Big Man Alternative?

[GSH]

We're not going to get a quality big at a bargain price. Especially not one with a high basketball IQ, who plays strong on both ends of the floor, and who is a good fit in the Spurs locker room.

But there is one other player I wish we could pick up, who I think would legitimately improve our chances of winning a title, and that's Raja Bell. I hate the bastard when he's playing against us, but he's a damned good perimeter defender, and he can put points on the board. (He shoots 3's better than Finley, and he's got an in-between game.) With him in the lineup, I think we could survive with the bigs we already have.

If we had him on the roster, I don't think we would have lost that game to Orlando, or the two to Milwaukee. Or even the one to New Orleans, where we outscored them in each of the first 3 quarters, then got crushed in the 4th. (Before you start flaming, look back at those losses and think about what he brings to the court.) Those 4 games alone would put our record right there with the Lakers and Cavs - close enough, anyway.

Charlotte is already out of the playoffs. Is there any chance of making a trade for him?

[m33p0]

he doesn't fill any particular need that any of the players already on the roster cannot address. whatever minutes he spends on the court is better served by having mason and ginobili play.

[tp2021]

I haven't watched many Suns or Bobcats games, but Xylus said he looks washed up, at least defensively, IIRC.

[GSH]

he doesn't fill any particular need that any of the players already on the roster cannot address. whatever minutes he spends on the court is better served by having mason and ginobili play.

Horse shit! He can lock down on defense almost as well as Bowen could, which is one of the big things this team is sorely missing. (Hell, Luke Ridnour dropped 21 on us that last game.) That's like saying that Bowen's minutes would have been better served by someone else - not on any team coached by Gregg Popovich.

With him shutting down some of the perimeter scoring, we also wouldn't have as many players slipping in behind our bigs for easy baskets, because they would be able to stay home more. It's just a bonus that he is a tough, clutch 3-point shooter.

Say what you want, but I think we would be no worse than 29-8 with him on the roster. And short of finding a bargain big man, he is one player that would measurably improve this roster, because of his perimeter defense.


I haven't watched many Suns or Bobcats games, but Xylus said he looks washed up, at least defensively, IIRC.

I wonder if that's because of him, or the players around him in Charlotte? I thought he looked pretty good at the beginning of the season with the Suns. But I really haven't watched Charlotte enough since the trade. If he really can't lock down defensively, then I guess it's a moot point. We have good 3-point shooters already.

[baseline bum]

I like our guard rotation right now. Raja Bell was shining reflected glory from Nash with those high shooting percentages due to all the open threes he got in transition.

[024]

spurs should get him just so bell can clothesline bryant again in the playoffs. another alternative to acquiring a big is to get a SF who plays inside instead of camping the 3 pt line like finley and bowen.

[m33p0]

Horse shit! He can lock down on defense almost as well as Bowen could, which is one of the big things this team is sorely missing. (Hell, Luke Ridnour dropped 21 on us that last game.) That's like saying that Bowen's minutes would have been better served by someone else - not on any team coached by Gregg Popovich.

With him shutting down some of the perimeter scoring, we also wouldn't have as many players slipping in behind our bigs for easy baskets, because they would be able to stay home more. It's just a bonus that he is a tough, clutch 3-point shooter.

minutes are already at a premium for the guards/small forwards of this team. mason's arrival has already eaten a lot of minutes off of bowen's. and bowen already does what bell could potentially give the spurs. besides, mason has already shown that he can be trusted to guard a kobe-type player for stretches.

here's another thing i have noticed about mason's defense. big guards often try to post him but they often fail to score on him. he is a disciplined post defender.

having raja bell on this team will be redundant unless you wish to trade bowen. xylus knows better than most around here when it comes to the suns and he has stated that bell is way past his best. "washed up" is what he called him.


spurs should get him just so bell can clothesline bryant again in the playoffs.
that's the only reason i could think of.

