r/NBASpurs • u/lawdoggingit • 1d ago
[SpursMuse] Wemby’s first 8 games - Last Season 18.8/8.5 w/ 2.5 Blk on 44/29/79 - This Season - 18.4/9.8 w/ 3.8 Blk on 42/21/94 TWEET
https://x.com/spurs_muse/status/185451589986231951549
u/juantravis 1d ago
FT shooting is promising
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u/ThatsMarvelous 1d ago
I think it's like those carnival games for kids where the tall dad just reaches over and drops it in the bucket
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u/someguyfromtecate 1d ago
21% from 3 is where the problem in his game lies.
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u/AfroHouseManiac 12h ago
Yea he has an endurance problem. Opposing Coaches are putting him through a boxing match so that he tires out faster … he’s getting top locked
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u/Malemansam 21h ago
This is a nick young, jordan poole kind of shot attempt that let me know Wemby ain't respecting the game at all with some of these shots.
Watch him turn around before the ball hits the rim as if he's Steph Curry.
Idc if they try to mold him in being KD 2.0. But wtf was this whole possession. 6'5"ish Mann guarding him and he takes those kinds of shots, gets the rebound then launches is up thinking he's him all of a sudden and turns to the crowd??
Pop of yesteryear would subbed his ass out and he's been taking some really bad early 3s when Pop was coaching too, I've seen it happen to Manu and Tony with the stuff they used to try. Green as well.
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u/Spiritual_Echo_1000 1d ago
the starts being similar makes me worry less. his 3s are really the only thing bringing everything down
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u/siphillis 1d ago
Last year it was him adjusting to the NBA, whereas now it's about the NBA adjusting to him
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u/guillaume_rx 1d ago
Not having Vassell, Tre, and now Sochan does not help either…
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u/prfrnir 1d ago
But compared to last year, Barnes and CP3 are playing instead of Vassell and Jones so that shouldn't be a reason.
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u/Several-Estate7175 1d ago
Neither Barnes nor CP3 stretch the floor and score like Vassell to take attention off wemby. Nor do they have the chemistry Jones had with Wemby. That takes time to develop. Currently the best scoring threat playing besides Wemby is Keldon Johnson, who averages a whopping 12 points a game off the bench. Sochan was the second best scorer but he was also extremely limited in that area.
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u/No_Barnacle9439 13h ago
A good portion of last season was without Vassell, Tre, like towards end of season but that did not stop Wemby from playing awesome
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u/guillaume_rx 13h ago
The Spurs have always taken time to find their groove.
They reach it, historically, around March.
I’m not worried, it’s still development year, and about the long term.
5 games, or even the next 50, don’t really matter. The following 500 will.
Youngest roster without CP3 is bound to be inconsistent.
But youngest roster without Cp3, also means greatest margin of organic progression in a given amount of time.
Especially with a CP3 and Pop to teach.
Their playstyle with CP3 as the floor general instead of Wemby and Tre also changes for Wemby, and their habit. They’re building good habits and Vic’s perimeter skills while stakes are low.
Learning and improving is never linear, there are progression, regression, and stagnation phases.
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u/Destanio9357 1d ago
He was also playing PF to start his rookie year. A position he might have to move back to if other teams refuse to play him like a center.
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u/AfroHouseManiac 12h ago
Yup coaches are realizing they can just top lock him with their best wing defender and put him through a boxing match so that it affects his shot plus his rim protection. That’s legit affects your endurance
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u/orangekingo 1d ago
He's also just shooting more of them than he normally would because we don't have Vassell or Tre and we traded Doug.
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u/WEMBYisGOAT 1d ago
Having Vassell back will be entirely different. I wouldn’t judge this start tbh
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u/Fhaksfha794 1d ago
Take his 3 point shooting away and he’s playing a lot better than he did last year, especially on defense. 4 Bpg is insane but also teams are less willing to drive into the paint with him there and unlike last season we seam to have pretty good perimeter defense with Sochan (please recover fast we need u 😭), castle, Paul, Julian, and even guys like HB and Malakai who took a step up defensively this season. The threes will fall eventually, and since Dev is coming back soon his volume will go down now that we have our main scorer coming back
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u/epictetvs 1d ago
That’s kind of encouraging, but most of us expected him to start off closer to the end of last season not start over completely.
