Wemby Watch: Low IQ, Low Effort Spurs Lose Winnable Game in Memphis

Story of the Game

This was a 100% winnable game. No, it wasn’t as close as the 106–98 final score made it look like but the Grizzlies did about all they could to help the Spurs out and the Spurs still faded away gently into the night.

The Spurs problems were many, but the first quarter looked promising with the Spurs up 23–20 at the end of one. Victor was dominant early on — I thought this might turn into his best game — but an endless cascade of mistakes, turnovers, bad defense, and absentee coaching slowly compounded until the game was out of reach in the third.

The Spurs did have a mini burst in the third, led by two Julian Champagnie threes, to take the lead again, but the Grizzlies easily charged right back.

Victor Stats

20 points, 1 assists, 7 rebounds, 4 block in 26 minutes

8–16 fgs, 2–5 3-point fgs

Quick Thoughts

This team:

• isn’t cohesive
• makes dumb plays constantly
• plays mostly isolation offense
• doesn’t take care of the ball
• can’t shoot
• only plays defense every now and then

I don’t have enough time to relay all of my thoughts from this game, but a lot went wrong.

And what’s worse than just an individual bad game is the Spurs are moving in the wrong direction — they’ve actually regressed from the beginning of the season.

32 games into the season, we should start seeing mistakes being ironed out, chemistry developing, teammates helping teammates, consistent shooting, less unforced errors, etc.

But one game after the Celtics thrashing, the Spurs looked a clueless group of guys in a basketball wasteland.

Where is the team that competed so well against the Mavericks in the season opener?

Where is the team that defeated the Rockets?

Early on against Memphis there were signs of life as Victor singlehandedly took over the game on offense and defense, but that momentum evened out as the game wore on and Victor slowed way down.

Although it’s not as bad as early in the season (including a few games ago), I do have bullet points for several missed passes / non-passes from:

• Jeremy Sochan (multiple misses, at least one looked intentional)
• Keldon Johnson
• Devin Vassell (it looked like an oversight)
• Tre Jones (missed Victor for a wide open dunk)

Victor started this game like he might take over the world. He was playing with authority and dominance against Jaren Jackson Jr. and Bismack Biyombo, giving both Grizzlies big men real problems.

But there were mistakes.

First, his one handed sling pass reappeared and although it didn’t result in anything negative, I absolutely hate that pass. It’s got turnover written all over it.

Also, I’m starting to get the impression that once Wemby feels more confident and more in control, he starts becoming more relaxed and reverting back to the finesse game which means more fadeaways and threes. Currently Victor’s shot is more streaky. While I have no doubt he’ll become a strong shooter, I’d rather not see him turn into a jumpshooter so quickly — this is what defenders want; he can get these shots anytime.

Victor’s threes are shaky at this point — he even hit only backboard on one — so I’d much rather him spend time shooting and working on his form in practice and spend game time figuring out how he’ll get easy buckets in real games.

Another problem is I noticed Victor resorting to scoop shots and pump fakes. What are you doing? You’re the one guy in the league who doesn’t have to be crafty with anything. Just go over the top of the people.

Last note is I liked how Victor didn’t hug any of the Grizzlies and just walked straight to the locker room. He once again looked displeased.

Like I keep writing, the losing, the minutes restrictions, the non-competitiveness, the missed passes — they’re taking a toll and extracting the enthusiasm out of Victor. He’s so positive that he gets up for every game but then disappointment sets in after 80% of the games.

P.S. Ja’s not dunking on Victor, for real. He crossed Victor and got him going the other way, quickly dunked, and Victor stupidly jumped into the frame.

A few notes on the horrible play from the Spurs.

We saw some of the lowest IQ basketball we’ve seen all season.

One ongoing problem is when teammates do pass to Victor, we too often see bad passes that end up as turnovers or lost opportunities.

Another ongoing problem is unforced turnovers. Forced turnovers are bad, but unforced turnovers are self-destructive.

Julian Champagnie, again, threw a pass in the back court that may as well have been a turnover. Incredibly, he did this just last game vs. the Celtics.

This is why “my bads” don’t work. We don’t you need to acknowledge you made a stupid pass, we just saw it. We need you to stop doing it.

With the injury to Malaki Branham early, we saw extended minutes from Blake Wesley. There were positives and there were negatives.

What I liked the most is that he’s trying extra hard. Blake is playing like a guy that needs the money or he’s not eating tonight.

He did make a really stupid foul on a three pointer that led to a 5 point possession for Memphis (flagrant 1 call), but at least he’s giving effort.

One more detractor: he needs to learn how to play with maximum effort while also remaining under control. He’s going 100% speed on every possession which means he’s got reckless tendencies and he’s also missing what’s happening on the court.

If he fancies NBA life, I also recommend he start funneling the ball to Wemby.

Oh, Pop.

He got another callout from an opposing color commentator.

I listened to the Grizzlies broadcast because I didn’t want to listen to paint-drying Matt Bonner and his plain text on Notepad commentary. Brevin Knight did a good job on his call (though he way oversold the Ja dunk).

But of note is Brevin joined a long list of other color analysts who questioned Pop. One of his near quotes I caught was:

“Head scratch for me is why the Spurs took Wembanyama out of the game.”

In the last few minutes of the game, Pop kept taking Victor out and then putting him back in.

I have no idea what mental gymnastics were being played but the in-out sequence for the fourth quarter made no sense and it just came across like Pop doesn’t know himself what he’s doing.

Also, what offense are the Spurs running?

For many possessions, if the Spurs don’t have one player play iso ball, they don’t know what to do.

On one sequence, Victor caught the ball behind the arc, didn’t want to chuck, passed back to someone else (Tre Jones, maybe) and the Spurs completely didn’t have any clue what to do.

While there’s no doubt the players are playing bad, Pop is also contributing little or actively negatively impacting this team and their spirit.

There is zero evidence of a leader on the team.

Pop just looks like a guy who hangs around the team and gets to shuffle back and forth on the sideline.

The most animation he shows is when he eagerly greets the opposing coach after getting his ass kicked.

Speaking of which, Knight also noted how he missed the old Popovich and how he had mellowed out in his old age.

P.S. As much as I loathe Chris Paul as a player, he’d be worth $35 million a year on this team. The Spurs desperately, desperately need a leader who knows the game and would willingly pass to Victor without a court order.

Pre-Game Setup

The Memphis-Spurs matchup is game #33 for the Spurs.

Betting: Spurs +11, Over/Under 235.5

(Guess-Prediction: I’ll take the Spurs and the over.)

Betting Record going into the game 18–19–1.

The Spurs travel to Memphis for this contest.