It's Year 3 of the Victor Wembanyama era in San Antonio, so does that mean a step towards spring basketball is on the way? What about homecourt advantage? It's hard to ignore what's happening in River City.
Four games isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it could be an indicator of things to come.
The San Antonio Spurs look like the real deal, and the funny thing is, they’re not even at full strength.
Point guard De’Aaron Fox is still out with a hamstring injury until at earliest early November, Jeremy Sochan is out on a week-to-week basis, and Kelly Olynyk is still out indefinitely.
And yet, San Antonio is still 4-0 with three convincing wins and a gutsy win in overtime.
Superstar center Victor Wembanyama continues to amaze the world with his skills as a 7-foot-5 player with a full arsenal of ball-handling, athleticism, and perimeter shooting, while also being the league’s premier defender.
And outside of Fox, guards reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle and second overall draft pick Dylan Harper have impressed mightily. San Antonio also has a myriad of dead-eye shooters like Devin Vassell, Harrison Barnes and Julian Champagnie.
But offense can only do so much. They say “defense wins championships,” and it doesn’t hurt that Wembanyama has a reach that covers the length of Houston Street.
The Spurs are among the best in total team defense, where throughout the first four games, they’re first in the NBA in points per game allowed by three points, allowing only 104 points per game.
To add, they’re also 12th in opponent 3-point shooting percentage, as well as 10th in free throws attempted per game.
So while they do play efficient defense, the Spurs have been doing a fantastic job thus far defending smarter, not harder.
It’s truly amazing how well the Spurs have done in scouting talent, and it’s not just on the floor, it’s the minds that they acquire. Current coach Mitch Johnson isn’t a household name, but he just may be if San Antonio goes deep this season.
Ever since Johnson has been coaching in the professional ranks, he’s done it under the Spurs umbrella, acting as an assistant coach with the organization’s G-League team the Austin Toros, where he helped them win a G-League Championship.
Shortly after, he got called up to the big leagues to serve as an assistant under Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich, until he had to step in as interim coach when Popovich suffered a career-ending stroke.
For all we know, the Spurs would’ve found themselves in the playoffs last season before Wembanyama went down for the season with a blood clot. But maybe it just delayed the inevitable.
San Antonio has looked dominant as ever, but now it has massive tests to see if it’s really the big time, with games against Miami, the Lakers, the Suns and the Rockets.
Next game is against the Heat on Thursday October 30, with a tip-off scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 CT.