Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Keep Gregg Popovich in your thoughts, because he always had us in his

Wishing Gregg Popovich a speedy recovery.

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Prince J. Grimes.

What’s up, hoops fans. I hope everyone’s been able to unplug a little on this unordinary Wednesday where that might not be the easiest thing to do.

We actually do have a fantastic slate of hoops coming up this evening to help with that, including a fascinating rematch of the 2022 NBA Finals between the one-loss Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics. Definitely looking forward to that one.

But before we get to the hoops, I have to admit, it’s hard to go through the day without thinking about Gregg Popovich. Coach Pop, 75, missed the San Antonio Spurs’ last two games after suffering a health issue Saturday, and he’ll remain out indefinitely, as the Spurs declined to provide a timeline for his return.

The latest on that front didn’t do much in the way of relief, as ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday on NBA Today there was a “great level of concern around the situation.” And San Antonio Express-News columnist Mike Finger pointed out how differently this absence is being treated than Popovich’s previous stints away from the team.

It’s obviously too soon to jump to any conclusions, and we can take comfort in interim coach Mitch Johnson saying Popovich will be OK. But today especially feels like a good time to send thoughts and well wishes to Popovich. For one, because it’s the human thing to do. But also because Popovich always seems to have us in his thoughts, with a big emphasis on “US.”

Pop has never been shy about using his platform to speak about the most pressing issues facing our country. Even when it hasn’t been the most beneficial for him to do so, he’s delivered strong messages on social issues in times we’ve seemed most divided — like we do today. Popovich frequently uses his voice to speak for people whose voices can’t reach the places his can. Even if that means sparring with the former and future president.

Popovich is about as accomplished as any coach can be on the hardwood. But he also just seems to be a man of great character away from the game. So, today, as the Spurs get set to play their third game without him, let’s keep Popovich in our thoughts. Because he always has us in his.

Related: LeBron James posted heartfelt message to daughter after election

Joel Embiid suspended 3 games

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA suspended Joel Embiid three games for Saturday’s locker room altercation with Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes that turned physical, the league announced Tuesday.

Embiid shoved Hayes after confronting him over a column he took offense to for mentioning Embiid’s late brother and son.

Although I believe the confrontation was predictable considering the personal nature of the column, the suspension was as well. Players can’t go around putting their hands on members of the media.

With that said, I am curious about what the suspension accomplishes, if anything. Because, just to say the loud part out loud, Embiid wasn’t playing anyway. How do you go about suspending someone who isn’t exactly trying to play?

I guess it’s three fewer game checks for Embiid, which, OK. But I’m sure his pockets will be fine. In the way of time missed, I don’t think this actually hurts him at all. If anything, the Sixers will just implement the suspension into his recovery plans.

The Athletic‘s Sam Amick reported before the suspension there was hope Embiid could play as soon as today against the Clippers. But that wasn’t set in stone. The suspension just allows them to take a more patient approach and wait until next Tuesday’s game against the Knicks.

At 1-5, I’m not sure how much patience the Sixers can actually afford to have. But something tells me they aren’t complaining much about getting to sit the guy they were already sitting to begin with.

Shootaround

— Who let off a gnarly fart on the Spurs’ bench? FTW investigates

— James Harden morphed into Kawhi Leonard for one play against the Spurs

— Nikola Jokic scaring opponents with his play predictions is totally normal

— A look at which teams are trending up and down across the association

That’s all for today, folks. Enjoy the basketball tonight.

Who let off a gnarly fart on the Spurs bench? The 4 suspects in question

WHO DONE IT?!?!?

Somebody on the Spurs needs to watch what they’re eating, man.

Welcome to Fartgate, folks.

Spurs players were visibly upset by the bench ahead of their game against the Clippers on Monday. What was wrong? It looks like somebody let off one of those rotten egg farts that are likely to ruin your entire day once it hits your nose.

I can’t confirm that was the smell, obviously, considering that I wasn’t there. But judging by the way Victor Wembanyama covered his nose with his shirt and how Chris Paul walked away visibly angry, one can assume that this was a pretty funky one.

Look at how upset these dudes are.

We saw who smelt it. Now, we need to figure out who dealt it. I’ve got four suspects, ranked from the least likely to most.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

1. Victor Wembanyama is definitely innocent

Wembanyama was the first one who seemed to smell the fart. And you know what they say? He who smelt it, dealt it. Generally, I think that’s a fair rule.

