Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Celtics - Dec. 15

[timvp]

Tim Duncan C
Poor offensively. Obviously not 100% physically. Great on the boards and defended the rim well.

Manu Ginobili Inc.
Suffered a left quad contusion. His history suggest he’ll miss at least one game with the injury.

Tony Parker A+
Fantastic work defensively against Rondo. Ran the show with precision and hit biggest shots of the night.

Danny Green B
Looked more confident tonight. Much better aggression on offense. Some good, some bad on D.

Gary Neal B+
Started off very solid on defense but quickly went downhill. That said, his scoring punch was gigantic.

Tiago Splitter A-
Very impressive in the starting lineup. Lacked physicality in some moments but overall very productive.

Boris Diaw C+
Better but still not in rhythm. Surprising amount of defensive mistakes. Rocky moments on offense.

Nando De Colo A
Strong on D. Quick to loose balls and rebounds. Very good passing. Scored enough to keep D honest.

Patrick Mills B
Found ways to make a positive impact on defense. Good energy but not much production on offense.

Matt Bonner B+
Added a valuable offensive punch with scoring and passing. D was decent enough but no rebounding.

James Anderson Inc.
Admirable effort on D and the boards. Hit a three in garbage time.

Pop B+
Massaged his rotation successfully when Ginobili went down. I fully support Splitter starting.

[ducks]

duncan needs to not play monday

[BackHome]

It seems almost every game that Boris is getting mostly a D and the highest a C......even Bonner is getting better grades then him. For his position we need a lot more out of him and he seems to be giving us pretty much nothing do you think he is in a funk or he just doesn't give a f...k.

[Brunodf]

Starting Splitter was/is a good move by Pop. Great game by TP.

[ducks]

parker needs to tell boris to quiet coasting
lets do this now

[egtonecity]

So Parker is gonna whisper that?

[bbarry]

1 game? I was thinking more like 1-2 weeks minimallly for some reason.

[timvp]

1 game? I was thinking more like 1-2 weeks minimallly for some reason.
As I posted in the other thread, he missed one game with the same exact injury in March of 2011. He also missed one game in January of 2005 with a right quad contusion.

But again, this one appeared to be a little bit more serious so I wouldn't be too surprised if it takes him a couple weeks. Plus he's at the age where it takes players a long time to heal.

[dylankerouac]

Great job by Gary, once again putting the NBA on notice. Cold-blooded is priceless.

[playblair]

blair will be back in the rotation soon ....... bonner will fade & diaw wont shoot .......

[ElNono]

Tiago was the best player of the game, IMO

[jARS mEsH sEt]

So Parker is gonna whisper that?

His schtick is to post short 2/3 line "haiku-style" paragraphs with deliberate spelling errors (he knows how to spell quit but it looks better for his schtick to use 'quiet'. By responding seriously to his spelling error, you're validating his trolling intent).

[ace3g]

Jeff McDonald ‏@JMcDonald_SAEN (https://twitter.com/JMcDonald_SAEN) Pop informed Splitter of new starting role on plane back from POR. "He told me I'd be starting with Timmy. Just keep doing what I'm doing."

[Boomersgold]

Jeff McDonald ‏@JMcDonald_SAEN (https://twitter.com/JMcDonald_SAEN) Pop informed Splitter of new starting role on plane back from POR. "He told me I'd be starting with Timmy. Just keep doing what I'm doing."

Not really a good thing. Who's our big man off the bench then? Bonner?:bang

[timvp]

Jeff McDonald ‏@JMcDonald_SAEN (https://twitter.com/JMcDonald_SAEN) Pop informed Splitter of new starting role on plane back from POR. "He told me I'd be starting with Timmy. Just keep doing what I'm doing."

Damn, that sounds like it may be long-term :wow

[ace3g]

Not really a good thing. Who's our big man off the bench then? Bonner?:bang

Maybe Spurs have a trade in mind, Boris and other PF/C in trade coming off the bench

[TheSkeptic]

Jeff McDonald ‏@JMcDonald_SAEN (https://twitter.com/JMcDonald_SAEN) Pop informed Splitter of new starting role on plane back from POR. "He told me I'd be starting with Timmy. Just keep doing what I'm doing."

