Lorbek stats
2011-2012 STATS
PPG: 14.7
RPG: 4.6
APG: 1.6
SPG: 0.5
2P%: 65.3%
3P%: 56%
FT%: 63.6%
While there is no time for this now, I hope Pop will enlist the services of Bowen to work with this kid next summer. Some instruction on how to use his hands, slide his feet and how to incorporate whatever other tricks Bowen has in his bag, would be truly beneficial to his development.
Hill will be a future all star in Indiana. That is how good.
Manu should have been the one traded for a big upgrade on the frontline.
Hill and Anderson could have covered the 2 guard spot.
So Hill + starting Big > Manu + Leonard
Leonard is active, rebounds well and have to love the length.
Negatives are ball handling, not much apparent offensive game, and he looked a bit slow to me.
Manu is the heart of this team. He alone wills them.
He can't guard twos, because, in a non hairsplitting take, he doesn't have a two guard body. He's undersized.
I'm surprised no one mentioned it, but Kawhi had 4 offensive rebounds in 13 min, and was 1st to the ball in countless loose balls, not to mention the 2 steals. These are huge intangibles that the Spurs never had. This early Kawhi is the best offensive rebounder and perimeter defender in the team, that's saying a lot for a rookie
I still don't understand how any player can shoot threes nearly as well as they shoot free throws.
Then again, I also don't understand how any player who plays ball professionally and puts in hours practicing every day can shoot worse than 70% from the line. I can shoot 70-80% most days, and I play ball maybe once or twice a month.
I understand that things are probably different under the bright lights and in pressure situations, but still...if your job is to shoot that orange ball through that rim, you'd think there wouldn't be so many players who are terrible at it in the easiest and most basic of cir stances.
Yet my point was that he's too small to be a small forward. Have someone explain it to you.
Hill was a great offensive player since his college days. His true shooting was really great. However, I was a bit disappointed to see Nash play so well in 2009. While his shot improved a lot, his defense was inconsistent. Also, Hill is not a PG. But he has wing span and he typically guarded Kobe well ie.
Anderson is a talented offensive player, but not so talented as Hill. Neal is another good player at Hill's position, so one them could have been traded.
The FO finally got the wing defender and Lorbek brings a lot of talent where the Spurs are thin. With 4 big contracts, the Spurs may have been forced to let Hill walk after his rookie contract.
I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision to let Hill go, but it was a necessary trade to address various needs.
NBA is a business in the first place, so it might be also accurate to compare this stats.
Neal
2010-11 $565,000
2011-12 $788,872 - not guaranteed
2012-13 $MIN new CBA - not guaranteed
Hill
2010-11 $854,389
2011-12 $1,390,906
2012-13 $ new contract (QO $2,052,978)
yes, this looks like bean counting, but I claim that Hill was as well as gone the moment Neal signed this deal. (which is one of the best deals $ for $ for any team in the whole NBA). if JA didn't get injured, Hill might even have been traded at last deadline. it's not that Hill was that expensive (in fact he was pretty low cost compared to what he dlivered), but consider tax and even more the 2012 off season and it makes even more sense to trade him, when you have Neal.
in 2012 Hill likely would have asked for MLE money, at least for the Mini MLE. this would have taken 5 or 3 million from the 2012 cap space and as we know, 2012 will be the crucial year for the Spurs future.
buy low, sell high. in the case of Hill this was a perfect example for doing the right deal at the right time. invest a late 1st round pick, get back 3 productive seasons on low costs, turn it into a borderline lottery pick plus two more players before it gets costly and replace the production by an even less costly player.
a lot of people complained about the FO this summer and yes, there wasn't much to rave about, but moves like the whole Neal and Hill story are still premium FO work.
I see that the fo/coaching staff has done well in drafting and developing PGs and SGs, but the front-court positions are an enterely different situation.
The Bowen replacement has been searched since 05, to get in the situation from 09-11 where the Spurs didn't have an elite wing defender. Pat Riley was great developing such players (also, for all-defensive bigs).
The same situation goes with the bigs. Hopefully Blair and Splitter will prove me wrong, but there have been a lot projects that didn't work well and also missed opportunities (Scola).
Did someone say hill is gonna be an all star one day
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