With the fifth-year guard mired in a shooting slump, interim coach Mitch Johnson wants him to keep putting them up and stop pressing so much.
NEW ORLEANS – Devin Vassell cares. Perhaps too much. Make no mistake. The Spurs love how the fifth-year guard always tries to do his best and has made winning his top priority. But acting Spurs coach Mitch Johnson suggested after Vassell's latest disappointing performance that his conscientiousness could be a factor in a five-game slump that included a five-point, 1-for-9 from the field, 1-for-6 from 3-point range performance over 25 minutes in Sunday's 114-96 loss to the Pelicans .
'He is a tremendous offensive player,' Johnson said. 'People go through that in their career. If I could have any message, which I've told him before, I hope he shoots the ball. I hope he shoots it more. I hope he shoots it with more confidence, with more aggressiveness, and I wish he would not care so much. 'And that's sometimes the problem when you got good guys and people that really want to play for their team. At some point, you just got to not give a you know what.' In other words, Vassell, 24, could be pressing because he cares so deeply, especially after the Spurs gave him a five-year contract extension in October 2023 guaranteed to pay him $135 million, with an additional $11 million in incentives. Spurs at Pelicans: How to watch the game, notable stats, player news The richest deal in franchise history calls for Vassell to receive a base salary of $29.3 million this season. The deal also contains no options, highlighting the club's belief that he is an essential part of Victor Wembanyama's supporting cast. Standing in front of his locker at Smoothie King Center after the Spurs blew a 17-point third quarter lead in losing to New Orleans , Vassell was asked whether he thought Johnson's comments about him caring too much were accurate. 'Yeah, I definitely care,' he said. 'Obviously, I want to win. I want to make shots. I want to do whatever I can to help the team. So, obviously, I care.' But he suggested bad luck was what contributed the most to his struggles Sunday when the 'ball decided not to stay in again.' 'Austin, I had good looks too, and it went in and out too,' Vassell said, referring to the two games the Spurs played at Moody Center last Thursday and Friday. Vassell will enter Tuesday night's rematch with the Pelicans having averaged just 7.8 points over the last five games. In that span, he shot 27.5% on 10.2 attempts from the floor, including a wretched 16 % on 5.0 attempts from beyond the arc. READ MORE: New Orleans 'unbelievably special' for Spurs' Chris Paul The slump came after a 13-game stretch in which he averaged 18.4 points while shooting 46.7% on 15.2 attempts from the floor, including 39.6% from distance, and had seven games of 20 or more points. He capped that run by matching his season high of 25 points on 11 of 14 in a loss at Orlando on Feb. 8. For the season, Vassell is averaging 15.3 points on 42.8% shooting from the field and 34.4% from downtown. 'Everybody goes through a stretch where they can't make shots, and today was crazy,' Vassell said. 'I had shots go in and out, that were pretty much down all the way and came back out. I had a dunk that goes in and comes back out. It's just stuff you can't control. But I try and play well with everything else, play as hard as I can on the defensive end and just do everything else.' Vassell also stressed that he's not discouraged, knowing even the best players go through rough patches. 'It'd be one thing if I'm just passing up all my shots and everything, but when it's shots like that, that are in and out, I got to live with that,' he said. 'I can't sit here and be upset. I can't stop shooting as a shooter. I got to keep shooting the ball.' It's something his teammates and coaches constantly tell him to do. 'I have people like KJ coming up to me and being like, 'Dev, just play your game and be you,' ' Vassell said. 'So, every time I get a shot, everybody wants me to finish it. If I turn it down, they tell me I'm coming out, so I got to keep shooting. That's all I can say truthfully.', Vassell wasn't the only Spur to shoot poorly Sunday night. As a team, the Spurs connected on just 33% from the field and 29.4% from 3-point territory. They were also just 17 for 25 from the free throw stripe. De'Aaron Fox hit just 3 of 16 from the floor on his way to 13 points. Chris Paul was 1 for 10, including 1 for 7 from distance, in scoring four points. Rookie Stephon Castle had only two points on 1 for 10 and 0 for 3 in ending a streak of 12 consecutive double-digit scoring games. Over his last three games, Castle has averaged 8.0 points on 29.0% from the field on 10.3 attempts. For the season, he's averaging 12.6 points on 41.3% shooting, including 27.9% from distance. 'It's a long season,' Mitch Johnson said. 'Percentages always are going to even out. They are kind of on opposite sides of the spectrum. Steph's a young player. No one expects him to shoot whatever he shot in the first month, 10% or whatever from three. He's a good shooter. He has made shots. He shot .' 'And Devin is a guy that has averaged 20 points in the league . I don't think anybody expects him to continue to have whatever run he's on. I just know it's not up to what he's done historically.' As for Paul, he suggested he and his teammates forget about Sunday and move on. 'The good thing about this league for the most part is until you get to the last game of the season or the playoffs, there is always another game,' the 20th-year pro said. 'This is like a playoff series where we play 'em again Tuesday, so we got to flush this one and get ready for that one.' Vassell said he's ready to do just that while continuing to care and continue to shoot. 'Everybody has confidence in me,' he said. 'I have confidence in myself.'
De'aaron Fox Devin Vassell Mitch Johnson Stephon Castle Steph Devin Chris Paul Keldon Johnson Victor Wembanyama KJ Dev Austin NEW ORLEANS Moody Center Smoothie King Center Orlando All-Star Break Pelicans Castle
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