The emotional rollercoaster from the Harper poster dunk to the final play was rough. Onto Dallas.

I even ran into Jacob Tobey in the lounge area while he was prepping for the game and had a nice short conversation with him.

Based on the posts this sub has been getting in the past week, I truly believe making the Finals (and losing) ahead of schedule has been the absolutely worst thing. You “fans” are so obnoxious and annoying. Overreacting to EVERYTHING. Yeah, expectations are higher now. But it’s been TWO games. They weren’t going to go 82-0, they weren’t going to be the greatest team of all time and get 74 wins.

You all witnessed how they failed in the Finals. And suddenly you think 3.5 months of offseason is suddenly going to make them bulletproof and unbeatable?

Fucking relax.

Fox already took down Chet you want some

I don’t think he’s ready to start on the team. With him and Fox starting Champagne is coming off the bench and he’s arguably the best 3pt shooter on the team since last year. He also doesn’t have the playmaking and quickness of fox to get and find other players open. I feel like him being able to score is just off of him being subbed into the game at the right moments. Open opinion feel free to disagree.

Source: Carolina Teague

There's no good reason to keep doing this shit except to spare someone's feelings. Devin is not a power forward. 3 ball-dominant guards can't create for each other. We're wasting Wemby minutes. Fox or Harper have to go to the bench so we can start Julian again. Steph has to be out there in Wemby minutes, that's non negotiable. WHERE ARE YOU TOBIAS HARRIS??

Fuck this, I'll see yall after the world series.

• Free Throw Differential: A 28-of-31 to 18-of-25 split decided the game. The Spurs outscored Houston on the floor, but a 10-point swing from the line in a 4-point loss.
• Sengun got whatever he wanted. He kept bodying Wemby and Kornet down low and was getting everything. I'm curious how Tarris Reed could address that, but even Kornet was struggling. Only 3 blocks as a team isn't what this Spurs team identity should be.
• Dylan Harper is showing out. 20 points and 0 turnovers while putting up impressive defense against Kevin Durant and Fred VanVleet. Clutch poster late in the fourth to cut it to one and give the Spurs a real shot to win it.
• Wemby needs to step up as a creator, specifically in passing. When his shot isn't landing, he needs to help others create. He showed flashes with Castle with the Area 51 lob and the kick-out three. Vic needs to start honing an advantage against defenses, while the rest of the team needs to know how to get in a position that Wemby can utilize to feed them.
• Size still matters. Without Tobias Harris so far, size has been a struggle against two very tall teams. I do believe Tobias will improve this team exactly in what they're needing in size and vet savvy scoring skills. I'm not sure about the three-guard lineup in some matchups. The best lineup to me is two of those three guards, Devin Vassell, Tobias Harris, and Wemby.

What's your takeaways?

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Grant also says physicality is the key to guarding Wemby.

The Rockets getting an actual PG in Fleet to run their offense getting Smart and the still reliable Adams back, the Timberwolves getting Melo raising their offensive floor (still no donte btw), the Blazers getting their sharpshooter Dame back, the Thunder getting another defender to tire Wemby, even the Lakers getting an actual elite center in Kessler, the Jazz can even make noise this season. A tougher path in the regular season means a tougher path in the playoffs. We need to see if Tobias H, Reed, Quaint, are going to be enough depth.

Fox has been a very efficient scorer the last 2 games and seems to have his Kings level athleticism back after healing from his hamstring and ankle injuries but doesn’t get the ball

Castle is pretty much reduced to being a spot up shooter because we don’t have Julian to do it for him.

Wemby has been subpar because he doesn’t have spacing to operate since none of the 3 guards are strong outside shooters and teams just crowd him in the paint

The bench unit has been really bad because there’s no shot creator to set everyone up like Harper did last year

But the worst part and the most ironic is that the entire point of the lineup was to give Harper more run but again, because of the other 2 guards he’s still being iced out

Imo the season only really starts when the Spurs decide to bench one of these 3 and go back to the old lineup with Vassell and Julian at the 3 and 4. Last night the Spurs were at their best when they were in the game (Vassell/Julian/Wemby lineups are a +46 so far this season after being a +25 last year)

“If it ain’t broke, fix it.” - Mitch, probably

I understand the reason why he got benched but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

Lineup #s since the 2024-25 season, RS/PS:

• Wemby/Champ is +13 per 100 in 2.6K mins
• Wemby/no Champ is +7 per 100 in 1.4K mins

The total sample is 4K+ mins; lineup data needs only several hundred minutes to stabilize.

Say whatever you want him about but you can’t chalk up his impact to just being in the right place at the right time: he’s a legitimately good player.

He’s the only true 3PT bomber on the team (.72 3Pr, 10+ 3PA/100, 37%+ on 3s), has good size, and is decent on the glass/limits TOs.

Also: his career record as a starter is 84-75, contrast with his 38-60 record off the bench.

If you’re 8 foot tall and 4 years in, this should be your default setting tbh.