The Spurs Should NOT Be THIS Good

The Spurs Should NOT Be THIS Good

Yo, what’s going on y’all? It’s Conan. The San Antonio Spurs should not be as good as they’ve been so far this season because they’ve been without Victor Webbyama for almost half the year at this point. And they’re still 17 and seven. They are tied with the Lakers for the four seed in the West, half a game back of the three-seated Rockets, only one and a half back of the two-seated Denver Nuggets, and playing some of the best basketball in the NBA while missing a top five player in the sport. We has not played over their last 11 games. And in those 11 games, they’re 8 and three, including a win tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers 132 to19. Uh both a showcase of what the Spurs offense can do, but also an indictment on this Lakers defense, which we will absolutely talk about later in the video. But the Spurs have been cooking. Defensively, they’ve struggled. Of course, when you don’t have Victor Webbyama as that anchor, you’re not going to get nearly as many stops. But they’ve really found their footing offensively, and it’s been in large part because De’aran Fox is back now. And so far, Fox is having one of the better seasons that he’s had. In fact, it’s probably the best season he’s had since that year where the Kings went to the playoffs. He’s putting up 24 a night, four boards, six and a half assists, 1.4 steals on 49% from the field, and 38.8% from three. That three-point mark is a careerhigh. That’s his second highest mark of his career from the field. 6.3 assists is one of the higher marks of his career. Uh he’s been more again like that downhill attacking force, but he’s got that three-point counter that he showed in that season where he won clutch player of the year and you know he was all NBA. Like this has been really impressive stuff from De’ar Fox. This is the guy that they traded for where it felt like wow he’s going to be electric next to Victor Webyama and especially if Wemb misses games or you know he goes to the bench they now have somebody to go ahead and elevate the squad and that’s exactly what De’Arren Fox has done. And tonight against the Lakers he had 20 points. He hit four of eight threes. He hit a couple of them down the stretch of this game when the Lakers tried to make a comeback. Had a couple of steals. A Fox is just incredible. But he’s not the only dynamic guard on this team because there’s also Stfan Castle and Dylan Harper. Castle’s had some issues with turnovers and three-point shooting this season, but almost everything else has been phenomenal. And today he put up 30 points, 10 boards, six assists. He is capable of getting a triple double on basically any given night. He hit three threes. He hit what 10 of 14 from the field. He’s really good at getting downhill. He’s extremely physical. He is uh willing to not only get into contact but fight through the contact, finish for an and one. There are some times where he starts to get into that rhythm and that three-point shot really starts to fall. I still believe at some point he will be a serviceable three-point shooter. And of course, he’s a tenacious defender, somebody that’s going to give an opposing guard trouble. On the other end, Castle and Fox have been such a fun duo. and when he’s played so far, cuz he has missed some games. Dylan Harper has also added to that guard group in a big way. Another guy who is so good at surveying the defense. He looks way beyond his years. He does not play like a rookie. His fuel for the game, his pace, his ability to kind of get the defender on his hip and work down low. Some of the finishes that he goes ahead and makes, the three-point shot is definitely still coming along, and that was one of the things that he was going to have to work on coming into the league. But you can see he is reading the game far beyond what a rookie point guard should be capable of. And we think about what this team could be in a couple of years with Stefon Castle developing the way that he is. And Dylan Harper and Dear Fox, like it might end up being a bit of a log jam at the guard position, but they’re also versatile and each are capable of playing a number of different roles, putting on different hats to be successful the way that the Spurs need them to. If one guy has to kind of let someone else cook, they are capable. They’re finding some pretty fun chemistry so far this season and they’re supported by really fun role players. Harrison Barnes has been so awesome this season. 