Grades: Spurs @ 76ers - Jan. 23, 2019

[timvp]

https://i.imgur.com/WcviVqx.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/INwlc19.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mpuOpDB.jpg

Well, that de-escalated quickly. The Spurs appeared primed to escape Philadelphia with one of their most impressive wins of the season. A few blinks later, San Antonio was shuffling off the court following an agonizing 122-120 defeat.

When the 76ers jumped out to a big early lead, it looked like it was going to be a long night at the office for the good guys. But after falling into 13-3 hole, the Spurs battled back and actually led at the end of the first quarter, 35-34.

From that point, the teams fought tooth and nail the rest of the way. Fast forward to the fourth quarter when a Marco Belinelli three-pointer gave the Spurs a 120-112 advantage with 2:48 left on the clock. Unfortunately, that's when the wheels fell off.

By the one minute mark, a Ben Simmons dunk, a three-pointer by Landry Shamet and a four-point play by JJ Redick erased San Antonio's eight-point lead. Add to the total a late free throw by Corey Brewer and the Sixers scored the game's final ten points to steal the victory.

The autopsy shows a myriad of mistakes in money time on both sides of the court by the Spurs. Instead of using their veteran savvy to salt away the game, their miscues opened the door for Philadelphia -- and the Sixers, to their credit, seized the opportunity.

Tough loss. The Spurs, now 27-22, were inches away from winning on the road against a 76ers squad that entered the contest with a 20-5 record at home (and 31-17 overall). The L is disappointing, for sure, but the good news is the offense was sharp for a majority of the game and the overall effort was commendable.

Was this game a step forward despite the loss? It might have been. We'll see if the offense gets back on track going forward and the competitiveness carries over.

-------------

LaMarcus Aldridge
https://i.imgur.com/1nluyNF.png
I struggle to be too upset with LaMarcus Aldridge's play. Defensively, I thought he did really well. When Aldridge was on the court, Joel Embiid was only 7-for-20 from the field for 17 points in 29 minutes (Embiid had 16 points in the eight minutes he played with Aldridge on the bench). Aldridge was forcing Embiid into difficult shots for most of the night. Offensively, while he got fewer touches than usual and his shot was less accurate than usual, he wasn't a liability on that end. Aldridge was physical, took good shots, passed the ball extremely well and limited his mistakes. The one aspect where Aldridge legitimately struggled was rebounding. He simply wasn't coming down with the boards the Spurs needed him to grab.
Grade: B
Summary: Aldridge wasn't great but he played well enough for the Spurs to win.

-------------

DeMar DeRozan
https://i.imgur.com/ZKxGADZ.png
Welcome back, DeMar DeRozan's shooting ability. After hitting only 35% of his shots in his previous six outings, DeRozan buried 12 of his first 16 attempts in Philadelphia. He looked quicker, he was getting more elevation on his jumper and he was springier in the lane. That said, DeRozan's offense game wasn't all the way back to normal, as his playmaking was iffy at best and he turned the ball over a game-high six times. On the defensive end, he was pretty darn active. While he made a number of tactical mistakes, his help-defense was aggressive, he pulled down numerous contested rebounds and was mentally-engaged. All in all, it was heartening to see signs of DeRozan awaking from his offensive slumber and to see him show signs of life defensively. It wasn't a clean performance by DeRozan -- and it was further marred by him missing his final three shots from the field in the game's last three minutes -- but let's hope this is the start of a stretch of improved play.
Grade: B
Summary: DeRozan's slump isn't officially over but there were positive signs.

-------------

Rudy Gay
https://i.imgur.com/vqYr2we.png
The good: Rudy Gay was efficient when looking for his own shot. He was difficult to defend in the post, off the dribble and in catch-and-shoot situations. He made a couple nice passes. He tried on the defensive end. The bad: Though he tried on D, Gay wasn't good on that side of the ball. He wasn't quick enough to defend Ben Simmons, wasn't helping much on the boards and didn't close out well on shooters. Gay tried to close out harder on shooters in the fourth quarter but instead caused a pair of four-point plays. On the offensive end, I thought a few of his shots were unnecessarily forced.
Grade: B
Summary: Gay helped on offense and hurt on defense.

-------------

Bryn Forbes
https://i.imgur.com/yXVIEAs.png
In his previous five games, Bryn Forbes hit only 35.3% from the floor and 26.9% from three-point land. Tonight, he got back to shooting it straight. All four of his three-pointers were in the game's first 20 minutes and helped the Spurs stay afloat. In the fourth quarter, Forbes tossed in a difficult runner in the lane. Defensively, he got off to a slow start against JJ Redick but eventually Forbes started playing the sharpshooter much tighter. On this night, Forbes might have been the team's best player at navigating around screens. Considering that's usually a weakness, that was good to see.
Grade: A-
Summary: Forbes played his role well.

-------------

Derrick White
https://i.imgur.com/IrTA2dV.png
Defensively, I thought Derrick White was uncharacteristically feeble early on. He didn't come out with much fight on that end and was going through the motions. After halftime, his defensive effort was much improved. Eventually, his defensive versatility was on full display: White was able to defend Simmons better than anyone else on the team and came up with a huge block on an Embiid layup with 22 seconds remaining. Going forward, if this team is going to be halfway decent defensively, the Spurs need more of that second half version of White. Offensively, there's no questioning his efficiency against the 76ers. His shot-selection was good and he played with an impressive amount of composure. White's passing was also excellent, particularly in pick-and-roll action. My two complaints regarding his offense: he dribbled the ball too much on a number of possessions and he too often failed to properly push the pace when the Spurs had an advantage.
Grade: B+
Summary: White showed glimpses of his potential.

-------------

Marco Belinelli
https://i.imgur.com/hP9vIFY.png
Marco Belinelli's hot streak continues. He has now scored at least 12 points and hit at least two three-pointers in seven straight outings. During that stretch, he's averaging 17.3 points in 25.9 minutes per game on 51.4% shooting from the field, 51.1% shooting on three-pointers and 95.5% shooting at the line. It was more of the same against the Sixers. Belinelli moved well without the ball, didn't hesitate to fire whenever he could see the rim and gave the Spurs a shot of adrenaline on offense. Defense, though, was another story. He was a glaring liability throughout. Pop played Belinelli minutes down the stretch and the Sixers wasted no time exploiting him on that end.
Grade: B
Summary: Belinelli is an offensive machine right now. Defense? What's that?

-------------

Patty Mills
https://i.imgur.com/gTa4B5z.png
Well done. Patty Mills was shot-happy offensively and justified it by shooting well. What was remarkable about his game tonight were the multiple successful physical drives into the paint; finishing contested shots at the rim usually isn't Mills' forte. His passing wasn't notable but he also did a good job of limiting mistakes and an even better job of accelerating the tempo. Defensively, he was enough of a pest to keep the Sixers from keying on him. Mills didn't play especially good defense but was far from the problem on that end tonight.
Grade: B+
Summary: Mills provided a spark like he's supposed to.

