A Solution to the Team: Stay Away from Old Style Play

[AFMadison]

Get away from old style traditional basketball and bring back the fluid ball movement. I think winning against scrub teams will help with seeding, but not against elite teams in the playoffs. Any team that has a decent offense is going to give the Spurs trouble unless the Spurs play lockdown defense, which will not happen against offensive juggernauts in a 7 game series.

Against the Warriors and Cavs (the blowout games) San Antonio did not make either team work on the defensive end which allowed each opponent to run some high stamina offense. The Spurs also continue these post ups that the shooter has either a hit or miss opportunity, there is no open man to swing it to, it's hit or miss. It allows the defense to just stand there, and if we miss we are screwed in transition.

In the game we won against the Cavs, the Spurs had to rely on Kevin Love playing terribly, and a huge defensive route in the 3rd. Still didn't look like a promising win despite playing a pretty game overall.

in the game we lost against the Warriors, typically Steph will guard Tony. In past years this was the same situation, but our offense against Steph played well into our hands on the defensive end. This year Tony simply kept trying to attack the basket, all Curry really has to do is stick with Tony and keep his hands in the air. I'm not saying that Tony attacking the rim is a bad thing, it's a great thing, just not in the manner in which he is doing it. In past years, Tony would bring up the ball, pass to a big, run Curry through a few off ball screens before ever getting back to the ball, THEN he would attack (same game plan against Westbrook). In this years game it seemed like Curry had to give minor effort on the defensive end allowing him to show off on the other.

I think this old school style of play completely limits all of the talent on the team. We have too many players on this team to simply come down the floor and run a post up for LMA and Kawhi. I don't think it will win 6. The few years prior we only ran these post ups after ball movement and finding mismatches. This year we only rely on a PnR to create a mismatch, and if the defense doesn't switch, we run it anyways. The Spurs still need LMA and Kawhi post ups, but does not need to be our key sets. I want the "everybody is only allowed two dribbles then pass" practices brought back.

[wut]

The thing that is confusing: Spurs made motion famous, win a championship. Warriors adopt motion, win championship. Spurs lose to the Clippers who got physical with the Spurs and were faster than the Spurs.

So my guess is that Pop thinks that the team doesn't have the speed/talent to make motion work against the contenders in the playoffs, so he is trying to go with the offense that is most suited for his stars (Kawhi and LMA).

I get it, but we lost in a game 7 to the Clippers...so it wasn't like motion wasn't completely ineffective; home court would make the difference, and we can make that happen this year outside Warriors.

Speaking of the Warriors, just like the trouble we had with the Clippers, you gotta be physical with them. Spurs went out weak against the Warriors and didn't play motion....got waxed.

[JohnnyMax]

I'm not worried about motion offense. I'm not worried about danny green. I'm not woorried about LMA, I'm not worried about Pop coaching the allstars. I'm not worried about the Spurs. I have trust in Golden State to get another championship.

,

[Kikoluna]

We need to call our buddies in Atlanta and seriously inquire about Aldridge for tiago. Like now.

[Kawhitstorm]

Spurs couldn't beat any elite teams in 2013-14 playing that fluid style but it was in the REGULAR SEASON when Pop was playing mad scientist & didn't dare show his cards such as inserting Boris in the starting lineup over Tiago.

As long as the Spurs maintain the #2 overall seed while Pop plays mad scientist & Tim rests his knees for the stretch run then mission accomplished b/c they weren't catching the Worriers who are bent on breaking the 96 Bulls REGULAR SEASON record.

[jARS mEsH sEt]

This has been painfully obvious for a while now. This team never passed the eye test for me. The offense is too stagnant and it's a s of what it used to be when tony and Manu were elite dribble penetrators. But like others have mentioned LMA doesn't jive with our motion weak offense that won us 5.

[Kawhitstorm]

This has been painfully obvious for a while now. This team never passed the eye test for me. The offense is too stagnant and it's a s of what it used to be when tony and Manu were elite dribble penetrators. But like others have mentioned LMA doesn't jive with our motion weak offense that won us 5.

LMA isn't even playing his game. Dude is trying to play bully-ball in the post as if he's Z-Bo instead of sticking to his right shoulder fadeaway & mid-range jumpers. I'm pretty sure it's Mad Scientist Pop putting him in those situation to see what he's capable of (ala Danny's dribble drives) b/c his fadeaway/jumper are known commodities.

