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Speaker 1: What is up, fellow stick as I am Danna Valley

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coming at you with yet another.

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Speaker 2: Twenty twenty four twenty twenty five MBA.

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Speaker 1: Look at We're on to the San Antonio Spurs, which

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means it's time to speak with Noah Magaro George. He

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covers the San Antonio Spurs and does an excellent job

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of doing so, if I say so myself. At the

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vic and Roll, follow him on Twitter at N Underscore Magara.

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That's at N Underscore m A G A r O,

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and follow and subscribe to the vic and Roll on

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Twitter at v C Underscore A N D Underscore r.

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Speaker 3: O l L.

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Speaker 1: I will include the links to the Twitter handle and

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Noah's substack in the podcast and YouTube description. If you

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have not already remembered a rate, review and subscribe to

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us cross all platforms, comment on these YouTube videos, like them,

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hit the sub button on YouTube if you have an already,

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and hey, if you've done all those things, share it.

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Tell people about his friends, family members, enemies, acquaintances, the

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whole nine. As we continue to grow. But that's enough

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out of me. Let's get to talking some San Antonio

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Spurs with Noah.

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Speaker 2: Noah, Welcome back.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming back on for our

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San Antonio Spurs look ahead this season.

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Speaker 2: How the heck are you doing?

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Speaker 3: I'm doing great. It has been an interesting off season

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for the Spurs. Maybe not what every fan hoped that.

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There was certainly some wheeling and dealing going on. It's

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not the same exact team as a season ago. And

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it's been a nice summer in Texas. I can't complain.

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I've loved it. Wouldn't you just tell me? It was

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like one hundred and twenty degrees every day in Texas?

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Is that considered like a nice summer still? Yeah? Yeah,

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So we had like ten straight days of one hundred

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degree weather. I think last year we set the record

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at like fifty something in a row in San Antonio.

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So yeah, it's a little bit better. Less hot than

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a year ago. Somehow, it's less hot than a year ago.

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Speaker 1: Your heats on is what you're saying. You haven't had

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two de conxecutive day weather.

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Speaker 2: So you mentioned people.

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Speaker 1: I get some people not wanting more or they want

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more out of the Spurs off season.

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Speaker 2: Excuse me?

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Speaker 1: What did you make of their offseason, especially against the

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backdrop of I felt like I saw this more nationally

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than necessarily fans of the Spurs ranos of the first

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Spurs calling for it, but thinking that they needed to

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just make some blockbuster like it.

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Speaker 2: Had to be, Like it wasn't. Oh, they could do

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this and it might make sense, Like no, they had

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to do.

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Speaker 1: So what did you like? What was your read on

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of their direction and their plans based off what they

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did this offseason?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I was a huge fan of what they did.

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Not to be a complete homer, because I try to

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be as unbiased as possible, but I think they did

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an excellent job of really setting the tone of Okay,

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we want to get a little bit better. We've added

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Chris Paul, We've added Harrison Barnes, We've drafted Stefan Castle.

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These are all guys who should be in the rotation

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right away, right, guys who can improve this team. You're

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going to have a full forty eight minutes of point

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guard play, real point guard play every night. But then

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they also are flexible. Right, they were able to trade.

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I think we'll talk about that later, but they traded

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the eighth pick. They stayed flexible. They added more first

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round picks, they have more future pick swaps, they have

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cash considerations that they added whatever that does for them.

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So like they stayed flexible while still improving. And I

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think that's exactly what they have aimed to do because

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Brian Right and Greg Popovich, whether directly or indirectly, have

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said multiple times that they're not trying to just go

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all in right away, right away, right away, and you know,

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we need to win year one with Victor. That was

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never the goal. You know, They're never they weren't just

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going to jump into this right away and make rash moves.

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They're looking long term. They want to build something sustainable.

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And I know as much as Spurs fans and maybe

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even some national media members might look and go, well,

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you know, the Duncan Era lasted nineteen years and five championships.

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That doesn't happen overnight. It's not an accident. It has

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to be carefully planned. So I think that they're doing

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an excellent job of just trying to recreate a long

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term sort of system here that's sustainable, that's not just

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going to be oh, well, we have a small five

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year window and now it's closed and we got to

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figure something out down the line. No, I think they're

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really building for something sustainable long term.

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Speaker 1: And it's interesting too because it feels like they made

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that Like the number eight pick trade was first. So

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when I heard that, I was like, oh my god,

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did Minnesota like trade Karl Anthony Towns because there was

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the it had San Antonio trade the number eight pick

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without a return. That was interesting too because it feels

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like it reinforced everything you just said to where it's

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I don't know if the Spurs.

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Speaker 2: I don't think the Spurs got those.

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Speaker 1: Picks with the intention of keeping those picks where it's like,

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this is now going to be assets in the clip

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that maybe we don't move off of in twenty four

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or twenty five, and maybe it's un till twenty six

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or twenty seven, but we have all these other extra

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picks from the Hawks coming in like we're going to

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eventually there will be a consolidation move or there will

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be a swing and we're prepping for it. And so

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I viewed that as encouraging immediately because it wasn't It

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wasn't them sort of kicking the can without a planet

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Like that trade poued me and think like, okay, they

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even if I even if you didn't like who they picked,

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at number four and Stefan Castle will get to him.

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That trade made me think like, Okay, like this is

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gonna happen at some point. It's not going to be immediately,

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and I didn't think it needed to be immediately because

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Victor's so young and so are some of the other

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players on this team. Like I looked at that trade,

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it's sort of the okay, like the Spurs are serious

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about this, it's gonna happen.

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Speaker 2: They're just sort of biding their time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think that's exactly the way to look

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at things, because again, you know, there was all this

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talk about from especially the like big national talking heads

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of oh they got to go get Lori marken In,

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they got to go get Darius Garland, or are they

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gonna go get Trey Young? And like, don't get me wrong,

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I think a lot of those names are really fascinating

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and I definitely flirted myself with the idea of adding

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one of those names to the Spurs and how exciting

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that can be. But I think it took a lot

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of gall it took a lot of patience, It took

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a lot of self confidence and jaw and your own

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job security is Brian right, as the general manager to go, Okay,

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I don't have to go all in right now. My

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job's not on the line, like we're building something consistently,

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and it's not just like building consistency through like the

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players on the team. But I think also the staff,

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right they want to have like a consistency and in

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their plan, a consistency in the players. They want to

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have something that lasts a long time. So I applaud

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them for that. I'm not saying it was a perfect offseason.

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If you asked me to grade it, I certainly wouldn't

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say A plus they were perfect, because that's that's not true.

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There's definitely things that could have been done better. But

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you know, I would say I give it an A.

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I would give it an A. I'll stand right here

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and tell you I think it's an a off season.

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They were able to kind of have their cake and

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eat it too, in a sense, so I think that

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they did a solid job.

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Speaker 1: There will be someone in the YouTube comments who's mad

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that you didn't give them an A plus.

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Speaker 2: I just want you to I'm sure.

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Speaker 3: I'm sure there's only okay, you can't please everybody.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure you did touch on something and regular listeners

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of this podcast are gonna be sick of me hearing this.

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But like you're talking, like Brian Wright, accepting not just

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as a primary form of confrontation, but like the confrontation

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where was this pick swop and this pick that won't

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convey or have the ability to convey.

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Speaker 2: For over a half decade.

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Speaker 1: I think or I romanticize those picks when we're talking

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about trades and teams that own them.

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Speaker 2: But it actually does.

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Speaker 1: Take you the word gall It does because it or

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it's just like there is security here and you have

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the latitude to take your time because there is that

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if you're gonna make a trade, like you're giving up

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an immediate ass especially a top a pick, I don't

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care what raft it is, and you're going to like

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like not just again the primary like the compensation was

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this stuff that's not gonna come to Bayar unless you

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move it for another half decade or so. Like I

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think that is encouraging because it shows they're committed to

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continuity and kind of just like remember this idea and

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I don't think it By the way, I loved every

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I advocated for them, going after every name that you

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mentioned within reason, like I would have loved Larry marshat

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on this team, but like, no, I don't want them

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giving up the McHale Bridges special at this point to

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get yeah market, But now I don't even remember what

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I was saying before that, but yeah, so it seems

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like they're, oh, the narrative that was being pushed about, well,

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Victor wants to win so bad they're not going to

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be able to wait that long. And it's just like

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I thought that was like they were saying that before

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he even took the court. And by they, I don't

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even know who I'm talking at. I heard a lot

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of it on ESPN, but they're just people like, yeah,

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he's wired different, and it's okay, he's obviously included into

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this stuff. It was never going to be a problem.

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But I think this even underscores it's definitely not a problem.

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Speaker 3: He definitely wants to win, so nobody's getting that wrong.

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But I think people have a misunderstanding that it needs

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to be right now and when Ben Yama is not

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He's not stupid, right, I mean, he's a very smart kid,

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and I think he understands and he has spoke about

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it throughout the season several times, which is one of

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the reasons that kind of frustrated me hearing that narrative

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of oh, well, you know, he's gonna get tired of

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losing and he needs to win out like, No, he

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did talk about I want to win, I want to

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win as soon as possible. I want to win championships.

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But he also spoke several times, and this is the

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thing that I don't feel like I ever heard from

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any of the national talking heads that he understands it's

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a process and that he, you know, quote trusts Greg

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Popovich and the front office to get it done. So

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I don't think there's any sense of urgency that it

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needs to be done today. But I do believe there's

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a sense of urgency that we'd like to get it

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done sooner than later. But I still think, you look

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at what they've done, they're making moves to get better

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right now, even if it's not to win a championship

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right now, but long term, long term, to have something sustainable,

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and we talked about that. So I do believe, yes,

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he wants to win, but I don't think he's It's

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not like a situation where, oh, you know, if you

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don't win this year, two, he's gone, He's he's running

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out the door. I don't think that's a problem. And

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I understand Spurs fans probably have a little bit of

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PTSD from the Kawhi Leonard thing. We don't even have

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to talk about that in depth in any way, shape

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or form. But I think he's fine. I don't think

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he's going anywhere. I don't think he's so unsettled that

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you know, this isn't going to be a beautiful marriage

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for a long time between the Spurs and Wimbin Yama.

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Speaker 1: And there's also and we'll get into this later, but

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it's just there's a chance that you don't just write

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off because you got Harrison Barnes and Chris Paul and

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steff On Castle's the main attractions. Vivid Rumnamer just might

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be so good that the brush are still just like conversation.

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So it's not a loss. I don't even want to

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call lost, not necessarily.

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Speaker 2: A rebuilding season.

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Speaker 1: But I wanted to ask you this because I dictate

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too much of how the order of events goes on

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these podcasts. What is the single biggest storyline development whatever

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that you will be monitoring with this team into next season.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and I hate to do this because I think

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Spurs fans are probably tired of me talking about Devin

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Vessel a little bit. But I really want to see

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does Devin Vessel have that next little bit in the

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tank to make a jump to be something like a

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Chris Middleton to Yannis Santetokombo, right, Like, does he have

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that in him to be that caliber of player?

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Speaker 2: Right?

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Speaker 3: Obviously the Spurs would have to have a lot better

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players around them to win a championship, But can he

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be the equivalent of what Chris Middleton has been for Jiannis,

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especially when they were competing and when they ultimately end

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it won that twenty twenty one titles that the right

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year Sometimes, I you know, forget the years off the

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top of my head. But can he do that? Like,

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does he have the you know, I guess, the skill,

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the bandwidth to be able to make that next jump?

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And I think he does. I think he might, but

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it's yet to be seen, right, it's yet to be seen.

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But I think he showed a lot of promising science

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last season. I think he's somebody we're going to talk about.

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But for me, that's what I'm monitoring because I think,

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aside from Chris Paul really benefiting when Binyama and a

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lot of the other shooters on this team, He's probably

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gonna benefit, you know, Devin Vessel long term as well,

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Like I think he can learn a lot from Chris Paul.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, let's talk about you know, I love

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Devin Vessel. I thought he improved incrementally basically across the

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board last year, and because it wasn't a monster leap

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in any one area, it flew under the radar. I

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thought the handle was better. We've talked about his defense

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in the past. I thought that was better. I think

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a part of that is Victor Wambayama exists, so that

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just makes things yeah on everybody. And then just like

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even if the efficiency was down in some areas, the

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level of shots that he is capable of taking him

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making now, like if you rewind back to his rookie season,

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I don't know if I ever would have predicted that

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he got to this point.

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Speaker 2: And so I have two.

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Speaker 1: Main questions on this, But I guess the first one is,

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so if he's going to make that leap to we

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call it Chris Middleton like status, but just like, oh

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number two guy on a contender. What is it that

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you're looking to see him improve upon or develop?

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Speaker 2: What area most?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he's got to continue to get to

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the rim more often. Like he upped his rim volume

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last season, and he also significantly raised his filgal percentage

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inside the paint and inside the restricted area, Like that

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was huge, but the volume wasn't raised that much, right, Like,

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he was getting there a little bit more and he

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was way more efficient. Now can he get there a

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lot more and maintain that efficiency? And then can he

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get to the line a little bit more? Like, can

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he get to the line a little bit more? Can

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he leverage now getting to the rim more often to

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create for his teammates a little bit more? Because he

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did what I think he had like about three three

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and a half assists per game last season. Most of

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those were pretty rudimentary reads. It wasn't anything, you know,

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too advanced. It was like he was hitting guys who

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were you know, a man away, or he's hitting the

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roller with you know, a pocket pass ocasionally. It wasn't

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anything that you're like, Wow, this guy's really like capable

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of carrying an offense for a long time. It was

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more like, yeah, he can make the right pass when

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that presents itself, and I think all of those things

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kind of culminating together, Can that happen? That's I think

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that's my big question. Can that happen? Because I think

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that's what needs to happen for him to take that

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next step in his progression to becoming that all star

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caliber player who can be maybe a number two to

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win min Yama.

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Speaker 1: And I'm wondering if just by organically proving the space

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same because Victor Wimanyama is better, you have Harrison Barnes,

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who's at least more of a threat from beyond the arc,

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if that allows him to get to the rim more

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because it feels like sometimes I just feel like he

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bails out on his drives and might prefer the mid

321
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range look, but other times it's just kind of like, well,

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you look at the way the defenses are guarding the

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spurs and that's why he gets rid of the ball.

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Speaker 2: Like his I think his past percentage on drives was absurd.

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Speaker 1: Last year was like forty percent or something ridiculous like that,

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And so I'm just wondering if the floor being more open,

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if that helps him get to the basket. But he

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has always had that element of his game where it

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does feel like his drives are just you know, when

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he's on the ball, like it might stall out before

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it has to, like he might settle before he needs to.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I definitely think that he's limited in some way.

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And I like the Chris Middleton compareson that I threw

334
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out there. I'm not saying that's like a one for one.

335
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They're definitely not the same player. But as far as

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like biomechanically, they don't have a ton of wiggle, right,

337
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they don't have a ton of bursts. They rely on pace,

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change of pace. You know. A lot of their you know,

339
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pull ups are like those one two dribble pull ups.

340
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They're not really like East and West guys. They're north south.

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And even in being north south, they're not truly like

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blow by speed, right, that's not who they are. They're

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gonna beat you being patient, They're gonna get to their spot,

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They're going to create space with a couple dribbles, and

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then they're gonna rise. So, like, I think that's definitely

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a limiting factor for him, like that he's never i think,

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going to be a better athlete than he is right now.

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I mean he's not getting younger. Nobody else in the

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league is getting younger, right like, so I think that's

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a limiting factor for him, But I still don't think

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that it is such a limiting factor that he can't

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take another step. Like we've seen players who are not

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necessarily the best athletes adjust, whether it's you know, adding

354
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a little bit of muscle to their frame, you know,

355
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being a little bit more patient, using a change of pace,

356
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you know, ball fakes like I just want to see

357
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can he do that. I'm not one hundred percent sure

358
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I think he can, but again, it's yet to be

359
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seen and we'll just have to wait till next season

360
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when he's out in the court and potentially having better spacing.

