Bryant (whose volume increased substantially)

His volume increased 37%, but his minutes increased 50%.

Hope they keep this up for the OKC series (should they win their series)

That Rutgers coach needs to be investigated

If he stays consistent around 37-38 he’s a star and this will probably be their third best player SA is so scary it’s crazy we are watching the early days right now. You’d take that trio over anyone else in the NBA from here on out.

His mental changed after his missed dunks threatened his hair

Castle is taking way less pull up 3s and is more selective about the 3s he takes. That’s the main thing for him. I didn’t think Harper or Bryant were as bad of shooters as they were shooting to start the season.

My 2 cents as a Spurs fan is that it is a combination of (1) they seemed to figure out how to manage Wemby getting double-teamed sometime around mid-season and the shot quality improved for everyone else and (2) genuine growth, they are all quite young after all.

I don’t have the stats but have watched the games. These are wide open or near wide open shots. These are opportunity shots like “Well, I’m open and there’s no way to get into the paint so I’m gonna take it”. That’s different from their actual best 3-point shooter on the team Champagnie who takes the 3 pretty much no matter what happens.

A lot of it is also Wemby generating open looks and them feeling more confident with their shots. The initial doom and gloom over their ability to shoot was very overstated to say the least lol.

They simplified the shot selection for Castle and Harper, cutting out most pull up/off the dribble 3s for catch and shoot 3s from consistent spots on the floor.

As many have already mentioned, it’s definitely a combination of factors. Harper has said he struggled to adjust to the NBA three point distance.

Castle has improved his shot selection a lot.

Carter Bryant was clearly struggling with nerves early in the season, as he had to fight for his spot on the court every game. He’s a diamond in the rough, and Mitch Johnson was happy to lay emphasis on the ‘rough’ part.

I think a very important aspect is also the return of Devin Vassell from injury. He is incredibly important in spacing the floor for the Spurs and has been deadly from mid range. With him back, the wings have gotten more clean looks.

Wembanyama has also been put in a much more active screening role, and doesn’t post up as much as early in the season. This had made the Spurs offense more dynamic and also gets better looks from 3.

That’s a good point, the other team usually can have some kind of say in these things. Unless you are Steph Curry. But all of a sudden, Spurs got three Steph Currys that don’t care who they playing against. When you have a group of players on one team all jump that far in shooting percentages, something else comes to mind and that could be that someone has introduced a PED and the crew is all taking it. Not saying they are at all. Just thowing it out there.

Watching them in their current series, I would describe them all as heady competitors. But also, when they have an enigma like Wemby defaulting to earn most of opponents attention, I think that could help other players on the team to have easier time with many defenses, in many games. Leading to better shooting percentages and high confidence in themselves after doing it over and over again during long seasons.

Not sure who it is exactly after they promoted the last guy mid-2025, but we did bring in Rashard Lewis as a player development coach at the start of this season.

Aside from Rashard Lewis as a more general development coach the Spurs hired Jimmy Baron to replace the outgoing Chip Engelland.

I was convinced in the off-season, but you can’t bet on the championship in Texas. The odds were 50:1 😭

I threw a random 14$ (CAD) on Wemby western conference finals mvp back in october or something for +4000, idk if I even want this stress if they win this series

Lucky for them, OKC loves giving those open 3s up

They’re all so young it is difficult to parse luck from genuine progression, but I’ve been waiting for them to cool off since late January and it still hasn’t happened

It’s close to half a season of success now, I think it’s a solid sample size that indicates improvement. Maybe they’re not 40% shooters but they’re definitely significantly better than 28%.

I mean they literally been facing Minnesota for a full series, which is also one of the best perimeter defenses in the league. Clearly 41% is not automatically their new normal forever, but the fact it’s holding over ~35 games including playoffs against elite defenses, it probably deserves a little more respect than “totally meaningless hot streak.”

Tbh they just need to hit them open

They played OKC in 4 very intense games this season. The Spurs are running into some unknown buzz saw.

Well in 10 games that’s 87 3 pointers

I mean, if it was 8 attempts total, sure. But it’s around 9 attempts per game combined over roughly 35 games including playoffs. That’s over 300 attempts total.

Now it’s not proof they’re all suddenly elite shooters, but calling it “literally meaningless” feels way too dismissive too. Especially for 20–21 year olds where development can happen quickly over a season.

To me the bigger thing isn’t even the 41%, it’s that the volume stayed basically the same while the efficiency jumped. That usually suggests improvement rather than just random variance.

That’s per game since the All Star break.