13 and a half points per game while shooting 43.3% from three and tonight he had four threes. Harrison Barnes is just everlasting. He’s just going to be a good role player until he’s 50 years old. Julian Champeny had 16 points, seven boards, two assists, two of four from three in this one. Kell Johnson hasn’t shot the best from the outside, but in this game, he hit three threes, and he’s been a spark plug on a number of occasions, had 17 points. If we want to talk about instant offense, Devin Vel has been so good at that this season, too. He’s had multiple big-time scoring explosions. The game they won against the Nuggets, Deon Vel just took over down the stretch, and every time the Nuggets left him open for a second, it was an automatic bucket. There is so much dynamic offensive talent here that is going to be supported in a big way by defense when Wembley comes back and is of course making that deep level impact, especially now that he’s got Luke Cornet who’s been a really good signing. He was obviously going to be an impact player for this team and once he’s moving back to the bench and he’s able to come in and it’s either Wemby or Cornet out there, you’re always going to have a very capable defensive big. Uh Kelly Ool Lin hasn’t been called on a ton, but as of late with the Wemby injury, he has and he’s not done a lot, but he’s been serviceable. And that is a big shift from the Spurs of last year where every time Webby leaves the court or if he’s not playing, the big group just collapses offensively, they can’t get anything going, it’s a far more dynamic team. And when Wemb comes back, because some of y’all, I feel like might have forgotten what Webby was doing so far this season. So, let me go ahead and recite the stats to you. 26.2 2 a night, 13 boards, four assists, 3.6 blocks on 35% shooting from three and 50% from the field. He had taken a whole another step to being like a bonafide top five player in the sport. And it feels like if he plays enough games, he’s going to win deep. He’s going to be all NBA fur team. That is a guy that they have not had over the last 11 games, around half of their season almost. And they’re still 17 and seven, eight and three in the last 11. That’s ridiculous. That is extremely impressive. And now WBY, it sounds like might come back for the NBA Cup semi-final against the Oklahoma City Thunder. That’s the NBA’s dream right there. You get Webby versus Chad. Webby versus Shay. Uh one of the hottest up and cominging teams against the reigning NBA champions, a squad that seems like they might end up breaking the Warriors record of 73 wins. And we’ll talk about that for sure. You know, I’m going to talk about my Thunder in this video. It’s going to be really fun. And we’re going to see the Spurs and Thunder play a lot coming up. and the Spurs like for them this is a stretch of challenges because they do play the Thunder you know coming up on Saturday in the semi-final and then they play them on Tuesday December 23rd and Thursday December 25th on Christmas and that one is in Oklahoma City they play the Thunder again on January 13th and between those two games they play Cleveland New York Indiana Portland Memphis the Lakers the Celtics the Minnesota Timberwolves there are a lot of really tough games coming up is the perfect time to get Victor Webinama back because they’re going to need him and this is a chance for them to go ahead and prove that they are legitimate because I believe they are. I think this team when WBY comes back is going to be right there as a top 10 defense and offensively I believe they can not only maintain but maybe even improve a little bit on this like 7 to 8ish mark that they’re sitting at right now. If this team finishes as a top six or so offense and a top 10 defense, I’m not going to be shocked. And this is only like the first year where they’re really putting it together and they’re still taking this big of a step forward despite a number of injuries cuz not only has Webby not played recently, but Fox didn’t start the season. Dylan Harper’s missed some games. Like this has not been a complete team for what even feels like a moment so far and they’re still playing this well. And Mitch Johnson deserves a ton of credit because it’s big shoes to fill when you come in after Greg Papovic and everybody was a little, you know, like what is he going to bring to the table? Turns out he’s just a really good coach. I feel very confident in him running the show here in San Antonio. And I feel very confident that this is a Spurs team that we’re not just talking about for the future. Like of course the future is terrifying with them when you talk about the future assets they have. They could trade for Giannis or some other big star if they wanted or even if they just develop these guys like next year another year of growth for Wemby, year two for Dylan Harper, year three for Stefon Castle, another season of Dear and Fox and Webby building up chemistry. Like there is a lot to be terrified of over there in San Antonio. And at any point they could pull the trigger, make big-time upgrades. Like, this is a team that is poised to be a force for years to come. But even as soon as this year, I think they could win a playoff series. Right now, they beat the Lakers today. I’d probably take them over the Lakers who can’t guard literally anything. They’re a bottom 10 defense. And so far, when Luca, LeBron, and Reeves have been on the court together, they’ve been losing the minutes. Like, I think they could definitely beat the Lakers. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if it ends up as a Thunder Spurs second round series after the Spurs win whatever that four or five matchup is. They’re very capable of being top five. I I’m certain they will be top six if they continue to play anything close to this. This is a an extremely formidable team. We’re not just talking about the future with the Spurs anymore. It’s not about the future. It is partially, but it’s also about the now. And this is a team that is ready now to take that next step forward, maybe win a playoff series. uh you know, they’re not going to, I don’t think, beat the Thunder or the Nuggets or the Rockets. So, it ends after one series in my opinion. But if you even just win one this year, even if they just make the playoffs and put together a competitive series when they’ve really not gotten to see this team at all in the highest leverage situations really for no minutes whatsoever up until at least this point, obviously that’ll change for the rest of the season. Like, that is a big time plus. And then you go into the summer and you have the chance to tinker, reevaluate, and figure out, okay, how do we build the best possible team around WBY? Do we want to trade young guys? Do we want to just really continue to develop this thing, build into the future? And I feel so certain that Dylan Harper is going to be a star very, very soon here. Stefan Castle, I don’t think I don’t feel as good about his ceiling as I do Dylan Harper’s, but I think he’s going to be a really good player for a while. Darren Fox is playing at an all-star level. There’s just a lot to like, a lot to love about this Spurs team and the way that they’re operating. So, yeah, I’ve been uh vastly vastly impressed with what they’ve done and the way that they just dismantled the Lakers because I think a lot of people I saw a lot of Lakers fans and NBA people in general just being like, “Oh, okay. Well, the Thunder, you know, annihilated the Suns looks like it’s going to be Shay versus Luca, LeBron, and Reeves, you know, Cadet, Jada, like it’s going to be Thunder Lakers in the semi-finals.” Most people predicted that, me included. Like, I thought the Lakers were going to win this game. But no, in what is a, you know, higher elevated type of format with the NBA Cup, it’s not as high as like the playoffs or the finals or anything like that, but it is elevated. There is more intensity. The Spurs just drilled a bunch of threes, made the Lakers pay and cooked and got themselves a date with the Oklahoma City Thunder in Vegas without Victor Wemanyama, the way they’ve kind of been doing it for a minute here in this season. So, very, very impressed. And the San Antonio Spurs, this is a really good team. They they might be better than you think. So, yeah, those are my thoughts on them. Let me know down below if you think they’re capable of winning a series. Is it too early? Things like that. Uh I’m glad I bought into the hype cuz I was originally going into this summer like I don’t know if they’re actually going to be the jump team. They might be a year away. I’m glad I bought in at the last possible second. Uh yeah, for the Lakers, the defense is just terrible um on this team. Marcus Smart is really one of the only capable guys and when he was out there, it actually felt like the team could defend. So maybe Marcus Smart has to come into the starting lineup for Ruy Hatchima, but it’s just such a small starting lineup at that point. It’s and I don’t think Marcus Smart is really changing all that much for you in the overall dynamics because if you’re relying on 2025 Marcus Smart to save your bottom 10 defense, it’s not going to work. It’s a very similar issue to what they had last season. Uh LeBron did have 195 and 8. Luca had 35 and 8. Austin Reeves had 158 and seven. Like the big three produced offensively. Marcus Smart hit eight threes by the way. He was maybe the best player for the Lakers tonight when you think about the defense. but they just can’t guard anything and they’ve just been falling off a cliff defensively as of late. Like I kind of expected to see this season. Uh let’s go ahead and talk about real quick. I guess uh the Thunderviscerated the Suns 138 to 89. It was a 49point win. The lead was up to 50 at one moment. Uh just a dismantling and it was everybody on this team. It was Shay with 28 and 11 of 15 shooting three of four from three eight