Pop should go back to plugging him in the rotation when the offense stalls..Bertans is really much better than a human victory cigar, his flaws notwithstanding..
Pop is a white supremicist.
Pop should go back to plugging him in the rotation when the offense stalls..Bertans is really much better than a human victory cigar, his flaws notwithstanding..
Spurs have a cluster of young players who deserve a permanent role. It's just hard because it's a numbers game. Pop can't play everyone.
Just imagine how it will be when Kawhi and Tony come back.
When healthy, I'd argue Anderson and Bertans should be a 50/50 proposition, depending on what they need at the time and who's playing better, but the latter should definitely be ahead of Lauvergne, playing about 10 mpg behind Gay.
Aldridge and Gasol are like a lesser, inverted version of Harden and Paul. The whole point of having 1.5 C's of their caliber, should be to have at least one in during virtually every meaningful moment. This team has lacked an explosive offense since '14; they need the quick strike offense of a Bertans or Forbes in the rotation far more than they need a third traditional big.
Id say the traditional, you have to play labeled PGs ( Tony and Patty 48 minutes), and roll out:
LA, Bertans, Kyle, Green, Kawhi
Bench:
Pau, Gay, Manu, Paul and whoevers hot btw Forbes, Murray, Patty, Tony.
A rotation like this would be my personal preference but I dont have emotional ties with TP/Mills.
I like Bertans but I can't see benching Kyle for him like TD21 suggests. It's true the team has needed more scoring but by far their biggest problem is not the lack of shooters since they have many and all their guards except Murray can shoot, but the lack of perimeter playmakers and guys who can get their own shots and create for others efficiently and without being a TO machine. Those are Kawhi's and Tony's roles but Tony gets injured every postseason. Manu may be AARP Manu or 0FG Manu in the postseason as he's going to be nearing 41. Mills can't really run an offense all he does is come off a screen to look for his shot bc he can't do anything else. It has affected his own efficiency and the others can't get quality shots like that either. He also has trouble making good reads as his vision is clouded when he's crowded bc he's small. He's easy to neutralize and his value with the ball declines, while his value without the ball increases.
By far the biggest developments outside of Lasharkus regaining his Mojo back and Pau regaining and establishing his value as an elite player, is that Danny's dribble drives and floaters are more effective when he's forced off the line, and that Kyle has developed as an increasingly reliable PnR ballhandler. I can't see Pop going away from him completely specially if he continues on a good trajectory and he's going to continue to get tested by cir stance. His minutes will decline eventually, as will his role but they may indeed need him again simply bc the team still has the same issues I mentioned above, on top of Tony being brittle/injury prone every postseason without fault, Manu unreliable and his usage declining in the postseason, and the team having trouble scoring in the postseason when Kawhi is unavailable bc they can't get good looks.
However, Davis does deserve his opportunities. Right now there are a bunch of guys on the bubble and situational: BP3, Forbes, Lauvergne and himself. Davis may displace these guys, but it's likely they all play situationally, depending matchups and situations.
Bertans is not the best at defense when the defense is set (one on one) but imho he's better than Mills (more than decent help defense) and in any case most easy to hide in his defensive weaknesses...Mills is simply too easy to be seen by opposing teams as the man to attack every time a la Bonner way.
One thing to notice about Bertans is that he is fast enough to play our transition defense.
I understand Mills value for then f.o. this summer, considering Parker injury and Murray been still too green to play as a starting point, but it's obvious that, for as much as he could improve with time in his play making role (and he's improving a bit), he's not a play maker. Apart then excessive amount of money given to him, imho his real role (worth a good part of his paying) is the one of the sixth man/bench player a la Vinnie Johnson of old....not then starting play.
On the opposite, it's obvious that KA is a play maker...
Imho the difficult of playing him in his natural role is more related to the fact that he's not fast enough on shooting from deep when free and moe than all that he's too slow for then transition defense...because for everything else he has an abvious advantage over every other back court player considering his measures and weight. His ball handling is very very good and his feeling for passing and distributing the ball is the one of a "natural". His defense, when the defense is set, is also more than decent, expecially on 3 and 4 of the opposing team.
So I like the idea of Manutres to play him, when KL is back, in a starting five with guys all fast and long and very good at defense (at least three of them).
