Monroe: Mason's complaint symptomatic of Spurs' chemistry issues

[duncan228]

Mason's complaint symptomatic of Spurs' chemistry issues (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Masons_complaint_symptomatic_of_Spurs_chemistry_is sues.html)
Mike Monroe

Give Roger Mason Jr. credit for candor.

The Spurs guard consistently has told us this season how tough it has been to watch his playing time shrivel. He is forthright enough to admit the fact he is in a contract year is a major factor in his disappointment at minutes that have gone up and down like Shaun White on the Winter Olympics halfpipe.

Having his agent tell the Spurs he is open to a trade that will put him on a team where he will get more consistent playing time is an up-front approach.

Laudable sincerity aside, Mason's discontent is symptomatic of what has plagued the Spurs this season. When team captain Tim Duncan identified chemistry as the element most missing from the team's performance this season, he pointed no fingers. Certainly, Mason's struggle to accept a diminished role had to be on his list of chemical transgressions.

Mason doesn't sit on the bench hoping George Hill and Manu Ginobili make so many mistakes, Gregg Popovich will banish them to the bench and put him on the court.

Instead, after a summer spent working on conditioning and ball handling, he frets about what he has to do to earn more time. Too often, he presses to prove he is worthy of Popovich's confidence. It's one reason his 3-point shooting is off from last season's career-best 42.1 percent, down to 38.6.

It's not easy going from six minutes, in a loss to the Lakers, to 34 minutes the next game, as he did last week.

Give Mason this much: He has played more than 30 minutes only three times all season. In those three, he has made 13 of 27 on 3-pointers and averaged 17 points. The Spurs won two of those three, including their last game, the 111-92 victory over the Nuggets last Thursday that Duncan called their best game of the season.

Rare are players like Fabricio Oberto, the former Spurs center who last season found himself in a situation similar to Mason's, his playing time both curtailed and inconsistent. After one victory in which he had played a significant role, Oberto swore he didn't care if he played a second, as long as the team won the game.

The crazy thing: Oberto meant it, and when he was back on the bench the next time the Spurs won, he was just as content.

Mason is stuck in the old chicken-and-egg conundrum. Which comes first? Consistent playing time that fosters success, or consistent performance that compels Popovich to play him?

This would be bad enough if Mason weren't about to hit the free-agent market in a summer many teams targeted for spending on available players.

If there is one truism in the relationship between performance and value in pro sports, it is the effect of a player in a contract year.

Exhibit A: Erick Dampier.

A mediocre center through his first seven seasons, during which he averaged 8.2 points and 6.4 rebounds, Dampier suddenly emerged as an elite level big man in 2003-04. Then, he averaged 12.3 points and 12.0 rebounds per game for the Warriors.

The difference: He knew he would become a free agent that summer. Sure enough, the Mavericks signed him to a seven-year contract worth nearly $73 million.

He hasn't averaged double figures in points or rebounds since. But he is a free agent again this summer, and guess what: His numbers are up significantly from his previous four seasons with the Mavs.

If the Spurs think they can improve themselves by sending Mason, and his expiring $3.7 million contract, elsewhere, they will.

If nothing works out, Mason has shown he is professional enough to deal with that, too.

The Spurs' chemistry, meanwhile, remains a lab experiment in need of a catalyst.

[toki9]

They should move Mason...Pop's going to bury him for being selfish anyways...

[vander]

Mason is and always was: what would make a good player on a bad team, and a nearly-useless player on a Spurs-type contending team.
his % of success shooting isn't going to increase on a better team or in a better situation. he has to shoot, a lot, and his accuracy determines his team's success. he could carry a bad team, but not a good one, he's no Kobe.

the fact that the Spurs couldn't see that a long time ago is what makes me depressed and pessimistic

[silverblk mystix]

It is unfortunate for both the Spurs and for RMJ...looking from RMJ's side...I can understand his frustration...he worked his ass off in the summer, dropped weight, came into the season and figured he would have a major role on this team....then had to accept starting the season behind the corpse known as Finley...
fast forward to mid-season---not much has changed---pop is still jerking him around...then he has to decide to keep quiet and watch his contract expire while playing sporadically on a floundering team...and well he bit the bullet and spoke up---now he will be cast out as a malcontent and blamed for disrupting team chemistry...but it is not that simple...

on the spurs side....maybe Pop had TOO many options to choose from...he kept tinkering and tinkering...
many times this season...he has substituted after a group has been on the floor for less than a minute and a half...how can any group gel...when after a minute---someone is being jerked out of the lineup?
Maybe Pop has been TOO controlling...his ego might feel that HE is controlling every single play...sometimes you have to get OUT OF THE WAY...and let the guys play...let them find their own way---so to speak...

it is also frustrating for all of us to have had to watch this experiment....