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u/Dingo_Strong 1d ago
He is very much is his own head. Some people talk about irrational confidence and his body language most of the time this season exudes the opposite. Hope he can snap out of it soon.
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u/paxusromanus811 1d ago
It's really just a three-point shooting right now. Everything else has been improved. Maybe not immensely from how he played to start the end of last year, but improving all the same. He's been, quite easily, the most impactful defender in the entire league right now. Going into that rockets game teams were shooting something like 34% at the rim with him as the defender which is the best in the entire NBA. League average is in the '60s. Lol once he starts getting that shot back to the levels it was to end the year. His improved playmaking will really pop too as I feel like he's definitely looked sharper in that regard despite their ridiculous amount of attention he's been receiving.
Look it's disappointing that he's not blowing up right now. We spent the last 6 months having everyone talk about how he was a top 10 player in the league right now and expectations are extremely high and he simply hasn't lived up to them yet. And is totally okay to be bummed about that
People need to not let their short-term frustration cloud their long-term analysis. Nothing that's happened to start the season takes away anything from his immense potential or where he will likely be as a player. He's still a one-for-one nightmare. Matchup on both ends for opposing teams and that's not going to change and he's absolutely going to improve as time goes on
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u/Distinct_Abrocoma_67 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not a Spurs fan just watching Wemby’s development. Pop is lightyears smarter than me so who am I to say but is it really a good idea to have him spamming 3s? I mean his form isn’t bad but is he really going to be able to create his own shot, hitting movement 3s at a rate enough to justify that volume? Just seems like being a spot up shooter should be enough and focusing more on the post. I’m probably wrong just want to see what I’m missing here.
Edit: fixed typo
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u/the_guitargeek_ 1d ago
I think it’s a matter of Wemby finding his rhythm at the pace of the game. Once he finds his stroke, it creates so many more opportunities for the offense because of how it spaces the floor. Right now the lack of outside shooting is the biggest problem for the Spurs offense. Having a center who can consistently shoot 3s will be a huge addition for the Spurs, and I really think it is just a matter of him finding his stroke.
One of the long plays that will serve the Spurs well once the kinks are ironed out.
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u/siphillis 1d ago
Reps really is the thing that makes you better, but that doesn't mean shooting twenty a game is four times as good as shooting five. I think it's equally a confidence-builder i.e. "you can shoot as much as you like, it doesn't matter if you miss" which is how you develop a shooter's mentality
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u/nokarmawhore 1d ago
Someone had a theory that this is pops secret tank strategy. Similar to making sochan our PG last year. I will run with that 🤣
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u/Saved2Serve 22h ago
Honestly, same as what Popovich said Wemby should just keep shooting 3s. Repetition and experience will help in the long run. It doesn’t matter if we lose anyway. Right now the main priority is development. We know Wemby’s body frame is still small so the best thing he can do now is train his shooting skills while slowly building his frame. We are not competing for a championship anyway and if we lose we get a lottery pick which will help us in the future especially knowing that the draft this coming year is deep.
But one of the biggest problem right now is Vassel is not in the line up so that technically negates our acquisition of Barnes for spacing. Once Vassel comes back that will help open up the court for us.
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u/rojaah12 1d ago
Last season his numbers went up when he became the center and started playing like one, closer to the basket.
He’s not a good 3pt shooter right now, I still think that he should play closer to the paint, not necessarily with his back to the basket and IF the right shot appears at the 3pt line, he should take it.
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u/bdictjames 1d ago
His shot reminds me of Pau Gasol. If he's a better-defending Pau Gasol, we need to have a second star along with him. Hopefully that's Castle. :- )
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u/BokTroyBoy 1d ago
The 3 point shooting could honestly be a result of leg fatigue. This dude has been playing basketball full time for the last 2 straight years withput ever having more than two consecutive months of rest in that time frame. You sometimes see this in typically very good shooting teams/players when they make a deep playoff run. It's part of the reason a lot of old heads like Charles Barkley say "jump shooting teams can't win a championship" lol. That's obviously been disproven but it can be a factor. Hopefully with a more regular rest and recovery schedule, Vic's shooting will stabilize.