361
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Could that help him? Yeah, I think it could help him,

362
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But in the same breath, I don't know that it's

363
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going to be that much better. I think it really

364
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depends on who's around him, who ends up being the starters, and.

365
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Speaker 1: How do you think his role if at all, And

366
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I'm assuming it will will change with Chris Paul in

367
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San Antonio now because I think the burden on him

368
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gets less and I think Chris Paul like did a

369
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better job last year. Maybe getting off the ball like

370
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more quickly than we're used to. But like relative to

371
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Trey Jones and theory, if Chris Paul's running your offense,

372
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he's a lot of times not going to get off

373
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the ball as quickly as a trade Jones. And so

374
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what does that maybe do to I don't want to

375
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say like necessarily his usage rape, but the type of

376
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usage we're gonna see from Devin Vasselle next season.

377
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think maybe we'll see a lot more catch

378
00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:07,879
and shoot opportunities for a guy like Devin vessel I

379
00:16:07,919 --> 00:16:10,120
know they gave him a lot of freedom, like a

380
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longer leash to be this guy who can create off

381
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the dribble a little bit. And so even though I said,

382
00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:16,000
you know, he's not really an East to West guy,

383
00:16:16,039 --> 00:16:19,200
they definitely let him occasionally pound the air out of

384
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the rock. I don't think we're gonna see that next

385
00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:22,639
season so much. I think it is gonna be a

386
00:16:22,639 --> 00:16:25,399
lot more of those okay catch if a guy's closing

387
00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:27,519
out too hard, want to dribble pull up, like I

388
00:16:27,519 --> 00:16:29,320
think we're gonna see a lot more of that out

389
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of Devin vassell than like, hey, Dev, Like when Victor's

390
00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:34,879
not the game with you, we're gonna ask you to

391
00:16:34,879 --> 00:16:36,519
do a lot more Like I don't think he's gonna

392
00:16:36,519 --> 00:16:38,679
be asked to do quite as much on ball creation

393
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,720
as he was a year ago. So I'm not one

394
00:16:41,799 --> 00:16:43,440
hundred percent sure that's gonna be a case, but that

395
00:16:43,519 --> 00:16:46,000
certainly feels like that's what's going to end up happening.

396
00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:48,879
Especially you would have to assume Chris Paul's starting. He

397
00:16:48,919 --> 00:16:51,360
already said like, I'm I didn't come to San Antonio

398
00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,480
to just be a mentor and come off the bench,

399
00:16:53,559 --> 00:16:55,759
Like we know, he's probably gonna be starting from day one.

400
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,080
Speaker 1: Look, he's already putting more pressure on them than Wemby

401
00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:02,039
ever has. So it turns out vikr wenmi Yama is

402
00:17:02,039 --> 00:17:03,039
pretty good at basketball.

403
00:17:03,759 --> 00:17:04,720
Speaker 3: Who knew.

404
00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,240
Speaker 1: We were very optimistic even coming off of his summer

405
00:17:07,279 --> 00:17:10,319
league last year. But so let's start here. What stood

406
00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:11,880
out the most or surprised you the most, or just

407
00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:13,839
impressed you the most about what he did? Like the

408
00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:15,640
single most thing that stood out to you during his

409
00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:16,319
rookie season.

410
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Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh, that's such a good question because it's a

411
00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:22,200
hard question to answer. So I think for me, it

412
00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,480
was not really hitting a rookie wall like it didn't

413
00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,240
feel like he had a really long, extended period in

414
00:17:28,279 --> 00:17:29,720
the middle of the season or towards the end of

415
00:17:29,759 --> 00:17:31,240
the season where it was like, oh yeah, this guy's

416
00:17:31,279 --> 00:17:33,160
running out of gas, or oh man, this guy needed

417
00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:35,000
to sit for a bunch of games because his body

418
00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:37,119
just wasn't used to the wear and tear like he

419
00:17:37,559 --> 00:17:39,519
won his body. Like there were several times where it

420
00:17:39,559 --> 00:17:42,279
looked like he rolled his ankle and then he just

421
00:17:42,319 --> 00:17:45,359
like walked it off and was fine, and then basically

422
00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:48,119
gave credit to the you know, phenomenal training staff that

423
00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:50,720
he'd been working with going back to France where his

424
00:17:50,799 --> 00:17:55,680
ankle flexibility has just been maximized, where those sort of

425
00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:58,200
injuries aren't happening to guys like we saw with like

426
00:17:58,279 --> 00:18:01,960
Yao Ming or even like the Shacks or Sean you know,

427
00:18:02,039 --> 00:18:04,119
Bradley's of the world, guys that big and you know,

428
00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,119
again Wemby's not as heavy as they are, but just

429
00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:10,200
his durability and then the ability to not sort of

430
00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:12,680
run into that wall right like he he maintained a

431
00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:14,640
pretty good efficiency throughout the year, and even if you

432
00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:16,519
look at the last ten games of the season, where

433
00:18:16,519 --> 00:18:20,640
he probably should have been the most tired twenty six

434
00:18:20,839 --> 00:18:25,559
twelve and five and a half stocks, like with five

435
00:18:25,599 --> 00:18:28,480
assists per game too, Like, come on, like, that's pretty

436
00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:31,480
impressive that he decided. Oh yeah, like he didn't decide,

437
00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:33,960
but that he was capable of ending on such a

438
00:18:34,039 --> 00:18:37,839
strong note and having really memorable performances when there was

439
00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:40,119
really nothing to play for at that point in the season.

440
00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:41,319
Speaker 2: Yeah.

441
00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,279
Speaker 1: The thing that really stood out to me was so

442
00:18:43,319 --> 00:18:45,640
they make him, they eventually make him the lone big

443
00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:48,839
in December or whatever, and then he just shoots like

444
00:18:49,319 --> 00:18:53,160
one of the most efficient off the dribble shooters, And

445
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:54,400
I was like, I didn't see.

446
00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:55,920
Speaker 2: You could have convinced me anything.

447
00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:57,920
Speaker 1: I probably would have doubted, Oh he'll finish second and

448
00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:00,240
defensive player that year voting as a rookie. I would

449
00:19:00,279 --> 00:19:01,880
have been skeptical, but I've been I believed it. If

450
00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:03,480
you would have told me that he was gonna shoot

451
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:05,880
for a majority of the season, like thirty eight percent

452
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,799
on author dribble threes, I would have been like, yeah, okay,

453
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,960
and he is the type of player and you got

454
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,440
this vibe I think with Yannis, but not as early

455
00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:18,079
because he wasn't playing as much. Where hyperbole doesn't feel

456
00:19:18,079 --> 00:19:19,599
like it exists with him, Like you can tell me

457
00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:22,119
anything right now that Victor wemben Yama will do. He's

458
00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,160
in for his career, and I'm just gonna believe you

459
00:19:24,559 --> 00:19:27,000
because like that's the type of player he feels like

460
00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:30,200
to me. And now I'm just like I don't even

461
00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:32,799
know what, like what does a Victor wemben Yama with

462
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:34,279
NBA experience look like?

463
00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:37,359
Speaker 2: Now? Like I just don't I can't even fathom.

464
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that I don't. I don't know, And

465
00:19:40,319 --> 00:19:43,160
it does certainly feel like like Michael Jordan Wan says,

466
00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,160
the ceiling is the roof, Like there's really no ceiling

467
00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:47,680
for this guy, Like it just feels like he's capable

468
00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:49,359
of doing anything. The one thing I would say if

469
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:50,880
we had if I'm not sure if we're going to

470
00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:53,880
talk about this later, but if I could choose anything

471
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,160
that kind of like confused me and maybe he should

472
00:19:56,319 --> 00:19:58,400
he should work on a little bit was the fact

473
00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:00,680
that he shot like almost thirty eight thirty nine percent

474
00:20:00,759 --> 00:20:03,640
on off the dribble threes like self created threes versus

475
00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:06,880
like twenty seven percent on catch and shoot threes on

476
00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:10,480
like a really high volume two. Like I'm still trying

477
00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:12,000
to kind of work around that one. I think he's

478
00:20:12,039 --> 00:20:13,720
maybe a little bit more in rhythm off the dribble

479
00:20:13,759 --> 00:20:15,359
than he is just like off the catch. He's a

480
00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:17,680
little stiff off the catch. But I'd love to see

481
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,160
him be able to maximize those catch and shoot looks,

482
00:20:20,279 --> 00:20:23,119
because a lot of them he was like fairly open

483
00:20:23,559 --> 00:20:25,680
on them. He just didn't knock him down.

484
00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:28,480
Speaker 1: I wonder if it's because, I mean, not that dribbling

485
00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,279
a tennis ball being easier, but for him it's got

486
00:20:30,279 --> 00:20:31,960
to be like catching a tennis ball because of his

487
00:20:32,039 --> 00:20:34,599
size and like trying to like gather that and shoot

488
00:20:34,599 --> 00:20:35,720
it at the same time. Where I guess if it's

489
00:20:35,759 --> 00:20:37,079
already kind of like in the palm of your hand,

490
00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:37,720
is it easier.

491
00:20:38,079 --> 00:20:38,160
Speaker 3: Uh?

492
00:20:38,319 --> 00:20:39,119
Speaker 2: I have no idea.

493
00:20:39,559 --> 00:20:41,920
Speaker 1: The yeah, we all know the numbers by now, like

494
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,160
of when he played with Trey Jones the Spurs one

495
00:20:44,279 --> 00:20:47,039
oh yeah, like six points per hundred posessions whatever it was.

496
00:20:47,599 --> 00:20:49,519
What does and you mentioned this kind of at the top,

497
00:20:50,079 --> 00:20:51,759
like what does it do for Wemby in the Spurs

498
00:20:51,799 --> 00:20:53,319
that there is gonna be like even if you want

499
00:20:53,319 --> 00:20:55,000
to say a full forty eight, because how many minutes

500
00:20:55,039 --> 00:20:57,519
will Chris Paul play you have forty minutes at least

501
00:20:57,960 --> 00:20:59,599
of just capable point guard play.

502
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:01,839
Speaker 2: Now, it's like what does that do for him? And

503
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:03,920
like what does that mean to this team?

504
00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:07,720
Speaker 3: Oh, I think it's monumental. I think even for people.

505
00:21:07,799 --> 00:21:10,160
And for some reason, there was a really strange contingent

506
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,279
of Spurs fans who were like Trey Jones haters who

507
00:21:12,319 --> 00:21:13,920
were they were like, oh, well one ban Yama just

508
00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:16,960
he continued improving throughout the season and like that's on,

509
00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:18,759
you know he he looked that good because he was

510
00:21:18,759 --> 00:21:20,720
playing with winm bin Yama. No, I think there was

511
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:23,119
a pretty strong correlation. The Dad'll say it, the film

512
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:25,960
would say it. And I think having two capable point

513
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,599
guards times is massive for winm bin Yama because I

514
00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:33,359
think to a degree, people sort of were overblowing this,

515
00:21:33,599 --> 00:21:35,759
Oh they can never find him, He's they're always missing

516
00:21:35,839 --> 00:21:38,680
him on lobs. But like there is always some truth

517
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:40,480
in there, right, Like even if you're telling a joke,

518
00:21:40,599 --> 00:21:42,039
like there is a truth in there, and there is

519
00:21:42,079 --> 00:21:45,720
the truth that like Spurs players missed him occasionally, like

520
00:21:45,759 --> 00:21:48,039
they missed him on lobs, they missed him in transition.

521
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:52,440
They weren't quite capable of making what felt like rather

522
00:21:52,599 --> 00:21:56,400
elementary injury passes, whether it was like an entry bounce

523
00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,519
pass or an entry lob like, it felt like a

524
00:21:59,519 --> 00:22:01,720
lot of time those guys were not able to do that.

525
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,799
And with Trey Jones out there, with Chris Paul out there,

526
00:22:05,799 --> 00:22:08,000
and now guys who before had never played with the

527
00:22:08,039 --> 00:22:10,079
seven foot six guy and now they've got a full

528
00:22:10,079 --> 00:22:13,680
season of that under their belt, that should improve immensely.

529
00:22:13,759 --> 00:22:15,440
So I think it's gonna be huge for the Spurs

530
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:17,920
to have that point guard play, plus the added experience

531
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,640
in chemistry that comes with playing with women Yama for

532
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,200
a year for the other younger guys.

533
00:22:24,039 --> 00:22:24,799
Speaker 2: What do you make.

534
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,319
Speaker 1: Also of the turnover situation with him? Is it a

535
00:22:28,319 --> 00:22:30,160
product of just like learning?

536
00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:30,640
Speaker 2: Is it?

537
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:32,680
Speaker 1: I mean like he had just a lot of lost

538
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,279
ball turnovers. I think he was fifth in lost ball turnovers.

539
00:22:36,279 --> 00:22:38,839
He also he turned the ball over a ton in transition.

540
00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,480
It was like eighteen percent of the time. I think

541
00:22:41,519 --> 00:22:43,640
it's encouraging like when he was isoing, Like when he

542
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:45,839
would iso, there wasn't too many turnovers there. Is it

543
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:48,279
just like he's so tall that the ball has to

544
00:22:48,279 --> 00:22:50,319
travel such a great distance. Is that kind of just

545
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,680
going to be like an inherent risk with him, or

546
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:54,759
do you see an ability for him to like and

547
00:22:54,799 --> 00:22:56,599
forget about like the bad passes and stuff like that

548
00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:58,400
comes with learning, I think, But just like the actual

549
00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:00,480
loss ball turn ors.

550
00:23:00,279 --> 00:23:01,680
Speaker 2: That came out of his handle, what do you make

551
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:02,079
of those?

552
00:23:03,319 --> 00:23:06,039
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, and that's an area that I'd love

553
00:23:06,079 --> 00:23:07,720
to see him and improve in as well. But I

554
00:23:07,759 --> 00:23:11,480
think there's always going to be like a limited ceiling

555
00:23:11,519 --> 00:23:13,799
on how good of a ball handler he can become,

556
00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:15,799
just because the ball does have to travel so far,

557
00:23:15,839 --> 00:23:18,880
he does have to get so low, and even like

558
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,079
a super wide crossover going between the legs or driving

559
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:25,559
into the lane, or with guys who are digging on

560
00:23:25,599 --> 00:23:29,400
your drives, like you know, the ball is going to

561
00:23:29,519 --> 00:23:31,880
be dislodged every once in a while. It's going to

562
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:33,519
be easier for guys to get to that ball. It's

563
00:23:33,519 --> 00:23:35,559
going to be easier for guys to get under your dribble,

564
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,119
And I think that's just an inherent risk with letting

565
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,920
him dribble the ball more. And so like this may

566
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:42,799
sound strange, and I'm sure I'm going to catch some

567
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:46,359
flak from Spurs fans, but one of the things I've

568
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,039
always said with women Yama is like, he's probably not

569
00:23:49,079 --> 00:23:50,400
a guy you want to give the ball and just

570
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,799
say go do this, go do that. Like, he's still

571
00:23:52,839 --> 00:23:56,640
a guy who probably and at his best, is working

572
00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:00,160
off of I is there guys create to him for

573
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:02,200
him to a certain degree, and a guy who like

574
00:24:02,279 --> 00:24:04,559
catches and makes quick decisions. I don't really want to

575
00:24:04,599 --> 00:24:08,400
see Wimby, you know, Like we talked about pounding the

576
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:10,160
air out of the ball like that. This is really

577
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,799
not something that I think is very productive. He doesn't

578
00:24:12,799 --> 00:24:14,759
really have the strength to turn the corner on guys.

579
00:24:14,799 --> 00:24:17,119
He doesn't have the handle to not have that ball

580
00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:21,000
dislodged when he's tacking middle. So yeah, I just don't

581
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,039
think it's something that we should be worried about. But

582
00:24:23,079 --> 00:24:25,680
it's definitely I think something that's always going to happen,

583
00:24:25,799 --> 00:24:27,799
just as a product of his size and how often

584
00:24:27,799 --> 00:24:28,759
he handles the ball.

585
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:31,519
Speaker 1: I do think what bodes well for him is that.

586
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:33,640
And my co host has said this a few times.

