Ginobili: "We're Not Ready" to Beat the NBA's Best Teams

[BatManu20]

At first, the Spurs didn’t pay it any attention.

It was too early to panic, too early to acknowledge the fact they hadn’t beaten a decent team.

Read more ->
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2014/01/18/ginobili-were-not-ready-to-beat-the-nbas-best/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co[/FONT]

[RD2191]

Embarrassing tbh.

[phxspurfan]

The roster is what it is. The FO didn't come up with the goods during the offseason to put together a more athletic roster, so they roll with a perpetually banged-up Splitter and Ayers.

[justinandimcool]

^ the problem isn't depth, our stars/starters just aren't playing well enough.

[Bruno]

I've edited the OP. E-N doesn't want people to post their full article here.

[TheGoldStandard]

Well that's not good, Spurs players themselves starting to let doubt creep into their mind.

[Joyrider]

It's not out of reach that once they get everyone back and healthy, they can build better cohesion and steam around the end of February and start the playoffs firing on all cylinders. Injuries are a son of a bitch.

[apalisoc_9]

Everyone was saying the spurs needed another guy that can score..Leonard is the guy. He's been crazy efficient if the guys run plays for him in the post and his PnR game is so much more improved..

If they start giving him touches, we don't need to see more of Bellineli who frankly is one of the biggest reason why the team stats is horrible at the defensive end in the perimetter. Hopefully, green comes back soon tbh.

[r0drig0lac]

is good to know that at least the players are aware of the fact,

[Chris]

When you lose two starters you are going to lose some games, especially against good teams with depth.

[Texas_Ranger]

They were losing to good teams with the full roster, so this Splitter and Green injuries are not really that big of a deal.

[RD2191]

They were losing to good teams with the full roster, so this Splitter and Green injuries are not really that big of a deal.

Tbh

[itzsoweezee]

Lol @ this article calling Danny Green "a decent defender on the perimeter." He's an elite perimeter defender; top 5 in the league.

Also, the Spurs lose to good teams simply because the Spurs don't play their best players as much as their opponents do. It's nothing to worry about. These games are a lot more important to the opposition than they are to the Spurs.

[apalisoc_9]

You have the tools, Utilize them.

Kawhi Leonard playing more and getting touches reduces a Maro-Belli-Gino lineup which is probably one of the worst defensive perimeter lineup among elite teams.

[hater]

Lol @ this article calling Danny Green "a decent defender on the perimeter." He's an elite perimeter defender; top 5 in the league.

:lmao wut

the 1 trick pony is nothing more than a good defender. how ppl overrate this scrub is beyond me

[cjw]

Lol @ this article calling Danny Green "a decent defender on the perimeter." He's an elite perimeter defender; top 5 in the league.

Also, the Spurs lose to good teams simply because the Spurs don't play their best players as much as their opponents do. It's nothing to worry about. These games are a lot more important to the opposition than they are to the Spurs.

They did play the top guys in the Portland game, but that's the exception rather than the rule (plus the two injured starters and Kawhi foul trouble).

[slick'81]

Not news

[apalisoc_9]

:lmao wut

the 1 trick pony is nothing more than a good defender. how ppl overrate this scrub is beyond me

yeah he's not a top 5 defender for sure, but he's an above average defender and is our second best perimeter defender. Actually defends guards better than Leonard..

I'd want him over Marco in the playoffs tbh.

Marco scores 20 and gives up 30..story of his life

[ducks]

spurs played thunder on back to back thunder was restered 4 days

atleast 5 of those losses against top teams spurs have not had all there starters. they are not ready yet. spurs may need a move. spurs came close even though spurs were without 2 starters and a very hurt tp against blazers

[heyheymymy]

there is still plenty of time to gel, wait for march, things should be silky by then

[bklynspursfan]

I'm much happier struggling now and finishing strong later like the good ole' days

[Hoops Czar]

Lol @ this article calling Danny Green "a decent defender on the perimeter." He's an elite perimeter defender; top 5 in the league.

Also, the Spurs lose to good teams simply because the Spurs don't play their best players as much as their opponents do. It's nothing to worry about. These games are a lot more important to the opposition than they are to the Spurs.

In otherwords, you got absolutely nothing out of that article even after the players themselves say it. Interesting but expected take.

