SAN ANTONIO – Victor Wembanyama and Steph Castle are still on the Spurs injury report that came out Monday. Both are listed as out for Tuesday’s home game against Memphis, but they are progressing. Both guys are doing on court workouts, so it won’t be long.
Hopefully they come back the same way that Dylan Harper has. Oh my! We watched the rookie go right at former defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert Sunday night. Time after time.
Harper missed three weeks with a calf strain, but he is proving to be a future star. He had 17 points in 20 minutes off the bench Sunday night, and he’s feeling more and more like he belongs with every game.
“Yeah, definitely, I think, just like you just said, getting back in the rhythm, know where I need to be on the floor, and just, honestly, my teammates do a great job of just putting me in the right spots to win, and I just go out there play my game. I just try not to overthink it, but these games is definitely helping me getting back to myself,” explained Harper.
Coach Mitch Johnson said Harper did a good job driving the basketball but noted he “needs more than zero rebounds and zero assists.” Coach also not thrilled with defensive rotations on a night where Minnesota bagged 17 threes.
“Yeah, miscommunications or bad rotations out of it, which then led to it being open. You do it playing the clock because it’s hard, and you start scrambling for 18 seconds. It’s hard to chase the ball that long if you’re connected on the back end. Know where your rotations are. Communicate through it. You know, you should be a little bit more able to still have a contest and some resistance. And there were some real breakdowns, and they made us pay,” explained Johnson.
Spurs come home for one before heading back on the road. It’s the Memphis Grizzlies here Tuesday, then a tough back-to-back in Orlando on Wednesday and at Cleveland on Friday.
Since the Spurs won their group in the NBA Cup, they are in the quarterfinals next Wednesday, December 10. Spurs fans are hoping for both Victor and Stephon Castle back for this one. I think that’s a little early, but we’ll see.