What we took away from the Spurs’ victory over the Warriors…

Who wants to play a role on Wemby’s future team? More importantly: who can? In the Frenchman’s absence, the application process is in full swing. Devin Vassell, currently also sidelined, is the frontrunner. His future in Silver & Black is secure – as a legitimate three-level scorer and two-way player who works both on and off the ball.

But no one else has proved that themselves utterly indispensable. Though some of the young Spurs are trending in the right direction, they all have significant weaknesses. It’s a different story with Wemby. The Frenchman came into the league with skills guys his size aren’t usually allowed to have. 56 games into his career, the Spurs’ face of the franchise has shown tremendous, maybe even unprecedented development.

Some weeks ago, a consensus opinion was to find a high-level pick and roll ball handler to maximize Wemby’s strengths. In February, Wemby showed big promise as a pick and roll ball handler himself – using his tremendously long arms to throw deadly passes around point of attack defenders. And if they dare to go under, which is a bad idead, hejust pulls up. Which is exactly what a – let this sink in – 42-percent (!) pull-up shooter from beyond the arc like Wemby should do.

PATFO have to decide if they want guys who maximize Wemby, or if they want Wemby to maximize his teammates. A primary ball handler would mean taking the ball out of Wemby’s hands. Is that a good idea in light of his recent development? Maybe a combo guard would be a wiser solution than a ball-dominant floor general.

There have been rumors the Spurs might make a move for either Dejounte Murray or Trae Young. Either of them would make the Spurs a significantly better team straight away, But either of them would have to have the ball in their hands to do so. Neither of them has shown to be either willing or able to be a useful off-ball player. To be perfectly honest, I think a Derrick White would make more sense in Wemby’s backcourt than a Dejounte.

Admittedly, the question about Wemby’s future running mates has far and away been the most pressing question for me personally this season. And my attempts at finding an answer have been in flux all the time. The reason for that is Wemby, who is changing the way I think about the term “ceiling” in a basketball sense.