点击查看原文：Beating expectations and the Thunder
Beating expectations and the Thunder
Columnist Mike Finger and beat reporters Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn discuss if the Spurs can knock off the Thunder again and how expectations have changed for the team already this season.
Suggested reading:
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Will Spurs trade Jeremy Sochan? ‘It’s impossible not to think about’
3 Takeaways as Spurs fall in Wembanyama’s starting return
Here is the transcript of the podcast:
Mike Finger: From a highly secured network of top secret locations across the central time zone, this is the Spurs Insider. I am Mike Finger, joined as always by Express News Spurs beat writers Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn.
And at the risk of divulging Jeff’s secret location and at the risk of making this podcast obsolete by the time a lot of you listen to it on Wednesday morning, Jeff’s location is pretty close to a group of people and an opponent that has been the cure for what ails the Spurs so far this year. Will that continue? We’ll find out on Tuesday night.
But for the state of the Spurs, let’s go to Jeff McDonald. What’s going on?
Jeff McDonald: I thought that was a very enthusiastic intro. That was nice. I liked it. You do well right before we go on, you sound like you just woke up, and as soon as you hit 3, 2, 1, you’re automatically ready to go.
Mike Finger: I’m a professional, Jeff.
Jeff McDonald: There’s no— there’s no warm up. He’s a gamer. There’s no warm ups. You know, even Pavarotti’s got to warm up in a dressing room. None of that. You just go right into it. It’s great.
Mike Finger: I appreciate being appreciated.
Um, are are you in a city that’s going to cure what ails the Spurs? Are they going to be able to just turn it on like the host of the Spurs Insider podcast turns it on whenever the lights are bright, whenever the people are listening and watching? Are they going to be able to match my example, Jeff, against the Oklahoma City Thunder?
Jeff McDonald: I was gonna say, we could stop being cryptic. I’m here in Oklahoma City for the game that’s going to occur tonight. Um, this is Tuesday morning, so a lot of this will be obsolete. I just want to point out, every single prediction I’ve made in the Oklahoma City Spurs uh uh series so far has been wrong. I’m 0 for three in the way that the Spurs are three and 0. So, but uh, yeah, I don’t I don’t think they’re going to win tonight. So, I’ll put that on record now and and by the time people hear hear this, um, you know, they’ll they’ll know whether I was right or wrong.
Mike Finger: The hardcore fans listen on Tuesday afternoons after our uh our fine producer Monty Bot gets it up. So this this could be a pre-game podcast for the most devoted listeners.
Jeff McDonald: I just think—
Mike Finger: And they and they want to hear you, the the most devoted pre-game listeners want to hear you use the word that you’ve used three times before this season about Oklahoma City Thunder because they think that it it has to do, they think it’s good luck. So go ahead and use the word, Jeff.
Jeff McDonald: It’s just the Bart Simpson meme right now. Just say the word.
Mike Finger: Yes.
Jeff McDonald: I will. But first, I just think those poor little scrappy Thunders are due. Like they’re they’re tired of being bullied by the big bad bullying Spurs. You know.
Mike Finger: So what does that make this for the Spurs?
Jeff McDonald: And and the Thunder are playing well. You know, they’ve won three in a row. You know, they weren’t playing so well after the last time they met the Spurs on Christmas day. They went they went six and six in their next 12, but now they’ve righted the ship and they’re they’re back to being the big bad Thunder again. Uh, they’ve won three in a row. So I think this makes this game…
Mike Finger: Difficult.
Say it, say the word.
Jeff McDonald: Difficult. Um, uh…
Mike Finger: People wanted you to say another word.
Jeff McDonald: Unwinnable.
Mike Finger: Yes.
Jeff McDonald: It’s unwinnable.
Mike Finger: It’s unwinnable.
All right, I did it. I performed. I feel like a trained seal, but I performed.
Jeff McDonald: Where’s my fish? Where’s my tuna?
Mike Finger: [sighs] I don’t know. Um, are the Spurs struggling? Five and five over the last 10. I mean, by by the standards of the previous six seasons, they’re on a hot streak. By the standards of what we’ve seen from the local cagers over the previous two and a half months, this is uh this is this has been a part of the season where they’re starting to face some challenges, it seems.
Tom Orsborn: I was uh, I was just gonna say, I I, you know, they they they beat the Lakers at home, they they beat the Celtics on the road. You know, they lose close one in at Minnesota on the second night of a back-to-back. Um, I’m not, you know, if I’m a Spurs fan, I’m not complaining too much.
