Wemby Watch: Victor Disappears vs. Nuggets on His Birthday; Jokic Crystal Clear #1

Just one quick bullet point from my notes:

“Can’t disappear for stretches.”

I’m starting to partially come around on the more threes (although not the pull up from nearly half court tonight — that was just stupid). And I get finding the open man. But you can’t become JAG (just another guy) on offense. You’re 7'5" with unlimited powers. You have to go fight for inside points.

Part of this is on Mitch Johnson for not pushing the Spurs offense. When they’re in transition, they excel — and this is where Wemby has the best chance to get easy buckets. Why the Spurs continually plod up the court, I do not know.

But most of this is on Victor. He still shies away from forcing the issue near the basket. What he neglects to realize is this is the final frontier. Once he applies more pressure inside, he’ll realize that opponents cannot stop him.

So yes, keep finding teammates with great passes, but he must also be established as the dominant presence. Kind of like Nikola Jokic did tonight: 19–35 for 46 points. Jokic doesn’t mind passing — in fact, it seems to be his preference — but you’ll never forget that if you don’t double team him, he will burn you.

With Victor, there’s a great chance he’ll let you off the hook by shooting a 30-footer or being too unselfish. Victor finished tonight 7–19 and 2–12 from three for only 20 points while Jokic had a free-for-all.

Oh, and one more thing: Victor is unbelievably careless with the ball at times. He threw in another 4 turnovers tonight.

After this two-game showdown, it’s clear Jokic is still far, far ahead as the league’s #1 player. But the Spurs might be the better team. They handed over tonight’s game after winning last night.

One former player I’d like to see Victor consult with: Tim Duncan.