Analysis GRADES: Spurs @ Mavericks 10/22/2025

[scott]

SPURS 125 - MAVERICKS 92

Scott's Thoughts

• I wrote this in the grades thread after the final preseason game: "[Victor] appears to be molting into an evolved form that is perhaps more terrifying for the rest of the league than anyone may have imagined." But even I didn't see this level of dominance coming. I don't think I have ever seen anything like what we witnessed last night. It wasn't the most gaudy statline we've ever seen, or even the most gaudy statline from Victor... but it was the most jaw dropping, in my opinion. Just highlight after highlight, and not just "SportsCenter Top 10" kind of highlights, but "Best Plays of the Year" kind of highlights... all in one game. Wemby has truly arrived... and even scarier... he's still has room to continue to grow.
• Right up top I gotta give credit to two of the three amigos. Devin played a really solid game in exactly the kind of role we need him playing. His shot wasn't hot like it inevitably will be at times to come, but he was playing smart, not doing too much, and was making solid passes. He played the kind of defense he can excel at as well, getting into passing lanes and creating steals. Really fantastic stuff. Keldon was absolutely crucial in the third quarter when DAL looked like they might threaten with a run. Keldon kept that momentum at bay with activity on the boards and efficient scoring. At times I thought Keldon was a little too unselfish. I don't think I've ever seen him pass this much!
• I rated Luke lower than the community, in part because my expectations are higher of him. He was just playing low-IQ ball in the first half. He rebounded nicely for a solid second half, but that first half was ROUGH.
• Dylan I was also a little lower than the community, I was torn between a 3 and a 4. Like Luke, he had a great second half after a rough start. We'll chalk it up to nerves.
• Carter Bryant didn't do much on the stat sheet, but his stint in the first half when the game was closer I thought was crucial. He played hounding defense and disrupted Dallas's flow. I don't have too much expectation of Carter this early, so he got a 4 in my book.
• Mitch impressed. His huddle speech about "embracing the mundane" is the kind of thing that will make him a legend and the ideal successor to Pop. Well done, kid genius.

What You Had to Say:

• @spursfanfromafar: Wemby deserves a 6. Wanted to give Castle a 5 for his outstanding defence to go with superb playmaking and good finishing, even if his shooting was sub-par. But because of the latter, settled with 5.
• @Fabbs: Chucky Vassell has not changed. Ya i know he made some shots. He loves being that 1st option.
• Anonymous: Castle was incredible, especially the D, transition playmaking, & rim pressure. Missed FTs or not, those fouls he picked up helped but Lively, PJ & AD is early foul trouble & the Spurs in the bonus early. His D was incredible & ruined Flaggs debut.
• @Em-City: Obviously credit to Wemby - decisive, efficient and relentless on both ends. But also props due to Mitch, Steph and the rest of the team for consistently finding Wemby in his sweet spots, and setting him up to dominate. GSG
• @brazil: Castle had a great game but dude needs to clean dat FT%, ugly... Spurs massacred mavs missing 11 FTs half of them from Castle... Drawing fools is awesome, convert FT is better.
• @spurraider21: Vassell - One of his best full-game defensive performances I've seen from him in a while. Attentive, engaged, and constantly working on that end. Offensively, kept us afloat early with a few shots, and knew to take a backseat when Mt. Wemby was erupting. While he didn't score a ton, he made quick, smart decisions with the ball. If he produced more or hit another couple of his 3's, this would have warranted a 5.
• @spurraider21: Keldon - I don't know what's gotten into him, but I'm not complaining. It's like he sees the matrix now. He knows exactly how to play in his role. Physical on the glass, constantly battling inside against smaller opponents, and no glaring mistakes defensively. No turnovers in 24 minutes. He gets a strong 4.
• @Splits: Shat on Keldumb for the first 2.5 quarters, deservedly. But he really played his role perfectly when the game was in the balance. Props to him, hope he can keep it up.

A few notes, the Dashboard (embedded below) is updated to default to the regular season now, but Pre-Season info is still there if you want. Just go to "Season Segment" and click on Pre-Season. Players only show up in the dashboard if I grade them, so you won't find Riley Minix though I did include him in the table above. The Dashboard will become richer overtime, but I'll embed it for each Grade Thread.

Off to a great start! GSG!

What did you think?

