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Lack of perimeter play-making is a death sentence in Today's NBA and Kawhi has just dipped his toes in it and can't be your best option there..
Looking at the tiers of players playing alongside him..
All other contenders have at least one or two an in-their-prime All-star next to their BEST Player critically taking some of the playmaking load.. ..Spurs' roster is just not that good..The Doc Rivers blueprint on how to beat us will be copied by rest of the league.
Legit compe ors but are role players with limited skill-set: Green/Mills/Dedmon
Soft, one-dimensional Third-tier All-star with questionable work ethic: Aldridge (let's not forget: 31 yo at the tail end of his prime)
Soft past-it bigs: Gasol/Lee (but he's been good tbf)
Washed-up HOF Guards/Playmakers: Parker, Ginobili (not even good for 15> MPG anymore)
Just made-it NBA players: Anderson/Simmons (Fathead has even managed to regress from last season
Rookies barely in rotation who likely won't see any Playoff burn: Bertans (already hit det wall)
Rookies who likely won't see any meanigful reg season minutes: Forbes, Murray, Lapro
Lack of perimeter play-making is a death sentence in Today's NBA and Kawhi has just dipped his toes in it and can't be your best option there..
Yes, he does. Parker and Manu need to become something better. And LMA needs to get it together. Will probably need a Dragic-like trade, but I don't see another Dragic (and wouldn't want the real one).
Op, Would you trade Aldridge for Bledsoe?
Kawhi might only be the only All-star on this team.
I would, tbh
both combining to make Kobe's money this season-- and if you add another +35 yo, Gasol, that's nearly half of your salary cap..We are legit looking like 2013 Celtics
Chucking a lot from mid range?
Harden is the lone superstar on his team and they beat the Spurs. The Spurs have a lot of talent, but it is yet to mesh into a team. Their are good individual scorers and defenders, but as a team, the offense and defense have not been so good.
He does, but he also doesn't maximize the talent surrounding him.
I'd still lean towards them being the 3rd best team in the West, but I wouldn't rule out them sliding into the next tier, with the Jazz, Trail Blazers, Thunder, Rockets and maybe Grizzlies.
In the summer, I warned of potential further significant decline from any or all of Gasol, Parker and Ginobili. Gasol, it's probably mostly role related, but that's not going to change. Parker, let's just hope it's his knee. Ginobili doesn't have any excuses/reasons.
I also wonder about the chemistry of the team if the current style and respective usages persist. They'll all more than likely toe the company line and to a certain extent, this was predictable, but it still has to be a shock to the system to 3 or 4 of the 5 most accomplished players to see the extent to which they've been marginalized and to have done damn near a 180 from 2+ seasons ago.
Maybe if we cut Porker and put someone useful in at PG, Kawhi would get more help. But Popsickle just keeps on trotting the lard out there.
People are being too hypercritical of Kawhi. I understand that comes with the territory of being an MVP candidate, but he has once again improved a crucial aspect of his game: free throws. Not only does he get to the line at will now, but he's making 97% of them. 97 ing percent. That's amazing. And still shooting 40% from distance after a slow start.
He's not an elite distributor...yet. Who's to say he won't improve on that too? So far he's improved his game in every way that people thought he couldn't.
Ginobli is 39 years ld. At this point in his life/career, I think it's safe to safe it's over for him "getting better"
Yes Kawhi needs TP9 !!
Sorry, we all loved prime Parker, he was one of the best point guards in the league.
But now, Kawhi/Spurs don't need a net negative player on the court, what they need is a playmaker in his prime who can stay in front of West' elite guards.
When your second best player couldn't beat consistently a Capela-type of player in a game
When your starting center can't stay on the floor and plays just 13 minutes
When one of your best guards shoots 1-7
Then you realize that your best player needs help.
In the Rockets game, as soon as Kawhi got the ball in his hands, the other four players stopped moving. I don't know if Kawhi isn't passing because they aren't moving, or if they aren't moving because they are watching Kawhi go it alone.
I hear a lot of people here saying, "Give the ball to Kawhi and get the out of the way". Well that's exactly what they are doing a lot of the time.
Well, the same we have watched in games when teams double LMA. Neither LMA/Kawhi are great playmakers but Spurs' lack of good-cutters is obvious.
No ones is moving, no one is cutting to the rim, they just wait at the 3 point line...Having a shooter waiting for the draw and kick-out pass or for the ball passed out of double team is good, having the other 4 players parking there? Not that good.
Well, it's not like Pop is calling a lot of plays to move the ball...I can't see the issue of people saying it, IMO the real problem is Pop playing this team in that way.I hear a lot of people here saying, "Give the ball to Kawhi and get the out of the way". Well that's exactly what they are doing a lot of the time.
Kawhi's our main scorer, it would be nice if Pop designs more plays to give him easy buckets instead of him taking tough shot after tough shot...while Pop doing nothing to help him.
trade kawhi
Bump..
literally carrying scrubs...
Softdridge is so ing mediocre.
Honestly the"carrying scrubs" narrative should be extended to both Kawhi/Butler on most nights..
Agreed
and if we must go there... Dwade currently looks better than Aldridge.
And when Pau was in the Bulls with Jimmy Butler, Butler looked washed up like he couldn't make up so much ground for Pau and they were a lottery team.
I have no idea how Pop prioritized getting Pau this badly.
Spurs starters tonightPG- Murray - 6 ptsSG- Green - 3 ptsSF- Kawhi - 31 ptsPF- Aldridge - 6 ptsC- Dedmon - 4 ptsb...but the Spurs system
It's a deep roster with lots of talent but only one star. We rely on the collective to beat the top heavy teams.
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