Welcome to Pounding the Rock’s 2024-25 participant opinions! The collection will take a look at the gamers who completed the season with the San Antonio Spurs on assured contracts and who performed consequential minutes and/or a significant position (so no two-way gamers as a result of we hardly noticed them this yr, and no gamers who had been traded away).
Keldon Johnson
2024-25 stats: 12.7 factors, 4.8 rebounds. 1.6 assists, 48.2 FG%
Contract Standing: 2 years, $35 million remaining
Age: 25
At first look, Keldon Johnson’s stats for this season don’t look spectacular. In truth, they appear downright measly in comparison with current seasons and extra on par with 2020-21, which was simply his second season within the NBA, his first with a real position, and he spent most of it because the third or fourth choice in a beginning lineup that additionally featured DeMar DeRozan, Dejounte Murray and LaMarcus Aldridge. In the event you simply take a look at his numbers however didn’t really watch the Spurs this season, you’d most likely say one thing like this:
Nevertheless, should you did watch (and paid consideration), you’d know these numbers on their very own are deceptive. Maybe some individuals anticipate Johnson to be the 2022-23 model of himself, when he was a starter and the workforce’s main scorer within the “Tank for Wemby” season, however that’s not the position that’s being requested of him anymore. For the primary time in his profession, he didn’t begin a single recreation. As a substitute, he willingly got here off the bench, posting his lowest complete minutes (and minutes per recreation at simply 23.9) since his rookie season regardless of enjoying in a career-high 77 video games.
With that in thoughts, should you confer with his per 36 minutes stats for this season, they’re completely in step with his typical output when he was starter at 19.2 factors, 7.3 rebounds and a pair of.3 assists. Exterior of his rookie season (when he solely performed in 17 video games and burst onto the scene within the Orlando Bubble), he hit a career-high 48.2% from the sector and by far his greatest from contained in the arc at 57.3%, all whereas doing what he does greatest: play with coronary heart and hustle whereas utilizing his massive physique to crash into the paint.
After all, none of that is to say he had an ideal season. He shot a career-worst 31.8% from three, and he was nonetheless susceptible to some dry stretches, generally going every week or so at a time with out a double-digit scoring recreation. However general, he was a really stable sixth man and truly broke Manu Ginobili’s franchise document of 927 factors off the bench from his Sixth Man of the 12 months award-winning season in 2007-08. In truth, Johnson was the third main scorer off the bench in your entire NBA this season, and if the Spurs had a profitable document, he might have really been thought-about for the award. This wasn’t his greatest season ever, however it actually wasn’t the unhealthy one stat watchers would have you ever imagine.
Trying forward
Keldon stays on a particularly team-friendly deal that appears higher and higher every year because it decreases whereas the cap will increase (and it’ll once more). Whereas he’s nonetheless one of many Spurs’ greatest bargaining chips in the event that they revisit the commerce market, they most likely gained’t be actively procuring him until the objective is so as to add one other celebrity (as Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo rumors warmth up — not that there’s any assure the Spurs will mortgage most of their younger core for them).
That being mentioned, so long as he’s nonetheless a Spur, Johnson can most likely anticipate the same position going ahead, and he’ll possible proceed to embrace it. He’s their longest tenured participant and the guts and soul of the locker room. His power is contagious, and his teammates love him. I at all times assume again to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics when individuals mocked his inclusion on Group USA, referring to it as nepotism on Gregg Popovich’s half, however Draymond Inexperienced got here to his protection, stating how essential his enthusiasm and jovial character was to the workforce throughout such attempting, lonely instances. (As a reminder, that was additionally a bubble, and the workforce solely had one another.)
Per traditional, there are areas Keldon can enhance, comparable to consistency and his three-point shot. (I personally surprise if he had some mechanics tweaked this season, as he shot fewer of his signature “rainbow” threes that would depart the TV display earlier than coming again down.) However anybody who undervalues what he brings to the workforce underestimates what having a united locker room means. He’s removed from one of the best or most proficient participant on this roster, however he’s simply as essential to the tradition of the workforce as anybody. Name me a Keldon Stan, but when he ever does go away the Spurs, he’ll be getting a “thanks” article from yours really.
Prime Efficiency
February 21 vs. Detroit Pistons: 28 factors, 11-13 taking pictures, 4 rebounds, 5 assists
Last Grade: B
Up subsequent: Harrison Barnes
Earlier Opinions:
Bismack Biyombo, Charles Bassey, Malaki Branham
Blake Wesley
Sandro Mamukelashvili
De’Aaron Fox
Julian Champagnie
Jeremy Sochan
