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View Full Version : POLANDS PERSPECTIVE – Breaking the virginity



polandprzem
02-12-2010, 03:34 AM
As this is my very first input on the spurs situation (in my own thread) the title says it all. But not only this. Many spurs fans must take a look and face reality, the new one. Got to suck it up, grow up and live with that.


Let’s get into the spurs situation which is ‘now times’. Which I can tell you about from my perspective. Yes raising the bar also get all the way to Poland, so I needed to step up.

Spurs somehow are facing new situation like many of their fans. They feel like they are not there and must improve. And you wonder if they are ready to grow up and if they really are able to grow up? This virgin kind of situation must be broken.
Spurs in the new reality, also the fans.

I really lack of watching spurs games. Not because I do not want to watch them but because it’s tough. Esp. when you have to work and spurs games are in the middle of a night plus my only source is stream. I saw Portland game, clips game only the third q without any attention. LA game 1st half and nuggets almost all the game.

General opinion I hear is that spurs are too old and burned out. I asked some fans and nobody gives them a chance of making any big impact. They were saying me that before the season and now they are laughing... [rude – but what you gonna do?]
No D plus the spurs team with all their players can’t beat teams which do not have their key guys in the lineup. The LA game is prime example. It was Ultimate Phil Jax against any coach. He likes to beat other teams not having best players. Somehow those bench LA guys stepping up. Jackson also got Pops number again. Pop does not believe it (in having numbers against anybody) but it is not a matter of belief. The thing is spurs are struggling badly and it is hard to find a bright spot when you think about season expectations.


There some areas which I want to point out

1.
Pop. This guy seems to be disappointed in this team. He surely care but he though at this point of a season spurs will be gelled. They are not and you could see his frustration when a corner trey went in for Portland daggered our team in the back. I’m okay with pop right now. He started to press this team earlier then I thought he would. I was thinking he will challenge them after ASB but he started about a month before the event. He is trying not to play small ball much recently.
The minus that was always in spurs team is mental aspect which Pop not always can find a solution for players. We had always players with pressure on them and many collapsed.
Now it’s Pops time on a ASB to sketch the run for five as he always does at this time of a NBA season.

2.
Defense! Most important area for a team to win a championship or have at least a shot. Pops says it was never that tough for his guys to be consistent there. I would say some players are not there. RJ, TP especially. Portland game showed that our transition D is weak as a fly on a hot Texas afternoon. Even when they are back on time on transition spurs are caught off position and cannot gather themselves to keep the opponents from getting bucket. The defense is like a broken glass, it just needs one slasher or two passes to destroy that glass. It got me mad when Pop put a small ball lineup [Portland game] and still transition D was bad. How come small guys cannot position themselves better or be back on time on their halfcourt defending the hole with the net. I kept wondering if spurs are still in illusion that they are good and not giving much of a heck.
In LA game it stunned me that still spurs are letting teams to drive into lane so easily. The championship spurs team would force players to fail on driving which killed concept of the play and was taking some seconds off the shot clock.
LA used advantage on transition, Nuggets couldn’t but I think it was bad game by Denver. I’m not measuring spurs transition D from that game.



3.
RJ – officially this guy sucks when you watch how much hopes we had towards him. Only good thing that I can see in his game is that he is not in shooting slump. He just is on uncomfortable positions ,and mostly he is forcing his action , either shots or drives. Make him forget about playing good and create in his mind one goal. Play tough D or rebound. Do not give a shhh about Offense. Offense happens to come to players just like that, mostly when you not concentrating on it. So maybe still we can keep our hopes? We will need RJ to put us in a position to make a surprise in the playoffs.
Saying he must to break this new situation, his virginity is kinda funny. He must to do it someday. Denver game he was quiet but helpful. His D is not there ahh let’s save some letters from my keyboard.


4.
Mason vs Bogans – well at least after Portland game I thought it’s important to choose one of those guys. Mason is in mental collapse. He must to live in Pops doghouse and he is not feeling comfortable there. He let the ‘doghouse thinking’ get into him rather then just play the minutes he has. I still think he easily wins the battle against Bogans. Bogans is inconsistent on offense and defense. His few minutes can make a disaster. Pop puts him in big roles out there and when he is off it might give opponents the momentum. I’m talking about him covering the perimeter threats and bricking treys. So I think Pop will decide which player to play after the All Stars will compete in the colorful game on Valentines Day. Kiss your partners and give them chocolates! I can kiss myself for that matter.

5.
Bigs – Tell me if that is an important role in spurs system. Bonner needs to get him going from outside. It’s frickin crucial. If teams can close the lane spurs can go fishing now. But more curtail is IMO Dyess defense on picks and interior D as well as playing good with Timmy on offensive side of a basketball court. We saw him getting better in February. And it was also good to hear that he picks it up in the second half of a season better. There was one mistake that opened up Portalnd O and a dagger trey. I think he did not wanted Portland to play p&r instead he let I don’t know who it was to the basket – two passes or whatever and bang Portland killed the spurs.
Next games were positive, which maybe might have forced Pop not to play small ball.