[SAGirl]

This has been painfully obvious for a while now. This team never passed the eye test for me. The offense is too stagnant and it's a s of what it used to be when tony and Manu were elite dribble penetrators. But like others have mentioned LMA doesn't jive with our motion weak offense that won us 5.

i think this is the main reason why Pop had to change the offense. He had to make adjustments to fit the talent of his stars, and we don't have elite guards. The motion offense as we knew it is gone. If you want to watch elite motion offense, that is GSW.

[SAGirl]

LMA isn't even playing his game. Dude is trying to play bully-ball in the post as if he's Z-Bo instead of sticking to his right shoulder fadeaway & mid-range jumpers. I'm pretty sure it's Mad Scientist Pop putting him in those situation to see what he's capable of (ala Danny's dribble drives) b/c his fadeaway/jumper are known commodities.

There is definitely a level of experimentation there... like Danny drives early season, that Pop has finally axed.

[Horse]

I'm not worried about motion offense. I'm not worried about danny green. I'm not woorried about LMA, I'm not worried about Pop coaching the allstars. I'm not worried about the Spurs. I have trust in Golden State to get another championship.

,

More like johnny come lately. has the hawks a his team but claims golden state.

[Slippy]

In the cavs game it was definitely a case of too much of the predictable. As in tony dribbling around looking for his own offense and postups. There was hardly any motion or ball movement.

Against the dubs. Turnovers killed the spurs

[Slippy]

Defensively i cant remember the spurs giving away so many easy baskets in a game. They got outrun on so many possessions , they had heaps of breakdowns on doubling(boban) and sticking with zone defence when it was failing - falls on pop.

Lebron was in layup heaven

[313]

More like johnny come lately. has the hawks a his team but claims golden state.

He's an alt/troll. One day he's an OKC fan, one day he's a warriors fan, sometimes he's even a Spurs fan.

[313]

The thing that is confusing: Spurs made motion famous, win a championship. Warriors adopt motion, win championship. Spurs lose to the Clippers who got physical with the Spurs and were faster than the Spurs.

So my guess is that Pop thinks that the team doesn't have the speed/talent to make motion work against the contenders in the playoffs, so he is trying to go with the offense that is most suited for his stars (Kawhi and LMA).

I get it, but we lost in a game 7 to the Clippers...so it wasn't like motion wasn't completely ineffective; home court would make the difference, and we can make that happen this year outside Warriors.

Speaking of the Warriors, just like the trouble we had with the Clippers, you gotta be physical with them. Spurs went out weak against the Warriors and didn't play motion....got waxed.

It's funny because you arguably have to be an even more physical team (think Grizzlies teams of the last few years that gave OKC problems) to run this offense were running. Also doesnt help that we lack any ability to control the Pace of games.

Nonetheless, with HCA I think we can beat anyone aside from maybe GS(they're going to have HCA anyway).

[313]

Speaking of the Grizzlies, remember what offense swept their antiquated 90s ball? Spurs motion offense/elite pg play this might work against Clippers but a team like GS will eat us up.

Pop adjusting his offense to beat a pretender like the Clippers

[sexinthatsx]

Half of it is CIA Pop, half is because Tim Duncan is out tbh.

CIA Pop is limiting ball movement and trying isoball against the Warriors and Cavs to see if it's effective. But shame on Pop to even think that Aldridge can take over a game through isolation plays.

Duncan being sidelined is a big part because this also limits the ball movement since no big can roll to the basket as efficiently, and Pop didn't put so much work in to have David West learn the ball movement rotations. He was either being lazy by having David West play in the post every time he gets the ball, or he did it on purpose because he knows that's David West's game and he is ineffective on off-ball movement and rotations.

[SpursforSix]

Spurs gotta make shots and not let the other team into transition.

[DMC]

I'm not worried about motion offense. I'm not worried about danny green. I'm not woorried about LMA, I'm not worried about Pop coaching the allstars. I'm not worried about the Spurs. I have trust in Golden State to get another championship.

,

Manic behavior is a root level issue, not a created persona. The person comes through in the behavior of the troll.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

This has been painfully obvious for a while now. This team never passed the eye test for me. The offense is too stagnant and it's a s of what it used to be when tony and Manu were elite dribble penetrators. But like others have mentioned LMA doesn't jive with our motion weak offense that won us 5.

The current Spurs Off Rating is better than that any Spurs team from the Tony/Manu peak years, with the exception of the fool's gold 2010/11 team.