 

[koriwhat]

SPURS 124 - MAVERICKS 92

Scott's Thoughts

• I wrote this in the grades thread after the final preseason game: "[Victor] appears to be molting into an evolved form that is perhaps more terrifying for the rest of the league than anyone may have imagined." But even I didn't see this level of dominance coming. I don't think I have ever seen anything like what we witnessed last night. It wasn't the most gaudy statline we've ever seen, or even the most gaudy statline from Victor... but it was the most jaw dropping, in my opinion. Just highlight after highlight, and not just "SportsCenter Top 10" kind of highlights, but "Best Plays of the Year" kind of highlights... all in one game. Wemby has truly arrived... and even scarier... he's still has room to continue to grow.
• Right up top I gotta give credit to two of the three amigos. Devin played a really solid game in exactly the kind of role we need him playing. His shot wasn't hot like it inevitably will be at times to come, but he was playing smart, not doing too much, and was making solid passes. He played the kind of defense he can excel at as well, getting into passing lanes and creating steals. Really fantastic stuff. Keldon was absolutely crucial in the third quarter when DAL looked like they might threaten with a run. Keldon kept that momentum at bay with activity on the boards and efficient scoring. At times I thought Keldon was a little too unselfish. I don't think I've ever seen him pass this much!
• I rated Luke lower than the community, in part because my expectations are higher of him. He was just playing low-IQ ball in the first half. He rebounded nicely for a solid second half, but that first half was ROUGH.
• Dylan I was also a little lower than the community, I was torn between a 3 and a 4. Like Luke, he had a great second half after a rough start. We'll chalk it up to nerves.
• Carter Bryant didn't do much on the stat sheet, but his stint in the first half when the game was closer I thought was crucial. He played hounding defense and disrupted Dallas's flow. I don't have too much expectation of Carter this early, so he got a 4 in my book.
• Mitch impressed. His huddle speech about "embracing the mundane" is the kind of thing that will make him a legend and the ideal successor to Pop. Well done, kid genius.

What You Had to Say:

• @spursfanfromafar: Wemby deserves a 6. Wanted to give Castle a 5 for his outstanding defence to go with superb playmaking and good finishing, even if his shooting was sub-par. But because of the latter, settled with 5.
• @Fabbs: Chucky Vassell has not changed. Ya i know he made some shots. He loves being that 1st option.
• Anonymous: Castle was incredible, especially the D, transition playmaking, & rim pressure. Missed FTs or not, those fouls he picked up helped but Lively, PJ & AD is early foul trouble & the Spurs in the bonus early. His D was incredible & ruined Flaggs debut.
• @Em-City: Obviously credit to Wemby - decisive, efficient and relentless on both ends. But also props due to Mitch, Steph and the rest of the team for consistently finding Wemby in his sweet spots, and setting him up to dominate. GSG
• @brazil: Castle had a great game but dude needs to clean dat FT%, ugly... Spurs massacred mavs missing 11 FTs half of them from Castle... Drawing fools is awesome, convert FT is better.
• @spurraider21: Vassell - One of his best full-game defensive performances I've seen from him in a while. Attentive, engaged, and constantly working on that end. Offensively, kept us afloat early with a few shots, and knew to take a backseat when Mt. Wemby was erupting. While he didn't score a ton, he made quick, smart decisions with the ball. If he produced more or hit another couple of his 3's, this would have warranted a 5.
• @spurraider21: Keldon - I don't know what's gotten into him, but I'm not complaining. It's like he sees the matrix now. He knows exactly how to play in his role. Physical on the glass, constantly battling inside against smaller opponents, and no glaring mistakes defensively. No turnovers in 24 minutes. He gets a strong 4.
• @Splits: Shat on Keldumb for the first 2.5 quarters, deservedly. But he really played his role perfectly when the game was in the balance. Props to him, hope he can keep it up.

A few notes, the Dashboard (embedded below) is updated to default to the regular season now, but Pre-Season info is still there if you want. Just go to "Season Segment" and click on Pre-Season. Players only show up in the dashboard if I grade them, so you won't find Riley Minix though I did include him in the table above. The Dashboard will become richer overtime, but I'll embed it for each Grade Thread.

Off to a great start! GSG!

What did you think?

Bro, you're doing an outstanding job here. Keep up the good work and I can't wait to read all 82+ game grades of yours.

 

[Correct Crusader]

This is way better than ST

 

[Valparaiso]

I checked the odds a few days ago on myBookie and Wembanyama was +1150 to win MVP... after last night's game he's at +285. That's from one game.

 

[koriwhat]

Only gripe I had with the SL was Barnes. He's more situational or a bench player at this point in his career and asking him to take on SL duties is too much for him from what I saw. I love Barnes though and want him to shine this season again in a role that is better suited for him.

As for Devin, I was pleasantly surprised by his defense lastnight.