6.
Where is Manu? Manu is playing on your backyard and building a new house from those bricks he is making out there. Good thing that his playmaking is there and he starts to play more aggressively.

7.
Small ball – so many people said so many about that strategy so I’m not going to say much. If the spurs would execute better and play better transition D as well as perimeter D it would give us some advantage here and there. Also we need bigs to play good enough so they can stay on the court.
But I think one guy must leave a perimeter rotation …


8.
Fluid in playing! It says all about team, the gelling process and communication. You see how fluid ball goes and how players can execute and how players are moving and positioning themselves. There would be no way teams could close Manu with double teaming him and
causing turnover. Denver did that few times.

9.
Looking at the stats the spurs on D are not looking good. They are 7th or 8th team right now on defensive end. Still I do not know how much they can pick it up. It depends on them.





Free thoughts:
Playing TP on RRT was a bad idea
How can Blair score in that way? His offensive rebounding instinct is superb by the way
I would splash Bogans and give some time to Ian or Theo
Why Barkley says Pop might be the best coach in NBA?
Teams plays games on Thursday and on Friday is an allstar events :shootme
I should have taken phone number from that girl. I failed miserably. Hopefully spurs won’t.








Ps. Waiting for criticism and some tips. I will try to put up one of those threads once in two weeks or something.
Timvp – could be something like this?


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btw- if you read all this you are the only person

Blackjack
02-12-2010, 03:53 AM
I've got to admit, I was expecting some MMA-type analogy in there, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. :hat

Well done, polandprzem.:tu (you definitely should have taken that phone number, though. . .)

Stringer_Bell
02-12-2010, 08:30 AM
I think Mason Jr. is getting some fire back in his overall game, but I don't like him being in there for extended periods of time and especially when we've got a decent 10 point lead. He is prone to shooting quick 3's and missing them, and I'd rather see some interior scoring in those situations. Mason Jr. works best before defenses are settled in transition, so Pop needs to turn him on and off when he goes out there as a safety precaution when we're leading. IMHO.

RJ needs to stop THINKING about DOING too much, and just do whatever little he can at the moment as best he can. He's trying to do too much and putting pressure on himself that he's just not able to cash...so I'd rather him score 10 points off less shots and be as aggressive as possible on D when the Spurs have a lead.


6. Where is Manu? Manu is playing on your backyard and building a new house from those bricks he is making out there.

Even though it's not REALLY funny in context of this season, I haven't heard of people building houses like that before :lol


btw- if you read all this you are the only person

:depressed

polandprzem
02-12-2010, 08:57 AM
I've got to admit, I was expecting some MMA-type analogy in there, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. :hat

Well done, polandprzem.:tu (you definitely should have taken that phone number, though. . .)

Thanks :worthy:


The mma analogy can be done. I might think about it for the next episode.


Stringer_Bell RJ is not the first and only guy that under Pop (not in a sexual context), that seems to be tense and forcing the action too much.
In pop system you must to fit in the scheme. The scheme is not drawn for you abilieties.

Mason would be better in regular rotation on the same minutes every night. But damn he is a pro he should have adjust to the situation like this.

romain.star
02-12-2010, 09:28 AM
great read poland

however i think you're a little hard on Manu. He is not part of our backcourt problems. The guy is now 33 and after 2 complicated seasons, it's totally logical for him to lose a step or 2. Nevertheless, i've been happy with his playmaking habilities. After some rough games early on, he is becoming the elite role player we need.
Maybe you should have add a 10th point about our real backcourt issues. Will TP raise his defensive efforts coming PO time? Can Hill be a consistent 15, 3, 3 starter? If the answer to any of those 3 questions is no... well, i'm afraid we're gonna be anally raped in the postseason.

polandprzem
02-12-2010, 09:43 AM
great read poland

however i think you're a little hard on Manu. He is not part of our backcourt problems. The guy is now 33 and after 2 complicated seasons, it's totally logical for him to lose a step or 2. Nevertheless, i've been happy with his playmaking habilities. After some rough games early on, he is becoming the elite role player we need.
Maybe you should have add a 10th point about our real backcourt issues. Will TP raise his defensive efforts coming PO time? Can Hill be a consistent 15, 3, 3 starter? If the answer to any of those 3 questions is no... well, i'm afraid we're gonna be anally raped in the postseason.

okay i'll put backcourt problems on next volume.
I'm hard on Manu? Well I wanted to write more about him and his little progression he made lately. But I'm not that far from the truth that he is not there with shooting.
His playmaking was always good and unconventional taht's why he is so precious and esp. coming of the bench.

polandprzem
02-12-2010, 09:44 AM
i took a short look at the text and still I'm too chaotic with my writting ...

all_heart
02-12-2010, 09:58 AM
Good assessment, I'm not worried about Manu, he'll be ok, he's showing great effort and his shot looked ok last night. Yea, RJ is a mystery. Quite honestly he reminds me of myself when I played HS basketball. Wanted to do a good job just was too tense. Later on I played just for fun and I was much better. Mason will be ok, so long as he doesn't have to handle the ball too much. He's a better shooter than Bogans that's for sure.

all_heart
02-12-2010, 10:07 AM
One more thing.. forget about Bonner. The guy is horribly inconsistent, he'd be more tolerable if he was at least a bruiser type but of course he's not. We can't win anything with him jacking 3's, making 1/4 of them. On defense forget it, he might as well be an orange cone out there. His little spurts of OK D here and there don't mean much to me. In other words he's not a legit big man for our team.

