Jock Landale has seen his minutes increase over the past five games, and the Australian is taking advantage of the extra court time to show he belongs in the world's best league.
It's been an up-and-down season for Landale in his first NBA campaign. He signed with the Spurs in August after helping Melbourne United sweep their Grand Final series against the Perth Wildcats in the Australian National Basketball League.
Initially, the going was tough for Landale as he found himself buried at the end of head coach Gregg Popovich's rotation behind Jakob Poelt and Drew Eubanks, appearing in just four games for San Antonio, punctuated by a 10-point and one-rebound game in just five minutes of playing time in a loss to the Indiana Pacers before he was placed into the league's Health and Safety Protocols on Nov. 11.
Popovich, notorious for not giving first-year players a lot of game time, also alluded to the lingering effects of a concussion sustained in the last game of preseason being a factor in why Landale had not played much to that point.
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Pop on if Landale gets more mins: “He played very little. I don’t make evaluations on such short time. He’ll continue to work at it. He got behind obviously with the concussion, so he has to work his way back in. He’ll do everything he can to get there. He’s a great kid."
— Paul Garcia (@PaulGarciaNBA) November 3, 2021
Through the Spurs' first 25 games of the season, Landale was inactive nine times and was a DNP-CD another eight times.
In the games that he did appear in, he saw five or more minutes of action just once — the game against the Pacers in which he scored 10 points.
Landale could have sulked about the lack of playing time, but while appearing on Andrew Bogut's "Rogue Bogues" podcast, he admitted there was no point complaining about things that were out of his control.
"You can't bottle up your frustration. That's not something to hide, but you've just got to know the right outlets to use," said Landale. "We're competitive individuals and want to play as much as we can, but those things are kind of out of your control. These guys know what I bring to the table."
Landale focused on the things he could control — working on staying ready so he wouldn't have to get ready when his time came.
"I get up more shots than I ever have in my career. I'm working with [Spurs Athletic Development Coach] Kelly Forbes, who Patty [Mills] put me onto. He's a game-changer. We stay late after practice doing stuff. Extra conditioning after games is an absolute nightmare, but I'm just constantly trying to improve."
When his time finally came, as the first back-up off the bench, Landale showed the qualities he brings to the Spurs. He played double-digit minutes for the first time when he was included as the backup center for the game against the Sacramento Kings, scoring seven points and pulling down a couple of rebounds. He has seen his minutes increase in every game since then.
His breakout game came against the Lakers in Los Angeles on Dec. 23. Landale came close to his first career double-double, finishing with 13 points to go with eight rebounds and three assists in his 15 minutes on the floor. Three nights later, Landale set a new career-high when San Antonio played Detroit.
no dribbles needed👏 this offense is CLICKING ♨️@Dwhite921 ➡️ @JockLandale pic.twitter.com/NJXGNjTRD7
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 27, 2021
Landale scored a new career-best 18 points, five rebounds and three assists in just 16 minutes as his Spurs blew out a COVID-impacted Pistons team, 144-109.
“He’s an intuitive player,” Popovich said postgame. “He understands what’s going on. He’s good with the ball, a good passer and doesn’t try to do things he’s not capable of doing. He plays a wise game.”
In this current five-game stretch, Landale is averaging 10.6 points and 4.2 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game. His shooting numbers have been efficient as well: 19-of-30 from the field, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range. Quite simply, he's been phenomenal in his minutes, scoring the ball inside the paint and stretching out to the 3-point line when needed as well. He now appears to have cemented a role as Popovich's preferred big off the bench.
The Spurs are 3-2 over this five-game timeframe.
As the season progresses and depending on how close the Spurs may be to making the playoffs, Landale might see even more minutes. The more he plays, the more comfortable Landale will feel within the Spurs system.
What we do know is if he continues to develop at the rate he's shown over the past five games, it will only mean good things for San Antonio.
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