[Rogue]

minutes are already at a premium for the guards/small forwards of this team. mason's arrival has already eaten a lot of minutes off of bowen's. and bowen already does what bell could potentially give the spurs. besides, mason has already shown that he can be trusted to guard a kobe-type player for stretches.

here's another thing i have noticed about mason's defense. big guards often try to post him but they often fail to score on him. he is a disciplined post defender.

having raja bell on this team will be redundant unless you wish to trade bowen. xylus knows better than most around here when it comes to the suns and he has stated that bell is way past his best. "washed up" is what he called him.


the reason why kobe sucked that night was not mason's pressure on him, but just he sucked. lakers had played a pretty tough game against rockets the night before and the almost lost to the rockets who were short-handed with artest sidelined (though tmac was sidelined too, I mean it's a good news for rockets to sideline that shit). only gasol played well against the spurs that night so that's undoubtedly not enough to beat the spurs. Lakers played the final minutes with both the rockets and spurs but the result were quite different. If kobe hadn't hit the 3 then the winner would probably be the rockets instead of the lakers, and battier should be blamed to that 3 because his palm didn't fully cover kobe's sight. though mason has learnt some defensive skills since he joined spurs but his defense is still pretty mediocre. he just locked up a sucking kobe who would anyway suck even no one had took care of him.

Raja bell is pretty old but that just makes him fit the spurs well which are even older generally, and he can also hit 3s on other positions than the two corners.

[m33p0]

the reason why kobe sucked that night was not mason's pressure on him, but just he sucked. lakers had played a pretty tough game against rockets the night before and the almost lost to the rockets who were short-handed with artest sidelined (though tmac was sidelined too, I mean it's a good news for rockets to sideline that shit). only gasol played well against the spurs that night so that's undoubtedly not enough to beat the spurs. Lakers played the final minutes with both the rockets and spurs but the result were quite different. If kobe hadn't hit the 3 then the winner would probably be the rockets instead of the lakers, and battier should be blamed to that 3 because his palm didn't fully cover kobe's sight. though mason has learnt some defensive skills since he joined spurs but his defense is still pretty mediocre. he just locked up a sucking kobe who would anyway suck even no one had took care of him.

Raja bell is pretty old but that just makes him fit the spurs well which are even older generally, and he can also hit 3s on other positions than the two corners.
11-19 29 points 10 assists 7 rebounds and he's sucking? he played to win. and before you get your panty all in a bunch, i am not claiming mason is a kobe-stopper (:lmao) which seems to be your intent. what i'm saying is that mason can be trusted to be able to keep an eye on kobe, to be able to at least put up some resistance on kobe by trying to stay in front of kobe, be able to put a hand up whenever kobe takes a shot.

[Spursone]

:wakeupSomeone help me, But How is Raja Bell Big in Size?:nope

[m33p0]

:wakeupSomeone help me, But How is Raja Bell Big in Size?:nope
he's a freaking giant. :rolleyes

[buttsR4rebounding]

Raja Bell got traded from the Suns because by his own admission since the birth of his son he just doesn't want to have the nasty reputation that comes with being a lock down defender. His priorities have moved away from basketball and he resents the time on the road away from his new addition. In short, he has lost his passion for the game....pass.

[my2sons]

I like our guard rotation right now. Raja Bell was shining reflected glory from Nash with those high shooting percentages due to all the open threes he got in transition.

Uhm, he would still get those open threes thanks to timmy and all of our other shooters, if he doesn't he still commands respect defensively and will take yet another defender away from the middle. Imagine playing small ball against those teams and we need to lock down their shooters, you can play bruce and bell together to lock down. If he would be a gift then I would take him on this team. Pop has tried to get him in the past, I don't see why he wouldn't be interested again.

[Agitator]

he doesn't fill any particular need that any of the players already on the roster cannot address. whatever minutes he spends on the court is better served by having mason and ginobili play.

Mason is the man. Spurs seem to have a talent for finding great players that others miss. It is kinda scary. If I were a coach of a shitty team, I would hire some private investigators to follow the Spurs' scouts around and just outbid them on whoever they spent a lot of time looking at.