587
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,599
His name is Grant, just saying like he doesn't look

588
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:38,880
like someone who was shoehorned into playing basketball. He looks

589
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,559
like a basketball player who happens to be seven foot three. Yeah,

590
00:24:41,599 --> 00:24:43,200
and so everything he does is so fluid that it

591
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:45,599
wouldn't shock me if, like, you know, I don't expect

592
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:47,000
to be the best ball handler of all time. And

593
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,240
look if you're telling me like I want Wemby back

594
00:24:49,279 --> 00:24:51,079
at the perfect angle, like I don't want him too

595
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:52,039
low to the ground.

596
00:24:51,799 --> 00:24:53,799
Speaker 2: Like bending over trying to make sure it doesn't comit turnovers.

597
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,559
Speaker 1: So I actually think for me personally, the zoomed off

598
00:24:56,599 --> 00:24:58,640
he was like, I'm just not not that anyone should

599
00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:00,720
be worried about it, but it just I would expect

600
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:02,319
it to like get better and better to the point

601
00:25:02,319 --> 00:25:04,240
where I I don't even think we're talking about it

602
00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:06,119
as like maybe like if you had to pick a

603
00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:09,000
flaw of Victor Wimbanyama, like maybe it's that. I just

604
00:25:09,039 --> 00:25:11,359
don't view it as something that maybe will repress his

605
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,000
ceiling or his usage in any way.

606
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:15,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think it's going to be like a

607
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,079
massive problem or anything like that. Like if I'm looking

608
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,720
long term, I still think there's a lot to uncover there,

609
00:25:21,759 --> 00:25:23,359
Like I think he can tiden up the handle a

610
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,400
little bit, and I think he is very creative and

611
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:29,400
he's also vipodent. But yeah, I don't think it's going

612
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:30,920
to be a massive problem. But I do think it's

613
00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:32,880
always going to be an issue to a degree because

614
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:34,960
I just don't know that you can be that tide

615
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:37,960
of a ball handler at that size. Like you know,

616
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,279
for as fluid as he is, he's still like pretty

617
00:25:40,559 --> 00:25:43,000
stiff in the hips as far as like when you

618
00:25:43,039 --> 00:25:45,279
watch him make dribble moves, like he's not really he

619
00:25:45,559 --> 00:25:47,839
gets relatively low for someone that big, but like for

620
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:51,240
the average player, he's not really getting that low, you know,

621
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:53,880
you know what I mean. No, certainly not an issue

622
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:55,680
that I'm going like, oh man, I'm really worried about

623
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:57,640
that in a couple of years. No, I don't think so.

624
00:25:57,720 --> 00:25:59,240
And I do think that there is room to improve,

625
00:25:59,279 --> 00:26:02,720
and I do think he ultimately cut down all those turnovers.

626
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:04,480
But mostly I think the turnovers that he could work

627
00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,680
on cutting down are just the you know, bad pass turnovers,

628
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:09,799
which I'm fine with him making bad passes right now.

629
00:26:09,839 --> 00:26:12,319
It just means that he has a confidence to try things,

630
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:14,400
and I think they should give him that long leash

631
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,599
to try things. He's a generational prospect, like let's let's

632
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:18,559
let him see what he can do.

633
00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:21,519
Speaker 1: Also, bad passes can be objected. I guess if you're

634
00:26:21,519 --> 00:26:23,880
a fan, they could be not so much of that team,

635
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:25,680
but they could be objectively fun to watch, like just

636
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:27,400
as a laite pass and wherever you come in, like,

637
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:29,759
I'm just try shit, And so I'm with you.

638
00:26:29,759 --> 00:26:31,079
Speaker 2: On yeh on that one.

639
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:35,519
Speaker 1: What did you think of taking Stefan Castle and what

640
00:26:35,559 --> 00:26:37,400
do you make of his just overall fit with with

641
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:37,880
this team?

642
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:42,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, and and I don't mean to sound too like

643
00:26:43,039 --> 00:26:45,319
down on the class, but I wasn't the you know,

644
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:49,240
I wasn't the biggest supporter of this class. I didn't

645
00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:52,480
think it was super talented. So as long as they

646
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:57,960
didn't reach for someone like Tajan Saloon or one of

647
00:26:58,000 --> 00:26:59,880
the other more raw prospects in the class, like as

648
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,039
they were taking somebody who I thought like could potentially

649
00:27:03,279 --> 00:27:05,319
serve some sort of function from day one and also

650
00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:07,359
have some ceiling down the line, like a Ron Holland

651
00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:10,359
or Stefan Castle or Rob Dillingham. I was pretty much

652
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:14,119
fine with whoever they took. Stefan Castle was fifth on

653
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,400
my big board, so it wasn't like, oh they were

654
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:18,920
reaching I had Rob Dillingham four. I was a really

655
00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:20,839
big Rob Dillingham guy. Just as someone who can be

656
00:27:20,839 --> 00:27:23,920
a spark plug if you wanted Trey Young without you know,

657
00:27:24,039 --> 00:27:25,960
trading for Trey Young. I'm not saying he is Trey Young.

658
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:27,599
I'm not saying he will ever be as good as

659
00:27:27,599 --> 00:27:30,279
Trey Young, but certainly a guy who has the handle,

660
00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:32,440
can pass a little bit, can create off the dribble

661
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:35,680
score from all three levels. You know who would be

662
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:37,359
really fun to watch in a woman? Yam a pick

663
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,400
and roll like, yeah, there was definitely you know a

664
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,000
little bit of me that went, oh man, I'd love

665
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,480
to see Rob Dillingham and Stefan Castle so like the

666
00:27:44,519 --> 00:27:47,559
trade when they traded you know, Dillingham, immediately I was like, oh,

667
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:49,160
that's a bit of a bummer, but I get it.

668
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,519
Stefan Castle though not disappointed anyway. I think it's a

669
00:27:52,559 --> 00:27:57,200
pick that makes sense, mostly because he's a guy who

670
00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:59,279
a If they view him as a point guard, which

671
00:27:59,279 --> 00:28:02,119
it appears they all, right, well, you can ease him

672
00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:06,319
into the role behind Trey Jones, behind Chris Paul. You've

673
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:08,559
got two phenomenal role models there for him. He can

674
00:28:08,599 --> 00:28:11,319
learn a lot from both of those players. But if

675
00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:13,759
also the point guard thing doesn't work out, well, guess

676
00:28:13,839 --> 00:28:15,839
what You've kind of got a Swiss Army knife player

677
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:19,720
who can be a secondary creator who it's a fantastic

678
00:28:19,799 --> 00:28:22,799
screener as a guard, a guy who's an excellent cutter,

679
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,200
hard nosed defender, Like just one of those guys can

680
00:28:26,279 --> 00:28:29,880
be a glue who doesn't necessarily fit into one one role,

681
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:32,200
who can kind of do it all. So I think

682
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:34,200
it's a phenomenal pick for the Spurs just because it's

683
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,200
hard for them to lose in any scenario. Now, I

684
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,319
do think there's a chance that he's probably not as

685
00:28:40,359 --> 00:28:42,599
good as Spurs fans make him out to be. Right now.

686
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:44,440
He may struggle a little bit as a rookie, but

687
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,240
that's pretty normal, Like most players struggle as a rookie.

688
00:28:47,279 --> 00:28:49,799
So if he struggles a bit, I'm not going to

689
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:50,400
be shocked.

690
00:28:51,759 --> 00:28:54,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was torn on the pick. I felt way

691
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,240
better about it after they signed Chris Paul. That's just oh,

692
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,160
like Stefancastle is just going to be learning under Chris Paul.

693
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:00,880
I think the thing and I harp on this too

694
00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:03,480
much with prospects, I like, what do you make of

695
00:29:03,599 --> 00:29:06,599
like do you see anything or evidence that, oh, the

696
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,400
jumper will get better just because like he struggled.

697
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:09,759
Speaker 2: On making threes.

698
00:29:09,759 --> 00:29:11,680
Speaker 1: Heven wasn't too efficient on catch and shoot threes, I

699
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:13,880
think while he was at Yukon, and so that's something

700
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,279
that's like the malleability defensively, that guy will defend wings

701
00:29:17,279 --> 00:29:17,960
and he will do it well.

702
00:29:18,039 --> 00:29:20,039
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's great for this team to have.

703
00:29:20,799 --> 00:29:23,519
Speaker 1: But I'm just curious as to what he becomes as

704
00:29:23,599 --> 00:29:26,000
like a like a floor space or as an actual shooter.

705
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:31,960
Speaker 3: He gives me some concerns in the same vein that

706
00:29:32,559 --> 00:29:37,640
I'm concerned with Jeremy Sohan, where guys are legitimately fine

707
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:39,240
to just like leave him out there and go all

708
00:29:39,319 --> 00:29:41,319
right shoot like they're daring him to shoot. They dared

709
00:29:41,359 --> 00:29:43,519
him to shoot at Yukon. There were a lot of

710
00:29:43,519 --> 00:29:46,200
times where teams dared him to shoot at Yukon and

711
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:48,039
then he still didn't shoot and just passed it up.

712
00:29:48,079 --> 00:29:50,319
One of the things I liked at Summer League was like, Okay,

713
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:52,720
if you're gonna leave me open, I'm gonna shoot. If

714
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:54,640
you're gonna go under a screen, I'm gonna pull up

715
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:56,400
off the dribble, which are things we didn't really see

716
00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:00,440
at Yukon. Playing for a championship contender at U and

717
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:04,119
the team that ultimately ended up winning the championship. Yeah,

718
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:05,759
they were never gonna just like let him do those

719
00:30:05,759 --> 00:30:07,480
things at Yukon, Like he had to fit a role

720
00:30:07,519 --> 00:30:09,359
at Yukon, so like we weren't gonna see those things.

721
00:30:09,359 --> 00:30:11,880
But it was nice to see him have the confidence

722
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,039
to pull up off the dribble from three, to pull

723
00:30:14,119 --> 00:30:16,319
up off the dribble from mid range, to try to

724
00:30:16,359 --> 00:30:18,640
create for himself a bit. But I think ultimately, even

725
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,160
if you look at Summer League, which is pretty small

726
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,039
sample size to be fair to him, the three point

727
00:30:24,079 --> 00:30:26,400
percentage wasn't good. The free throw percentage wasn't good, the

728
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:29,839
mid range jumper percentage wasn't good. Like, I don't think

729
00:30:29,839 --> 00:30:31,839
he's gonna be a guy who comes in next seasons.

730
00:30:31,839 --> 00:30:33,680
Oh wow, he's a lot better shooter than we thought.

731
00:30:33,759 --> 00:30:35,519
I know, I don't think so. I don't think he's

732
00:30:35,519 --> 00:30:40,440
a particularly good shooter right now. And at least, you know,

733
00:30:40,559 --> 00:30:43,240
since Chip England left this team a couple of years ago,

734
00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:46,440
I don't know that we've seen any like major evidence

735
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,720
that anybody who's joined the Spurs as a non shooter

736
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:53,000
has suddenly become a shooter. I think they've definitely made

737
00:30:53,279 --> 00:31:00,000
a progress with Jeremy Sohan and not insult him too more,

738
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:02,839
but like you started from a really really low bar,

739
00:31:03,039 --> 00:31:05,559
So even if you started from that low bar, you

740
00:31:05,599 --> 00:31:07,480
were always going to make some sort of progress. Like

741
00:31:07,519 --> 00:31:09,480
he was not always going to be like a seventeen

742
00:31:09,519 --> 00:31:12,480
percent three point shooter, right that was you know, like

743
00:31:12,519 --> 00:31:15,400
he there was nowhere to go butt up. So I'm

744
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,240
hoping that we see progress from other guys who've been

745
00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:20,559
on this team that can kind of say, hey, you know,

746
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:23,519
Jimmy Barron, who's the new shooting coach there since you know,

747
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:27,680
uh England left town. Like he's making real progress and

748
00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:29,920
he's having impact on these guys and hopefully that can

749
00:31:30,079 --> 00:31:33,000
continue to Stefan Castle. But for now, I don't think

750
00:31:33,039 --> 00:31:34,839
we've really seen that. And that's you know again, that's

751
00:31:34,839 --> 00:31:36,920
no shade towards Jimmy Barron. It takes a while with

752
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,640
these sort of things, but it definitely makes me wonder,

753
00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:41,359
like what is he going to look like in a

754
00:31:41,359 --> 00:31:44,480
couple of years and is that something that will really improve?

755
00:31:45,599 --> 00:31:48,599
Speaker 1: Yeah, and also just off rip, he feels like one

756
00:31:48,599 --> 00:31:50,480
of the and you said you clearly dug deeper into

757
00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:51,920
the draft than I did. It feels like he was

758
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,359
one of the prospects that had the wider variants in

759
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,920
like comps. Whereas I saw him compared to everyone from

760
00:31:58,599 --> 00:32:01,319
Bruce Brown to our Ga, I saw some shake Gil

761
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:03,279
just Alexander light stuff out there.

762
00:32:03,319 --> 00:32:06,200
Speaker 2: I'm like, those are all just like very different players.

763
00:32:07,599 --> 00:32:09,799
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's all over the place, And like

764
00:32:09,799 --> 00:32:12,519
we talked about that, you know, if at his peak

765
00:32:12,559 --> 00:32:14,039
and it all works out as a point guard, I

766
00:32:14,039 --> 00:32:16,200
think it's because he's able to at the very least

767
00:32:16,599 --> 00:32:19,519
have found a mid range game, and that he's shown

768
00:32:19,559 --> 00:32:22,000
that his handle is tight enough and he's got that

769
00:32:22,039 --> 00:32:24,240
sort of grasp of change of pace and able to

770
00:32:24,279 --> 00:32:28,680
snake pick and rolls and make live drivel passes, you know,

771
00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:30,680
whether that's like a skip to the corner or a

772
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,039
pocket pass to the big who's rolling to the basket,

773
00:32:33,079 --> 00:32:34,920
Like we saw that at Summer League. He looked really

774
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:38,039
good as a point guard, as a facilitator in small

775
00:32:38,039 --> 00:32:40,960
spurts there. But in that same breath, if he never

776
00:32:41,039 --> 00:32:42,799
is able to shoot, and guys in the NBA are like,

777
00:32:42,839 --> 00:32:44,920
I'm going under every screen, I'm gonna leave you open

778
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:48,720
every time. Is there a role where he's no longer

779
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:50,440
like you can't really roll him out there as a

780
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:52,640
point guard, and he more becomes sort of this lonzo

781
00:32:52,759 --> 00:32:56,400
ball player who is more of a connector piece than

782
00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,000
a guy who brings the ball up the court every

783
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,200
single time. Could he just be a connector who who

784
00:33:00,279 --> 00:33:03,359
you know, is a great cutter, who is a phenomenal

785
00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:05,400
defender on the other side of the ball. Sure, Like

786
00:33:05,519 --> 00:33:07,680
I think that's also a fantastic outcome, But I think

787
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:09,839
there's a wide range of outcomes for him that really

788
00:33:09,839 --> 00:33:13,240
depend on where he gets to as a jump.

789
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:16,359
Speaker 1: Shooter and what type of role would you expect him

790
00:33:16,359 --> 00:33:17,720
to have, Like is this someone that they're going to

791
00:33:17,799 --> 00:33:19,440
give like serious floor time too?

792
00:33:19,759 --> 00:33:21,799
Speaker 2: If not out of the gate, like as the season

793
00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:22,279
goes on.

794
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:24,839
Speaker 3: I expect him to play from day one. I think

795
00:33:24,839 --> 00:33:26,480
he's going to be a guy who's coming off the

796
00:33:26,519 --> 00:33:29,200
bench fifteen to twenty minutes. Like kind of the same

797
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,519
way that I saw Devin Vasselle, where people were like, oh,

798
00:33:31,559 --> 00:33:33,599
every player who's come through San Antonio went to the

799
00:33:33,599 --> 00:33:36,000
G League and they don't see any action as a rookie.

