Spurs have a brewing Julian Champagnie problem they must solve ASAP

Prior to San Antonio Spurs forward Julian Champagnie's explosion against the New York Knicks, he was in the midst of an ugly shooting slump. Luckily, he broke out in a huge way, drilling a franchise record 11 threes and scoring a career-high 36 points in a come-from-behind win.

Even so, there are still some concerns about his game going forward, namely consistency. During the 10 games preceding the one against the Knicks, he shot just 29.6% from three on 5.4 attempts per game.

San Antonio had some high-profile wins during that span, including against the Los Angeles Lakers and beating the Oklahoma City Thunder three times. That explains why his shooting slump has largely flown under the radar, which underscores how feast or famine he can be.

Julian Champagnie is crucial to the Spurs, just inconsistent

When he's on, he is arguably the team's best shooter, but when he's not, it's easy to forget that he's even on the floor. That's not to say that he isn't having an impact: he tends to alternate between solid and very good defensively, and he is a big help on the glass.

That's something that can't be understated given how much the team struggles at times to secure defensive rebounds. Still, his value to the Silver and Black is primarily tied to his shooting, and that is the reason why he was able to beat out Jeremy Sochan for minutes.

No one's asking him to hit 11 threes regularly, though we certainly wouldn't hate to see that happen again. We just need him to be more consistent. Champagne has been compared to former Spur Danny Green as a result, which can be a double-edged sword.

The Spurs need Julian Champagnie to be more reliable

Green was a huge part of three Spurs teams that each made the Western Conference Finals, including San Antonio's 2014 championship team. Even so, he was notorious for being remarkably streaky as a shooter and practically useless on offense when his shot wasn't falling.

Of course, Champagnie isn't anywhere near as good as Green was defensively, which means he has fewer ways to impact the game if he isn't draining shots. While he is a better dribbler than Green, that may be damning with faint praise. He has yet to show that he can attack closeouts effectively or do much else offensively.

Even despite his limitations, he remains integral to what San Antonio wants to do. They have prioritized spacing the floor this season. Therefore, having him play nearly 28 minutes per game is still worthwhile with opposing teams guarding him whether his shot is falling or not.

However, for him to continue to expand his role, he will have to be less volatile as a shooter to both live up to and simultaneously avoid comparisons to Green.