[m33p0]

Uhm, he would still get those open threes thanks to timmy and all of our other shooters, if he doesn't he still commands respect defensively and will take yet another defender away from the middle. Imagine playing small ball against those teams and we need to lock down their shooters, you can play bruce and bell together to lock down. If he would be a gift then I would take him on this team. Pop has tried to get him in the past, I don't see why he wouldn't be interested again.
bruce and bell? who would be the other guys on the floor? tony, manu and tim, i assume. spurs would be awfully small. :(

[Agitator]

:wakeupSomeone help me, But How is Raja Bell Big in Size?:nope

He isn't quite as big as Taco Bell because that guy is grande.

[SanAntonioSpurs23]

What about Linas Kleiza? I heard the Nuggets might be interested in moving him....

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

People I know who watched him play nightly in PHX considered him to be on the downslide. Not sure how he'd fit in here.

[GSH]

Raja Bell got traded from the Suns because by his own admission since the birth of his son he just doesn't want to have the nasty reputation that comes with being a lock down defender. His priorities have moved away from basketball and he resents the time on the road away from his new addition. In short, he has lost his passion for the game....pass.

Or not...

[GSH]

Yeh... Bell is looking pretty washed up.

[SenorSpur]

Doesn't matter. Bell is a fine player and a prototype Spurs. However, there are more obvious needs for this team than adding another shooting guard. The Spurs are already stockpiled at that spot anyway. Therefore, I don't see Bell being an alternative solution to the need for a big.

[Udokafan05]

I see charlotte getting the 7th spot in East, so why trade a good defender, and good 3pt shooter.

[GSH]

Doesn't matter. Bell is a fine player and a prototype Spurs. However, there are more obvious needs for this team than adding another shooting guard. The Spurs are already stockpiled at that spot anyway. Therefore, I don't see Bell being an alternative solution to the need for a big.


That's funny. I heard Sean mention this exact thing the other night. When your perimiter defense breaks down, your bigs can't stay home. And the other teams' bigs slip in behind for easy scores. And that's been happening to us much too often lately.

The solution to that particular problem is better perimeter defense.

[scanry]

That's funny. I heard Sean mention this exact thing the other night. When your perimiter defense breaks down, your bigs can't stay home. And the other teams' bigs slip in behind for easy scores. And that's been happening to us much too often lately.

The solution to that particular problem is better perimeter defense.

You make a very good point and when you have Finley playing no D whatsoever, how can we expect Tim to guard the paint.

BTW nice D Bonner. How the fu$k do you expect Tim to guard both your's & his man.

Enough with this Bonner experiment, we'll fucking go nowhere. :bang:bang:bang

And Pop, enough with the small ball crap, Tim is getting no help whatsoever when you go small ball. Kurt has to be on the floor for us to get boards.

Again i just can't help notice the helplessness look on Tim. He needs help right now and fast. :bang:bang:bang:bang

[Penya]

...And Aaron Gray?
Del Negro isn't giving him many minutes... He might help us.

[SenorSpur]

That's funny. I heard Sean mention this exact thing the other night. When your perimiter defense breaks down, your bigs can't stay home. And the other teams' bigs slip in behind for easy scores. And that's been happening to us much too often lately.

The solution to that particular problem is better perimeter defense.

I agree with the theory. It's a telling statement when your best perimeter defender is 37 years old! Pop could have brought in better perimeter defenders over the past couple of years, but for whatever reason that he chose not to. He wanted more and more offensive-type players - for obvious reasons. I still say relying on a poor defender like Finley hurts that defensive objective more than anything else.

The offseason additions of Mason and Hill have been priceless and their defense has been good. I would've expected an uptick in their perimeter defensive statistics. My point is the Spurs are stacked at that position. You'd have to get rid of someone to make that happen and the Spurs are already scare on tradeable assets. At this point, I'd much rather they focus on getting Tim some help.

[GSH]

You make a very good point and when you have Finley playing no D whatsoever, how can we expect Tim to guard the paint.

BTW nice D Bonner. How the fu$k do you expect Tim to guard both your's & his man.