800
00:33:36,079 --> 00:33:38,400
And when the Spurs draft of Devin Vesselle, I told people,

801
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:40,400
I was like, he's probably not going to spend a

802
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:42,480
lot of time in the G League. I think he's

803
00:33:42,519 --> 00:33:44,720
ready to play a small NBA role, even if it's

804
00:33:44,759 --> 00:33:46,640
like fifteen to twentyish minutes a night. And I see

805
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:50,200
Stefan Castle in the same sort of like mold as

806
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:52,880
a Devin Vesselle. Is a guy who has some NBA

807
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:56,200
ready skills, who will probably be shifted a little bit

808
00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,359
off ball so that he's not running an offense and

809
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:01,319
he's more of just a connector he's eased into a role.

810
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,039
I think that that makes sense, And like I hate

811
00:34:04,079 --> 00:34:06,079
to say that, it's probably gonna come at the expensive

812
00:34:06,119 --> 00:34:09,599
guys like Blake Wesley or Malachi Branum, but you know,

813
00:34:09,599 --> 00:34:11,679
it's year three for them, and I don't think either

814
00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:15,280
of them really showed enough that you go, oh, yeah,

815
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:17,920
you get minutes year three, Like, no, you're gonna have

816
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:21,440
to beat out Stefan Castle in training camp for those minutes.

817
00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:23,840
And just as it stands right now, I think Stefan

818
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:25,800
Castle is a better defender than they are. I think

819
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:27,800
he's a better processor than they are, and I think

820
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:31,840
he's a guy who just in general is got these

821
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:36,800
intangibles that lend themselves towards winning, whereas Malachi Branum Blake

822
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:40,119
Wesley there's still very much like developmental projects who haven't

823
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:45,119
really proven anything in any substantive way. For a team

824
00:34:45,159 --> 00:34:48,239
that has lost, you know, sixty plus games back to

825
00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:50,119
back seasons, it's hard to trust in them.

826
00:34:50,599 --> 00:34:53,000
Speaker 1: So it turns out Jeremy Sohan isn't a point guard

827
00:34:53,519 --> 00:34:57,360
that's val What do you sort of he does other

828
00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:59,400
stuff though, like the paint pressure and rim pressure. I think,

829
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:02,400
especially within the offensive eco system that the Spurs have,

830
00:35:02,519 --> 00:35:04,519
like some of the stuff he does it is very good.

831
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:06,360
But what do you kind of see and we know

832
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:08,760
what he can do defensively network like we have the

833
00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:11,199
bones of what this player can look like on defense.

834
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,000
What is like the you're looking at this team, like

835
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:15,559
what do you view as his role and fit? And

836
00:35:15,559 --> 00:35:18,440
like what is your goal for Jeremy Shan leading into

837
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:19,239
year three?

838
00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:21,559
Speaker 3: Well? I do not know. I wish I had a

839
00:35:21,599 --> 00:35:24,320
really solid answer for you, and I think Spurs fans

840
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:26,800
will still be upset at me for this, But I

841
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:28,320
don't know that I could look you in the eye

842
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:30,400
and tell you like, oh, I promise you Jeremy Sohan

843
00:35:30,519 --> 00:35:33,199
will be like a really important part of this team

844
00:35:33,199 --> 00:35:36,280
in three four years, Like we've already they just drafted

845
00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,480
another guy who can't shoot the ball. Trey Jones can't

846
00:35:39,519 --> 00:35:41,800
really shoot the ball that well. Zach Collins can't really

847
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,880
shoot the ball that well. Keldon Johnson is incredibly erratic

848
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:47,800
as a shooter. Julian Champainne is also incredibly erratic as

849
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,880
a shooter. Blake Wesley can't shoot the ball. Malachi Branham

850
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:53,880
is another guy who's very erratic as a shooter. Devin

851
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,159
Vessel is probably their best shooter on the team, right

852
00:35:56,719 --> 00:36:01,039
with Harrison Barnes. So like, I see him as one

853
00:36:01,079 --> 00:36:02,559
of those guys that, like, I love him and I

854
00:36:02,559 --> 00:36:04,519
think he could be really good down the line. But

855
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:07,320
what does he do for you as a floor spacer

856
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:09,519
if there's other guys who can't space the floor, Like,

857
00:36:09,559 --> 00:36:12,039
how do you fit him into there? And I think

858
00:36:12,079 --> 00:36:14,480
a lot of his defense, he has some really nice moments.

859
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:17,400
I would still categorize him more as an agitator than

860
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:20,760
a lockdown defender, Like his numbers are fine defensively, like

861
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,199
his defensive field goal percentage is okay. I think he

862
00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:25,760
takes on a lot of hard assignments because there was

863
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,039
nobody else to do, so. I think he did a

864
00:36:28,039 --> 00:36:30,559
really good job against bigger wings, against guys who are

865
00:36:30,559 --> 00:36:34,719
a little bit stronger, maybe not like the most bursty athletes.

866
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:38,159
He had a really good a couple of showings against

867
00:36:38,199 --> 00:36:41,480
guys like Kawhi Leonard, against guys like Devin Booker, against

868
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:45,239
someone like Lebron James, but against smaller, shiftier guards, against

869
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:49,079
faster guys, he wasn't particularly good. He's not quite big

870
00:36:49,199 --> 00:36:53,440
enough to guard centers or bigger forwards. I don't you know,

871
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:55,800
we talked about he's not a point guard. I don't

872
00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:58,519
really see him in that and people, I think a

873
00:36:58,519 --> 00:37:00,639
lot of sports fans want to compare him to Raymond Green.

874
00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:03,599
Draymond Green is an all time processor. He's an all

875
00:37:03,599 --> 00:37:06,320
time playmaker as a short role passer, as a guy

876
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:09,639
who can be a dribble handoff hub. Jeremy Sohan hasn't

877
00:37:09,639 --> 00:37:12,679
shown that he can make a good pass every once

878
00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:15,320
in a while, but in the same sort of breath

879
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:17,239
that we talked about Devin Vessel, where he's mostly a

880
00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:20,519
guy who's making passes from a man away. That's how

881
00:37:20,519 --> 00:37:23,480
I see Jeremy Sohan. So I don't really know how

882
00:37:23,519 --> 00:37:25,480
he fits in here. Long term. I think his best

883
00:37:25,519 --> 00:37:28,400
bet to being here long. The Spurs organization loves him

884
00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:32,119
and fans love him. I think he's got to become

885
00:37:32,159 --> 00:37:34,519
a league average shooter as a catch and shoot guy,

886
00:37:34,519 --> 00:37:35,719
because he's not a guy who's going to be a

887
00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:37,840
pull up scorer. He's not pulling up from three, he's

888
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,639
not pulling up from mid range. His fill goal percentage

889
00:37:40,639 --> 00:37:43,920
on drives was abysmal. He shot forty nine percent on

890
00:37:44,039 --> 00:37:48,199
drives last season. He was in the lower percentage as

891
00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:50,760
a guy who passes out of drives, Like his assist

892
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,280
percentage out of drives was really low. A lot of

893
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,400
his drives stall out because he's so stiff and he

894
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,239
doesn't have the wiggle off. The drug creat an advantage

895
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:01,199
for any so it's all driving. I'm cut off, I'm

896
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:05,599
kicking it out. But his kickouts aren't advantage creating. They're

897
00:38:05,679 --> 00:38:08,599
just resetting the offense. It's going back to square one.

898
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:11,480
So I don't know. I wish I had better things

899
00:38:11,559 --> 00:38:14,000
to say about Jeremy so Han, but for me at least,

900
00:38:14,079 --> 00:38:16,719
the verdict is still out on whether he's really like

901
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,119
a long term starter on this team or what is

902
00:38:19,159 --> 00:38:22,320
he exactly long term? Especially with Stefan Castle in the

903
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:24,639
picture of Stefan Castle doesn't end up being a point guard.

904
00:38:25,119 --> 00:38:27,719
And you got two guys who are like pretty similar

905
00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:29,960
as far as like being a Swiss army knife kind

906
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:32,320
of player. But I think Stefan Castle is a better processor.

907
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:34,000
I think he's a better passer. I think he's a

908
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:36,639
more versatile defender. So I hate to say all that

909
00:38:36,679 --> 00:38:39,000
stuff about Jeremy Sohan because I think he's an all

910
00:38:39,039 --> 00:38:41,719
time competitor. I think his motor runs super hot. I

911
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:43,960
don't think you'll find you know two or three players

912
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,639
who have a higher motor than Jeremy Sohan. But you know,

913
00:38:46,639 --> 00:38:48,119
if I were to ask you right now, what does

914
00:38:48,159 --> 00:38:51,039
he do really, really, really well. I don't know that

915
00:38:51,119 --> 00:38:53,440
there's a lot of things you could list off for me,

916
00:38:53,559 --> 00:38:55,719
at least anybody who's been watching the Spurs this last

917
00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:56,480
couple of seasons.

918
00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:59,360
Speaker 1: I'd be super intrigued as to how much more valuable

919
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:02,119
his defense but comes with Stefan Castle in the picture.

920
00:39:02,159 --> 00:39:03,880
But those are also two players as of right now

921
00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:05,880
that you probably can't play together a ton of myths.

922
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:06,840
Speaker 3: They can't shoot.

923
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would be interested to see, like more

924
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:11,599
of you mentioned Draymond Green.

925
00:39:11,679 --> 00:39:13,280
Speaker 2: I don't see that in Jeremy so In either.

926
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:15,920
Speaker 1: But to give him like more of those touches like

927
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:17,960
coming out of screens and trying to get him going

928
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:21,119
downhill that way, does that change anything? But even you

929
00:39:21,199 --> 00:39:23,280
mentioned like that doesn't He's not necessarily gonna have that

930
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:26,039
burst like Draymond Green has like those like hot feet

931
00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,159
sometimes and you don't see that as much from Jeremy

932
00:39:29,159 --> 00:39:31,039
so Han, But it might be worth a shot if

933
00:39:31,079 --> 00:39:33,360
you're looking for a long term role on this team.

934
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:36,239
Speaker 3: Yeah. And I think one of the things that I

935
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:38,920
try not to like be too critical because it has

936
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:41,000
been like a developmental sort of last couple of years,

937
00:39:41,079 --> 00:39:43,039
but I think one of the things that has been

938
00:39:43,079 --> 00:39:45,199
sort of a disservice to Jeremy Sohen is that they

939
00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:48,679
haven't used him really at all in any meaningful capacity

940
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:50,800
as a short role passer, like as a role man.

941
00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:52,679
He's not really like setting screens and then rolling to

942
00:39:52,719 --> 00:39:55,000
the basket. I think I would have loved to see

943
00:39:55,039 --> 00:39:59,000
him gain those opportunities when the men didn't. And now

944
00:39:59,039 --> 00:40:00,880
the minutes of starting to ma or more so, you

945
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:03,800
can't just all right, like so hand, let's let's figure

946
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:05,639
out if you're a good short role passer, now let's like,

947
00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:07,440
let's make you a playmaking hub. It's kind of hard

948
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:10,119
to you. Now you've got other guys like Chris Paul's

949
00:40:10,119 --> 00:40:12,360
gonna want his touches, Devin Vessell's important to the team,

950
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:15,199
when Ben Yama's integral to the team, Chris Paul's again

951
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:16,840
like Chris Paul's probably gonna be the guy who has

952
00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:18,840
the ball in his hands the most. All right, Stefan Castle,

953
00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:20,000
we want to see what you can do, but we

954
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:21,599
don't want to throw you in the G League. Probably

955
00:40:21,599 --> 00:40:24,239
all right, Well, who's going to get those opportunities? Who's

956
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:25,599
gonna be able to have the ball in their hair?

957
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:27,880
Or we know he's not a point guard. I just

958
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:31,280
I have questions about Sohan. I don't have questions about

959
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:33,480
his character. I don't have questions about his motor. I

960
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,039
don't have questions about his work ethic. I just have

961
00:40:36,199 --> 00:40:40,000
questions about developmentally, where does he go from here that

962
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:44,559
makes him a fit long term? That's that's my only question.

963
00:40:45,679 --> 00:40:48,039
Speaker 1: Speaking of players we've had questions about in their fit

964
00:40:48,119 --> 00:40:48,519
long term.

965
00:40:48,599 --> 00:40:51,519
Speaker 2: Kelvin Johnson's still on this team. Honestly impressive when you

966
00:40:51,559 --> 00:40:52,480
just consider.

967
00:40:52,239 --> 00:40:55,199
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think when we were talking last year, I

968
00:40:55,199 --> 00:40:57,199
probably would have guessed that Kelvin Johnson wouldn't have been

969
00:40:57,280 --> 00:40:59,239
on this team by this time this season.

970
00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:02,440
Speaker 2: But so, what do you like, what do you viewing

971
00:41:03,119 --> 00:41:05,800
closer to like the ideal role now that they've kind

972
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:08,119
of expanded their depth a little bit, or just like,

973
00:41:08,159 --> 00:41:11,199
what is the hope or expectation for him on this

974
00:41:11,199 --> 00:41:11,920
Spurs roster.

975
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:15,079
Speaker 3: I will say, even though I think Keldon Johnson is

976
00:41:15,159 --> 00:41:18,440
a guy who I could potentially see them getting something

977
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:21,800
for and maybe moving off of, I think he's had

978
00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:26,800
the hardest job of anybody on the Spurs. I'll give

979
00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:30,880
him three seasons because it's just constantly changed from being

980
00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:34,199
like that primary score before women Yama got here, to

981
00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:36,840
being like the third guy with Dejonte and DeMar to

982
00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:40,039
now coming off the bench last year with Wimbin Yama

983
00:41:40,079 --> 00:41:43,400
and having to Devin Vessel take more touches, to Okay,

984
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:44,880
we want you to run some pick and roll at

985
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:46,639
the beginning of seasons and really see what we can

986
00:41:46,679 --> 00:41:48,920
get out of you there, to now you're mostly off ball,

987
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:50,880
to like he's just done so many things and he

988
00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:54,079
hasn't had a consistent role or a consistent place in

989
00:41:54,079 --> 00:41:56,559
the rotation that I feel like he's been almost given

990
00:41:56,599 --> 00:41:58,760
the short end of the stick. I would like to

991
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:01,840
see him just have a concernsistant role off the bench.

992
00:42:02,239 --> 00:42:04,559
You're number one guy as far as like go to

993
00:42:04,679 --> 00:42:06,599
score off the bench. I I just want to see

994
00:42:06,679 --> 00:42:09,440
him have some consistency because although I don't think he's

995
00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:11,920
a particularly good defender, he's got heavy feet and he's

996
00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:15,000
not like the biggest, quickest guy, and I don't think

997
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:17,639
he's the most consistent shooter. I think he's been put

998
00:42:17,679 --> 00:42:20,599
in a tough position. I think consistency for him would

999
00:42:20,599 --> 00:42:23,679
go a long way to helping him build consistency on

1000
00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:26,840
the court, if that makes sense. So I just him

1001
00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:30,119
have something that he can hang on to for an

1002
00:42:30,239 --> 00:42:32,280
entire season and we go, okay, that's what he is.

1003
00:42:33,559 --> 00:42:35,440
I don't think we've really gotten that from him yet,

1004
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:37,599
and he hasn't been afforded that opportunity yet.

1005
00:42:37,599 --> 00:42:40,880
Speaker 2: I don't think I am. I do find him maybe more.

1006
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:42,760
Speaker 1: I don't know if the word is valuable or interesting

1007
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:44,679
on the current iteration of the spurs, where I do

1008
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:47,920
think even with Castle and Sohan, it feels easier to

1009
00:42:48,159 --> 00:42:50,239
because the victim womyam's going to shoot like he did

1010
00:42:50,519 --> 00:42:52,880
and maybe improve his catch and shoot percentage.

1011
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:54,400
Speaker 2: It's easier to open up the floor.

1012
00:42:54,519 --> 00:42:56,400
Speaker 1: And so you have those sort of bull in a

1013
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:58,920
China shot drives from Keldon Johnson. Maybe take on more

1014
00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:01,199
meeting if he's reacting quickly off the catcher, maybe just

1015
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:04,159
his own three point percentage go up because of how

1016
00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:06,599
much better point guard play there is across forty eight minutes.