I'm not sure how I feel about Splitter and Duncan starting together either tbh. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that Pop's finally playing them together. But at the same time I'm kinda furious because it was painfully obvious that Splitter needed to start some 2 years ago. Infuriating! :bang:bang

Assuming the change is permanent though I suppose I don't have any basketball-related complaints. If the Spurs keep him involved in the offense I think he can really help us once he gets his reps in.

At this point I think that Diaw is key. As the player that can singlehandedly ensure that neither Blair or Bonner sees the court during the post season, we need more production out of him than we've been getting. Besides Splitter, Pop, and Parker, I was also very happy with De Colo. With some reps I think he could be the answer to our back-up PG problems. Besides Blair or Bonner, the last thing I want to see in the playoffs is Mills running the point.

[Brunodf]

Not really a good thing. Who's our big man off the bench then? Bonner?:bang

Duncan and Splitter were in the game all the time, either paired with Boris/Bonner or together.
Splitter can start and still play with the bench.

[Bruno]

While I like the Splitter/Duncan starting frontcourt, it's a risky pair given Spurs roster. If one start to be in foul trouble, Spurs will have to play heavy minutes in a game without some kind of interior defensive presence.

Starting Splitter with Duncan would be better if Spurs have another center at the end of the bench. Maybe Spurs will do a move in that way. I find it weird that Pop didn't put Blair in the game for the garbage time.

Other than that, it's nice to see Nando bouncing back after a couple of bad games.

[Brunodf]

Damn, that sounds like it may be long-term :wow

I hope so

[Brunodf]

While I like the Splitter/Duncan starting frontcourt, it's a risky pair given Spurs roster. If one start to be in foul trouble, Spurs will have to play heavy minutes in a game without some kind of interior defensive presence.

Starting Splitter with Duncan would be better if Spurs have another center at the end of the bench. Maybe Spurs will do a move in that way. I find it weird that Pop didn't put Blair in the game for the garbage time.

Other than that, it's nice to see Nando bouncing back after a couple of bad games.

i will take my chances, neither Splitter or Duncan are making too many fouls this season, and is good to start strong

[Drz]

Not really a good thing. Who's our big man off the bench then? Bonner?:bang
I don't think we're going to have one. This probably will increase Bonner's minutes, but there's zero chance he plays the traditional role of a "big."

It's going to be very interesting to see how lineups without Duncan or Splitter do. Doubt we'll see it much, but it kind of feels like it has to happen at some point.

[Trainwreck2100]

I hope Manu's good to go by the Denver game. That's the team he historically uses to get off the schnide

[DMC]

Diaw seems to drift off mentally and then pop back to reality. You can see it during the game when he suddenly realizes his man has left him.

[racm]

Duncan and Splitter should continue to start together but Pop has been doing a good job so far in staggering their minutes.

Big men who shoot 60 percent from the field are a rarity, and two star bigs and a star guard have been good in winning the West lately (see Dallas two seasons ago, LA three-four seasons ago).

[TheSkeptic]

Damn, that sounds like it may be long-term :wow

Which reminds me. Do you think Pop dropped Blair to let him recover from his injury or does this mean he's out of the rotation and Bonner's officially the 4th big since Blair can only really play with TD?

[freetiago]

he subbed splitter out at about the 6 min mark like he should
like how manu was used in 2011
need to waive blair and sign kenyon martin
or find a way to trade for any of the bucks big men
they have so many they dont use
it seems like every team in the nba is either stacked with big men or desperately need one

have teams like utah/bucks/lakers/grizz/toronto/atlanta/chicago/denver they have quality guys rotting on the bench
then teams like boston/SA would trade half the roster to get one of them

[timvp]

Which reminds me. Do you think Pop dropped Blair to let him recover from his injury or does this mean he's out of the rotation and Bonner's officially the 4th big since Blair can only really play with TD?

Blair looked injured to me but judging by the quotes this could be a long-term move that doesn't take into consideration Blair's health.

[Drz]

Duncan and Splitter should continue to start together but Pop has been doing a good job so far in staggering their minutes.

