Looking ahead at the San Antonio Spurs’ road trip without key players

Looking ahead at the San Antonio Spurs’ road trip without key players

The Spurs are set to go an extended road trip. How do you think they’ll do without Castle and Wimayama? You are Locked on Spurs, your daily San Antonio Spurs podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Happy Friday. Welcome back to Locked On Spurs right here on the Lockton NBA network. I’m your host, Jeff Garcia, Spurs beat Writer for Ken 5 TV in San Antonio. Glad to have you all back. Hope you’re having a great day. End of the work week, everybody. Yeah, the weekend is here. I hope you all get to enjoy it. Maybe pick up some wins in the horizon. Yeah, maybe. We’ll talk about that in a few minutes. Uh, as always, uh, make sure to subscribe wherever. Get your favorite podcast, iTunes, Spotify, Ky Plus, app, YouTube. Go subscribe right now. Become an everyday. And if you are an everyday, keep on doing that. Be part of the number one sports podcast network across the land. Number one. Yeah. Congratulations to everybody here. And thank y’all for making that possible. So, what are we talking about today? Hey, you’re seeing on your screen if you’re watching on YouTube, but if you’re not, uh, we’re going at the road trip that’s set to begin right now after a long home stand. The Spurs got pretty stiff competition on the horizon and we’re going to get that. Asked the big question, can they survive this road trip likely without Castle and Wimyama? And then Mitch Johnson, he’s happy to coach a team without Wimi and Castle. Is this one of his earliest biggest tests in his young head coaching career? pretty much talking about that and more. Let’s go to bring in our guest, first time guest here. He is Mr. Jared Weiss of the Athletic Spurs out here in San Antonio. Jared, welcome back to I’m sorry. Welcome to Lockdown Spurs. We appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to join us here. Happy to be here with you. By the way, I heard I heard you just broke your pre PR on a bench right now. Heard you’re at 500 max, man. Congratulations, buddy. How did you Little bit less that. A little little bit less than that. We might have to take a couple zeros off of that one. H you put the little two and a half plates on there and be like, “Can I get a spot? Anybody? Can I get a spot?” Uh Jared, you want to give out your uh ex handle there? Uh for those people who want to follow you? Oh, yeah. Jared Weissmbba. Exactly. He is the new Spurs writer for the athletic. Make sure you follow him right now because the season is well underway. Uh Jared, I know I don’t want to keep you away from your workout there. there. I know you got to go flex and get in front of that mirror and post on IG all your moves and everything there, but let’s dive into some silver and black talk here. So, uh the Spurs just finished a uh nice long extended home stand. Now, they got to get on the road. They got four um pretty tough games, I would say. Uh hopefully they get a measury match against Portland. I’m sorry, against Phoenix, excuse me. Then they got Portland second game. Then they got a they got Denver. More of that in a bit. and they wrap it up in Minnesota. It it it feels to me, Jared, when I look at those four teams that lie ahead for the silver and black, we’re gonna probably get an early look at this this medal, this toughness, if this team has a wherewithal to take on some of the bigger boys in the NBA. What do you think? Well, yeah. I mean, this road trip is a lot harder than we expected coming into the season because Phoenix is continuing to play great. Like, they where are they in net rating? I think they’re at seventh in net rating. They’re actually ahead of the Spurs right now. They they have uh I think they’re like what two games back of the Spurs in the standings. Like Phoenix is probably the shock team in the NBA this year and we’ve already seen how well they play against the Spurs. They completely took Webby out of that game a few years ago. So that one’s going to be interesting. Then obviously Denver and Minnesota, two of the top teams in the NBA. Portland uh not in great shape right now. So I don’t think that’s going to be a huge challenge for them, but uh I mean we’ll see. I mean Memphis without all their point guards was a tough beat for them. So maybe we’re going to we’re going to see some reality hit pretty hard and obviously they have a you know Atlanta is going to be a test. So they they have a lot of good teams that they’re facing here and it’s I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re falling close to 500 by the end of this trip just because of the quality of teams they’re facing. And you know what Jared, if they survive this at a 500 record, I think I’d be okay with that. I’d be okay with that because the last thing this team needs is to go on a four game losing skin in the West. even a three uh three game losing ski because they and we’ve seen it was just not too long ago Jared they were