Wemby Watch: Fire Mitch Johnson, Spurs Trounced By Celtics

It’s a bad sign when you have D’Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama and it looks like your team is at a disadvantage at almost all times.

With the loss to the Celtics, the Spurs are now 4–11 in their last 15 games and 2–3 since landing Fox. This is a team that looked like they were headed to the playoffs before trading for one of the best point guards in the league and now they look just as lost as when Pop was tanking in Victor’s rookie season.

What’s even worse about tonight’s loss — and I didn’t notice until this until the second half — is that the Celtics were without both Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday.

Mitch Johnson

The Spurs need to take control of their head coaching situation. Mitch got off to a nice start, but the Spurs are officially in an extended slump and in serious danger of missing the playoffs.

With the team now taking a significant step backwards, it’s clear that the head coaching spot has become too big for Mitch Johnson.

At this point, I’m all for Gregg Popovich re-joining the team, but given his stroke from early this season, he may not be able to. Either way, the Spurs need some clarity as to who is leading the team.

It’s clearly not Mitch Johnson and if Gregg Popovich is unable to resume head coaching duties, it’s time to install a full-time coach.

There needs to be a sense of urgency in San Antonio. We’re almost two years into Victor Wembanyama’s career with yet another season lost.

Victor Wembanyama

Speaking of Victor, he’s clearly regressed. He was much better as a rookie, when he hadn’t been indoctrinated by the Spurs.

When I first watched Victor, I saw a killer; a Kobe/Michael Jordan type.

Now he plays more like Vlade Divac.

If Victor’s not going to embrace playing dominant basketball, the Spurs are going to need to get another star to contend.

Some Victor notes:

• His conditioning still appears bad. I’m guessing his size might simply limit his ability to go full force for extended minutes.
• He’s very lackadaisical at times. Early on we saw him dribble up the court with zero awareness and Derrick White stole the ball which lead directly to a Jason Tatum three.
• He can also be very lazy. There was one play where Chris Paul got stuck near the free throw line and rather than coming to Chris, Victor drifted deep away from the three point line and called for the ball, presumably so he could chunk a 35 footer.

I still posit that the Spurs were one of the worst teams he could have gone to. I say this in hindsight. I didn’t know it when he was drafted, but looking at him now, he’s not even close to the force he once was.

Game Notes

The Spurs now have the luxury of depth, youth, and athleticism so I don’t know why Mitch Johnson doesn’t max out the defensive pressure and pace more.

The Celtics had the Spurs off balance and guessing all game long. The Spurs were buying on all the pump fakes, closing out horribly, out of position, and couldn’t grab rebounds.

The rebounding was especially bad. The Spurs lost the board battle 56–38.

Last, I absolutely cannot stand listening to Doris Burke. She tries so hard to make everything into a positive that it creates a completely fake and disingenuous dialogue.

The result: We got to hear two hours of why the Celtics are outstanding rather than having an honest accounting of the game.