Can you believe we still have a few players out and one in particular that's an all-star PG? Wow, what's to come...

 

[NotoriousHOP]

Loving this! In addition to you being a top shelf grader, it's fantastic that the whole BB community gets to contribute.

 

[brazil]

Awesome

 

[brazil]

Only gripe I had with the SL was Barnes. He's more situational or a bench player at this point in his career and asking him to take on SL duties is too much for him from what I saw. I love Barnes though and want him to shine this season again in a role that is better suited for him.

As for Devin, I was pleasantly surprised by his defense lastnight.

Can you believe we still have a few players out and one in particular that's an all-star PG? Wow, what's to come...

Barnes is obviously not in his peak anymore and each year, the weight of the years is showing but he is also an experienced vet. He had a very solid season last year and was one the most consistent of the Spurs. Not a good game last night but I give him the benefit of the doubts, was just first game of the season.

 

[Neuromancer]

So nice seeing some real commentary that didn't look like it was spit out by an AI. Also like the lack of LJ cliches like "the good/the bad"

 

[024]

Amazing game from Wemby and far exceeded everyone's expectations. The Mavs defense looked pretty miserable though. Their bigs were in foul trouble all game so didn't look like they were really interested in being more physical with Wemby. They also kind of just left him alone when he was driving down the lane when the guards could have helped off their player and swiped at the ball. I expect this to change with other more competent teams. Will see how Wemby adapts against more physicality and help defense.

Castle had a great game running the offense and looks to have made a good leap from last year. Really encouraging to see him take defense as a priority again. Should be a great long-term teammate for Wemby as a 2-way player. Shot still needs work though and those missed free throws are not a good sign of improvement.

Harper had a pretty good debut. Started out shaky but found more of a rhythm as the game went on. Outplayed Cooper Flagg from the bench. Will be a luxury to have him as an overqualified backup PG this year running the offense from time to time.

Satisfied with both Vassell and Johnson's performance. Both didn't force the issue too much and played within their new roles on the team.

Kornet was a great sight by simply fulfilling the role as a competent backup 5. Hopefully we see more of his preseason form and fit with Wemby as the season goes along.

If the Spurs guards ever figure out to shoot 3's as a respectable clip, this is a strong playoff team.

 

[wemvp]

I think Marc Stein gave Wemby an A

 

[Fabbs]

Hey where's my "Wemby was MVP level" comments.

 

[Vic]

This is great!

 

[Corso]

This is great!

No. You're great!

 

[wemvp]

I gave Kornet a 3 because he defended and rebounded well enough. Even in a hopefully mediocre performance from him he helped keep the lead from evaporating with Wemby on the bench in the 2nd half of the 3rd quarter.

Wemby didnt even play 30 min. That's due to Kornet doing enough to hold it down inside defensively. That deserves a solid 3 IMO

 

[Arguendo]

Barnes is obviously not in his peak anymore and each year, the weight of the years is showing but he is also an experienced vet. He had a very solid season last year and was one the most consistent of the Spurs. Not a good game last night but I give him the benefit of the doubts, was just first game of the season.

No disagreement, I like Barnes and love his vet presence. He makes very few mistakes and is incredibly reliable in every way, but besides shooting he is very limited. He rebounds at the same rate as rookie Castle and injured Fox. He is a very bad rebounder at the 4 and a poor defender pretty much everywhere. But the effort and positioning are always there and that's a huge positive, he's just limited.

And I will keep repeating this until people show they have historical perspective and reasonable expectations:
Harrison Barnes was a sub-38% career 3pt shooter until last season over 12 seasons. He shot 40.5% on 2.6 3pa in his 3rd season and a decade later shot 43.3% on 4.4 3pa last yr. Otherwise never exceeded 39.5% in his 11 other seasons.

He has always been a good shooter mostly around 38% +-1%, he's only been a great one once. Last year. While he's the better player, he is not a Matt Bonner shooter. Bonner shot 42+% in 8 of 12 seasons. People are acting like last yr was a normal shooting yr from Barnes instead of the huge outlier yr it actually was. He was almost 5.4% above his career last yr. That's a huge and likely unsustainable jump. Maybe he made the jump, more likely not.
Expecting him to repeat that performance seems less reasonable than expecting him to regress to the 38% shooter his been for his first dozen yrs.

 

[Arguendo]

I think Marc Stein gave Wemby an A

Highly recommend this if you haven't seen it.
Stein knows basketball, saw Wemby's post game workout, he thinks Wemby is 7'6" or 7'7" now
Also brings up the GSG chant in Dallas. Did anyone else notice Wemby's reaction when he heard the chant? That was freaking awesome, want to find that clip.

