San Antonio Spurs: Let’s have a conversation about Bryn Forbes

Though he’s been playing well in February, the inconsistent play of San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Bryn Forbes poses a few questions.

Shooting guard Bryn Forbes had a lot of hype about him during this year’s pre-season. He added muscle, worked on his overall offensive game and looked confident coming into the 2019-20 season. For the season, he is currently averaging 11.1 points per game on 40.9% shooting and is a -4.6 on the plus/minus scale.

The plus/minus scale is part of the box score that Head Coach Gregg Popovich does not look at until the end of the season. Even then, it’s the last thing he looks at, according to Pop.

Now, don’t hold your breath expecting to give Pop the plus/minus on Forbes and seeing him make a significant change. Pop values Bryn’s three-point shooting and ability to space the floor. It’s clear that Bryn’s importance is beyond-the-arc.

For the season, Forbes has been averaging 38.1 percent from three, down from last year’s 42.6 percent. The term “streaky shooter” doesn’t apply to anyone more than him.

But what about his defense, you might ask? Here’s where the conversation about our beloved shooting guard may take a turn for the worst. Forbes has a current defensive rating of 114.0. In other words, for every 100 possessions, Bryn Forbes is allowing 114 points. Yikes? This doesn’t make Bryn the worst defender in the league, but it does make him a huge liability on defense.

Bryn isn’t a lazy defender by any means; however, his defense is eye-popping for all the wrong reasons. He gets turned around easily, doesn’t recover on screens, and most of all is undersized at just 6-foot-3 inches.

Where Spurs rank (out of 361 players)…

39-Jakob Pöltl69-DeMar DeRozan99-Dejounte Murray102-Patty Mills107-Derrick White116-LaMarcus Aldridge185-Trey Lyles197-Rudy Gay250-Lonnie Walker287-Bryn Forbes301-Marco Belinelli https://t.co/OdZOkkTiL8

— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) February 25, 2020

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Now, if Bryn had the defensive tenacity, or half of it, as Patrick Beverly, then we as Spurs fans would feel less stressed when Bryn has to defend against players who are a mismatch.

Forbes is the current starting shooting guard for the San Antonio Spurs. With the three-point line as his main weapon, he doesn’t offer much else offensively or defensively. As we enter the end of the 2019-20 season, Bryn’s minutes would be better suited for our future: 6-foot-5-inch Keldon Johnson or Lonnie Walker IV.

Forbes will be an unrestricted free agent this off-season. If the San Antonio Spurs want to keep Forbes around hoping that his offensive game pros will outshine the defensive woes, then we are in for more seasons of frustratingly watching Forbes get beat off of the dribble, not being in the right spot on defense, and overall being a defensive liability.

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The Spurs already have a disappoint defensive rating of 113.5. Would re-signing Forbes be the best way to improve our defense or would letting Johnson take his spot be the better option?