-------------

Jakob Poeltl
https://i.imgur.com/FUIlW00.png
Defensively, Jakob Poeltl didn't have much success defending Embiid. While the effort was there, he made strategic mistakes and just wasn't as sound as the Spurs need him to be on a nightly basis. Outside of Embiid, Poeltl's D was good enough. He was also sturdy on the boards, boxed out well and was tenacious in loose ball situations. Offensively, Poeltl didn't make much of a mark but he did do a better job of holding his ground against a physical Philly defense.
Grade: B-
Summary: Poeltl was active but didn't move the needle much.

-------------

Dante Cunningham
https://i.imgur.com/W3QWUCI.png
With Davis Bertans sidelined due to personal reasons, the Spurs turned to Dante Cunningham to fill the spot in the rotation. On paper, Cunningham is able to use his length and strength against Simmons and just dare him to hit a perimeter shot. In reality, that didn't happen. The Sixers would just set a screen on Cunningham and the Spurs reserve would be clueless on how to react. It's stunning that a veteran can have such poor defensive instincts. On offense, Cunningham was actually better than usual. He kept his head up, made smart passes and managed to not get in the way.
Grade: B-
Summary: Cunningham was okay but Bertans was missed.

-------------

Pop
https://i.imgur.com/x7B1It7.jpg
I don't have much to critique rotation-wise. Pop playing Belinelli in crunch time hurt on the defensive end, however that hand was partially forced with Bertans out. I did like Aldridge and DeRozan getting a healthier amount of rest compared to other close games against good teams. I liked the reliance on White -- and Forbes was worthy of his minutes. The last play of the game was a dud. Honestly, I can't agree with sitting out DeRozan when you're down by two points. Sure, he's not a shooter but the Sixers would still have to pay a lot of attention to him. Pop said he was going for a three-pointer but even that doesn't make much sense because Embiid hasn't played more than 40 minutes all season and Simmons was battling an illness, so with that in mind the Spurs should have gunned for an extra session.
Grade: B-
Summary: Coached decently well but the last play was a head-scratcher.

Looking ahead: Ah, too bad. They had it.

Next up, the Spurs get two more days of rest before playing in New Orleans on Saturday night. If Anthony Davis misses the game (he has a finger injury), that's a road game the Spurs need to get.

Either way, it'd be nice if San Antonio's defense shows up. After exhibiting signs of competence defensively, the Spurs have taken a step back over their last nine games by allowing 113.5 points per 100 possessions -- which ranks 23rd in the league over that time frame.

Show up. D up.

[Slippy]

Derrick White is playing like a seasoned vet out there . His handles, passing and decision making was so good. Then having him guard Ben Simmonds off all players is amazing.

My grade would be an A. Would prefer to see the ball in his hands over Demar. I understand, Pops has to worry about Demar's confidence staying high. Gotta start prioritizing wins by now.

[Dingle Barry]

Fucking retarded to pull DD down 2 just because you want the 3. One, it tells them you're going for the 3. Two, why not use him as a decoy?

[objective]

White's relative slow speed getting sets started is why I like Murray paired with him. Murray to really push it, then if the early offense doesn't hit, White to run the halfcourt

[Ragamuffin]

spurs play good... believe Davis dont play with New Orleans and dont know what happend with injure mirotic if play or no... tha if you can check injure report for mirotic

[Larry O]

White's relative slow speed getting sets started is why I like Murray paired with him. Murray to really push it, then if the early offense doesn't hit, White to run the halfcourt

Yeah, I agree with this. In too many play sets, when White is running the point, he gets the ball down too slowly. I think that if he pushes the ball down the court quicker, it will help with boosting the team's energy and as for the opposing team, it would keep them from getting into their defensive sets. GSG!!!

[vavvi]

No way Forbes gets the highest grade on the team.
I thought White was much better. LA was solid.

But what a disappointing choke (( those 2 4-point plays of Philly were daggers. We recovered from the first one but the second one killed us. Unfortunately we don't have perimeter lock-down defenders besides White at least of Corey Brewer 10-day contract's level

[monty4329]

I don't get the Pop's grade. When you don't score the last 2 and half minutes, it is totally on the coaching staff. Giving the ball to DDR for last shot was appalling, the guy was playing like crap and of course he got blocked.

Also B grade to DDR? Sorry Timvp but I think you saw a different game. Just because he made a few shots when basically Philly was not guarding him, doesn't mean he played even close to OK.

A pity, refs somehow gifted us with White block (was a foul). Anyway, up 8 with 2.5 minutes to go, you can't lose without scoring, and not even go to the line. I'm totally pissed off.

[MoSpur02]

Thanks again for the grades.

Derozan leaving his feet to pass annoys me bad. So does Patty Mills' pull-up threes with like 18 seconds left on the shot clock.

[sananspursfan21]

Frustrating loss. Needed this to stay safe in the standings and get a shot of confidence back. The only way they’ll really make this one up is if they blow the doors off the Pelicans Saturday. I mean nothing short of a 120-88 sort of affair. I think the fans here deserve that after that last minute meltdown last night.

[BackHome]

LMA I would give an A he battled all night and was even running the floor in the fourth he played great D and did not force his offense. Sad we lost but at least it was to a good team not a scrub team we know are not as good as we are.

[vavvi]

How do we give away leads so easily?!

It feels like every time we are up 6 or up 8, it's a guarantee we'll be down 1 in 1 minute. It's frustrating.

[Uriel]

Since we've lost 2 in a row and 4 of our last 6, is it fair to say the rest of the league has figured our defense out?

[John B]

Thanks for the grades Timvp. Too bad they collapsed the last 2 minutes. Offensively they’re good, but this team still can’t hang on their defense which is the Spurs longtime mantra. We need that stopper and mental toughness. I don’t know why Belli was still in the last 2 minutes with the Spurs up by 8. Pop should’ put our best defensive squad to maintain the lead.

[NASpurs]

13/27 from 3 and shot nearly 60% from the field and still lost.

What ever happened to those trending arrows from a couple of years ago? Big red arrow pointing down.

[r0drig0lac]

this team is two wings away from being an elite team, this is really clear imo

[ceperez]

The team played very well against a feisty opponent.

Couldn't get the win, but it still a good sign.

Cunningham continues to be completely useless. Don't know why he has a B-

I don't understand why White has so high percentages but he's got the worse +/- in the team. Not just this game but other previous games!

[XDT76]

Thanks for the grades Timvp. Too bad they collapsed the last 2 minutes. Offensively they’re good, but this team still can’t hang on their defense which is the Spurs longtime mantra. We need that stopper and mental toughness. I don’t know why Belli was still in the last 2 minutes with the Spurs up by 8. Pop should’ put our best defensive squad to maintain the lead.

I feel that this game it's the offense rather than defense that lost the game, in that last few possession spurs got a couple of stops but they just can't score

[tbdog]

Freedom of movement took a backwards seat for Beli at the end. Reddick getting a weak call to take the lead. Gay getting held on the post up the following possession. Pretty rough end.

[tbdog]

We have had some tough losses this year that would usually break our backs. Must be hard for the coaches to pick up the pieces. Grizz, bulls, this game off the top of my head.

[313]

No one should get higher than B, the effort was terrible

[elbamba1]

I still think the 2 4-point plays were BS. Shooters were kicking out thier legs which is suppossed to be an offensive foul.