Pop has a thing of rewarding effort over raw talent, which I can see. But eventually that effort needs to pay off. Blair has both, that's why he's getting minutes.

ginobili fan
02-12-2010, 10:10 AM
good post

romain.star
02-12-2010, 10:25 AM
okay i'll put backcourt problems on next volume.
I'm hard on Manu? Well I wanted to write more about him and his little progression he made lately. But I'm not that far from the truth that he is not there with shooting.
His playmaking was always good and unconventional taht's why he is so precious and esp. coming of the bench.

no problem ! it's just that there is nothing on TP and to me, Parker sloppy defense has been a much bigger problem than Manu poor shooting...

great stuff nevertheless ! keep up the good work dude

JR3
02-12-2010, 10:31 AM
I agree.. that defense is the key. We have been able to score all weekend. It was a breath of fresh air last night being able to shut down the nuggets in their place. There is hope.

mazerrackham
02-12-2010, 02:06 PM
thanks poland, good read

polandprzem
02-12-2010, 02:17 PM
Thank you all - I haven't expected that someone would like it. That's why I will keep doing it.

jjktkk
02-12-2010, 02:21 PM
One more thing.. forget about Bonner. The guy is horribly inconsistent, he'd be more tolerable if he was at least a bruiser type but of course he's not. We can't win anything with him jacking 3's, making 1/4 of them. On defense forget it, he might as well be an orange cone out there. His little spurts of OK D here and there don't mean much to me. In other words he's not a legit big man for our team.

Pop has a thing of rewarding effort over raw talent, which I can see. But eventually that effort needs to pay off. Blair has both, that's why he's getting minutes.

Small doses of Bonner, if hes hitting the 3's, can be a nice spark off the bench. Below average D, but he played well on D last night(2Blocks).

stéphane
02-12-2010, 02:21 PM
That was an interesting read Poland, thanx for taking the time.

Many of your points are valid but I would personally insist on two points.

The void left by Bruce seems to grow wider and wider. The ultimate wing stopper/3 point corner completely changes this team. Pop hasn't found a way to correct that and that tells it all.

On a second hand, I can forgive Manu's inconsistency with his shot but I cannot be that easy on Tony. He's supposed to be in his prime and the self confidence he had that was driving him towards excellence is turning into self complacency leading to lack of effort/focus and poor defense. Our point guard has to realize being a star in the league doesn't mean he can pass up on regular season games.

Won't even talk about RJ... MIA

ShoogarBear
02-12-2010, 03:12 PM
-Flies in Texas on hot afternoons are NOT weak.

-I think your assessment about RJ is spot on. I think the guy still has a good attitude but the thing that bugs me is that every time he talks about his struggles, he talks about his offense. 12-14 PPG would be FINE if he was hustling in the other areas.

_ Totally agree that Mason needs minutes. When you give the guy minutes and give him a role that makes sense, he's a consistent producer.

all_heart
02-12-2010, 04:47 PM
Small doses of Bonner, if hes hitting the 3's, can be a nice spark off the bench. Below average D, but he played well on D last night(2Blocks).

Perhaps, but that's a big IF.

polandprzem
02-13-2010, 03:51 AM
-Flies in Texas on hot afternoons are NOT weak.

My bad ...


As for Bonner I think he can bring it in short minutes. He gives something that none of the bigs in spurs linup gives. That is a space room for TD down low. Taking that other big of the paint area. I know that jax does not gives a damn about him at all. But he must make teams pay for leaving him open.
He needs to get his rythm back and it's tough - not much time has left in a season.

GHill is there to fill in some of Bowen roles. Same with Bogans.

Pentagruel
02-13-2010, 05:47 AM
That was a good read polandprzem.

I agree with most all of your points but I would like to add a few things.

Or one thing rather... I think one of the biggest problem right now is the inconsistent rotations and minutes players are getting. A lot of players (Roger Mason being the best example) don't get regular minutes but get thrown in the fire from time to time. Roger I think could be a solid producer and like you said, a better option the The Bogans. However his psyche seems to be rather weak and he needs rhythm and confidence to really play at his best. I think several players really are affected by irregular playing time and irregular playing position. Pop needs to do a better job of stabilizing the rotation and position of players. How can you expect them to gell when you are shuffling things around all the time? You can't. That's one of the biggest issues with the team and why the talent doesn't live up to the job. Fix that and I think we could see a much smoother Spurs on the court night in and night out.

That is all.