In Spurscast episode 691, Spurscast host Paul Garcia and Project Spurs director of digital content Joe Garcia discuss:
- The Spurs going 3-2 in their last 5 games
- Charles Bassey’s season-ending injury
- Zach Collins’ season overall
Spurscast 691 Topic Breakdown
The Spurs going 3-2 in their last 5 games
The San Antonio Spurs surpassed expectations in their last 5 games, with wins over the Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic, and losses to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, and Memphis Grizzlies. There was a chance for the Spurs to go 4-1 in their last five games, had they been able to win their two overtime games against Dallas and Memphis.
With 12 games left in the season, the Spurs have the second-worst record in the league which means 14% chance lottery odds for the number one overall pick, however, they’re playing better basketball in their last 10 games, going 4-6. During their last 10 games, they have the 13th-ranked defense in the league. For the season as a whole, they still have the worst defense in the league.
Charles Bassey’s season-ending injury
Wednesday the Spurs announced Charles Bassey will miss the remainder of the season with a left knee cap injury. With Bassey out, the Spurs’ frontcourt consists of Zach Collins, Jeremy Sochan, Keita Bates-Diop, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Dominick Barlow, and Gorgui Dieng.
Zach Collins’ season overall
Zach Collins has averaged 11.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 3.1 fouls, and 2 turnovers in 22 minutes per game. Collins has been one of the Spurs’ Top-3 players more frequently since becoming the team’s starting center after Jakob Poeltl was traded in early February.
Collins has shown his versatile ability on offense, where he can make the wide-open pick-and-pop or spot-up 3s, while also being able to score efficiently in the paint, where he’s the team leader in post-up attempts. Collins also stands out compared to other bigs in the league in assist percentage.
Collins has scored 20 or more points in the last three games he’s played in, with more made 3s taking place during those games. Collins is outperforming his contract this season per ProFitX.ai.
