I'm off the next couple weeks on injury from work. So I'm down to put some thoughts in if you were down to put some in as well.
I want to get some timvp thoughts on what's the answer here. I know it's early. I know we need patience, but what do we do about this roster? What do we do about this point guard who is not a point guard? What do we do about the rest of these players? Is it more about us just waiting out the season and seeing how it goes and then possibly subtracting and adding players. This roster is actually worth keeping? I want to pick your brain brother. Let's have it. I'll bring some old school thoughts of my own.
I'm off the next couple weeks on injury from work. So I'm down to put some thoughts in if you were down to put some in as well.
As for me, I plan on doing some individual breakdowns of players thus far in this season and posting them here. Looking for good discussion from some of my old school posters.
they drafted wemby and otherwise brought back the roster they just tanked with. its been apparent this is a "lets see what we have" year.
there will be some games where victor overwhelms. there will be games when our team is overwhelmed. but this isnt going to be a team that plays with the consistency needed to make a playoff push
it feels really weird to put the team in any kind of box because you never know which nights the Wemby volcano will erupt. if you call the team trash, you'll look stupid when we put the tubes to phoenix and them hold off a comeback. but if you say this team is ready for the next step, you'll look stupid when we lose by 40 to the pacers
missing vassell hurts the consistency somewhat, but he's not a guy who really controls the game
It's another stealth tank tbh. If Wemby drags this roster to the postseason, cool, but PATFO are seeing who is worth keeping, who can be packaged for a player/asset, and who should be outright cut. That being said, Pop isn't doing anyone any favors with his coaching this season.
I will go ahead and start with the obvious one.
Jeremy Sochan - PG
I am not truly sure what led to this experiment, but here we are. All teams look back at the picks they made and realize it was a mistake to take a player as high as they did. This one is no exception. Now that said...this does not mean Sochan has no value. I honestly feel like if he was put at a different role he could excel. His passing is not PG level passing, but he has the ability to be an above average passer if put in the right situation. Right now he has been put in a place to fail. Fans have turned on him and for good reason. Putting him at PG takes away most of his natural fluidity as a player. He'd be much better served moving and roaming through the offense then trying to set up the offense. Setting up Wemby becomes easier if a guy like Sochan is moving around off the ball...as he is not near the ball hog some of these current players are on offense.
I see people saying Sochan has no redeemable skills. I personally don't believe that. I think the skills he has have been muted by his role and if he were able to be put in a role that was more in line with what he can bring to the table he could be a decent role player. He should be more of a passing forward...in the mold of Draymond Green...but obviously not that prolific. This will set him up for opportunities at the rim as well. It remains to be seen if the Spurs can find a way to utilize his value...or keep playing him out of position and watching him walk or trading him.
I'm going to have a little bit of patience and hold judgment on Pop. I know I've gotten emotional and had my " Pop" moments...as we all will...but we will give it time and see if he is just holding his cards and waiting on the roster to show him what he needs to see.
Still like Sochan myself and think he'll be a long-term piece. This experiment with him at PG needs to end, however. Just gonna have to bite the bullet on who gets benched between him and Keldon.
I’m a sochan defender (moreso the re ed “he’s jealous of Wemby and doesn’t want to share the ball” nonsense but I agree with all of this. Pretty frustrating that pop has put him in a position to fail just because we don’t have any starting PG. sochan was solid last year too
Who are you even tanking for this year though?
Tanking for a kid that will need a lot of time to develop is really smart.
Wemby must love the idea to compete in 4-5 years
Sochan's 8 game post-all star stretch was very promising, averaging 16.9ppg, 7.4rpg, 2.5apg (this includes an 8 minute injury game - team record 4-4) and I was hoping for bigger and better things for him this year.
Obviously the Wemby/PG situations have altered his path substantially.
I am not totally against the PG experiment, as the aim is to have our best 5 players on the court. But I can't understand why he can't ease into the position by still getting reps off ball at the forward positions.
Instead of the first sub being only Osman for Wemby, maybe Tre comes on here too and Sochan slides to the four. It would help maintain his confidence as his PG skills build.
There are three or four pgs in this year's draft who will be better than what the Spurs currently have from year one.
That's how the Spurs won all those Champions we not the Flakers we are not a free agency destination
It's a pretty stacked PG draft tbh. Spurs won't be bad enough to get the top two with their own pick but if they like either enough they can easily put together a package to get them.
Just like this year's draft?
Next year's draft is better.
I meant the Spurs trading up
Agree, Spurs are not proactive on draft day trading up. There were possibilities like going after Duren the year before.
Sadly, I'm starting to think this may be the case. And I say "sadly" because I enjoy watching the Spurs win games.
But IMO...Sochan at point guard just isn't working. He just looks out of place, and it causes the entire offense to suffer. Even worse, he gets frustrated and then his defense seems to regress.
If Parker was the engine that made the Spurs go, he was a Ferrari and Sochan is a Kia.
Obviously that could change as he learns and gets used to the position, but early returns just aren't good. It's also giving Sochan a chance to develop passing and play-making in ways that he might not normally get just playing as a forward, and that should pay dividends in the future.
What it does ensure is that the Spurs won't win TOO MANY games, and there is no denying adding another lottery pick to this group would be helpful.
If there IS a proper combination to put on the floor and the team plays up to its potential...their ceiling is probably still play-in team or first-round exit...so as nice as it would be to get back to the playoffs, that doesn't do much for the future other than building confidence.
Last edited by Dex; 11-08-2023 at 09:11 AM.
To expect Sochan to even be in spitting distance of HOFer Tony Parker is ridiculous. , Tony Parker didn't start looking like an All Star until like season 4 or 5.
Season has gone as expected so far tbh.
I'm not suggesting Sochan should be Tony Parker in year 2. I'm just making the comparison between someone who ran a beautiful offense (in his later years), and someone who is still trying to figure out how an offense runs.
I'd love to see Sochan develop some point-forward skills like we had with Bobo, but even Diaw never ran point full time for the Spurs.
I feel like it's becoming a square peg / round hole situation here...but hey, Pop has obviously decided to see if the kid will sink or swim.
my expectations have never been all that high for this season. i want Wemby to develop and hold off amish teen wolf giant Holmgrem from ROTY, for Devin to make his mark as a reliable scorer and defender. if keldon can somehow show us more this season, even better.
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