[DMX7]

Now that it's an issue, it's now an issue.

[timtonymanu]

while i agree mason needs to suck it up, i can understand why he's frustrated. i mean he's getting minutes behind bogans and finley. two guys who wouldnt be on any other team right now.

[mingus]

i've stopped looking for reasons he's not playing as a part of the rotation. RJ and Bogans don't play stellar enough defense to warrant getting as much time as they get when Mason is probably the better fit offensively of the three (he showed that last year; there's no reason he can't this year). i think the flow of offense would be much better if he played with the starting five. Jefferson can't play in a halfcourt offense and Mason can. Jefferson has actually devolved in the same way Marion has after he left the Suns. both are great examples of two guys that put up great stats solely because of their system and HOF guards that anchored it. bring RJ off the bench. it's long overdue.

[mountainballer]

to put things in perspective:
it was his agent, who talked about a trade and this agent happens to be Mark Bartelstein. he is one of the most experienced and smartest agents and one of those who see the NBA clearly as a business.
(this is the guy who got Brian Cardinal a 33 million contract! yes, Brian Cardinal. the guy is a genius)
he knows very well how to rate the market situation of his players.
RM has one more shot for a decent contract in his career. if he can post numbers similar to last year on a good 3pt %, he could maybe get 3years/10-12 million. if not, he is a typical veteran journey man, who plays for 1 year min contracts from next season on. to stay with the Spurs, especially if Bartelstein thinks the Spurs might bring in another wing player in a trade, isn't the best situation for Mason. getting on a bad or mediocre team, with urgent need for shooting will increase his market value big time.
the good thing is, Bartelstein has the probably biggest network in the NBA, so he can really help to make things happen.

[weebo]

The emergence of GHill and the re-emergence of Manu is what sent this guy to the bench. To be fair, Fin has recieved pretty much the same treatment and it was infact his injury that propeled Hill to the starting line up. Also, Bogans gets more minutes not because he is that much better or worse than Mason. It's because Bogans is a better perimeter defender.

The main problem with Mason is that he's a shooter and a shooter only (and a very inconsistent one at that). His lack of D, rebounding, and last year's failed attempt as the back up point is what sent him to the bench, and now him opening his mouth and asking for a trade is whats going to keep him there.

The only solution now for Mason is to be traded.

[ploto]

Scapegoat

[Chieflion]

Pop doesn't play him over Bogans and Finley, enough said.

[gospursgojas]

If I were RMJ, I'd be pissed to if Fin and Bogans played more than me.

[Mark in Austin]

:blah

Did Monroe even bother to take this off of the Spurs letterhead before publishing it?

[fyatuk]

I agree with a lot of people that I'd rather see Finley go, but it doesn't bother me to watch Mason leave either. He's streaky in just about all aspects of his game, a bit of a ball hog, and I hate watching him jack up contested 3s when there's an open shooter an easy pass away. He needs to improve a lot of aspects in his game if he wants to be a big player on an elite team, and to his credit, he seems to be a little more secure handling the ball and making better decisions this season than last.

I also think if Mason was capable of giving any real effort of D consistently (he's shown decent capabilities, just rarely interest in it), then he should be starting instead of either Jefferson or Hill. The starting 5 is missing that spot up 3 point shooter that Mason was last year, Bowen was before that, and Bonner has been off and on. The Spurs need 1 or 2 spot up shooters (at the moment that's really Mason, Bonner, and Finley) to keep driving lanes open and dish out punishment when the defense collapses on Parker or Duncan.

[jermaine]

If Finley is traded he will get boughtout & come right back!

