SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama is already a team-leading star just 13 games into his rookie season, but he and the Spurs are still struggling to find consistency and wins.
The league's youngest team now sits at 3-10 amid an eight-game losing streak full of blown leads, disappointing defense, sloppy turnovers, and other things that the league's oldest coach isn't stoked about. Frustrated fans understandably hope the worm turns soon, as Coach Pop would say, but these things take time for any new group.
"I always kind of compare it to like instant oatmeal. It is not that fast. It takes a while to get to where you can close your eyes and know exactly where your guys are."
That wasn't Pop, that was LeBron after he joined the Lakers. Food is a good metaphor here, because no matter how good the ingredients are even the best chef can't just throw it in the microwave and create a Michelin-star meal. If you have a reservation at a fancy restaurant for 7, peeking into the kitchen a few hours early might give you insight on how a master chef works, but the food probably isn't going to taste very good yet.
Speaking of new groups, the other team in Los Angeles just added another future Hall of Famer to their team that already had three, and then lost six games in a row. It's championship or bust for the Clippers, who are trying to be the first team ever to make the James Harden experiment work for anything more than moderate regular season success and heaps of drama before an ugly divorce.
As Ty Lue works to solve what he called the biggest challenge of his coaching career, Gregg Popovich is taking his time with his young group. Their next chance to put it all together for 48 minutes comes Monday night at the Frost Bank Center, and anything can happen if they land solid blows against a top-heavy Clippers squad trying to balance themselves.
Pop has leaned into experimentation now more than ever, and the timing makes sense. A game-changing prospect just walked in the door, and there's a realistic hope that in a handful of years he'll be good enough to lead a title run. Before Wemby and the team around him are burdened with great expectations, Pop has embraced the opportunity to tinker, learn, grow, and see how the ingredients could fit together.
Take for example the 20-year-old power forward who Popovich is trying to turn into a point guard. It's trial by fire for Jeremy Sochan, who has taken some lumps as some fans and analysts question Pop's sanity. Why would he try to jam this inexperienced 6'9" square peg into such a important round hole? Why not rely on the steady hand of Tre Jones, or even trade for a proven point with playoff pedigree to help maximize Wembanyama right now?
Consider the start of the previous season for San Antonio. In a rebuilding year where growth was prioritized, Jones and center Jakob Poeltl brought some stability to an exceptionally young roster. They earned the joint nickname of 'training wheels' for this reason. San Antonio traded Poeltl in the middle of the season, adding more draft assets and making things harder for the team while giving a finally-healthy Zach Collins a chance to prove himself as a starter.
Wemby and the Spurs are a kid trying to learn how to ride a bike, and fans understandably hate to see them keep falling down over and over again with the training wheels off. Popovich tells them to rub some dirt on it and try again. Up this hill, down that one, try not to hit anything, remember what we talked about. He knows that mommy won't be there to kiss boo boos in the Tour de France.
San Antonio has been able to play quality defense for stretches and build some huge leads during this losing streak, but they've also found ways to squander them completely every time. Often it's a prolonged stretch where they can't get anything to go on offense, give up easy points in transition and then struggle against a set defense again.
When Jones is on the floor the offense hums along and the Spurs are outscoring opponents by 0.6 points per 100 possessions, which doesn't seem like a lot until you realize the next-highest guy on the team has a net rating of -7.5. When Jones is off the floor the Spurs are outscored by over 20 points per 100 possessions, the worst mark on the team. In the third quarter, San Antonio is being outscored by a whopping 30.1 points per 100 possessions. These numbers aren't perfect and lack context, but they do illustrate what's happening on the court.
Popovich still leans on Jones heavily, especially in key moments of the game. There are times when he runs the point and Sochan slides to his more natural position on the wing where he looks fantastic as a finisher and secondary playmaker. As the only point guard on the floor Jeremy is still very much a work in progress. He takes advantage of mismatches on smaller defenders, but his pick and rolls don't seem to lead anywhere right now and his handle can be predictable, which is a problem as opposing defenses have learned to target him and apply pressure.
As Sochan continues to smooth out his turnovers and expand his court vision he's made a vast improvement as a three-point shooter (42% this year) while Jones, who was never strong in that area, has regressed a bit. Making plays for Wemby is important, but so is spacing the floor around him.
Speaking of which, sharpshooting wing Devin Vassell has been in and out of the lineup with injuries. He came into this season looking like San Antonio's best veteran, and they've missed him on both ends of the floor. Keldon Johnson led the team in scoring last year and is adding 16 points per game this season while shooting 37% from deep, but his scoring hasn't been the most consistent.