number two three in the west and they seen it fall down as far as fifth you know was six they got the Lakers kind of surging a little bit LeBron is back Lucas playing out of his mind right now uh so yeah they got to keep the ship steady until two of their bigger weapons get back from injury uh I look at these next four games and I’m just get the elephant out of the room right now. Okay, let’s just get forward to Denver. That might be the toughest out right now. I I think if there’s a silver lining in that game that lies ahead is, hey, at least the Spurs will get a look at what a championship team is made of, how they can learn from that, even if they get drugged. Um, I think that could be a silver lining. Look, I’m not counting them out. The Spurs chop Denver a few years ago. I don’t know if you remember this. Um, I think they uh spoiled Denver’s playoff positioning, homecourt advantage in the final game. Devonte Graham, when was the last time you heard that name? Uh, he exploded for amount of points and uh helped the Spurs beat Denver. Hopefully they Spurs can shock the world again. But if I look at that game and if they get clubbed, fine. But learn some lessons on that court. Spurs. But I want to start off with Phoenix. I I got to get some revenge, Jared. I got to get some revenge. I’m going to chalk that loss up to just a blip on the radar, a trap game, but I got to see a little bit more mossy from the silver and black starting game one on this road trip. Your thoughts? I mean, I I think it’s been proven that that was not a blip on the radar with the way that Phoenix is playing. And I’m not sure if Grayson Allen’s going to be healthy for that game, but I mean, Devin Booker has been playing at, you know, almost an MVP level. He’s just he’s been phenomenal. And, you know, his efficiency has been great. His his assist numbers are through the roof, obviously. Grayson Allen has been good too. They just Jordan not has that team playing on the string. They’re, you know, like like their defense is even like pretty solid. I think they’re 12th in defense. Their offense has just been very high high octane. They they’re one of those teams that kind of lives their principles very well. And it’s always cool when you see a roster that you expect is going to suck coming into the season. They get a new coach and we’re like, hm, I wonder what this coach is going to be able to do. And you know, Cleveland last year, their offense was phenomenal and their defense was really good. Obviously, they had the DPOI and to see him bring, I think, a lot of that same connectivity and to empower a great playmaker like Booker and have everything run through him. It’s like this is a really good coaching job here. This is a team that’s very wellrun. So, this is going to really test Mitch Johnson’s ability to like go toe-to-toe with a team that’s really wellrun right now. Yeah, exactly. And um I look at that next game, Portland, that seems to be quote unquote the window game, but you know, this is the NBA. Um, anything can happen. Mitch Johnson’s repeated it over and over again, win or lose, you know, is it’s tough to get a W in the NBA, and it is. It is. I mean, you mentioned Memphis. Um, they were playing tough versus San Antonio for about three, three and a half periods until the Spurs just took over. But nevertheless, I look at these next four, Jared, and there’s one common word that pops up in those conferences that we sit through, you and me, after each and every game. Mitch Johnson, what does he say? Discipline. He uses words like discipline, maturity, uh mature basketball. You know, I I feel that the Spurs do have those laws as example we saw in Memphis. Um it feels like this team still needs to have that experience. They yes, they are experienced, but their main pieces are not yet. Uh so I think that’s what I’m looking at in this road trip is the maturity level basketball-wise of this relatively young squad. What are your thoughts? Sure. I mean, this team is an early development stage. I mean, not super early. I guess they’re kind of like mid early. They’re getting out of the novice stage, but this team started off really hot. They were not they’re not an elite team yet. Even with Wii out there, they have a lot of work to do. They’re really good and they they have like a pretty good concept that they’re going through, but they their playbook on offense is not super refined. Their defensive execution is good, but it could be better for sure. And what’s really interesting about this road trip is getting to see what does the defense look like without WBY. Like right how coordinated can they be? How good is their communication? How good are their rotations? All that kind of stuff. Especially against a team with a really like highle playmaker like Devin Booker. Like they just had a good game against Memphis who was missing like all of almost all of their point guard rotation. And Jiren Jackson is running a lot of that offense. Deon Booker is on a totally different level. Nicola