Big men who shoot 60 percent from the field are a rarity, and two star bigs and a star guard have been good in winning the West lately (see Dallas two seasons ago, LA three-four seasons ago).
Definitely agree with this. In the past I've been an opponent of the Duncan-Splitter pairing, because it would crush our Parker attack with an overly-clogged lane. But at this point, Splitter's simply too good to not be starting and getting more minutes out of him.... he has to play by the rim to be effective, but that's not the case with Duncan, and I'm sure they can find ways to keep the lane open.

I guess another way of saying it is, yeah, two bigs isn't ideal, but when it's two *great-playing* bigs, that's a very different animal.

[Ice009]

Jeff McDonald ‏@JMcDonald_SAEN (https://twitter.com/JMcDonald_SAEN) Pop informed Splitter of new starting role on plane back from POR. "He told me I'd be starting with Timmy. Just keep doing what I'm doing."

Excellent. Keep starting Tiago please.

Does that mean we'll go small with the bench unit?

C Diaw
PF Jax
SF Manu
SG Neal
PG Nando

I'd much rather Neal at that shooting guard slot and Jax at PF rather than Bonner or Blair. Of course you can mix and match Splitter, Tim and Diaw with that bench unit.

Not really sure about the PF and Center rotation off the bench, but keeping Neal at SG and running Nando at PG would be much better than Neal running the point. Another good thing is Manu and Gary can run point if De Colo needs to pass the ball off to someone.

[timvp]

While I like the Splitter/Duncan starting frontcourt, it's a risky pair given Spurs roster. If one start to be in foul trouble, Spurs will have to play heavy minutes in a game without some kind of interior defensive presence.


This is true and it's why my ultimate dream scenario is that Duncan and Diaw start while Splitter comes off the bench and soaks up all the bench bigman minutes. In that scenario, each one plays about 30 minutes and small ball eats up the rest. By starting Duncan and Diaw, foul trouble is much less of a worry.

But then again, Pop has had 2.5 seasons to figure out how to give Splitter a lot of minutes regularly coming off the bench and it never happened. Perhaps by starting him it will force Pop to up his minutes to at least the 25-28 minute range.

The more that I think about it, while it's not the best alignment in a lot of scenarios, Duncan/Splitter should at the very least help maximize the minutes played by the better players on the team.

[racm]

This is true and it's why my ultimate dream scenario is that Duncan and Diaw start while Splitter comes off the bench and soaks up all the bench bigman minutes. In that scenario, each one plays about 30 minutes and small ball eats up the rest. By starting Duncan and Diaw, foul trouble is much less of a worry.

But then again, Pop has had 2.5 seasons to figure out how to give Splitter a lot of minutes regularly coming off the bench and it never happened. Perhaps by starting him it will force Pop to up his minutes to at least the 25-28 minute range.

The more that I think about it, while it's not the best alignment in a lot of scenarios, Duncan/Splitter should at the very least help maximize the minutes played by the better players on the team.

This is the crux many of the media miss when Miami or OKC play small. Playing LeBron/Durant at the 4 means they can play their three best guards without sacrificing either of those two. The same goes with New York because they can play shooters alongside Melo.

[RodNIc91]

This is true and it's why my ultimate dream scenario is that Duncan and Diaw start while Splitter comes off the bench and soaks up all the bench bigman minutes. In that scenario, each one plays about 30 minutes and small ball eats up the rest. By starting Duncan and Diaw, foul trouble is much less of a worry.

If this Splitter/Duncan combo is in for the long run, I have a few questions:

1) How long do you think Pop will give them before he gives in? (Although I guess we'll find out against OKC if the pairing is here to stay)

2) What type of player do you see the spurs bringing over, if any? What player would you bring?

3) Is there any signs of them starting to figure how to play with each other? Is there any reason to think that won't/can't happen?

[aal04]

...just in.

Stern demanding Manu play 48 minutes vs OKC.

[Boomersgold]

Excellent. Keep starting Tiago please.

Does that mean we'll go small with the bench unit?