But look at the disgust on this man’s face as he covers his nose with his shirt.

I think this is an innocent man.

2. Chris Paul is too mad to be guilty

We’ve seen Chris Paul upset before, but I don’t know if we’ve seen him this upset in a while.

It looks like he just got into it with Scott Foster. Only a psycho would get this mad about their own farts.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Paul might just be that kind of guy! But I just don’t see it here.

3. Silent but deadly from Julian Champagnie?

Ok. So here’s where things get really interesting. Julian Champagnie is clearly in the vicinity of the fart — let’s call it the Blast Zone.

HMMMM. CURIOUS.

There’s a chance he might be that awkward person who doesn’t react to funky farts because he doesn’t want to put anyone on blast.

There’s also a chance that he’s the one who let it rip. He’d be the prime suspect if not for this next guy.

4. Jeremy Sochan is too frolicky for it not to be him

It’s definitely Sochan. Just look at his face. He’s laughing while walking out of a cloud of nuclear gas.

Not only is he the farter here, but he’s also one of those dudes who think all of his farts are funny. Those are the worst kind of farters. They’re the sort of people who take pleasure in robbing you of one of your senses for the next five minutes because their flatulence just fried your nose. It’s awful.

I could be wrong here. But I think it’s pretty clearly Sochan. We’ll probably never know. I just hope everyone’s nose is OK after this.

Why Gregg Popovich isn’t coaching the Spurs against the Clippers and Rockets

Mitch Johnson will serve as the interim coach of the Spurs.

Gregg Popovich will unfortunately miss some time as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs before an upcoming road trip.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the head coach “suffered a health issue” before a recent game. He will miss an indefinite period, including upcoming games against the Clippers and and the Rockets.

Mitch Johnson, an assistant coach for the Spurs, will take over as the interim head coach as the 75-year-old Popovich recovers from what is currently an undisclosed illness. He is reportedly “OK” but “just needs rest” at this point, per Tom Osborn.

Johnson spoke about the responsibility before he filled in for Popovich on Saturday (via NBA.com):

“He’s not feeling well,” Johnson said. “This has happened before. I think everybody’s just always got to be ready for the next man up. We’ve had it with injuries and sometimes people get sick or don’t feel well or things come up in life. He’s just not feeling well.”

Popovich is a five-time NBA champion and three-time NBA Coach of the Year.

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Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Oct. 28-Nov. 3

Not the best week for the former Notre Dame players.

After winning their first game, [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] and the Milwaukee Bucks have lost every game since. Connaughton tried to play his part with five points and two rebounds in an Oct. 30 loss to the defending champion Boston Celtics. But he followed that by shooting 1 of 7 from the field in a three-point, three-rebound, two-assist effort against the Memphis Grizzlies on Halloween. He wound up averaging 2.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists a game over the course of the week.

[autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] did not fare much better over the past week with the San Antonio Spurs. He started out all right with five points and two rebounds in just under 13 minutes while losing Oct. 30 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. But he played only half that number of minutes over the next two games combined and didn’t register a single meaningful statistic. The result was a scoring average of 2.8 and a rebounding average of 0.8 over the three games.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Victor Wembanyama takes the Chet Holmgren rivalry so seriously he won’t even acknowledge his name

Victor Wembanyama doesn’t care for Chet Holmgren. At all.

In case you have any doubt about the competitiveness between Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren, the young San Antonio Spurs big man seemingly takes few things more seriously than his battles with his peer from Oklahoma City. This dynamic comes into focus again as the Spurs visit the Thunder on Wednesday.

READ MORE: The history of the Wembanyama-Holmgren rivalry is worth revisiting. 

On Wednesday afternoon, ESPN NBA writer Michael C. Wright revealed that Wembanyama actively avoids using Holmgren’s name. He used an example of where Wembanyama was asked a direct question about playing against Holmgren.

In response, Wembanayama just talked about the general matchup with the Thunder without even acknowledging Holmgren. Oh, OK:

Here’s to another heated battle between two of the best young big men in the NBA. May they add another awesome chapter to their already great rivalry.

Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama’s rivalry, explained

Please, give us another 15 years of this.

Folks, here we are again. The Thunder and the Spurs are about to play in their first game against one another this NBA season.

That means we get to see Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama go at it. These are basically two basketball kaiju colliding. One is 7-foot-4 and the other is 7-foot-1 and they both do everything guards can do — sometimes better. It’s wild.