Joic, Anthony Edwards, and Mike Connley. It’s like the these teams have, you know, much much more potent offenses. It’s going to really test all those perimeter guys to see how well coordinated they are. And I think it’s a good thing like the Spurs, they need a good wakeup call out of their hot start once they came back to reality of like, all right, what does this team really need to improve upon? And well, playing without WBY would probably be number one. And then for the offense, like they’re missing Castle, missing Harper, who maybe will come back during this trip. Maybe Castle will come back during this trip at some point. like this is one is giving Darren Fox a ton of room to show what he can do and to find his footing with this, you know, with this team. And it gives them a chance to really work on their spacing. I what the thing I think I harped on the most early in the season was that their spacing wasn’t very good on offense. They just their all of their guys weren’t moving around the perimeter on a spring. They didn’t seem to know how to get themselves open, where to cut, where to where to flare out to if you’re a shooter to like be to make yourself available for the pass when guys like Vicker drawing a double team. And it’s gotten better, I think, as the season has gone on and we’re seeing like Harrison Barnes, Julian Chimpani having really shooting season so far. Barnes is like having incredible shooting season. He’s like almost he’s like almost at 50% from three, right? And then that come against Memphis was like his that’s kind of like his his like real magnum opus of the season. So, you know, they have the pieces and what’s good about this team is we know they have really good depth. Like they’re 10 deep and good guy, like good rotation players that you would be willing to play every single night. And so that’s why they’re still going to be solid even without a bunch of their guys. But this I think the big thing you’re looking for here is like what can this defense do? How reactive can this defense be? And I’m less concerned about Joic just because like Jokic it’s not that like he’s like it’s easy to know how to guard him but just like everyone is guarded him so many times that there’s a bunch of just like kind of playbooks you can call from on how you know what’s your game plan on him and so so there’s like it’s not going to be as there’s not going to be as much to like learn from that game but it’s those other games against more traditional or not traditional but just like more typical basically teams that don’t have Yic who’s like completely atypical player that makes you defend it in a totally different way. It’s going to be interesting to see how do they defend against those teams, how do they rotate against those teams and then like how good does the look running the offense 24/7 and who else is going to step up. Yeah, exactly. And a good way to segue into our next segment. Uh coming up next, we’re going to talk about can the Spurs survive this road trip as of this recording without Wimby and Castle. So, what should be some things the Spurs should be doing to uh come out of this road trip as less beat up as they possibly can? We’re joined by the athletics Jared Weisel. Coming up next, more silver and black talk. Hey, let’s talk about Quo. One of the tools that help make a huge difference in business owners is Quo, formerly open phone. It’s a great same business phone system that you heard me talk about before with just a new name. Here is why it matters. Every miss call is money left on the table. When every customer conversation counts, you need a phone system that keeps you connected 24/7. What is the number one business phone system that streamize customer communications? It works right through an app on your phone or computer, so no more turning around two phones and relying on a landline. 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And again, we want to make it very clear as of this recording Castle and Wimi are not playing. They’re out with injuries. So, we’re going to go with that assumption. Nevertheless though, you hit on a big word in the first segment there, that was depth. We saw it shine versus Memphis. Uh we saw shine a little bit in Sacramento before uh well versus Sacramento before Castle exited. There are signs there that this team can weather the storm as much as they can. Now, look, you can’t duplicate what Wimby does and nobody can. Nobody can. So, Cornet is going to have to step up. All the other bigs are going to have to step up. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sohan has to play a little bit of five uh if Wimby’s is not back during this road trip, which I doubt. But nevertheless, dep. Honestly, that’s actually one of the things I’m really interested in is how are they going to use Sohan? um because he’s the guy that right now it’s hard to figure out what his role is instantly on a night toight basis and he seems most effective when he’s at the five because he can space to the corners right now it appears and he’s really good at playing you know near the baseline near the rim he’s good at screening and rolling like those are the things he does well on offense handling the balls a little like he’s a guy he’s a he’s a four that can handle the ball he’s not a ball handler necessarily he’s I’ve seen a few People mentioned Ben Simmons. It’s actually a pretty decent comparison, and I mean that in a positive way. Like, sure, before Ben Simmons career fell apart, he was an all-star caliber power forward essentially, uh, who was a really good ball handler. Just the lack of shooting and the confidence issues really got to him. So, I’m seeing a little bit of that from him, but I think that he he doesn’t he doesn’t seem lost out there as much as like he’s trying to find his place out there. And so when we’re talking about spacing, he’s one of those guys that I think still needs to figure out how does he fit into the spacing of the offense. And when they’re able to play small ball five with him, that makes it easy because he’s the guy that gets to roll through space. He’s the guy that sets the screens and he looks really good in those situations. Yeah. Yeah, he really does. And you expect him to get some more minutes as this road trip begins. Uh Cornette, he’s going to be Cornet. He’s going to do his best at starting five. So you’re hoping some good things without WBY. Castle was interesting though because if they move F4 without him and barring any, you know, updated IR list and hey, he’s available. Um, they seem to have more hitters, more guys that can step up to fulfill in Castle for what he does now. Uh, you’re looking at obviously Fox, that’s the obvious one, but I mean, Kell can uh walk the ball up, Devin can. So, I don’t know if we want to give Sohan PTSD though. I know he freaked. They gave him the point guard D. A little bit a try, especially because he’s such a good defender. Like you got to keep that’s the thing is like they got to keep experimenting to find so hand roll here because obviously with this contract situation like you got to figure it out but like they need to figure it out because you see his defense is really good. He was really good defending Triple J in that Memphis game. He’s a very versatile defender and you know he’s he’s got like he he tries hard and he he tries to get in the mix very often and so they his skill set’s really tough to find a role for in the NBA if you can’t play him at the five a lot of the time. But there is there is a there’s a place for him on this team. We’ve seen it in the past and there’s still got to be one. And they got to keep experimenting to really let him find his his vibe cuz once he’s moving the ball well and he’s like a good conduit on offense, that’s when this team’s going to get really good cuz this team ball movement becomes an issue for them sometimes, especially when they’re trying to play through WBY in the post. So like they need to get everybody really moving the ball in the string. It is. Yeah. And I I but we kind of focusing on a little bit of a castle here. it feels like they can they can you know hold the fort down a little stronger than they can maybe with Wimi uh simply because they can get the offense uh from several guys you know those castle minutes can be spread among you the usual suspects you know Vel so etc etc um but I look at it more on the defensive side on the perimeter of what Castle does I think there you might see some moments where the team misses him during this road trip your thoughts well sure I mean the number one thing they’re going to miss from him is the the defensive pressure. Yeah. And the and the intensity going at the rim like that. The their defense was pretty good so far this year. And a big part of that was just that Castle was just smothering people. They were getting out into transition. I mean, we saw in that Memphis game like they didn’t have a fast break point until the late fourth quarter, I think it was, or the middle of the fourth quarter. Like this team needs to live in transition. I mean, especially when WMBBY’s out there and maybe maybe that principle is a little bit different with, you know, without WBY out there, especially cuz like Cornet isn’t a good fast break guy. So, it’s a good fast break guy at least, but like Cornett’s really good making reads in the half court offense. So, maybe they don’t want to put as much pressure. Um, but like that Castle’s energy level this year has just been awesome. It’s been off the charts and it’s allowed him to put up some pretty good numbers even though his like, you know, his feel for the game still has a lot of work. just because he’s just so intense and he’s so aggressive and he’s so persistent and he can do things that like Kell who also has that ability. He, you know, Kell doesn’t have that downhill explosiveness at the same level. So, it’s great that they have this guy that could just attack the rack at full force over and over again, you know, and now De’ar Fox is