Player The Refurbished Budget Wine Cellar of Julian Champagnie

[couchman]

Champ really struggled when he came off the bench last year. I hope tonight was just a weird blip because he will continue to come off the bench. He was wide open on some of those 3s he bricked tonight. By far his worst game of the season so far.

 

[SpursFan86]

Champagnie is a fine player, especially for his contract. He really shouldn’t be a huge part of the rotation though tbh…on a contender he’s a 10-15 mpg guy, not a 25-30 mpg one.

 

[PanameSpur]

How the size of a contract influence judgment ...

He makes us forget his low IQ with occasional great games, he should never be given the ball on transition, just catch and shoot.

It should be a key rule in the locker room.

 

[scott]

Champagnie is a fine player, especially for his contract. He really shouldn’t be a huge part of the rotation though tbh…on a contender he’s a 10-15 mpg guy, not a 25-30 mpg one.

He actually played fine on offense tonight, his shot just wasn't falling. He took the shoots he's supposed to take, he just missed them all. Every player has bad shooting nights, the fact that Champ has so many of them is why he's a role player on a bargain contract. Teams need those guys too, we just can't over-rely on them. He did contribute 3 steals tonight, but he was also part of giving up way too many wide open 3s.

 

[Em-City]

Danny Green vibes, minus the elite (but tolerable) defense ?

 

[Em-City]

Champagnie is a fine player, especially for his contract. He really shouldn’t be a huge part of the rotation though tbh…on a contender he’s a 10-15 mpg guy, not a 25-30 mpg one.

He's a 10-15 min guy on a healthy Spurs squad too.. but obviously gets more minutes where there are injuries to our guards and wings.

If harper wasn't out he might even be a dnp-cd

 

[spursparker9]

He real role is his 'passive skill' effect to space the floor tbh

Hitting shots is a bonus. Avoiding his patented step out of bound in the corner and getting stripped while in transition would be great as well

 

[SpursFan86]

He actually played fine on offense tonight, his shot just wasn't falling. He took the shoots he's supposed to take, he just missed them all. Every player has bad shooting nights, the fact that Champ has so many of them is why he's a role player on a bargain contract. Teams need those guys too, we just can't over-rely on them. He did contribute 3 steals tonight, but he was also part of giving up way too many wide open 3s.

Yeah, I guess my point is that if we’re counting on him to play 25+ mpg a night (currently at 29 mpg this season) then that most likely means we’re over-relying on him. I like Champagnie and think he’s a great 9th or 10th man for his contract.

Obviously injuries have probably been part of the reason he’s playing the amount of minutes he has so far, and if we made the playoffs the rotation naturally shortens anyways…but really I think the story is that we’re still missing a solid 3&D wing who is capable of playing 25-30 mpg. I don’t think Champagnie is that guy (which isn’t an indictment, again you can’t really ask for more from a guy making $3MM/year).

 

[inagra]

How many times has he stepped out of bounds in the corner? I personally have seen 4 this season.

 

[Correct Crusader]

How many times has he stepped out of bounds in the corner? I personally have seen 4 this season.

Been one of his calling cards his entire career unfort. Maybe one day that brain worm will leave him

 

[Correct Crusader]

https://imgur.com/fubrXaH

 

[spurraider21]

his man to man defense reminds me of a perimeter zach collins. like, he's not doing anything egregiously bad. he just cant quite seem to do enough, gets a sybmolic hand/contest up, but doesnt reallly affect shots.

they had him on curry quite a bit in the 2nd half and it was tough to watch

 

[RC_Drunkford]

He's not a defensive stopper. He plays solid defense, but won't stop anybody from scoring. At least he rebounds well.

 

[Shmurs]

I don’t think anybody would have a lot of trust in Champ in a big playoff moment. He might shoot a 3 on his own hoop by accident if he’s ever in a game 7.

 

[ginobilized]

Champagnie, Barnes, Sochan and Vassell are the next players to upgrade when we take another step toward true contention for championships. JC is tough to argue with at $3 million/year. He's outplaying that contract, but I don't think the Spurs offer him another one.My hope is that Sweeney can get more out of him defensively this season and maybe he becomes part of the longer term picture.

 

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1989409749004333504

 

[spurraider21]

ill go ahead and give juju his flowers too. ive always liked him and know he represents a big value contract for us, but ive generally kinda been lower than consensus on him here. i always thought his shooting was more "league average" and less "specialist"... and while some people here have thrown a 3&D label on him, i dont really think hes a good defender, particularly his man to man defense.

but, at least with respect to the shooting, ive definitely seen a leap from him. not really in terms of pure efficiency, he's at 37.8% on this season which isnt far off from his career average of 37.2%. but the quality of his 3pt shot has been the most encouraging thing ive seen. the amount of 3's ive seen him take off of movement this year really dwarfs whatever weve seen in years past from him. not just simple things like relocating after a pump, but seen him shoot off of dribble handoffs, and even seeing him curl around screens for quick catch-and-shoots. this hasnt really been a big part of his game before, he was largely a stationary shooter. makes him much harder to defend and gives the offense a more consistent release valve.

for instance, this was his career high performance last year. basically all of his 3 point shots here were of the pretty simple catch and shoot variety

night and day from what ive seen from him lately. yesterday's highlights caught both of his 3 point makes at 1:30, 7:32. its a trend ive been noticing with him this year

 

[O_V]

That dunk. Holy fuck.

 

[O_V]

His dunk was number one on NBA top plays.

 

[bozhemoi]

JC is a smart basketball player who isn't a pure sniper, in my opinion, and giving him a chance to make decisions in a flowing offense brings out his best. Obviously think he ceilings out as a good role-player, but he has good stuff to offer.

 

[O_V]

Julian is still younger than LDN was when he became a starter. I love his progress.

 

[Ice009]

If he can start hitting 3s in games that matter on the road, then that'd be awesome to see (both for him and the team). Really played a great game last game. It was absolutely needed with the Spurs being shorthanded, so props to him.

 

[spurraider21]

he made a couple of really nice passes yesterday. hit each of Barnes and Sochan on slip screens for easy dunks

there was a stretch where they ran the same two man handoff action between Julian and Sochan several consecutive times in the 4th. first one julian hits a 3, second one he drove for the dunk, third one is where he dropped it off to sochan for a dunk

 

[O_V]

he made a couple of really nice passes yesterday. hit each of Barnes and Sochan on slip screens for easy dunks

there was a stretch where they ran the same two man handoff action between Julian and Sochan several consecutive times in the 4th. first one julian hits a 3, second one he drove for the dunk, third one is where he dropped it off to sochan for a dunk

Oh yeah, that little drop pass was brilliant.

 

[Em-City]

Two big takeaways from the Atlanta game (although saw some signs vs Kings too) is the step-in and side-step 3 instead of just catch& shoot opportunities, combined with more posts as connector, passing to the rolling big.

These extra dimensions make Champ more of a threat when the shot hasn't fallen or the ball hasn't found its way around to him.

I'm hoping that this kind of varied offense is going to continue when the other guys are back, because there's still a lot to unlock from the San Antonio wing play to maximise possessions