Ka, Green, KL, Bertans, Alridge is a five at least worth a shot.
Also 'cause that could give us an experienced bench (Parker, Mills, Manu, Gay, Gasol) also with some young weapons (Murray, Forbes, Paul, Lauvergne).
Murray starts with Kawhi playing point forward, along with Green, Gay and LMA in small ball. Most nights TP starts with Green, Kawhi, LMA and Gasol. Patty goes back to spurt offense with KA/Manu as playmakers. Defends on the opponent.
It's behind a paywall for me. If anyone can past the relevant quotes, appreciated.
Really, Lauvergne's rotation spot should be up for grabs between Bertans, Forbes and Paul, with the usual caveats (match-up, situation, who's playing better). Would rather play any of them before him.
Obviously, lack of a go to play maker is the biggest issue, but it's one they don't have an internal answer for. They're just compounding their offensive struggles further, with a rotation that lacks shooting, an issue they do have an internal answer for.
Last edited by TD 21; 11-19-2017 at 07:25 PM.
Ehhh
when you say 50/50 in time split between them I assume you mean a compe ion like Simmons vs Anderson was. Apologies if I misunderstood.
Truth is I don't think it will be smart to bench Anderson. He's been develping as a playmaker and it's doubtful they win last game against OkC if it wasn't for him stabilizing their offense and creating looks when they weren't getting quality shots. That's as valuable as having the guys who can hit those shots. Frankly, Anderson has been having a better season than Ginobili and Mills. He should continue to play and IMO likely will. You can fit Bertans next to him since Anderson can slide positions.
But Pop may do Pop things so....
I do. That's different than "benching Kyle" though, as you claimed.
Yeah, but rightly or wrongly, their rotation spots are iron clad.
I made it clear that my main point of contention, was Lauvergne's rotation spot.
This dude is better than at least 4 or 5 guys that have been getting more chances than him.
He's making the most of his opportunities and lucky for him (in a twisted way) Joff got enough opportunities from Pop to have a good enough sample size to know he sucks, while it coincided with DAvis regaining his confidence and shootin swag.
He really got it back in the dleague game he played in. He's come back fired up since then.
Watch him get a DNP coach's decision on the next game.
I hope not.
I didn't even want to mention it bc Joffrey didn't get on the injured list with that dislocated finger but it made me wonder if Pop had a conscience about Joff's finger. I saw a tweet where he said that he had it splinted and it's not stright right now. Something he can play through but it's going to affect shooting and he's not even a good shot. Anyways, long story but the thought crossed my mind that it was due to Joff's injury that he even got an opportunity (and Kyle to a small degree, but his minutes were taken by Rudy who played 32 instead of 22 and Bryn, who played 13).
The good point for him though is that he made the most of it. I don't think they win it had Pop played Joff instead of Davis.
I do think he will continue playing, but at some future point Pop will get cute again.
he needs more minutes than a Matt Bonner to be effective ... I liked what I saw ... as long as Anderson is out he has his chance I guess
Don't think Lauvergne and Bertans are fighting for the same minutes. Outside of garbage time Bertans has been used as a stretch 4 and Lauvergne is the 3rd center/5th big. With everyone healthy Bertans has to fight with Anderson and Gay for back up minutes, which doesn't look good for him in the long run. His playing time against Pistons was mostly getting Rudy's off the bench minutes while Rudy replaced Kyle.
top 10 3pt shooter in the world
JoLo's FTs are mostly nothing but net, and he has hit a few jumpers. For a big man, he could be a of a lot worse shooter.
With Kyle out and Gay starting, Davis could see his minutes up and should take advantage. Needs upper body strength to fight through screens depending, and on offense he needs to move around using screens to get open, baiting to get and ones. He’s such a good shooter to be sitting in the bench. I’m really rooting for this guy. He could really open the lane sucking defense out. Can be really dangerous and can demoralize opponents with his 3 pt shots
Only way he is going to get better is to get playing time. This last game he looks a lot more confident has the look like he knows where he should be on offense and defense and his three ball is so so pretty.
They are indirectly bc Pop has paired Joff with both Pau and LMA previously and that is the spot Bertans played. Now he just simply eliminated Joff and Davis took those minutes. But yea Rudy took all of Kyle's minutes plus retained some of his own, opening up minutes in the bench
A full month later this question is still applicable.
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