health issues) or do you think they will look to hire someone out-of-house with more gravitas/experience? I'm curious b/c of the Wemby factor.
Great question! I'd love to hear more on Mitch! What are his strengths as a coach? Are there differences between him and Pop that might show up on the court?
TOs seem like the biggest problem for the Spurs offense these days, but Wemby, Keldon, Sochan, and KJ all seem like high TO players at this stage in their careers. Given that all of these players need to handle the ball to some extent, what are the prospects for reducing the TOs moving forward?
If ever I don’t submit a question for mailbag, check in and make sure I’m still alive.
Controversial opinion, I want Victor to take as many jumpers as he wants. Either they’ll start to fall, or he’ll see for himself that he can’t play that way efficiently. (I think the former is more likely.)
Thoughts?
Lol duly noted
Also, it’d be interesting to look at KD’s shooting splits at the same age/stage in his career. I’d guess KD is better but I’d be interested to see if there’s any similarities. Seems like that’s who Victor wants to model himself after offensively.
Once Dev is back in the starting lineup, I think Castle will move back to the bench and the team will use Sochan’s absence to see how the starting lineup performs when Vic is surrounded by 4 shooters (CP3, Dev, Champ, Barnes).
How do you think this experiment will go?
I love love love the progress we’ve seen from Jeremy Sochan this year, and I know it’s early sample size and now he’s out for a while, but at what point does the team have to decide whether he can be paired with Victor long term in the front court? Teams are already sagging off his and ganging up on Victor which I feel like has contributed to his messiness on offense thus far. It’s tough because he brings so many other things to the floor but it’s an obvious hole in the starting lineup right now. And it’s not like there’s an obvious solution in the rotation but we can already tell this is going to be a season long topic.
According to NBA.com lineup data, the Castle/Wemby minutes have been dominant on Defense and are about 6 points per 100 better on defense than the Sochan/Wemby minutes. Both numbers are elite, but is there a world where Trevor's prediction comes true because of Castle being a cleaner defensive fit around Wemby? While Castle isn't a shooter, he's harder to hide a Center on which provides better spacing for Wemby. Meanwhile, Sochan has developed a nice chemistry with Collins early on, and it would allow him to prop up the defense of second units a little better. Thoughts?
Vassell has been coming off the bench due to a ramp up and minutes restriction. However, is it reasonable to think that having him remain in the second unit long term would give us an advantage against opposing benches long term (a la Ginobili)?
Random question: Is Blake Wesley good enough to take the mantle from Chris Paul as the starting point guard once his time has come? Or will it be Castle, despite him being more of an off-guard, in my opinion?
Who do you see as the big losers minutes wise once we are fully healthy?
Not so much of a question as a thought regarding progress. I think most people that follow the NBA to any degree would say that the OKC model of rebuilding is the gold standard of how to do it. Well, if you compare the Spurs records with the Thunder over the last few years, you can note that they started their rebuild in earnest in 2020-21 and had 2 down years as a result. That's in sync with the Spurs starting in 2022-23 and finishing last year. We're basically behind the Thunder by 2 years given when each team started. From what I can see so far, this team looks like the definition of a 0.500 team. Beating the teams we should beat (mostly), losing to the teams better than us (mostly), but with the same level of competitiveness as always. Just with a better group going out there to compete each night. If you buy-in to the defense being real, then I don't see any reason that the Spurs can't replicate what the Thunder did in year three of their rebuild and approach 0.500 for the season. Thoughts?
Year OKC SAS
2018 48-34 47-35
2019 49-33 48-34
2020 44-28 32-39 Spurs on treadmill of mediocrity
2021 22-50 33-39 Still jogging
2022 24-58 34-48
2023 40-42 22-60
2024 57-25 22-60
2025 57-25 34-48 Current BPI projections