Mike Finger: I remember in our last podcast, I believe it was the wise Tom Orsborn who said that with the four games they had coming up, that they better win the one in Memphis last Tuesday night because the next three were going to be tough. And that’s the one they didn’t get. And they ended up almost getting the next three. They got the next two and were in control in Minnesota and looked like they were going to get the three that looked difficult. And uh things did not work out down the stretch against Minnesota. But all this all of this is to say is that they’ve been at their best against some of the best opponents. And uh if they’ve if they’ve taken some step backs in the more quote-unquote winnable games, um, I guess that’s just part of growing as a team and learning how to have the focus every night.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, well that was, that was a great uh Victor Wembanyama quote after the Memphis game when they lost, kind of speaking to that and the way they play to the um, you know, played down or up to various opponents. And I’m trying to get it right, but the quote was along the lines of, you know, the the good thing is we find out that we can compete with anybody and look anybody in the eye. But the bad thing is we tend to look everybody in the eye. And I thought that was a great great quote, especially from a 7’4" man.
Mike Finger: Uh-huh.
Tom Orsborn: What were you trying to say earlier when when we were cutting you off so rudely as we so often do?
That’s all right. They um, um, yeah, the win in Boston, that was that was a good one. I was there for that one and it was it was a quality, quality win to say the least. Um…
Mike Finger: I heard the refs won it for them.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sour grapes, sour grapes. Jaylen Brown, not too happy about the officiating in that game.
Mike Finger: That that is a season-long trend for the Spurs. I’m not sure people realize how big of an advantage that the local cagers have. And often times, like every NBA fan base in the country, like every sports fan base in the world, there’s a tendency for the fans of a team, the people who follow a team to think that their team gets a raw deal from the officiating. Um, the Spurs have a huge advantage in in free throw margin. I I believe it’s the biggest in the league, Jeff. And that makes a lot of sense with the way they play. Um, they have three guys in the backcourt who we’ll get into probably later in this podcast who like getting downhill, who like attacking the rim, who like getting to the basket. They have the the biggest matchup advantage in the league, I mean that literally in biggest in that he’s 7’4" Victor Wembanyama. He’s going to get a lot of free throws. The three guards are going to get a lot of free throws. They don’t take as many three-pointers as everybody else does. So it makes sense that you’d get to the free throw line more than say the Boston Celtics who shoot more three-pointers than just about anybody in the league. Like that makes sense that that disparity would exist. So I think in some cases it is Jaylen Brown, um, showing some some sour grapes there. Um, I I I understand that there were some calls that probably could have gone either way that the Spurs might have got a little more of advantage than they usually do. But all this is to say, I think most nights the Spurs are going to shoot more free throws than the opponent. And uh that has to do with uh making up the the the deficit that they have on three-point line. Does that make sense?
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, and the uh, before you get to that, the the great Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe took Jaylen Brown to task, um, the day of the game in his column, just it wasn’t a column centered on him, but it was the notes column just saying, uh, you know, he he’s complaining about a lot these days and just, you know, settle down and stop complaining.
Mike Finger: So… He’s having a heck of a year.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, but he’s he’s that’s kind of his MO.
Jeff McDonald: Well, I’m complaining about a lot these days too, so maybe I have some sympathy.
Tom Orsborn: But your complaints are legitimate.
Jeff McDonald: Ah, that’s true. That’s true. They put pineapple on my pizza.
Mike Finger: What do you think about the Spurs offense and the just in in general? You you look at the trend over the past few weeks, they’re not scoring as much as they used to. The efficiency numbers are dropping. What’s what’s sort of notable about that is the defense is retaining, if not improving upon, its dominance from early in the season. Like the defense is there, they’re just playing a lot of rock fights, it seems these days. It’s not the the beautiful game victories that we saw for a lot of November and December. These they’re they’re struggling with teams and the defense is staying there for the most part, but the the offense is not scoring as much or as efficiently as it once was. And I’m I’m wondering, Jeff, you’ve been with the team the last few few days, what’s the what’s the plan there?
