Player The Layne Staley Depression-Laden Foxhole of De'Aaron Martez Fox

[Ice009]

So...anyone else starting to get concerned that Fox seems like he cannot beat anyone off the dribble? For a PG who is supposed to be the fastest player in the league feels like we've seen very little of that in game. He struggled to put up 14 last night against a team with weak interior D. I hope he's just coasting and not pushing things too hard because of the summer injury but I'd be lying if i said the alarm bells are not going off in my head

I'm not super familiar with his game and how he uses his speed. Was he doing that all the time in Sacramento (blowing past people off the dribble).

 

[ffadicted]

So...anyone else starting to get concerned that Fox seems like he cannot beat anyone off the dribble? For a PG who is supposed to be the fastest player in the league feels like we've seen very little of that in game. He struggled to put up 14 last night against a team with weak interior D. I hope he's just coasting and not pushing things too hard because of the summer injury but I'd be lying if i said the alarm bells are not going off in my head

Not yet, though I have noticed when he's pressured at the top looking for iso plays, his handle seems very iffy when he drives in, it's odd. It's kind of jarring seeing Dylan make more dynamic plays to the hoop than Fox.
Fox provides plenty outside of that, esp with shooting 38% from 3pt right now, and other than the Pels game he has looked very good and very able to get his own buckets.

 

[spursfanfromafar]

Not yet, though I have noticed when he's pressured at the top looking for iso plays, his handle seems very iffy when he drives in, it's odd. It's kind of jarring seeing Dylan make more dynamic plays to the hoop than Fox.
Fox provides plenty outside of that, esp with shooting 38% from 3pt right now, and other than the Pels game he has looked very good and very able to get his own buckets.

Yeah. Fox has only struggled in a couple of games .. the NOP one featured some really good perimeter defense by Herb Jones who finally seems to have overcome his injury woes. Otherwise Fox's ballhandling has been pristine all season.

 

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

So...anyone else starting to get concerned that Fox seems like he cannot beat anyone off the dribble? For a PG who is supposed to be the fastest player in the league feels like we've seen very little of that in game. He struggled to put up 14 last night against a team with weak interior D. I hope he's just coasting and not pushing things too hard because of the summer injury but I'd be lying if i said the alarm bells are not going off in my head

Huh? NO went to a zone on him. Not sure how you expect a guy no matter speed to penetrate when they structure the whole D to keep him out of the paint.

 

[Ice009]

I wasn't able to really watch this game properly as I was half asleep, but for whatever reason, the Spurs stream on NBALP for me was blurry (playing at lower video quality), and it was even buffering a little bit which doesn't normally happen. I should have switched to the NO feed which seemed OK when I tried it after the game ended. I really couldn't see much of what was happening in that second half.

 

[DAF86]

So...anyone else starting to get concerned that Fox seems like he cannot beat anyone off the dribble? For a PG who is supposed to be the fastest player in the league feels like we've seen very little of that in game. He struggled to put up 14 last night against a team with weak interior D. I hope he's just coasting and not pushing things too hard because of the summer injury but I'd be lying if i said the alarm bells are not going off in my head

Just a couple of games ago people were saying nobody could stay in front of him

 

[spurraider21]

to me it seemed clear that Fox just took a back seat yesterday, partially because Herb Jones was primarily on him, and also because he wanted to let Castle have the ball to find his way back in his return game

 

[Ice009]

to me it seemed clear that Fox just took a back seat yesterday, partially because Herb Jones was primarily on him, and also because he wanted to let Castle have the ball to find his way back in his return game

It seemed to me like he started the game like that and didn't really get going, or really try to get going, sort of dropped his aggression level a bit. Herb's defense probably played a part in that too.

 

[scott]

Fox said it after the last NOP game, that part of the game plan against them is for Fox to just clear Herb out of the play, which does have value.

 

[Neuromancer]

Appreciate the responses y'all. I will say that I'm trying to not overreact to one game but it's something I've noticed for a little bit over the last couple weeks. Like yeah Fox is really fast in transition or open court but in half court action it seems he has a lot of trouble beating his man, not just yesterday but in general. He has been shooting uncharacteristically well from 3 which is offsetting some of that and his numbers look good but idk, he just doesn't seem as explosive off the dribble as I remember him in Sacramento. Hope I'm just full of shit though. Something to keep an eye on

 

[Correct Crusader]

So...anyone else starting to get concerned that Fox seems like he cannot beat anyone off the dribble? For a PG who is supposed to be the fastest player in the league feels like we've seen very little of that in game. He struggled to put up 14 last night against a team with weak interior D. I hope he's just coasting and not pushing things too hard because of the summer injury but I'd be lying if i said the alarm bells are not going off in my head

Absolutely not.
First of all, NO had Trey Murphy and Herb Jones on him which are some of the most incredible wing defenders in the league.
Second of all, they played zone a LOT. Doesn't matter how fast you are when the opponent plays zone.

