The San Antonio Spurs season may have had different results had these players played larger roles.
Victor Wembanyama
Wembanyama was hampered by a subpar point guard situation to begin the season. This isn’t to trash Jeremy Sochan; he did what he was asked and learned on the fly. It’s clear to the Silver and Black faithful that Wembanyama is a generational talent who will change the way the NBA is played over the course of his career, and he should have been the focal point of the offense from day one.
Proper continuity between him and a distributor at point guard would have done his development well. The fact that he has developed at an unbelievable pace regardless of that fact is a testament to the type of player he is and the competitive fire he has.
There is, however, no denying that this exponential performance increase in the second half of the season has come with a competent point guard to run the offense. It’s even helped Sochan move off the ball offensively, allowing him to focus on guarding the other team’s best player; a job he does very well.
Wembanyama is averaging 20.9 points per game at the moment, and if he was able to obtain a level of comfort immediately when the season began, his averages would be even higher. Wembanyama obtained some valuable experience attempting to create his own shots early in the season but settled for jumpers too often during that time.
There really wasn’t a playmaker on the court with the ability to take over and take charge of the offense until Coach Pop put Jones in the lineup to do so.
If Wembanyama had that ability to flourish with assistance earlier in the season, the Spurs could potentially be in a better place at this point than they are.