back. He’s starting to get his feet under him. We’re seeing he’s getting into the paint like 30 times a game, but like he’s getting there a ton and he’s getting to that floater. we’ll see if he can get all the way to the rack and then that’s when he starts drawing fouls and stuff like that. Once D’Arren can do that, then he’s like that’s when he’s in the mix of being an all-star again. Um but so until that happens like Kell was their one guy on the team that could get to the rim because that’s the whip that’s the funny thing about the Spurs is they don’t have a lot of guys that consistently drive to the rim and get all the way to the rim and finish. Yeah, exactly. And you know, we’re we’re we’re seeing some areas where they can, you know, help to survive. But ultimately, what do you think it’s going to come down to? Again, under the assumption that they’re not going to be having Castle and Wimby in these next few games on the road, where does it begin? Is it just kicking up that pace, trying to get downhill as fast as they can and and and just make it a track meet? Where do you see them kind of figuring this out to survive life without win? I think that’s the big thing is like can they still have that high pressure defense that can turn Goomb over and get in the fast break because you know their three-point shooting’s been okay so far. Um you know I mean Harrison Barnes has been shooting great. Champenni is shooting like 37 and a half% as of this recording. So he’s having a solid shooting year but not really at his level. And then Fox is the only other guy that’s shooting average. So all right. So the three-point quality is not very good. So they’re going to need more volume. They’re going to just need more transition for easy buckets. That’s kind of the name of the game most of the time for them, but especially right now when they don’t have victory, just kind of settle in and just run the offense. Exactly. Yeah. So, I I’m with you. I think it starts for me on that upping the pace. Um trying your best in transition D, just defense in general. And um you kind of like that they got a few games under their belt without Castle and Wimby. At least they was at home, but at least they kind of got an idea of what they have to do uh to hold the four down till those guys come back. Uh and again, I I look at these next four games on the road against some pretty good teams. It’s a chance to really test their metal and see what this team is made of. And look, if they fall in the face, fine. It happens. Jared, I just don’t want them to get get clubbed upside the head and you know, give me a good fight first. That’s all I want. Just give us a good fight. and uh we’ll appreciate it. But if they come out two and two, I think I’d be happy with that. Uh and minimum. Well, what do you think? Yeah, that would have been fair even if they were healthy. Uh I mean Minnesota and Denver are two of the best teams in the NBA and Phoenix is playing at a very high level right now. I mean that’s three teams that are hard to beat. And then of course they only come home for one game, then they’re back on another road trip and they have Orlando. Uh New Orleans probably won’t be that hard. Although Derrick Queen’s been killing it, so who knows? But uh like this is a really hard schedule ahead for them. like they’re they’re come out of this in around the same place they are in the standings and just hold down the fort until Victor comes back and just you know get some of these like some of these other guys need to hit a rhythm like Devin Facel he’s one of like the big litmus test guys coming into the season of like is he going to prove that he could be a consistent enough shooter that he can prove value for this team with the amount of money they’re paying him because they got other guys that are getting ready to step up here and you know Vel so far his shooting has not been very good. He’s shooting, let’s see, is it 34.7% from three. Like, that’s got to be a lot higher. That’s got to be in the 38 to 39 range for him to really be valuable. He’s got to hit a couple more shots a game. And that’s a lot. I mean, if you’re taking a lot of threes like he is, two more shots, you know, two more threes that go down a game, that brings you from like 13 points a game to 19 points a game. So, just somewhere around that would be ideal. They can get more consistency out of him shooting. That really changes the equation for this team. It really, really does. We’ll see how the Spurs fare in the next four away from San Antonio. He is Jared Weiss. He writes for the letter to cover the Spurs for that outlet. Make sure to go follow him on X. We’ll talk about all that in just a few seconds. Coming up next, Mitch Johnson. Yeah. Is this, you know, life without Wim and Castle or Wimi? Is this kind of one of his earliest test as a head coach? Let’s talk about that coming up next right here on Lockdown Spurs. This episode is brought to you by Price Picks. You and I make decisions every day, but on Price Picks, being right can get you paid. Don’t miss any of the excitement of this sports season. 