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

[ginobilized]

Fox reminded me that he's got what it takes to be the focal point offensively. What I'm really loving is that he, Castle and Harper take what the defense gives. The previous game OKC really limited Fox as a scorer and he had double figure assists. Having 3 guards who can get to the rim, score in the midrange, and are great passers puts so much pressure on the defense. We're barely cracking open this 4-headed beast. Fox has been tremendous at reading the room so to speak and going with the hot hand and taking the appropriate role based on that. There will be very few games that Fox, Harper and Castle have bad nights.

 

[TimmyBuckets]

Fox is an even better version of himself last few years on the Kings. We got an All Star, clutch player of the year for pennies on the dollar because he wanted to be here. On top of that, he's giving us career highs in TSG% and 3P% with only slightly lower PPG than his best years at Sac. 29 points on 3/4 on 3s on the road against the undefeated-at-home Thunder? Insane.

 

[spursistan]

"Trade Fox"

Let's face it, Wemby-centric offense is just not very good and reliable option..

 

[Paramore]

Foxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxy!
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[Paramore]

First Knight of the magnificent Spurs, De'Aaron Fox >>>>>

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[Paramore]

Fox has the poise, he has restraint, he has composure, and he has the maturity we need

He is our NOW!

 

[brazil]

Fox has the poise, he has restraint, he has composure, and he has the maturity we need

He is our NOW!

dat -18 maturity yesterday tho

what a putrid game that was tbh...

 

[STAT88]

He was awful. And he still wasn’t even the worst guard for the Spurs.

 

[scott]

It was very very bad.

 

[spurraider21]

he's been disappointing and quite passive for the better part of a month now

since december 8, he's only averaging 17ppg and 5 assists per game on 44% shooting, 32.5% from 3. in the month prior, from november 8 thru december 5, he had averaged 25ppg and 6.5 assists per game

expecting him to maintain 39% from 3 was never realistic, so im not even mad about that. rather, its been his failure to assert himself. and yes, he played a lot of that time in november with Castle out, so there is more backcourt duties to share. its one thing to have a luxury of having multiple attacking guards. its another thing to start coasting because you can just defer defer and then we forgive him because "well castle had the ball a lot."

im sorry. we just gave him a max extension. go earn it. when the offense is in a rut, it falls on Fox more than anybody else, including Wemby, to right the ship

 

[scott]

he's been disappointing and quite passive for the better part of a month now

since december 8, he's only averaging 17ppg and 5 assists per game on 44% shooting, 32.5% from 3. in the month prior, from november 8 thru december 5, he had averaged 25ppg and 6.5 assists per game

expecting him to maintain 39% from 3 was never realistic, so im not even mad about that. rather, its been his failure to assert himself. and yes, he played a lot of that time in november with Castle out, so there is more backcourt duties to share. its one thing to have a luxury of having multiple attacking guards. its another thing to start coasting because you can just defer defer and then we forgive him because "well castle had the ball a lot."

im sorry. we just gave him a max extension. go earn it. when the offense is in a rut, it falls on Fox more than anybody else, including Wemby, to right the ship

I'd like to see us intentionally tell him to go out and be the center of attention on offense, especially if Wemby is on minutes restriction off the bench. If he hits a few early shots, tell him to just go at it and try and beat his career high of 60.

I think part of (not all) of his recent poor play is that we start games with Steph trying to assert himself. I'm fine with a "let the game come to us approach" and the ball just not finding its way to Fox if that's how the game is playing out... but I'm falling out of love fast with the "let's make Stephon Castle the center of attention" approach.

 

[Exstatic]

He doesn’t look right. I’m not sure that adductor is fully healed.

 

[timtonymanu]

Glad he bounced back after his horrid stretch as of late. We need this while Castle and Harper are on their continued bad stretch.

 

[scott]

3PT shooting is still pretty poor but tonight against BOS he found all the other ways to contribute. The kind of performance that can help bust a slump

 

[Paramore]

 

[Paramore]

the man is elegant

 

[RC_Drunkford]

has anybody else paid attention that he takes about 3-4 steps before starting his dribble when he catches an outlet pass? Not that NBA refs would care about travels, but I'm just used to oldschool rules I guess.

 

[Bopper]

I liked how Fox attacked last night and got solid looks in the paint. He has been settling for too many 3's for my liking as of late.

 

[DPGSpurs]

Is it me or does it seem like Fox is settling a lot of offense?

He still look blazing fast to me when he accelerates so it doesn’t seem like a “physical” issue; just seems like he’s heavily relying on jumper more vs attacking the rim.

Is it on purpose and he’s just saving himself? Is it physical or scheme? Or just mental and over reliance on jumper?

Hard to tell but (and it’s not about tonight just more of a general thing this year) he looks really fast to me still so don’t think it’s physical.

 

[DPGSpurs]

And I was on record when it happened: I hate the contract SA gave him. Theres zero chance it ages well. It *may* not age too poorly, but zero chance it ages well.

I already have major concerns about that deal seeing what Im seeing and Fox has been pretty good overall

 

[Bopper]

Is it me or does it seem like Fox is settling a lot of offense?

He still look blazing fast to me when he accelerates so it doesn’t seem like a “physical” issue; just seems like he’s heavily relying on jumper more vs attacking the rim.

Is it on purpose and he’s just saving himself? Is it physical or scheme? Or just mental and over reliance on jumper?

Hard to tell but (and it’s not about tonight just more of a general thing this year) he looks really fast to me still so don’t think it’s physical.