C Diaw
PF Jax
SF Manu
SG Neal
PG Nando



I'd prefer Diaw to NOT play center. Here's what I think will be used:

C Blair
PF Diaw (Jackson isn't a power forward at all)
SF Stephen Jackson
SG Manu (He'll actually be playing the role of the play maker, thus allowing Neal to act as more of a scorer)
PG Neal

Third string: Patty (will be used when speed is needed), De Colo (Will be used when offense is a mess and Manu and Neal are cold)

[td4mvp21]

Splitter starting doesn't mean the bench has to go small. He'll replace Duncan in the 1st and stay in until Duncan re-enters the game in the 2nd quarter. It just means SJax/Leonard will get minutes at the 4 with the second unit (IMO). Honestly, that's better than Blair/Bonner. I'll take it.

[Ice009]

I'd prefer Diaw to NOT play center. Here's what I think will be used:

C Blair
PF Diaw (Jackson isn't a power forward at all)
SF Stephen Jackson
SG Manu (He'll actually be playing the role of the play maker, thus allowing Neal to act as more of a scorer)
PG Neal

Third string: Patty (will be used when speed is needed), De Colo (Will be used when offense is a mess and Manu and Neal are cold)

I don't like that lineup at all. I would much rather have Kawhi and Jax playing small ball PF over that lineup. Neal at PG is something that really rubs me the wrong way in that lineup too.


Splitter starting doesn't mean the bench has to go small. He'll replace Duncan in the 1st and stay in until Duncan re-enters the game in the 2nd quarter. It just means SJax/Leonard will get minutes at the 4 with the second unit (IMO). Honestly, that's better than Blair/Bonner. I'll take it.

Much rather this. If the second unit wants to go big, they can always reinsert Splitter with Diaw. The rest of the minutes should be Kawhi and Jack at the PF spot with the second unit like you mentioned.

I'd really much prefer Neal to be the SG in the bench unit too, not PG.

Blair and Bonner shouldn't be in the regular rotation at all. Spot minutes sure, different looks to change things up, sure, regular rotation minutes, no way.

[polandprzem]

We might don't know but it can appear that Blair have knees problems that's why he is less energetic then he was even though he lost some pounds.

That's leaves the spurs with Diaw as the only interior guy off the bench

[quentin_compson]

Well, there was nothing soft about the way Tiago played against Garnett; great game from Tiago. And Tony had a couple of circus shots that he somehow managed to go in. It was a good game to watch, also because Boston played well for most of the night. While there is hardly a more dislikable bunch of players than the Celtics (in my opinion, at least), they play team beasketball and always play hard.

[urunobili]

Somehow I thought Blair would get an A for staying at the bench... :wakeup

[Josepatches_]

Risky is not to play your best players.

Tiago should start but if he comes off the bench he should play at least 25mpg.

[acoelho1]

Tiago should start period. He is the 2nd best big on the team and will make Duncan's job easier. Secondly, everyone wants him to play heavier mins so the foul issue is mute since he will be on the court a lot anyway and will be more susceptible to fouls. It's not like the other teams have dominate front court players on their bench. Lets keep it simple and start our best players.

Also, why hasn't Joseph had an opportunity to win the backup point guard job. Pop drives me crazy sometimes, he wants better defense but doesn't put in his best defensive pg on the court. It reminds me of how he has managed Splitter. Anderson is another one that I would have loved to see play more minutes. He has been inconsistent offensively but his defensive has been impressive even with the small sample size.

[TDMVPDPOY]

isnt it contract year for splitter also?.....ASIK MONEY WAITING FOR THE niga

[Boomersgold]

Tiago should start period. He is the 2nd best big on the team and will make Duncan's job easier. Secondly, everyone wants him to play heavier mins so the foul issue is mute since he will be on the court a lot anyway and will be more susceptible to fouls. It's not like the other teams have dominate front court players on their bench. Lets keep it simple and start our best players.

Also, why hasn't Joseph had an opportunity to win the backup point guard job. Pop drives me crazy sometimes, he wants better defense but doesn't put in his best defensive pg on the court. It reminds me of how he has managed Splitter. Anderson is another one that I would have loved to see play more minutes. He has been inconsistent offensively but his defensive has been impressive even with the small sample size.