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Hey, use code locked NBA to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code locked NBA for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup. Price picks. It’s good to be right. We’re back right here on Locktown Spurs joined by Mr. Jared Weiss. He writes for the Athletic. He covers the Spurs out here in San Antonio. Good guy, great guy. Make sure to follow him on X. He’ll tell you about that in a few minutes and you want to do it right now. Especially because Spurs season is here, baby. It’s here. It’s here. Here they come out. The game’s looking good. But Mitch Johnson, for all intents and purposes, I know last year everybody he was interim head coach. We get that. But really, this is his rookie season as an NBA head coach officially. We understand that. And so far, not bad. You know, five and0 to start the season, you know. two game loy skid the most they’ve suffered so far this season you know uh showing a lot of more growth on that court teams playing pretty good now unfortunately the injury bug does happen to uh all NBA teams at one point they got the Spurs early uh Castle and Wimby all know we don’t have to rehash that they’re out for a while due to injuries so Jared my question now is is this would you consider this point in his young NBA head coaching career playing without or not having his star player Wimby and then of course Castle as kind of an early test to see what Mitch as a coach is made of. Your thoughts? Sure. I mean of all the people we’re talking about getting tested. Yeah. Mitch Johnson’s getting tested more than everybody cuz you complet I mean Wii is the core of what they do and they have to completely change their scheme to accommodate for him. And you know, I don’t think motivation is going to be that hard. Like when you use a star when you lose a star player, that gets all your other guys to try harder because they have more opportunity. The question is what can he do to make I think more of their defense hold up, right? Cuz their defense doesn’t have to be super on point out on the perimeter because they got Victor back there and he just cleans up so many things. How do you get by when you’re not cleaning everything up? You know, they’re they’re playing Luke Cornett and Kelly Olen and Jeremy Sohan at the five. That’s their rotation right now. Cornett is a is a pretty good defender. He is not super athletic. He needs to be in the right position in order to make that work. That means your guards have to be funneling at the right angle so that Cornet can intercept the ball at the right position. It’s like, you know, there’s no We we saw like in these games like Webby is out of position. He just like turns around, puts his hand out behind him blindly and block shots. He’s able, they probably have a lot of really bad defensive breakdowns all the time that we just don’t really even notice that much because of Victor. And also, Victor just takes the steam out of opponents because he’ll just teams will just nope it where they drive at him and they just turn around like nope, I don’t want anything to do with that. They don’t have guys that do that besides WBY because like who else in the NBA even does that besides WBY? So, there’s just so many more factors that come in for the defense from consistency over the course of the night to, you know, the angles that they have to feed the ball into, stuff like that that they just have to be so much more precise on. And like that’s that’s really that’s really hard to coach. Like that is the kind of the key to coaching. Like coaches, most of what they do is they build a defensive scheme that can be consistent. They keep guys on point with their personnel, scouts, and all that kind of stuff so that they know what to, you know, they know how to react in split seconds of things. And then on offense, it’s mostly about like can you just read the tempo of the game to pick the right stuff that you want your guys to run. But for the most part, your guys are kind of like figuring it out out there offensively. So defense is where a coach I think really really shows their ability and this is where Mitch has got to show it. Yeah. And uh good news is uh he has a guy on staff named Papovic if he needs to lean on. So that’s always helpful too. Uh he needs to make a quick call. Hey, I’m in the other office. Can you come by? I’ll go by. I’ll go I’ll go. Pop is around. Yeah, I I’m pretty sure he may have told Mitch, “Hey, I’m here if you need me. I’m here if you need me. You can knock on my door.” Uh but but I, you know, I would hope that Mitch would try to figure out on his own. You know, there’s something to be said about taking the training wheels off. And you know, if Mitch has to fall flat on his face to learn, then so be it. You know, again, we forget that he is technically by definition a rookie NBA head coach. And just as much as a rookie NBA