Wesley’s resilience, passing improving
Blake Wesley’s decisive passing has been a common thread for the Spurs over their last several games.
“I love having the ball in my hand, love creating for others,” said the rookie guard, who turned 20 Thursday. “It’s fun.”
Wesley enters Friday night’s game against Memphis having dished out 17 assists in a threegame stretch that included recording a season-high seven in a 132-114 win over Orlando on Monday.
The impressive run of facilitating came after a one-game stint in Austin in which he scored a season-high 30 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists in a 125-110 win over Charlotte’s developmental team.
“They wanted me to go down to the G League and work on my passing and decision-making, and it’s carrying over to the NBA,” Wesley said, referring to the Spurs coaches.
In addition to his passing, Wesley also earned high marks this week for the way he bounced back from a 1-of-12 shooting performance in the Spurs’ 102-90 loss to Oklahoma
City on Sunday.
Two days later, he responded with eight points on3of8(2of5from3point range) and his career-high seven assists.
“He was more aggressive tonight,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said afterward. “He wasn’t worried about making mistakes. He moved the ball well, did a good job.”
Then in Wednesday’s 137-128 overtime loss to Dallas, Wesley finished with an NBA career-best 11 points on 4 of 10 and four assists. He also matched his career highs for rebounds (six) and steals (three) in 23 minutes off the bench.
“I got better from it, learned from it, and got back into the gym and worked on my shot,” Wesley said of his response to his tough outing against the Thunder. “It’s always next day and continue to get better.”
Spurs forward Doug Mcdermott said Wesley’s short memory is a good trait for an NBA player.
“It’s tough when you get to the NBA and you have 82 games compared to 30 in college,” Mcdermott said. “You can’t really dwell on a bad night because you got a game the next night and the next night. It took me probably four or five years to get there, so it’s really impressive what (Wesley) is doing.”
The Spurs also like Wesley’s work ethic after selecting him 25th overall in last year’s draft out of Notre Dame.
“Blake works extremely hard and gets better and better each and every game, finding his rhythm, playing hard, being a spark plug and doing whatever we need him to do,” forward Keldon Johnson said. “He affects every category — steal, rebounds, assists, scoring. He does it all.”
Jones seeks some brotherly advice
When point guard Tre Jones entered the league as a second-round draft pick by the Spurs in 2020, he leaned on his older brother, Memphis point guard Tyus Jones, for on-the-court advice.
But as Jones prepares to become a restricted free agent in the offseason, he’s depending on Tyus for off-the-court tutoring too.
“We talk all the time,”
Tre said. “Recently it’s more about business stuff. He goes through his things. I go through my things. We’re able to bounce things back and forth and just be there for each other.”
Tre will become a restricted free agent June 30 if no agreement is reached. The Spurs can extend him a qualifying offer of $5.2 million.
Memphis re-signed Tyus to a two-year, $30 million deal last June.
The brothers squared off as starters for the first time in the NBA on Jan. 9. Tyus led the Grizzlies with 24 points, while Tre had 18 in a 121-113 loss.
“It’s amazing man,” Tyus said after the game. “It’s a dream come true.”
Tyus is 7-0 against Tre in the NBA. The Grizzlies have won eight straight against the Spurs dating back to 2020.
With All-star Ja Morant serving an eightgame suspension for conduct detrimental to the league, Tyus has averaged 16.3 points and 7.3 assists in the last six games.
Tre returned to action and the starting lineup in Wednesday’s loss to Dallas, finishing with 13 points and five assists in 32 minutes after missing the previous two games with a NON-COVID illness.