The comparisons will always be there. They’re both second-year big men despite Holmgren being drafted a year before. They both play the same position. They’re both in the same conference. Their playing styles are similar.

But should we call their relationship with each other a rivalry? It’s fair to call it that. But I’m not so sure it’s that quite yet.

Let’s dive into their relationship on the court so far.

Wait, so is this thing actually a rivalry?

Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports

Well, it’s competitive. Maybe it’s fair to call it a rivalry. But there’s no animosity between the two of them.

Holmgren was asked about his relationship with Wemby over the summer on Paul George’s “Playoff P” podcast. He quickly clarified that, while things are competitive, there is no “beef” between the two of them.

“People be like ‘Y’all got beef?’ I’m like ‘Beef?’ We’re out there competing, but beef? Like, beef means when I see you we’re fighting. Why do I got beef with him? I honestly don’t even know the guy. We just play basketball against each other. As competitors, neither of us want to lose. And neither of us want to, like, just let the other person get a bucket or anything. So, we’re always going to compete. If people take it as we got beef, those people don’t understand competing I guess.”

And yet, before Wednesday’s game, ESPN’s Michael C. Wright said in an interview that Wembanyama won’t even say Holmgren’s name.

Interesting!

How competitive are they?

Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

It’s pretty clear that the competitive juices flow a little bit harder when they line up against one another.

It all started back in 2021 at the FIBA Under-19 World Cup. Wembanyama said losing to Holmgren and fouling out of the final game against Team USA is the “worst memory” of his young basketball life so far.

Here’s more from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst:

“It is only the worst basketball memory of Wembanyama’s life — “Just thinking about it makes my jaw clench,” he has said — and one of the great accomplishments of Holmgren’s. Though he didn’t play exceptionally by his standards in the championship game — Holmgren had 10 points and five assists — the American player was named the tournament’s MVP and returned for his freshman year at Gonzaga with a gold medal. Wembanyama had put up 22 points with eight rebounds and eight blocks before having to watch the final minutes from the bench.”

That competitive energy between them hasn’t disappeared.

What were their matchups like?

COMPETITIVE. In all caps. The games are fun to watch. They both do things we’ve never seen anyone like them do on an NBA court.

With that said, mountains moved when we saw Wemby block Chet’s jumper.

Chet and the Thunder walked away with two wins in their three matchups. But Wembanyama would usually walk away with a highlight or two that made you go, “Wow. Can’t wait to watch more of this for the next 10 years.”

So, look. Maybe this isn’t a rivalry now. But the more these guys see each other, the closer this matchup becomes the real deal.

Holmgren told reporters last year, “I plan on playing a long time, and i’m sure he does too so there’ll be no choice but to go back and forth.”

Let’s hope that happens.

Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Oct. 22-27

Basketball season is underway.

(This story was updated to change a photo.)

The 2024-25 NBA season has gotten underway, which means it’s time to watch Notre Dame’s two representatives. Neither player has exactly had a glowing start though.

[autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] began his 10th NBA season by scoring nine points and grabbing four rebounds in the Milwaukee Bucks’ Oct. 23 season opening-win over the Philadelphia 76ers. He followed that up by shooting a combined 2 of 10 from the field in losses to the Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets. He’s averaging 5.0 points and 4.0 rebounds a game in this young season.

[autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] now is in his third season with the San Antonio Spurs. He tipped off his campaign with six points and two assists while losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the Oct. 24 season opener. He had a single field goal and two more assists in six minutes during an Oct. 26 victory over the Houston Rockets.

Wesley is averaging a mere 4.0 points and 0.5 rebounds a game over two contests, but he has the Spurs’ second-highest plus/minus through two games. Granted, that came entirely during the Mavericks game, but still:

Here’s to decent seasons from both Connaughton and Wesley.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

DeMar DeRozan doesn’t think the Raptors needed Kawhi Leonard to win an NBA title in 2019

DeMar DeRozan thinks Toronto would have won if he was never traded.

While promoting his new book Above the Noise, DeMar DeRozan spoke about the trade that sent him from the Toronto Raptors to the San Antonio Spurs.

DeRozan, who began his career playing for the Raptors, enjoyed tremendous success playing alongside Kyle Lowry in Toronto. But after multiple All-Star appearances and late appearances in the postseason, the front office opted to trade DeRozan in exchange for Kawhi Leonard before the 2018-19 season.

