What We Learned from the Spurs' Loss to the Jazz

11/10/2024 12:07 PM

The Spurs fail to get an edge over the tanking Utah Jazz on home court. 

If you were to put NBA fans into tiers in terms of their interest in individual awards from extremely interested, kinda indifferent to completely oblivious, you'd probably have to create an extra tier for me – the "Why not abolish individual awards?" tier.

I just have never heard one reasonable explanation how individual awards make a team sport better. They don't mean much in terms of winning a championship. They might rather have a tendency to distort perception.

Among the most recent ten NBA MVPs only one has managed to lead his team to a championship the year they won MVP – Stephen Curry in 2015. No one has done that ever since. Some played for MVP rather than to win a championship – Westbrook and Harden spring to mind. And both Giannis and Jokic won their ring in the season after their MVP steaks snapped.

There's one thing that the MVP and the other awards help. They're effective marketing tool, and not just in the sense of the guys who win them. A significant portion of NBA coverage is dedicated to these awards. Even the nerdiest of NBA content creators won't do without "Monthly Awards Updates". Probably because even the nerdiest of NBA content consumers deeply care about the awards and the strange discussions around them. I just don't.

This year, my dismay at individual awards had popped up even before the start of the season. Wemby was penciled in as DPOY, the only thing that stood between him and also winning MIP was the notion the award maybe shouldn't go to second-year players. Some even saw him in the MVP conversation, in case the Spurs somehow can make the playoffs.

Ten games into the season, reality has caught up with the expectations many, including probably himself, put on Wemby. But at least he had an encouraging game in the home loss to the Utah Jazz. Or did he?

Takeaways

• Whether or not the MIP award should go to a blue chipper in his second year is currently irrelevant when it comes Wemby. The reason is sad but simple: So far, there's regression rather than improvement – down four percentage points in field goal percentage, down five percentage points in three-point percentage, down even in field goal attempts per game, and the less said about his assist-to-turnover ratio the better. The main problem with Wemby is that the Spurs allow him to apply himself mostly as a wing player on offense. Let's not kid ourselves here, that's what 29 teams in the league want him to do.
• Though Wemby's performance from last night looked better on the stat sheet, it wasn't really that different from what we had seen in the games before. It's just that an unsustainable number of his shots from deep went in. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to beat the Western Conference bottom dwellers. Wemby needs to understand he's not the second coming of Kevin Durant. He needs to understand he's got a point guard next to him now who turned rim-runs-only DeAndre Jordan into a Allstar. Wemby and the Spurs aren't taking nearly enough advantage of that opportunity.
• On the defensive end, Wemby is going to win the MIP award if nothing unforeseen happens. Seven blocked shots isn't something that's supposed to happen in a game that's more spread out than ever before. It is absolutely ridiculous what Wemby does and will continue to do as a rim protector. But, honestly, how much value is left from his otherworldly defense when for every blocked shot there's a turnover – seven for six last night, and four for 3.7 on the season.
• On a more positive note, Devin Vassell returned, scoring a point a minute in 21 full minutes of play, underlining that his self-creation capabilities are quite clearly the most advanced of any player on the roster. No one else brings to the team what he does, and what he brings is hard to replace. Whether he can become a better defender and more consistent this year remains to be seen, but his comeback performance was excellent, period.
• Stephon Castle had a bit of a breakout, scoring 23 points with good efficiency in 35 minutes. He made as many threes last night as in his NBA career up to that point. Shooting appears to be his only major weakness so far, but I trust him to get better. He strikes me as a serious basketball player, a no-nonsense guy. I'm not sure he has an outstanding skill on offense, but the fact that he's able to get to the basket (and to the line) despite being particularly skilled as a handler nor particularly quick I find remarkable. Let me put it this way: He plays with great composure.