Enough with this Bonner experiment, we'll fucking go nowhere. :bang:bang:bang

And Pop, enough with the small ball crap, Tim is getting no help whatsoever when you go small ball. Kurt has to be on the floor for us to get boards.

Again i just can't help notice the helplessness look on Tim. He needs help right now and fast. :bang:bang:bang:bang

Exactly. It's a 5-man game, and big are going to get exposed if the perimeter defense breaks down. Maybe moreso in the Spurs system, because it is a system, and everyone has to do their part.

Maybe the answer isn't Raja Bell, but if the only way we improve is to get a franchise big from another team, we're in trouble. It isn't going to happen.

[scanry]

I agree with the theory. It's a telling statement when your best perimeter defender is 37 years old! Pop could have brought in better perimeter defenders over the past couple of years, but for whatever reason that he chose not to. He wanted more and more offensive-type players - for obvious reasons. I still say relying on a poor defender like Finley hurts that defensive objective more than anything else.

The offseason additions of Mason and Hill have been priceless and their defense has been good. I would've expected an uptick in their perimeter defensive statistics. My point is the Spurs are stacked at that position. You'd have to get rid of someone to make that happen and the Spurs are already scare on tradeable assets. At this point, I'd much rather they focus on getting Tim some help.

Finley is amazingly bad this year. I haven't seen him defend this bad in a long time. Even when his shots aren't falling he still takes those ridiculously contested shots. Does he seriously expect them to make it? :bang:bang:bang

Also the small ball just isn't working. We don't have the defensive personnel to make it work. :bang

[scanry]

Aaron Gray is horrible..

WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER BIG!!!..

I've come to this conclusion after looking at stats, and analyzing the games closely..we don't need another big..we were 3rd last year in interior D with Duncan-Oberto..Kurt has been playing well when he's in, we can't find somebody better than him..

our defensive problems will be solved when Duncan steps up like he usually does in February, more Bowen, and better focus..the last 2 games, we've seen some nice defense on the pick and roll, with the help D rotating well..this should continue..we've shown flashes this year, and it'll get better, as usual..

we don't need another big, we've won with scrubs like Elson, and average players like Fab next to Tim..

Fab used to grab boards that year. Not so much this year. And we used to get great hussle play from Elson in 07 and that helped us outrebound the other team.

[SenorSpur]

Exactly. It's a 5-man game, and big are going to get exposed if the perimeter defense breaks down. Maybe moreso in the Spurs system, because it is a system, and everyone has to do their part.

Maybe the answer isn't Raja Bell, but if the only way we improve is to get a franchise big from another team, we're in trouble. It isn't going to happen.

Therein lies the misconception. The Spurs don't need a franchise big. They just need a serviceable bigman that could help defend, rebound, block shots and score a bit down low. Think about the 8-7 efforts that Nazr gave to the Spurs after the traded for him during midpoint of 2005.

At the same time, perhaps Pop should resist his temptation to overuse Finley.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Suns Sign Courtney Sims (http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/56692/20090119/suns_sign_courtney_sims/)

[scanry]

Therein lies the misconception. The Spurs don't need a franchise big. They just need a serviceable bigman that could help defend, rebound, block shots and score a bit down low. Think about the 8-7 efforts that Nazr gave to the Spurs after the traded for him during midpoint of 2005.

At the same time, perhaps Pop should resist his temptation to overuse Finley.

That's just killing me man. I don't think i can take it any longer. :bang

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER BIG!!!..

I've come to this conclusion after looking at stats, and analyzing the games closely..we don't need another big..we were 3rd last year in interior D with Duncan-Oberto..Kurt has been playing well when he's in, we can't find somebody better than him..

our defensive problems will be solved when Duncan steps up like he usually does in February, more Bowen, and better focus..the last 2 games, we've seen some nice defense on the pick and roll, with the help D rotating well..this should continue..we've shown flashes this year, and it'll get better, as usual..

we don't need another big, we've won with scrubs like Elson, and average players like Fab next to Tim..

Yes we do. We cannot win the Championship playing only Tim, Kurt and Bonner. Fab is currently a non-entity, and if Pop was going to change that he would have by now.