player, a young player has to take their lumps, so does a coach. And uh that’s where I really want to see how Mitch handles this uh moving forward in the short term without two of his uh big weapons on the roster. Uh yeah, I’m with you. I got to see defensively how he adjusts without WBY. Offensively, I think it’d be get a little easier because the guy he has the horses on there from Fox to Devin to Kell, you know, Barnes, throw him in the mix, too. So, he should be okay there. It’s just defensively, how is he going to adjust and, you know, he’s going to be taking on some good coaches in this road trip. You mentioned one, the Phoenix A, you know, see how he how he does the chess matching with that guy. You know, the list goes on and on. So, yeah, I think this is a really nice early test for the young Spurs head coach. I think he’ll come out pretty well. I mean, sure, you know, just like anybody, we’re all human. We make mistakes. We’ve seen Mitch do a few of those already this season. But hey, if you can minimize that, get this team in the rhythm, hold the fork down while these big weapons are out, they should be fine. So, all in all, I I got I got a lot of confidence in Mitch. I think he should be be doing a bangup job when uh when it’s all said and done. Your thoughts? Yeah, I I I don’t know. I mean, it’s not that I have a lack of confidence in Mitch. I just think this is kind of uncharted territory for him this season where he has to have an extended run against top teams without Victor because last year obviously they didn’t have Victor for most of the, you know, for the second the season and that team is just in a different place. Like this team is trying to win now and obviously there’s some developmental curve to it. They’re trying to learn how to close games. They’re trying to really get a feel for their offensive system. So like obviously there’s some learning factors here, but the standard here is he’s supposed to win all these games. There’s not there there’s no more, you know, cushion for him to walk walk on if they get a couple losses. So I’m really curious to see obviously can they win these games? And two, if they start losing and he’s hitting, you know, some adversity for the first time this year, how does he handle that? What’s his messaging? Is he going to take the blame if they’re playing poorly? Is he going to call people out? You know, we saw like Thomas, you saw those in in Memphis has not been afraid to call people out. No, not at all. Rounding the table. Is he like what kind of what kind of coaches Mitch when he’s facing the adversity of expectations, which is something that he hasn’t had to do yet and it’s going to happen at some point this year? They’re they’re not a 70- win team. They’re not. They maybe could be a 50- win team if things go really really well, but they’re probably more, you know, somewhere in the 40s. And that means there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs this year. And it’s not just going to be injury. this isn’t gonna be and and that’s the other thing is like obviously he’s not going to make excuses but how is the public gonna react if they have a bad road trip? Are they going to go, “Oh, it’s just no, it’s just no Webby.” Or are they going to look at the roster and be like, “There’s some serious concerns here with this not serious concerns, but like there’s some legitimate concerns here with this roster to figure out, yeah, can these guys perform really well? And how good are these guys without Victor?” Which probably doesn’t matter for the long-term development of this team. You’re developing this team, assuming Victor is the guy at the helm, cuz if if something goes wrong with Victor’s career go and it goes sideways, then who cares? He’s on the roster. You’re just going to clear house and rebuild around Harbor and Castle. So, like, whatever. Um, but like you know this is a good opportunity for guys to show this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to step up when there’s an injury during the postseason or just when the pressure is on. How do I handle more responsibility? Like the there’s a lot of questions to answer here. There’s more questions to answer without the big guy out there. Yeah, exactly. Uh but life would be a lot easier if you see that guy right behind Kell right now on that court as the Spurs about to head on to that road trip. But you know, good test. It basically I think overall just a good test for the roster coaching staff included. So we’ll get to see exactly what these Spurs are made of and hopefully they come out not too beat up at the end of the next four games away from San Antonio. He is Jared Weiss of the Athletic. Jared, uh how can fans follow you? Uh what are you working on over there? The Athletic regarding the silver and black. Uh yeah, I mean uh go to the Athletic subscribe there. You know, I’m dropping, you know, usually a few stories a week. Uh but you know working on some big picture stuff now especially with uh WBY out and then you find me on Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Jared Weissmbba. I’m doing videos after every single game to you know just kind of do my observation I think is interesting and I’m trying to have some fun with it. So follow along over there. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I actually saw you uh doing your videos at the Frost the other day. I said I’m going to leave the man alone. He’s working. He’s working right now. So doing all things good for the Spurs fans. Uh whether here in San Antonio or away. Uh Spurs fans definitely love their silver and black and and you’re trying not to make us look bad next time at the conference, right? Be flexing and you know your workouts there, buddy. What are you working out today? What are you working out today? I think I’m going to do chest shoulders back today. We’ll see. The triple hitter, man. That’s a That’s a triple hitter. We got a lot ahead. I got to get I got to get my lift in today before it’s too late. You know, after this Adventure TV, we’re recording. Obviously, I’m having fun with Jared. You know, he’s he’s a good guy. He knows I’m just messing with him. But, uh, trust me, Spurs fans don’t think I’m picking on you. I’m not, everybody. I’m not. Jared’s fine. Um, I’m actually going to hit the gym, too. I think I’m going to do a a cardio session today. Like shoot for like an hour, hour 15. But I have to mix it up. That’s for sure. I have to mix it up here. I have to do like 20 minutes on a the stairstepper, like 20 minutes on a treadmill, 15 on a bike. That’s the only way I can survive a cardio day. Uh, and yeah, so I am not looking forward to that. Just like the Spurs offense, you got to mix it up. God, look at that. Look at Jared, man. Going to close us out in a good way. Jared, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule, your workout schedule to hop on here to close us out this week right here at Lockdown Spurs. So, there’s good news and bad news, Jared, because you made your debut here on Los. appreciate it. But now you’re on my wheel, so you’ll probably get that text from me one day and be like, “God bless him. Jeff is texting me again.” Oh my goodness. Well, I’ll have to see you all very soon. Exactly. Uh again, Jared, thank you again for your time. Everybody else, we thank you all for making lockdown stories. Your first listen each and every day free and available where we get podcast iTunes, Spotify, Ken 5 plus app, YouTube. You know what to do. What is that? Subscribe ASAP. Become an everydayer right now. Thank you all for making lockdown sports podcast. The number one in the nation sports podcasting network. Yeah. So, we we definitely appreciate it. Hey, while you’re at it, and subscribe to Lockdown Spurs on YouTube. Stay on YouTube, search Lockdown NBA, subscribe to LockNBA. That’ll catch you up on all things outside of just only the Spurs, all the rest of the leagues. So, go do that right now. We’ll be back next week as the Spurs season continues. So, for Mr. Jared Weiss, I am Jeff Garcia. We’re going to put on a lock on this episode of Locked on Spurs. [Music]

San Antonio Spurs brace for a pivotal road trip as injuries sideline top talents Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle.

Can head coach San Antonio Spurs’ Mitch Johnson guide his young squad through matchups against Western Conference heavyweights like the Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets, and Minnesota Timberwolves? Depth, defensive discipline, and accelerated offensive pace become crucial as the Spurs face early adversity and fierce competition.

Host Jeff Garcia and The Athletic’s Jared Weiss highlight the importance of versatile defenders like Jeremy Sochan, key scoring from Devin Vassell, and how role players must step up in Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle’s absence.

Insightful discussion centers on Johnson’s coaching adaptability, the impact of injuries on the defensive scheme, and what the Spurs must do to maintain momentum in a tight playoff race. Will this stretch reveal the roster’s true resilience and signal long-term growth for San Antonio?

Timestamps:

0:00 – Spurs Road Trip Challenges
Discussion begins on the Spurs’ upcoming extended road trip, the absence of Castle and Wemby, and expectations for how the team might adapt. Rudy Campos and Jared Weiss preview the matchups and analyze what fans can expect from the roster under adversity.

10:15 – Surviving Without Stars
Focused analysis on how the Spurs can survive the road trip without Wemby and Castle. Topics include depth, player roles, and strategy adjustments. Exploring who steps up and what changes to expect in the Spurs’ rotations and style of play.

24:26 – Head Coach Mitch Johnson’s Early Test
Debate and opinions about Mitch Johnson’s real test as the Spurs’ head coach during injuries. How the coaching staff copes, lessons learned, expectations set, and long-term implications for his leadership.

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