1017
00:43:06,679 --> 00:43:09,840
Because he's also just like anecdotally, he feels like first

1018
00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:12,840
team all shoots worse than you think he does from

1019
00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:14,960
three point range. Go back and look at it's like, oh,

1020
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:17,480
he hasn't shot even thirty five percent each are the

1021
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:19,760
passage and he was below thirty three percent, not last season,

1022
00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:20,639
but the season before.

1023
00:43:22,159 --> 00:43:25,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you always I always walk away thinking like, oh, yeah,

1024
00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:27,360
Keldon Johnson's a good shooter. But then I have to

1025
00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:30,400
remind myself, like, well, you're right, like the percentages haven't

1026
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,920
been very good like any of the last three seasons.

1027
00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:36,239
But I also think, you know, the team has been bad,

1028
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:38,400
the context has been bad. I try to give the

1029
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:40,519
benefit of the doubt to these guys, and like, I

1030
00:43:40,559 --> 00:43:42,800
know I come off as a Keldon Johnson haters sometimes

1031
00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:44,960
and I'm not. I have the utmost respect for him.

1032
00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:47,679
He's another one of those guys who high effort, high character,

1033
00:43:48,119 --> 00:43:50,360
great work ethic, always in the gym, great part of

1034
00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:55,119
the community. Like I just again, I'd love to see

1035
00:43:55,159 --> 00:43:58,519
him have role, have better players around him so that

1036
00:43:58,679 --> 00:44:01,400
things are more defined for him and he can just

1037
00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:03,480
go out there and know what to expect and what's

1038
00:44:03,519 --> 00:44:06,800
expected of him every single night and until we get that.

1039
00:44:07,119 --> 00:44:08,920
I don't want to pass too hard of a judgment

1040
00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:11,079
on him, but I would love him to just be

1041
00:44:11,199 --> 00:44:14,679
able to knock down the three ball, attack closeouts. I

1042
00:44:14,679 --> 00:44:17,480
think simplifying his role is the best thing that they

1043
00:44:17,519 --> 00:44:19,280
can do for him. I don't want necessarily want to

1044
00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:21,119
see him with the ball in his hands. I don't

1045
00:44:21,119 --> 00:44:22,719
need to see him running pick and rolls. I don't

1046
00:44:22,719 --> 00:44:26,039
even necessarily want to see him have any secondary creation opportunities.

1047
00:44:26,199 --> 00:44:30,079
Just simplify the role. Get to the basket off of closeouts,

1048
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:33,480
shoot the three ball if you're open, run hard in transition,

1049
00:44:34,079 --> 00:44:36,239
and like you know, defend your ass off if you can.

1050
00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:37,960
Because he's not a great defender, but he puts the

1051
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,599
effort in like it's not that he's not trying. He

1052
00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:43,239
just I don't know that he has the physical tools

1053
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:44,079
to get it done.

1054
00:44:44,280 --> 00:44:48,079
Speaker 1: He's he's super malleable on defense to where it's like

1055
00:44:48,119 --> 00:44:50,440
you can throw him in a bunch of different situations.

1056
00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:53,239
But it's just like it never like that versatility just

1057
00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:56,239
never like lines up to this massive impact where sometimes

1058
00:44:56,239 --> 00:44:59,159
we complate versatility with impact. But I think the versatility

1059
00:44:59,199 --> 00:45:01,639
is important. So I mean, like, they have a bunch

1060
00:45:01,679 --> 00:45:03,599
of interesting defenders on this team. Now there could be

1061
00:45:03,679 --> 00:45:06,559
lineups where he's like their fourth most important defender, and

1062
00:45:06,599 --> 00:45:08,760
that's like a really good spot to have Keldon Johnson.

1063
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:11,880
Speaker 3: And probably probably I also would say I don't think

1064
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:14,119
Keldon Johnson's I would actually probably go as far to

1065
00:45:14,159 --> 00:45:17,440
say he's a pretty bad defender, Like he ballwatcher, laid

1066
00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:21,400
on rotations, doesn't always communicate like heavy feet on ball,

1067
00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:24,239
like he's too heavy to be guarding guards, but he's

1068
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:26,599
also too small to guard forwards. Like he's in a

1069
00:45:26,599 --> 00:45:28,480
really tough spot that if you watch him every night,

1070
00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:30,320
you're like, man, he does a couple of things every

1071
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:33,480
night that are like year three or four or five,

1072
00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:37,280
really probably shouldn't be doing those things anymore, Like you're

1073
00:45:37,679 --> 00:45:39,840
a leader. You've been here, you know what's expected of you,

1074
00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:43,360
at least defensively. I haven't seen a lot of improvement

1075
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:46,280
defensively from him. They certainly use him as though he

1076
00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:48,719
is versatile. He gets to match up against guards. He

1077
00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:52,760
sometimes matches up against Ford. Sometimes he's on ball handling wings.

1078
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:56,000
But rarely do I walk away from a game going man.

1079
00:45:56,039 --> 00:45:58,719
He was really effective, like that, that dude did something tonight.

1080
00:45:58,719 --> 00:46:01,239
Most of the time it's like, ah, that was rough. Uh,

1081
00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:03,639
that was tough. And occasionally there's like one or two

1082
00:46:03,639 --> 00:46:06,280
flashes throughout the night. We're like high effort play. I

1083
00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:07,880
love that. I love seeing he put in the extra

1084
00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:09,800
effort he was on the floor, you know, like. I

1085
00:46:10,199 --> 00:46:13,679
love that, But I'd love to see him be impactful,

1086
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:15,800
like and I don't feel like he's an impactful defender.

1087
00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:17,280
I don't think the numbers say that either.

1088
00:46:18,679 --> 00:46:21,199
Speaker 1: You mentioned CP three before said he's not here to

1089
00:46:21,519 --> 00:46:25,199
mentor anyone. What I find interesting is, so you look

1090
00:46:25,199 --> 00:46:27,280
at the number he signed for, it's less than the

1091
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:28,840
non tax payer mid level, which means.

1092
00:46:28,719 --> 00:46:30,760
Speaker 2: In theory, if he were to be bought out or waves, he.

1093
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:33,159
Speaker 1: Could sign with anybody that he wants do you view

1094
00:46:33,159 --> 00:46:35,599
this as some sort of like tacit agreement that if

1095
00:46:35,599 --> 00:46:39,639
the Spurs are out of the play in Running by

1096
00:46:39,639 --> 00:46:41,360
the time the trade deadline rulls around, that they would

1097
00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:43,679
look at moving him, or maybe he would broke or

1098
00:46:43,679 --> 00:46:45,800
buy out later on, or do you view this as

1099
00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:48,199
like CP three can say whatever he wants, but like

1100
00:46:48,239 --> 00:46:50,559
this was very much like he came here eyes wide open,

1101
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:53,119
this is the play with Wemby, and he will be

1102
00:46:53,239 --> 00:46:55,079
to some degree like a mentor here.

1103
00:46:55,840 --> 00:46:57,840
Speaker 3: I think so, And like I just want to want

1104
00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:00,440
to clarify he said he wasn't here to just be mentor,

1105
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:02,280
Like he's here to be a mentor to these players,

1106
00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:04,079
but he didn't just sign up for a mentor role,

1107
00:47:04,119 --> 00:47:06,639
like he fully intends to start. He wants to play

1108
00:47:06,679 --> 00:47:08,840
in every game. He wants to play heavy minutes, Like

1109
00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:11,400
he didn't come here just to be a mentor. And

1110
00:47:11,440 --> 00:47:13,400
so I do think like a lot of that is one.

1111
00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:16,400
He also talked about wanting to prove in the press conference,

1112
00:47:16,440 --> 00:47:18,519
wanting to prove that he's still a starter in a

1113
00:47:18,559 --> 00:47:21,159
high level, you know player in this league. And I

1114
00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:24,000
just have a hard time seeing anybody even no matter

1115
00:47:24,039 --> 00:47:27,639
how well things realistically go for the Spurs, then looking

1116
00:47:27,639 --> 00:47:30,880
at Chris Paul and going Yep, this is a guy

1117
00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:32,960
who can be a starter for the next two three years.

1118
00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:36,320
I still think people will view him as this is

1119
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:39,880
sort of wells for whinmbin Yama and he did a

1120
00:47:39,880 --> 00:47:41,639
good job or he did an okay job. I just

1121
00:47:41,639 --> 00:47:43,639
don't see a reality in which a team is at

1122
00:47:43,679 --> 00:47:45,599
the buyout market if the Spurs do buy him out,

1123
00:47:45,639 --> 00:47:47,719
or like, yeah, this guy's a starter. I think the

1124
00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:50,960
Spurs are his best avenue to being a starter like

1125
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:53,239
he wants to be and playing heavy minutes like he

1126
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:57,119
supposedly wants here. So it could happen. I think it

1127
00:47:57,119 --> 00:47:59,639
could also happen with a guy like Harrison Barnes, but

1128
00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:02,639
I think more than likely they're probably on this team

1129
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:05,119
for the long haul unless it really goes south and

1130
00:48:05,159 --> 00:48:06,760
they just want to be sellers and get whatever they

1131
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:07,519
can for those guys.

1132
00:48:07,639 --> 00:48:08,719
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about some of the

1133
00:48:08,760 --> 00:48:11,159
tertiary players on this ross that you've already kind of mentioned,

1134
00:48:11,199 --> 00:48:14,360
just to hear your updated thoughts on their game their roles.

1135
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:17,239
Speaker 2: Let's start with Malachi Brandum.

1136
00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:20,599
Speaker 1: Rip to that pushot percentage from the previous year, it

1137
00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:23,079
dipped a little bit last year, but yeah, so where you're.

1138
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:27,119
Speaker 3: At with him. I don't know what to make of

1139
00:48:27,239 --> 00:48:31,079
Malachi Brandam's future in San Antonio, just because it doesn't

1140
00:48:31,119 --> 00:48:36,159
seem like San Antonio is all that invested in him

1141
00:48:36,199 --> 00:48:39,320
being here long term. I think it's been the same mistakes.

1142
00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:43,280
You know, low effort defensively, making the same mistakes defensively.

1143
00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:46,840
He's still passing on three pointers. When he's shooting threes,

1144
00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:49,599
it's not at a high percentage. That push shot went

1145
00:48:49,639 --> 00:48:51,920
way down as you're talking about like the floaters, the runners,

1146
00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:54,280
Like the percentage on those are way way way down.

1147
00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:57,679
He's okay as like a secondary ball handler who can

1148
00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:01,800
handle a little bit of creation responsibilities. But like there's

1149
00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:05,239
really nothing that sets him apart from any of the

1150
00:49:05,360 --> 00:49:07,840
other young guys that makes you go, yeah, he needs

1151
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:09,639
to be here, or he should be here, he should

1152
00:49:09,679 --> 00:49:12,880
be given extra opportunities. Like I just look at him

1153
00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:15,280
as okay, Well, like this is probably like do or

1154
00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:17,760
die for him this season if he's not good again,

1155
00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:19,599
Like no, not to be rude to him, but like

1156
00:49:19,639 --> 00:49:22,400
if he's not good again for a third straight season,

1157
00:49:22,880 --> 00:49:25,360
it's probably it. Like I don't think San Antonio is

1158
00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:28,199
gonna be you know, itching to get him back here

1159
00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:30,599
for another season or make him a long term part

1160
00:49:30,599 --> 00:49:36,320
of their you know, puzzle around Wimbinyama. Blake Wesley, Blake Wesley,

1161
00:49:36,360 --> 00:49:38,639
I do think a little bit differently. He is a

1162
00:49:38,679 --> 00:49:43,639
guy who drastically improved his rim finishing percentages last season.

1163
00:49:43,679 --> 00:49:46,119
That was one of the biggest deals for him heading

1164
00:49:46,199 --> 00:49:50,639
into the NBA at Notre Dame. He was awful around

1165
00:49:50,639 --> 00:49:53,079
the rim his rookie season. He was awful around the rim.

1166
00:49:53,119 --> 00:49:56,280
He's cut down on the turnovers. He has increased his

1167
00:49:56,320 --> 00:49:59,280
assist percentage. His three point percentage was a lot better

1168
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:01,039
in the G League. Didn't shoot very well in the

1169
00:50:01,119 --> 00:50:03,360
NBA last season, but you can start to see like

1170
00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:06,840
some semblance of a catch and shoot three where like

1171
00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:08,840
in the G League last year, he shot almost forty

1172
00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:10,760
percent on more than four attempts per game in the

1173
00:50:10,800 --> 00:50:12,519
G League and it was like twenty games, so it

1174
00:50:12,559 --> 00:50:15,440
was like a decent sample size. Just wasn't quite shooting

1175
00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:16,800
at that level in the NBA. I don't know if

1176
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:18,480
it was confidence, maybe he didn't have the green light

1177
00:50:18,519 --> 00:50:21,400
to shoot, but I definitely think that there's the outline

1178
00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:23,119
of a player who can be a guy who comes

1179
00:50:23,119 --> 00:50:26,719
off the bench and is just a pest at the

1180
00:50:26,719 --> 00:50:29,800
point of attack, like this dude. He was giving fits

1181
00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:32,880
to LaMelo Ball, he was bothering Tray Young, he was

1182
00:50:32,960 --> 00:50:38,239
forcing you know, eight second violations coming out of the backcourt.

1183
00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:40,280
Like he's a guy who'll defend you the full ninety

1184
00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:43,119
four feet Like, yeah, I think there's a chance that

1185
00:50:43,599 --> 00:50:46,280
if he can make these small improvements this year, just

1186
00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:49,320
become like a decent catch and shoot guy, someone who

1187
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:52,519
can make less and less mistakes off of his drives

1188
00:50:52,559 --> 00:50:54,280
and create for other guys. Like that's a guy who

1189
00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:55,840
can be in your rotation. So I do have a

1190
00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:58,400
lot more hope for Blake Wesley, but I will say

1191
00:50:58,400 --> 00:51:01,039
I think his hopes have been dashed little bit by

1192
00:51:01,199 --> 00:51:04,840
adding someone like you know, Stefan Castle with the fourth pick,

1193
00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:08,199
just because that's a much bigger investment than putting minutes

1194
00:51:08,199 --> 00:51:10,920
into a guy who you took twenty fifth, I think,

1195
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:13,000
and I think that makes more sense for the Spurs

1196
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:15,119
to invest in Stefan Castle in that way.

1197
00:51:16,280 --> 00:51:20,159
Speaker 1: Uh cdko who is probably gonna replace Dominic Barlow as

1198
00:51:20,199 --> 00:51:23,119
like my my Spurs like pet like pet Oh, I

1199
00:51:23,119 --> 00:51:24,880
love this guy project.

1200
00:51:24,480 --> 00:51:27,320
Speaker 3: I know, and and good luck to Dominic Barlow Man.

1201
00:51:27,559 --> 00:51:29,320
I hated to see him go, but I think he's

1202
00:51:29,320 --> 00:51:32,599
gonna have some decent opportunities in Atlanta City. So Sosoco

1203
00:51:32,719 --> 00:51:35,840
another one of those guys that man, if he could shoot, man,

1204
00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:38,559
we're talking about a different player, but again another one

1205
00:51:38,559 --> 00:51:42,199
of those guys can't shoot a lot of turnovers. Definitely

1206
00:51:42,239 --> 00:51:44,880
has this sort of like new age Boris dial sort

1207
00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:48,639
of feel to him. Really creative passer, a guy who

1208
00:51:48,679 --> 00:51:53,239
gets downhill, big body, about six or eight runs in transition,

1209
00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:57,519
tries to dunk everything, which is very much unlike Boris Diao,

1210
00:51:57,519 --> 00:51:59,920
who was pretty much glued to the ground. But you

1211
00:52:00,119 --> 00:52:02,880
see it in the defensive versatility. You see it in

1212
00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:06,480
the like the creativity and the passing flashes from him

1213
00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:08,800
in the half court as a connector. Like, I think

1214
00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:10,960
he is a guy who, again, if he can learn

1215
00:52:11,079 --> 00:52:13,840
to be a decent standstill shooter, and I think shooting

1216
00:52:13,880 --> 00:52:15,719
is really a big swing skill for so many of

1217
00:52:15,719 --> 00:52:18,800
these guys on this roster. He may have a spot,

1218
00:52:18,840 --> 00:52:21,960
but I think until he can shoot even at a

1219
00:52:22,000 --> 00:52:24,199
respectable clip, I'll even give him thirty two to thirty

1220
00:52:24,239 --> 00:52:26,920
three percent from three on a couple of attempts per game.

