The NBA has become a wing's game, and San Antonio may have the pieces in place to truly size up along the perimeter ... if it thinks its players are ready for that.
There is a brief mention of it, but I feel like Zach Collins's passing is an underrated aspect to all this. He's really good at playing along the free throw line and finding cutters.
Yeah I was trying to figure out how to work it in, but I wanted to keep the focus on those two as facilitators. You’re right though. A ton of value in what he does. I have a feeling we’ll be addressing that later this summer.
I know it’s not a clear comparison but Sochan has a lot of Kawhi to his game- big frame, elite defense, can initiate offense, selfless (on the court), etc. Here’s hoping our Swiss Army Knife rounds it out with a consistent jumper or go to offensive move.
One additional dimension to this is that while Tre is a more traditional point guard, he doesn’t offer much more than Sochan in terms of spacing and shooting. I feel like opponents disregarded Tre as a 3 point threat nearly as much as Sochan.
So then it’s more a comparison of how Tre / Sochan can initiate and facilitate the offense. Tre more relies on his speed, whereas Sochan uses his size and athleticism to attack space and back up guys in the post / paint as you discussed, and create opportunities for others via that pressure.
All that to say, I’m all for the Sochan / Vassell / Keldon / Wemby / Collins lineup😍 Those are your best 5, so see what they can do together. Use this summer to continue developing Sochan’s playmaking abilities (along with his shot of course), and use next season as an experiment to see what this lineup can do, where it excels and where it struggles. Then identify whatever isn’t working and make a plan to address it in 2024 / 2025 with all those assets.
You mentioned Dev was better attacking the rim pre surgery last year. I’d be interested to see the numbers there. I’ve pushed back on him being labeled a 3 level scorer not cause I don’t think he has it in him, but idk if we’ve seen it yet. Even when he was cooking in the first half of last season, I remember it being primarily on 3s and midrange jumpers. I’m confident in those aspects of his game and see the rim attacks as the next step he needs to take to jump into being a top 50 player.
I’m ambivalent about how the jumbo lineup would work. You did a great job laying out all the possible positives, but I’m skeptical for a few reasons.
- on defense, can that lineup hold up against explosive guards?
- on offense, does that lineup have the juice to put enough pressure on the rim? If they can’t, I see them getting bogged down too often when the game slows down/jumpers aren’t falling
There are numbers to support it I’ll get into at a later point. Trying to save player deep dives for the dead late summer months. It’s tricky to pinpoint exactly where the injury really started to bother him, but film begins to tell the story. Along the way his drive and rim attempts dropped off pretty obviously, and synergy data supports it. He stopped drawing fouls and often opted for the pass. He just wasn’t quite the same. I don’t mean to go “just trust me” on this, but I promise I’ll be getting to it.
Matthew what’s your prediction on the number the spurs want to sign Vassell too? I heard a lot of people want it to be ball park max money so we don’t have another Dejounte situation where he won’t sign another contract with us until he hits FA. So are we looking at like 25+ million a year for him in this market?
My guess at this point is 5 years, $110 million, give or take $10 million total in either direction.
As for the Dejounte thing, you just can’t operate that way. The new CBA now allows for extensions up to 140 percent of previous salary, which could be very beneficial down the line. But you can’t just go spend anticipatory cash on someone like that. Plus, had the Spurs been ready to roll with DJ and had realistic title hopes, they would’ve paid him. That whole situation was more about timing than anything else.
So how does the inevitable signing of Chris Paul impact the analysis and projections outlined in this article??? 😏 I mean, he’s such a perfect fit for the Wemby-window the Spurs are now in...
Intended sarcasm. I now realize I used one of the more ambiguous emojis haha. Paul is great but does not fit our window and you only sign him to compete asap and he’s proven he can’t stay healthy in playoffs so it’s a hard pass for me.
There is a brief mention of it, but I feel like Zach Collins's passing is an underrated aspect to all this. He's really good at playing along the free throw line and finding cutters.
