After a red-hot start to the season, the San Antonio Spurs have started to cool off some. Part of the reason is teams have made it their mission to slow down star Victor Wembanyama, with several teams succeeding.
That has increased the need for Wembanyama to take more threes, with him lagging behind the 8.8 3-point attempts he averaged last season. In fact, up until the last few games, he was not only seldom shooting threes but also clanking them, hitting on 23.6% of his attempts in the Spurs’ first eight games.
While Wembanyama looking to be more aggressive shooting inside the arc is a great idea, teams have begun swarming him when he catches the ball in the post, sending double or even triple teams his way. Fortunately, the Spurs have already begun to figure out how to counter that by quickly getting the ball out of Wembanyama’s hands and swinging the ball around the perimeter to the open man.
The Spurs have also found success offensive rebounding, taking advantage of defenses that try to load up on Wembanyama but sneaking in for putbacks. Still, for the Spurs to prevent teams from effectively doubling Wembanyama, they need him to continue to be aggressive shooting from outside.
Frustrating Wembanyama problem has a painfully simple solution
His shot attempts from three have steadily increased, taking nine against both the New Orleans Pelicans and Chicago Bulls and seven against the Golden State Warriors. The results have varied, with him hitting just two threes against the Pelicans, six against the Bulls, and three against the Warriors, but his shot has definitely looked much better of late.
That should result in him continuing to punish teams from outside while also prioritizing scoring in the paint. He’s currently averaging 13.6 2-point attempts, 3.8 more attempts per game than last season with similarly impressive efficiency.
However, what’s changed from the season opener against Dallas to now is that he is posting up less, shooting more from midrange, and getting easy feeds from plyers such as Stephon Castle for dunks. Those shots are quicker than traditional post-ups and prevent teams from doubling him.
He has also been better at drawing free throws, averaging 7.1 attempts per game. Add in him ratcheting up his 3-point attempts, and he should still be a far better offensive player than he was last season, which is just what the Spurs need if they want to contend this season.