 

[Area 51.247]

I wasn't able to really watch this game properly as I was half asleep, but for whatever reason, the Spurs stream on NBALP for me was blurry (playing at lower video quality), and it was even buffering a little bit which doesn't normally happen. I should have switched to the NO feed which seemed OK when I tried it after the game ended. I really couldn't see much of what was happening in that second half.

NBA LP feed was constantly buffering on Spectrum in WNY. Interesting way to get highlights of every third play or so; would get a few second reset.Thought it was the 2⁰ before wind chill effect, glad to know it wasn't local.

 

[Correct Crusader]

I wasn't able to really watch this game properly as I was half asleep, but for whatever reason, the Spurs stream on NBALP for me was blurry (playing at lower video quality), and it was even buffering a little bit which doesn't normally happen. I should have switched to the NO feed which seemed OK when I tried it after the game ended. I really couldn't see much of what was happening in that second half.

NBA needs to get their broadcasting together. It's so difficult to watch the game in high quality. I should not be able to have a better experience pirating the product.

 

[LeBowen]

Appreciate the responses y'all. I will say that I'm trying to not overreact to one game but it's something I've noticed for a little bit over the last couple weeks. Like yeah Fox is really fast in transition or open court but in half court action it seems he has a lot of trouble beating his man, not just yesterday but in general. He has been shooting uncharacteristically well from 3 which is offsetting some of that and his numbers look good but idk, he just doesn't seem as explosive off the dribble as I remember him in Sacramento. Hope I'm just full of shit though. Something to keep an eye on

Checked the numbers, you're probably biased because you haven't watched him on game to game basis in Sacramento.

Fox shot distance this season:
<5ft: 26.6% of total shots.
5-9ft: 14.2%
10-14ft: 12.3%
15-24ft: 19.7%
>24ft: 27%
6 FTA on 10.9 2pt FGA.

Fox in 23-24 season, decided to compare with this one because it's the highest scoring one:
<5ft: 21.8% of total shots.
5-9ft: 16.2%
10-14ft: 15.2%
15-24ft: 18.4%
>24ft: 27.5%
5.7 FTA on 13.1 2pt FGA.

It's basically down to a statistical error, he takes more or less the same shots he did in his best year and has improved his FTA rate with us.

 

[Neuromancer]

Checked the numbers, you're probably biased because you haven't watched him on game to game basis in Sacramento.

Fox shot distance this season:
<5ft: 26.6% of total shots.
5-9ft: 14.2%
10-14ft: 12.3%
15-24ft: 19.7%
>24ft: 27%
6 FTA on 10.9 2pt FGA.

Fox in 23-24 season, decided to compare with this one because it's the highest scoring one:
<5ft: 21.8% of total shots.
5-9ft: 16.2%
10-14ft: 15.2%
15-24ft: 18.4%
>24ft: 27.5%
5.7 FTA on 13.1 2pt FGA.

It's basically down to a statistical error, he takes more or less the same shots he did in his best year and has improved his FTA rate with us.

Alright well I'm clearly full of shit then appreciate the data breakdown here, looks like nothing to worry about

 

[LeBowen]

Alright well I'm clearly full of shit then appreciate the data breakdown here, looks like nothing to worry about

The thing I'm worried about for all our guards is how they keep losing the ball when they're entering the paint.
Sochanitis has spread through the locker room, tbh.

 

[bozhemoi]

So...anyone else starting to get concerned that Fox seems like he cannot beat anyone off the dribble? For a PG who is supposed to be the fastest player in the league feels like we've seen very little of that in game. He struggled to put up 14 last night against a team with weak interior D. I hope he's just coasting and not pushing things too hard because of the summer injury but I'd be lying if i said the alarm bells are not going off in my head

Yes. Good defenders jam him up and he can't do much against them. For a bucket getter max guy, he gets neutralized by good defense. Against a Portland, he tore them up. Against good perimeter defense, nada. It's a problem.

 

[LeBowen]

Back in the day you at least tried to provide actual arguments instead of straight up lying.