Because he's still too RAW for the NBA. Joseph's prone to making bad decisions, his jump shot isn't near as good as Mills' and the team just doesn't have as much chemistry with him as they do with Mills or De Colo. He'll get his chance eventually, but right now, there are better guards out there to choose from (Neal, Mills and De Colo.)

[bklynspursfan]

How many teams Dont start their best front line? This move is great, and if they make a trade for another solid Big then it's just an added bonus.

You notice Pop will take out either TD or Tiago a little earlier than normal, just so the time with Bonner/Diaw on the court together is limited.

I wonder if Tim struggled cause he's finally playing with another C probably since Oberto. I know he's struggled before but we always said the only way to get better is play them more. I hope Pop continues this all season

[acoelho1]

Because he's still too RAW for the NBA. Joseph's prone to making bad decisions, his jump shot isn't near as good as Mills' and the team just doesn't have as much chemistry with him as they do with Mills or De Colo. He'll get his chance eventually, but right now, there are better guards out there to choose from (Neal, Mills and De Colo.)

Too raw. Says who?? Mills is not a point guard, he is an undersized 2 guard with bad shot selection. Neal is not a point guard either and is better as 2 guard. De Colo is the only true point guard of the bunch but he has only been with the team a couple of months unlike CJ who bounced from the D-League and back last year. CJ is clearly the best defender, probably equal with De Colo on ball handing and has a better shot than De Colo. To not give your best defender at pg (Parker included), doesn't make much sense. Now, I'm not saying given the opportunity, he will succeed but he at least should be given a fair shot and not just relegated solely to garbage time.

[will_spurs]

Re: De Colo, I find it funny to see how fast expectations are changing. First he was useless because he couldn't shoot, then he had pretty much secured the backup PG spot for the future, then he was Beno 2.0 because of his difficulties when pressured and now he's back to being a good prospect.

I say give the guy some time, he's a rookie and still adjusting. I'm not too concerned about the issues he has against aggressive home teams, as the other Spurs players had issues (and turnovers or bad decisions) too.

What he has shown is that he can actually shoot, contrary to what many were thinking after the preseason and first few reg season games. I'm not saying he's worthy of a double team, of having an elite defender matched up with him or of a coach changing his tactics to counter him, but he's certainly shown he can make teams pay if they let him open, which is already more that can be said of certain Spurs players. Being legit on offense helps as much if not more than the points he actually scores.

All in all I stick to what I've been saying so far: he's good at the stuff that can't be taught (court vision, managing tempo, passing). The rest will come with time. Also don't forget many teams don't yet have scouting reports on most rookies, especially low profile ones like him. I'm quite sure some of the teams (especially Houston) had done their homework. It's going to be an important part of the rookie wall De colo is bound to hit, but I'm confident he'll find a way to prevail.

[td4mvp21]

Much rather this. If the second unit wants to go big, they can always reinsert Splitter with Diaw. The rest of the minutes should be Kawhi and Jack at the PF spot with the second unit like you mentioned.

Blair and Bonner shouldn't be in the regular rotation at all. Spot minutes sure, different looks to change things up, sure, regular rotation minutes, no way.

I think that specific rotation really maximizes the talent on this team. Agreed with spot minutes. There will certainly be games where either can be useful with limited playing time.

[Strategic]

Starting TD and TS looks good except there will be times when neither will be on the floor. When that happens, Jack or Leonard on the floor with Diaw and Bonner is a nice enough front court trio, just so Pop grabs Matty by the ears before he sends him in and screams "keep your ass under the basket for defensive rebounds"! I can see it working. During this current string of injuries I would have liked to seen the club offer Rick Jackson from the Toros a ten day contract.

[therealtruth]

This is the crux many of the media miss when Miami or OKC play small. Playing LeBron/Durant at the 4 means they can play their three best guards without sacrificing either of those two. The same goes with New York because they can play shooters alongside Melo.

I agree you have to play to your strengths and the other team's weaknesses.

[Paranoid Pop]

Green looks more and more like the guard version of Bonner to me, he was bad at everything but 3pt shooting.

Nando on the other hand plays some great SG defense, not the first time, he did good on Wade too.

Green for a big seems like an obvious move at this point, can't be moved before January 15th tho.

