The Spurs’ defensive shortcomings without Wemby won’t change anytime soon

The Spurs don’t have the personnel to court two good defensive rotations, and that gets amplified when Wemby sits.

The San Antonio Spurs cannot survive long without Victor Wembanyama on defense despite positive trends when he sits. In games he’s missed, the crew averages an abysmal 118.0 defensive rating. When he plays but is resting on the bench, the team only maintains strong coverages when Zach Collins or Charles Bassey plays with the starters.

Reviewing the positives first, Collins defends well in the team’s scheme. Notably, the lineup with him and the starters has a slightly superior defensive rating (105.5) than when Wemby is with them (107.1). Also, it’s the most used non-Wembanyama lineup, per Cleaning the Glass.

Still, when Wemby and Collins are sitting, the starters with Charles Bassey don’t drop off much defensively. With Bassey, that lineup is holding a 109.8 defense rating. Consider that the eighth-rated defense, belonging to the Dallas Mavericks, produces a rating of 110.3. This rotation works because Bassey is one of the top shot blockers in the league, plus he is being protected by Stephon Castle’s sharp point-of-attack coverage, and the others help promptly.

Strikingly, one of the most impressive stats about the Spurs’ starters is that they shut down the corners, permitting just 27 percent of shots. This is not simple because the corner trey is the easiest shot in the game, and the Spurs tend to sag off that area to disrupt the paint and recover quickly. Additionally, the second most used lineup — with Sochan replacing Castle with the starters — holds opponents to 16 percentage points below league average at the rim.

The problem is Spurs can’t hold that in other lineups because their personnel is not developed enough, and the four other starters can’t always stay on the floor with Collins or Bassey. Wemby’s back-ups are at disadvantage when the team’s weaker up-top defenders — Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell — come in or a communicator like Chris Paul goes out. Particularly, the rotation with Paul, Castle, Johnson, Harrison Barnes and Bassey concedes 80 percent of shots at the rim, and the one with Castle, Vassell, Johnson, Barnes and Collins gives up 41 percent of 3-point attempts.

As much as Collins and Bassey help, they don’t have Wemby’s length to help erase reckless closeouts by backups or guard two players at once to the same degree against the pick and roll. Opponents don’t fear them like they do Wemby. Furthermore, at this stage in Paul’s career, most of his impact on defense comes from experience and intelligence, as his set of wheels are not what they used to be. He needs four plus defenders next to him at all times, and that’s not possible for the whole game.

Last week was a perfect example of the defense struggles the Spurs face without Wemby. The debacle against the Chicago Bulls on Dec. 5 was an opportunity for the Spurs to show what they can do on defense without him, but instead, they got obliterated to the tune of 139 points for a failure to stop the three-point attack. The next night facing the Sacramento Kings, they couldn’t stop dribble penetration, which unlocked the long range missiles, and gave up 140 points.

To pile on, Wembanyama and Collins are a bit banged up. The former missed those two games with a sore back then took a fall, landing on his rear against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday. Fortunately, he was able to return and help the Spurs secure a win, and at media availability on Wednesday, he said the time off between games has been beneficial. When asked about how his back has affected his play and ability to practice, he said, “Not in a good way. It’s something different than I’ve experienced before in my career. It’s not like a big deal, but sometimes it stops me from doing certain things.”

Collins also fell hard on his back in that game and is listed as day-to-day on ESPN’s injury report. It could take time for both guys to reclaim their vigor, and if that’s the case, the rest of the players will need to be sharper than ever, communicating and switching on defense. Otherwise, they might see more disastrous results on defense like the Bulls and Kings games, especially if the offense doesn’t step up to make up for their shortcomings.