Anyone Read the Pelton ESPN Insider "Inside the Spurs Shooting Slump"?

[BillMc]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11982311/driving-san-antonio-spurs-shooting-slump-nba

Don't have insider, but did anyone read this and get the gist of why we can't shoot this year?

[jesterbobman]

Basically, it is because of a change in personal from the efficiency of Mills, Beli and Tiago, and a slump in 2pt % for Kawhi as his shots have come from midrange more.

[benstanfield]

Jim is shooting 46% from the field as a PF/C while taking the third most shots. Not a recipe for a world beater offense.

[hater]

A mix of coasting boredom jacking up shit and old age imo.

All of them are fixable except old age

[Mr Bones]

It's kind of incredible that the Spurs are 13-5 at this point in the season, while missing two keys players-- one being Tiago Splitter, who has a career FG% of 56% and the other being Patty Mills, who shot over 42% from the 3 point line and over 46% from the field last year. Plus Kawhi missed a bunch of games, and played a few others with blurry vision. Really not at all surprising.

[dabom]

It's kind of incredible that the Spurs are 13-5 at this point in the season, while missing two keys players-- one being Tiago Splitter, who has a career FG% of 56% and the other being Patty Mills, who shot over 42% from the 3 point line and over 46% from the field last year. Plus Kawhi missed a bunch of games, and played a few others with blurry vision. Really not at all surprising.

:toast

Also I couldn't care less. I love our defense, and we're not even in second gear yet.

[playblair]

mills/manu/beli/anderson/daye = shooting & will be a playoff rotation other teams cant match .....................

[Spurs 4 The Win]

It's kind of incredible that the Spurs are 13-5 at this point in the season, while missing two keys players-- one being Tiago Splitter, who has a career FG% of 56% and the other being Patty Mills, who shot over 42% from the 3 point line and over 46% from the field last year. Plus Kawhi missed a bunch of games, and played a few others with blurry vision. Really not at all surprising.

His eye still isnt better

[Chinook]

It's kind of incredible that the Spurs are 13-5 at this point in the season, while missing two keys players-- one being Tiago Splitter, who has a career FG% of 56% and the other being Patty Mills, who shot over 42% from the 3 point line and over 46% from the field last year. Plus Kawhi missed a bunch of games, and played a few others with blurry vision. Really not at all surprising.

Danny's been carrying the team in a lot of games. The Spurs may go on a losing skid if Green starts his usual slump.

[wildchild]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11982311/driving-san-antonio-spurs-shooting-slump-nba

Don't have insider, but did anyone read this and get the gist of why we can't shoot this year?


In the wake of the San Antonio Spurs dominating the Miami Heat in June's NBA Finals to win their sixth championship of the Tim Duncan-Gregg Popovich era, a popular mantra around the league has been the need to play like San Antonio. Even Tom Brady said in training camp he wanted the NFL's New England Patriots to play like the Spurs.

Although there are many possible implications of that statement, the primary one generally relates to San Antonio's offense. In particular, other teams and coaches envy the way the Spurs share the basketball and find the open man. A month into the season, teams aren't necessarily playing like the Spurs on offense. Actually, they're scoring better.

Quietly, San Antonio has struggled offensively so far. Heading into Friday night's Southwest showdown with the division-leading Memphis Grizzlies, the Spurs rank 17th in the NBA in offensive rating at 108.2 points per 100 possessions, a hair better than the league average of 107.8. Believe it or not, the grit-and-grind Grizzlies actually have the far better offense, ranking 10th with a 110.2 offensive rating.

San Antonio hasn't changed its stripes. The Spurs are still assisting on 64.6 percent of their baskets, good for third in the league and up slightly from last season's 62.1 percent mark. (Leaguewide, the average remains precisely the same as 2013-14: 58.3 percent.) They're still third in passes per game (334.1, via SportVU tracking data on NBA.com/Stats). It's just that fewer of the shots created by those passes are going in.

The dirty secret of San Antonio's offense is its reliance on high-percentage shot-making. The Spurs are average or worse in each of the other four factors of offense, choosing to sacrifice offensive boards in favor of getting back, generating free throws at only an average rate and turning the ball over about an average amount. So San Antonio has to be an elite shooting team to succeed offensively, and a slip from second to 10th in effective field goal percentage (which accounts for the extra value of 3-point baskets, counting them as 1.5 field goals) is enough to push the team's offense below average.

Here's the good news. First, the Spurs have been able to rely on their traditionally tough defense (third in fewest points allowed per 100 possessions, one spot ahead of defensive stalwart Memphis) to get off to a 13-5 start, including an eight-game winning streak that was snapped in overtime Wednesday in Brooklyn. Second, San Antonio's shooting slump appears to be more a matter of personnel than of system.

Although the Spurs famously brought back everyone who saw action during their playoff run, this isn't the same rotation because of injuries. Backup point guard Patty Mills is out through midseason after offseason shoulder surgery, starting center Tiago Splitter has been limited to 10 minutes all season because of a calf injury and reserve guard Marco Belinelli missed eight games with a strained groin. All three players were among San Antonio's most efficient scorers last season in terms of true shooting percentage, which measures points scored per shot or trip to the free throw line.

Another culprit has been rookie Kyle Anderson, the lone newcomer on the Spurs' roster, who has shot 2-of-24 (8.3 percent) in limited action, by far the worst shooting percentage of any player with at least 20 shot attempts. (Nobody else is below 25 percent from the field.)

As a team, San Antonio has seen its true shooting percentage decline from .571 to .547. About a third of that drop is attributable to injuries, while another third is solely due to Anderson's inaccuracy. The rest seems tied to Kawhi Leonard's slump. The Finals MVP has traded attempts at the rim for midrange jumpers, causing his 2-point percentage to plummet from 57.9 percent to 50.0 percent. He's also struggling as a jump shooter, making just 38.0 percent of his shots beyond 15 feet per Basketball-Reference.com, down from 41.9 percent a season ago.

None of those changes seems permanent. So soon, the team playing most like the Spurs may in fact be the Spurs.


When he wrote about Kawhi's slup, he forgot to say Leonard is not 100%. He still tries to adapt his shot because of his vision issues/blurry vision.

[dabom]

Danny's been carrying the team in a lot of games. The Spurs may go on a losing skid if Green starts his usual slump.

Carrying? wtf? We go on a losing skid when kawhi isn't playing.

[Horse]

Who gives a fuck they are no where near where they're gonna be and if they stay healthy they go back to back with relative ease.

[BillMc]

When he wrote about Kawhi's slup, he forgot to say Leonard is not 100%. He still tries to adapt his shot because of his vision issues/blurry vision.


Cheers! Many thanks for posting this.:bobo

(By the way, good to know the Spurs won 6 championships according to the article!:lol)