[tmtcsc]

Yep

[Dex]

Fucking retarded to pull DD down 2 just because you want the 3. One, it tells them you're going for the 3. Two, why not use him as a decoy?

Pop's late game planning has left much to be desired this season. For a guy who used to be a mastermind of misdirection on out of bounds plays, he seems all too content to just put the ball in DeRozan's hands and let him go one on one for the win.

When the Spurs needed two to tie, Pop decided to skip the timeout and opted for hero ball once again. The result: DeMar getting blocked at the rim (and what should have been a shooting foul, but I digress).

After a defensive stop and with the Spurs clinging to life with 1 second on the clock, Pop was forced to timeout to advanced the ball...and the best he could draw up was a play that resulted in throwing the ball to a guarded Belinelli running away from the basket at halfcourt. The Spurs didn't even get a shot up...which is inexcusable, because they still had 1 more timeout remaining and should have used it as soon as they realized that their set was blown.

Also, I know Pop and Brown are old friends...but don't just sit there and laugh with your buddy when your team has just shit itself on the court.

[Jay.From.NbTx]

Rudy gets a C at best for those two fouls

[monty4329]

Since we've lost 2 in a row and 4 of our last 6, is it fair to say the rest of the league has figured our defense out?

The problem was the offense, not the defense. Embiid is a monster and was well contained. We didn't score last 2.5 minutes....

[MultiTroll]

The Gay foul on Reddik was all on Gay.
You have to give the shooter the floor to land on.
You can't be pulling Bruce Bowen shit in 2019.
Good call and a super stupid low IQ play by Gay.

[monty4329]

Thanks for the grades Timvp. Too bad they collapsed the last 2 minutes. Offensively they’re good, but this team still can’t hang on their defense which is the Spurs longtime mantra. We need that stopper and mental toughness. I don’t know why Belli was still in the last 2 minutes with the Spurs up by 8. Pop should’ put our best defensive squad to maintain the lead.

The problem wasn't the defense. No scoring the last 2.5 minutes, how can the defense be the problem? The eunuch DDR missed everything possible in the last 2 minutes, walking to a shot that even my grandma would block. Defense was OK.

[DAF86]

White needs a bigger role, imho.

[ceperez]

White needs a bigger role, imho.

White is a much smart player than Derozan. It shows in his shooting percentages.

The problem is that he's not athletic enough to just dominate. He needs that safety valve when he finds himself covered defensively.

Anyway.... everyone's just learning. Next season will be much better.

[DAF86]

White is a much smart player than Derozan. It shows in his shooting percentages.

The problem is that he's not athletic enough to just dominate. He needs that safety valve when he finds himself covered defensively.

Anyway.... everyone's just learning. Next season will be much better.

White is deceptively athletic, tbh.


Colorado Guard Derrick White posted the second best three-quarter sprint time at 3.08 (97th percentile historically) and tied for the third best standing vertical leap at 35.5 (99th percentile historically)

Source: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Derrick-White-95407/ ©DraftExpress

[Coach X]

I won't give a B to Pop.

I enjoyed him yelling the team for what he considered a poor job in the defensive end. However, I think PHI was playing very well in offense and on top of that, they scored tough shots at the end of good defensive possessions and in broken plays.

Aldridge worked his ass off in defense with Embiid, doing a very good job IMO. He deserved more touches in the offense. Embiid wasn't 100% physically so attacking him consistently would probably have given some return in the opposite end of the court. Without worrying too much in defense, Embiid could focus on the offense and play hard defense just in the clutch. He stopped Aldridge twice in the same play forcing him to pass the ball and blocked DeRozan in a great defensive possession and didn't miss his P&R cover in the key possession (20" to finish).

Brown conceded DeRozan's jumper in the P&R cover between DeMarr and LaMarcus and despite DeRozan scoring, that was the winning tactic for him as the Spurs didn't engage Aldridge in the play and Embiid could rest all the second half. Should Pop orders had been "attack the rim against Embiid" the game would have been different IMO.

I also disagree with Pop about not playing DeMarr for the last shot. He took the previous shots, despite missing them I'd have played him. Even if he was looking for the winning 3pt, DeMarr deserved to be out there as he is really capable of catching and shooting a fadeaway from almost any point of the court. And overtime wasn't that bad for Spurs.

Anyway, it was a good road game vs a very good team. The lesson to learn is being up 8 in the clutch, you can't concede 9 points in 3 consecutive possessions just for not being focused on transition D and stupidly giving a 3+1 on a predictable pick&pop.

[duncan2k5]

this team is two wings away from being an elite team, this is really clear imo

Elite?? Lolol... That's more for teams like Celtics, nuggets, Philly, rockets, etc... Teams that have the potential to make the finals but will probably lose... A team like US getting two wings will only make us on the level of Boston , or Denver... (depending on how good the wings are)... We have severe issues... We aren't a good team... We are those borderline bad teams that ten years ago we expected to blow out every night, and if we lost to them, it was looked at as a bad loss... The quicker we stop acting like we are good, the faster we make the moves we need to in order to set ourselves up for the future

[sasaint]

The problem wasn't the defense. No scoring the last 2.5 minutes, how can the defense be the problem? The eunuch DDR missed everything possible in the last 2 minutes, walking to a shot that even my grandma would block. Defense was OK.


White needs a bigger role, imho.


White is a much smart player than Derozan. It shows in his shooting percentages.

The problem is that he's not athletic enough to just dominate. He needs that safety valve when he finds himself covered defensively.

Anyway.... everyone's just learning. Next season will be much better.

Unless we move DeMar, next season will be more of the same.

[Kobe'sAchilles]

Elite?? Lolol... That's more for teams like Celtics, nuggets, Philly, rockets, etc... Teams that have the potential to make the finals but will probably lose... A team like US getting two wings will only make us on the level of Boston , or Denver... (depending on how good the wings are)... We have severe issues... We aren't a good team... We are those borderline bad teams that ten years ago we expected to blow out every night, and if we lost to them, it was looked at as a bad loss... The quicker we stop acting like we are good, the faster we make the moves we need to in order to set ourselves up for the future

Well you said we were elite when we had Kawhi and he is only one wing player so...
You make it sound like we are the Cavs or something. We have a good young core of guards in White, Murray, and Lonnie. We have a stretch 4 in Bertans and Rudy Gay. We have good 3 point shooting in Patty and Belli. Honestly if we could replace Forbes with a 3 and D player, I think we are right there with Houston.

If Durant goes east, then the west becomes wiiiiide open for anybody to win. That includes us if we draft our future SF this summer. We really are one wing away from contending for these reasons: Draymond Green is done. Physically and mentally plus the Warriors would still be on the hook for Iggy so they can't re-sign Boogie. Golden St will collapse without Durant. Chris Paul barely plays 60 games a year and is always hurt in the playoffs, add on Harden always chokes in the playoffs, I don't see any reason to fear them. Lebron is now getting old man injuries and will start missing games. Plus I don't trust Magic to get him the adequate help he needs to contend. Denver can't defendy shadow. NO is trash. OKC isn't going to get any better with the way that Westbrook is aging. Dude never learned how to shoot and his athleticism is failing him. Really who is there to fear?

