Player The Methodical Meritocracy of Maestro Mitch Johnson and his Many Minions

Playing Wemby 40 mins and knowing they don't play again till Sunday good decision considering Bismack was just a net negative. Really missing Kornet out there. When Olynyk and Sochan return the front court will look pretty stout
 
I thought I noticed a brief minute in the 3rd when we had zero bigs in the game. Was I imagining things?
Wemby quickly checked in after that.

Biyombo is just running cardio out there.
In 38 minutes of gametime this season he has 2 total points and 4 total rebounds.
 
couchman said:
I thought I noticed a brief minute in the 3rd when we had zero bigs in the game. Was I imagining things?
Wemby quickly checked in after that.

Biyombo is just running cardio out there.
In 38 minutes of gametime this season he has 2 total points and 4 total rebounds.
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Barnes was the big for that brief spell. Noticed it, too.
 
couchman said:
I thought I noticed a brief minute in the 3rd when we had zero bigs in the game. Was I imagining things?
Wemby quickly checked in after that.

Biyombo is just running cardio out there.
In 38 minutes of gametime this season he has 2 total points and 4 total rebounds.
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Yep. I'm surprised they didn't give Bryant some burn or try Minix or something. They can't be worse than Bismack. It's one thing if he's coming in during blowouts but playing actual rotation minutes at this point is way beyond his abilities. Hopefully once Kornet and Olynyk are back we won't see him at all
 
Neuromancer said:
Yep. I'm surprised they didn't give Bryant some burn or try Minix or something. They can't be worse than Bismack. It's one thing if he's coming in during blowouts but playing actual rotation minutes at this point is way beyond his abilities. Hopefully once Kornet and Olynyk are back we won't see him at all
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Minix can be worse and is worse defensively.
 
UbikRex said:
Playing Wemby 40 mins and knowing they don't play again till Sunday good decision considering Bismack was just a net negative. Really missing Kornet out there. When Olynyk and Sochan return the front court will look pretty stout
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Mitch doing some good work with this type of planning. Like seeing this as a big game to circle so he gave Bryant a bunch of minutes in the lesser games. It’s just startling to see actual strategy coming out of this club.
 
I'm going to go contrarian here because I think we are winning some of these games because of fortunate scheduling and circumstance, not because of Mitch. I think he is like early Pop where he had the benefit of Tim and David early in his career and his coaching skill grew along the way. But Pop had more veterans to lean on whereas Mitch does not. Without Wemby willing the team to victory, and without Fox who came here because of him, this team is a cellar dweller. I hope Sweeney and Williamson will responsibly chime in when necessary and Mitch's coaching skill grows quickly.
 
NotoriousHOP said:
I'm going to go contrarian here because I think we are winning some of these games because of fortunate scheduling and circumstance, not because of Mitch. I think he is like early Pop where he had the benefit of Tim and David early in his career and his coaching skill grew along the way. But Pop had more veterans to lean on whereas Mitch does not. Without Wemby willing the team to victory, and without Fox who came here because of him, this team is a cellar dweller. I hope Sweeney and Williamson will responsibly chime in when necessary and Mitch's coaching skill grows quickly.
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I'm with you and we're a growing minority.

I maintain that it's insane to give the helm of this project to a rookie coach that will inevitably have to make (avoidable) mistakes to learn his job.

He's never played or coached at the highest level and we expect him to know how to deal with the POs level for ex?

It pisses me of thinking of the time we're wasting just bc of PATFO's ego
 
I think Mitch implemented some simple offensive sets that were absent from the Spurs for a few years. The pace has slowed down a little to allow more set up, FTs have gone up by attacking the paint more, Wemby is parking his ass down a bit lower instead of camping out at the 3 pt line, we are breaking out for more transition baskets, there are slightly more isolation plays with better movement off ball (still require a LOT more of ball movement), we are crashing the offensive glass much harder (thanks Keldon and Kornhub).

I would still like to see more off ball screen and cuts, more pin downs for closer to the basketball shots, set wemby closer to the basket (and the other guys please work on your post entry passes), simple hand offs.

On defence there is still way too much help on drivers when Wemby is on the floor to free up 3 pt shooters (obvious).

Also has to figure out some defensive strategy without Wemby, it is an absolute disaster without him on the floor. Right now, the only players who have remotely acceptable d rating with Wemby off the court are (gulp) Sochan at 109.18 (would push us from 5th in the league to 2nd in the league, but this is a on VERY small sample size of only 38 minutes), Kornet at 114.25 (would rank around #11 to #14) and Champagnie at 115.63 #19). Anybody else would push us down to #26/27 or worse (next best is Castle at 120.3). Failing that, we would have to work on a killer offensive scheme without Wemby that would allow us to outscore, or at least keep pace with the opposition, but both option seems unlikely to be achieved.
 
NotoriousHOP said:
I'm going to go contrarian here because I think we are winning some of these games because of fortunate scheduling and circumstance, not because of Mitch. I think he is like early Pop where he had the benefit of Tim and David early in his career and his coaching skill grew along the way. But Pop had more veterans to lean on whereas Mitch does not. Without Wemby willing the team to victory, and without Fox who came here because of him, this team is a cellar dweller. I hope Sweeney and Williamson will responsibly chime in when necessary and Mitch's coaching skill grows quickly.
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We're winning because we have a very good roster and the most dominant defensive force the game has ever seen.

