Vic-and-Roll Mailbag: Devin Vassell, Point Guard by Committee, and G League Call-Ups

The Spurs have been the epitome of 'one step forward, two steps back'

We asked our readers to send their best San Antonio Spurs questions for our mailbag, and y’all came up with some fantastic topics! Thank you for giving me something fun to explore on my birthday!

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1. Is it sustainable for Devin Vassell to keep living and dying by tough shots? Even his career high had a lotta contested jumpers. - Spursian Dynasty (Substack)

Devin Vassell dropped a career-high 36 points on 12-of-19 (63.2%) shooting last Friday, helping San Antonio end their franchise-record losing streak with a much-needed win over the reigning In-Season Tournament champions. His astonishing outing felt like a breakthrough, but all that momentum came to a standstill when he mustered a measly 13 points in another blowout at the hands of the Pelicans on Sunday night.

Inconsistency has been a bugaboo for the Spurs this season, and perhaps no player has embodied that frustrating characteristic more than Devin. What makes his streakiness so maddening for fans is the fact the front office inked him to a five-year, $146 million extension over the summer. Receiving a handsome payday naturally comes with raised expectations, and the fourth-year swingman has been somewhat disappointing.

With that said, it is fair to wonder whether Vassell can live up to his contract, and that hinges on his ability to transform into an efficient scorer. The one significant obstacle standing in the way is his ridiculously tough shot diet. While he has steadily expanded his repertoire since entering the NBA, the 23-year-old has become increasingly reliant on pull-up jumpers, often settling for ill-advised attempts with a hand in his face.

Some of his dependence on fadeaways, stepbacks, and leaners has to do with the Spurs failing to manufacture better offense and asking him to bail them out at the end of the clock. Regardless, Devin deserves a fair share of the blame, especially for his tendency to settle for contested midrange looks when he has a perfect opportunity to attack the basket for a layup or seek contact for a trip to the free-throw line.

All-Stars get to their spots for high-percentage attempts while sprinkling in moments of impossible off-the-dribble heroics. Run-of-the-mill microwave scorers detonate for dazzling displays and fizzle out the next night. Vassell rests somewhere between those categories, though he has leaned toward the latter through 25 games. Cleaning up that shot selection should be the first item on his to-do list.

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2. Are these bad team performances more of a coaching issue or roster construction problem? - @PowerlinePunk (Twitter)

There is no way to sugarcoat how atrocious the Spurs have been this season, and their tumultuous start has left the fanbase baffled. Drafting Victor Wembanyama was never going to solve their myriad of problems overnight, but adding a generational prospect to their roster seemed like the first step toward improvement. Instead, San Antonio is 4-21 and on pace for 69 losses, a number that would stand alone in franchise history.

The offense has floundered, the defense has made marginal progress, and these young players have made the same mistakes in almost every matchup. So, who is on the hook for all the on-court dysfunction in San Antonio?

All eyes usually fall on the head coach. Is Gregg Popovich faultless? Of course not. He has made mistakes in the past, and the 74-year-old has made a handful of questionable lineup decisions, most notably his insistence on experimenting with Jeremy Sochan at point guard. Regardless, the longtime playcaller has been open about the team testing out unorthodox concepts, and a rebuild is an ideal time for trial and error.

Perhaps we should point fingers at Brian Wright? After all, isn’t it his job to construct a competitive roster around Wembanyama? Sure, though the General Manager also let us know this was an evaluation season to assess which current pieces fit next to the 7-foot-4 phenom before the Spurs ever stepped onto the court. San Antonio has stuck to that plan, which has yielded less-than-positive results thus far.

Maybe we must turn our attention to the players. San Antonio is the youngest team in the NBA, and history tells us the organizations with that distinction have been horrid over the years. Their age explains some of the unsightly execution on both ends, but it is no excuse for their erratic effort. Even so, Spurs fans can attribute their struggles to everyone involved in what was sure to be an awkward process from the beginning.

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3. The defensive numbers have improved this month for this Spurs team. What has been the catalyst for the defensive improvement? - Edward J. Espinosa (Substack)

You submitted this question to us before San Antonio laid an absolute egg against the Pelicans on Sunday night, so how about we look into the progress they made ahead of that matchup and address the elephant in the room later? The Silver and Black owned a 111.0 Defensive Rating over their first six games of December, which ranked FIFTH in the league over that span. But what was the catalyst for their improvement?