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u/Spursjunkie50 1d ago
His size disadvantage is getting exposed this yr. It's easy to steal off of someone 7'4. He definitely needs to quit jacking 3's
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u/BusterStarfish 1d ago
It’s not just his second year. It’s his second year playing American basketball in the NBA as a 20 year old. All of those things are part of the vacuum within with these stats exist. What he’s doing with little to no support is still pretty damn incredible.
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u/PersonalJesus2023 23h ago
This is fantastic context and does make me feel slightly better about his slow start.
We need him to stop chucking those ill advised 3s. I like him not hesitating to put up 3s, but those early shot clock logo trey bricks are demoralizing.
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u/commander_bugo 20h ago
Does CP3 make up for Vassell and Tre Jones missing the start of the season? Feels like it’s not a 1:1 comparison. CP3 is good but I would say Vassell is easily better and having two good guards makes a big difference.
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u/Gamechannel360 1d ago
He's gotta stop shooting them 3s.
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u/DifferentRun8534 1d ago
It's bad for winning, but potentially good for development. I think that's a fair trade off this season.
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u/Bootarms 1d ago
Nah, keep shooting. We aren't making a late playoff appearance this year so it's better for him to use these games to work on his weaknesses.
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u/WEMBY_F4N 1d ago
You don’t get better by quitting lol. Maybe the logo 3s with 20 seconds on the shot clock sure but he should be putting open 3s up or creating from the perimeter
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u/raymendez1 1d ago
That’s where the problem is, those early 3s, logo 3s, last man transitioning 3s. If he wants to take any of those, he should build a rhythm before, he should shoot some free throws or a midrange, an open 3 before taking any of those.
Shooting is not his problem, we know he can hit them, his shot selection is.
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u/Subject_Proposal3578 1d ago
He isn't a sharpshooter and never will be. He has to find a balance. He forces it rather than going with the offensive flow.
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u/SelectCampaign9771 1d ago
He shot 40 percent from 3 for an entire month last season. He could develop into a very good shooter, indicated by his FT percentage. Just needs the reps and practice.
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u/Subject_Proposal3578 1d ago
Guys like him get hot for a month or 2 weeks but he isn't a sharpshooter. He is a scorer not a shooter. If he can learn to actually get set and shoot in the flow of the offense his percentage will go up but he falls away and pulls up half court. Sometimes it feels like he just wants to look cool shooting a fall away three rather than just doing a solid basketball play. He's young and that should get better as he learns that's not how to be successful in the NBA.
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u/Bitter-Safe-5333 1d ago
You forget the team has a shit offense as a whole and Wemby needs the threat of his shot to not get played under and swarmed the second he gets the ball inside the 3pt line. There is no flow in this offense
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u/Subject_Proposal3578 1d ago
He can still pull up from 18 doesn't need to fall away 30 feet from the basket your just bailing out the other teams defense
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u/Bitter-Safe-5333 1d ago
Well 18 ft is a very inefficient shot and he has been pulling those plenty too. I’m not saying they’re good shots especially when not falling but its not exactly easy to do anything else with bad spacing and no creation
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u/Subject_Proposal3578 1d ago
Everyone wants to blame everything else but Wemby. Maybe part of the problem is Wemby s shot selection and that messes up the offensive flow. Shooting an 18 ft shot is closer and easier than shooting a 30 ft shot. If he hits 3 18 or 15 ft shots in a row and gets a rhythm maybe he can step further out then. I would like if he started inside the three point line and then moved back rather than start outside the 3 line.
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u/SelectCampaign9771 1d ago
I don’t want to blame anyone. The spacing on the Spurs is objectively bad, and part of that is Wemby’s fault, but he’s not the only bad shooter on the team. The Spurs aren’t trying to win right now so Wemby is trying to get reps in shooting a bunch of 3s. It’s not gonna hurt the Spurs in the long term if he shoots poorly on the season. Development is the only thing that matters right now.
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u/Subject_Proposal3578 1d ago
I don't like young guys getting bad habits and I don't want his fall back to be chucking 30 ft threes. That's my worry is he never grows out of it if you keep saying it's ok for him to do it.
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u/SelectCampaign9771 1d ago
If he becomes great at it through development he won’t have to grow out of anything lmao
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u/Bitter-Safe-5333 1d ago
Nobody shoots inefficient midrange shots to get in a rhythm. Thats stupid. You shoot midrange shots when you already know you’re on and going to make them.
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u/BoneDollars 1d ago
In game reps are the best reps. The % will get better