Game Thread Spurs @ Heat (Wed 10/8/25) [6:30PM CDT]

[sKiN20]

Good preseason win.

 

[Exstatic]

Are you saying Harrison "when in doubt, pump fake" Ingram still sucks?

He’s a gleaguer.

 

[O_V]

Are you mental? Ingram is NOT going to be in the rotation. He’ll be lucky to sniff garbage time in a dozen or so games.

Yeah I know he's not going to be in the rotation. He's not an NBA player. He sucks. Hell, even you seem to know that. Why don't the Spurs know that?

 

[O_V]

The really good drop passes to a rolling Biyombo were numerous and comical in the second half. They resulted in no made layups.

 

[LeBowen]

Yeah I know he's not going to be in the rotation. He's not an NBA player. He sucks. Hell, even you seem to know that. Why don't the Spurs know that?

Why do you think Spurs don't know that?
We were 5 players down and the starters played 22-26 minutes.
Someone had to be on the floor.
There's a reason why Ingram didn't get a guaranteed contract when he was drafted.

 

[spursparker9]

Are you saying Harrison "when in doubt, pump fake" Ingram still sucks?

Ingram actually can already see his future with the Spurs....

See what happened to Sidy Cissoko

Both 2nd round picks. Both in g-league. And are just chips to be used for salary matching purpose in a trade.

 

[Exstatic]

Yeah I know he's not going to be in the rotation. He's not an NBA player. He sucks. Hell, even you seem to know that. Why don't the Spurs know that?

Because it’s pre-season and lots of guys aren’t available?

 

[spursfanfromafar]

Wait for a Spurs lineup that has one PG in it. Its a pain watching Fox, Castle, Harper and McLaughlin all on the bench.

 

[wemvp]

Yeah I know he's not going to be in the rotation. He's not an NBA player. He sucks. Hell, even you seem to know that. Why don't the Spurs know that?

Someone needs to fill minutes with the rotation guys only playing 15 to 22 min.

Dont make the mistake of taking much away from preseason. No one that is guaranteed to be on the team is putting a whole lot into any defense right now. Everyone is going 3/4 speed to get ramped up.

 

[Dex]

Because it’s pre-season and lots of guys aren’t available?

Yeah this is nothing new. Even when guys are healthy, Spurs have always used preseason as a chance to let these end of the bench guys showcase a bit. They may have no chance of catching on the Spurs roster, but might get noticed by other teams.

 

[ginobilized]

CB is starting to look comfortable out there. His D fundamentals are off the charts. His athleticism and potential are high. There will be a steady stream of rookie mistakes, but, he might be contributing this season.

Is Sochan out from the lingering (hamstring?) injury? Or, is something brewing?

I missed the first half. Has Vassell turned the corner?

Hate to be too negative on a player, but, I don't quite see why Harrison Ingram is on the team. I don't get it.

 

[Shmurs]

Correct move at this time is to put a red shirt point guard into the starting lineup and move Devin to his offball position at the 3 and start running set plays with Vic as a focal point.

But Devin played with his food instead and ya know what…I don’t think he’ll be playing off ball a whole lot this season after all.

Last night looked too familiar. It’s preseason, but they wouldn’t have ran that starting offense if they were serious about Devin becoming a role player.

I swear to god 2 possessions in you had Keldon shrugging Vic off when he wanted to take the ball up court. Then he whips it to Devin who immediately took a heavily contested 3 with about 18 seconds left on the shot clock. I didn’t have a fun time last night.

 

[OK Computer]

Correct move at this time is to put a red shirt point guard into the starting lineup and move Devin to his offball position at the 3 and start running set plays with Vic as a focal point.

But Devin played with his food instead and ya know what…I don’t think he’ll be playing off ball a whole lot this season after all.

Last night looked too familiar. It’s preseason, but they wouldn’t have ran that starting offense if they were serious about Devin becoming a role player.