Shifting Wembanyama to a full-time role at starting center was the move that spurred tangible strides from the good guys. With the colossal teenager patrolling the interior, the Spurs were able to run opponents off the three-point line and funnel them directly to their rim protector. Despite drivers getting to the rack at an insane rate, one look at the eight-foot wingspan awaiting them was enough to cause indecision.

His presence inside the paint deterred layups, and Wembanyama has the dexterity and length to contest runners and short midrange jumpers while staying glued to his man-to-man assignment. Victor being in two places at once alters the geometry of the floor for everyone. Instead of attacking the rack, opponents took 12.3 midrange jumpers per game, a shot they nailed a just a 31.1% clip during the first two weeks of the month.

Some of their defensive success came down to luck. Despite relinquishing a whopping 22 wide-open (no defender within six feet) three-point attempts each game, opponents only hit a meager 36.4% of those pristine looks. While the Spurs were redirecting long-distance marksmen toward the hoop, secondary actions and sharp relocation had their heads spinning once they needed to talk on rotations to contain dribble penetration.

Their transition defense was shoddy outside of their matchup with Houston, and their inexperience and deficiencies came back to haunt them when they hosted the Pelicans at Frost Bank Center. The holes in their armor came undone versus a ball club with an ensemble of capable snipers and a trio of stars like Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, and CJ McCollum. We will have to wait until Tuesday to see if they get back on track.

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4. When are Dominick Barlow and Sidy Cissoko going to get NBA opportunities? - @ballenterpz (Twitter)

Before diving into this topic, can we appreciate how remarkable Dominick Barlow has been in the G League this season? The undrafted forward has averaged 25.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game on 57.7% shooting from the field. Not only is he the third player to achieve those numbers, but Dom is four years younger than anyone else in that select group.

Barlow displayed an enticing combination of skills and athleticism as a rookie, and he has continued building upon that foundation in year two. His fluidity sprinting across the court, defensive versatility, and shooting upside make him among the most unique prospects on the roster. But with more muscle on his frame, improved footwork in the post, and refined midrange touch, he looks like a potential rotation piece.

As for Cissoko, he needs additional seasoning with the Austin Spurs before he is well-equipped to contribute in the NBA. The 19-year-old forward has stuffed the stat sheet with 9.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game, but he has also averaged 2.8 turnovers and posted so-so .433/.267/.667 shooting splits. Though his two-way playmaking is undeniable, most of his damage has come in transition.

With the recent season-ending injury to Charles Bassey, Coach Popovich might have a reason to offer Barlow occasional garbage-time minutes when the Spurs fall behind by an insurmountable deficit. However, Sandro Mamukelashvili is still above the 20-year-old on the depth chart. That was the case last year too, and it took the Silver and Black waving the white flag in March for Dom to receive extended run on a nightly basis.

The front office will probably leave Charles Bediako, Blake Wesley, and David Duke Jr. in the G League to marinate for most of the season. Fans may see them receive a short stint in San Antonio every once in a while, but routine on-ball reps and a featured role with Austin are vital to their long-term development.

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5. Is the concept of “point guard by committee” sustainable? Or does there need to be a more defined structure when it comes to that position? - Emmanuel Cortez (Substack)

The notion of positionless basketball is exciting, but it only works if you have multiple players on the court who can create and sustain advantages while spacing the floor for the offense to operate smoothly. The Spurs switched to a brand-new starting lineup of Malaki Branham, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Jeremy Sochan, and Wembanyama a week ago. That change has yielded a mixed bag of results through five games.

One of the issues with this lineup is they have no one who can consistently self-create paint touches off the dribble to collapse defenses. The other dilemmas lie in their lack of reliable three-point shooters and quick-fire processors. Those shortcomings appear all over the advanced numbers, where this five-man starting unit has a 104.3 Offensive Rating since December 8th, which would the fourth-worst mark in the last five years.

This combination of personnel has been tremendous when they outpace opponents in transition, but their process flounders in a half-court setting. San Antonio is gradually learning how to incorporate Wembanyama as the fulcrum of their attack, and that has produced some clunky possessions where teammates have overthrown lobs, misplaced entry passes, or accidentally neglected the towering centerpiece on obvious openings.

Everything we discussed in the previous paragraphs applies to most of the roster, so it isn’t as though this is necessarily a lineup-specific problem. A five-game sample is not enough to reach any definitive conclusion. And with the coaching staff enthusiastic to gather as much data as possible on each lineup they roll out, Spurs fans should know a little more about the viability of this assemblage in the coming weeks.