Chris Paul's vintage milestone night ruined by issue Spurs refuse to fix

This should have been a night to celebrate the Point God for reaching another cool milestone. Chris Paul has officially played in 1308 NBA games, standing alone as the 20th player to reach that number. Most of the players above him are Hall of Famers, and there's no doubt that Paul will walk into the Hall on the first ballot.

Unfortunately, despite a CP3 turning back the hands of time like Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, a Spurs' win was not inevitable. Paul dropped 18 points, nine assists, and six rebounds, but San Antonio dropped the game anyway. They led by 19 points with vibes at an all-time high in the Windy City, yet fell apart in the second half, and the front office needs to make a change because it was that bad.

Spurs must bring in outside help to shake up the core

San Antonio was crushing Chicago in the first half. Nothing the Bulls did worked, and it felt like the Spurs could do no wrong. But there are two halves of basketball, and in the second half, the Bulls kicked it into high gear. They got more physical, started making their shots, and the Spurs unraveled.

Nobody except Chris Paul is without blame, because nobody made shots when they needed to most other than the oldest player on the team. He was crashing the board, hustling for loose balls, and playing with an energy that should have spread to the rest of the guys on the floor. But that's not what happened.

There were times when Devin Vassell looked downright apathetic, and Jeremy Sochan's body language wasn't any better after Chi-Town made their run. Everyone besides Paul looked like something was happening to them, rather than fighting to control what they could to take the game back.

They need to be held accountable, and only acting head coach Mitch Johnson knows what's being said behind closed doors, but whatever it is needs to be amplified. This team is past the point of blaming youth for their mistakes, and Johnson's first postgame comments basically painted the picture of a young basketball team still struggling to play for 48 minutes.

"I think the attention to detail and the respect for the little things that went into how we got the lead waivered, and then we had a fight on our hands." - Mitch Johnson in his postgame interview

We shouldn't still be talking about respecting the little things. Coach Gregg Popovich spoke about these exact issues last season. The fact that they're still taking place with young leaders on the roster who have worn silver and black for four or five years is troubling.

The Spurs turned the ball over 17 times, and the Bulls have rim runners and shooters who will make you pay for those mistakes. They were the only team under .500 that San Antonio had on the schedule until February 7, and they blew what should have been an easy win. They let their foot off the gas, which is mindblowing for a team that only won 22 games last season.

Victor Wembanyama had 23 points but it took him 22 shots to get it. It wasn't an efficient night, but he still grabbed 14 boards, had four assists, and blocked eight shots. These numbers should lead to wins, but the role players aren't doing their part and his second-in-command has been lacking.

Devin Vassell scored 11 points on 5-14 from the field and 1-7 on 3-pointers. To be fair to Vassell, he had his best defensive game of the year on the stat sheet, snatching two steals and blocking three shots, but the Spurs didn't pay him to be Tony Allen.

He is supposed to be a two-way player with high shotmaking capabilities. He has not been that this season. If he had entered the season shooting poorly, it could have possibly been explained by his recovery from his offseason surgery, but he was shooting it well.

In fact, Vassell was the best 3-point shooter on the team over his first 10-15 games, but his efficiency plummeted later, so it makes no sense.

Wembanyama isn't completely without blame. Longtime Spurs journalist Tom Petrini makes a great point about the nuance of winning basketball the Alien must figure out quickly.

That being said, he shouldn't have to be perfect every game to win when he's putting up video game numbers like this. Vassell only took one shot the whole quarter. Jeremy Sochan also only took one shot in the fourth quarter despite an efficient 5-7 night. He wasn't crashing the boards and playing with the contagious energy Spurs fans are used to seeing.

If their knack for becoming complacent is too hard to fix, somebody needs to be moved from the core. They need to understand that the patience doesn't last forever. Devin Vassell was as close to untouchable as it got at the beginning of the year, but that's starting to change. You need to show something special to earn that title, and we're not seeing it.

The big man issue can't be ignored, either. Charles Bassey was the only backup big to play against Chicago. He was on the floor for 13 minutes and made you wish Wemby was back on the floor for each one of them. He struggled to contain Nikola Vucevic, and the whole reason he's on the team is to play defense.

The situation behind Wembanyama has become a dumpster fire, and the Spurs are almost throwing away the season if they don't make changes at the deadline. It doesn't need to be wholesale changes, but they need another shooter, backup big man, and dynamic wing/guard. Start somewhere. Start anywhere.