[sasaint]

Well you said we were elite when we had Kawhi and he is only one wing player so...
You make it sound like we are the Cavs or something. We have a good young core of guards in White, Murray, and Lonnie. We have a stretch 4 in Bertans and Rudy Gay. We have good 3 point shooting in Patty and Belli. Honestly if we could replace Forbes with a 3 and D player, I think we are right there with Houston.

If Durant goes east, then the west becomes wiiiiide open for anybody to win. That includes us if we draft our future SF this summer. We really are one wing away from contending for these reasons: Draymond Green is done. Physically and mentally plus the Warriors would still be on the hook for Iggy so they can't re-sign Boogie. Golden St will collapse without Durant. Chris Paul barely plays 60 games a year and is always hurt in the playoffs, add on Harden always chokes in the playoffs, I don't see any reason to fear them. Lebron is now getting old man injuries and will start missing games. Plus I don't trust Magic to get him the adequate help he needs to contend. Denver can't defendy shadow. NO is trash. OKC isn't going to get any better with the way that Westbrook is aging. Dude never learned how to shoot and his athleticism is failing him. Really who is there to fear?

Actually when we had Number 2 we had 2 wing players. You seem to forget Danny.

In your list of our assets, doesn't it seem odd that you didn't list DeMar? Moving him would be a clear case of addition by subtraction. Moreover, we would have his salary to spend on a wing/wings.

[MultiTroll]

On DDs drive to the hoop and missed layup, anyone see how close LMA came to getting the offensive rebound?
Can't tell if Sixer got a finger on the ball or if LMA just misjudged it. Had it with both hands for a quarter of a second.

The two three pointers, w-h-y is Forbes guarding the freethrow line and helping double the dribbler thus allowing Reddick to plant at the three point line? This teams IQ with a lead is beyond stupid and it's hardly Popped's 1st time pulling a 2013 6 point lead. Stop the effing 3 pointer! "Duh uh we don't play that way over here" he spouts to the one reporter with some sack to ask him. Italian reporter i think. None of the U.S. pussies would as him.

For that matter Gays idiotic 4 pointer foul, again how the hell is Reddick that far open. Duh uh koach says we aren't supposed to guard the 3 point line duh uh.

[Kobe'sAchilles]

Actually when we had Number 2 we had 2 wing players. You seem to forget Danny.

In your list of our assets, doesn't it seem odd that you didn't list DeMar? Moving him would be a clear case of addition by subtraction. Moreover, we would have his salary to spend on a wing/wings.

Danny fell off a cliff and really never played well after the 2014 season. But sure we had Danny. I didn't bring up Demar and LMA bc 2k5 hates both of them and bringing them up would only make his response "we won't win anything with LMA. We won't win anything with Demar." Never mind the fact that literally only Golden St has won "anything" in the West since we got LMA. For some reason he's got this mindset that other teams have been doing any winning. Idk y.

[sasaint]

Danny fell off a cliff and really never played well after the 2014 season. But sure we had Danny. I didn't bring up Demar and LMA bc 2k5 hates both of them and bringing them up would only make his response "we won't win anything with LMA. We won't win anything with Demar." Never mind the fact that literally only Golden St has won "anything" in the West since we got LMA. For some reason he's got this mindset that other teams have been doing any winning. Idk y.

I don't know what his mindset is. With me it is not a comparative thing. Aside from what the other teams beneath GS are/do, I don't think LMA and DeMar are pieces that we would be wise to build around. I am more or less reconciled to LMA's being here until his wheels fall off, but I still have hopes that Pop will see how expensive, unreliable and expendable DeMar is. Most posters want to move younger, cheaper assets or Spurs trash for a legit SF. I believe the better move would be to move DeMar for that SF.

[Keepin' it real]

I wish the Spurs would be perfect, all day every day. Just like me. -- spurstalk

[spurs10]

Thank you for the grades. This game was very demoralizing and frustrating, so hearing about some of the positives was helpful. Regarding the last play, that couldn't have gone worse. It's still hard to believe we couldn't get a shot off. My thought was Pop was pretty damned pissed with the last two minutes and was going for the win. In hindsight a tie would have been better....of course.

On to the Big Easy. Two nights there before the next game is mighty scary and easy to succumb to earthly delights! If anything last night's horrible loss might be enough to shock these guys into keeping focused.

[FkLA]

It's been approximately 926 minutes since it happened . . . and, honestly, it hurts. It's a pain deep in the soul that I probably won't ever shake. To be that close to such a great moment -- only to see it slip through the fingers -- is still devastating. Somehow, it seems to have hurt more and more as the minutes progress as the realization set in regarding what exactly was at stake.

Sure, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't mean much. It's not something real. It's not a death or some other sort of real life tragedy. But given that following the Spurs is my only hobby in life, it's painful. I'm not going to even try to lie. It hurts.

I've tried getting away from it all to try to forget about it. But here I am, in the middle of my lunch break trying to eat, and all that I can see are memories of Reddick getting a 4-point play replaying again and again.

Logically, I know the pain doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's just a basketball game. And the Spurs already have five championships. And going into the game, going toe to toe with a team that just annihilated HOU would have been seen as a great success. Hell, after the way the Spurs looked on the road early on, just not losing by 30 would've been a job well done.

Logically, the Spurs' turnaround has been a great accomplishment. A year ago, if you told me the Spurs would be a playoff team without Kawhi, I would have been thrilled.

But damn.

This pain doesn't compare to anything else I've experienced in my Spurs fandom. Yeah, .4 sucked. The foul was tough to swallow. The no-look pass was unpleasant. The backdoor sweeps weren't fun. The frontdoor sweeps weren't enjoyable. But all of those don't even register compared to this.

I've had an extremely busy summer. Life is solid -- could be better but can't complain overall. But it will continue to haunt me.



Hopefully the the trade deadline will provide some sort of relief. The great thing about sports is there is always tomorrow. For now, at least, the pain of yesterday outweighs the excitement of tomorrow. I'm hoping that changes. Starting tonight.

[John B]

It's been approximately 926 minutes since it happened . . . and, honestly, it hurts. It's a pain deep in the soul that I probably won't ever shake. To be that close to such a great moment -- only to see it slip through the fingers -- is still devastating. Somehow, it seems to have hurt more and more as the minutes progress as the realization set in regarding what exactly was at stake.

Sure, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't mean much. It's not something real. It's not a death or some other sort of real life tragedy. But given that following the Spurs is my only hobby in life, it's painful. I'm not going to even try to lie. It hurts.

I've tried getting away from it all to try to forget about it. But here I am, in the middle of my lunch break trying to eat, and all that I can see are memories of Reddick getting a 4-point play replaying again and again.

Logically, I know the pain doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's just a basketball game. And the Spurs already have five championships. And going into the game, going toe to toe with a team that just annihilated HOU would have been seen as a great success. Hell, after the way the Spurs looked on the road early on, just not losing by 30 would've been a job well done.

Logically, the Spurs' turnaround has been a great accomplishment. A year ago, if you told me the Spurs would be a playoff team without Kawhi, I would have been thrilled.

But damn.

This pain doesn't compare to anything else I've experienced in my Spurs fandom. Yeah, .4 sucked. The foul was tough to swallow. The no-look pass was unpleasant. The backdoor sweeps weren't fun. The frontdoor sweeps weren't enjoyable. But all of those don't even register compared to this.