I swear to god 2 possessions in you had Keldon shrugging Vic off when he wanted to take the ball up court. Then he whips it to Devin who immediately took a heavily contested 3 with about 18 seconds left on the shot clock. I didn’t have a fun time last night.

I hope they strike a balance. There was a period there where only Wemby was getting the ball for 5+ consecutive possessions. I don’t want this team to live and die by him. Other players on the team have to be able to get theirs, or this team will become exposed once there are higher stakes involved. All they would do is figure out how to slow Wemby down and it’s an easy L. If our guys don’t have experience in creating their own shots without Wemby, they’ll perennially look like deer in headlights when Wemby’s having an off game or sitting down.

 

[blueguy]

I hope they strike a balance. There was a period there where only Wemby was getting the ball for 5+ consecutive possessions. I don’t want this team to live and die by him. Other players on the team have to be able to get theirs, or this team will become exposed once there are higher stakes involved. All they would do is figure out how to slow Wemby down and it’s an easy L. If our guys don’t have experience in creating their own shots without Wemby, they’ll perennially look like deer in headlights when Wemby’s having an off game or sitting down.

I don't think we gained any information from this game about what this team's actual (hopeful) incarnation will be. CB had some flashes, but if he is getting consistent minutes on this team this season, it's because something has gone horribly wrong.

 

[bozhemoi]

Team is going to be trouble with their three attacking guards back.

Waters is a nice bench guy, as he was at GSW I think.

Correct move at this time is to put a red shirt point guard into the starting lineup and move Devin to his offball position at the 3 and start running set plays with Vic as a focal point.

But Devin played with his food instead and ya know what…I don’t think he’ll be playing off ball a whole lot this season after all.

Last night looked too familiar. It’s preseason, but they wouldn’t have ran that starting offense if they were serious about Devin becoming a role player.

I swear to god 2 possessions in you had Keldon shrugging Vic off when he wanted to take the ball up court. Then he whips it to Devin who immediately took a heavily contested 3 with about 18 seconds left on the shot clock. I didn’t have a fun time last night.

Last night looked familiar to a guy who only just started watching the team? Huh.

 

[bozhemoi]

I hope they strike a balance. There was a period there where only Wemby was getting the ball for 5+ consecutive possessions. I don’t want this team to live and die by him. Other players on the team have to be able to get theirs, or this team will become exposed once there are higher stakes involved. All they would do is figure out how to slow Wemby down and it’s an easy L. If our guys don’t have experience in creating their own shots without Wemby, they’ll perennially look like deer in headlights when Wemby’s having an off game or sitting down.

It's very clear the team wants Vassell and Keldon to get reps generating the offense and don't want it to only be Wembanyama. They were having Keldon bring the ball up last year. They're having Carter do it already. They want everyone to be able to move the ball up the court. Even when the three attacking guards are available, they'll want these players to be threats.

 

[OK Computer]

It's very clear the team wants Vassell and Keldon to get reps generating the offense and don't want it to only be Wembanyama. They were having Keldon bring the ball up last year. They're having Carter do it already. They want everyone to be able to move the ball up the court. Even when the three attacking guards are available, they'll want these players to be threats.

There was also this play where I think it was Wemby who passed to a player in the corner to shoot a 3, it missed, and Keldon bullied his way for the offensive rebound and hit the layup for second chance points. That’s Keldon at his best, IMO, and I hope his body is more suited for that this upcoming season.

 

[Shmurs]

I hope they strike a balance. There was a period there where only Wemby was getting the ball for 5+ consecutive possessions. I don’t want this team to live and die by him. Other players on the team have to be able to get theirs, or this team will become exposed once there are higher stakes involved. All they would do is figure out how to slow Wemby down and it’s an easy L. If our guys don’t have experience in creating their own shots without Wemby, they’ll perennially look like deer in headlights when Wemby’s having an off game or sitting down.

The model is jokic. Who gets the ball almost every possession. But he needs to have a guard do a little work to allow him to get to the elbow so he can distribute from his perch.

