The Politics of Resting and is our Vanilla strong enough?

[$pursDynasty]

First off outside of Manu's performance against the Pels last night, I was far from impressed by our teams offensive performance. Yes it might be just a matter of playing down to your competition, like the Thunderrefs did when they faced our C-Squad. However it makes me wonder if the Spurs might be better served by keeping everyone active just majorly limiting their minutes. I am of the opinion that maybe even halving their normal minutes but keeping them active. Tony's minutes drop to 15, Manu's to 10 are some examples. This being a way for the Spurs to get rest while avoiding rust. That also still allows for major minutes and development time for the backups, while allowing them to actually play with some of the players that they will be playing with in the playoffs.

Secondly, we have all seen Tony's comments about Pop resting everyone in the games against the Warriors. Now rest isn't definitely required since neither are the back end of back to backs but I think the general consensus is that Pop wouldn't want to show his strategic cards before a possible playoff matchup since there is nothing to be gained from it standings wise and why tip your hand? My question is this can the Spurs defeat the Dubs going at them straight vanilla, doing nothing more than playing hard defense and maybe keeping the KingSlayer on Raymond? I would assume that Pop has more adjustments than just that, so why not allow them to face this team straight up? I know some will say that the only thing that truly matters is a :lobt:and that is true but I would personally think there is more to be discovered by letting our guys just face them on the court as opposed to watching them manhandle our third squad. Since while Kerr might be keeping some cards up his sleeve like his much talked about "death lineup" I have no doubt that his main guys will be on the court. I want to beat them both remaining games but I definitely don't like the idea of laying down for the Dubs in SA. Our home field dominance of them gives us a little space in their heads I don't want to willingly relinquish.

[exstatic]

The :lobt: is the only thing that matters. If you're all hyped up about regular season matchups, perhaps you should be a Clips fan.

[NameLess Scrub]

First off outside of Manu's performance against the Pels last night, I was far from impressed by our teams offensive performance. Yes it might be just a matter of playing down to your competition, like the Thunderrefs did when they faced our C-Squad. However it makes me wonder if the Spurs might be better served by keeping everyone active just majorly limiting their minutes. I am of the opinion that maybe even halving their normal minutes but keeping them active. Tony's minutes drop to 15, Manu's to 10 are some examples. This being a way for the Spurs to get rest while avoiding rust. That also still allows for major minutes and development time for the backups, while allowing them to actually play with some of the players that they will be playing with in the playoffs.

Secondly, we have all seen Tony's comments about Pop resting everyone in the games against the Warriors. Now rest isn't definitely required since neither are the back end of back to backs but I think the general consensus is that Pop wouldn't want to show his strategic cards before a possible playoff matchup since there is nothing to be gained from it standings wise and why tip your hand? My question is this can the Spurs defeat the Dubs going at them straight vanilla, doing nothing more than playing hard defense and maybe keeping the KingSlayer on Raymond? I would assume that Pop has more adjustments than just that, so why not allow them to face this team straight up? I know some will say that the only thing that truly matters is a :lobt:and that is true but I would personally think there is more to be discovered by letting our guys just face them on the court as opposed to watching them manhandle our third squad. Since while Kerr might be keeping some cards up his sleeve like his much talked about "death lineup" I have no doubt that his main guys will be on the court. I want to beat them both remaining games but I definitely don't like the idea of laying down for the Dubs in SA. Our home field dominance of them gives us a little space in their heads I don't want to willingly relinquish.

I agree with the resting pattern you speak of above to avoid rust. I think it's ok to rest @GSW if they play the next night.

But I think it will be harder to win the home game vs the Warriors because even if the Spurs play everybody, I don't expect them to try too hard if seeding is no longer in question. On the other hand, Warriors will very probably have broken the record already but will probably still play hard to solidify the new one. If the Spurs can blow out early, maybe..

[spursistan]

you can rest 81 games and a freak season-ender happens on the 82th game..you just can't control that..:lol

What i hate is Pop potentially ruining the the playoff intensity we built in that tough 5-game home stand..you just can't relax and go mad scientist at this point of the year..The team did look noticeably out of whack against a bunch of D-leaguers..Come out like that in Game 1 of playoffs and you probably find yourself down 15 with high chance of losing home court against a team that's been fighting tooth and nail for spot in playoffs the previous weeks..

[$pursDynasty]

you can rest 81 games and a freak season-ender happens on the 82th game..you just can't control that..:lol

What i hate is Pop potentially ruining the the playoff intensity we built in that tough 5-game home stand..you just can't relax and go mad scientist at this point of the year..The team did look noticeably out of whack against a bunch of D-leaguers..Come out like that in Game 1 of playoffs and you probably find yourself down 15 with high chance of losing home court against a team that's been fighting tooth and nail for spot in playoffs the previous weeks..