Mitch is doing fine. He's not winning us games but he's not losing them either with stupidity. He's experimenting a bit, which is fine, but he does need to figure out how to get this team to defend on the perimeter at least decently well.

PanameSpur said:
I'm with you and we're a growing minority.

I maintain that it's insane to give the helm of this project to a rookie coach that will inevitably have to make (avoidable) mistakes to learn his job.

He's never played or coached at the highest level and we expect him to know how to deal with the POs level for ex?

It pisses me of thinking of the time we're wasting just bc of PATFO's ego
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How many coaches that played the game at this high of a level are winning titles? Kerr? Helps when he has the best shooter in the history of the sport. Well, Mitch has the most doninant defensive player the sport has seen.

Most championship coaches weren't good NBA players or even NBA players at all. Who was Daigneault before OKC hired him in 2020? Who was Michael Malone before the Nuggest hired him? The list goes on, championship coaches have to start somewhere. What they all have in common is having one of the best players in the world and a very good roster to work with.
 
It's a work in progress, hold your horses.

It seems the defense is trying to keep Wembanyama near the lane and this is causing problems on their rotations getting everything right. I'll try to watch this more. In essence, teams want to get Victor to have to come out on perimeter shots when they are swung around. If you want, you'll see how everyone is constantly swapping with him down low so they can go out and get the pass-arounds instead of him.

I'm not entirely sure it's going to work, but it's pretty provocative. A problem is that perimeter defenders have to sag in order to get the swaps done. I'm more than willing to let them keep working on it, but it's going to take some time. Meanwhile, the two-big lineup with Kornet is working because it's less important for Wembanyama to keep around the lane.
 
In Mitch's defense, his dad was on an NBA championship team and he grew up with one foot in the league. After 4 years at Stanford, he also played in the G-Leaugue and Europe for 3 years before coaching. These types that don't have the size, athleticism and elite skills are perfect for coaching because they had to understand the game and extract every bit of knowledge from situations to compete at all. Other than the insane substitution blitzkrieg he instituted after our roster was close to full, I give him the benefit of the doubt. It will take a few seasons to fully settle in and find your self as a teacher/coach. The growth/improvement of this team is not only due to the roster. Mitch and his Minions have to be credited in part for this team, dare I say, turning the corner.
 
A problem I have with the hire is that if he isn’t a hit, then the FO is going to take about 3-4 years to make the decision to fire him and you essentially wasted Fox’s entire prime while he is on the team.
 
bozhemoi said:
It's a work in progress, hold your horses.

It seems the defense is trying to keep Wembanyama near the lane and this is causing problems on their rotations getting everything right. I'll try to watch this more. In essence, teams want to get Victor to have to come out on perimeter shots when they are swung around. If you want, you'll see how everyone is constantly swapping with him down low so they can go out and get the pass-arounds instead of him.

I'm not entirely sure it's going to work, but it's pretty provocative. A problem is that perimeter defenders have to sag in order to get the swaps done. I'm more than willing to let them keep working on it, but it's going to take some time. Meanwhile, the two-big lineup with Kornet is working because it's less important for Wembanyama to keep around the lane.
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Yes exactly this.

And with Vic not wanting to go out to the perimeter since the defense is designed for him to be in the paint, rotations are being missed and some of the opposing teams shooters are being left wide open.
 
KobesAchilles said:
A problem I have with the hire is that if he isn’t a hit, then the FO is going to take about 3-4 years to make the decision to fire him and you essentially wasted Fox’s entire prime while he is on the team.
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That's the case with any coach they would have hired
 
NASpurs said:
Yes exactly this.

And with Vic not wanting to go out to the perimeter since the defense is designed for him to be in the paint, rotations are being missed and some of the opposing teams shooters are being left wide open.
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Then why is their defense elite with him on the court and worst in the league without him or Kornet on the court?

The issues guarding the perimeter are erased inside by Wemby and reduced by Kornet.
 
wemvp said:
Then why is their defense elite with him on the court and worst in the league without him or Kornet on the court?

The issues guarding the perimeter are erased inside by Wemby and reduced by Kornet.
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Because teams are feasting at the rim when Wemby isn't there and now it's being mitigated by Kornet. When Kornet wasn't there, it was an all-you-can-eat buffet when Biyombo was holding down the fort.

We all see teams getting open 3s even with Wemby there. We cry about it in the game threads.
 
NASpurs said:
Because teams are feasting at the rim when Wemby isn't there and now it's being mitigated by Kornet. When Kornet wasn't there, it was an all-you-can-eat buffet when Biyombo was holding down the fort.

We all see teams getting open 3s even with Wemby there. We cry about it in the game threads.
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Yes, so the Spurs problem isn't Wemby being there it's the perimeter defense is bad whether he is there or not. I think the only reason they give up more 3 looks when he's on the court is because teams just blow by the defense and eat at the rim when he isn't.
 
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