The Spurs will most likely take a guard in the upcoming draft. They are known to be “big fans” of UConn’s Stephon Castle, who states his intention to find a true starting point guard for the future and Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham was openly campaigning to be a Spur.
No disrespect to Tre Jones, but he’s not cut out to be the star point guard of the future. However, he is the perfect replacement because his ability to take care of the basketball and his tenacity on every play are things you can’t teach and qualities every team looks for.
If the former Duke Blue Devil has developed great qualities in his game since his arrival in the 2-1-0, his biggest flaw is that he never developed an outside shot or had the mindset of this goalscorer killer. You won’t see him taking defenders off the dribble or creating space for open looks, but he’s a guard who plays on fundamentals, can run the pick-and-roll, and makes the play easier.
That said, San Antonio is looking to make Jones the backup point guard by taking one of Castle, Dillingham, Nikola Topic or Devin Carter, all players exhibiting traits that Jones lacks. Selecting one of these players would significantly improve the depth at guard and push Tre to the second unit, providing this group with a guy who has been a starter for a few years and has gained experience running a attack and in the closing of the sequence.
The third-year Ohio native began his career with high hopes, potentially looking like one of the steals of the draft by displaying his young potential by scoring the ball from all three levels of the court. Unfortunately, his sophomore season would trend in the wrong direction, as he was one of the worst defenders in the league and constantly struggled to score points.
While that raw scoring ability is still present, it has yet to become a core part of his game, and the minutes he received were too much for some of the scoring he was posting.
Not only was his past season less than memorable, but another young guard, Blake Wesley, began to make significant progress during his sophomore year. The former Notre Dame guard showed flashes of what might have reminded diehards of old-school Dejounte Murray, a young guard with a heart of fire on the defensive end who wreaked havoc that resulted in buckets .
Although his offensive game has yet to be developed, some fundamental mechanics are in place, and his explosiveness off the dribble is one to watch after a fairly interesting rookie season; Not in a good way.
If San Antonio decides to draft the draft’s most dynamic scorer, Rob Dillingham, Branham’s role could disappear entirely.
Although the two share similar flaws on the defensive end, Dilly’s versatility in scoring the ball is uncanny and electrifying. He can take on elite defenders, displaying his sneakiness and trickery with the ball in his hands, explode off the dribble to finish over bigger defenders, and was an elite pick-and-roll scorer.
Losing Branham in minutes would also be the result of Tre Jones being inserted into the second unit, causing a domino effect. Moving him to the shooting guard position is possible, which may be a practical decision for his playstyle; However, the addition of a talented scorer and the continued development of Wesley could force Branham to take a step back.
There’s only about a week left until the draft, and there’s still no clear picture of where the Spurs are headed, but all of our questions will be answered soon.