Jeff McDonald: Well, the first part is to try to diagnose what’s going on and um, it could be kind of a chicken and an egg thing, but the first thing you notice just just from the 3,000 foot view, bird’s eye view, is those guards that you alluded to earlier, De’Aaron Fox, but particularly Steph Castle and Dylan Harper are not wreaking the same sort of havoc they were back in uh December back when the Spurs were on an eight game winning streak, beating the Thunder three times and everybody wanted to anoint them as the the next big three or something. Um, they’ve been very inefficient. Steph Castle’s been very inefficient. Dylan Harper seems to have hit kind of a rookie wall. They’re not getting into the paint as well at as at will uh the way they they were during that stretch. I think teams have adjusted to how those guys like to play as the game as the season’s worn along. I think those guys, especially the young guys are worn out. I think there’s just been a lot of travel, a lot of games. Um, we’ve kind of detailed that. I think they’re kind of hit hit kind of what they call uh the dog days of the of the season for those young guys. And I think it’s something a lot of young guys go through. They just got to push through. We’ve kind of been talking to a lot of the guys about that.
And so once the, but but the other part of it is they’re not making three-pointers. Like if one of those two things were were true, I think things would loosen up a bit. Um, and I can’t decide if they’re not making the three-pointers because the looks aren’t as good because the guards aren’t getting to the paint as well, or if the guards are unable to get to the paint as well because the three-pointers aren’t going down. But the three-point game has been pretty atrocious for the past month uh as well. And that’s that’s something that, I mean, we kind of predicted it coming into the season and then they started the season and like they had some guys that started hot, like Harrison Barnes was Mr. 100%. And uh, you know, Julian Champagnie, who’s been up and down, was was up. And uh Devin Vassell had some big games and he’s been out, that has not helped. Um, but now they’re kind of back to who they they’re kind of regressed to the mean three-point wise. And so it’s kind of um, when you can’t make three-pointers in this day and age, it makes everything else a lot harder. So it’s either it’s combination of that. I know you the offense works in symbiosis. You hit the outside shots, the inside shots um open up. You get into the paint, it opens up the the outside shots. And with both of those things failing right now, it has been like a rock fight to be able to score.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, the the Celtics noticeably sagged off those guys to double double Wemby. So, yeah, I mean it like you said, it affects everything and that’s pretty much why he struggled in the first half in Boston. They just they just left Castle alone, Harper, and and uh doubled Wemby a lot.
Mike Finger: In the middle of Jeff’s excellent soliloquy there analyzing the Spurs offensive woes, I was going to ask him what the great Manu Ginobili would say about this and he he he used it in the middle of it. He beat me to it. It was uh Manu always talked about regression to the mean and Jeff slipped that in there just like uh the Manu Ginobili of this podcast. Excellent job there, sir.
Jeff McDonald: Thank you. I mean because they are probably a 30ish percent team. So if they’re going to shoot 40 for a month, they’re probably going to shoot 20 for a month. And that’s where we are now. They’re shooting 20 for a month.
Mike Finger: And that leads us to the fact that if you cannot count on them keeping up their three-point rate from early in the season, which was above expectations and probably beyond realistic, um, expectations of what what this team should be doing, then you need to be more consistent with your strengths and that’s what you talked about in terms of attacking the rim and getting more from your downhill guards. And yes, both of those guys, I’m talking about Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, have been in the league less than what, 16 months. Um, they’re both young guys and it’s natural that they’re going to hit their their rough spots. But I think you can expect more improvement there and more of a of an upswing there than everybody starting to hit 40% from three-point range again. Yes. Um because I don’t think this team is going to be a 40%, 38%, 37% three-point shooting team. Um, it would be nice if they could do that, but that’s just asking too many guys to shoot better than they’ve ever shot before. And that could lead you into to questions about should they add more guys who can make three-pointers, um, on down the line. But I think if you’re going to look for improvement from this team in the next day, week, month, what have you, um, I think it’s more likely to come from those guards being more like the Spurs want those guards to be rather than everybody hitting 40% from three-point land again.
Jeff McDonald: I think when it comes to the three-point shooting, it it is what we thought it was when the season started. Like to get to the next level, they’re going to have to add more consistent three-point shooting. And whether that’s this year at the trade deadline or in the summer, um, it’s something that that’s going to have to be addressed. I think everybody knows that too. I don’t think it’s a surprise to the front office that they they can’t hit threes at the the rate that they need to. But they they need that guy where it seems like every team has them that that I watch watch play the Spurs. like the ball swings around and, oh, it’s that guy. Well, this is automatic. Um, for a while that was Harrison Barnes this year, but again, expecting him to shoot better than he’s ever shot before for an entire season is probably unrealistic. They need a guy that is just that guy. Um, and I don’t know if that’s something you go get at the trade deadline right now. I don’t know if that’s this is too soon or if it’s something you work on during the summer. But they need they need that guy to take the next jump, I think. when you’re talking about winning winning playoff series and things like that.
