He’s lost 2 steps when he couldn’t afford to lose even a half.

It’s time for him to transition into full time church reviewer/strip club condemner.

They need to get Tarris Reed ready for the playoffs, because the backup center spot lowkey cost them the title last year.

I still think it’s a reflection of a lack of size and rebounding help at the 4 than it is a reflection of Luke

That has also been the reason for Jokic’s ridiculous +/-. He has always had bad backups and the Nuggets also didn’t have good backup playmakers. Jokic not only handles the ball a lot, but also plays with Murray a lot

I agree.

It just seems like there’s been a narrative that he’s been terrible to start the season and while he’s struggled offensively his overall impact is still huge because he’s such a defensive force.

3 games of anything taken as hard conclusions or worth true discussion in basketball is pure noise tbf.

But this sub has been frothing at the mouth to have a go at him for a bit now so some of these crazy hot takes this last week aren’t surprising

It’s still October. We have nothing to do but overreact to small sample sizes.

Through 4 games the Spurs are 96th percentile net and 97th percentile defensively in garbage time filtered minutes with Wemby on.

Last year in the full season the Spurs were 99th percentile net and 98th percentile defensively in garbage time filtered minutes with Wemby on.

There’s obviously a lot of noise through only a few hundred possessions, but that seems like not pure noise to me.

I kinda think +/- is a completely useless stat for starters anyway. It’s basically a win/loss indicator

So is 3 games of struggles, so if people make those out to be a big deal then so should the positives of 3 games. B A L A N C E

not only that his backup is luke fucking kornet

literally the worst player in the league and a fucking bitch ass nerd for getting magic city night cancelled

I’ve been a serious NBA fan for 30 years at this point and I’ve never seen anyone have close to his impact defensively.

He doesn’t just shut down the area at the rim like Mutombo and guys like that. He makes guys hesitate from floater range and the mid-range. I’ve never seen a guy deter a shot at the rim and then rotate out and block the corner 3 the way he does.

He’s the best defensive player I have ever seen. I’ve been watching the league since the 90s and I feel pretty comfortable saying that & don’t think it’s hyperbole at all.

try playing pickup to 20 against someone just as good as you, but they are allowed to go to the rim and you are not

He’s the best combination of rim deterrence and protection in the post-3 point line era. The rim is essentially shut off when he’s on the court so when he’s off the court teams put more emphasis on attacking the rim for higher percentage shots. His defensive floor is so high that even on off nights where his jumper isn’t falling teams can’t score at the rim either. Add that with insane roll gravity, offensive rebounding (+ second chance pt scoring), legit floor spacing and play finishing and you have pound for pound the most impactful player in the league.

I mean you kind of said it in the last sentence. He is a game-changing defensive presence who causes teams to completely play outside their comfort level and adjust their game plans by simply existing let alone during the games where he’s in good form and all over the place

Kornet was very good for us for a large portion of last year but something has happened causing him to be significantly less mobile at the end of last season and through the playoffs and he’s definitely been struggling

But even more than that he, and the Spurs in general, have to deal with the effect of teams game planning for when he’s off the floor.

Watching team’s shift into a All or nothing Concerted effort to attack the rim as soon as he sits down is nothing short of hilarious And has little to do with Luke and everything to do with them Trying to get as many good looks as humanly possible before Victor comes back in

Yah basically best defender ever with a good starting lineup around him

A lot of it is Wemby being absurd on defense, but a lot of it is the same roster construction problem they had last year.

Wemby plus 4 switchable 6’6” guys is a monster of a defensive lineup. Any backup big in the league plus 4 switchable 6’6” guys is going to be a negative defensive lineup. That’s still what they are mostly playing when Wemby isn’t on the court.

As Tobias Harris gets healthy and maybe the guys they drafted with length progress, I expect his plus minus to come down because Kornet will have more size on the court with him and stop having to try the impossible task of being a drop in replacement for Wemby.

No, Kornet is horrible. He’s -51 this year. https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kornelu01/on-off/2027

He’s the most impactful defensive player ever just his presence prevents so many good shot attempts

Spurs bench kind of sucked last season. Look at the playoff numbers, they would have lost to the Knicks and more so the Thunder by 20 every game if you replaced Wemby with just a more typical “good” player

His defensive is just that good, but also the others spurs are a little overhyped on defense. Having Wemby behind you makes them look a lot better and it is very noticeable whenever he sits. Not to mention that you can’t ever help off him due to his lob gravity/3 point spacing.

It’s kind of impossible for a guy with Wemby’s defense and gravity to have an actual net negative effect on his team

This. Kornet’s on/off is -51. https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kornelu01/on-off/2027

I feel for Kornet. He came in last year fresh and ready to pounce, and he did great for ²⁄₃ of the season but it really trailed off toward the end.

You have to think about it, usually when starters rest, the bench players basically keep the same offense going but to a lesser degree depending who’s on the court.

That’s different with someone like Wemby since he changes the opponent’s offensive strategy. When he’s off the court, the opponents push the offense harder. They’re driving more, they’re posting up, and they’re crashing the boards because the giant isn’t taking up all that space. Kornet is essentially coming off the bench and playing at the same level other starter centers are dealing with. And he’s 31 who only played 10-15 minutes for other teams. He didn’t basically anchor the team’s defense for about 18 minutes a game. That’s a lot of work and that takes a toll that we saw in the playoffs and we’re going to be seeing until Harris comes back and Reed is more of a key player.

Not really. The number with Wemby doesn’t describe Kornet’s minutes at all. It would be problematic if you had an impact metric that accounted for the team’s success when each player is out there.

Again, the biggest issue is sample size. Then again we have a good idea that Wemby is an MVP player already

Edit: i misread on/off and thought we were talking +/-. My bad!

what is interesting about comparing a 4 game sample size to a 10 year sample size?

it is more than likely that you will find a 4 game sample size during those 10 years where brown has a even better on-off impact.

Man this threw me for a loop lol

Despite the title, OP is citing net rating (per 100 possessions)

Are you scared of syllables?

Me when im dumb af

Just say you don’t read

Who are you, Webster?