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San Antonio Spurs 2024-25 - Alien: Resurrection

Mitch Cumsteen

By Mitch Cumsteen
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Welch

Welch 635

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2 hours ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

There is going to be a lot to unpack and I have lots of deep thoughts for later....  but holy shit Wemby is up to 235 lbs. He played at 210 last year. 

Go Spurs Go.

 

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Mitch Cumsteen

Mitch Cumsteen 18583

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I could only stomach the first half and about half of the third quarter. This team still can’t shoot for shit but half the roster thinks they’re Steph Curry. 

Castle is going to be impactful defensively right off the bat. He is a very smart player. You don’t often see rookies in their first game calling switches and pointing out gaps in the defense. 

Wesley actually did some good things. You can see the improvement with him. 

Mamu deserves minutes. He’s one of the few players they have that has a brain.

And Barnes did what you expect of a veteran. He’s desperately needed on this team.

The rest? Good lord Branham has never met a screen that he can’t die on or bad shot he won’t jack up. Sochan is aimless. And Keldon lost weight but still has no clue how to play basketball.

I know that Vassell, Wemby, and that cocksucker Chris Paul were out and it’s a useless preseason game, but this is a 15 win team without Vic. 

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ztejas

ztejas 43541

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The Branham experiment needs to end. I watched 0 minutes and know everything I need to from the box score. He isn't an NBA player and it's been clear as day for 3 years now. 

Sochan put up great counting stats. Why "aimless"? Low energy? No D?

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Kermit

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1 hour ago, ztejas said:

The Branham experiment needs to end. I watched 0 minutes and know everything I need to from the box score. He isn't an NBA player and it's been clear as day for 3 years now. 

Sochan put up great counting stats. Why "aimless"? Low energy? No D?

He was indecisive on offense. Is incredibly slow in his shot, and really had a difficult time guarding OKC. Unfortunately, that could be because they had him on Chet, who abused him in ways that are illegal in 10 states.

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Pam Cummings

Pam Cummings 9677

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18 hours ago, Kermit said:

He was indecisive on offense. Is incredibly slow in his shot, and really had a difficult time guarding OKC. Unfortunately, that could be because they had him on Chet, who abused him in ways that are illegal in 10 states.

Running out of patience with Sochan for sure. If you're going to have terrible shooting form you'd better be an ace defender.

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Mitch Cumsteen

Mitch Cumsteen 18583

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On 10/8/2024 at 3:57 PM, ztejas said:

The Branham experiment needs to end. I watched 0 minutes and know everything I need to from the box score. He isn't an NBA player and it's been clear as day for 3 years now. 

Sochan put up great counting stats. Why "aimless"? Low energy? No D?

 

23 hours ago, Kermit said:

He was indecisive on offense. Is incredibly slow in his shot, and really had a difficult time guarding OKC. Unfortunately, that could be because they had him on Chet, who abused him in ways that are illegal in 10 states.

Kermit hit on a part of it with the indecisiveness, but half the time I watch him on both ends and wonder what the hell he is thinking. It doesn't always make basketball sense to me where he goes on the court. Maybe he anticipates poorly? It could be that the failed point guard experiment fucked with him so hard that he's overthinking everything? I dunno. I'll try to watch some tonight and see if I can define it better.

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Kermit

Kermit 3158

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I know it’s pre-season, but Castle is…fucking awesome. He’s already one of the better players on the team. He is a great defender, never gets rattled, is not as bad a shooter as I was led to believe, has a good handle on the offense, makes smart passes, routinely looks for his teammates, and is a foul shooting machine.

Edited by Kermit
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ztejas

ztejas 43541

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1 hour ago, Kermit said:

Sochan has looked much, much better tonight. It’s the rest of the team that forgot to show up. Orlando is having a layup drill.

I wanted to comment that maybe he just didn't give a shit in G1 playing without the starters but I'm also a Sochan apologist and don't want to overdo it. 

With reasonable health this team is winning 40 games. CP to Wemby is only going to get more and more ridiculous. Castle is the fucking truth. 

Just please waive Branham or ship him to Austin. He's atrocious and the Pop from 20 years ago would have gotten rid of him 18 months ago. 

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Mitch Cumsteen

Mitch Cumsteen 18583

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Like the frog said, Sochan was better tonight. The game is easier for him in a supporting role maybe? 

And I’ve seen nothing to dissuade me from my pre-draft opinion that Castle was the best player in the draft. He’s going to be a beast. Impressive how he got to the line tonight. He’s got a real physical presence to him. The three ball looked nice too. If he is even league average from there, look the fuck out. 

Victor needs to take better care of the ball. I’m okay with a lot of his bad shot selection, but minimizing the careless turnovers would go a long way towards playing winning basketball. 

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ztejas

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12 hours ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

The game is easier for him in a supporting role maybe? 

It's for sure easier for him when he has a defined position and is allowed to occasionally break-out and take advantage for 25 or 30 points. Wemby draws so much attention. Playing with CP should help him as well. 

Keldon is who he is at this point. I think so is DV. If Jeremy can just keep making incremental improvements - especially from 3 - and be a bit more consistent game to game he'll be a good player. He's the prototype for hitting 5 3s in a random playoff game that the Spurs eek out when the higher usage "stars" have a bad shooting night. 

Have I mentioned that I want Branham off the roster?

12 hours ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

I’m okay with a lot of his bad shot selection

I was fine with it last year. I'd like him to tighten it up this season. This team should win a lot more games and shouldn't have a throwaway development/tank season like '24 was. 

