Spurs: The Best and worst stat from everyone on the roster
By Josh Paredes
The San Antonio Spurs have been a frustrating team to watch through their first 10 games. They've built leads of double digits in seven of them to show they can hang, yet they've dropped four of those. On top of that, their roster reload of 3-point shooters hasn't yielded positive results and there still seem to be questionable rotations.
Still, we're only 12% into the season and there have been some encouraging signs. The Spurs' defense has hovered around the top 10 in the NBA through most of the first three weeks, though they've had trouble applying that to full 48-minute games.
Dejounte Murray has also emerged as the undisputed best player on the squad and is putting up All-Star numbers, but the team will need to see some better results for him to get real consideration come February.
As the Spurs look to recover from their rough start to the season, two numbers stick out for each guy on the roster through the first stretch. One note: Joshua Primo and Jock Landale have played just six and 11 minutes all season, so they won't be included. Let's get started.
Tre Jones
Best Stat: 52.4% shooting
Tre Jones is only getting 6.7 minutes per game, but he's already shown signs of the offensive improvements he displayed in the NBA Summer League. With offense being his weak point out of college, it's been encouraging to see him have 2-of-3 and 4-of-5 nights early on despite not being on the floor that much.
Worst stat: 2 steals in 60 minutes
The Spurs already have plenty of thieves on the roster so Jones doesn't necessarily need to be a swiper. But given how well he defends, he should be getting more per minute than he's gotten so far.
Thaddeus Young
Best stat: 6.2 assists per 36 minutes
Last year, Thaddeus Young had the best passing season of his career, averaging 4.3 assists per game with the Chicago Bulls. Although he's playing 3/4 of the minutes he did last season, he's still distributing the ball at the same rate.
Young has been a revelation at the top of the key, always knowing when and when not to pass the ball inside to a streaking wing.
Worst stat: 1 free throw attempt in 117 minutes
Sunday's and-one attempt late against the Thunder was the first free throw attempt Young has had all season. He's not really expected to be a bruiser down low and he only averages two attempts per game in his career, but a 0.1 rate could stand to go up at least a few tenths.