I've had an extremely busy summer. Life is solid -- could be better but can't complain overall. But it will continue to haunt me.



Hopefully the the trade deadline will provide some sort of relief. The great thing about sports is there is always tomorrow. For now, at least, the pain of yesterday outweighs the excitement of tomorrow. I'm hoping that changes. Starting tonight.
Tbh this team has overachieved. Watching them annihilated Raptors, win over Mavs, etc., raises your hopes and expectations just to fall flat. I guess it’s getting consistent, healthy. But for sure still has a lot more tweaking to go, and agree that hopefully coming by was of trade before the deadline. I personally don’t expect too much to ease the pain and see things as a silver lining. Next year when everybody’s healthy and a year on their belt, moved Pau/picks for a defensive 3 and D, is when I will start expecting more

[Coach X]

Unless we move DeMar, next season will be more of the same.
This is DeMarr's first season in San Antonio. He's adapting to the system and vice versa. I'm very optimistic about him after one summer working under Spurs guidance. I bet next season he will start scoring from three in certain spots and he will play better defense as well. Pop could run more P&R actions for him ala Parker/Ginobili. DeRozan has the correct attitude, I can only see him getting better in San Antonio.
I really trust our player-development coaches, commanded by Chip. Year after year they do an amazing job, there are a lot of examples on the current roster. Damn, even Patty Mills is scoring in penetrations nowadays!

Trust the process.

I mean, KEEP POUNDING THE ROCK.

[sasaint]

This is DeMarr's first season in San Antonio. He's adapting to the system and vice versa. I'm very optimistic about him after one summer working under Spurs guidance. I bet next season he will start scoring from three in certain spots and he will play better defense as well. Pop could run more P&R actions for him ala Parker/Ginobili. DeRozan has the correct attitude, I can only see him getting better in San Antonio.
I really trust our player-development coaches, commanded by Chip. Year after year they do an amazing job, there are a lot of examples on the current roster. Damn, even Patty Mills is scoring in penetrations nowadays!

Trust the process.

I mean, KEEP POUNDING THE ROCK.

I trust the Spurs player development process, as well. That is another reason I believe DeMar is expendable. I would rather the team concentrate on developing the guys who are younger, show greater potential and are less expensive. Spend DeMar's money on a legit SF.

[Play Boban]

Play Poeltl.

[spurraider21]

Play Poeltl.
make an account about it

[sasaint]

make an account about it

:lol

[Kobe'sAchilles]

I trust the Spurs player development process, as well. That is another reason I believe DeMar is expendable. I would rather the team concentrate on developing the guys who are younger, show greater potential and are less expensive. Spend DeMar's money on a legit SF.

Spend it on who though? Your idea sounds good in a vacuum but it's not practical. Look up the salaries that are comparable to DeRozen and it gets tricky. I mean Kyle Lowry makes more money than DeRozan and he's a worse player. Jrue Holiday and CJ McCollum make roughly the same and I rather have Demar than them. Mike Conely, Blake Griffin, Marc Gasol, Otto Porter. These are all worse players that are in the Demar salary range. Whiteside, Batum, and Harrison Barnes all make his money too. Demar's contract isn't that bad tbh. I just don't know what mythical player you want us to get.

It's better for our young players to lean on DeRozen early in their career and then pick up the slack for him later on when they are ready to stand on their own. White is developing nicely next to DeRozan. Murray has the swag and the confidence to fit in with Demar as well and I don't se his growth getting stunted. Lonnie is looking like a 3 year project at this point and it would be nice to have an All-star level player playing SG while Lonnie gets his game together.

My thing is I rather draft a SF, get them to learn the system and develop their game slowly, and then lean on all the young players when the time is right. Just bc we have high draft picks that doesn't guarantee success even if we draft talented people (think phoenix and minny). By all accounts Demar is a good vet to have on this team and a great teammate.

[sasaint]

Spend it on who though? Your idea sounds good in a vacuum but it's not practical. Look up the salaries that are comparable to DeRozen and it gets tricky. I mean Kyle Lowry makes more money than DeRozan and he's a worse player. Jrue Holiday and CJ McCollum make roughly the same and I rather have Demar than them. Mike Conely, Blake Griffin, Marc Gasol, Otto Porter. These are all worse players that are in the Demar salary range. Whiteside, Batum, and Harrison Barnes all make his money too. Demar's contract isn't that bad tbh. I just don't know what mythical player you want us to get.

It's better for our young players to lean on DeRozen early in their career and then pick up the slack for him later on when they are ready to stand on their own. White is developing nicely next to DeRozan. Murray has the swag and the confidence to fit in with Demar as well and I don't se his growth getting stunted. Lonnie is looking like a 3 year project at this point and it would be nice to have an All-star level player playing SG while Lonnie gets his game together.

My thing is I rather draft a SF, get them to learn the system and develop their game slowly, and then lean on all the young players when the time is right. Just bc we have high draft picks that doesn't guarantee success even if we draft talented people (think phoenix and minny). By all accounts Demar is a good vet to have on this team and a great teammate.

A trade doesn't have to be 1-for-1. And it might have to involve a third team. But I would start by offering DeMar and Toronto's first to Minnesota for Robert Covington and Taj Gibson and the Wolves' first.

[Kobe'sAchilles]

A trade doesn't have to be 1-for-1. And it might have to involve a third team. But I would start by offering DeMar and Toronto's first to Minnesota for Robert Covington and Taj Gibson and the Wolves' first.

Thats only bc you've never actually seen Covington play. He's horrendous. He plays great in little games and disappears in the big ones. And he does this with absolutely no pressure on him at all. I'm too lazy to look it up but he shot something like 25% from the field and 12% from 3 in the playoffs against Boston. And all that is expected from him is to be a shooter! Taj Gibson is like David West to me. A horrible fit for the team. Why do we want an undersized power forward with no jumper? Especially in 2019! The dude is useless. The only thing of value is the pick and my point about that is that nobody comes into the NBA ready to play. It takes years to develop. We might be stuck in a Phoenix or Sacramento or Minny situation. You basically want to tank and I'm not so sure that's the best option. What if we draft a SF this year and he shows promise at a young age like Kawhi did (am not saying he will turn into Kawhi) and we have Murray back and white gets playoff experience and LMA and DDR are still our stars. Well all of a sudden we are a contender again in the west. I mean honestly this is the weakest the west has been in 20 years. We don't need to tank in order to get good again. We are on the cusp.

[tbdog]

No point in Robert Covington if DD is out. Covington covers DD weakness.

[sasaint]

Thats only bc you've never actually seen Covington play. He's horrendous. He plays great in little games and disappears in the big ones. And he does this with absolutely no pressure on him at all. I'm too lazy to look it up but he shot something like 25% from the field and 12% from 3 in the playoffs against Boston. And all that is expected from him is to be a shooter! Taj Gibson is like David West to me. A horrible fit for the team. Why do we want an undersized power forward with no jumper? Especially in 2019! The dude is useless. The only thing of value is the pick and my point about that is that nobody comes into the NBA ready to play. It takes years to develop. We might be stuck in a Phoenix or Sacramento or Minny situation. You basically want to tank and I'm not so sure that's the best option. What if we draft a SF this year and he shows promise at a young age like Kawhi did (am not saying he will turn into Kawhi) and we have Murray back and white gets playoff experience and LMA and DDR are still our stars. Well all of a sudden we are a contender again in the west. I mean honestly this is the weakest the west has been in 20 years. We don't need to tank in order to get good again. We are on the cusp.

