Welcome to the Week in Evaluation: a Monday characteristic that appears again on the week that was for the San Antonio Spurs, takes a take a look at the week forward, and extra. Get pleasure from!
Week 21: The Spurs ended the week with an exciting OT win towards the Nets in Austin, however solely after a few letdown losses to the slumping Warriors, rising Rockets, and defending champion Nuggets.
Week 22: 0-3 (15-56, fifteenth in West)
107-113 loss vs. Dallas Mavericks
Recap: Regardless of an off night time from Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs used a balanced workforce effort to present the Mavs all they may deal with earlier than falling quick within the clutch and failing to reap the benefits of a uncommon dangerous capturing night time from Luka Doncic.
What we discovered
97-99 loss vs. Memphis Grizzlies
Recap: In a case of deja vu from November, the Spurs blew a double-digit lead and fell at residence to a skeleton crew Grizzlies workforce, who, similar to final time, had been led again by Jaren Jackson Jr.
What we discovered
106-131 loss vs. Phoenix Suns
Recap: The Spurs offense continued to be a no-show as they had been blown out in a wire-to-wire loss to the Suns thanks partially to a scorching scorching capturing night time from Devin Booker.
What we discovered
In case you missed it
Energy Rankings
John Schuhmann, NBA.com — 26 (final week: 25)
OffRtg: 109.4 (27) DefRtg: 116.8 (22) NetRtg: -7.4 (26) Tempo: 101.9 (3)
Victor Wembanyama continues to play effectively, and the Spurs proceed to get clobbered when he’s not on the ground. They’re 1-6 on their eight-game homestand and are nearly assuredly going to complete with the worst document in franchise historical past (the mark is 20-62 from 1996-97).
Three numbers on the Spurs’ offense
1. The Spurs are considered one of two groups — the Hornets are the opposite — that rank within the backside 10 in every of the 4 elements on offense: efficient subject purpose share, free-throw fee, turnover ratio and offensive rebounding share.
2. They’re considered one of 4 groups that rank within the prime six in each ball motion (349 passes per 24 minutes of possession, sixth) and participant motion (12.3 miles traveled per 24 minutes of possession, second). They’ve recorded assists on 70.8% of their subject targets, which might be the very best fee for any workforce within the final 20 seasons.
3. They ranked twenty ninth offensively (107.1 factors scored per 100 possessions) earlier than Tre Jones was moved into the beginning lineup (Jan. 4), however rank twenty second (111.4 scored per 100) since then. Total, they’ve scored 6.9 extra factors per 100 possessions with Jones on the ground (111.3) than they’ve with him off the ground (104.4).
The Spurs want 5 wins of their ultimate 11 video games to keep away from ending with the worst document in franchise historical past. Eight of these 11 are towards groups with profitable information, with the Spurs presently 7-38 towards that group.
Brett Siegel, Clutch Factors — 27 (final week: 26)
The way forward for the San Antonio Spurs depends upon what they’re able to do that offseason. Can the Spurs land an All-Star expertise to pair with Victor Wembanyama transferring ahead?
As of proper now, the Spurs are younger and don’t have sufficient firepower to be threats within the West. Nearly as good as Wemby is, he alone just isn’t going to have the ability to compete towards the perfect of the perfect on this convention. In any case, there are groups effectively forward of them within the NBA Energy Rankings who’re over 10 video games from a .500 document, but they discover themselves within the play-in area of the West standings.
Count on San Antonio to make some vital roster modifications within the offseason to attempt to win proper now with Wembanyama.
Developing: Mon. 3/25 vs. Phoenix Suns; Wed. 3/27 @ Utah Jazz; Fri 3/29 vs. New York Knicks; Solar. 3/31 vs. Golden State Warriors
Prediction: 1-3 — Whereas its uncommon that miniseries are swept, particularly at by the street workforce, I think about the Suns are out to return the favor from early within the season, and it received’t assist that Wemby is out. The Jazz and Knicks may also be robust matchups, however the Warriors are ripe for the taking, particularly at residence. (Though, how badly do we wish the Spurs to maintain serving to the Rockets’ surge into the play-in? Hmm…)
