Development is such an optimistic word in the world of sports.
Within that sphere it’s a positivity that’s almost taken for granted; that development is largely a productive thing – a forward step in the process of growing and changing for the better.
This is, of course, only one variation within a whole host of definitions, most of which are not explicitly positive. Linguistically speaking, the word development merely demarcates a change or an event. Ultimately, as in life, we bring to language our convictions about the words themselves and their subjects — definition is most often relative to mindset, and in this way we express the ways in which we filter our perceptions of reality to others.
In this way, development is a kind of limitus test. A win like last night’s really tells us nothing within the context of a lost season. Injury doesn’t really lend itself to assessment in that way.
A Spurs win against an even worse-off team (who were also without their best player) doesn’t really define a season or advance a larger narrative. The Spurs are operating outside of narrative for the moment, living within the hazy purgatory of development.
What we make of their season is ultimately an expression of ourselves.
Certainly, we can judge that portion of the season that came before cataclysmic injury, but most of what comes afterward is subject to our ability to process the disappointment specific to unfairness.
It’s unfair that the progress of an entire season has essentially been thwarted – that our ability to truly measure it has been compromised. It’s unfair that we had a limited window into the post-trade-deadline combination of Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox. It’s unfair that we’ve had to watch the roster labor under the tutelage of a coach so inexperienced that he’s never been the head coach of a roster at any significant level of competition.
And yet, it’s the way that we react to this unfairness that ultimately defines both us and the season itself. A stream of unrelenting negativity ultimately says more about us than anything. So to does an uncompromisingly rose-colored view.
Neither defines us as being particularly in touch with reality.
Is it unfair that Victor Wembayama’s ascending second season was spoiled by a random blood clot? Absolutely.
And yet, the prognosis is definitively positive. There’s been a certainty that we’ll see Victor on the court again next season and that his career has not been endangered or compromised. (disregarding the good fortune of having landed Wembayama in the first place)
Has Mitch Johnson done about as well as one could expect of an almost completely inexperienced head coach at the highest level of basketball strategy and coordination? I think that would be fair to say.
And yet, there’s a nagging reality that much was left on the table when it came to how this team operated in the absence of the winningest NBA coach of all time, even prior to Wembanyama’s injury. It’s a reality that there would be a drop-off between those two resumes, and it’s not churlish to express that, nor to question why the Spurs didn’t have a more qualified backup waiting in the wings.
To simply throw concerns aside in the name of development in no less out of touch than to insist that no positive developments have occurred because this team will almost certainly miss the postseason.
We find ourselves, as always, in search of the balance that we crave in the world outside of sports. We want to believe in an endless Camelot. We rail in fear that we’ll miss the Summer Lands altogether.
We pin our hopes on potential that may never come to fruition. We denigrate the forward progress of players who lack transcendent talent. We make a mess of this whole human experience, and then some.
All the while the ball goes through the hoop like sand through the hourglass.
And that’s the thing about development – it’s maddening. It obeys no laws of progress.
It’s easy to forget that the can opener was invented almost 50 years after the can. That the screwdriver wasn’t invented until long after after the screw. That the steering wheel was invented 8 years after the first automobile (and a number of lethal crashes).
It’s hard to blame people for having been enthusiastic about those progressions in human technology, or those who were frustrated and cynical about their future without the proper complementary mechanisms in place.
Just as it’s hard to blame those for feeling less than enthusiastic about a narrow win over a depleted bottom-dweller, or to blame those finding hope in the performance of young supporting players and Spurs bench that looked their best in what feels like ages.
We need them both, because we’re silly, silly people, watching a silly, silly game.
And our silly little opinions are dear to us, as they should be. Because at the end of the day, development is all we really have.
### Takeaways
* Much has been made of Devin Vassell’s uneven performance this season by fans (as well as myself), but it has to be noted that he’s on one heck of an efficient heater right now, averaging 20/5/3/2 on shooting split just shy of 40/50/90 for the month of March, so far easily the best month of his season. There’s a real question as to whether or not this is a permanent return to his form from last season, and if this can be sustained with the addition of Wembanyama and Fox next season. But for now, Vassell is absolutely living up to his contract, and is a big part of a beleaguered Spurs squad finding ways to win. If this version shows up next season, with additions in the draft and free agency, he’ll be a perfect complement to the way this team is being built. Yes, I’m aware that there are a lot of ‘ifs’ in that paragraph, but I say we let him have this one for now. It’s been a rough enough season for everyone involved.
* Stephon Castle also continues to confound me in the ways that he manages to strongly contribute in spite of a shaky jumper. Without Fox he’s turned into the best active player when it comes to drawing fouls, giving the Spurs a glimpse into the best driving (and foul-drawing) back-court they’ve had since the days of Parker and Ginobili. I expect Chris Paul will either move on or accept a bench role next season, so we’ll probably get an extended look at Castle and Fox, who seem like natural complements provided Castle works on that jumper in the off-season. The future of the back-court feels brighter than it has since the early days of Derrick White and Dejounte Murray.
* On the other hand, this feels like the end for Blake Wesley and Malaki Branham by extension. Both part of the same draft class, neither seems truly capable of holding on to a role in the bench unit, unless PATFO have decided they see something most don’t. There’s always a possibility the Spurs keep one in an effort to keep contract costs down, depending on the marker for bench guards, but based on last season’s free agency costs at that bracket, a bevvy of draft picks, and the vice-like new CBA cap rules, new faces seems more likely.
Playing You Out – The Theme Song of the Evening:
_Memory of the Future_ by Pet Shop Boys