Mike Finger: While considering that question, and I’m sure that other astute followers of the Spurs have thought about this, but I I I’m not sure I’ve seen it discussed much. Um, could this team really miss Devin Vassell, too? Like is is is that part of why the offense doesn’t look as good? Could he be that key key piece that just provides that shooting threat and and makes the whole thing go or is is is that overstating his importance?
Jeff McDonald: No, I don’t think he’s the I don’t think he’s the lynchpin, but I think when you’re going through some sort of offensive slump, having as many guys as possible who have a chance of breaking that drought um is helpful. I mean, and there have been times throughout the season where the Spurs are going through a lull and it’s, you know, Vassell that hits a couple of 12-footers or hits some some open threes that kind of loosens the lid a little bit. And sometimes it’s been other people, but just I think just in terms of of um, just probability and percentages, having more guys who are able to break a break a cold spell is is helpful and that’s where they missed him I think when you’ve had these lulls in the middle of the game where it’s just kind of Steph Castle trying to make something happen and losing the ball or uh guys missing shots or just having a having a Devin Vassell who has, he’s one of those guys that does have spots on the floor where he feels like he’s automatic. Like you can run a play for him, um, to get him like a little 12-footer on the baseline and he feels automatic there. And to have that kind of guy just to break a drought in the course of a game, uh they they have missed that. I really I really do. I don’t think he’s the lynchpin to the entire offense that makes it go or anything like that, but he is a valuable piece of it that has been missing.
Tom Orsborn: He’s shooting, I didn’t think I noticed he’s shooting 38%, yeah, shooting about 38% from from deep this season and yeah, they which is good. He’s getting closer. He’s getting closer. In Boston, I talked to him a little bit and he’s getting closer to two-on-two work. So is Mitch said he’s trending in the right direction.
Mike Finger: The um, the thing that goes along with that is with Devin being out is Mitch Johnson is basically since Vassell has been out playing a consistent group of eight guys, whereas at the start of the year you were seeing 10, sometimes 11. and it’s I mean eight guys every night that you can be sure are gonna play every night. Um, that ninth and 10th spot has been Landy Waters, has been Kelly Olynyk, has been some Jeremy Sohan, but not really I think when you when you only have eight guys in the rotation who are playing every night, that could be a big burden on those eight guys. And uh, I I guess that’s a way of saying there’s a spot open if even if Devin Vassell comes back, there’s a spot open if the Spurs would go out and get another rotation piece. It wouldn’t have to necessarily have to be a starter. It would not have to be a guy who’s playing 30 minutes a night, but I think that there is a spot available for that shooter that Jeff is talking about, that guy who can play some defense and who when the ball is swung in his direction can hit it. Now, can they get that guy? Is that guy available for what the Spurs can offer? I’m not sure. We have what, three, four weeks to find out before the trade deadline. Um, but I think that is the spot in the rotation that the Spurs would target if they were to add someone at the deadline.
Um, the in terms of the starting lineup, there’s a spot now filled by Victor Wembanyama and he apparently is there to stay.
Jeff McDonald: Well, unless he gets hurt again.
Mike Finger: Yeah.
Jeff McDonald: But yeah, that’s the plan. He’s he’s back in the starting lineup and playing um, once you get to the high 20s, where he’s allowed to play in the high 20s minutes-wise, that makes it easier to start him. I kind of got where we can talk about the Memphis thing where they got to the end of that game and their best player was unavailable for the final three and a half minutes of a one-point game because—
Mike Finger: Go ahead and talk about that.
Jeff McDonald: Because they ran out of minutes. Hey, he was at 20 and that’s hard. It’s hard to, it’s it’s hard to divide 20 minutes uh for a guy. If you think about it, it’s five minutes a quarter. Now what do you do with that? Does did you did you it’s the first five minutes of the quarter, is it the last five minutes? How do you split up? And that’s the one where it makes a lot of sense to do what they did um when he first came back from the calf strain and just sit him for an entire quarter. And now you’re doing now you’re doing 20 minutes out of three quarters. But but but we talked to Mitch about that the next the next before the next game, wherever that was or I can’t I can’t I guess I was back at home. And he kind of indicated they thought about that again, but they don’t like that. Even though it worked, even though they won that game where Victor played only the last three quarters, they didn’t like what it did to the rotation. They didn’t like how Victor has to come in after an entire the what the the phrase Mitch used was the game takes on its own personality and Mitch and Victor has to come in after a quarter and figure out how to fit into that personality. And that’s not fair to him and it’s not fair to the other guys who have to um, you know, figure out how to fit in around that. You know, they’ve already been playing one way for an entire quarter. Now here comes they just didn’t really like how it felt. Um, I guess it doesn’t matter now because he’s at 27, 28 minutes and trending upwards there. So you don’t have to worry about it as much. It’s easier to divvy his minutes um between four quarters and you can start him and finish him um as they as they did in um wherever I was last. I can’t remember. Minnesota.
