Wemby’s All-Star Path, Spurs shooting catch-and-shoot 3s, and more

UPDATE 10:30 PM CT – The NBA has announced Saturday’s Spurs – Lakers matchup in Los Angeles has been postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date, due to the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles Area. There’s no mention in the press release for Monday’s matchup between the two teams, also scheduled to take place in Los Angeles.

Welcome back to another edition of The Off Day, where I dive into a number of topics on the San Antonio Spurs’ day off. Here are the topics for this edition:

• (1) Wemby’s All-Star Path

• (2) The Spurs shooting catch-and-shoot 3s

• (3) Synergy data – Wemby and Jeremy Sochan on defense

Victor Wembanyama could be on his way to his first All-Star selection. The question though, is whether he’ll be a starter or a reserve?

To be a starter, Wemby would need to finish in the Top-3 in fan, media, and player voting among Western Conference frontcourt players. Fans account for 50% of the vote, while players and the media account for 25% of the vote each.

In the latest fan vote update earlier this week, Wemby moved up to 4th in fan voting with 1,630,948 votes. The three frontcourt players ahead of him were Nikola Jokic (2,277,723), Kevin Durant (1,983,680), and LeBron James (1,981,529).

If Wemby isn’t able to crack the Top-3 in fan, media, and player voting by the time the starters are announced on January 23, then the next path for him to make the team is as a reserve.

I want to give major props to Brian Windhorst, Tim Bontemps, and Tim MacMahon from ESPN for their analysis on the latest episode of the podcast, Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective.

They started breaking down the players in the conversation as All-Star candidates, and as they pointed out, because there is a set format for the reserves, Wemby should be a lock among the frontcourt players in the running.

Focusing just on the Western Conference, let’s say the fan vote currently holds and the five starters will be Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (guard), Stephen Curry (guard), LeBron (frontcourt), Durant (frontcourt), and Jokic (frontcourt). Looking at the reserves, the NBA head coaches are responsible for picking the 7 reserves, but there are guidelines. The coaches must pick two guards, THREE FRONT COURT PLAYERS, and two wild cards.

Some of the front court candidates mentioned on their pod were Wemby, Anthony Davis, Jalen Williams, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Alperen Sengun.

With the coaches making the reserve picks, Wemby would likely get one of those three front court picks. Wemby not only has the numbers with 25.1 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1 steal, and 4 blocks per game, but he also impacts both ends of the floor, especially the defensive end dramatically. Plus, for most of this season, the Spurs have been right around .500 and been in the play-in range out West.

The reserves will be announced on January 30. So, if all stays on track, the question to watch in the next two weeks will be whether Wemby enters as a starter, or reserve?