times as he continues to get closer to 70 true shooting percentage as a 30 plus point per game score. It’s something that’s never been done before and Shay is doing it at the moment. Jada was really good with 155 and five on five of eight shooting like those two and then Chad none of them had to play more than 26 and a half minutes. Uh Cadet himself had 24 82 three blocks nine of 13 shooting four from three had some amazing moves down low. That turnaround midi is automatic. He cooked Mark Williams on the perimeter once and then you know went up and under against him at the basket. Lou Dort hit three threes. I mean the team as a whole like they’re 24-1. They tied the Golden State Warriors record for a best start in an NBA season. And every win from here on out, you know, until the Thunder loses their next game, they’re either going to be tied or break that record. Uh if the Thunder want to have the single best start to an NBA season, they’ve got to go ahead and win out the rest of the way through Christmas. That is the date. If they beat the Spurs on Christmas and they won the rest of the games, they will be 30-1, including uh this next game in the NBA Cup. The NBA Cup final does not count for regular season record, so that one isn’t on the the docket. But if they can win out through Christmas, the Thunder will be 30-1, the first team to ever accomplish that. And the way they’ve been playing so far, the best net rating ever, the best point differential in any 25game stretch in NBA history. Feels like they’ve got a real chance at that. Uh the Suns, I mean, just no Deon Booker, no Jaylen Green. Uh they just kind of got annihilated. Like they really didn’t stand a chance, especially after they played the Thunder close last time. It felt pretty clear that the Thunder were going to kind of step up and send a message. That’s the way it’s been. You know, like when the Blazers beat the Thunder next game, Oklahoma City just annihilated them at home. So yeah, it really was never going to happen for them. Um, anything I want to note? Like Dylan Brooks had some decent defensive possessions. Doran Goodwin 15 points, six of 12 shooting. Uh, Jamari Buouay has been fun. 14 points, six of nine shooting, two, three from three. Rasher Fleming had seven points in garbage time. I guess that’s kind of it. I’m really excited for Spurs versus Thunder. I do think the Thunder are going to win. Yes, I’m biased, but also have you been seeing the Oklahoma City Thunder? Uh, so I think the Thunder going to win on the other side of the bracket. I think I’m going to pick the Knicks, I guess, at this point. So, I’m predicting Thunder versus Knicks, which would be a pretty fun NBA Cup final, and I do think the Thunder are going to end up winning it regardless of who comes out of the Eastern Conference. I just think the Thunder on a mission. They lost the NBA Cup last year. They seem motivated, a bit of a chip on their shoulder to get that hardware. And at this point, I’m going to be shocked if they don’t do it. But those are my thoughts on the games from tonight, the NBA Cup so far. The San Antonio Spurs in particular. Let me know down below in the comments what your takeaways were. How do you feel about the Spurs team? Do you think they could win a playoff series? Where do you rank WBY? Things like that. Uh, as well as, you know, what are your thoughts on the Lakers defense? Like, is it salvageable or is it just continuing or going to continue to be this utter nightmare? And for the Thunder, do you think they can break the Warriors 73 and9 record? Leave a like and subscribe if you enjoyed. Hit the notification bell so you don’t miss out on future videos. Appreciate you watching. I’ll see youall later. Real one back.

The San Antonio Spurs blew out the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Cup to advance to the semifinals and face the Oklahoma City Thunder in Las Vegas continuing the Spurs’ hot streak of elite basketball. They’ve been balling even without Victor Wembanyama with De’Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, and a great cast of role players balling out and beating some really solid teams along the way. It’s reached a point where it’s not just the future for the Spurs, it’s the now that’s really interesting and they could be a real factor in the NBA Playoffs as soon as this year.

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0:00 – Intro
0:25 – No Wemby no problem
0:54 – De’Aaron Fox has been awesome
2:04 – Stephon Castle has levelled up
2:48 – Dylan Harper is a future star
3:43 – The supporting cast is so solid
4:30 – And Wembanyama is about to be back
5:45 – The Spurs have a chance to prove it
7:02 – The future and now are both bright
9:40 – The Lakers are in trouble
11:40 – The Thunder destroyed the Suns
13:38 – NBA Cup predictions
14:05 – Outro