One thing I would add is re: Spurs historic badness is that a lot of it stemmed from the anti-spacing Wemby+Sochan+Collins lineups we played early and often in the first 20 games of the season. These lineups had a -17.2 NetRtg in 571 poss (blindingly awful, worst team of all-time).
In all 1901 possessions outside of these lineups, we have a -9.3 NetRtg (20-win team and a slight improvement from last season's -9.9 NetRtg). Considering how much playing time we're giving to 19 and 20-year-olds, being a 20-win team makes sense.
The Spurs quit those lineups starting Dec. 6, and voila we have a -9.3 NetRtg in 5 games since. So overall we might be more normal bad instead of historically bad.
Also even this season, the Spurs still have a +3.9 NetRtg when Tre Jones and Wemby play together (537 possessions, 50-win team). Simply having 48 minutes with a real point guard on the floor would go such a long way. Hopefully by next season we'll stop this experiment of playing most of our minutes without a real PG on the floor. GSG
And thanks for the input and extra data in the comments here! I agree 100% about this team looking just normal bad instead of historically terrible since they moved Vic to the five! Hit a bump in the road against the Pelicans, but generally think they're trending in the right direction on defense! And for the love of god I want Tre in the starting lineup and some more Graham minutes if it means a serviceable playmaker for Wemby at all times!
Happy birthday Noah!
One thing I would add is re: Spurs historic badness is that a lot of it stemmed from the anti-spacing Wemby+Sochan+Collins lineups we played early and often in the first 20 games of the season. These lineups had a -17.2 NetRtg in 571 poss (blindingly awful, worst team of all-time).
In all 1901 possessions outside of these lineups, we have a -9.3 NetRtg (20-win team and a slight improvement from last season's -9.9 NetRtg). Considering how much playing time we're giving to 19 and 20-year-olds, being a 20-win team makes sense.
The Spurs quit those lineups starting Dec. 6, and voila we have a -9.3 NetRtg in 5 games since. So overall we might be more normal bad instead of historically bad.
Also even this season, the Spurs still have a +3.9 NetRtg when Tre Jones and Wemby play together (537 possessions, 50-win team). Simply having 48 minutes with a real point guard on the floor would go such a long way. Hopefully by next season we'll stop this experiment of playing most of our minutes without a real PG on the floor. GSG
Appreciate you Sam!
And thanks for the input and extra data in the comments here! I agree 100% about this team looking just normal bad instead of historically terrible since they moved Vic to the five! Hit a bump in the road against the Pelicans, but generally think they're trending in the right direction on defense! And for the love of god I want Tre in the starting lineup and some more Graham minutes if it means a serviceable playmaker for Wemby at all times!
Happy Birthday Noah!
Thanks Emmanuel! And thanks for the awesome question! Been wanting to write a little bit about that topic!
You bet!