[tmtcsc]

Mason showed his true colors in the playoffs last year. He had a great regular season and then crashed in the post season. He was probably THE biggest disappointment when Manu was out.

He had every chance to show what he could do and he was easily shut down. No problem here with him getting shipped out. I just hope what we get in return can contribute.

[Timmy]

in the recent time spurs main problem contain lacking of attetion to detail on defense

[MoSpur]

Mason is too streaky in my opinion. He's a huge liability on defense. He turns the ball over way too much when he's trying to create. He's a spot up shooter who when he's hot, he's very good, but other than that he isn't much help. He has to start to be effective, but I think Pop likes Hill starting because of his defense and his ability to create off the dribble.

I don't mind the Spurs trading Mason as long as they get someone in return that can fill a need and accept a role coming off the bench.

[Spursmania]

Mason needs to go. The guy is overrating himself. He had one good year. He failed in the playoffs. He's a good shooter, average ball handler and not a very good defender. Easily replaceable. Next....

[all_heart]

Mason needed to have played better, but at the same time it's a confidence thing for guys like him. Pop is partly to blame for his unpredictable distro of minutes. There's no way Finley should be getting many minutes right now. It should be Mason. It's not like Finley plays lock down D or shoots lights out.

[Cane]

Best thing about Mason was his game winning X-mas shot against the Suns last year.

Since then his stock has crumpled.

Good bye Predator lookalike.

[bigfan]

Mason is streaky, true. But he's not some gangsta type whiner crying for playing time, hes just stating the obvious. If I were Pop Id be playing the hell out of Mason (ahead of Bogans and Finley) and saving Manu for the playoffs (with less time in the regular season.) Mason seems to be a smart, hard working, talented player who is streaky, but when hes on, hes one of the better players.

[SpurNation]

It seems no one can fit a "role" on this team with any consitency. Fact is...Mason has made some bone headed plays. But he's not been any worse than others on the team.

Jacking up shots to make his 3pt.% look good for upcoming contract negotiations has been an obvious M.O. this season. A decision he probably would have best let happen instead of forcing to happen.

After all...it's his only true attribute to his game. A problem many of the role players have on this team...Good at only one thing and then asked (expected) to consistently play above their obvious weaknesses.

[TJastal]

Well, looks like Pop's love affair for over the hill veterans (Finley) and other assorted discarded trash (Bogans) has cost this organization yet again.

I think Roger played solid defense this year (and could have been a 30 minute/15-18 ppg type player had he been in the starting lineup) or a 20-25m minute / 12-16 ppg player as Hill's replacement in the 2nd unit. Either role I think he would have been fine with.

The fact that he had to fight for sporadic playing time all year long thanks to the retarded Bogans' signing and POop's man crush on Finley has pretty much destroyed the guy but he still managed to stay positive and have some really impressive games when he recieved minutes.

[TJastal]

I'll add that when Roger is gone, there will be a noticeable spark missing from this team.

[tp2021]

Mason isn't the only player on the team that has made puzzling statements this season. Maybe the players on the team have sensed what we now know about the team long before we did. All I know is, I don't get the Mason bashing. It's not like he's out there every night sucking up the court like RJ. he hasn't been playing enough for me to hate on him.

I'm actually past the point of hating on anyone on the team. It doesn't seem worth the effort to place blame. Either the team as a whole is functioning, or it isn't. It can't be just one player's fault. They are just disappointing this season, and I hope the FO at least has a definite plan in place as to where they want to go from here.

[TJastal]

Mason isn't the only player on the team that has made puzzling statements this season. Maybe the players on the team have sensed what we now know about the team long before we did. All I know is, I don't get the Mason bashing. It's not like he's out there every night sucking up the court like RJ. he hasn't been playing enough for me to hate on him.

I'm actually past the point of hating on anyone on the team. It doesn't seem worth the effort to place blame. Either the team as a whole is functioning, or it isn't. It can't be just one player's fault. They are just disappointing this season, and I hope the FO at least has a definite plan in place as to where they want to go from here.

If the "F.O" (meaning Popovich) can't bring a trophy in this year after all that spending maybe it's time for Holt to instead assess who's going to be making those plans. (goodbye Pop).