Tom Orsborn: Well, well then in Boston you see him finish with those two clutch 15 footers in the last two minutes. So it was a perfect perfect example of what you get when he’s on the floor in those situations.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, but a lot of people were curious, you know, in Memphis, you lose the game by a point and your best player just has to sit there and watch the last three and a half minutes and you’re just not going to deviate from that. And once the game is under, like that that’s those are front office decisions. Like Mitch I got I guess I need to say this out loud. Mitch has no control over that. He has control over how the minutes are divvied up, but he’s given a number. And once the game starts and you get to the final three minutes, like he’s not allowed to go, yeah, but it’s a one-point game, we’re going to play him anyway. Like he just doesn’t have that authority and he’s not he’s not in the position of his career where he’s just going to go rogue and and in the guts of a game and defy what the the number he’s been given. So you can you can argue that they could have been divvied up better so that Victor’s Victor’s available at the at the end of that game, but how is the question. Um, so that’s that. It wasn’t like, I will say, if you remember how that Memphis game ended, Jock Landale was taking two free throws to um to kind of try to, I think it was to put Memphis up three, and missed them both. But Victor was up off the bench, I know this because we have floor seats there in Memphis. Victor got up off the bench while Landale was going to attempt the second free throw and came over to Mitch. There was probably about 15 seconds left and is trying to get him trying to convince Mitch to put him back in the game. Call timeout, put him back in the game. And I think, I don’t know this, probably could have asked this, but I think if Jock Landale had made that free throw and the clock was stopped, Mitch might have called timeout and put Victor in for the final, say, 16 seconds for for a final play. But because Landale missed, they decided to get the rebound and try to go, which isn’t a bad, isn’t a bad uh strategy when you’ve got uh De’Aaron Fox with the ball in his hands. But De’Aaron got down there and kind of didn’t didn’t have anywhere to go and just kind of made a mistake, made a bad play and the game was over. But I think Vic was trying to get back into that game if he could for a final possession, and I think they might have done it if if the clock had stopped.
Mike Finger: The next night was Lakers at home and you brought while I was thinking about this, you did bring this up because I I I found it so interesting. I was going to bring it up about Mitch talking about how they did not like the way they divvied up Victor’s minutes in the cup in which they they knocked off, they ended Oklahoma City’s 16-game winning streak and got maybe their most rousing victory of the year. And I I found that so striking that he said, now, yeah, we’re not going to do that anymore even though it worked. It was just something that they didn’t want to they didn’t want to continue that. Um and I guess it makes sense. It’s it’s weird though to not want to do something that worked. I I understand the point. And the Spurs did get out to a big deficit in that Oklahoma City game in in Las Vegas. It it probably wouldn’t have worked every night. They they had the right sort of confluence of events to make it pay off.
And again, we’re talking about something that that probably will not be relevant anymore because Victor’s minutes restrictions are gone and he’s a starter again. But I thought that was a really cool, in in maybe their most memorable victory of the season, they they pulled that off in a way that I thought was so cool and that they they made Victor play a three-quarter game and uh and had him on the court at the end. And uh as Tom said, when he’s on the floor at the end of games, a a thing that stood out to me about the end of the Celtics victory is for everything that Victor has gone through high and low in terms of figuring out what he is on the court, figuring out how he’s best deployed, um, shooting three-pointers, fadeaways, trying to post up at the rim, trying to get lobs, um, trying to be a guard, trying to be a center. Like when the Spurs drafted Victor Wembanyama, 7’4" Frenchman, um, going to change the game. One thing that I had in my head, and I think a lot of fans had in their head, was this is a guy who when the game is on the line, a guy with with a with jump shot touch, with skill, with the ability to do all kinds of things. This is a guy you can throw the ball to in a Tim Duncan-like spot. and Tim probably posted up a little closer than Victor did in Boston. Both of the post-ups in Boston were free throw line extended, 15-18 feet, and just let him make an unguardable shot. They were the the the the two shots in Boston were sort of fadeaways, which I know aren’t the highest percentage shot on the basketball floor, but for Victor, they’re pretty high percentage.