I am not making a suggestion that I believe will result in our tanking. When you feel like looking up Covington's numbers, look up DeMar's while you are at it. He has been a net negative on/off his entire career. We probably would have been better off if he hadn't played the last couple of weeks. I do not believe we would miss him much this season, and certainly not at all next season when Dijon returns, and LWIV, hopefully, proves himself.

The sample size is pretty small for Covington; if you want to see a guy who disappears in big games and plays big in small games, then don't take your eye off DeMar. I do covet Covington, and I believe he is just the ticket for this team. I also like Taj, but that doesn't really matter since he is on an expiring contract anyway. For the record I liked DWest even when he was a Spur. I believe that Pop set him and the team up to fail because of his refusal to split Duncan and LMA and pair one with DWest and the other with Boris.

DeMar is not the "star" I want to pay $28MM and build a team around.

[spurs10]

It's been approximately 926 minutes since it happened . . . and, honestly, it hurts. It's a pain deep in the soul that I probably won't ever shake. To be that close to such a great moment -- only to see it slip through the fingers -- is still devastating. Somehow, it seems to have hurt more and more as the minutes progress as the realization set in regarding what exactly was at stake.

Sure, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't mean much. It's not something real. It's not a death or some other sort of real life tragedy. But given that following the Spurs is my only hobby in life, it's painful. I'm not going to even try to lie. It hurts.

I've tried getting away from it all to try to forget about it. But here I am, in the middle of my lunch break trying to eat, and all that I can see are memories of Reddick getting a 4-point play replaying again and again.

Logically, I know the pain doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's just a basketball game. And the Spurs already have five championships. And going into the game, going toe to toe with a team that just annihilated HOU would have been seen as a great success. Hell, after the way the Spurs looked on the road early on, just not losing by 30 would've been a job well done.

Logically, the Spurs' turnaround has been a great accomplishment. A year ago, if you told me the Spurs would be a playoff team without Kawhi, I would have been thrilled.

But damn.

This pain doesn't compare to anything else I've experienced in my Spurs fandom. Yeah, .4 sucked. The foul was tough to swallow. The no-look pass was unpleasant. The backdoor sweeps weren't fun. The frontdoor sweeps weren't enjoyable. But all of those don't even register compared to this.

I've had an extremely busy summer. Life is solid -- could be better but can't complain overall. But it will continue to haunt me.



Hopefully the the trade deadline will provide some sort of relief. The great thing about sports is there is always tomorrow. For now, at least, the pain of yesterday outweighs the excitement of tomorrow. I'm hoping that changes. Starting tonight. I take it you're paraphrasing timvp from summer of 2013. That being said this was a bad loss, but we can move on Saturday.

[Kobe'sAchilles]

Apples to oranges in those playoff comparisons tbh. Teams actually game plan to shut down Demar since he's the number 1 option. Nobody cares about Covington and he still sucks. There's nothing to suggest he will play any better. And Gibson is a waste of a roster spot and money. We have enough of those.

I I agree ideally that DeRozan isn't the player to build around. I have seen him in the playoffs ( I actually like the NBA for some reason and watch every team play). He sucked in the first round and they were bounced a couple of years in a row. Then his team carried him to the conference finals where he played decently. Then he sucked again the next year against Lebron. Playoffs get into his head and affect his game. But on the flip side, we have nobody else that can be the number 1 option as a guard. Nobody else that can consistently create his own shot. Nobody else that teams game plan for. Derrick White could be that but it's too soon to know. Same with DeJounte and Lonnie is seriously a project. Like a 3 year project. He plays so stupid that it's almost comical. But he's going to be a stud if he doesn't get injured again. I have a lot of faith in our young guards.

But if you take away DeRozan we don't make the playoffs. If we trade for Gibson and Covington we don't make the playoffs. We risk rushing our younger players into roles they aren't ready to fill and that could backfire and damage them long run. Teams throw their high picks to the wolves and don't take their time with them and build them from the ground up on fundamentals. There's a reason why Spur draft picks (a larger amount than we admit) get second contracts in the league. I don't want Lonnie to be like Booker and never learn how to play defense. Or be like Wiggins and sulk in the corner bc he doesn't have the ball. Ideally Lonnie would learn how to move off the ball and cut and set screens.

DeRozan can't carry a franchise. We agree on that. but he's better than Covington and Gibson. What would Gibson even do on the Spurs? Seriously. And Covington is as useless as Danny Green offensively. He needs others to create for him and you want to get rid of our best play maker. Is Forbes going to create for him? Patty? Marco? Rudy and LMA aren't creators either. I could be wrong but I think we are best suited to just be patient.

[mkurts]

Too generous with the grades.

DeFrozen, Aldridge and Forbes all should have gotten no more than C+

[tonski17]

Thanks timvp! spurs should limit their turnovers. Is there a chance that we could acquire kanter? I heard he was upset for him being benched. Does he fit the system?

[sasaint]

Apples to oranges in those playoff comparisons tbh. Teams actually game plan to shut down Demar since he's the number 1 option. Nobody cares about Covington and he still sucks. There's nothing to suggest he will play any better. And Gibson is a waste of a roster spot and money. We have enough of those.

I I agree ideally that DeRozan isn't the player to build around. I have seen him in the playoffs ( I actually like the NBA for some reason and watch every team play). He sucked in the first round and they were bounced a couple of years in a row. Then his team carried him to the conference finals where he played decently. Then he sucked again the next year against Lebron. Playoffs get into his head and affect his game. But on the flip side, we have nobody else that can be the number 1 option as a guard. Nobody else that can consistently create his own shot. Nobody else that teams game plan for. Derrick White could be that but it's too soon to know. Same with DeJounte and Lonnie is seriously a project. Like a 3 year project. He plays so stupid that it's almost comical. But he's going to be a stud if he doesn't get injured again. I have a lot of faith in our young guards.

But if you take away DeRozan we don't make the playoffs. If we trade for Gibson and Covington we don't make the playoffs. We risk rushing our younger players into roles they aren't ready to fill and that could backfire and damage them long run. Teams throw their high picks to the wolves and don't take their time with them and build them from the ground up on fundamentals. There's a reason why Spur draft picks (a larger amount than we admit) get second contracts in the league. I don't want Lonnie to be like Booker and never learn how to play defense. Or be like Wiggins and sulk in the corner bc he doesn't have the ball. Ideally Lonnie would learn how to move off the ball and cut and set screens.

DeRozan can't carry a franchise. We agree on that. but he's better than Covington and Gibson. What would Gibson even do on the Spurs? Seriously. And Covington is as useless as Danny Green offensively. He needs others to create for him and you want to get rid of our best play maker. Is Forbes going to create for him? Patty? Marco? Rudy and LMA aren't creators either. I could be wrong but I think we are best suited to just be patient.

