Victor Wembanyama is expected to be a game-time decision this evening when the Spurs face Utah, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News tweets. The No. 1 overall pick will test out his ankle during a pregame workout. He suffered a mild right ankle sprain when he stepped on a ball boy’s foot during warmups prior to San Antonio’s game on Saturday.
We have more on the Spurs:
- During that same game, Julian Champagnie started ahead of Keldon Johnson. When asked if he would remain in the lineup Tuesday, Champagnie responded to Orsborn, “I think so.” (Twitter link). It’s a good sign for Champagnie contractually, who is the first year of a four-year deal. He has a non-guaranteed salary for next season — according to Spotrac, San Antonio has until Aug. 1 to decide if he’ll get that guarantee.
- The Spus enter Tuesday’s game with a four-game losing streak and a 4-24 record. However, coach Gregg Popovich has maintained an even keel and tried to keep his young team’s spirits up, according to Jeff McDonald of the Express-News. “He has been positive for the most part,” forward Doug McDermott said. “He is still going to coach us hard and point out the things that we need to correct, but overall he has remained positive throughout it all.”
- Wembanyama’s rookie season hasn’t gone as smoothly as many people had expected, given the enormous amount of hype surrounding the big man. Some of the game’s biggest stars know what he’s going through. The Athletic’s David Aldridge spoke with Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid and Kristaps Porzingis about the struggles they experienced during their rookie seasons.
If you look at Kristaps Porzingis’ career averages, and you compare them to the numbers he’s putting up this season, they’re almost identical.
There’s really only one major difference, and that’s his shooting percentage on 2-pt attempts; as a result, Kristaps’ FG% is well above his career average.
I’m sure Boston has to be happy with this, because they are getting pretty much EXACTLY what they expected when they acquired Porzingis. Plus, you also have the added bonus of Porzingis becoming significantly better scoring inside the arc.
Now, if he can stay healthy, then that would be a huge W for Boston. They waited and waited, even extending Marcus Smart, and despite rumors they never would pull the trigger on trading him away. That was despite his obvious limitations and inconsistent offensive performances. They finally pulled the trigger, and not only did they improve their team’s ceiling by adding an excellent talent like Kristaps, but they also somehow acquired a more consistent version of what they originally needed out of Marcus Smart in Jrue Holiday.
He was their rock defensively, but having a guy like they can sometimes become detrimental for the stars around him. That’s because Smart would often be tasked guarding the opposong team’s best players, and there were alot of night’s when Brown and especially Jason Tatum could somewhat afford to save their energy not having to guard such a tough opponent.
However, now Brown is back to being asked to be one of the best two-way studs in the game, and Tatum has been forced to step up his defensive game as well. I think as a unit, this has forced the Celtics to become better defensively. They’re now forced to communicate more often, and as long as they don’t wear down before the playoffs, Tatum and Brown’s Celtics should be in possibly the best position they’ve ever been in to ultimately win a chip.
Trade Keldon Johnson already