[Captivus]

Every time I read about playing two players together because one of them is getting better (bench players, in this case Tiago) Im always wondering the same thing:
If you have the best players playing together, wouldnt that decrease the effectiveness of them? I mean, at the end, theres only 1 ball and 1 player is going to shoot it.
People always complain when Tiago is on the court that he doesn't get the ball, same with Duncan. If they play together, with Parker, Kiwi and maybe Jackson, or Green, one of them wont have many opportunities to do their thing.
This kind of question, that i have, are a little stupid, because most teams play their best player all together, but then again the effect Manu had (and maybe has) coming from the bench was great, and I don't think Manu would have shined if he started at that time.
Maybe TD and TS could start, in that case at least 1 starter should come off the bench...Kiwi, Jackson...i don't know.

I don't like using positions:
Parker
Green
Diaw
Duncan
Splitter

DeColo/Neal
Manu
Jackson
Kiwi
Diaw

Im only saying this because like I said, theres only 1 ball...
I wouldnt play 5 Lebron if i had them, i would start 3 of them, and let 2 come off the bench.

[Paranoid Pop]

^ yeah I agree, Tiago should be the focus of the second unit long term. And with Manu declining I wouldn't mind if he started again, with say Nando backing him up.

[Brunodf]

Starting TD and TS looks good except there will be times when neither will be on the floor. When that happens, Jack or Leonard on the floor with Diaw and Bonner is a nice enough front court trio, just so Pop grabs Matty by the ears before he sends him in and screams "keep your ass under the basket for defensive rebounds"! I can see it working. During this current string of injuries I would have liked to seen the club offer Rick Jackson from the Toros a ten day contract.

Unless one of them suffer an injury during the game, at least one will be on the court all the time.

[Manufan909]

Every time I read about playing two players together because one of them is getting better (bench players, in this case Tiago) Im always wondering the same thing:
If you have the best players playing together, wouldnt that decrease the effectiveness of them? I mean, at the end, theres only 1 ball and 1 player is going to shoot it.
People always complain when Tiago is on the court that he doesn't get the ball, same with Duncan. If they play together, with Parker, Kiwi and maybe Jackson, or Green, one of them wont have many opportunities to do their thing.
This kind of question, that i have, are a little stupid, because most teams play their best player all together, but then again the effect Manu had (and maybe has) coming from the bench was great, and I don't think Manu would have shined if he started at that time.
Maybe TD and TS could start, in that case at least 1 starter should come off the bench...Kiwi, Jackson...i don't know.

I don't like using positions:
Parker
Green
Diaw
Duncan
Splitter

DeColo/Neal
Manu
Jackson
Kiwi
Diaw

Im only saying this because like I said, theres only 1 ball...
I wouldnt play 5 Lebron if i had them, i would start 3 of them, and let 2 come off the bench.

Why not start them, all, and sub 2 or 3 out early, so all 5 could average 35ish minutes?

[Brunodf]

Every time I read about playing two players together because one of them is getting better (bench players, in this case Tiago) Im always wondering the same thing:
If you have the best players playing together, wouldnt that decrease the effectiveness of them? I mean, at the end, theres only 1 ball and 1 player is going to shoot it.
People always complain when Tiago is on the court that he doesn't get the ball, same with Duncan. If they play together, with Parker, Kiwi and maybe Jackson, or Green, one of them wont have many opportunities to do their thing.
This kind of question, that i have, are a little stupid, because most teams play their best player all together, but then again the effect Manu had (and maybe has) coming from the bench was great, and I don't think Manu would have shined if he started at that time.
Maybe TD and TS could start, in that case at least 1 starter should come off the bench...Kiwi, Jackson...i don't know.

I don't like using positions:
Parker
Green
Diaw
Duncan
Splitter

DeColo/Neal
Manu
Jackson
Kiwi
Diaw

Im only saying this because like I said, theres only 1 ball...
I wouldnt play 5 Lebron if i had them, i would start 3 of them, and let 2 come off the bench.

1)Good point but i disagree, playing your best players since the beginning is good to start strong and to destroy the opposite team confidence.

2)I think he would be even better.