I thought Pop wasted a year of DWhite in the G League last season. I think he is being reined in this season because of DeMar. I think he is ready and perfectly capable of filling DeMar's role. Moreover, hanging onto a guy who soaks up 34 minutes a game doesn't help our young guys to ripen in their time. He prevents it. We have a surplus of backcourt players, and DeMar is the guy I think will reap the highest return and be missed the least.

I value Covington for his 3 and for his D, and I think he can stand out with the Spurs. I don't mind having a tough-minded Taj for a year, either, and gaining his salary following this season. Being first-round playoff fodder isn't a goal of mine, however, I believe we would not be any less likely to make the playoffs or worse off if we did make them. Building a solid foundation for a team is a lot like building solid fundamentals for an individual player. DeMar is not a solid foundation piece.

[timtonymanu]

this team is two wings away from being an elite team, this is really clear imo

:cry but we have enough depth

[duncan2k5]

Well you said we were elite when we had Kawhi and he is only one wing player so...
You make it sound like we are the Cavs or something. We have a good young core of guards in White, Murray, and Lonnie. We have a stretch 4 in Bertans and Rudy Gay. We have good 3 point shooting in Patty and Belli. Honestly if we could replace Forbes with a 3 and D player, I think we are right there with Houston.

If Durant goes east, then the west becomes wiiiiide open for anybody to win. That includes us if we draft our future SF this summer. We really are one wing away from contending for these reasons: Draymond Green is done. Physically and mentally plus the Warriors would still be on the hook for Iggy so they can't re-sign Boogie. Golden St will collapse without Durant. Chris Paul barely plays 60 games a year and is always hurt in the playoffs, add on Harden always chokes in the playoffs, I don't see any reason to fear them. Lebron is now getting old man injuries and will start missing games. Plus I don't trust Magic to get him the adequate help he needs to contend. Denver can't defendy shadow. NO is trash. OKC isn't going to get any better with the way that Westbrook is aging. Dude never learned how to shoot and his athleticism is failing him. Really who is there to fear?

Kawhi is an elite player... U expect to get two elite wings?? Lmfao

[duncan2k5]

Well you said we were elite when we had Kawhi and he is only one wing player so...
You make it sound like we are the Cavs or something. We have a good young core of guards in White, Murray, and Lonnie. We have a stretch 4 in Bertans and Rudy Gay. We have good 3 point shooting in Patty and Belli. Honestly if we could replace Forbes with a 3 and D player, I think we are right there with Houston.

If Durant goes east, then the west becomes wiiiiide open for anybody to win. That includes us if we draft our future SF this summer. We really are one wing away from contending for these reasons: Draymond Green is done. Physically and mentally plus the Warriors would still be on the hook for Iggy so they can't re-sign Boogie. Golden St will collapse without Durant. Chris Paul barely plays 60 games a year and is always hurt in the playoffs, add on Harden always chokes in the playoffs, I don't see any reason to fear them. Lebron is now getting old man injuries and will start missing games. Plus I don't trust Magic to get him the adequate help he needs to contend. Denver can't defendy shadow. NO is trash. OKC isn't going to get any better with the way that Westbrook is aging. Dude never learned how to shoot and his athleticism is failing him. Really who is there to fear?

Golden state was an elite team without Durant... Won 73 games...

[duncan2k5]

Well you said we were elite when we had Kawhi and he is only one wing player so...
You make it sound like we are the Cavs or something. We have a good young core of guards in White, Murray, and Lonnie. We have a stretch 4 in Bertans and Rudy Gay. We have good 3 point shooting in Patty and Belli. Honestly if we could replace Forbes with a 3 and D player, I think we are right there with Houston.

If Durant goes east, then the west becomes wiiiiide open for anybody to win. That includes us if we draft our future SF this summer. We really are one wing away from contending for these reasons: Draymond Green is done. Physically and mentally plus the Warriors would still be on the hook for Iggy so they can't re-sign Boogie. Golden St will collapse without Durant. Chris Paul barely plays 60 games a year and is always hurt in the playoffs, add on Harden always chokes in the playoffs, I don't see any reason to fear them. Lebron is now getting old man injuries and will start missing games. Plus I don't trust Magic to get him the adequate help he needs to contend. Denver can't defendy shadow. NO is trash. OKC isn't going to get any better with the way that Westbrook is aging. Dude never learned how to shoot and his athleticism is failing him. Really who is there to fear?

Denver can't defend what?? Do u even watch basketball?? They're the best defensive team in the league... Plz stop

[duncan2k5]

Danny fell off a cliff and really never played well after the 2014 season. But sure we had Danny. I didn't bring up Demar and LMA bc 2k5 hates both of them and bringing them up would only make his response "we won't win anything with LMA. We won't win anything with Demar." Never mind the fact that literally only Golden St has won "anything" in the West since we got LMA. For some reason he's got this mindset that other teams have been doing any winning. Idk y.

If golden state didn't exist, we still wouldn't win shit with them... Not sure what about that is rocket science

[duncan2k5]

This is DeMarr's first season in San Antonio. He's adapting to the system and vice versa. I'm very optimistic about him after one summer working under Spurs guidance. I bet next season he will start scoring from three in certain spots and he will play better defense as well. Pop could run more P&R actions for him ala Parker/Ginobili. DeRozan has the correct attitude, I can only see him getting better in San Antonio.
I really trust our player-development coaches, commanded by Chip. Year after year they do an amazing job, there are a lot of examples on the current roster. Damn, even Patty Mills is scoring in penetrations nowadays!

Trust the process.

I mean, KEEP POUNDING THE ROCK.

Lol... Sure worked with Richard Jefferson and Hedo...

[monty4329]

[QUOTE= Jrue Holiday and CJ McCollum make roughly the same and I rather have Demar than them. Mike Conely, Blake Griffin.(...). These are all worse players that are in the Demar salary range. .[/QUOTE]

What? All of them are better players than DDR.

[tbdog]

Disagree. Conley and Holiday are nice players and all but they don't win 60 games in the east in Tor.

[Kobe'sAchilles]

Denver can't defend what?? Do u even watch basketball?? They're the best defensive team in the league... Plz stop

I mean why do you say stuff like that? Clearly that's false. Like what is the thinking process for making that up? Plus you didn't respond to anything I said really. I mean yes Golden St did win 73 games without Durant but they aren't the same as they were on 2016. They have no bench (iggy and Livingston are washed) and Draymond Green has lost like 4 steps. Dude barely grazes rim when he shoots. I guess you can be scared of all these West teams but I'm not. Just like I won't be scared of the clippers when they get Kawhi.

[Kobe'sAchilles]

What? All of them are better players than DDR.
Jrue Holiday is so good that he can't even sniff the playoffs while playin with the 3rd best player in the league. He's so good that AD is probably not going to re-sign in NO lol. And Blake Griffin failed to make the postseason carrying a franchise as well. He can't even lead a team in the East to the playoffs and you don't even need a winning record to get the 8th seed. I get that people hate DDR (I'm not saying he's great or anything) but he also isn't as bad as you think.

[FkLA]

I get that people hate DDR (I'm not saying he's great or anything) but he also isn't as bad as you think.

