When will Pop go away from West/Diaw Combo?

[playbonner15]

I saw Pop combine Aldridge / Diaw and Aldridge/West but the Diaw/West combination is really horrible. I guess they're next best 'big' men the team has after Duncan and Aldridge but Pop has to stop in the future.. Cant rebound, cant defend penetrating guards, cant defend athletic bigs, so-so offense, but great passing though. He will eventually see that Spurstalk is right.. right guys??

[SAGirl]

I am hoping this is just to spare Tim in the RS.

If we have seen the problems and we are just fans, I am sure coach Pop is aware of them.

Second unit has to be clicking and scoring at a high clip, or we will surrender leads. There is no other way around it.

In those few games where Patty was cold for example, and maybe Manu didn't go supernova, combined with lack of production from whoever is the SF, we have struggled and have surrendered leads.

2nd unit is a glass cannon.

[SpursFan86]

It's the regular season. There's really no need to play Tim/LMA more minutes than necessary this early on, especially considering what they're doing now is working just fine.

[exstatic]

In the playoffs.

[ElNono]

After OP stops posting

[313]

After he shaves his beard :pop:

[UNT Eagles 2016]

Diaw/Boban a better combo off the bench?

[vander]

seriously, the lineups are driving me crazy. why does he ever play the starters together again after the first 6 minutes?

[Spurtacular]

It's the regular season. There's really no need to run play Tim/LMA more minutes than necessary this early on, especially considering what they're doing now is working just fine.

[keeferob25]

I am hoping this is just to spare Tim in the RS.

If we have seen the problems and we are just fans, I am sure coach Pop is aware of them.

Second unit has to be clicking and scoring at a high clip, or we will surrender leads. There is no other way around it.

In those few games where Patty was cold for example, and maybe Manu didn't go supernova, combined with lack of production from whoever is the SF, we have struggled and have surrendered leads.

2nd unit is a glass cannon.

This! I think people forget that we had a legit D-leaguer in Ayers START many games and log a TON of minutes (relative to his abilities) during our championship season. And as a result Tim was fresh enough to probably be the best overall performer throughout that championship run. So as much of a scrub Ayers was...he WAS very valuable to our chip in that regard. Diaw and west at this point are bad together but they haven't killed us yet and the tradeoff is a rested Aldridge and Duncan for the final stretch of games. Its worked well enough to this point and Pop hates showing his hand early. When the playoffs come he will definitely stagger their minutes properly.

[james evans]

i just hope the trio of diaw/west/mills are NEVER on the floor at any given time during the playoffs. That's similar to the bonner/splitter combination

[cjw]

seriously, the lineups are driving me crazy. why does he ever play the starters together again after the first 6 minutes?

And you wonder why Tom Thibidou and Scott Brooks got fired.

Need to mix and match and figure out which lineups work. Save miles too.

[8FOR!3]

Not playing West is playing with fire. He took the big pay cut to come play for us, I think if he sits on the bench because he doesn't fit with the lineup then it makes us look bad for signing up to the small contract when other free agents are considering taking less money to come to us.

[playbonner15]

I eat my words. Without West, the Spurs lose against the Clips.

[Mel_13]

I eat my words. Without West, the Spurs lose against the Clips.

:toast

That pairing actually hasn't been that bad and they haven't played that many minutes together. They were abused in the Chicago game, but they've done pretty well in most games.

[ceperez]

West is okay for regular season play. He could become a liability come playoffs.

Pop plugged the hole by playing Duncan with the second team.

[playbonner15]

West is okay for regular season play. He could become a liability come playoffs.

Pop plugged the hole by playing Duncan with the second team.

Yeah I think I saw Duncan, Diaw, West in there too at the same time or was I hallucinating

[tbdog]

Yeah I think I saw Duncan, Diaw, West in there too at the same time or was I hallucinating

I never saw that. We got away with the Diaw and West front line-up tonight because Clippers have no backup center. They have none worth of a single minute, and play Smith at the centre, and PP at the pf. And Diaw and West abused PP.

[SAGirl]

POP played Duncan with Diaw at some point but it was because DOc had D.Jordan with his bench some minutes. I thought it was a good idea regardless fir a few minutes bc before then West had been blocked at the rim by Smith twice and had looked poor.

The next time West got in the game he was much better.

[Spurtacular]

Couldn't help but laugh when I saw Diaw/West lineups as the Spurs second and third best defensive lineup at the 3:10 mark of this video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX4ZKgQywOs

And there are four Diaw/West lineups in the top ten!

Right again, ST.

[GSH]

When they're no longer on a 67-win pace?


That pairing actually hasn't been that bad and they haven't played that many minutes together. They were abused in the Chicago game, but they've done pretty well in most games.

The Bulls were able to bring Joakim Noah (6'11") and Taj Gibson (6'9") off the bench, along with a 6'8" SF nicknamed "McBuckets". Their size gave the West/Diaw pairing trouble. But that's not what lost that game. The Spurs bench was a combined 6-22 from the floor (27% shooting).

West and Diaw together are vertically challenged, but they haven't been nearly as bad as advertised except for a couple of games. They're going to struggle with teams that have length to spare, but on a lot of nights (probably most) that smaller lineup is still going to outscore their opponents. It would be nice of a team could be perfect at every position, I guess.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

More Boban pls.