[MR-Clutch]

I feel for Manu, I've had a quadriceps contusion before and its way more painful than it sounds. It hurt so bad that I thought my femur was broken so the next day so I went to have a check up and was diagnosed with a grade 2 quadriceps contusion. I limped around for about a week, but after two weeks I was back to training. Depending on the grade, the problem with Manu is that if it was a severe grade 3 contusion,if he doesn't rest his quadriceps long enough, or re injures it he could develop a condition known as myositis ossificans. This condition is only know to be caused by a quadriceps condition, and is a result of the body calcifying rather than healing the hematoma. Small fragments of bone can begin growing deep within the quadriceps muscle and cause significant and long term pain to the athlete. With the spurs being as conservative as they are, it wouldn't surprise me to see them hold Manu out least 2-3 weeks depending on the severity of it.

[Obstructed_View]

Because he's still too RAW for the NBA. Joseph's prone to making bad decisions, his jump shot isn't near as good as Mills' and the team just doesn't have as much chemistry with him as they do with Mills or De Colo. He'll get his chance eventually, but right now, there are better guards out there to choose from (Neal, Mills and De Colo.)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jP2CG_ZpxJA/T5m-b05o72I/AAAAAAAAPhs/SMvCehhMcW8/s1600/brokenrecord.jpg

[Obstructed_View]

If you have the best players playing together, wouldnt that decrease the effectiveness of them? I mean, at the end, theres only 1 ball and 1 player is going to shoot it.

If basketball were team pop-a-shot, you might have a point. It's not. Good offense isn't who takes the shot, it's who gets the best shot. Having better players on the floor that play well together results in more layups and dunks, which are always the highest percentage shots. They also result in three point plays and drawing fouls. A team that costs a great player three shots but gets into the bonus five minutes sooner is a better offensive team. There's a defensive end of the floor as well, and having good defenders, shot blockers, guys with quick hands increases the effectiveness of your team.

The Spurs are ridiculously deep; having lineups to try to cover perceived deficiencies of the bench is an obsolete concept.

[Paranoid Pop]

We're ridiculous unbalanced rather than ridiculously deep, our big rotation is essentially composed of three players.

[TD 21]

While I like the Splitter/Duncan starting frontcourt, it's a risky pair given Spurs roster. If one start to be in foul trouble, Spurs will have to play heavy minutes in a game without some kind of interior defensive presence. Starting Splitter with Duncan would be better if Spurs have another center at the end of the bench. Maybe Spurs will do a move in that way. I find it weird that Pop didn't put Blair in the game for the garbage time. Other than that, it's nice to see Nando bouncing back after a couple of bad games.

Exactly. I mentioned this in my "Eliminated in the Conference-Semis (if they don't make a trade for a big)" thread. I also mentioned Amir Johnson as an ideal candidate in this scenario. I realize he's really a power forward, but he's played center for two years and they could get away with pairing him with Diaw off the bench.

I wonder if they'll go after Camby, though. Even when healthy, he's buried and they've got a massive payroll for the foreseeable future. But he'd be a questionable fit, because he can't play with Duncan or Splitter, so those two would have to play together almost exclusively. Also, there would be no roll man on the 2nd unit (he'd have to be by default).

Ice, they won't play small off the bench. Splitter will double as the starting PF/C (defense/offense) and the backup C.

[Ice009]

Ice, they won't play small off the bench. Splitter will double as the starting PF/C (defense/offense) and the backup C.

That sounds good to me, but if someone is in foul trouble I would much rather they go small rather than have Bonner or Blair in the regular rotation.

[BackHome]

Too raw. Says who?? Mills is not a point guard, he is an undersized 2 guard with bad shot selection. Neal is not a point guard either and is better as 2 guard. De Colo is the only true point guard of the bunch but he has only been with the team a couple of months unlike CJ who bounced from the D-League and back last year. CJ is clearly the best defender, probably equal with De Colo on ball handing and has a better shot than De Colo. To not give your best defender at pg (Parker included), doesn't make much sense. Now, I'm not saying given the opportunity, he will succeed but he at least should be given a fair shot and not just relegated solely to garbage time.

Dude you lost me after "probably equal with De Colo on ball handing".