Energy, resistance
It really does and at the end of the day not being healthy is just a killer. It’s impossible to truly unlock the potential of a team that is always missing players. We have to get whole and stay whole. If we do that, I think this team can win 60 games and lock in that 2 seed.
They had players out. They were on back to back too. We just can defend the three. Its scheme. We have the athletes for it.Spencer has improved it some from prior years but not enough.
The great Dick Sweeny
This has nothing to do with the Spurs or their younger guards. Fox has been doing this for years now, just waiting to be the hero in the fourth quarter and being extremely passive before then - especially after he won clutch player of the year in 2023. It's very very frustrating as a big fan of his
I'm not going to pretend I followed him closely in Sacramento, but this season it's obvious Castle is on the ball more because he can't space the floor.
Thank you for the welcome and insight. I was on ST for years since the 2006 playoff series with the Kings so I already love it here and feel like I'm pretty familiar with a lot of the members. Not saying Fox has say in terms of gameplan and such, just that he's formed the habit of not even looking for his shot in an aggressive way until the 4th quarter and it can be pretty infuriating at times because we all know what he can do when he's laser focused. Sometimes he just has to be pissed off to really rip a teams head off but now that he's playing with a player like Wemby, some of those faults won't stand out as much. As far as Castle goes, I wouldn't worry too much about his shot or development in that area. I think he'll gradually improve, especially as the years go by - It's just that folks are a bit more impatient than usual because of how quickly things have gone from no playoffs to legit contender because of Wemby's trajectory and the added depth to the roster.I'm not going to pretend I followed him closely in Sacramento, but this season it's obvious Castle is on the ball more because he can't space the floor.
We're not an organization that would let players decide gameplan things by themselves, Fox plays off the ball early on in most games.
Before the season started, most of us were afraid of how our spacing will work because none of our guards are good shooters.
Then Fox started shooting almost 40%, Barnes was mr. 100% and Devin is also at 40%.
Then Devin goes down, Barnes, Fox and Champ regress to the mean outside of Champ's career game against the Knicks and both of our young guards are as bad as advertised from 3pt line.
I'm not going to take away the things we've done so far, but a lot of our wins don't happen if everyone was shooting on their expected level instead of overperforming.
There's also Keldon at 43%, what's going to happen when he also regresses to the mean?
This looks like a full doomer mode post now, but modern NBA is all about 3pt shooting and our shooting has been horrible ever since the last OKC game.
Expect teams to dare us to shoot even more over the next few week and we're in for a lot more Ls if above mentioned players can't find their shot again.
Back to the initial point, it's a really difficult situation with Castle.
I'm the first one to say that a lot of his struggles come from being the protagonist on both ends of the floor.
Physical game on offense with constant drives into the paint, getting bumped and falling down, then having to defend the best perimeter players on the other end.
Wears you down and if you ask me that's the reason for Castle's struggles.
But we can't have him off the ball because opponents will defend us 4v5.
Fox can always get going against average teams like the Blazers, but we decided to prioritize Castle's development.
We'll see where it gets us.
In reality, we just need our franchise player back, did well enough without him, but at some point you can't expect to keep winning at .750 rate without your best player.
Also, welcome to the forum.
we knew going into the season that we were lacking shooting, two of our young stars (Castle and Harper) are pretty bad 3-point shooters, Fox and Wemby are just average so we rely on Barnes and Champagnie who seem to be streaky even when open. We need one player who makes pretty much all of them when wide openI'm not going to pretend I followed him closely in Sacramento, but this season it's obvious Castle is on the ball more because he can't space the floor.
We're not an organization that would let players decide gameplan things by themselves, Fox plays off the ball early on in most games.
Before the season started, most of us were afraid of how our spacing will work because none of our guards are good shooters.
Then Fox started shooting almost 40%, Barnes was mr. 100% and Devin is also at 40%.
Then Devin goes down, Barnes, Fox and Champ regress to the mean outside of Champ's career game against the Knicks and both of our young guards are as bad as advertised from 3pt line.
I'm not going to take away the things we've done so far, but a lot of our wins don't happen if everyone was shooting on their expected level instead of overperforming.
There's also Keldon at 43%, what's going to happen when he also regresses to the mean?
This looks like a full doomer mode post now, but modern NBA is all about 3pt shooting and our shooting has been horrible ever since the last OKC game.
Expect teams to dare us to shoot even more over the next few week and we're in for a lot more Ls if above mentioned players can't find their shot again.
Back to the initial point, it's a really difficult situation with Castle.
I'm the first one to say that a lot of his struggles come from being the protagonist on both ends of the floor.
Physical game on offense with constant drives into the paint, getting bumped and falling down, then having to defend the best perimeter players on the other end.
Wears you down and if you ask me that's the reason for Castle's struggles.
But we can't have him off the ball because opponents will defend us 4v5.
Fox can always get going against average teams like the Blazers, but we decided to prioritize Castle's development.
We'll see where it gets us.
In reality, we just need our franchise player back, did well enough without him, but at some point you can't expect to keep winning at .750 rate without your best player.
Also, welcome to the forum.
I think the issue with Houston they swung big and when they lost Vanfleet they have no real PG when needed plus apron issues now; Orlando swung big as while I am of the opinion we have to improve at the margins and it should start now before the trade deadline why I was against all the Gannis trade talk.
Agree with you 100%
I'd say we're where they were a year ago because Wemby can't stay healthy.
In some other seasons we wouldn't stand a chance, but other than OKC that seems to be a good matchup for us, everyone has glaring flaws as big, if not bigger than ours.
I also like Jones, but I wish they could take a bigger swing. At 6’7”, Jones doesn’t help with rebounding or really any inside the lane deficiencies the Spurs have. I like Toppin more. He’s set to return from injury next month and I don’t know why the Pacers would want to help their winning percentage this year. He’s on a cheaper contract than Jones, shoots about the same, rebounds better and they’re the same age. Just throwing in my 2 cents.
Could we possible win a title this year? Maybe. But our team has zero playoff experience to carry us to that kind of run. Do you want to go all in with future assets and cap inflexibility to take a chance that we buck history and make a championship run with this inexperienced squad? That's not a bet I'd personally make at this juncture.
I brought up Jones not as a specific target, but just a tier of player who more fits what we need (in contrast to the TMIII tier of player). If Obi Toppin is what you mean by big swing, I'm on board (because I'd put him in the same tier as Herb Jones). If you mean big swing in terms of a higher tier of player (like TMIII or Lauri), then I don't agree, but that's just my opinion.