[Chomag]

while i agree mason needs to suck it up, i can understand why he's frustrated. i mean he's getting minutes behind bogans and finley. two guys who wouldnt be on any other team right now.

Exactly what I was thinking right after reading this.

[Capt Bringdown]

Pop's coaching isn't effective, that's the fundamental problem. Mason deserves better, I hope he finds a more supportive and flexible work situation.

[scottspurs]

Mason deserves to be traded for whining. The only thing on this mind is his next contract and how much $$$ we will make.

[TJastal]

Mason deserves to be traded for whining. The only thing on this mind is his next contract and how much $$$ we will make.

Well normally I'd agree with you, but knowing the intracacies of how Popovich has handled his minutes and role all year, I'd have to say he's justified in his anger.

[dbestpro]

Mason's problems as well as many Spur players could be solved with a little consistant coaching that embraces what works and dumps the stuff that doesn't.

[Obstructed_View]

Mason's problems as well as many Spur players could be solved with a little consistant coaching that embraces what works and dumps the stuff that doesn't.

Mason's problems could be solved with consistent minutes. His scoring and shooting are very good the three, count 'em, THREE times he's gotten some burn. While he's no lockdown defender, his defense is so much better than that of Bogans, Jefferson or Finley it's downright baffling that he hasn't been playing. The fact that Finley was the opening day starter is pretty much all we need to know about how this situation was going to develop.

[The Truth #6]

Mason deserves to be traded for whining. The only thing on this mind is his next contract and how much $$$ we will make.

It's funny, he was already on the market so Mason having his agent speak out to the press in some ways doesn't change much. It might piss off Pop and RC, but on the other hand, with Mason's agent making phone calls to try and make a trade, he could actually be helping the Spurs get a deal done. In other words, they're on the same page, and if Pop gets his feathers ruffled than boo hoo.

I don't think there's too much to get upset about here. Mason was clearly not in the longterm plans and was going to get moved. The fact that he voiced his opinion was probably something to save his ego, which most likely has been whittled away after probably thinking he did everything they asked him to do, hit some big game winners last year, and then had to play behind the ghost of Michael Finley the guy who isn't better than 38 year old Bruce Bowen.

[Obstructed_View]

If what Mason did can be considered whining by Spurs fans, that's a pretty good sign that they've been drama-free for an extended period of time.

[TJastal]

It's funny, he was already on the market so Mason having his agent speak out to the press in some ways doesn't change much. It might piss off Pop and RC, but on the other hand, with Mason's agent making phone calls to try and make a trade, he could actually be helping the Spurs get a deal done. In other words, they're on the same page, and if Pop gets his feathers ruffled than boo hoo.

I don't think there's too much to get upset about here. Mason was clearly not in the longterm plans and was going to get moved. The fact that he voiced his opinion was probably something to save his ego, which most likely has been whittled away after probably thinking he did everything they asked him to do, hit some big game winners last year, and then had to play behind the ghost of Michael Finley the guy who isn't better than 38 year old Bruce Bowen.

And Keith Bogans. And George Hill. And Pop's cousin Vinny. And...

[ploto]

I wonder if some fans do not realize how often it is that the agent is the one who facilitates a player's trade. Mason was already on the trading block. Now his agent says that he wants to get traded and that he is working to make it happen. People get their panties in a wad and act all offended when they did not even want him on the team anymore-- like a boyfriend who is planning to dump his girl and gets pissed when she dumps him first.

[Agloco]

Well normally I'd agree with you, but knowing the intracacies of how Popovich has handled his minutes and role all year, I'd have to say he's justified in his anger.

Wow, we actually agree on something. I'll be looking out for those flying pigs......

[duncan228]

I'll be looking out for those flying pigs......

:flypig

[Agloco]

:flypig

:lol

[boutons_deux]

playing behind Finley and Bogans, quite a frustrating insult

[BatManu]

If what Mason did can be considered whining by Spurs fans, that's a pretty good sign that they've been drama-free for an extended period of time.

Thank you

[BatManu]

I don't like losing Mason, but the way Pop has been handling minutes, we've practically lost him anyway. I hope he finds a situation that works out better for him.

[DAF86]

Monroe is stealing from Sequ.