Wembanyama is currently leading the Spurs in basically every counting statistic except for assists. Part of that is that the team needs to work on playing out of the many double teams that he draws, another part is that Wemby can be a bit trigger happy at times, especially if he hasn't touched the ball in a few minutes.
Pop is happy to give him the green light as he figures out where his star rookie is most comfortable and effective on the floor. The Hall of Fame coach has spoken several times about not wanting to overcoach the kid just yet, and learning from him is especially important because he brings a combination of size and skill that nobody has ever seen before.
It's a journey of self discovery, worthwhile and potentially life-changing if you can afford to do it. Remember that guy in your high school who took a gap year? Smart and born into generational wealth, he enjoyed the hell out of senior year because he knew there would be a seat waiting for him at an Ivy League institution. With his parents' blessing and financial support he backpacked around the world with a full set of luggage, visiting museums and restaurants and nightclubs while his classmates sat in a 500-person lecture hall for Intro to Intros 101.
It's the kind of thing you can only do if you're young and lucky, before you put down roots and reckon with the reality of adulthood. It's not just about blowing off steam before life forces you to become a provider, it's about exploring the world and yourself when you have the rare chance to do so. There's hope that you'll learn and grow in ways that you never would have otherwise, and that you may never get a chance to again, and that will inform how you move forward.
We're getting a big enough sample size on Wemby to see where he's unstoppable and what needs work. He's unsurprisingly a monster at the rim on both ends, shooting about 75% in the restricted area and blocking 2.6 shots per game. In the most recent loss to the depleted Grizzlies, Wembanyama recorded 8 blocks. He's a monumental lob threat, and more and more his teammates are learning how he changes the very definition of what is and is not a good pass.
Teams who have succeeded in defending him have thrown length and strength at his skinny legs, pushing him further from the hoop and clogging the paint and inviting him to settle for jumpers. He needs to work on taking care of the ball and getting to the cup, but Pop isn't gonna tell him to stop shooting it just because he's 28% from deep. That's about where Kevin Durant was in his first season with the Supersonics, and the ability to dribble into deep shots is what makes both Wemby and KD special players. Honing that skill is worthwhile even if its ugly at times, the same way all these mistakes at point guard will help Sochan be better whatever position he winds up at down the line.
An interesting trend worth noting is that Wembanyama is actually more accurate from deep when he dribbles first. He's at 37.5% on pull-ups from long range and just 24% on catch-and-shoot looks, which are often easier and more open. He's shooting 1.5 threes per game off of passes from Sochan, and somehow hitting just 5% of them. It's a fascinating statistical quirk that should make everyone look better once it normalizes.
Pop started the season playing the 7'4" stud almost exclusively at power forward, but he's experimenting more with putting him out there as a center. Wemby is a devastating help defender who can disrupt passing lanes and destroy or otherwise deter drivers, but putting him at the five allows him to blow up many of the opponents' screening actions at the point of attack. It's easy to see the potential with Sochan, who is one of the only point guards in the league with the size and strength to switch onto centers without giving up easy points in the paint.
Collins has been fairly productive as the starting center, scoring down low and distributing the ball. The three-point shots, most of them open catch-and-shoot looks, haven't been falling for him. Perhaps more concerning is the way other teams are targeting the big man in pick and rolls. The pairing of Collins and Wemby in the frontcourt works and will be necessary against the two teams with MVP-caliber centers who can bulldoze just about anyone in the post, but expect Pop to continue trying these "small" lineups with a 6'9" point guard and a 7'4" center.
San Antonio isn't in a rush to make roster changes, but the roster will certainly change in the years between now and the next time they advance in the playoffs. This season isn't just about winning as much as possible and maximizing Wembanyama, it's about maximizing everyone else too and seeing how they could fit into that fruitful future.
As for the immediate future, they're going to get two chances at home against a Clippers team that destroyed them by 40 in LA this season. But that was before they made the blockbuster trade to bring in Harden, and those four future Hall of Famers played some of the ugliest professional basketball you could hope to see en route to six losses in a row. Russell Westbrook moved to the bench and they managed to beat the Rockets, but this title contender is still trying to figure out how the pieces fit together.
Will the Clippers' talent and experience win the day, or will the Spurs lean on young legs and consistent effort for a win that could be a turning point in their season? The game tips off at 7 p.m. on KENS 5.