(This is something else CP should help with)

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Mitch Cumsteen

Mitch Cumsteen 18583

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1 minute ago, ztejas said:

It's for sure easier for him when he has a defined position and is allowed to occasionally break-out and take advantage for 25 or 30 points. Wemby draws so much attention. Playing with CP should help him as well. 

Keldon is who he is at this point. I think so is DV. If Jeremy can just keep making incremental improvements - especially from 3 - and be a bit more consistent game to game he'll be a good player. He's the prototype for hitting 5 3s in a random playoff game that the Spurs eek out when the higher usage "stars" have a bad shooting night. 

Have I mentioned that I want Branham off the roster?

Agreed. The last few years guys like he and Keldon have been forced to take on too much. Back in the day, they would have slotted into a nice little complementary role around the Big 3. Instead they've had to be the lead dog and I don't think it's benefitted them at all.

Sochan's role needs to be hustle guy, defensive glue guy, instigator, dunker spot, and get garbage points on putbacks. And he needs to bring energy every night. The dream (for me at least) is pink haired Draymond minus the bullshit, but I don't think he has the IQ for it.

I didn't see the few 3's that he's launched so far in preseason so I have no idea if his form has gotten any better. But I have little faith in his becoming even a serviceable three point shooter. That sidespin shit is so, so broken.

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ztejas

ztejas 43541

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I don't care how it looks. As long as it goes in. Folks on PTR were saying his form does look a little bit different. He appears to have great work ethic. 

He made a nice little jump 3P% wise from rookie to soph season. He just needs to hit 40ish from the corners and 30 and change from the arc. 

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Mitch Cumsteen

Mitch Cumsteen 18583

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21 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I don't care how it looks. As long as it goes in. Folks on PTR were saying his form does look a little bit different. He appears to have great work ethic. 

He made a nice little jump 3P% wise from rookie to soph season. He just needs to hit 40ish from the corners and 30 and change from the arc. 

He can shot put it out of his asshole for all I care if it goes in the basket, but he went from 25% to 31%. Not exactly Steph Curry territory. That ain't even Malaki Branham territory. And he's wide ass open because nobody is even bothering to go out there and stick a hand in his face.

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ztejas

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Yeah I'm not saying 31% is good I'm saying 6% is a big jump. 

Really he just needs to get to the level to where defenses at least have to get a hand in his face. 

We're for sure going to need Castle to be a 35ish guy.

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Kermit

Kermit 3158

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The issue is the speed with which he shoots. Bill Cartwright had a quicker release. I’m pretty sure my old, extremely large ass could make it from the paint to at least his general vicinity before the ball leaves his hands. He’s such a slow shooter.

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Kermit

Kermit 3158

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1 hour ago, chainsaw said:

If you want to feel old, Danny Green has announced his retirement.

I am old. Congrats on an awesome and surprising career, Danny. You were incredible at times, infuriating during others, and probably would been one of the most surprising Finals MVPs ever if it weren’t for Ray Allen. 

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ztejas

ztejas 43541

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18 minutes ago, Kermit said:

I am old. Congrats on an awesome and surprising career, Danny. You were incredible at times, infuriating during others, and probably would been one of the most surprising Finals MVPs ever if it weren’t for Ray Allen. 

Timmy would have won that one and it wouldn't have been close. 

(Green obviously had a great fucking series, though)

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Pam Cummings

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24 minutes ago, Kermit said:

I am old. Congrats on an awesome and surprising career, Danny. You were incredible at times, infuriating during others, and probably would been one of the most surprising Finals MVPs ever if it weren’t for Ray Allen. 

Yeah, congrats on a great career to the LDN. One of the best defenders I've watched in transition situations. 

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BurdineBandit

BurdineBandit 815

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Ran into this little breakdown last night, thought it was really interesting. Been hearing about the shift to position-less since last year, but cool to see it in action. It's obvs not exactly position less, because Wemby needs to be positioned around the basket on defense at all times so he can lead the league in blocks, but being able to switch 1-3 and hound mfers into submission should be fun to watch. The interview quotes with everyone seemingly bought into the defensive intensity is also great to hear.

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Mitch Cumsteen

Mitch Cumsteen 18583

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Castle and Wesley are going to be fun to watch on defense if/when Pop plays them together and turns them loose, especially with Wemby on the floor behind them. They are going to get after it. 

Also Castle is going to shoot an insane number of free throws especially for a rookie and especially for a guard. I’m enamored with him so far. Absolute stud. 

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ztejas

ztejas 43541

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I watched on and off after the 1Q or so.

Wemby looks like he doesn't give a fuck. Which - whatever. It's preseason. He's going to be a top 10 player in the league conservatively. 

Seeing CP hit 3s is good but in past, recent seasons he's seemed to lose his legs a bit as the season goes on. We really need to do a good job of managing his minutes. 

I like skinny, off the bench KJ but he still worries me between the ears. I like his haircut.

I like Sochan's sneaky little post-up game. He has a nose for empty space and the ball. Solid on the boards and had another nice box score. The lob he caught from Wemby early on was sick. He had a couple WTF plays and a little of that aimlessness tonight but I still believe in the kid. I do not like his haircut.

Barnes will give us good vet mins but like he's been his entire career I don't trust his shooting further than I can shake a stick. Not sure we want him closing out games as the season progresses. 

Not sure I buy Champagne as a starter. 

Wesley may be a solid 8th or 9th dude but it's a little soon for me still to tell.

Collins is a mixed bag. 

I don't know what transgression I made as a fan to deserve watching Branham - maybe all the OKC/GS KD shit - but it's still rough at times. 

Loved to see Bassey back out there. I thought he showed some nice potential a couple years ago. 

 

I still think we can win 40 but it may take some time to figure out rotations and gel. 

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