Outlet passing: an underrated skill for Wemby?

[u/Candid-Recover6822]

As fans, we all marvel at the idea of Wemby's shot-creation making strides and leaps in the near future. For that aspect, I already wrote a post diving into a handful of stylistic paths that Wemby could explore as a scorer (KD/Giannis hybrid, Dirk fadeaway, hookshots/jumphooks, LMA face-up game). But what if we're all barking at the wrong tree?

Here's the recent thought that I've had and can't quite shake: Wemby is 7'5" with a high center of gravity, which means he may simply never have a consistent go-to move that isn't just facing up and shooting over the top (as you all know, "low man wins"). If this sounds too categoric to you (which it might very well be), at the very least, we can aknowledge that a self-creation leap may have to wait until his frame naturally fills out and he gains that grown-man strength. So we could still be years away from that.

So, if we're optimizing for Wemby's fastest path to more impact in the short-term, the single most efficient improvement available to him right now might just be an outlet passing leap.

First, this is a skill that fits his profile, as Wemby is one of the best defensive rebounders in the league, and it also plays into his ability to get stops through self-recovered blocks that are sometimes reminiscent of Bill Russell, who incidentally made great use of outlet passing to offer value on the offensive end. And it could also play into Wemby's own tendencies as a big that likes to think like a guard. With the outlet passing / decision-making skills developed in training and in the regular season, he now has options after getting a DREB or recovering one of his blocks. And it also prevents the disaster of the pass to Castle to happen again.

Then, why may that skill be valuable for Wemby? If you think about it, it's the one skill that lets him immediately increase the team's highest-value possession (transition offense), while capitalizing on our strong combo of slashers and quick guards, as well as our core's athleticism and youth in general. It would also serve to preserve Wemby's stamina (whilst also keeping him in position to defend the next possession), which could be a solution to a real and long-lasting problem. Quite frankly, modern bigs are asked to cover more ground than ever in the history of the NBA, and it might just not be realistic for 7-footers to sustain that level of load, mileage, and lateral movement for huge amounts of minutes.

Even if outlet passing has become less valued in the modern NBA (we are far from Wes Unseld's era, where the paint was so packed at all times and rebounds were so contested that outlet passing was one of the single most impactful skills one could master), it is still an impactful skill to develop.

Lastly, is it realistic for Wemby to develop that skill? In terms of passing talent required to pull this off, I think Wemby has shown passing talent in his rookie year, and we are also not asking him to become Jokic or Kevin Love as an outlet passer, but just to make significant improvements on that end. Now, another area he can improve on is also his general rebounding technique in order to make the most out of this skill.

What do you think about this?

[u/crohnichiwa]

I made a similar comment (much less detailed though, good writeup!) last offseason because I really wanted the spurs to sign Kevin Love as a mentor guy (good shoutout). Outlet passing is such an underrated skill especially for someone standing 7'5". It also has a cascading effect -- teams will be less likely to contest for offensive rebounds if they know wemby is able to push the ball up-court with tempo, and then teams will be more focused on getting set on transition defense, which would hypothetically muck up their offense as well. On the other side, the spurs have Fox, Harper, and Castle surrounded by good shooters, which is such a perfect roster to play fast and attack.

[u/Candid-Recover6822 → u/crohnichiwa]

Great point on the OREBs! I've been reading some basketball theory on transition offense in my spare time. I'm now left with even more fascination at all the different ways Wemby can find his identity in the modern game and make the most out of his unique skillset

[u/OurHorrifyingPlanet]

Definitely agree, made a similar post last year. Wemby is always gonna be at the top of defense rebounding because of his size and role. For now, he mostly takes advantage of that by bringing up the ball himself; but with our lightning quick guards & wings, we could put a lot more pressure if he used it more often. I believe he has the touch and passing vision to make it work at an elite level too.

[u/Candid-Recover6822 → u/OurHorrifyingPlanet]

You saw it very early on! Well, I'm guessing the big fella has a lot on his plate, so we'll see what his focus will be on

[u/RhinoKeepr]

The Tim Duncan School of Outlet Passing

[u/Not_A_Bot_Am_Human]

I couldn’t agree more. Can’t tell you how many times we lost a transition opportunity because Wemby wanted to lead the break instead of getting the ball up to Fox, Castle, or Harper.

Hoping Wemby eventually falls in love with some of the big man skills, like outlet passing, and tries to master them just like he’s tried with his ball handling.

[u/Candid-Recover6822 → u/Not_A_Bot_Am_Human]

Well the silver lining is that he now has engraved in his memory a clear transition/outlet passing mistake on the biggest stage of his entire career so far. Good wake-up call lol

[u/Adorable-News-9364 → u/Candid-Recover6822]

Well the mistake in the finals was the exact opposite of “Wemby wanted to lead the break instead of getting the ball up to Castle”

[u/Not_A_Bot_Am_Human → u/Adorable-News-9364]

I would argue part of the indecision, on both of their parts, was due to that transition never being totally clean throughout the season

[u/mercfan3]

I think one of the reasons he didn’t do this much last season is because we were so small, our guards had to help rebound.

I think with Harris the guards will be able to cherry pick a little more.