And to me that was like the culmination of make people respect your three-point shot, make people respect the idea that De’Aaron Fox might take a shot here. Make people respect the fact that you got to pay attention to Stephon Castle and Keldon Johnson and whoever else is on the floor at that time. Make make somebody guard Victor one-on-one and then make that shot unguardable.
And Victor did that twice against Boston. And uh one was in the last two minutes and one was in the I think the second to last possession. And he made them both. And uh I think he’s going to make a lot of them.
Tom Orsborn: It was a pretty good pretty good contested uh effort by a seven-footer.
Mike Finger: Yes. And and uh he’s not going to make them all, but I I I think this is a a long convoluted um ridiculous way to say that I think the Spurs are figuring out more and more how they want to win games and and where they need to be at the end of games. And even though they’re not winning these games, the the game Jeff covered in Minnesota, like we talked about the three guards not having a great game, but didn’t, correct me if I’m wrong Jeff, but didn’t De’Aaron Fox hit a pretty big shot in the last 30 seconds there to give them a brief lead?
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, he hit a couple big shots down the stretch, yeah, after being being pretty middling the entire second half.
Mike Finger: It’s not like my my point is it’s not like this team has just been lost at sea and and and not understanding how to score when the game’s on the line. Even in these losses, even in these games that haven’t gone well, it seems like they have an idea of what they’re trying to accomplish, whether that’s getting the ball to Victor in the spots where he likes it or letting De’Aaron Fox do exactly what they traded for him to do. Um, there was another Victor didn’t have quite the same position against the Timberwolves on that uh on that elbow jumper um in in on the last possession that he had against Boston, but it was still a shot that they liked him taking. He just didn’t make it. And at the other end, Ant Edwards just made an all-world play.
Um, Mitch was really upset about it. I think he thought there might have been a moving screen, something like that. But uh, Ant was in a pick and roll against Steph Castle and Victor Wembanyama, and he got to his spot and made a heck of a shot. And sometimes you’re going to lose to all-league players making all-league plays. And um, I I think—
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, that’s what that’s what the Celtics did the night before.
Mike Finger: Exactly. All-league player making it.
Jeff McDonald: Um, like going back to Vic, like when he was drafted, everybody wants a comp. Like who who’s he like? What what could he be? And is he is he Giannis? Is he this? Is he that? And I always thought from the beginning, he should be like a 7’4" Kevin Durant. Like Kevin Durant but taller. Yeah. And to me, I mean, get those, just find that those spots on the floor where you can make a jumper that nobody can block and be automatic at it. Dirk was kind of that way too. Uh, and that’s what that’s what I that’s what I saw watching into that Boston game was he’s he’s doing the Kevin Durant stuff um right there. And I think I’m more of that, please. Like I know he I know everybody wants him to be sev- 7’4" and in the post and dunk a lot, and some of that should be incorporated too. Uh, obviously he can make three-pointers and he should take some of those. But to me, his bread and butter should be like Kevin Durant mid-range game. And if he can get to where he can make those at a Kevin Durant-like clip, I I think I think it’s game over for a lot of people.
Mike Finger: Which who’s the best who’s the best mid-range shooter of all time, basically? Yes. Yes. Well, that’s good.
Um, um, no, no, no, I agree with you. But but I think what I was trying to get at is he couldn’t have come in and and just been that right away. I think that the the last two and a half years have led to him getting closer and closer to being exactly what you said. And that he had to go he had to try a lot of things, and he had to show defenses a lot of things, and he had to let the team around him learn a lot of things before you can get to the point where it’s automatic, where everybody knows where the ball’s going in these situations and they still can’t stop it. And against Boston, that’s the way it worked. Against Minnesota, that’s the way it almost worked. Um, just sometimes you have to make the shots. I I’m just trying to uh to point out here that even though we talked about how much the Spurs offense is struggling and how the team is hitting kind of a wall and and kind of getting tired, there still been some positive developments over the past week or so.