[ElNono]

Fortunately it's January, not March

[Hoops Czar]

:lmao wut

the 1 trick pony is nothing more than a good defender. how ppl overrate this scrub is beyond me

Not news, tbh. I guess the people in here aren't the only ones who watch the games.

[wtgspurs]

nice

[wildcardX]

Has the development of younger players like Green and Leonard been coming along like you guys expected this year or were you expecting them to make more of an impact like say Paul George and Lance Stevenson? Should the Spurs try to run the offence more through the younger guys instead of relying on the big three to dictate most of the offence? I know Belinelli is thriving at least on the offensive end but Leonard and Green do disappear at times and some games it looks as if they hardly get many shot attempts.

[tmtcsc]

Ginobili's right. It's not opinion, its fact. It's January of 2014 and the results say it all. However, I fully expect them to be ready by the time the playoffs get started. Not worried at all.

[Budkin]

:lol Lillard disagrees with Manu.


Thing is, those same elite teams are not buying the notion that the Spurs can’t beat them. Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard was told about Ginobili’s comments, that the Spurs aren’t ready to beat the NBA’s best. He didn’t agree.

“I thought they played a good game,” Lillard said. “We made some big shots, and that’s what it came down to.

“They’re still a great team; you can’t take that away from them. We just won the game tonight.”

[Hoops Czar]

Liliard's being diplomatic.

[313]

This whole "can't beat the top teams" nonsense has been blown out of proportion. Geez, and now the media asking a about it. Smh

[313]

then again, Ginobili never says the politically correct things in interviews. Like, why would he say something like that? He's supposed to be a leader on this team and have confidence in their ability to win. They fought hard against Portland, even after lising two starters and a hobbled TP.

Smfh @ manu

[313]

Has the development of younger players like Green and Leonard been coming along like you guys expected this year or were you expecting them to make more of an impact like say Paul George and Lance Stevenson? Should the Spurs try to run the offence more through the younger guys instead of relying on the big three to dictate most of the offence? I know Belinelli is thriving at least on the offensive end but Leonard and Green do disappear at times and some games it looks as if they hardly get many shot attempts.

Green sucks and there's nothing else to get out of him. He's an inconsistent one trick pony and his defense is overrated because of the playoffs. Before that, this board used to always rag on him forbeing a poor defender.

[james evans]

The roster is what it is. The FO didn't come up with the goods during the offseason to put together a more athletic roster, so they roll with a perpetually banged-up Splitter and Ayers.
we have 16 million tied up in ginobli and splitter. that's where the problem starts. i'm not saying these 2 don't contribute to the spurs, but they for damn sure aint worth 7 and 9 million per season. that's not even arguable.

[G-Dawgg]

then again, Ginobili never says the politically correct things in interviews. Like, why would he say something like that? He's supposed to be a leader on this team and have confidence in their ability to win. They fought hard against Portland, even after lising two starters and a hobbled TP.

Smfh @ manu

He is absolutely correct. People need to hear the blunt truth sometimes in order to be motivated to make the proper adjustments.

[Chomag]

This whole "can't beat the top teams" nonsense has been blown out of proportion. Geez, and now the media asking a about it. Smh

Umm, the Spurs players don't think it's nonsense (thankfully), Duncan pretty much said the same thing that Manu said after the Houston game loss. Yet some spurs fans still want to be in denial that there is a problem.

[james evans]

the spurs problem is that they play every team in the nba the same way it seems. u can't play the knicks the same way you play a team like the grizz with not 3 point shooters. u can't play miami the same way you play the lakers. the same with the portland game. we've all been talking about it the whole season, i don't know why popovich thinks 2 is greater than 3. every team that plays us drives and kicks out for the open 3 cuz they know we will collapse. and shooters are just sitting at the 3 point line waiting cuz they know eventually their man(mostly parker or bellinelli) will leave them.

[Budkin]

the spurs problem is that they play every team in the nba the same way it seems. u can't play the knicks the same way you play a team like the grizz with not 3 point shooters. u can't play miami the same way you play the lakers. the same with the portland game. we've all been talking about it the whole season, i don't know why popovich thinks 2 is greater than 3. every team that plays us drives and kicks out for the open 3 cuz they know we will collapse. and shooters are just sitting at the 3 point line waiting cuz they know eventually their man(mostly parker or bellinelli) will leave them.

Seriously. It's almost comical how bad our 3pt defense is this year. And absolutely nothing has changed to make it better the whole year.