1221
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:29,159
Teams will be willing to leave him open, and I

1222
00:52:29,159 --> 00:52:31,480
don't think the Spurs can afford to shrink the floor,

1223
00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:33,800
and I don't think they can afford to rework their

1224
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:36,079
rotations in a way where he's not playing with other

1225
00:52:36,119 --> 00:52:39,119
guys who can't shoot the ball. There's just so many

1226
00:52:39,119 --> 00:52:40,760
of them right now who either can't shoot or they're

1227
00:52:40,840 --> 00:52:42,800
erratic shooting, and that I just don't know that you

1228
00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:44,920
can really squeeze him in the rotation. But I love

1229
00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:46,320
what I saw him from him at the end of

1230
00:52:46,320 --> 00:52:49,360
this last season, like so fun, and Papovitch had a

1231
00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:51,280
lot of great things to say about him at Summer League.

1232
00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:53,920
So we'll see. Maybe he ends up surprising everybody, maybe

1233
00:52:53,960 --> 00:52:57,400
as a great you know uh training camp and he's

1234
00:52:57,440 --> 00:52:59,199
in the rotation. I would love nothing more than to

1235
00:52:59,199 --> 00:53:00,760
see him in there, because he's a lot of fun.

1236
00:53:01,039 --> 00:53:03,800
Speaker 1: I promise I'm not forgetting about Mamu to anyone who's listening.

1237
00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:06,920
But the big Man rotation beyond Webbin Yama fascinates me

1238
00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:09,239
a little bit. When you're looking at the secondary minutes,

1239
00:53:09,599 --> 00:53:11,800
do you think that they're gonna default? Like, is it

1240
00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:13,679
just we have to default to Zach Collins because we

1241
00:53:13,679 --> 00:53:15,119
paid him, or is there a chance for them to

1242
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:18,840
experiment get weird and would you expect him even try that?

1243
00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:20,639
Or again, are we just defaulting to, like know, Zach

1244
00:53:20,679 --> 00:53:22,079
Collins is going to soak up those minutes.

1245
00:53:22,599 --> 00:53:25,519
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's probably gonna be a default Zachins.

1246
00:53:26,119 --> 00:53:28,760
They're paying him a lot of money at the very least,

1247
00:53:28,800 --> 00:53:31,400
if he can prove that he's better than he was

1248
00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:33,360
a year ago. Maybe he needed more time to recover

1249
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:35,880
from you know, he's constantly a guy who's constantly injured.

1250
00:53:36,519 --> 00:53:38,519
Maybe they can recoup some value from him at the

1251
00:53:38,519 --> 00:53:41,000
trade deadline or something like that. But I think unless

1252
00:53:41,039 --> 00:53:44,199
he's truly horrific, we're probably gonna see a lot of

1253
00:53:44,280 --> 00:53:48,239
Zach Collins now. I would say Charles Bassi and Mamu.

1254
00:53:48,559 --> 00:53:50,920
If they do move on from Collins, or they decide Okay,

1255
00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:53,440
we've seen enough of Collins it's not working out, I

1256
00:53:53,440 --> 00:53:56,360
would probably lean towards Mamu. I'm a big Mamu fan.

1257
00:53:56,400 --> 00:53:59,559
He's another guy, really creative passer, can handle the ball

1258
00:53:59,599 --> 00:54:02,400
at almost seven feet tall in theory, another guy who

1259
00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:05,800
can shoot but is very erratic shooting, good cutter, runs

1260
00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:09,440
hard in transition. Not a great defender, but really interesting

1261
00:54:09,519 --> 00:54:11,960
numbers next to Wimbinyama. Last season, I think they only

1262
00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:13,840
played like one hundred and twenty seven minutes, so take

1263
00:54:13,840 --> 00:54:15,760
it with a grain of salt, but they had about

1264
00:54:15,760 --> 00:54:18,280
eleven net rating together when they were on the court,

1265
00:54:18,360 --> 00:54:21,679
like a positive eleven net rating. So they were a

1266
00:54:21,679 --> 00:54:24,800
fun combination to see him kind of slide to the

1267
00:54:24,840 --> 00:54:26,679
five and when Binyama got to play the four for

1268
00:54:26,719 --> 00:54:30,800
some minutes, and then you had like Mamu as the

1269
00:54:30,800 --> 00:54:34,000
playmaking hub and Wimby was occasionally coming off a dribble,

1270
00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:37,000
handoffs or high low actions like it was a lot

1271
00:54:37,039 --> 00:54:38,599
of fun to see them play together. So if I

1272
00:54:38,639 --> 00:54:40,800
had to like throw a guy out there that I

1273
00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:42,719
do want to see play with wimbin Yama a little

1274
00:54:42,719 --> 00:54:44,599
bit more next season, it's definitely Mamu. I mean I

1275
00:54:45,039 --> 00:54:47,840
really like him, but again, you know, can can he

1276
00:54:47,880 --> 00:54:50,719
shoot consistently? Can he knock it down at a respectable rate?

1277
00:54:51,599 --> 00:54:52,320
Yet to be seen.

1278
00:54:53,320 --> 00:54:56,079
Speaker 1: They're a team that they replaced the Thunder as my

1279
00:54:56,119 --> 00:54:59,360
favorite theoretical, like, let's just take a flyer on Robert

1280
00:54:59,360 --> 00:55:02,400
Williams of the third as our backup big because I.

1281
00:55:02,360 --> 00:55:03,679
Speaker 2: Still think he's not going to space the floor.

1282
00:55:03,719 --> 00:55:05,119
Speaker 1: I know you're talking about four spacing, so I'm not

1283
00:55:05,119 --> 00:55:07,360
talking about playing him next to win Minyama necessarily, but

1284
00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:10,079
his passing out of roles on the stuff that he

1285
00:55:10,079 --> 00:55:11,960
can do defensively. You talk about being able to hang

1286
00:55:12,000 --> 00:55:14,559
on the perimeter even when he gets injured, comes back

1287
00:55:14,599 --> 00:55:16,320
and just able to do all the same stuff. It's

1288
00:55:16,320 --> 00:55:19,880
just can he be healthy? So I would like to

1289
00:55:19,920 --> 00:55:21,679
see them because I'm not a Zach Collins guy anymore.

1290
00:55:21,679 --> 00:55:23,199
I kind of used to be like the theory of him,

1291
00:55:23,199 --> 00:55:25,239
but I was kind of right, it's not happening.

1292
00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:27,440
Speaker 2: I don't think it's gonna happen. So I would like

1293
00:55:27,480 --> 00:55:29,320
to see them make that's a weird. That's a dumb

1294
00:55:29,360 --> 00:55:29,880
ass thing.

1295
00:55:29,800 --> 00:55:31,719
Speaker 1: To focus on, I know it, But I don't want

1296
00:55:31,719 --> 00:55:33,760
to see them get weird with their own roster at

1297
00:55:33,800 --> 00:55:36,039
that those big man minutes, whether they want to call

1298
00:55:36,039 --> 00:55:38,679
it beside Wenby or just like the secondary minutes behind him,

1299
00:55:38,840 --> 00:55:40,480
I want to see them either upgrade them or just

1300
00:55:40,480 --> 00:55:42,000
get weird with them.

1301
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:44,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I agree. I mean as much as this

1302
00:55:45,039 --> 00:55:47,119
is not like one hundred percent a rebuilding year, and

1303
00:55:47,159 --> 00:55:48,480
it's definitely a year where they want to be a

1304
00:55:48,519 --> 00:55:50,840
little bit more competitive. I still think you have the

1305
00:55:50,920 --> 00:55:55,119
leeway to be a little bit experiment not working out

1306
00:55:55,159 --> 00:55:57,679
with Zach Collins, and Zach Collins still isn't knocking down

1307
00:55:57,679 --> 00:55:59,599
the three ball, and Zach Collins is still getting eaten

1308
00:55:59,639 --> 00:56:01,400
alive in the pick and roll. Though I will say

1309
00:56:01,440 --> 00:56:04,000
to a degree, not one hundred percent his fault like

1310
00:56:04,039 --> 00:56:05,719
guards have to be a little bit better coming off

1311
00:56:05,719 --> 00:56:08,079
of screens, not getting stuck on screens. But if he

1312
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:11,400
is truly a disaster and you don't feel like it's going, well,

1313
00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:15,119
try something else. That's I'm fine with that. Try something else,

1314
00:56:15,159 --> 00:56:16,719
because you've got a lot of guys who are at

1315
00:56:16,760 --> 00:56:19,760
the very least like fringe NBA players, who are just

1316
00:56:19,840 --> 00:56:22,000
waiting for that opportunity to maybe prove that they do

1317
00:56:22,079 --> 00:56:24,599
belong at the end of a rotation. Guys like Bassie,

1318
00:56:24,639 --> 00:56:27,719
guys like Mamu, guys like City Sosoko. You know, I'd

1319
00:56:27,719 --> 00:56:30,840
love to see them get minutes and get weird with lineups.

1320
00:56:30,840 --> 00:56:33,559
Maybe you play lineups that are you know, maybe there's

1321
00:56:34,079 --> 00:56:36,360
small ball lineups, but they're still bigger than what you

1322
00:56:36,360 --> 00:56:38,480
would think. Like City is not a sinner, but like

1323
00:56:38,519 --> 00:56:40,239
he's a big guy who can handle the ball, Like

1324
00:56:40,280 --> 00:56:42,960
just get get creative if things aren't working out. And

1325
00:56:43,119 --> 00:56:44,480
I think that's kind of what I liked at the

1326
00:56:44,559 --> 00:56:46,599
end of last season, is that we saw lineups with

1327
00:56:46,679 --> 00:56:50,880
like City and Mamu and when Benyama and you also

1328
00:56:50,960 --> 00:56:52,719
had Blake Wesley out there, Like it was just they

1329
00:56:52,719 --> 00:56:56,800
were weird lineups that they still were like, well, we're

1330
00:56:56,800 --> 00:56:59,280
gonna try it, or like Davonte Graham was out there too,

1331
00:56:59,360 --> 00:57:03,199
alongside Tray Jones. It's like, never in your wildest dream

1332
00:57:03,199 --> 00:57:05,360
would you really expect the Spurs to be rolling out

1333
00:57:05,400 --> 00:57:07,559
two really small guards next to each other. But they

1334
00:57:07,599 --> 00:57:08,920
were like, hey, you know, it's the end of the season,

1335
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:11,360
let's do it. Like yeah, I'm fine with them getting

1336
00:57:11,360 --> 00:57:14,039
weird because at the very least it'll be entertaining and

1337
00:57:14,079 --> 00:57:15,639
maybe you learn something along the way.

1338
00:57:15,920 --> 00:57:18,239
Speaker 2: Are you ready for the cookie cutter portion of these podcasts?

1339
00:57:18,760 --> 00:57:21,320
Speaker 3: Absolutely, let's start positive.

1340
00:57:21,440 --> 00:57:24,920
Speaker 1: Is they are like an underrated strength that's just flying

1341
00:57:24,960 --> 00:57:27,440
under the radar about this team in your opinion.

1342
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:30,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to say it's probably their defensive versatility.

1343
00:57:31,159 --> 00:57:33,480
I think you look at guys like Wimbin Yama of

1344
00:57:33,559 --> 00:57:36,599
a Cell even you know, Keldon in theory is versatile,

1345
00:57:36,679 --> 00:57:41,360
Jeremy Sohan, Trey Jones, Champagne Castle, Barnes, I mean we could, Yeah,

1346
00:57:41,400 --> 00:57:45,639
we could continue listing things to Soco Bassie to a

1347
00:57:45,679 --> 00:57:48,599
degree though he's mostly just like a traditional drop coverage

1348
00:57:48,599 --> 00:57:51,800
big Like, I think their defensive versatility in theory could

1349
00:57:51,840 --> 00:57:53,519
be really fun and I think that could be something

1350
00:57:53,519 --> 00:57:56,440
that they could really hang their hat on, because offensively

1351
00:57:56,480 --> 00:57:58,360
we talked about, well, you know, the spacing is probably

1352
00:57:58,360 --> 00:58:01,239
still going to be an issue, but defensively with women

1353
00:58:01,280 --> 00:58:03,920
Yama in year two, adding a guy like Stefan Castle,

1354
00:58:04,000 --> 00:58:08,239
who you know, can guard wings, can guard guards, having Sohan,

1355
00:58:08,719 --> 00:58:10,719
having a guy like Champagnee too, Like, you could have

1356
00:58:10,760 --> 00:58:13,920
a lot of different defensive lineups. Stat and theory are

1357
00:58:14,239 --> 00:58:18,679
really hard to break through. Like even if you were

1358
00:58:18,719 --> 00:58:21,360
like forcing them to switch, doesn't matter. All these guys

1359
00:58:21,360 --> 00:58:25,760
are switchable, Like I think the more underrated parts roster. Now,

1360
00:58:25,760 --> 00:58:28,280
whether those guys end up playing together will see, but

1361
00:58:28,320 --> 00:58:30,000
I think there could be a lot of switchability on

1362
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:30,519
this roster.

1363
00:58:30,920 --> 00:58:32,679
Speaker 1: It'd be really funny if they're just trying to like

1364
00:58:32,760 --> 00:58:35,639
preserve Victor Wombenyama's defensive player of the year case, So

1365
00:58:35,639 --> 00:58:37,840
they're literally trying to make sure that they're because there's

1366
00:58:37,880 --> 00:58:40,480
like anecdotally, people want their defensive player to year to

1367
00:58:40,480 --> 00:58:42,920
come from a team that's like top ten or better defensively,

1368
00:58:42,960 --> 00:58:44,480
and so's we're just gonna roll out these line are

1369
00:58:44,599 --> 00:58:46,639
going to do shit offensively, but to the point in

1370
00:58:46,639 --> 00:58:48,119
the season, we're just gonna make sure that we keep

1371
00:58:48,119 --> 00:58:51,320
our defensive rating good enough to get wemby his one

1372
00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:53,719
of his many dpo wis that just feel inevitable at

1373
00:58:53,719 --> 00:58:54,960
this point, And I'm not.

1374
00:58:54,880 --> 00:58:56,760
Speaker 3: Gonna lie to you. I kind of expect and maybe

1375
00:58:56,760 --> 00:58:58,400
it's too much for me expect this, but I kind

1376
00:58:58,400 --> 00:59:00,000
of expect him to win Defensive Player of the Year

1377
00:59:00,039 --> 00:59:02,920
in year two. Like I don't think you go anywhere

1378
00:59:02,920 --> 00:59:04,920
but up from here, and you finished second as a

1379
00:59:04,960 --> 00:59:07,599
rookie even though the team was not very good. I

1380
00:59:07,599 --> 00:59:09,599
think you still could have made a very real case

1381
00:59:09,599 --> 00:59:11,440
for him being Defensive Player of the Year last year.

1382
00:59:11,519 --> 00:59:14,519
So I think with improvements, it's gonna be hard to

1383
00:59:14,840 --> 00:59:17,719
I think, stop when Binyama from winning Defensive Player of

1384
00:59:17,719 --> 00:59:19,679
the Year in year two, which is an insane thing

1385
00:59:19,719 --> 00:59:21,559
for me to be saying, even as I'm thinking about

1386
00:59:21,599 --> 00:59:22,000
saying it.