Jeff McDonald: what’s happened what’s happened vibes-wise is just, I think probably that week, those 10 days in December probably set expectations higher than they probably needed to be. And for good reason. I mean, you win eight in a row, you beat the Thunder three times, you end Oklahoma City’s 16-game winning streak. Of course you’re going to be on top of the world and everybody’s going to want to anoint you as the um, you know, the the the next in line. And they’ve just come back down to Earth. They’re back to who they I mean, if they had not had the they could have the same record but it came in a different way and we I don’t know that we would be so um, it would feel like such a roller coaster.
I mean, the truth of the matter is they haven’t been as they they haven’t been as good since Christmas Day. Like they have that was like the zenith of their season so far was Christmas Day. They they have not, I don’t know that they played a game since then where I was like, wow, they just played that game like awesome start to finish. They’ve won some games we didn’t maybe think they were going to win. They’ve lost some games that I didn’t think they were going to lose, but I don’t remember just a Christmas Day-like game. Like that was just like a master class. And it’s probably not fair to expect them to have a master at this point in their growth as a team to have a master class every night. So I think if you just if you just think about it from from again, the the 3,000, 30,000 foot view of what this team like it they’re second place in the West, you look at their record, like you just have to be happy with the progress and realize it’s not going to be linear. They’re going to have some games that make you want to tear your hair out if you’re a fan or make you wonder, what are they doing? What’s going on with the offense? Or what does, you know, Steph Castle or this guy or that guy doing? But if you look at the entire progress of the of the team, like they’re way ahead of schedule of where anybody thought they were going to be.
Tom Orsborn: I I would yeah, I would change happy to elated. I mean, you’re you’re grinding through a tough, you’re grinding through a tough part of the season with with a a win over the Lakers, a win at Boston, you barely lose to the to the Timberwolves again on the second of a back-to-back. I mean, and yeah, second in the West. I mean, that’s that’s pretty damn good for a team that… it’s a grind.
Jeff McDonald: It’s really, yeah, it’s really just that that that that that those 10 days in December just tricked everybody into thinking the Spurs, you know, are unbeatable and they shouldn’t lose to Utah at home and they shouldn’t lose this game or that game. And they just are. They’re still young and in spots. The season does that to teams. There’s schedule losses, there’s…
Tom Orsborn: That’s the NBA, yeah.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, yeah. So I don’t think it’s cause for panic, but you know, I can understand why why people’s expectations might have gotten a little out of whack.
Tom Orsborn: Out of whack.
Jeff McDonald: Um, um, based on what they did against Oklahoma City leading up to Christmas Day. I think the I think we probably got a little little over our skis. I know a lot, every NBA podcast in existence, you know, wanted to anoint them as the the next best thing and it was…
Mike Finger: They’re other NBA podcasts?
Jeff McDonald: We’ve already had we’ve already done this bit. You don’t have to do it again.
Mike Finger: Well, since we’re doing old tired bits, can I can I do my weekly report on an interview with a guy who never plays?
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, that that’s gonna that’s like your forte, right? You wrote the you write the best columns on dudes that do not play. You ought to do one on Willis Hall next. He also doesn’t play.
Mike Finger: I think that’d be a good call. That’s a good idea. Um, by the way, I I could win an award for that. Also, uh before I get into my weekly segment, like uh sports editor Nick Talbot, who’s listening as he always does guiding our guiding our podcast, has been pressing me to, I can’t even say this without laughing, to choose our best podcasts of 2025 for award submission. And that man, that’s the thought of like a judge sitting in a room somewhere listening to Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn and I do our shtick and deciding is this, you know, is is this worthy of award consideration? Like how how are you gonna judge taking notes like they should have mentioned this here, they should their well that line was very unprofessional. Um I don’t know, man.
Jeff McDonald: Oh, look, I I just have to say I don’t I don’t I don’t believe in I don’t I think art is subjective. I don’t believe in giving awards for art anyway. You know, but but it’s an honor just to be nominated.
Mike Finger: Are we nominated? We’re nominating ourselves, I think is what’s happening.
Jeff McDonald: I think we’re nominating ourselves.
