Spurs’ Vassell could see more minutes soon.
Rookie Vassell learns to handle swings in playing time
Nobody told Devin Vassell to be ready. Nobody had to.
The Spurs rookie could take one look at the team’s inactive list heading into Saturday’s game at Phoenix and hazard a guess he might be able to find his way off the bench and onto the floor.
Vassell also figured breaking a sweat would be a welcome change after three DNPS earlier in the week.
“You can’t get upset about not playing,” Vassell said. “We have a great group of vets in front of
me. Just stay ready whenever my number is called, that’s it.”
With Demar Derozan, Patty Mills and Jakob Poeltl all resting,
Vassell’s number was indeed called against the Suns.
Vassell answered with his best game of the season, throwing in four 3-pointers and 18 points off the bench to help spark one of the Spurs’ most improbable victories of the season.
Thanks to Vassell’s shot-making and Drew Eubanks’ bottomless supply energy in his first start, the Spurs pulled out a 111-85 victory that snapped Phoenix’s 10-game home winning streak.
Making his first start of the season in place of Poeltl, Eubanks had 13 points and 13 rebounds for his second career double-double — as well as his second in three games.
The only player over age 30 available Saturday, Rudy Gay led the Spurs with 19 points for his highest-scoring night since going for 21 on Jan. 18 at Portland.
Keldon Johnson added 17 points as the Spurs (26-27) knocked off a Suns team that boasts the NBA’S second-best record.
“This is a big win for us, gets us off our losing streak,” Gay said. “The fact we won like we did is a confidence builder.”
In a substantial upset, Vassell was the highest-scoring player named Devin to play Saturday in Phoenix. That was bad news for the Suns (40-16), who got only 15 points on 6-of-18 shooting from star guard Devin Booker.
For Vassell, knocking down shots from distance is a lot like riding a bike. The skill just came back to him once he was on the court.
“My teammates were finding me for open 3s, and they were
giving me confidence,” said Vassell, who notched his sixth double-digit scoring outing. “Every time I shot it, they said, ‘It looks like it’s going in.’ It’s easy with teammates like that.”
Over the past week, it would have been easy for Vassell’s confidence to wither on the end of coach Gregg Popovich’s bench. Saturday marked only his second appearance in the span of five games.
The 24 minutes, 54 seconds Vassell logged in the win over the Suns were his most since playing more than 26 minutes in that Jan. 18 victory at Portland.
The 20-year-old selected No. 11 overall in the 2020 draft said he has not been particularly surprised at his recent lack of playing time.
“I know it’s a process that I’m going through,” Vassell said. “At the end of the day, I just try to stay ready.”
Vassell’s strong showing could set him up for more minutes in the near future, especially if Popovich continues to rest players during a grueling push to the regular-season finish line.
A two-game road trip hopscotches east on Monday, as the Spurs face Indiana in a game rescheduled from February because a coronavirus outbreak.
Popovich had no deep explanation for why Vassell had fallen out of the rotation in recent games.
“We played other people,” Popovich said with a shrug.
Still, Popovich said he appreciates the work Vassell has put in throughout a rookie season that included six missed games in February and March with a COVID-19 diagnosis.
“As far as basketball goes, he’s a good shooter,” Popovich said. “He understands how to play. Defensively, he is starting to figure out the physicality of the game.”
Vassell won’t argue with Popovich’s scouting report on him.
His shooting touch has largely translated from his college days at Florida State. After Vassell’s hot shooting night at Phoenix, he is hitting at a 40.8-percent clip from beyond the arc.
Vassell has also shown a propensity for blocks and steals and had two of the former against the Suns. But he acknowledges the pounding of the NBA game has taken some acclimation.
“The NBA is a physical game and you have to get used to it coming from college,” said Vassell, who is a slender 6-foot-5 and 200 pounds. “Just playing more and getting more experience, you learn.”
Like many Spurs rookies to come before him, Vassell has had to have patience.
As painstaking as Vassell’s path to the court has felt at times, he has been fast-tracked in comparison to other first-year players under Popovich.
The 752 minutes Vassell has totaled this season are the most for a Spurs rookie since Kawhi Leonard in 2011. Vassell is also the first Spurs rookie since Leonard not to spend a minute in the G League.
He is the club’s highest-drafted rookie since Tim Duncan went first overall in 1997 — and that pedigree shows.
“He has a hell of a ceiling,” Gay said. “Obviously he has his mistakes, but he is willing to learn and he has talent. I’m really high on him.”
Whether that is enough to restore Vassell to the rotation for the Spurs’ last-ditch playoff push remains to be seen.
Vassell can’t get into Popovich’s head. He can’t make the coach play him.
All Vassell can do is stay ready, just in case.
Nobody has to tell him that.