David Lee to not replace Aldridge in the starting lineup

[wildbill2u]

I'm thinking Lee could handle it and with more minutes his stats could rival Aldredge. And there's no question in my mind that he brings total effort more than LMA.

(Am I going crazy or does this make sense?)

[RD2191]

You're actually going crazy.

[dabom]

:lol

[HarlemHeat37]

Lee's defense is still poor, it just goes unnoticed because he mostly plays vs. bench players in a limited role..

Aldridge has been one of the 5 best rim protectors in the league, this season:

https://image.ibb.co/gg4pov/rim_protection.jpg (https://ibb.co/kozdgF)

[Play Boban]

MVLee :wow

[-21-]

Lee's defense is still poor, it just goes unnoticed because he mostly plays vs. bench players in a limited role..

Aldridge has been one of the 5 best rim protectors in the league, this season:

https://image.ibb.co/gg4pov/rim_protection.jpg (https://ibb.co/kozdgF)
Judging from that stat, it should be Dedmon starting over Gasol.

[wildbill2u]

Lee's defense is still poor, it just goes unnoticed because he mostly plays vs. bench players in a limited role..

Aldridge has been one of the 5 best rim protectors in the league, this season:

https://image.ibb.co/gg4pov/rim_protection.jpg (https://ibb.co/kozdgF)

Like I said, this might be a crazy impulse. Never thought of Aldredge being that much of a defense player, especially when it looks like he;s lazy or doesn't get the system or doesn't care. If his consistent stats are that good then my bad.

[coachmac87]

Terrible thread

[Dex]

Man, SpursTalk is really on a roll today.

[RodNIc91]

Lee's defense is still poor, it just goes unnoticed because he mostly plays vs. bench players in a limited role..

Aldridge has been one of the 5 best rim protectors in the league, this season:

https://image.ibb.co/gg4pov/rim_protection.jpg (https://ibb.co/kozdgF)

I haven't watched Philly a lot, do you think Embiid's numbers are inflated because he hasn't played as much as others in that list? Is he legit?

Btw are those stats from NBA.com?

[Blake]

A bad night for LA and we're sending him and his $20 mill salary to the bench.

Spurs talk

[Chinook]

Lee's defense is still poor, it just goes unnoticed because he mostly plays vs. bench players in a limited role..

Aldridge has been one of the 5 best rim protectors in the league, this season:

https://image.ibb.co/gg4pov/rim_protection.jpg (https://ibb.co/kozdgF)

And yet Jazz fans think the Spurs would have to add picks to trade LMA for Favors.

[HarlemHeat37]

:lol Favors as in Derrick Favors? wow..

[Chinook]

Yes, of #DetCore fame. They still think that only Kawhi is better than their guys and that 2-15 they have the better roster.

[dabom]

Datrealgm. :lol

[TXstbobcat]

Lee has become a great fit for the spurs coming off of the bench. He is not replacing the Aldredge in the starting lineup.

[DPG21920]

It really is baffling what is happening to LMA. He morphed into a legit defensive anchor on a championship level team but it's like he did a body swap with Robin Lopez on offense.

It's hard to knock him for not caring when he's putting in the level of work he has on defense, but to see last nights performance and lack of star-level aggression on offense is just puzzling.

It can't be the system because he obviously grasps the defensive system. He looks just totally unconfident on the offense when he's been a beast his entire career.

And the Dedmon/LMA combo has been legit defensively but man it's tough on offense with LMa playing how he is. If his offense was up to speed you could definitley start Dedmon but Pau's offense is really needed and Pau is still a solid rim protector.

He's just unless on the perimeter where LMA has done a damn good job along with Dedmon.

[GSH]

It really is baffling what is happening to LMA. He morphed into a legit defensive anchor on a championship level team but it's like he did a body swap with Robin Lopez on offense.

It's hard to knock him for not caring when he's putting in the level of work he has on defense, but to see last nights performance and lack of star-level aggression on offense is just puzzling.

It can't be the system because he obviously grasps the defensive system. He looks just totally unconfident on the offense when he's been a beast his entire career.

And the Dedmon/LMA combo has been legit defensively but man it's tough on offense with LMa playing how he is. If his offense was up to speed you could definitley start Dedmon but Pau's offense is really needed and Pau is still a solid rim protector.

He's just unless on the perimeter where LMA has done a damn good job along with Dedmon.


It hasn't been that many years ago that if a player came to the Spurs and stepped up his defense, people here would say, "Okay... he gets it." And for all the talk about LMA being a "prima donna", I really do think he worked on deferring when he came here. The reputation this team has of playing team-first is pretty well universally understood around the league. And people don't generally change who they are without a lot of effort.

There are a number of situations/opponents where I think Lee in the starting lineup would work okay. Dedmon just isn't enough of a scorer. Not with Danny's output being so low, and Tony's being sporadic. Especially not with LMA's suffering.

On the offensive end, Pau is a scoring threat. And that gives LMA more space to operate. As much as I hate Pau's defense (and I HATE Pau's defense) he's the best option this team has for starting C, and Aldridge is definitely the best option at the 4. Dedmon, Lee, Bertans, yes and even Fathead, all make sense playing against opposing benches. Simmons too, for that matter. That just says that the only hope this team has involves being at full strength come playoff time.

[Phenomanul]

A bad night for LA and we're sending him and his $20 mill salary to the bench.

Spurs talk

Indeed he had a bad night... with notoriously soft plays... but many folks contributed to this loss and I agree that it should not be pinned squarely on one individual.

Bad calls, Memphis wanted it more on their first game back from a long road trip, and not having Kawhi, were other factors for sure.

[Ice009]

It really is baffling what is happening to LMA. He morphed into a legit defensive anchor on a championship level team but it's like he did a body swap with Robin Lopez on offense.

It's hard to knock him for not caring when he's putting in the level of work he has on defense, but to see last nights performance and lack of star-level aggression on offense is just puzzling.

It can't be the system because he obviously grasps the defensive system. He looks just totally unconfident on the offense when he's been a beast his entire career.

And the Dedmon/LMA combo has been legit defensively but man it's tough on offense with LMa playing how he is. If his offense was up to speed you could definitley start Dedmon but Pau's offense is really needed and Pau is still a solid rim protector.

He's just unless on the perimeter where LMA has done a damn good job along with Dedmon.

I think his lack of off-season conditioning has done him in. I think he's lost confidence because of the poor starts to the past two seasons and hasn't been able to recover. I have no idea what he was thinking coming into camp out of shape for the second year in a row.

[DPG21920]

I think his lack of off-season conditioning has done him in. I think he's lost confidence because of the poor starts to the past two seasons and hasn't been able to recover. I have no idea what he was thinking coming into camp out of shape for the second year in a row.

He recovered great last year and he's still playing defense at a high level. Dont think you can do that out of shape (not saying he didn't report out of shape, but dont think he is now).

I would not be surprised to hear of some injury soon (not serious just lingering issue)

[Ice009]

He recovered great last year and he's still playing defense at a high level. Dont think you can do that out of shape (not saying he didn't report out of shape, but dont think he is now).

I would not be surprised to hear of some injury soon (not serious just lingering issue)

It may have worked last year, but it doesn't look like it's worked this year. I just don't think he's been able to recover so far this year up to know. He should have taken the off-season more seriously. The older you get, the more likely you're going to fall off the cliff if you don't prepare your body and do the best you can to be in good shape coming into the season. That also includes diet/nutrition - not sure what his habits are on that side of things.