1387
00:59:22,039 --> 00:59:26,000
Speaker 1: Not though that's again Wemby has just absolutely nuked to

1388
00:59:26,039 --> 00:59:29,039
the concept of hyperbole, and I think he will. I mean,

1389
00:59:29,280 --> 00:59:31,400
this roster, I agree with you that it could be

1390
00:59:31,400 --> 00:59:33,559
better than expected defensively, that maybe what people might be

1391
00:59:33,639 --> 00:59:34,519
penciling them in for.

1392
00:59:35,199 --> 00:59:36,000
Speaker 2: But if they're not.

1393
00:59:36,679 --> 00:59:39,000
Speaker 1: Victor Wembernyama, I think will be prepared to test the

1394
00:59:39,039 --> 00:59:43,199
whole Like can we finally get into like why is

1395
00:59:43,239 --> 00:59:45,599
Wenby responsible for the minutes that he's not on the floor,

1396
00:59:45,679 --> 00:59:47,559
like when we try and shehell all these arguments like

1397
00:59:47,559 --> 00:59:48,800
a lot of people don't want to talk about the

1398
00:59:48,840 --> 00:59:50,719
on off stuff and it's well, if they were like

1399
00:59:50,760 --> 00:59:53,079
an eightieth percentile defensively with him on the court.

1400
00:59:52,960 --> 00:59:55,039
Speaker 2: Last season or whatever, it ended up being super high,

1401
00:59:55,079 --> 00:59:57,440
Like that should Matt like why isn't his fault? What's

1402
00:59:57,440 --> 00:59:58,880
happening when he's not on the floor.

1403
00:59:58,679 --> 01:00:01,119
Speaker 1: So that might be he might be the player that

1404
01:00:01,199 --> 01:00:04,599
forces us to take a longer look at that that process.

1405
01:00:04,679 --> 01:00:07,039
What's if you're looking at this roster right now, what

1406
01:00:07,199 --> 01:00:10,000
is your biggest need or concern for it?

1407
01:00:11,159 --> 01:00:12,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think we've talked about it at

1408
01:00:12,920 --> 01:00:15,639
nauseum a bit, but shooting it really is just.

1409
01:00:15,719 --> 01:00:19,039
Speaker 2: With the cash I could shoot, He'd be excellent.

1410
01:00:19,199 --> 01:00:22,960
Speaker 3: Exactly and even like to a degree like Wimbin Yama

1411
01:00:23,039 --> 01:00:25,800
awesome as a as a pull up three point shooter

1412
01:00:25,840 --> 01:00:28,239
off the dribble, but like you know, the the catch

1413
01:00:28,280 --> 01:00:30,719
and shoot numbers were pretty abysmal last year. Does he

1414
01:00:30,800 --> 01:00:33,440
improve in that fast set? Does Kelton Johnson become a

1415
01:00:33,440 --> 01:00:35,960
better shooter? Does so him become a better shooter? Does

1416
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:38,960
Trey Jones finally become a league average shooter? Does that Collins?

1417
01:00:39,280 --> 01:00:41,000
Come back to this guy who we thought could at

1418
01:00:41,079 --> 01:00:44,280
least be a stretch big? Is Julian Champagne a guy

1419
01:00:44,320 --> 01:00:47,800
who shoots more consistently? Can Stefan Castle shoot? You know,

1420
01:00:47,800 --> 01:00:49,679
there's a few guys on this roster who I look

1421
01:00:49,679 --> 01:00:53,400
at and I go, you can shoot. That's Devin Vessel,

1422
01:00:53,800 --> 01:00:58,079
That's Harrison Barnes, and I think to a degree maybe

1423
01:00:58,159 --> 01:01:03,000
Julian Champinny every someone else I have very serious questions about,

1424
01:01:03,280 --> 01:01:07,440
including Mamu, including Wesley, including you know, Brandam and Sissoko.

1425
01:01:07,599 --> 01:01:10,320
Like it just the list to me goes on and

1426
01:01:10,360 --> 01:01:13,400
on about like can they shoot and if they can't,

1427
01:01:13,760 --> 01:01:16,000
what does this look like? Because it didn't look great

1428
01:01:16,079 --> 01:01:18,079
last year when they couldn't shoot, and if they can't

1429
01:01:18,079 --> 01:01:20,559
shoot again this year, because it is largely the same

1430
01:01:20,639 --> 01:01:23,360
roster that they had last year with a few additions,

1431
01:01:24,039 --> 01:01:26,639
what does it look like? So that's my biggest concern

1432
01:01:26,719 --> 01:01:27,320
is the spacing.

1433
01:01:29,280 --> 01:01:32,000
Speaker 1: What is the concern with Julian CHAMPENNI shooting from you

1434
01:01:32,079 --> 01:01:32,840
that you've mentioned it.

1435
01:01:32,800 --> 01:01:33,440
Speaker 2: Just a couple of times.

1436
01:01:33,440 --> 01:01:34,679
Speaker 1: I was just because he shot like what was he

1437
01:01:34,760 --> 01:01:36,840
like thirty six percent from the corners or whatever it was, and.

1438
01:01:36,880 --> 01:01:40,480
Speaker 3: That's incredibly erratic. He had stretches where he would shoot

1439
01:01:40,519 --> 01:01:43,079
like fifty six percent for like twelve games and you'd

1440
01:01:43,079 --> 01:01:46,239
be like, oh my god, like, this guy he can't miss.

1441
01:01:46,280 --> 01:01:48,000
And some of these are like hand in a face,

1442
01:01:48,719 --> 01:01:51,239
no breathing room, and he's still knocking it down, and

1443
01:01:51,239 --> 01:01:53,519
he's knocking down like three four in a game and

1444
01:01:53,559 --> 01:01:56,000
you're like, okay, it's been like four straight games and

1445
01:01:56,079 --> 01:01:59,000
this guy can't miss. And then it'll be like ten

1446
01:01:59,039 --> 01:02:02,320
games where he's like one of sixteen from three and

1447
01:02:02,360 --> 01:02:04,400
you're like, okay, well, when he's not making a three,

1448
01:02:04,400 --> 01:02:07,280
what does he do? Like he's not great at finishing

1449
01:02:07,280 --> 01:02:09,599
at the Rammy, he's not great at attacking closeouts. He

1450
01:02:09,639 --> 01:02:13,280
doesn't create for anyone else. He's not the most timely

1451
01:02:13,360 --> 01:02:17,320
cutter or like instinctual cutter. He's not effective in transition.

1452
01:02:18,159 --> 01:02:20,199
He's just a guy who can hit passes from one

1453
01:02:20,199 --> 01:02:22,000
man away. So like, if he's not knocking down three,

1454
01:02:22,000 --> 01:02:24,159
he's what does he do? So that's the concern for

1455
01:02:24,239 --> 01:02:27,280
me with his three ball. Its like the defense. I

1456
01:02:27,760 --> 01:02:29,559
really think he's a great defender. I think he's a

1457
01:02:29,599 --> 01:02:31,800
really a much better defender than a lot of people

1458
01:02:31,880 --> 01:02:35,159
probably even realize. But if you're a three and D guy,

1459
01:02:35,199 --> 01:02:37,159
but like the three part of your three and D

1460
01:02:37,320 --> 01:02:39,599
is only there fifty percent of the time, forty percent

1461
01:02:39,599 --> 01:02:43,199
of the time, you're basically Andre Roberson. And I don't

1462
01:02:43,239 --> 01:02:45,599
not to you know, not to throw shade to Andre Roberson,

1463
01:02:45,639 --> 01:02:48,400
but you're not You're not really doing much out there

1464
01:02:48,440 --> 01:02:49,039
at that point.

1465
01:02:49,960 --> 01:02:54,360
Speaker 2: So, oh, I was not expected expect that from talking

1466
01:02:54,360 --> 01:02:54,679
to you.

1467
01:02:55,000 --> 01:02:56,800
Speaker 1: If you're looking at and I know the rotation might

1468
01:02:56,800 --> 01:02:58,440
be different, but at full strength, if they had to

1469
01:02:58,440 --> 01:03:01,639
play ten guys. From talking to you, it sounds like

1470
01:03:01,679 --> 01:03:02,719
there are nine locks.

1471
01:03:02,719 --> 01:03:04,159
Speaker 2: And so you could correct me if I'm wrong on

1472
01:03:04,199 --> 01:03:04,800
any of these.

1473
01:03:05,119 --> 01:03:10,239
Speaker 1: Chris Paul, Devin Vessel Jeremy Sohen Harrison Barnes, Victor Weber, Yama,

1474
01:03:10,559 --> 01:03:14,960
Trey Jones, Zach Collins, Keldon Johnson, and Stefan Castle.

1475
01:03:16,360 --> 01:03:18,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's fairly accurate. I would probably add

1476
01:03:18,960 --> 01:03:21,480
Julian Champinne in there because he was mostly a starter

1477
01:03:21,679 --> 01:03:23,280
last year, and whether we want to argue it was

1478
01:03:23,280 --> 01:03:26,480
out of necessity, I think Pop really loved and he

1479
01:03:26,519 --> 01:03:28,800
talked about it throughout last season. One of the reasons

1480
01:03:28,800 --> 01:03:31,480
that Julian Champagne is in there low usage guy, catch

1481
01:03:31,480 --> 01:03:33,440
and shoot guy, a little bit of a movement shooter,

1482
01:03:33,840 --> 01:03:35,719
understands his role. He's not going to ever try to

1483
01:03:35,760 --> 01:03:37,800
do too much, Like he's never going to dribble the

1484
01:03:37,800 --> 01:03:39,760
ball too much. He's not going to make a bad pass.

1485
01:03:39,800 --> 01:03:42,760
He's not a guy who is going to make mistakes defensively.

1486
01:03:43,400 --> 01:03:45,159
So if I had to add like one more guy

1487
01:03:45,199 --> 01:03:47,880
in there, it's probably Julian Champinne. I think he's probably

1488
01:03:47,920 --> 01:03:54,360
got mints until someone else from him. But you know, poor,

1489
01:03:54,920 --> 01:03:55,920
no go for it.

1490
01:03:56,400 --> 01:03:58,559
Speaker 1: If you had to pick like a breakthrough candidate of

1491
01:03:58,639 --> 01:04:00,920
the like to come in and party that top ten

1492
01:04:00,960 --> 01:04:02,960
list of the players that we didn't mention, who would

1493
01:04:03,000 --> 01:04:05,159
you is in Blake Wesley, he seem to be pretty.

1494
01:04:04,920 --> 01:04:06,400
Speaker 3: Much I think it might be, Yeah, it might be

1495
01:04:06,440 --> 01:04:08,639
Blake Wesley. I think Blake Wesley has a good chance

1496
01:04:08,679 --> 01:04:12,800
to do that, and for us, not as low as

1497
01:04:12,800 --> 01:04:15,440
I can be on Malachi Brandam, sometimes I think he

1498
01:04:15,559 --> 01:04:18,960
has a decent chance. Like when I watch him out there,

1499
01:04:20,159 --> 01:04:22,119
the defense is not something I think is ever going

1500
01:04:22,199 --> 01:04:25,199
to be like a calling card for him. But if

1501
01:04:25,239 --> 01:04:29,320
he can be someone who knocks down that floater at

1502
01:04:29,360 --> 01:04:31,599
a good clip, can get back to knocking down the

1503
01:04:31,599 --> 01:04:33,599
mid range jumper at a good clip, and then can

1504
01:04:33,679 --> 01:04:35,440
just knock down those catch and shoot threes like we

1505
01:04:35,480 --> 01:04:38,239
saw at Ohio State. Like at Ohio State, this was

1506
01:04:38,239 --> 01:04:40,360
a guy who was shooting forty plus percent on catch

1507
01:04:40,360 --> 01:04:43,000
and shoot threes on about three or four attempts a night. Like,

1508
01:04:43,039 --> 01:04:44,880
if he can get back to that, that's a useful

1509
01:04:44,880 --> 01:04:47,840
player in a rotation. That's a guy who's useful regardless

1510
01:04:47,880 --> 01:04:51,320
of how ineffective he can be defensively. That's still someone

1511
01:04:51,320 --> 01:04:53,079
who has a spot in a rotation at the end

1512
01:04:53,159 --> 01:04:55,679
of a rotation. But you know, again, if he can't shoot,

1513
01:04:55,719 --> 01:04:59,880
then you know, well then he's not that useful. But definitely.

1514
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:02,119
I would say if someone broke in, it would probably

1515
01:05:02,199 --> 01:05:05,639
be Blake Wesley, and that's who I would be betting

1516
01:05:05,639 --> 01:05:08,320
on to break into the rotation if there was somebody.

1517
01:05:08,519 --> 01:05:11,480
Speaker 1: This is to some extent matchup dependent, but if you

1518
01:05:11,519 --> 01:05:13,280
had to pick right now what ends up being their

1519
01:05:13,320 --> 01:05:16,360
most leaned upon crunch time unit, who would you go with?

1520
01:05:18,239 --> 01:05:22,480
Speaker 3: Probably mostly their starting lineup, so Chris Paul Devn Vessel, Harrison, Barnes,

1521
01:05:22,639 --> 01:05:26,719
Jeremy Sohan, Victor wimbin Yama. I think at times, depending

1522
01:05:26,719 --> 01:05:28,119
on what you need, like if you need a three,

1523
01:05:28,199 --> 01:05:33,159
if you're you know, whatever, maybe substitute so Hand for

1524
01:05:33,719 --> 01:05:37,159
Keldon or Barnes for Kelden. Maybe Kelden's having a hot

1525
01:05:37,239 --> 01:05:39,679
night and you have to have him in there, whereas Harrison,

1526
01:05:39,719 --> 01:05:41,599
maybe he's not having such a hot night, and maybe

1527
01:05:41,639 --> 01:05:44,639
Harrison slows down a bit defensively, because we have seen

1528
01:05:44,679 --> 01:05:48,639
in the last couple of years, like Harrison Barn's fantastic

1529
01:05:48,800 --> 01:05:50,920
player as far as like a role player goes, but

1530
01:05:51,360 --> 01:05:53,280
he's been slowing down a bit year after year the

1531
01:05:53,320 --> 01:05:55,320
last couple of years. So I wouldn't be surprised if,

1532
01:05:55,599 --> 01:05:58,400
you know, Keldon Johnson ends up breaking into that, you know,

1533
01:05:58,480 --> 01:06:00,159
closing lineup, so to speak.

1534
01:06:01,079 --> 01:06:04,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Harrison Barnes experience for Kings fans last year

1535
01:06:04,400 --> 01:06:07,880
has them excited about DeMar De Rosen's defense, which I

1536
01:06:07,920 --> 01:06:11,639
think goes in your nine bridges too far, but I

1537
01:06:11,719 --> 01:06:17,320
understand how frustrating he is. Is there a funky, weird,

1538
01:06:17,559 --> 01:06:20,159
offbeat lineup you would like to see them try this season?

1539
01:06:20,880 --> 01:06:23,519
Speaker 2: Doesn't have to be realistic. The less realistic to better

1540
01:06:23,519 --> 01:06:24,039
in my book.

1541
01:06:24,679 --> 01:06:27,519
Speaker 3: Sure, Yeah, Well, if we're going crazy, then let's say

1542
01:06:27,559 --> 01:06:33,760
Blake Wesley, Stefan, Castle City, Sissoko, Jeremy Sohan and Victor

1543
01:06:33,760 --> 01:06:36,320
woman Yama. You got a ton of defensive versatility. You

1544
01:06:36,400 --> 01:06:38,519
got guys who can handle the ball. You got guys

1545
01:06:38,519 --> 01:06:41,480
who can pass the ball. Fortunately you got a guy.

1546
01:06:41,519 --> 01:06:43,039
A lot of guys can't shoot, but maybe they learn

1547
01:06:43,039 --> 01:06:45,400
how to shoot miraculously. They're all shooting well and like

1548
01:06:45,519 --> 01:06:49,320
you're working with you know fire. That's that's a weird lineup.

1549
01:06:49,360 --> 01:06:52,639
I'd love to see. That would be at least shooter.

1550
01:06:53,039 --> 01:06:53,760
Speaker 2: That's a lineup.