So he should absolutely be a first option on almost every possession. We saw that against the Chinese team. Last night was just the amigo improv hour where even when Vic gets it, the possession is often jilted and clunky.

 

[poopbox]

They're printing up that preseason banner now!

We been so starved for wins the last 4 years we need to take them where we can get them.

I bought out the champagne when we beat that chinese team in the first preseason game

 

[LeBowen]

The model is jokic. Who gets the ball almost every possession. But he needs to have a guard do a little work to allow him to get to the elbow so he can distribute from his perch.

So he should absolutely be a first option on almost every possession. We saw that against the Chinese team. Last night was just the amigo improv hour where even when Vic gets it, the possession is often jilted and clunky.

Jokic is a huge outlier because even though he's led the league in touches per game for many years now, his time on the ball is nowher near other high usage players like Luka, SGA, Giannis, etc.

Wemby should get the ball on every possession, but having him dribble it around is counter-productive in most situations.
Same goes for everyone else. If someone has the ball for 5 seconds if we're exclude early possession when the offense is setting up and end of possession situations, that possession isn't good.
We can still score, but it shouldn't be the style basketball we're aiming to play.

 

[Exstatic]

It's very clear the team wants Vassell and Keldon to get reps generating the offense and don't want it to only be Wembanyama. They were having Keldon bring the ball up last year. They're having Carter do it already. They want everyone to be able to move the ball up the court. Even when the three attacking guards are available, they'll want these players to be threats.

Don’t overthink things. Those players are bringing the ball up because our top 3 totally redundant PGs are all out.

 

[poopbox]

There's a handful of very businesslike 19-20 year-olds on this team. It's kinda damned weird. Like...which one is going to fall off and get addicted to thots and partying? Surely they can't all stay so apparently locked in?

But if they do...Castle, Carter, potentially Harper all being hardnosed grinders is gonna be crazy to watch as they hold themselves and each other accountable. Bunch of grown-ass Rugrats, it looks like. If the skills come to catch up with the mentalities, this team will be nothin' nice.

CB in particular just looks like the difference between his floor and ceiling is a football field. He'll be at least as good as SloMo, but with an athletic body. At least.

Lots of these 19 to 20 year old's have been playing basketball year round as a business since they were 12 to 14. Their age is young but their experience is not.

My friends son has been a qb and reading through real nfl playbooks since he was 12. At 18 he can pretty much call a football game from the line of scrimmage. 18 seems young but he has been doing it multiple times a week every week for 6 years.

 

[Shmurs]

Don’t overthink things. Those players are bringing the ball up because our top 3 totally redundant PGs are all out.

I don’t think so. The point of pre season isn’t “go practice ball skills”. You run your projected offense with guys in their projected spots. Winning isn’t important so it’s better to use red shirts as guards than mush someone out of position to have them take the ball up court.

Keldon…whatever. They have him doing a bunch of shit and that’s his reg season role too.

But Devin initiating the offense shouldnt happen at all this season. And from a development point of view, he needs to practice being exclusively off ball because he has not a god damn clue about how to help this team right now. Pop disagrees and has communicated as such to Mitch, I’m sure.

 

[Knoxxx]

There was also this play where I think it was Wemby who passed to a player in the corner to shoot a 3, it missed, and Keldon bullied his way for the offensive rebound and hit the layup for second chance points. That’s Keldon at his best, IMO, and I hope his body is more suited for that this upcoming season.

Some of this prior core is going to look better for us as bench players.

 

[Knoxxx]

I’m pretty happy that minus our top 3 guards we beat Miami at their place minus Herro. But this is sloppy looking play, preseason drivel really. I do like watching KJ give taller players like Wiggins all they can handle and think that translates to the regular season. Nice debut for Jaku with 10 assists. I wanted Ware as our backup center which would have required trading down for a later pick. Now it looks like Ware was a more legit option to play alongside Wemby. Not sure why he keeps having career games against us, though.