I'm concerned that we have not seen the burst to the hoop that I was anticipating from his days in Sacramento. I'm not sure if that is physical or just the looks he gets in this offense. Also I'm surprised by how little PNR offense we have installed with him and Wemby together. Some of that is injury related for sure, but I think that would free him up for even higher quality looks. He's also probably still feeling out his moments on the floor with the amount of talent on this roster. He didn't have this type of luxury in Sacramento.

I am more impressed however of his mid distance game. Our reliance on Fox to generate offense will diminish as Castle, Harper, Wemby mature more on offense. Fox is really a perfect bridge player to boost SA to contention.

 

[LeBowen]

Is it me or does it seem like Fox is settling a lot of offense?

He still look blazing fast to me when he accelerates so it doesn’t seem like a “physical” issue; just seems like he’s heavily relying on jumper more vs attacking the rim.

Is it on purpose and he’s just saving himself? Is it physical or scheme? Or just mental and over reliance on jumper?

Hard to tell but (and it’s not about tonight just more of a general thing this year) he looks really fast to me still so don’t think it’s physical.

De'aaron Fox Shot Chart | StatMuse

De'Aaron Fox has shot 47.0% (222/472) overall and 33.5% (60/179) from three in 29 games this season. (Shot Chart)

www.statmuse.com

He likes that pull-up just below the FT line, but as long as he's efficent, I don't see a problem.
Obviously some of his rim pressure has been taken away because our spacing is poor.

And I was on record when it happened: I hate the contract SA gave him. Theres zero chance it ages well. It *may* not age too poorly, but zero chance it ages well.

I already have major concerns about that deal seeing what Im seeing and Fox has been pretty good overall

We'll have cap issues only if both Castle and Harper play their way into rookie max extensions and even then it won't be that bad since Fox and Harper contracts would overlap just in 29-30 season.
If he doesn't suffer any major injuries, we won't have any trouble moving him if our young guys develop well.
We might not get much, but it won't be treated as an untradeable contract. And he won't be that old, he just turned 28, will be 32 in his final year.

 

[DPGSpurs]

De'aaron Fox Shot Chart | StatMuse

De'Aaron Fox has shot 47.0% (222/472) overall and 33.5% (60/179) from three in 29 games this season. (Shot Chart)

www.statmuse.com

He likes that pull-up just below the FT line, but as long as he's efficent, I don't see a problem.
Obviously some of his rim pressure has been taken away because our spacing is poor.


We'll have cap issues only if both Castle and Harper play their way into rookie max extensions and even then it won't be that bad since Fox and Harper contracts would overlap just in 29-30 season.
If he doesn't suffer any major injuries, we won't have any trouble moving him if our young guys develop well.
We might not get much, but it won't be treated as an untradeable contract. And he won't be that old, he just turned 28, will be 32 in his final year.

Still think it was an indefensible contract and one that only has downside and zero upside. It may not end up hurting Sa but unless we win a title and he stars in that process it cannot help SA.

 

[LeBowen]

Still think it was an indefensible contract and one that only has downside and zero upside. It may not end up hurting Sa but unless we win a title and he stars in that process it cannot help SA.

It's the cost of doing business.
It's near impossible to have all the variables allign perfectly when it comes to trading for all-star players.
Age, contract length, ability, fit with the team and most importantly asking price.
We got Fox for basically nothing of value other than that Timberwolves 2031 pick, which is an unknown quantity right now.
And we got him for that price only because he said he's not going anywhere else.
He wouldn't asked to be traded to the Spurs if he wasn't promised an extension.

Zero upside? I'm fine with people not liking Fox as a player, but now you're being mr. Body.
What would've happened this season if we didn't have Fox while Wemby was out?
Right now we'd be talking about if we can make the top6 to avoid the play-in.

He was brought in as a known quantity to be the second option for Wemby and carry the other young guys while they develop.
We would've been at around .500 last season if not for Wemby's DVT, tough luck.
Then we happened to luck into Harper, which noone could've possibly predicted at the moment of Fox trade.
If we got any other top10 pick, noone would be questioning Fox's fit or age.

I'm personally not questioning it even with Harper because both him and Castle aren't ready to be the lead guards on a serious team and Wemby has no time to waste on his GOAT trajectory.
If we used a lot of good assets on Fox, I'd agree with your take. But we got him for dirt cheap and even if we just let him go for expiring contracts in 3 years it's still going to be worth it.

Only one team can win the title every year and we've been spoiled in that regard. To win the title you have to be in contention.
To be in contention you need to suffer for a few seasons and learn from your mistakes.
We have the second longest playoff drought in the league (!!!) and to say that we need to win over the next few years is just baseless.

 

[DPGSpurs]

Question is now: despite being solid (and I’m really happy with him on defensive end - he deserves a ton of credit there!) is what we are seeing a decline in speed/ability to get to rim (massive problem if so given his deal) or is it mental and he’s just settling and “coasting” to a degree (not a big issue)

And I disagree we got him cheap. Wash got Trae for expiring deals. Spurs gave up 10th pick last draft, 2 more firsts and maxed him out.

I’m not saying he’s bad but obviously and objectively it was a bad decision to max him out even if we know they were forced into doing it

That doesn’t change reality though and spurs with all those picks and cap space + Harper would be fine right now.

I’m happy with Fox and glad he’s here; I don’t like his deal and I bet Sa if they knew they were getting Harper would absolutely not have done the deal.