The home stand was my point, I was like ok now we are at playoff intensity heading into the playoffs and then...:depressedIt's not like there were 25 games left in the season, I was expecting the Spurs to keep it up, with one or two players resting a night all the way into the playoffs, but instead it turned into preseason/summer league games and I am not sure that helps in the long run. If Simmons and Bonner are destined for next to no minutes in the playoffs what can be gleaned from watching them play the Dubs?

[Fireball]

you can rest 81 games and a freak season-ender happens on the 82th game..you just can't control that..:lol

or it happens on the first play of the first playoff game ... you have to rest older players for them to have enough in the tank ... but resting e.g. Kawhi or LMA now every other game just to avoid injuries is total bullshit

[Keepin' it real]

In Pop we trust ...

[hater]

Thank goodness our front office and team leader players (parker and Duncan) only care about one thing. The Lobrian

[Slomo]

you can rest 81 games and a freak season-ender happens on the 82th game..you just can't control that..:lol

What i hate is Pop potentially ruining the the playoff intensity we built in that tough 5-game home stand..you just can't relax and go mad scientist at this point of the year..The team did look noticeably out of whack against a bunch of D-leaguers..Come out like that in Game 1 of playoffs and you probably find yourself down 15 with high chance of losing home court against a team that's been fighting tooth and nail for spot in playoffs the previous weeks..


or it happens on the first play of the first playoff game ... you have to rest older players for them to have enough in the tank ... but resting e.g. Kawhi or LMA now every other game just to avoid injuries is total bullshit

You guys deal in absolutes. That's not how life works. You play the (statistical) numbers and hope for the best.

When is an injury less likely? When you play as little as possible or play regular minutes every game?

Freak accidents can and will happen, but you never worry/agonize over things you can't control, you only deal with the ones you can - and in the last 2 decades the Spurs are pretty much the best at it in all US professional sports. I also can't believe we're having this debate after playing the Pelicans who are missing 4 of their starters while Pop has the oldest team in the league at full force. I regret the championships we could have won in the Duncan era as much as any fan, but one of the main factors in those loses was not having the squad at or near to 100% (fatigue, injuries, ...) - rustiness or "out-of-wackiness" was never the issue.

Rustiness (is that even a word?) plays a role, but if you have the right personnel (and the Spurs do) that never takes more than a game to fix.

[$pursDynasty]

yeah seeking the acknowledgement of the lemmings and sheep makes one hypocritical after deriding others for seeking it. Can't laugh at other teams for caring about meaningless stuff, if looking for the masses recognition over meaningless stuff. Yet I maintain having our guys on the court with their guys can give useful data without endangering post season playoff adjustments. Information can be gleemed by sparring with an opponent even if neither is going all out before a real fight later. Letting Verde, Simmons, even Parker and other players get used to the intensity and attention required to play against this team. They did it once but practice makes perfect.

[tbdog]

TD usually steps up his play in the playoffs - and LMA and Leonard are going to get very high 30mins per game. David West will be a pit dog and fighting for everything. Diaw usually steps up in playoffs. These guys are human. The majority know right now we are playing for nothing. We are not losing number 2 seed and not getting number 1. The only intensity we will be getting are from players who are trying to prove to Pop they can be used in the playoffs: Anderson, Martin, Miller, Simmons. So expect us to be bad going into the playoffs. We are not diving for loose balls.

[Solid D]

I just think complete rest has greater health benefits.

[UZER]

You guys deal in absolutes. That's not how life works. You play the (statistical) numbers and hope for the best.

When is an injury less likely? When you play as little as possible or play regular minutes every game?

Freak accidents can and will happen, but you never worry/agonize over things you can't control, you only deal with the ones you can - and in the last 2 decades the Spurs are pretty much the best at it in all US professional sports. I also can't believe we're having this debate after playing the Pelicans who are missing 4 of their starters while Pop has the oldest team in the league at full force. I regret the championships we could have won in the Duncan era as much as any fan, but one of the main factors in those loses was not having the squad at or near to 100% (fatigue, injuries, ...) - rustiness or "out-of-wackiness" was never the issue.

Rustiness (is that even a word?) plays a role, but if you have the right personnel (and the Spurs do) that never takes more than a game to fix.

I guess these guys are Sith.

[ElNono]

It's all about Gino... sucks we rely on a 38/39 year old to bring us home #6, but hopefully he'll get his rhythm going and his shot going in and we should be alright...

[$pursDynasty]

It's all about Gino... sucks we rely on a 38/39 year old to bring us home #6, but hopefully he'll get his rhythm going and his shot going in and we should be alright...
scarier still him and Verde, because if the Spurs are consistently hitting from 3, not even the Dubs can beat us because at our best I think we are far superior in the paint so if we can stay close outside the 3 point line, advantage Spurs. Having your hopes hang on Manu's health and energy, as well as Verde being more hot than icy is a scary proposition though.