Yeah I was trying to figure out how to work it in, but I wanted to keep the focus on those two as facilitators. You’re right though. A ton of value in what he does. I have a feeling we’ll be addressing that later this summer.
Totally. And if he’s able to sustain the shooting he closed last year with, his passing will become more and more valuable
I know it’s not a clear comparison but Sochan has a lot of Kawhi to his game- big frame, elite defense, can initiate offense, selfless (on the court), etc. Here’s hoping our Swiss Army Knife rounds it out with a consistent jumper or go to offensive move.
Really curious to see how he expands his mid-range game. There are similarities, but the shot has a LONG way to go.
One additional dimension to this is that while Tre is a more traditional point guard, he doesn’t offer much more than Sochan in terms of spacing and shooting. I feel like opponents disregarded Tre as a 3 point threat nearly as much as Sochan.
So then it’s more a comparison of how Tre / Sochan can initiate and facilitate the offense. Tre more relies on his speed, whereas Sochan uses his size and athleticism to attack space and back up guys in the post / paint as you discussed, and create opportunities for others via that pressure.
All that to say, I’m all for the Sochan / Vassell / Keldon / Wemby / Collins lineup😍 Those are your best 5, so see what they can do together. Use this summer to continue developing Sochan’s playmaking abilities (along with his shot of course), and use next season as an experiment to see what this lineup can do, where it excels and where it struggles. Then identify whatever isn’t working and make a plan to address it in 2024 / 2025 with all those assets.
You mentioned Dev was better attacking the rim pre surgery last year. I’d be interested to see the numbers there. I’ve pushed back on him being labeled a 3 level scorer not cause I don’t think he has it in him, but idk if we’ve seen it yet. Even when he was cooking in the first half of last season, I remember it being primarily on 3s and midrange jumpers. I’m confident in those aspects of his game and see the rim attacks as the next step he needs to take to jump into being a top 50 player.
I’m ambivalent about how the jumbo lineup would work. You did a great job laying out all the possible positives, but I’m skeptical for a few reasons.
- on defense, can that lineup hold up against explosive guards?
- on offense, does that lineup have the juice to put enough pressure on the rim? If they can’t, I see them getting bogged down too often when the game slows down/jumpers aren’t falling
There are numbers to support it I’ll get into at a later point. Trying to save player deep dives for the dead late summer months. It’s tricky to pinpoint exactly where the injury really started to bother him, but film begins to tell the story. Along the way his drive and rim attempts dropped off pretty obviously, and synergy data supports it. He stopped drawing fouls and often opted for the pass. He just wasn’t quite the same. I don’t mean to go “just trust me” on this, but I promise I’ll be getting to it.
I like that most of the assists in the Vassell video were jump passes.
They were! Was going to continue monitoring this development for a later date but I’m glad to see someone else picked up on that.
Matthew what’s your prediction on the number the spurs want to sign Vassell too? I heard a lot of people want it to be ball park max money so we don’t have another Dejounte situation where he won’t sign another contract with us until he hits FA. So are we looking at like 25+ million a year for him in this market?
My guess at this point is 5 years, $110 million, give or take $10 million total in either direction.
As for the Dejounte thing, you just can’t operate that way. The new CBA now allows for extensions up to 140 percent of previous salary, which could be very beneficial down the line. But you can’t just go spend anticipatory cash on someone like that. Plus, had the Spurs been ready to roll with DJ and had realistic title hopes, they would’ve paid him. That whole situation was more about timing than anything else.
So how does the inevitable signing of Chris Paul impact the analysis and projections outlined in this article??? 😏 I mean, he’s such a perfect fit for the Wemby-window the Spurs are now in...
(Can’t tell if sarcasm 🧐)
Intended sarcasm. I now realize I used one of the more ambiguous emojis haha. Paul is great but does not fit our window and you only sign him to compete asap and he’s proven he can’t stay healthy in playoffs so it’s a hard pass for me.
Haha nah I picked up on it. And yeah, this is not the time nor the place for CP. For all the reasons you’ve outlined and a couple more.