Because that’s who they are. Passing is all about fast decision making. It’s the most difficult part of the game to learn.
The Spurs are 4th in assists, 5th in assist ratio, 3rd in pace, 5th in passes made, 6th in secondary assists, 1st in potential assists. Despite all that, they are 27th in scoring. What does all this tell you?
Two things.
First, they make the right pass, and then miss good quality shots (26th in 3P%, 27th in 20-24 feet, 24th in mid range). The lack of shooting shrinks the floor, that makes interior passing more difficult.
Second, they pass the ball to the wrong person, and then they take a bad shot (poor decision making). The Spurs rank 9th in heavily contested attempts (defender within 2 feet). They also rank 7th in 3PA in tightly contested attempts.
It’s not just Sochan missing Wemby, it’s everyone. Here is an example of a pick and roll with Jones and Wemby from our last game
https://imgur.com/a/OFqIYXj
Wemby draws so much attention, that Sochan is wide open naked in the corner. Jones takes a heavily contested shot (and makes it). All of these young guys are battling for shots. Sochan only took 8 shots all game, Jones only got 6. Good to great is not a thing right now.
What we are seeing right now is very inexperienced basketball. This is not tanking. This is not “they don’t pass to Wemby”. They are all prospects, and half of them won’t pan out. But right now, even the ones that do pan out are down right shit at playing team orientated basketball. Even in a system that clearly encourages passing and team scoring. You can’t just tell people to play “the Spurs way”, they don’t have the skills to do it. The NBA is now a prospect league. You come into the league at 19, and you are forced to learn on the job. Spurs fans need to just accept that, and roll with it.
by wallitron
7 Comments
Exactly! I feel it is so important to understand that. We are experiencing a very young and inexperienced Spurs team, something that we are not used to. Let’s have patience and keep rooting for the guys. Go Spurs Go!
It is everyone!!! Watch the games when Vic don’t play. The only person who can really pass is Collins, bright side is pops make everyone one of his players better playmakers and passers. Look at jac,deboo, dj and white. None of thoses dudes were great passers coming to SA and they only left significantly better at those skills. Same with lockdale and slowmo and drubanks. Shit takes time, your right these dudes don’t know they’re role. They aren’t 10 year vets who understand nba team dynamics and can fit right in. A bunch of them only been in the nba for a year maybe 2. Everyone says “we don’t pass to wemby” I’m more worried about the lackluster passes that happen every night. We need topic bad
Yes we get it we just want the FO to make a change to avoid being a 9-73 team and become a 19-63 team ffs. We understand why their bad, we need changes
There is a difference between being bad at passing and this. It is not hard to get the ball to a 7’4 guy wide open in the paint yet Sochan consistently looks him off to chuck a contested midranger
Same roster as last year. They sucked and picked Wemby in the draft 1st for a reason. Let’s see who the Spurs decide to keep while they pick top 5 again.
It’s not poor passing (not just that at least), it’s the lack of passing. It’s one thing to throw it late, or throw it inaccurately, it’s another thing to just not throw it, ever. They’re not even trying to get the ball to Wemby. We haven’t gotten any better at it all year despite it being the obvious problem since game 1.
Yup , people who don’t understand basketball will just bitch and moan. Don’t let outside noise distract us from watching the growth. It’s going to take time. We have to adjust again because of Vic . It’s going to take almost a full season . Don’t worry we will be fine in my book. We can only go up from here. We are the San Antonio Spurs. Our process is like no other. And if you’re not patient, better get a new hobby.