The Raptors went on to win the 2019 NBA Championship, which was their first in franchise history. But on ESPN’s First Take, Stephen A. Smith asked an interesting question.

Smith argued that at that time in Toronto’s franchise, the only team that the Raptors seemed to struggle against were LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers.

He wondered if the Raptors would have still won a title in 2019 if they still had DeRozan, not Leonard, as James left the Eastern Conference to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.

It seemed DeRozan agreed with the theory, stating the following:

“Never to discredit those guys. They won it. They deserve it. I finally had got to a point where I was happy for them. But for sure. I definitely feel like that. The only person we couldn’t beat was LeBron. That’s just what it was. I felt off the year we had before, we just needed one more piece to kind of push us over the top. That piece came to be LeBron going to the West and I didn’t get an opportunity to see what would have happened. But the upmost confident in myself, I have no doubt in my mind the same outcome would have happened.”

Good for DeRozan to have the confidence in himself to truly believe this.

He is right: The only team that stood in his way was the Cavaliers and with James in the Western Conference on the Lakers that season, this was finally DeRozan’s shot to win it all. Instead, however, it was Leonard who won NBA Finals MVP in 2019.

Of course, it may have been a lot tougher for the Raptors to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers (who were juggernaut that season as well) without Leonard playing.

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Chet Holmgren addresses rivalry with Victor Wembanyama, claims there’s no beef

Chet Holmgren addresses rivalry with Victor Wembanyama, claims there’s no beef.

As new powerhouses emerge in the Western Conference, expect the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs to return to their glory days.

That also comes with the bonus of seeing Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama square it off in high-stakes environments.

Both seven-footers have been compared to each other throughout their basketball journeys. The similarities are astonishing. They are generational defensive talent who can handle and shoot the ball. They both went top two in back-to-back draft classes and headlined last year’s rookie class.

Despite that, Holmgren doesn’t believe his rivalry with Wembanyama is personal. It stays within the court as two highly-competitive individuals fight it out.

The 22-year-old addressed this in a recent Paul George’s “Podcast P” episode.

“I would just say us being competitors,” Holmgren said. “We played against each other before we were even in the NBA. People be like ‘Y’all got beef?’

“I’m like, ‘Beef? We’re out there competing, but beef means when I see you we’re fighting, you know what I mean?’ Why do I got beef with him? I honestly don’t even know the guy. We just play basketball against each other.”

Holmgren further explained that any animosity he might have toward Wembanyama is purely about trying to get wins. Both players have done an admirable job of avoiding taking shots at one another when given the opportunity.

“As competitors, neither of us wants to lose, and neither of us wants to let the other person get a bucket or anything,” Holmgren said. “We’re always going to compete and if people take it as we got beef, those people don’t really understand competing I guess.”

This is a pretty reasonable answer at one of the league’s juiciest rivalries. It’s evident how badly it wants Chet vs. Wemby to become a storyline as all three of the Thunder’s matchup against the Spurs will be on national television next season.

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Texas A&M alumnus Tyrece Radford signs first professional contract with an overseas team

After spending July playing for the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Summer League, Tyrece Radford has signed his first professional contract.

After spending July playing for the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Summer League, Texas A&M alumnus Tyrece “Boots” Radford has signed his first professional basketball contract with a team overseas.

On Tuesday, Radford signed with Final Spor Genclik Bursa of the Basketbol Süper Ligi, which is a part of the Turkish Basketball Federation. During his final season in College Station, Boots averaged 16.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

While playing for San Antonio, Radford participated in the California Classic held at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. After two games in the Capitol of the Golden State, he spoke exclusively with Aggies Wire.

Among many topics, Boots discussed his discovery that patience is a virtue.

“Going into college as a freshman, everybody wants to play immediately and thinks they’re prepared for it. You have to preach patience because your time is going to come. My time came, I played and I was a starter in college. Now it’s a total reset,” Radford said last month. “My experience in college from a freshman to a senior was to be patient. Now starting over, I can tell myself to be patient, it’s a process. I was talking to coach (Devin Johnson) the other day and it’s just about being patient but staying ready.

“It’s a line, you gotta be patient, try your best to stay ready and whenever your opportunity comes, take full advantage of it. That’s where I’m at mentally.”

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @Shaun_Holkko.