With only 22 wins for 60 losses, the Spurs achieved the third worst season in their glorious history. The first ten days were good, with 5 successes in 7 matches, then the weeks and months were long, very long.
Nevertheless, for Keita Bates-Diop, the holidays do not fully begin for the Texans because the young players must finish the season, until June, in front of the screens.
“Guys need to watch the playoffs to see what it takes defensively,” assures the winger, who had this experience with Denver in 2020, at the San Antonio Express News. “Don’t turn off the televisions. Don’t tell yourself basketball is over. This is the time for the youngsters to see how the big teams defend. »
Tre Jones agrees with his teammate’s advice. “That’s a good point. Watching the playoffs, you see the best basketball in the world, with the best teams playing at their highest level. We have to observe these players and take inspiration from what they do well. »
As Keita Bates-Diop pointed out, the main thing to analyze for Spurs is obviously the defence. Because this season, Gregg Popovich’s troops have averaged 123.1 points, ending the year with the unenvious title of worst defense in the league. Rarely has a team displayed so many weaknesses in this area.
“We have to focus on defense,” confirms the Texas coach. “Players who have played a lot understand that. We have changed our five majors 40 times this season, so it complicates things to set up a defense. More than anything else, we must take defense very seriously, collectively and individually. »
Keita Bates-Diop does not say anything else. “The defense was our biggest weakness, our biggest flaw. The youngsters must progress but the elders can help them defensively. It’s hard to defend when you have so many young players and so little continuity in this group. But no excuse: defense is simply giving your all. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Keldon Johnson | 63 | 32.7 | 45.2 | 32.9 | 74.9 | 0.9 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 2.9 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 22.0 |
| Devin Vasell | 38 | 31.0 | 43.9 | 38.7 | 78.0 | 0.2 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 18.5 |
| Devonte Graham | 20 | 26.4 | 38.0 | 35.8 | 75.0 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 4.0 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 13.0 |
| Tre Jones | 68 | 29.2 | 45.9 | 28.5 | 86.0 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 6.6 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 12.9 |
| Jakob Poeltl | 46 | 26.1 | 61.6 | 0.0 | 60.5 | 3.3 | 5.7 | 9.0 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 2.6 | 12.1 |
| Zach Collins | 63 | 22.9 | 51.8 | 37.4 | 76.1 | 1.8 | 4.5 | 6.4 | 2.9 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 11.6 |
| Josh Richardson | 42 | 23.8 | 43.6 | 35.7 | 88.3 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 11.5 |
| Julian Champagnie | 15 | 20.9 | 46.1 | 40.7 | 82.4 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 11.0 |
| Jeremy Sochan | 56 | 26.0 | 45.3 | 24.6 | 69.8 | 1.7 | 3.6 | 5.3 | 2.5 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 11.0 |
| Sandro Mamukelashvili | 19 | 23.3 | 45.3 | 34.3 | 69.2 | 2.7 | 4.1 | 6.8 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 10.8 |
| Doug Mcdermott | 64 | 20.5 | 45.7 | 41.3 | 75.7 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 10.2 |
| Malaki Branham | 66 | 23.5 | 44.0 | 30.2 | 82.9 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 10.2 |
| Keita Bates-diop | 67 | 21.7 | 50.8 | 39.4 | 79.3 | 1.0 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 9.7 |
| Joshua Primo | 4 | 23.3 | 34.6 | 25.0 | 77.8 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 2.8 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 7.0 |
| Romeo Langford | 43 | 19.6 | 46.7 | 26.2 | 69.6 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 6.9 |
| Stanley Johnson | 30 | 15.6 | 53.3 | 45.0 | 66.7 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 5.8 |
| Charles Bassey | 35 | 14.5 | 64.4 | 37.5 | 59.5 | 2.1 | 3.4 | 5.5 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 5.7 |
| Blake Wesley | 37 | 18.1 | 32.1 | 38.5 | 59.1 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 5.0 |
| Isaiah Roby | 42 | 11.3 | 43.2 | 30.0 | 48.8 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 4.1 |
| Dominick Barlow | 28 | 14.6 | 53.5 | 0.0 | 72.0 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 3.6 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 3.9 |
| Gorgui Dieng | 31 | 11.6 | 38.5 | 28.0 | 76.9 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 3.9 |
| Jordan Hall | 9 | 9.1 | 32.1 | 20.0 | 77.8 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 3.1 |
| Alize Johnson | 4 | 7.4 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.8 |