Mike Finger: Anyway, back to the weekly uh segment about the guy who never plays, um a week after a very, very nice sit-down interview with Carter Bryant who got sent down to the G-League for a game, but is is still very much part of the Spurs present plans, as Tom reported in Boston. Um, and probably will be playing again soon. Um, got a chance to talk along with friend of the podcast Michael Wright to Jeremy Sohan after the Lakers game on last week. And part of what precipitated that was he got into another little deal with Jared Vanderbilt in which Jeremy was typically Jeremy, talking about how he just had a friendly back and forth and that uh one guy was emotionally stable and he was quite joyful. And that’s what people love about Jeremy Sohan and that he just got under the skin of Jared Vanderbilt and Jeremy acted like he was taking a walk in the park. But uh he he was very blunt and candid about the fact that yes, he has been unable to not think about the fact that his time in San Antonio might be coming to an end, whether it is this month before the trade deadline or this off season. He’s not playing as much. He played in that game, he played in the Memphis game, he he gave some good minutes in that Memphis game the night before, it wasn’t a lot of minutes. But uh he had a nice little stint. He had a less successful stint against the Lakers but still did some good things. I think since then on this road trip, he’s it’s been very sparing. He’s he just continues to um to be on the margins when it comes to the rotation. And um you know, just speaking personally, there’s been ups and downs with Jeremy with the media for understandable reasons. But I I I do think he really wants to be here. Um and I it’s it’s it’s if it does not work out and if he has to go, and he might be the most attractive one of the most attractive pieces the Spurs have to offer in a trade this month, um it’ll be a little sad. Uh it might be better for him somewhere else to fit on a team with more three-point shooting around him, which I think he needs. I think for him to fit in, he needs to not be expected to be the three-point shooter. And on this team, it’s just hard to hide another player who isn’t a threat from the arc. And so, um you know, he continues to be a solid defender. The problem is like the Spurs just their defense isn’t hurting. Their defense continues to be well above average even when they’ve hit their so-called wall. So, uh we’ll see how it works out, but he’s he’s aware of it. He is continuing to be positive. He continues to be a good teammate. Victor Wembanyama has had some really, really nice things to say about him and his attitude. Keldon Johnson said some nice things to say about him and his attitude. We’ll just see how it works out. But, um, yes, if if you’re wondering if he’s aware that he might not be a Spur forever, he is he is aware of that and still uh trying to plug through. So, there’s that segment.
Jeff McDonald: All right. That was good. Yeah. I I did I did enjoy the little uh dust up with uh Jared Vanderbilt. That was kind of old school Jeremy. That was nice and it reminded me, I have uh I have I have two kids. Uh one’s about to be a teenager, so almost two teenagers and that that that reminded me of them so much. Like one of them instigating something and being like, what? I didn’t do anything. I was just I was just over there seeing if he was okay. You know, like I was I just loved his reaction to that.
Tom Orsborn: I had fun sitting down with Luke Cornett, uh, in the locker room this week to talk about his, uh, love of comedy and then in Boston, probably the most entertaining tribute video I’ve ever seen. Uh, Celtics sprinkled in a lot of his, didn’t sprinkle in, most of it was on his, uh, celebrations and jokes and quips and, uh, it was quite entertaining to watch that.
Mike Finger: Did they include his one— the funniest thing I saw up there when we were up there last year was the uh the campaign video that he did against Derek White for Man of the Year.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, they they had everything in there. It was it was it was a really good video.
Mike Finger: Yeah. Jeff had a Jeff was mentioning his kids, he had a really good um, blue scout sky joke this morning that that made me chuckle a lot where I guess our our friend Joe Mazzulla of the uh Boston Celtics was was upset after a couple days after Jaylen Brown was upset about the officiating against the Spurs, Joe Mazzulla was upset about something in the in the in the Celtics most recent game where every he answered every question, like six, eight in a row in his postgame press conference with the phrase illegal screen, illegal screen, illegal screen. And that led Jeff McDonald to say what?
Jeff McDonald: I don’t remember, you read it to me.
Mike Finger: Well, I don’t have it in front of me, but I think that something about you and your kids at bedtime?
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, that’s me trying to get my kids off their iPads at bedtime.
Mike Finger: That’s pretty good.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, sometimes, sometimes it come to me first thing in the morning.
Mike Finger: That’s great. All right. Well, we have a a big week ahead, as we always do. Looking at the schedule here, after the Spurs face the Thunder in Oklahoma City tonight in a game that Jeff McDonald called unwinnable, the local cagers return home for a game against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday. Back against the Timberwolves and Ant Edwards trying to get revenge on Saturday here at the Frost Bank Center and a Martin Luther King Day matinee, a 4:00 PM start against the Utah Jazz on Monday before we convene again at our secure locations on Tuesday morning for the next podcast.
We’ll see how, we’ll see what happens if the Spurs can get past that wall, if they can continue to have rock fights, or if they figure it all out. Until next time, take care of each other and keep it real.