Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Julian Champagnie is turning into l Mr. Reliable.  My favorite Spur has for about 25 years not necessarily been the best Spur. David Robinson had to retire before Tim Duncan could become my favorite. And before Duncan retired in 2016, there were other personal favorites of mine. Maybe most surprisingly, when Duncan won his fifth championship in 2014, my favourite Spur wasn’t named Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, or Tony Parker – not even Kawhi Leonard. It was Boris Diaw. Because on a team stacked with seasoned all-time talent, it was Boris who struck me as probably the smartest of them all. I’m not really sure what it is that makes a player my favorite Spur, but since Diaw I’ve got the feeling that “making the right play” is becoming more important to me than being the number one option (though there were years during which Kawhi, when he had become the number one option, was my favorite Spur). Maybe my most unexpected favorite Spur is Derrick White. He had himself firmly established Personal Favorite status midway through his second season. His three-point shot in those days was a work in progress. And the fact that one day he might become an adequate shooter – let alone the flamethrower that he is these days – played no role in that. Derrick got me with his diligence as well as his intelligence, both on D and O. To be perfectly frank, Derrick may still be my favorite basketball player on the planet, and I watch almost as many of the Celtics’ games (tons) as I watch Spurs games (each and every). The reason: it gives me pleasure to watch Derrick White ply his trade. But as was the case after Duncan, there’s been a bit of a vacuum when it comes to my favorite Spur since Derrick left. And, though for other reasons, it might take some years for Victor Wembanyama to become my favorite Spur. Victor might be the guy who turns the heat-check three into a legitimate weapon. Meanwhile, it’s not a type of offense I’ll fallen in love with. Still, if last night’s game has told me anything, it’s that I might have a new favorite Spur. His name’s Julian Champagnie. Takeaways Champagnie is just so very diligent! I’ll have to rely on the eye test since there’s no mistakes per game statistic, at least none I know of, but aside from the end of the Philly game, Julian makes very few mistakes – and so much more often just does the right thing. In many cases, that’s a catch-and-shoot three. In other cases, it’s as a defensive playmaker or just not losing his man. Julian, on a night during which many of his teammates had nothing much going, stepped in with five from seven from deep – and many, many instances in which he did the right thing. Frankly, Julian’s turned into the player I thought Devin Vassell would be – a Mr. Reliable three-and-D guy. The most fun part of it is this: Derrick White was 24 when he became my favourite Spur, Julian now is only 23. Maybe PATFO thought of him as a late first-rounder when they gave him that sensational 4-year/12-million (rookie-of-sorts) contract that is to run for another two and a half years? Anyway, I’m so very glad Julian is a Spur. Because more than anything else, he is a super-spursy Spur! Is Victor Wembanyama still the Spurs’ starting five, or is it Jeremy Sochan? Bk-ref has Sochan playing 90 percent of his minutes at the four this season, and only 10 percent the five, but by now I see Sochan – on both ends of the floor – spending way more time in or around the zone than 10 percent, maybe even more than Wemby. That might not be the very best use of Wemby (though his very best use might well be everywhere), but it appears to me it’s a very good use of Sochan. Jeremy had a poor (deep double-digits-poor) individual net rating over his first two years in the league. In 2024-25, his offensive rating is up significantly, it’s at 118 right now (last season: 104), and that has happened without him becoming better as a three-point shooter. Sochan is very good at doing big man things – like receiving and converting entry passes, setting exit screens, grabbing boards, timing his cuts and dunking the ball through the net. Speaking of “big man things”, for the second game in a row, Mitch Johnson gave zero minutes to both Charles Bassey and Zach Collins. Despite the loss, “only” conceding 117 points against the New York Knicks, the second-best offense in the league per bk-ref, wasn’t all that bad. Let’s not read too much into only conceding very few points against a tanking Brooklyn Nets team that’s missing its most potent scorers, but, again, it might be a good thing to distribute all minutes at the five between Wemby and Sochan whenever possible. Here’s why: There’s only 240 minutes to go around per game across all five positions. And I want Stephon Castle to see significant minutes, I want Tre Jones to see significant minutes, and I want the guy who’s turning into my new favorite player, Julian Champagnie, to see significant minutes. And Keldon Johnson will also see minutes. That’s your nine-man rotation when everyone is fit – and I like it! Devin Vassell appears to have a mild case of “Ladehemmungen”, as we say in Germany for someone who appears to be afraid to shoot – in Devin’s case, shoot from deep. Since he’s bee reinstated into the starting lineup, he’s only taking five shots per game from beyond the arc, and it’s not just because next to Wemby he's the second-highest volume shooter from deep per default. He’s been passing up open threes, choosing to run himself into trouble instead. It appears that he is yet to find his groove as a starter on the 2024-25 San Antonio Spurs. On the other hand (pun intended), Devin’s thrown some intricate passes as of late. Let’s leave it at that: The San Antonio Spurs will swing into the new year a work in progress, but a work in progress that’s already at .500 (at least).