Do you have any self-respect?
Crawling out of our hole after Fox's first average game in his hard carry stretch.

 

[frenchfred]

Yes. Good defenders jam him up and he can't do much against them. For a bucket getter max guy, he gets neutralized by good defense. Against a Portland, he tore them up. Against good perimeter defense, nada. It's a problem.

can you remind us his averages for the year? How many games with less than 20 points?

This year, he is making 37 millions, he has the 40th salary in the NBA while being the 20th best scorer and 15th in assists.

Would he be overpaid next year for these stats, maybe a little bit but let's look at the players with the same salaries. Five are better than him (Jokic, Giannis, Doncic, Tatum and Brown), seven are worse (Embiid, Towns, Butler, Davis, Beal, James, George) and two are equivalent (Curry, Booker, Leonard)

[td width="10%"]RK[/td][td width="35%"]NAME[/td][td width="35%"]TEAM[/td]

[td width="20%"]

SALARY​

[/td]​

[td]1[/td][td]Stephen Curry, G[/td][td]Golden State Warriors[/td]

[td]

$59,606,817​

[/td]​

[td]2[/td][td]Joel Embiid, C[/td][td]Philadelphia 76ers[/td]

[td]

$55,224,526​

[/td]​

[td]3[/td][td]Nikola Jokic, C[/td][td]Denver Nuggets[/td]

[td]

$55,224,526​

[/td]​

[td]4[/td][td]Kevin Durant, F[/td][td]Houston Rockets[/td]

[td]

$54,708,609​

[/td]​

[td]5[/td][td]Karl-Anthony Towns, C[/td][td]New York Knicks[/td]

[td]

$54,126,450​

[/td]​

[td]6[/td][td]Giannis Antetokounmpo, F[/td][td]Milwaukee Bucks[/td]

[td]

$54,126,450​

[/td]​

[td]7[/td][td]Luka Doncic, G[/td][td]Los Angeles Lakers[/td]

[td]

$54,126,450​

[/td]​

[td]8[/td][td]Jimmy Butler III, F[/td][td]Golden State Warriors[/td]

[td]

$54,126,450​

[/td]​

[td]9[/td][td]Anthony Davis, F[/td][td]Dallas Mavericks[/td]

[td]

$54,126,450​

[/td]​

[td]10[/td][td]Jayson Tatum, F[/td][td]Boston Celtics[/td]

[td]

$54,126,450​

[/td]​

[td width="10%"]RK[/td][td width="35%"]NAME[/td][td width="35%"]TEAM[/td]

[td width="20%"]

SALARY​

[/td]​

[td]11[/td][td]Bradley Beal, G[/td][td]LA Clippers[/td]

[td]

$53,666,270​

[/td]​

[td]12[/td][td]Devin Booker, G[/td][td]Phoenix Suns[/td]

[td]

$53,142,264​

[/td]​

[td]13[/td][td]Jaylen Brown, G[/td][td]Boston Celtics[/td]

[td]

$53,142,264​

[/td]​

[td]14[/td][td]LeBron James, F[/td][td]Los Angeles Lakers[/td]

[td]

$52,627,153​

[/td]​

[td]15[/td][td]Paul George, F[/td][td]Philadelphia 76ers[/td]

[td]

$51,666,090​

[/td]​

[td]16[/td][td]Kawhi Leonard, F[/td][td]LA Clippers[/td]

[td]

$50,000,000​

[/td]​

 

[Exstatic]

Yes. Good defenders jam him up and he can't do much against them. For a bucket getter max guy, he gets neutralized by good defense. Against a Portland, he tore them up. Against good perimeter defense, nada. It's a problem.

That’s not even remotely true. He fucking blew the doors off Dyson Daniels, a young up and comer selected for All D Last year. When he gets single coverage,he rakes. He hasn’t seen a lot of that with Wemby out. They’re shading or outright doubling him on every play. His assists being up shows that he knows what to do with that,

 

[scott]

Some interesting data here on how Fox appears to be playing slower than in the past: https://spursstatsvideo.substack.com/p/spurs-notes-12102025-deaaron-the

My hypothesis, however, is that this is by design.

 

[Corso]

Bodyzhemoi has gone full retard.

 

[Exstatic]

Bodyzhemoi has gone full retard.

Full Mrs. Body.

 

[Paramore]

 

[scott]

Thanks @Paramore - that's a really nice video of how Fox has been cooking on offense