The case for the Spurs to stay with Tre Jones and Blake Wesley at level guard

It looks like nearly all people believes that, when the NBA Draft is upon us, the San Antonio Spurs must draft one of many high level guards on the board. The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor has had them taking Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard and at present has them choosing Serbia’s Nikola Subject with their first choose and North Carolina’s Elliot Cadeau within the second spherical. Tankathon has them tied to Subject as properly, and ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo give them Kentucky’s different star freshman, Rob Dillingham. It’s not exhausting to see why. The Spurs are the worst crew within the Western Convention and haven’t invested the identical quantity into their level guards that they’ve the opposite 4 positions.

Once you get into it, although, ought to PATFO hand over their draft card to Adam Silver with a type of above names on June 26? Is level guard truly the crew’s largest want this coming offseason? I don’t consider they need to, and I don’t consider it’s. There are lots of extra urgent issues the crew wants to handle when this dismal yr involves an in depth, however level guard shouldn’t be one in every of them. I wrote about this only in the near past to focus on how good the Spurs’ 5 finest gamers have been once they’re on the courtroom collectively. A kind of 5 is Tre Jones, the Spurs’ 24-year-old fourth-year level guard, whom individuals had been clamoring for to turn out to be the starter.

Tre has been a steadying pressure on the spaceship resident alien Victor Wembanyama has been piloting. Nothing highlights that greater than his on/off numbers. The Spurs are 11.4 factors higher when he’s on the courtroom, which is 5 factors higher than Wemby. That’s to not say he’s solely accountable for his numbers being that manner — 1,158 of his 1,934 minutes have been alongside Wemby, and 806 of these have been with Wemby and Devin Vassell. That mixture has a complete +/- of 178. At face worth, the least you possibly can say is that while you pair Tre with the crew’s two finest gamers, the crew succeeds in these minutes.

So if Tre has the beginning PG place locked down, what about drafting or signing any person to again him up? Effectively, that’s the place the dialog about Blake Wesley begins.

The second-year guard entered the yr taking a look at spending one other chunk of time with the Austin Spurs as he continued his growth into an NBA-caliber participant. In truth, earlier than the calendar turned to 2024, Blake appeared in 11 of 32 video games and performed greater than 10 minutes in three of them. Since then, he’s performed in all 44 video games and didn’t crack 10 minutes a mere 5 occasions (two of which he was seconds away from attending to 10 minutes).

Now, Blake’s numbers aren’t going to blow anyone away. In these 44 video games, his averages are 4.6 factors, 1.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 0.5 steals whereas taking pictures 48.8% on 3.6 makes an attempt. His job isn’t to gentle up the scoreboard, although, simply to offer as a lot of what Tre supplies as attainable, and while you break it into per-36 numbers, he usually does simply that (minus his three-point taking pictures woes). Simply take a look at the desk beneath.

Not solely are these numbers comparable, however out of all PGs with no less than 751 minutes performed (Blake clocks in at 745), Tre ranks 1st in defensive matchup issue, eleventh in potential assists per 100 passes, and third in defensive miles per 75 possessions whereas Blake ranks third, twelfth, and 2nd in those self same metrics.

Tre is at present the a lot better participant offensively, and Blake doesn’t have the expertise or calm demeanor that makes Tre the on-court chief he’s. However that’s to not say Blake, who simply turned 21 a number of weeks in the past, received’t get there. Plus, he supplies size and athleticism that Tre doesn’t have. It’s fairly evident that Blake has improved because the yr has progressed, even when there are nonetheless some tough moments. With what we’ve seen, he deserves the prospect to stay as much as being a first-round choose, however the clock is ticking. After subsequent season, the Spurs can resolve whether or not to select up his choice or let him stroll.

It’s exhausting to think about transferring Tre again to the bench after how he’s performed, in addition to giving up on a participant who’s ending his second season and has solely performed 1,414 minutes over 92 profession video games. However roster development is fluid, particularly when a crew is within the place the Spurs discover themselves in, they usually may resolve the most suitable choice out there is to draft, signal, or commerce for a PG. Nevertheless, the belongings they’ve collected can be higher spent on bettering their wing depth, taking pictures, and fixing the opposite (many) woes the crew handled this yr.