[Mel_13]

The Bulls were able to bring Joakim Noah (6'11") and Taj Gibson (6'9") off the bench, along with a 6'8" SF nicknamed "McBuckets". Their size gave the West/Diaw pairing trouble. But that's not what lost that game. The Spurs bench was a combined 6-22 from the floor (27% shooting).

West and Diaw together are vertically challenged, but they haven't been nearly as bad as advertised except for a couple of games. They're going to struggle with teams that have length to spare, but on a lot of nights (probably most) that smaller lineup is still going to outscore their opponents. It would be nice of a team could be perfect at every position, I guess.

I agree.

They're only averaging about 9mpg together. It's already obvious that modest adjustments to the rotation can reduce that number or eliminate it altogether. The 4th big has played very few minutes in recent playoff runs.

[testies]

West will become T Mac come playoff time, will play garbage time when the crowd cheers his name.

Another thing that is a net negative from him is his aggressive protest on every ref whistle, Spurs are not like that, and we get some BS calls because we respect the refs thru most of the 48 minutes

[Mnky]

I think Pops record gives him the benefit of the doubt.. if his 5 rings already hadn't. He is building a team to beat specific teams.. whether they struggle against the other 30 doesn't matter. At the end of the year there's only 3 teams in contention right now.

[The Whopper]

Give our Serbian giant the occasional 8 minutes with Manu and the fat man.

[SAGirl]

Diaw is very versatile, from coming out to the perimeter and contesting 3 or shooters to getting back in transition with relative quickness, boxing out the other big, being strong and agile enough to guard PF who have mobility, etc. I think he makes any big playing alongside him look better.

West does none of those things well enough. He's less agile, really shouldn't be coming out to close out shooters, slow in transition, fails to box out. He's not a rim protector. He has however many other positives. He spaces the floor, he's a terrific passer, a tough physical player. He's good enough but will be exposed defending PnR bc Patty is too small and really inadequate on PnR defense and West has to commit to help Patty on the dribble penetration, leaving the roller open.

Obviously real centers will give either guy trouble. Hopefully Boban develops and we can count on him against certain guys and maybe next year.

I can't hate on West bc he's been more positive than negative, but he does have deficiencies as a bench center.

[TD 21]

It's had it's moments, but in general, this has not been the issue it was thought to be. Fourth wing is a far bigger issue.

As an aside, when Diaw and West play together, why do dumb coaches continue to think they can get away with small ball/stretch fours on Diaw? It's as if they're unaware that he's one of the best low post players in the league.

Granted, West can flat out bully those types too, but I'd rather take my chances with his far more rudimentary post game. Plus, though a good passer in his own right, he's also a lesser one, if/when they double.

[ceperez]

Diaw is very versatile, from coming out to the perimeter and contesting 3 or shooters to getting back in transition with relative quickness, boxing out the other big, being strong and agile enough to guard PF who have mobility, etc. I think he makes any big playing alongside him look better.

West does none of those things well enough. He's less agile, really shouldn't be coming out to close out shooters, slow in transition, fails to box out. He's not a rim protector. He has however many other positives. He spaces the floor, he's a terrific passer, a tough physical player. He's good enough but will be exposed defending PnR bc Patty is too small and really inadequate on PnR defense and West has to commit to help Patty on the dribble penetration, leaving the roller open.

Obviously real centers will give either guy trouble. Hopefully Boban develops and we can count on him against certain guys and maybe next year.

I can't hate on West bc he's been more positive than negative, but he does have deficiencies as a bench center.

Diaw / West combo is certainly problematic. However, this is the regular season, so I'm not going to sweat much about the lineup.

The important thing is that players remain healthy. This is done by not playing your players to the ground and spreading the minutes.

[SpursIndonesia]

Diaw's aggressive post play -not only looking to pass out the post but to really punish the lesser defender on him- has been a very, very pleasant surprise to me. :tu

[Kawhitstorm]

Diaw's aggressive post play -not only looking to pass out the post but to really punish the lesser defender on him- has been a very, very pleasant surprise to me. :tu

He has been fuckin' up on defensive rotations recently which is why Manu has been yelling at him quite a bit.

[playbonner15]

Pop will finally make the adjustment in the offseason :wakeup

[apalisoc_9]

Pop will finally make the adjustment in the offseason :wakeup

Great thread op. Many people were already talking about how awful this combo is but pop doesnt give a shit.

[playbonner15]

I saw Pop combine Aldridge / Diaw and Aldridge/West but the Diaw/West combination is really horrible. I guess they're next best 'big' men the team has after Duncan and Aldridge but Pop has to stop in the future.. Cant rebound, cant defend penetrating guards, cant defend athletic bigs, so-so offense, but great passing though. He will eventually see that Spurstalk is right.. right guys??

..... Pop's ego preventing him from admitting that Spurstalk is right all along...

[playbonner15]

In the playoffs.

:depressed

[playbonner15]

After OP stops posting


After he shaves his beard :pop:


Pop will finally make the adjustment in the offseason :wakeup

:depressed

[spursistan]

absolutely mind-boggling how this dude lost plot the past couple of years..

[313]

:depressedstill holding out hope he shaves before game 6 :depressed

[spurtech09]

LMA-Boban combo