He did have a down year as a perimeter shooter in 2017-18, with a skill percentile of 18.7 among wings with 1000 minutes, per BBall Index’s talent grades. His length, combined with a thick upper body, make him a tough cover for a variety of defenders.Īdditionally, the 32-year-old is a serviceable shooter and playmaker, and he’s improved as a cutter. His leaping ability has declined since his athletic prime, but he had outlier wingspan (7’3”) and standing reach measurements (8’11.5”) for his height at the 2006 Draft Combine. Gay is a steady ball-handler with excellent touch around the basket, as evidenced by consistently high finishing and post play skill grades. Notice all that navy blue in Gay’s talent grades above? The former UConn star has a wide variety of useful attributes on offense. Ready about the difference between talent and impact stats here. He is the Spurs’ biggest X-factor this season, so let’s dissect his game.īut first, check out Gay’s BBall Index player talent grades and Player Impact Plus-Minus numbers from 2013-14 to 2017-18. The 32-year-old forward hasn’t yet found his niche in a winning environment, but he has an opportunity to do so in San Antonio. That said, the amount of talent on the San Antonio roster is too much to write off completely. Perimeter defense is the big issue, but there are other problems. The 2-2 Spurs have some significant weaknesses with their roster. For the first time in more than 20 years, very few people would be surprised if Gregg Popovich’s squad missed the playoffs in the Western Conference. There’s an “end-of-an-era” atmosphere surrounding this San Antonio Spurs season.