Whenever the ROTY topic comes (and frequently even when it doesn’t), Chet and Wemby are compared and matched up against each other. As in the recent Rookie ladder post. In many posts and comments, stats get compared, no further analysis is conducted, and then a conclusion is drawn. That I find a bit annoying and irksome. The context of how stats come to be is crucial.
What is the context? Wemby plays as the primary option on a barely functional team and needs to create a lot for himself (18.6 ppg on 43.2/28.3/76.6 splits). While Chet got slotted into a well working unit and get’s good looks when he’s open (15.7 ppg on 52.7/46.3/90 splits). Chet fitting seemlessly and efficiently into that system is great and should be lauded. But IMO it can’t be understated how much Wemby is struggling in a raw and developing Spurs team that is failing to generate good looks for him. Playing without an actual Point Guard definitely hurts him.
But wait! There is a PG on the Spurs roster: Tre Jones. Not a world beater like SGA by any stretch of the imagination, but a competent passer and facilitator, that very obviously is the teammate with the best connection to Wemby. So how’s Wemby doing while they share the court?
The difference this makes honestly is quite drastic. Just look through all the stats for yourselves if you are interested: https://www.pbpstats.com/on-off/nba/player?Season=2023-24&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&TeamId=1610612759&PlayerId=1630200
With Tre, Wemby is shooting 65.4% instead of 39.7% from 2, 36.4% instead of 23.7% from 3, he is making 38.2 instead of 23.6 points per possession, while having 4.8 instead of 7.2 TOs without him, and so on and so forth. While Tre and Wemby share the court, the Spurs are actually a winning team with a 19.76 Net rating, believe it or not!
And, mind you, we’re not talking about Magic Johnson here, but Tre Jones, who simply symbolizes “playing with an actual PG”.
Anyway, unintended wall of text. None of this is to say that Wemby>Chet or whatever. I just wanted to provide some context. Because the Spurs being an at times borderline dysfunctional team really is a factor. Hard to blame the Wemby for not regularly putting up world class numbers and being an inefficient shooter during the, uh, Point Sochan experiment.
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I have an observation! Lively clears both
Mexican Jimmy clears both sorry
If you can see how good Tre Jones makes Wemby imagine what a star PG would do. Hopefully we can draft someone like Collier or Topic
Lively clears, why is this a discussion?
Chet is playing with a superstar in SGA and a future all nba guy in Jish Giddey and a GREAT surrounding cast. The Spurs are 2-3 years behind OKC in the rebuilding process
Tre Jones MVP narrative starts now.
Point Sochan is basketball terrorism
Yea this is pretty clear for those who have watched every game. The Spurs are only competent with Tre on the floor. It’s not just Wemby who is better, literally everyone on the team improves when they play with Jones as everyone gets to play their natural role. Pop has acknowledged this so it’s not like he’s unaware. It seems like Pop wants to put these guys in a tough situation cause he thinks they’ll be better for it in the future. Also it improves their pick. I just hope he’s not burning the team out, losing takes its toll especially when the solution is obvious.
Its Chet for me. Once a player gets their numbers the next step is efficiency. Hes already a starter with good efficiency (really great efficiency 67TS% is unreal for a rookie) hes a step ahead of Wemby in my opinion.
Those stats could change but for now there’s no choice but the guy whos already putting up efficient starter numbers.
Also it keeps me supporting Scottie for ROTY (as the more “win now” rookie with Mobley vs Cade who had higher counting stats as the main guy) and Jokic MVP (where I value high TS% as an important factor in him being MVP) internally consistent.
Chet has Giddey. Wemby has Sochan. that’s the only data you need to explain the disparity.
give Wemby Giddey and he will be dominating.
I agree with this post… I am not to debate wheter Chet or Wemby is the ROTY… What you just need to observe is the players around them… Thats all I have to say…
Many are saying it, even stats… OKC has a better support than what SAS has plus the role they are having is way different from each other…
But anyways both are good players…
Posts like these are why I love you, r/nba.
neat! here’s the same data on chet+shai
Last time I checked there are more playmakers on OKC then just SGA.
I think you missed the point. When Shai is off the court, Chet still has another PG in the game.
Imagine a vet guard like Conley working with him
What’s the sample size with Tre Jones and Wemby?