The Trailblazers built a better roster around Scoot in 3 months than they built around Dame in 12 years

— Jake (@JakeAndBall) October 1, 2023

Guitarsoup said:

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West Texan said:

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Final tally on Lillard trade: Portland gets Deandre Ayton, Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon, Toumani Camara, three first-round picks 2024 (Golden State, Top-4 protected), 2029 (Bucks and Celtics unprotected) and 2028 and 2030 Milwaukee pick swaps.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 1, 2023

Well played by the Portland front office. And I wouldn't be surprised if they flipped Brogdon at the deadline.

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Don't forget they dumped off Nassir Little's 4y28mm contract and Nurkic's 3y55mm contracts in the process.

Portland did as good as they possibly could.

Brogdon will definitely be flipped, but I don't think he or Rob have tons of value due to injury history.

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Honestly I think Dallas would be a pretty good spot for Time Lord. They need a good defender and rebounder in the middle. Obviously health is always the concern, but he's still young and could potentially be had for not much.

Absolutely LOVE to see it pic.twitter.com/SvEaGJVFTF

— Project Spurs (@projectspurs) October 1, 2023

Dev extended! 5 years/$146MM.

Sochan says Wembanyama in open gym has “done a bunch of stuff that’s been,” ‘Oh, snap. That’s crazy.’ “

— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) October 2, 2023

Prove me wrong, Keldon.

Keldon says he thinks he can be an “elite defender” after struggling on that end of the court last season: “That’s part of my game I am ready to show off…I want to prove all the doubters wrong.” pic.twitter.com/Jw28H8WhoO

— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) October 2, 2023

Wembanyama on what position will be the best fit for him: “The best way to help (the team) is to not put me in a box.” Added that he and Pop “know we are going to make something original, something special.”

— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) October 2, 2023

I can appreciate that Keldon recognizes that he has to be better on that end of the floor. Now whether he can do it or not, we'll see.

https://theathletic.com/4924844/2023/10/05/devin-vassell-spurs-contract/

More than 25 percent of Vassell's possessions in 2022-23 were out of on-ball screens (25.4, to be exact), double the percentage in those scenarios in his first and second seasons. Even at Florida State, when he was the best player on the team, Vassell only took 16 percent of his possessions in on-ball screens.

More importantly, Vassell was quite successful in these actions given his inexperience. He took 158 shots out of ball-screens in 2022 23 in just 38 games, making them at a 50.6 percent clip. Given his shot diet, that is an absurd number.
Shot chart on those possessions:



Vassell is a patient, probing player. His basketball processing ability that stood out on defense as a prospect is starting to translate to the other end of the floor.

It would be wrong to call him "sudden," but he's shifting gears and changing angles on defenders at both the first and second levels of the pick-and-roll. These are the moments where you can see the path toward him becoming the Khris Middleton to Victor Wembanyama's Giannis Antetokounmpo. Vassell's high release point and arcing shot augers continued success as a midrange gunner.

Vassell is keeping his eyes up much more often and nailing his kick-out reads

Vassell's on-ball improvement, paired with his off-the-catch shooting skill, has given the Spurs a player who can be useful on and off the ball. Vassell drilled 43.3 percent of his nearly five catch-and-shoot 3s per game last season, which ranked 14th-best among the 262 players to attempt at least 100 catch-and-shoot 3s.

Players this young who have already developed multiple ways to beat defenders through shooting and ball-screen dexterity tend not to stagnate because they can develop counters off the skills they have already, as opposed to building from the ground up.

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Where are the areas for growth that Vassell hasn't showcased yet? The most significant one is rim pressure.

Vassell doesn't quite have enough juice to consistently get all the way to the cup.

He can't break down defenders in isolation situations regularly and struggles to turn the corner on bigs. In 38 games, he only took 68 shots at the rim in half-court settings last season, less than two per game despite having the ball in his hands a lot.

Vassell would help himself by developing some Euro-step moves that cause rim protectors to hesitate enough to create easier finishing angles. He doesn't have a ton of upward burst, having notched only seven dunks in half-court play last year, and doesn't play with a ton of force around the rim, so his best bet is to fine-tune his footwork. It's work that is doable, given his overall patience and rate of improvement, but work nonetheless. (Better spacing around him will help too the Spurs were one of the worst perimeter shooting teams in the league last season.)

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Despite his reputation, there is more cause for concern with Vassell's defense than his pre-draft scouting report might indicate. He was good defensively for a rookie and solid as a second-year player. But as his offensive usage has gone up, his defensive value has dropped off. Advanced statistical metrics almost universally rated him as a negative last year. I don't think I'd go quite that far after watching his film, but I don't think he provided any solutions for a bad overall Spurs defense last season either. The best way to describe him right now is active but not yet effective.

he reason I can't dub him a negative defender, as some advanced metrics do, is he remains quite sharp off the ball. Many of the anticipatory instincts he flashed in college are still there. He rotates early and contests shots well. He generally has a good idea of when to gamble and when to stay home, or when to dig down to try to rip the ball off a post player or driver. He brings a level of disruptiveness that can scare opponents. I think the best potential synergy for the Spurs is to use Vassell as an off-ball havoc-inducer while hoping Sochan develops as a primary on-ball defender.

Regardless, as this Spurs core grows together, I expect the defense's overall infrastructure to improves drastically. The elite rim protection of Wembanyama will help, but so will the overall continuity of smart defenders like Wembanyama, Vassell and Sochan learning one another's tendencies.

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Is Vassell worth this deal? Yes

Based on current projections, Vassell's contract will be worth approximately 15 percent of the salary cap in 2027-28 and 2028-29, years where he'll be firmly in his prime in his late-20s. At the contract's highest point in 2024-25, Vassell will be making just 20 percent of the salary cap; 50 players in the league are making that portion now.

Keldon wants it know that Wemby will have a team of enforcers around him: "Of course, there are going to be some people who want to try him this year, try to bully him. We got his back... If I feel like there is any situation they are trying to go after him, I will be there."

— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) October 6, 2023