Pastoral note, from Garrett
The Family Fellowship Night this evening has been rescheduled due to all the rain. Ironically, we were going to talk about how God provides water and why people, plants, and animals all need it. The water slide will have to wait until July 6. Mark your calendars and join us on July 6 at 5:30 PM for an evening of food, fun, and fellowship!
Next Monday night will be our first Theology on Tap at Wild Barley Kitchen & Brewery. This informal gathering will be hosted by Lee Prophitt and me at 7 p.m. Our church statement of faith says we will commit to a “Free Church in a Free State and to the opposition of any effort, either by church or state, to use the other for its own purposes.” Lee and I will guide a conversation around some of the issues surrounding Christian nationalism and the threat it poses to the free church and why Baptists have traditionally supported the separation of church and state. Come grab a brew or something from the Wild Barely Kitchen and join the conversation.
Coming this September, I’m going to teach a Lifestages Class, which will be a 4-week Wednesday night study exploring how God’s gifts and calling unfold throughout every season of life. We’ll reflect on childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and older adulthood as sacred stages of vocation and blessing. We’ll look at stories from the life of David in the bible and reflect on the ways God seeks our flourishing along the path of life. Each 75-minute gathering includes prayer, teaching, discussion, and a closing ritual, meeting September 9, 16, 23, and 30 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Now let’s talk basketball…
The Spurs’ season ended on Saturday night with their Game 5 Finals loss to the New York Knicks. It was another game where the Spurs had a double digit lead and ended up losing in the final minutes. Jalen Brunson was truly phenomenal.
Think of it this way, Jalen Brunson was 2 years older than Wemby in his first playoff run with the Mavericks in 2021. The Mavs lost in game 7 of their first round series against the Clippers. Brunson had 2 points in 10 minutes in that game. Throughout that series, the Clippers dwarfed him with big players who threatened every shot he took. The Mavs decided Brunson was too small to be a playoff player and didn’t sign him to a contract extension the next year. New York signed him and now he’s the finals MVP. Way to go, Mavs. By the way, Luka Doncic had 46 points and 14 assists in that Game 7 in 2021. Ugh.
Castle and Fox both played terribly in that last game. Fox had several bad games. Questions are already coming up about trading him. Questions are coming up about whether or not Wemby can play enough minutes to where he can be effective at the end of games.
In 1984 Magic Johnson was so bad in the NBA Finals that they started calling him Tragic Johnson. That wasn’t the end of Magic’s story and this isn’t the end of Wemby’s either. He has the will and work ethic of someone (like Brunson) who will continue to improve. He needs to start taking more midrange shots from around the foul line (like Brunson) when he can’t get all the way to the rim.
It’s very likely that Castle, Harper, and Wemby will be significantly better next season. We don’t know for sure how much Fox’s high ankle sprain affected his finals performance. One thing is for sure, they don’t know what they are doing at the end of games on offense. That is something that only improves with chemistry and repetition.
Great offensive players know exactly where they want to get to in those closing moments. Dirk Nowitzki went to the elbows (the area to the right or left of the free throw line) for his patented one-legged fade away. Hakeem Olajuwon had the baseline turn and fade away. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had the sky hook. These were all shots that couldn’t really be defended. If you go back and watch Wemby’s shots late in games, you’ll see him going where the defense lets him go, rather than going to the spots he wants to go. In the coming years, he’ll learn to get to the places on the court he wants to be for the shots he can make in his sleep.
Spurs offseason moves. I hope they keep De’Aaron Fox. Ball handling and playmaking is critical, especially against teams like OKC. Playmaking also makes your shooting better, because it gives your shooters more space to shoot. Harper and Castle will have to start next season. So, do you start 3 point guards? Maybe. Harper and Castle can guard forwards and wings (bigger players who aren’t centers). But they still need better shooting from the bench and a bigger power forward who can be the “enforcer.”
The Spurs were light on muscle in the playoffs. This offseason they should look into getting a player like P.J. Washington (Dallas) or Bobby Portis (Milwaukee). Those are the types of players who can hit big shots and defend. And if someone is holding or pushing Wemby a little too much, they can step in. What about Devin Vassell? He was incredible throughout most of the playoffs. It’s likely that Vassell or Fox could be traded to fill a need or create more salary cap space. Honestly, as the playoffs went along Vassell became a luxury. Harper played so well that he took a lot of Vassell’s minutes. What will that look like next year?
Grace and peace,
Garrett Vickrey
Senior Pastor