[313]

the spurs problem is that they play every team in the nba the same way it seems. u can't play the knicks the same way you play a team like the grizz with not 3 point shooters. u can't play miami the same way you play the lakers. the same with the portland game. we've all been talking about it the whole season, i don't know why popovich thinks 2 is greater than 3. every team that plays us drives and kicks out for the open 3 cuz they know we will collapse. and shooters are just sitting at the 3 point line waiting cuz they know eventually their man(mostly parker or bellinelli) will leave them.

The sad part is, this is an easily fixable problem that hasn't been fixed.

[T Park]

:lmao wut

the 1 trick pony is nothing more than a good defender. how ppl overrate this scrub is beyond me


Seeing as he's regarded as that around the league maybe you, the basement dweller, are wrong.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

the spurs problem is that they play every team in the nba the same way it seems. u can't play the knicks the same way you play a team like the grizz with not 3 point shooters. u can't play miami the same way you play the lakers. the same with the portland game. we've all been talking about it the whole season, i don't know why popovich thinks 2 is greater than 3. every team that plays us drives and kicks out for the open 3 cuz they know we will collapse. and shooters are just sitting at the 3 point line waiting cuz they know eventually their man(mostly parker or bellinelli) will leave them.


Seriously. It's almost comical how bad our 3pt defense is this year. And absolutely nothing has changed to make it better the whole year.


The sad part is, this is an easily fixable problem that hasn't been fixed.

You guys just start following the Spurs? Popovich doesn't gameplan much at all early in the season. You guys familiar with SPAM and what that entails? He is evaluating personnel primarily and trying out different combinations in his system. He is not planning for middle screens to open up 3's lie Portland runs. That was obvious from watching the game.

[Cry Havoc]

None of this matters in May. None of it. Not a single person on these forums is going to worry about a Portland loss in January in 5 months. It won't even be remembered.

[DMC]

Spurs are playing as they should be playing if they had a problem they need to correct. They are 17-1 against sub 500 teams, so they win the games they should win. That means they are, for the most part, getting up for games. Miami has a worse record against sub 500 teams than against 500 and better. That indicates they don't get up for games. You cannot fix that. It either comes when they flip the switch or it doesn't, but their record vs good teams indicates it does.

Like always, the Spurs have very little fat around the edges (no Diaw puns) so they don't have a lot of wiggle room here. They play far and away better than any other team in the league, their results just don't always reflect it. Lately it's been an issue with injuries. We cannot beat good teams at full strength if we are at 70% or less. There's no way in hell any other team in the league gets anything out of Jeff Ayres, no way. They didn't out of Green, or Roger Mason Jr or a number of other people we've signed and released (or still have). We're playing close to top of our abilities minus a few defensive lapses. That's why we blow out scrub teams and why we lose to good teams that are shooting well.

I don't know that we have what it takes to get there, but if we do, we'll get there.

[james evans]

None of this matters in May. None of it. Not a single person on these forums is going to worry about a Portland loss in January in 5 months. It won't even be remembered.
i'm not worried about any losses in the regular season, i'm worried about them leaving 3 point shooters open in the post season cuz it's how mike miller was damn near shooting 60% from down town on us at one stretch in the finals. here is a guy with a bad back and can barely move, but we are leaving him open for 3's. same with battier. this shit has got to stop immediately. if popovich is this genius as people claim, why hasn't he changed this?

[MilesTeg]

I'm not the most sophisticated basketball mind, but I think the main problem is the lack of energy. They just don't seem to want it right now. Part of me remembers how bad they were at some point last year, and still thinks they can turn it on and get back to an elite level. But I don't think you can re-learn how to play basketball in a week. They need to start getting better, very soon.

[look_at_g_shred]

i'm not worried about any losses in the regular season, i'm worried about them leaving 3 point shooters open in the post season cuz it's how mike miller was damn near shooting 60% from down town on us at one stretch in the finals. here is a guy with a bad back and can barely move, but we are leaving him open for 3's. same with battier. this shit has got to stop immediately. if popovich is this genius as people claim, why hasn't he changed this?
I agree with you here. This is how scrubs go off on the Spurs. We don't protect the arc. It frustrates the hell outta me when we double in the post, then leave a guy like Fisher, or Jeremy fucking Lamb open, and they each make 4-5 3's on us. That's our biggest weakness I'd say.