Once Parker is back
Tony
Danny
Kawhi
LMA
Gasol
He does but he also doesn't. Just as he owes it to Murray to give him a real shot, he owes it to Forbes, Paul and White to give them a fair shot. DeJounte has the most upside, but when you're talking about starting for the third-seventh best team in the league, you need more than that. I happy not to see a Miller or even a Laprativolla this time, but they have three other young guards
Once Parker is back
Tony
Danny
Kawhi
LMA
Gasol
Really don't see Gasol starting. If Pop were truly planning on two bigs, he'd've picked up more legit bigs in the off-season. You can say what you want about staggering minutes, but he'd still have to change the proclivities of the offense and defense in case of rest or injury.
i'll post mine on october 18th
I do think he will play those two together some. I could be wrong and wouldn't mind it at all. More potential minutes for one of Kyle or Davis, both of whom I like.
I don't want to be the one to get the aneurysm when Pop does decide to play his traditional lineups. I'd love it I was wrong actually. I have become too jaded about Pop.
Also, I'd love it if Dijon was so good he put all this talk about him to rest, and there would be no contest bc he's so good that he makes it clear he's the best player among all the young guards But that would be setting myself up for disappointment and maybe putting an unrealistic expectation on his shoulders. I am expecting a more gradual improvement from him.
That sig is gonna be perfect next summer.
Starting
DJ/ Green/ Kawhi/ Kyle/ Aldridge
Bench
Patty/ Manu/ Gay/ Bertans/ Gasol
Closing:
Patty/ Manu/ Kawhi/ Gay/ Aldridge
My defense...
I think if DJ shows he can play solid like he did in the playoffs that's enough to start him because ideally you want Mills to continue his role off the bench and playing w/ Manu and Pau, and against lesser players. You don't owe him anything after that contract tbh. He can come off the bench and be the good guy you call when the young kid isn't playing right.
Everybody wants DJ to play well. Everyone appears to be aware of his potential and talent and I think he'll get the nod imho.
As for Kyle, I just feel he's put in the time to have a real role for once and is about over due. He's next in line and should get his opportunity for all he's done, as far as being professional and just doing what he's been told. In the playoffs and for awhile he's done really well playing the small ball four and has shown to be an above average defender, and although a little gimmicky, he's got length.
I think you have to keep Pau on the bench. I really hope Pop doesn't have to learn that lesson again. LMA and Pau don't work well together and I don't want to see that to start the season again when we already know how that will end. Once again, I don't think you owe him anything after that contract. He can play whatever role Pop gives him and just be happy he's not playing for some scrub team for the mid level exception tbh.
Also if you start Pau you are guaranteeing minutes to Joff and I don't think he's next in line for minutes. For example Bertans and Kyle should have first dibs and if Pau starts one of them lose minutes.
Not necessarily. Spurs long ago blurred the lines between a clear starting lineup and a true rotation. Ginobili and third big of the moment have always subbed in 5-7 minutes into the 1st and 3rd quarters and Mills has joined them in recent seasons.
Starting or not, Gasol's playing some next to Aldridge. It's the only way to get them enough minutes based on their abilities, to justify their contracts, as well as keep their egos in check. If it's the first 6 minutes of the 1st and 3rd quarters, the last 6 of each or multiple shorter segments throughout the half, one way or another, it's happening.
They only blurred so much. Manu played starter's minutes, but had he started, guys like Green or Mills would have been hard pressed to get roles. Manu and Tony could awkwardly share the court together. That was just about adjusting their games. But had Manu started, then you'd have at best Mills and Parker together or Mills and Green. Both of those are at least unideal. In a perfect world, you can balance it perfectly. But in practice, you end up with The Turd Towers getting minutes when you could have easily kept them separate on paper.
Let's say you have Pau, LMA, Gay and Bertans as the four bigs. You start the first two, bring in Gay for Pau, Then you bring back Pau for LMA, then Bertans for Gay. That would be how it would work ideally. But you either get someone staying too late or leaving to early for whatever reason (fatigue, foul trouble, injury), and you get TTs.
In practice, it might sound simple, but in reality, it's not that easy to keep them separate. Politics play a big part in professional sports (whether it would be best for the team or not, Gasol's ego is too big to accept roughly 16 mpg and his contract would look even more bloated if that were the plan) and Aldridge and Gasol sharing the court for about 12 mpg, however awkward it may be, isn't killing them against most teams and the ones it would, as I've said, we probably won't see it against.
you're right. DJ has to start. Anything else would be a minor meltdown and i hope he gets minutes to play through his struggles instead of a quick hook if he makes some mistakes.
Forbes/paul/white starting over DJ makes no sense at all now that i have thought some more.
Someone else was talking about Forbes vs Paul and that it is very close battle. I haven't seen the latter play in games.
You need to change the 4 in your line-up to one of Anderson/Gay/Bertans
Last edited by ceds; 09-29-2017 at 07:50 PM.
Really good post.
Thanks for putting in the time.
I always appreciate your contributions.
Keep it up rook.
Well I guess we'll find out on 10/18. I don't think Pop is going to be afraid of hurting anyone's feelings. He's a coach not their pal. It's going to be interesting. To
I see many people mentioning Joffrey will only play garbage time minutes. You guys are wrong. He's better than just your average garbage time player.
He played well in the scrimmage and seems to have surprised everyone. He's looked good.
I hate the idea of Gasol starting. Even if Pop wants to go to big, he should go with Lauvergne. And if Joff ends up not being starting quality, then he wasn't going to hold down a bench role either.
I admit I didn't like it either, but as you know I expected it due to the teams politics (the egos and big contract handed out to Gasol). It might even have been the worst performing line-up, bc it looked like Gasol was coasting the entire game. Kawhi not playing made it so even less can be assumed other than watching the younger player's improvement. It's difficult to tell the proportion of time they will play together but the should have dominated a team with Davis and Lauvergne in their frontcourt and as you know they didn't. But again, maybe the entire thing is a tryout for the younger Spurs and the few compe ions going on about playing time.
Going with the league trend LMA, Gay, Kawhi, Danny and Murray should start.
1st
LMA
Gay
Kawhi
Verde
TP
2nd
Pau
Kyle
Manu
DJ
Patty
3rd
Joffrey
Bertans
Paul
Forbes
White
My guess is that the starting rotation will change after 10 games and Pop sorts it out based on performance as units. That takes some time and minutes.
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