1551
01:06:54,679 --> 01:06:57,079
Speaker 3: Yeah, a weird lineup, not that effective, But if we're

1552
01:06:57,119 --> 01:06:59,039
going weird, I mean I think that's about as weird

1553
01:06:59,039 --> 01:07:00,000
as you can get with the spurs.

1554
01:07:01,039 --> 01:07:03,119
Speaker 1: I don't think mine is too weird by my own standards,

1555
01:07:03,119 --> 01:07:04,400
but I was trying to figure out a way how

1556
01:07:04,400 --> 01:07:08,159
to get to four out around Steph Castle, and so

1557
01:07:08,280 --> 01:07:12,039
I've Steph Castle, Wemby so locks I think Harrison Barnes

1558
01:07:12,079 --> 01:07:14,239
has to be in there, then Devin Vessel, and I

1559
01:07:14,280 --> 01:07:17,440
was kind of struggling between Keldon Johnson or my actual

1560
01:07:17,440 --> 01:07:19,559
pick is just gonna be Julian Champennie because as you

1561
01:07:19,559 --> 01:07:20,960
know from last year, I have a saw a spot

1562
01:07:21,159 --> 01:07:21,639
for him.

1563
01:07:21,760 --> 01:07:23,639
Speaker 2: So that would be like, can we get to four

1564
01:07:23,679 --> 01:07:24,679
out around anything?

1565
01:07:24,719 --> 01:07:26,800
Speaker 1: Four out with Steph Castle and then Wemby on the court,

1566
01:07:26,960 --> 01:07:28,840
and I count Wemby as an out now, like he's

1567
01:07:28,920 --> 01:07:30,079
part of any four out model.

1568
01:07:30,079 --> 01:07:31,400
Speaker 2: You can't you shoot that.

1569
01:07:31,480 --> 01:07:33,320
Speaker 1: I know the catch shoot percents weren't great, but like

1570
01:07:33,719 --> 01:07:36,400
I don't want to talk about what we talked about earlier,

1571
01:07:36,400 --> 01:07:39,000
but just the pull up three point percent, I never

1572
01:07:39,000 --> 01:07:41,079
would have been a zillion years guest that he would

1573
01:07:41,079 --> 01:07:41,719
have been as good at.

1574
01:07:41,599 --> 01:07:42,679
Speaker 2: Those as he was last year.

1575
01:07:43,239 --> 01:07:46,000
Speaker 3: No, and that was like even even having seen him

1576
01:07:46,079 --> 01:07:48,920
with you know, Mets ninety two knocked down a couple

1577
01:07:48,960 --> 01:07:51,199
of ridiculous shots, it felt like those shots that we

1578
01:07:51,199 --> 01:07:54,239
saw were like really the highlights, but if you were watching,

1579
01:07:54,280 --> 01:07:56,519
he didn't really knock down most of those pull up threes.

1580
01:07:56,559 --> 01:07:58,159
And then last year it was like the opposite. There

1581
01:07:58,159 --> 01:08:00,440
were a lot of pull up threes that.

1582
01:08:00,360 --> 01:08:03,239
Speaker 1: He volume was like like he was real, like it

1583
01:08:03,280 --> 01:08:04,199
was real volume.

1584
01:08:04,320 --> 01:08:05,960
Speaker 2: That's what the other thing that was staggering.

1585
01:08:06,559 --> 01:08:10,559
Speaker 3: Yeah, insane, just ridiculous, unthinkable. Didn't would never have predicted

1586
01:08:10,559 --> 01:08:12,639
that in a million years, even for him, I wouldn't

1587
01:08:12,639 --> 01:08:13,320
have predicted that.

1588
01:08:13,800 --> 01:08:15,920
Speaker 2: I will now just not push back on any prediction

1589
01:08:16,000 --> 01:08:18,239
for Wemby. Tell me whatever you want about I'll just

1590
01:08:18,319 --> 01:08:18,960
I'll believe it.

1591
01:08:19,720 --> 01:08:22,319
Speaker 1: As we record this, their win total is said at

1592
01:08:22,319 --> 01:08:25,720
thirty six and a half? Are you taking the would

1593
01:08:25,760 --> 01:08:26,960
you take the over under?

1594
01:08:27,439 --> 01:08:28,560
Speaker 2: On that? We'll start there.

1595
01:08:30,319 --> 01:08:34,159
Speaker 3: I'm probably leaning towards taking the over on that, but

1596
01:08:34,840 --> 01:08:36,520
I could understand the other side of the coin. The

1597
01:08:36,560 --> 01:08:38,640
only reason I would be taking the over is because

1598
01:08:38,680 --> 01:08:42,399
I think I am banking on internal development. I am

1599
01:08:42,439 --> 01:08:45,680
banking on Victor Winbin Yama being a lot better this season.

1600
01:08:45,720 --> 01:08:47,560
I think Devin Vessel will be much improved. I think

1601
01:08:47,560 --> 01:08:49,640
the addition of Harrison Barnes and Chris Paul will do

1602
01:08:49,800 --> 01:08:55,159
wonders for spacing, for consistent creation, and I think shifting

1603
01:08:55,199 --> 01:08:57,760
guys back to the bench like Keldon Johnson, like Trey Jones,

1604
01:08:57,960 --> 01:09:01,920
maybe even Julian Champagnee, it really reinforces their depth and

1605
01:09:01,960 --> 01:09:04,960
so I think they could have a good chance to

1606
01:09:05,199 --> 01:09:07,880
you know, it's probably not a winning record, but you know,

1607
01:09:08,039 --> 01:09:10,119
thirty six, thirty seven, thirty eight wins, I don't think

1608
01:09:10,119 --> 01:09:12,479
that's out of the question. The only problem I have

1609
01:09:12,560 --> 01:09:15,640
with that is the West is so so so deep,

1610
01:09:16,119 --> 01:09:17,680
and shout out to the Grizzlies, by the way, I

1611
01:09:17,960 --> 01:09:19,520
don't know that people are really giving them a ton

1612
01:09:19,560 --> 01:09:22,319
of credit. I think they're gonna be a monster in

1613
01:09:22,359 --> 01:09:26,640
the West again, and that's saying something considering how deep

1614
01:09:26,680 --> 01:09:28,479
the West was last year and really is routine the

1615
01:09:28,600 --> 01:09:29,279
year after year.

1616
01:09:29,760 --> 01:09:32,319
Speaker 1: I think what benefits I mean, like the West is

1617
01:09:32,399 --> 01:09:34,279
hilaciously deep, but like the Grizzlies are going to be

1618
01:09:34,319 --> 01:09:36,600
back up and now the Clippers are gonna suck, so

1619
01:09:36,640 --> 01:09:38,319
that will like maybe even things out a little bit.

1620
01:09:38,680 --> 01:09:41,920
Speaker 2: But I think we haven't done our over unders yet.

1621
01:09:42,000 --> 01:09:43,600
Speaker 1: But I think the only way they probably won't hit

1622
01:09:43,640 --> 01:09:46,319
the over is and you can use the injury caveat,

1623
01:09:46,319 --> 01:09:47,800
but you don't get to use it with Wemby after

1624
01:09:47,800 --> 01:09:49,399
he played in seventy one games as a rookie, Like

1625
01:09:49,399 --> 01:09:51,960
you don't get to everything as well if they're healthy,

1626
01:09:52,039 --> 01:09:55,239
Like that's just implied unless they decide to lean into it,

1627
01:09:55,319 --> 01:09:57,159
like an out of it at some point in the season.

1628
01:09:57,199 --> 01:10:00,680
Because the numbers with Devin vessel Trade and Wemby on

1629
01:10:00,680 --> 01:10:03,760
the court last year were incredible and now you're scaling

1630
01:10:03,800 --> 01:10:05,720
that to better. We talked about this already better point

1631
01:10:05,720 --> 01:10:09,000
guard play and as you said, internal development, specifically from

1632
01:10:09,359 --> 01:10:11,439
what already might be like he was, he was on

1633
01:10:11,439 --> 01:10:13,680
the fringes of the All NBA discussion last year, Like

1634
01:10:13,760 --> 01:10:16,439
as a rookie, that's fucking crazy.

1635
01:10:17,079 --> 01:10:18,439
Speaker 2: How many teams though, would you.

1636
01:10:18,359 --> 01:10:20,600
Speaker 1: Be confident to say right now that, okay, they will

1637
01:10:20,600 --> 01:10:24,880
be better than them in the West. There's I think

1638
01:10:24,920 --> 01:10:28,279
Portland for sure, and then I'm like it starts to

1639
01:10:28,279 --> 01:10:30,399
get interesting after that, where I think it'll be Utah,

1640
01:10:30,560 --> 01:10:31,960
Like I think that they're not going to be even

1641
01:10:31,960 --> 01:10:34,720
though they re like extended lowry, but like after that

1642
01:10:34,800 --> 01:10:37,039
it gets I think you could tell me, like you

1643
01:10:37,039 --> 01:10:39,920
could tell me this Spurs finished like seventh eighth, and

1644
01:10:39,960 --> 01:10:41,720
I'll believe you, But like you could also just tell

1645
01:10:41,760 --> 01:10:45,279
me that the Spurs finished twelfth thirteenth, and I probably

1646
01:10:45,319 --> 01:10:46,079
also believe you.

1647
01:10:46,159 --> 01:10:48,199
Speaker 2: Because of the structure of the Western Conference.

1648
01:10:49,000 --> 01:10:50,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's what I struggle with because I looked

1649
01:10:50,920 --> 01:10:55,359
at the teams in the West and really outside of Portland, Utah,

1650
01:10:55,880 --> 01:10:59,760
maybe the Clippers too. I don't know that there's a

1651
01:10:59,760 --> 01:11:02,119
lot of teams that they're just outright better than, like

1652
01:11:02,319 --> 01:11:04,199
just off the top of my head thinking about the

1653
01:11:04,239 --> 01:11:06,880
moves that other teams made, you know, like the Nuggets

1654
01:11:06,880 --> 01:11:09,840
are definitely better, the Lakers are definitely better. You know.

1655
01:11:09,920 --> 01:11:12,199
The Suns to me, are you know, definitely better. The

1656
01:11:12,239 --> 01:11:16,079
Timberwolves are still better, The Mavericks are still better. Could

1657
01:11:16,159 --> 01:11:18,399
argue maybe the Warriors. Maybe the Warriors have a bit

1658
01:11:18,399 --> 01:11:22,199
of a drop off, a precipitous drop off after you know,

1659
01:11:22,239 --> 01:11:24,239
the exit of Klay Thompson, and it kind of feels

1660
01:11:24,239 --> 01:11:25,880
like things are coming to an end for them. But

1661
01:11:26,560 --> 01:11:28,479
even then, they still have Steph Curry, they still have

1662
01:11:28,560 --> 01:11:31,880
Draymond Green, they still have Comingo, who looked phenomenal I

1663
01:11:31,920 --> 01:11:34,000
thought at the end of last season and could maybe

1664
01:11:34,039 --> 01:11:37,600
have a real breakout season. So like, really, I think

1665
01:11:37,640 --> 01:11:41,479
those three teams that we talked about, the Clippers, the Blazers,

1666
01:11:41,680 --> 01:11:44,279
and the Jazz probably are the only ones just off

1667
01:11:44,319 --> 01:11:45,800
the top of my head. But I'm sure I could

1668
01:11:45,840 --> 01:11:47,880
be forgetting someone. But it feels like it's gonna be

1669
01:11:47,920 --> 01:11:50,600
another of a year in the Western Conference.

1670
01:11:51,720 --> 01:11:54,039
Speaker 1: Noah, is there anything or anyone I didn't ask you

1671
01:11:54,079 --> 01:11:55,760
about that you think we need to discuss before I

1672
01:11:55,840 --> 01:11:56,479
let you out of here?

1673
01:11:57,279 --> 01:11:59,760
Speaker 3: Yeah? Just real quick, I shout out to Harrison Barnes.

1674
01:11:59,880 --> 01:12:03,159
I don't think people are giving him really the credit

1675
01:12:03,239 --> 01:12:05,720
he deserves. Like he's a guy who he didn't have

1676
01:12:05,960 --> 01:12:10,479
to waive his trade kicker. He waived his trade kicker.

1677
01:12:10,560 --> 01:12:13,359
It allowed the Spurs to bring back Julian Champagne, it

1678
01:12:13,399 --> 01:12:18,079
allowed them to bring back Charles Bassi, And then I

1679
01:12:18,119 --> 01:12:23,000
think people probably have forgotten about Harrison barnes legacy as

1680
01:12:23,000 --> 01:12:26,560
a player because he maybe isn't a superstar who you know,

1681
01:12:26,640 --> 01:12:27,920
is going to go to the Hall of Fame. But

1682
01:12:28,399 --> 01:12:31,960
McDonald's all American, top recruit in his class, a guy

1683
01:12:32,000 --> 01:12:35,600
who's won an NBA Championship, played for Roy Williams, has

1684
01:12:35,760 --> 01:12:38,000
been you know, a lottery pick, has been to the

1685
01:12:38,000 --> 01:12:40,359
playoffs several years, has been to the league for you know,

1686
01:12:40,439 --> 01:12:44,239
fourteen fifteen years. Adding someone like that to be a

1687
01:12:44,279 --> 01:12:47,079
mentor and show guys like Wimbin Yama the day to

1688
01:12:47,159 --> 01:12:49,680
day grind of you know, how to handle yourself as

1689
01:12:49,680 --> 01:12:52,640
a professional on and off the court, tips and tricks

1690
01:12:52,640 --> 01:12:54,760
of the game. You know what it takes to be

1691
01:12:54,800 --> 01:12:57,479
a winner at the highest level. Like I think obviously

1692
01:12:57,560 --> 01:12:59,199
Chris Paul we knew was going to bring that sort

1693
01:12:59,239 --> 01:13:02,880
of ara to the team. But having a leader like

1694
01:13:02,960 --> 01:13:05,479
that and someone who can set an example for the Spurs,

1695
01:13:05,640 --> 01:13:07,920
I think Harrison Barnes probably is going to be bigger

1696
01:13:07,920 --> 01:13:10,399
for them in that capacity. Even if he is good

1697
01:13:10,439 --> 01:13:13,640
on the court, I think in that capacity, probably bigger

1698
01:13:13,640 --> 01:13:15,359
than people realize. So just wanted to give him a

1699
01:13:15,359 --> 01:13:17,199
shout out there because I think he deserves his flowers

1700
01:13:17,199 --> 01:13:18,119
in that regard.

1701
01:13:19,520 --> 01:13:21,960
Speaker 2: Noah, this was great as always. Are you just able

1702
01:13:21,960 --> 01:13:23,760
to tell our listeners where they can find you in

1703
01:13:23,840 --> 01:13:25,199
all the great work that you do?

1704
01:13:26,039 --> 01:13:28,439
Speaker 3: Absolutely? Yeah. First off, thank you so much for having me,

1705
01:13:28,640 --> 01:13:30,880
and yeah, you can find me on Twitter or ex

1706
01:13:30,960 --> 01:13:33,880
whatever you call it now at n Underscore Magaro M

1707
01:13:33,880 --> 01:13:36,479
A G A r O. You can find all of

1708
01:13:36,520 --> 01:13:39,680
my writing, my podcast, my video breakdowns over on substack.

1709
01:13:39,760 --> 01:13:42,319
It is called the Vic and Roll Vic Dash and

1710
01:13:42,479 --> 01:13:45,600
Dash Roll. And then lastly, you can find my YouTube

1711
01:13:45,680 --> 01:13:47,800
videos over on YouTube. Just search my name no mcgar

1712
01:13:47,840 --> 01:13:49,760
george or look up Spurs. I'm sure you'll find me

1713
01:13:49,800 --> 01:13:52,399
there too. But yeah, thank you so much for having me.

1714
01:13:52,560 --> 01:13:55,399
Always enjoy talking basketball with you, Always enjoy talking about

1715
01:13:55,399 --> 01:13:57,479
Spurs basketball. So thank you again for having me.

1716
01:13:57,960 --> 01:13:59,359
Speaker 2: Oh of course, then thank you so much for all

1717
01:13:59,359 --> 01:14:04,560
your time. I will talk, he said,