 

[heyheymymy]

Mitch did a pretty good job outside of a first half that looked a bit discombobulated. New coach and then you have a key guy like Fox out. Could have gone a few diff ways with the remaining personnel which may bring potential pitfalls but I thought he navigated it well for such a up and coming coach. Bodes well for the future imo tbh

 

[scott]

Highly recommend this if you haven't seen it.
Stein knows basketball, saw Wemby's post game workout, he thinks Wemby is 7'6" or 7'7" now
Also brings up the GSG chant in Dallas. Did anyone else notice Wemby's reaction when he heard the chant? That was freaking awesome, want to find that clip.

Not trying to overreact to this... but these chants, coupled with the way this game turned out, felt like an "arrival" to me. Like last night was the game where Wemby and the Spurs announced that the future belongs to them, and only them.

 

[spurraider21]

somehow, the broadcast didnt capture harper's first bucket. if you go back to watch his player highlights, its not there. it was a dunk attempt that kind of rolled around and then went in. heres the best i could find on it

https://twitter.com/x/status/1981314896546713623

 

[Fabbs]

Who is number "0" on the Spurs?

Did Sequspur pay the Holts to play one quarter in an NBA game?

 

[Splits]

this is so professionally done, best analysis you will find on the internet, and by farrrrrrrrrr... I challenge anyone to post anything better. The talking heads will do their usually "we've never seen anything like this" screeds and it's fun to have that attention, but if you really want to lift the skirt and see if the curtains match the drapes, look no other place than here. really amazing work @scott and the entire community, can't believe there were 45+ raters

as to Kornet, he might not have had the prettiest game but I really liked his raping of Davis on that flagrant. it set the entire defensive tone early, that "don't come into the paint and expect to be kissed. fuck you and where you come from, I don't care who you are". that's the defensive mentality this team needs to establish each and every game

 

[spurraider21]

this is so professionally done, best analysis you will find on the internet, and by farrrrrrrrrr... I challenge anyone to post anything better. The talking heads will do their usually "we've never seen anything like this" screeds and it's fun to have that attention, but if you really want to lift the skirt and see if the curtains match the drapes, look no other place than here. really amazing work @scott and the entire community, can't believe there were 45+ raters

as to Kornet, he might not have had the prettiest game but I really liked his raping of Davis on that flagrant. it set the entire defensive tone early, that "don't come into the paint and expect to be kissed. fuck you and where you come from, I don't care who you are". that's the defensive mentality this team needs to establish each and every game

Kornet was a wall once he settled in. Even after getting into foul trouble, he was giving physical contests, and caused a lot of misses. Flagg did score on him a couple of times in the third, but that was about it. I thought his defense was quite good throughout. He was kind of a nothing offensively and even blew an alley oop from Harper

i went back and charted every FGA anthony davis had while being defended by Kornet

- he made 1 FG total. that was one where Kornet had his hands up and Davis muscled through the contact and got the short shot to fall and he wanted an and-one. still, a very good contest.
- he drew 1 foul total, and that was the flagrant foul (where korndog did block the shot first, but swung down toward his face)
- he had 5 missed FGA, not counting a missed tip attempt

 

[Splits]

Kornet was a wall once he settled in. Even after getting into foul trouble, he was giving physical contests, and caused a lot of misses. Flagg did score on him a couple of times in the third, but that was about it. I thought his defense was quite good throughout. He was kind of a nothing offensively and even blew an alley oop from Harper

i went back and charted every FGA anthony davis had while being defended by Kornet

- he made 1 FG total. that was one where Kornet had his hands up and Davis muscled through the contact and got the short shot to fall and he wanted an and-one. still, a very good contest.
- he drew 1 foul total, and that was the flagrant foul (where korndog did block the shot first, but swung down toward his face)
- he had 5 missed FGA, not counting a missed tip attempt

Nice.

If there's a world where we're depending on Vanilla to be a basket-getter, then it's a hellscape. Be a horror on the defensive end, make bigs make tough shots, crash the boards, that's it. Any cream on the offensive top is just that, cream.

 

[spurraider21]

Nice.

If there's a world where we're depending on Vanilla to be a basket-getter, then it's a hellscape. Be a horror on the defensive end, make bigs make tough shots, crash the boards, that's it. Any cream on the offensive top is just that, cream.

im not expecting him to average 12ppg like he did in preseason, but 2 points on 1-3 shooting in 16 minutes is not it. 3 assists is nice though. i still graded him a 3 because his defense was above par but offense was below par so it cancelled out. i think im mostly mad he blew an alley oop.