duncan228
11-29-2008, 10:33 PM
Spurs' Popovich suddenly facing guard glut (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Popovich_suddenly_facing_guard_glut.html)
Mike Monroe
Under Gregg Popovich the Spurs always have been an inside-out team.
When you have David Robinson and Tim Duncan in your first full season on the bench, this is what basketball experts call a no-brainer.
But Popovich always has been quick to adapt. When the league dramatically altered its defensive rules in 2001, effectively allowing zones, he stuck to most of the defensive principles that have characterized his teams, but tweaked his thick playbook accordingly.
The rule change eliminating hand checking on the perimeter, adopted before the 2004-05 season, did not seem to the average fan as dramatic as the elimination of the illegal defense rules. In fact, its effect has been even more pronounced. It gave perimeter players, mainly guards, a big advantage that interior players don't enjoy. NBA offense never has come so much from the perimeter.
Popovich understood the effect, and the Spurs who took the floor for Saturday's game in Houston are the result.
Thus far, no team in the league is getting more production from its backcourt players than the Spurs. The four guards who will get the bulk of the playing time the rest of the season — Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Roger Mason Jr. and George Hill — went into Saturday's game averaging a combined 66.0 points per game.
Only the Warriors come close, getting 61.9 points from Stephen Jackson, Jamal Crawford, Kelenna Azubuike and Anthony Morrow.
The Lakers' top four guards, led by Kobe Bryant, average 49.6 per game.
(You can add Michael Finley's 10.7 points per game to the Spurs' mix if you insist, but Finley is more often a small forward than a big guard.)
Granted, the Spurs' numbers are skewed by the fact that injuries kept Ginobili sidelined for 12 games, and Parker for nine. That meant Mason and Hill were required to play more minutes. Thus, their scoring averages — 15.3 for Mason, 11.7 for Hill — are higher than they are apt to be at season's end. On the other hand, Ginobili figures to increase his scoring from the 13.7 points he averaged in his first three games.
It is going to be fascinating to see how Popovich manages the minutes of his four most productive guards now that Ginobili and Parker are back on the active roster. He admits he has not yet formulated a plan. Rather, he has ideas. Fifteen games into the season, he feels as if he is back in the preseason, when experimentation carries considerably less risk.
His players will wait to find out, just as Spurs fans will. They are confident he will make the right decisions.
“I have no idea what's going to happen,” says Mason, who clearly enjoys playing point guard despite his primary designation as a shooting guard. “That's why they pay Coach the big bucks. I'm sure he'll figure out a way that's going to make us an even more potent team.”
A coach whose mantra is that defense wins championships never has tried to out-potent opponents, but Popovich recognizes its value. Now, he has options that address a lot of concerns.
Popovich has worried that Ginobili's commitment to representing Argentina in international play has put too much mileage on a 31-year-old's legs. Making him his sixth man has been Popovich's way of saving his energy for crunch time.
Now, things have changed because Mason is a player Popovich can trust to take some of Ginobili's time without losing the pop the Argentine provides from the perimeter. Starting the Big Three — Duncan, Ginobili and Parker — seems more sensible when he has Mason, Hill and Finley to do the scoring for a second unit.
“We're still trying to find our final shape,” is how Ginobili puts it, and he, too, trusts Popovich to get it right.
“Hopefully, soon, Tony and I start sharing more time together, and with Tim, too, and we can again be the old Spurs.”
Mike Monroe
Under Gregg Popovich the Spurs always have been an inside-out team.
When you have David Robinson and Tim Duncan in your first full season on the bench, this is what basketball experts call a no-brainer.
But Popovich always has been quick to adapt. When the league dramatically altered its defensive rules in 2001, effectively allowing zones, he stuck to most of the defensive principles that have characterized his teams, but tweaked his thick playbook accordingly.
The rule change eliminating hand checking on the perimeter, adopted before the 2004-05 season, did not seem to the average fan as dramatic as the elimination of the illegal defense rules. In fact, its effect has been even more pronounced. It gave perimeter players, mainly guards, a big advantage that interior players don't enjoy. NBA offense never has come so much from the perimeter.
Popovich understood the effect, and the Spurs who took the floor for Saturday's game in Houston are the result.
Thus far, no team in the league is getting more production from its backcourt players than the Spurs. The four guards who will get the bulk of the playing time the rest of the season — Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Roger Mason Jr. and George Hill — went into Saturday's game averaging a combined 66.0 points per game.
Only the Warriors come close, getting 61.9 points from Stephen Jackson, Jamal Crawford, Kelenna Azubuike and Anthony Morrow.
The Lakers' top four guards, led by Kobe Bryant, average 49.6 per game.
(You can add Michael Finley's 10.7 points per game to the Spurs' mix if you insist, but Finley is more often a small forward than a big guard.)
Granted, the Spurs' numbers are skewed by the fact that injuries kept Ginobili sidelined for 12 games, and Parker for nine. That meant Mason and Hill were required to play more minutes. Thus, their scoring averages — 15.3 for Mason, 11.7 for Hill — are higher than they are apt to be at season's end. On the other hand, Ginobili figures to increase his scoring from the 13.7 points he averaged in his first three games.
It is going to be fascinating to see how Popovich manages the minutes of his four most productive guards now that Ginobili and Parker are back on the active roster. He admits he has not yet formulated a plan. Rather, he has ideas. Fifteen games into the season, he feels as if he is back in the preseason, when experimentation carries considerably less risk.
His players will wait to find out, just as Spurs fans will. They are confident he will make the right decisions.
“I have no idea what's going to happen,” says Mason, who clearly enjoys playing point guard despite his primary designation as a shooting guard. “That's why they pay Coach the big bucks. I'm sure he'll figure out a way that's going to make us an even more potent team.”
A coach whose mantra is that defense wins championships never has tried to out-potent opponents, but Popovich recognizes its value. Now, he has options that address a lot of concerns.
Popovich has worried that Ginobili's commitment to representing Argentina in international play has put too much mileage on a 31-year-old's legs. Making him his sixth man has been Popovich's way of saving his energy for crunch time.
Now, things have changed because Mason is a player Popovich can trust to take some of Ginobili's time without losing the pop the Argentine provides from the perimeter. Starting the Big Three — Duncan, Ginobili and Parker — seems more sensible when he has Mason, Hill and Finley to do the scoring for a second unit.
“We're still trying to find our final shape,” is how Ginobili puts it, and he, too, trusts Popovich to get it right.
“Hopefully, soon, Tony and I start sharing more time together, and with Tim, too, and we can again be the old Spurs.”