Briante Weber’s Triple Double Leads the Skyforce to Christmas Day Victory

Santa Claus must have delivered Skyforce member Briante Weber Russell Westbrook’s powers on Christmas Sunday as Weber picked up his third triple-double of the season against the Northern Arizona Suns. That triple-double included 24 points on 10-25 shooting, 10 assists, and a D-League career high of 16 rebounds. The Sioux Falls Skyforce needed every single one of Weber’s rebounds, points, and assists to edge past the Suns in a 96-94 nailbiter as well as Okaro White’s game-winning jumper in double overtime. The victory marked the 18th consecutive regular season home win for the Skyforce, dating back to last season. A feat even Bill Belichick might smile in respect too.

Weber may only weigh 170 pounds at most, but his surprising strength in his frame did well to push out some space consistently against his main opposing defender, the equally slight Josh Hart. That allowed Weber to do damage off the dribble in the paint, an element the Skyforce often lack.

Weber also tormented Northern Arizona in transition lanes, magnified by the Skyforce nabbing 12 steals for the night. Most encouragingly, Weber had the pull-up jumper a step inside the arc working even in isolation. The jumper didn’t work outside the arc but the midrange was effective enough to take advantage of lax defense.

Most renowned for his defensive prowess during his time at Virginia Commonwealth University, Weber has made it a duty in his current 2nd NBADL season to showcase a broader skillset than just being the 2nd most prolific ball-stealer in NCAA. Weber’s current 20.5% usage rate is the highest he’s had in his combined 6 year career as a NCAA and NBADL athlete. Weber has also maintained the improved level of rebounding production he had in the 2015-16 NBADL season, averaging 8.3 rebounds a game as a 6’2” 170 lb. guard.

Weber has done well to demonstrate his potential to run an offense by currently ranking 6th in assists per game out of all NBADL players who have played in at least 10 games this season. All this production has spearheaded the Skyforce to a league-best 13-3 record and supplemented the Skyforce’s league-best defense, which, of course, Weber’s ball-hawking and stellar quickness have also contributed greatly to.

Weber’s next step is to add scoring efficiency to his box-score filling as his inconsistent jumpshot has him shooting 27.3% from beyond the arc this season and only 29.2% on jumpers from 16 to 24 feet from the rim. The jumpshot consistency has been a bugaboo of Weber’s for much of his playing career. Finally correcting that consistency can be the difference in Weber getting called up to the Miami Heat or any other NBA roster on a more permanent basis.