[Proxy]

ST went into this season expecting bumps in the road. Most seemed confident that the team wouldn't truly gel until post all-star break, so why is everyone freaking out? We got blown out by the other two contenders, sure. The game meant more to them.

GS had a chip on their shoulder with people talking the Spurs up as well as the notion that they lucked out with LAC eliminating them last season. Kerr makes his debut.

Cavs don't want to go 0-4 against the other elites.

Both away games. Both without Duncan. Both with Pop not using playoff rotations.

Chill

[Sean Cagney]

ST went into this season expecting bumps in the road. Most seemed confident that the team wouldn't truly gel until post all-star break, so why is everyone freaking out? We got blown out by the other two contenders, sure. The game meant more to them.

GS had a chip on their shoulder with people talking the Spurs up as well as the notion that they lucked out with LAC eliminating them last season. Kerr makes his debut.

Cavs don't want to go 0-4 against the other elites.

Both away games. Both without Duncan. Both with Pop not using playoff rotations.

Chill

This....

[Cowboys_Wear_Spurs]

I don't mind the Pop's experiments.

It is painfully obvious he is trying to establish a post and midrange game with this team. That is great. When playoff time comes around, Pop will be implementing that free flowing offense again, but since the Spurs bigs will be comfortable in the post, and the Spurs guards/wingmen will be comfortable penetrating to the basket, Spurs will be able to throw defenses off big time.

Clippers were bent on taking away the 3 ball last year. So Pop is working on the part of the game that a team like Clips are giving to the Spurs. Teams have a lot of film on the Spurs motion offense. So Pop being ever changing is now morphing the old school Spurs style back into it.

This is make the Spurs offense extremely versatile come playoff time and will be a nightmare for teams to defend.

With all the changes, the Spurs are still 39-8. I bet the Spurs win 65 games this year and get the #2 overall seed. Most including myself wouldn't have predict this for the Spurs this year.

Live with these games. I remember the year the Spurs beat the Blazers. They blewout the Spurs 3x times that year. Yes 3 times and the Spurs took them to the woodshed in the playoffs.

[AFMadison]

ST went into this season expecting bumps in the road. Most seemed confident that the team wouldn't truly gel until post all-star break, so why is everyone freaking out? We got blown out by the other two contenders, sure. The game meant more to them.

GS had a chip on their shoulder with people talking the Spurs up as well as the notion that they lucked out with LAC eliminating them last season. Kerr makes his debut.

Cavs don't want to go 0-4 against the other elites.

Both away games. Both without Duncan. Both with Pop not using playoff rotations.

Chill

Wouldn't call it freaking out. I just don't see this style of play winning us a ship. Maybe I could have thrown some !!!!! In there for fun though.

[ceperez]

I don't mind the Pop's experiments.

It is painfully obvious he is trying to establish a post and midrange game with this team. That is great. When playoff time comes around, Pop will be implementing that free flowing offense again, but since the Spurs bigs will be comfortable in the post, and the Spurs guards/wingmen will be comfortable penetrating to the basket, Spurs will be able to throw defenses off big time.

Clippers were bent on taking away the 3 ball last year. So Pop is working on the part of the game that a team like Clips are giving to the Spurs. Teams have a lot of film on the Spurs motion offense. So Pop being ever changing is now morphing the old school Spurs style back into it.

This is make the Spurs offense extremely versatile come playoff time and will be a nightmare for teams to defend.

With all the changes, the Spurs are still 39-8. I bet the Spurs win 65 games this year and get the #2 overall seed. Most including myself wouldn't have predict this for the Spurs this year.

Live with these games. I remember the year the Spurs beat the Blazers. They blewout the Spurs 3x times that year. Yes 3 times and the Spurs took them to the woodshed in the playoffs.

I agree here that the Spurs should be able to flip a switch and start playing differently come playoff time.

However, can the new players like Aldridge and West adjust when that flip has been turned on or are they going to walking around lost? Where are they going to get the game time reps to play this way? You got to eventually see that in the regular season. Maybe during the rodeo trip perhaps?

Dubs, Cavs and Thunder are like fine tuning their offense and defense while Spurs are supposedly keeping it hidden. More like these teams are saying to everyone, this is how we play, good luck trying to beat us!

Meanwhile Spurs are like, we aren't going to show our cards because if we do, we could easily be beat!

[AFMadison]

These 1 pass possessions though