Week in Review: Spurs offense remains cold in winless week

The Spurs had two good chances to get back in the winning column, but the offense let them down.

Welcome to the Week in Review: a Monday feature that looks back at the week that was for the San Antonio Spurs, takes a look at the week ahead, and more. Enjoy!

Week 21: The Spurs ended the week with a thrilling OT win against the Nets in Austin, but only after a couple of letdown losses to the slumping Warriors, rising Rockets, and defending champion Nuggets.

Week 22: 0-3 (15-56, 15th in West)

107-113 loss vs. Dallas Mavericks

Recap: Despite an off night from Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs used a balanced team effort to give the Mavs all they could handle before falling short in the clutch and failing to take advantage of a rare bad shooting night from Luka Doncic.

What we learned

97-99 loss vs. Memphis Grizzlies

Recap: In a case of deja vu from November, the Spurs blew a double-digit lead and fell at home to a skeleton crew Grizzlies team, who, just like last time, were led back by Jaren Jackson Jr.

What we learned

106-131 loss vs. Phoenix Suns

Recap: The Spurs offense continued to be a no-show as they were blown out in a wire-to-wire loss to the Suns thanks in part to a scorching hot shooting night from Devin Booker.

What we learned

In case you missed it

• NBA Draft — Jacob Douglas broke down some potential Spurs draft targets from the NCAA Tournament’s first and second rounds. (Speaking of which, I probably lost a few years of my life watching Texas A&M vs. University of Houston last night.) He also discussed why the Spurs should target wings in the draft.
• Vive la France — R.C. Budford was spotted overseas observing another potential Spurs draft target, French forward Zaccharie Risacher. Who wants a Trio Français featuring Wemby, Zac and Sidy Cissoko?
• In the Bonus — The PtR staff went over some the Spurs’ statistical quirks and short-comings from this season and discussed which issues are short-term and which require big changes to be fixed.
• The Spurs lineup that provides hope for the future — Casey Coggins discussed why the foundation for the Spurs to be great is there, they just need time to build and grow.
• Appreciating the other side of the Wemby-Tre Jones two-man game — Bruno Passos broke down how there’s more to the Wemby-Jones duo than just the point guard finding the big man; it can go the other way, too.
• For even more things Wemby, check out Every day is Wembsday, courtesy of Mikey Rouleau.

Power Rankings

John Schuhmann, NBA.com — 26 (last week: 25)

OffRtg: 109.4 (27) DefRtg: 116.8 (22) NetRtg: -7.4 (26) Pace: 101.9 (3)

Victor Wembanyama continues to play well, and the Spurs continue to get clobbered when he’s not on the floor. They’re 1-6 on their eight-game homestand and are almost assuredly going to finish with the worst record in franchise history (the mark is 20-62 from 1996-97).

Three numbers on the Spurs’ offense

1. The Spurs are one of two teams — the Hornets are the other — that rank in the bottom 10 in each of the four factors on offense: effective field goal percentage, free-throw rate, turnover ratio and offensive rebounding percentage.

2. They’re one of four teams that rank in the top six in both ball movement (349 passes per 24 minutes of possession, sixth) and player movement (12.3 miles traveled per 24 minutes of possession, second). They’ve recorded assists on 70.8% of their field goals, which would be the highest rate for any team in the last 20 seasons.

3. They ranked 29th offensively (107.1 points scored per 100 possessions) before Tre Jones was moved into the starting lineup (Jan. 4), but rank 22nd (111.4 scored per 100) since then. Overall, they’ve scored 6.9 more points per 100 possessions with Jones on the floor (111.3) than they have with him off the floor (104.4).

The Spurs need five wins in their final 11 games to avoid finishing with the worst record in franchise history. Eight of those 11 are against teams with winning records, with the Spurs currently 7-38 against that group.

Brett Siegel, Clutch Points — 27 (last week: 26)

The future of the San Antonio Spurs depends on what they are able to do this offseason. Can the Spurs land an All-Star talent to pair with Victor Wembanyama moving forward?

As of right now, the Spurs are young and don’t have enough firepower to be threats in the West. As good as Wemby is, he alone is not going to be able to compete against the best of the best in this conference. After all, there are teams well ahead of them in the NBA Power Rankings who are over 10 games from a .500 record, yet they find themselves in the play-in region of the West standings.

Expect San Antonio to make some significant roster changes in the offseason to try and win right now with Wembanyama.

Coming up: Mon. 3/25 vs. Phoenix Suns; Wed. 3/27 @ Utah Jazz; Fri 3/29 vs. New York Knicks; Sun. 3/31 vs. Golden State Warriors

Prediction: 1-3 — While its rare that miniseries are swept, especially at by the road team, I imagine the Suns are out to return the favor from early in the season, and it won’t help that Wemby is out. The Jazz and Knicks will also be tough matchups, but the Warriors are ripe for the taking, especially at home. (Although, how badly do we want the Spurs to keep helping the Rockets’ surge into the play-in? Hmm…)