Yeah, if you compare him to the great Timothy Theodore Duncan or even Nephew you are always going to be disappointed. He's an all-star level guy not an all-time great. That's not too shabby especially when stars aren't exactly flocking to come here and we just had one bail on us. ST has always lacked perspective though, tbh.

[DAF86]

It's not that he isn't an all-time great, it's his style of play. A guy like a Bradley Beal, for example, isn't an all-time great either. But his style of play is so much more palatable and conductive to winning when it matters. Neither guy is a top 1 option but you can win with Beal as a complementary option, I'm not sure you can win with a guy that can't shoot threes as complementary piece, tbh.

[monty4329]

Jrue Holiday is so good that he can't even sniff the playoffs while playin with the 3rd best player in the league. He's so good that AD is probably not going to re-sign in NO lol. And Blake Griffin failed to make the postseason carrying a franchise as well. He can't even lead a team in the East to the playoffs and you don't even need a winning record to get the 8th seed. I get that people hate DDR (I'm not saying he's great or anything) but he also isn't as bad as you think.

With your "logic" Cousins sucked because the Kings didn't make the playoffs with him. And Jokic sucked last year, but this year doesn't. A flawless logic, for sure.

[Spurs da champs]

With your "logic" Cousins sucked because the Kings didn't make the playoffs with him. And Jokic sucked last year, but this year doesn't. A flawless logic, for sure.
What's funny too is he is either ignorant or purposely forgetting Holliday and NOLAP made the playoffs last year and he locked down Blazers backcourt of Dame & CJ McCollum .

[Kobe'sAchilles]

What's funny too is he is either ignorant or purposely forgetting Holliday and NOLAP made the playoffs last year and he locked down Blazers backcourt of Dame & CJ McCollum .

So that's the standard? Winning one playoff series? Going to the playoffs once? In that case, Demar has won more playoff series in one year than Holiday had his entire career. Maybe you're too ignorant or purposefully forgetting that. I mean the level of stupidity is shocking here. Demar sucks :cry Let's trade him for other players who are worse than him bc I've never seen them play before :cry Jrue Holiday won an entire playoff series guys! Let's forget that they suck now though and have sucked basically the entire time Holiday has been a Pelican!

[Spurs da champs]

So that's the standard? Winning one playoff series? Going to the playoffs once? In that case, Demar has won more playoff series in one year than Holiday had his entire career. Maybe you're too ignorant or purposefully forgetting that. I mean the level of stupidity is shocking here. Demar sucks :cry Let's trade him for other players who are worse than him bc I've never seen them play before :cry Jrue Holiday won an entire playoff series guys! Let's forget that they suck now though and have sucked basically the entire time Holiday has been a Pelican!
Do you view AD in the same light as you do Jrue? Your standards are funny btw seeing as LMA only won one playoff series prior to joining the Spurs. Also Jrue's 76ers beat the Bulls after Rose got injured just saying.

[Kobe'sAchilles]

With your "logic" Cousins sucked because the Kings didn't make the playoffs with him. And Jokic sucked last year, but this year doesn't. A flawless logic, for sure.

Cousins is the poster child of empty stats on bad teams. Bad leader. Bad teammate. Bad locker room presence. The Kings are playing better now than they ever did with Cousins. If you would rather have Blake Griffin then I can't help you. Detroit doesn't even want him. The Clippers got rid of him. The bleeping Clippers who haven't won squat. And they didn't get a top 5 player in return like Toronto did when they shipped out Demar.

BTW with your "logic" I can make up words that you never said. With your "logic" I can make up an argument centered around something you never said. Bc I never said that that Blake or Cousins or Holiday suck. I just said that I rather have Demar over them. Nice try though

[Bad Takes]

Cousins is the poster child of empty stats on bad teams. Bad leader. Bad teammate. Bad locker room presence. The Kings are playing better now than they ever did with Cousins. If you would rather have Blake Griffin then I can't help you. Detroit doesn't even want him. The Clippers got rid of him. The bleeping Clippers who haven't won squat. And they didn't get a top 5 player in return like Toronto did when they shipped out Demar.

BTW with your "logic" I can make up words that you never said. With your "logic" I can make up an argument centered around something you never said. Bc I never said that that Blake or Cousins or Holiday suck. I just said that I rather have Demar over them. Nice try though

Demar over Blake Griffin?! Wtf?

[Kobe'sAchilles]

Do you view AD in the same light as you do Jrue? Your standards are funny btw seeing as LMA only won one playoff series prior to joining the Spurs. Also Jrue's 76ers beat the Bulls after Rose got injured just saying.

Yeah I do. AD is somehow a great player and the most overrated player in the league. He's got a lot of KG in him and that's not a good thing. AD can't lead a team to a championship. Very few players can. I mean Lebron and Steph are about it. They are the only two A+ players to me. Then you have Durant, Harden, Kawhi, Giannis. A- players who can lead your team far in the playoffs but not win you a championship. They have Conference finals ceilings. Talent wise though AD is every bit as good as the A- players but something is missing, either leadership or killer instinct or shrinking during the clutch. I don't know what, but Harden is dragging his team to the 4th/5th seed without CP3 and Capella while AD isn't even putting up a fight.

The goal is to win and I judge players based off of that and how much they have proven they are capable of leading a team in winning. Like for me Durant has proven he can join loaded teams and win (even be the best player) but he hasn't proven he can carry a team and lead it to a championship. He ran to Steph, not the other way around. You might have a different criteria in judging players, but that's mine.

That's kind of my whole point on this Demar thing. He's a good player who has proven that he can lead a team to the playoffs consistently as the best player. Other good players haven't shown me that same. (Jrue, Blake, Cousins). You have to be in the dance in order to have a shot to win and they don't make it to the dance. He even made the conference finals which in itself is difficult.

But LMA has now won more than that on the Spurs so the point is moot. But yes before we signed him in 2016, I thought LMA was the missing piece of a championship but not the entire puzzle itself. I thought him being with Duncan and Kawhi would lead us to a championship. Unfortunately the wheels fell off Duncan and that never happened. He's a B- player to me (always has been).

[Kobe'sAchilles]

Demar over Blake Griffin?! Wtf?

I admit that Blake started off hot and I was like Daaamn Blake. Wreck em. But he just doesn't equate to winning. Say what you want about how overrated DDR is and how much he sucks, etc but he got Toronto into the playoffs 5 years in a row in the East while Blake can't even lead his team to a better record than the 22-24 Heat.

[Play Boban]

make an account about it
I might have to tbh. But I don’t like alts. I support all Euros.

[Coach X]

I think DeRozan is been valued too much for his last games and not enough for his first two months. He carried our team for weeks, without White, a very poor Aldridge and no defense at all.

He's not playing well now... as it happens to any single player in the league at some point. I'd understand this undervaluing if he played poorly more than 20 games but anything under 10 games is nothing else than a normal slump. He's out today with a sore knee so he probably hasn't been healthy enough lately. He played well more than 2 months, still has credit to me.

[Coach X]

Lol... Sure worked with Richard Jefferson and Hedo...
DeRozan has played for the Spurs barely 3 months, it's not comparable yet.

Anyway, I'm not saying Spurs coaches can do miracles. Attitude is everything and I see obvious differences between those two you mention and DeRozan.