Why is this year so much different than last year?

[tb5]

Bertans...without him, the 3's aren't there and floor spacing is affected. What a horrible trade that backfired and then getting nothing out of Carroll. They need to try to get that spacing and 3 point shooting back somehow.

Murray...better defensive presence, but a step back offensively.

Pop is trying lineup changes but before long it's just gonna be time to blow this thing up. Especially if injuries start to mount and the team starts tuning Pop out at some point.

[slick'81]

Same team with no real improvement internally

[313]

Because when you're not getting better you're getting worse

[timtonymanu]

They had obvious roster flaws last year but because they took Denver to 7 games they felt they could mostly stand pat. And I’m considering the Morris burn too, I’m not convinced having him commit would have made this team significantly better. At the end of the day, they still have two star players that don’t make winning plays and overplay a bunch of vets that mostly should have been traded last year.

So much changes need to be made.

[ElNono]

Murray is healthy

[tbdog]

Defensive schemes look wrong. Giving away way to many baseline shots, both in the corner and dunks. Then teams can just rise above Mills and Forbes and essentially shoot an uncontested 3. For some reason we see unable to come up with team oriented defensive schemes and live with poor individual talents. And perhaps Pop just doesn't care and is just blaming the game has evolved in this boring style. He sees a guard simply shoot over Forbes and thinks its just impossible to defend.

[spurraider21]

Pop has gone off the deep end

[Dennis the Menace]

Whats worse? Popovich’s coaching USA Basketball this summer or Popovich’s coaching of the Spurs so far this season?

We have a healthy team with 2 all star players and arguably one of the worst teams in the league. That’s poor coaching and roster management/construction. Both of those result from Popovich’s role. He’s to blame.

[Dennis the Menace]

Derrick and Dejounte have played 7 minutes together all season. Explain that insanity while Belli, Mills, Forbes are eating minutes. Lonnie and Carroll have played practically nothing. It’s insane

[Kurgan]

The coaching staff is worse. Messina left to coach in Europe and Udoka went to the Sixers. Their replacements are a newbie from the video room and an ex player in Duncan. Becky's one of Pop's yes men, so she's irrelevant too.

Aldridge is a year older and definitely looks like the decline is setting in - his total rebound percentage is the lowest of his career. Compare that to last season when it was the 4th highest in his career. Not to mention his 56 point game.

[BillMc]

LMA not playing physical.

DeRozan not playing smart.

Dejounte not really an improvement.

White regressing.

Jakob regressing.

Lonnie not making the leap.

Beli actually worse.

Davis gone.

The word is out to exploit Forbes on defense.

Coaching staff turnover.

Also, we've lost a lot of close games. Last year we may have over performed, this year under performed, but all-in-all the quality may be closer than it seems, just yielding different results.

[venitian navigator]

Murray first of all...
The fact he's not shooting threes and making terrible mistakes and games showing no skills as a play maker is really hurting the team...
Benching White, second...
The fact that White, after a very good season and a call up for the world cup, has been relegated as a back up point guard in favor of DJM has damaged his confidence...(maybe this has something to do with him playing bad on the internatonal stage...and Pop losing so confidence in him)

When the head of the snake is bad, the snake can't be good...

That said imho the decision of starting DJM has damaged the team confidence big time...simply because at the end of last year they found decent way of playing and White was playing well with LMA giving him the ball in the right spots and so the chance to have the right rythm. The obvious and likely right decision, expecially after the Morris fiasco, should have been to start back from the point of last year play off defeat aka a starting five playoff proven as White, Forbes, DDR, LMA, Poeltl.

still don't understand why the FO decided to go in a different way...

[SpurPadre]

LMA is older

Mills and Marco are older and still getting big minutes

Our "big" offseason acquisition isn't getting serious minutes

The rest of the teams in the league actually made improvements to their rosters in the offseason.

DeRozan is even more averse to threes this season than he was last year...and he's still a low IQ 4th quarter player.

Forbes still starting and chucking with awful defense.

Pop's coaching has taken a step back.

There you go.

[John B]

Shorter pre-season has not fully gelled the team together imo. Pop is still tinkering up till now, or not because he insists on the Forbes/Mills/Beli out there. I realize the absence of Davis has negative spacing. But Spurs just scored 132 points, BUT gave up 138. That’s lack of defense, and defense wins ballgames. Pop has not played the best defensive combination, obviously. It’s a puzzle why not. Pop should know best defense wins games.

Murray/Demar/Mills
White/Forbes
Caroll/Lonnie/Beli
Lyles/Gay/Metu
Aldridge/Poeltl/Eubanks

Make the starting lineup the best defensive stand. All can shoot outside and create spacing for Aldridge. Make Demar play the Manu role and feast on the 2nd unit. Forbes is not forced to guard the starting guard/SF. Avoids the Forbes/Beli/Mills combo. Come on Pop. You got balls to make Demar 6th man?

[ShutUp SayItAgain!]

Whats worse? Popovich’s coaching USA Basketball this summer or Popovich’s coaching of the Spurs so far this season?

We have a healthy team with 2 all star players and arguably one of the worst teams in the league. That’s poor coaching and roster management/construction. Both of those result from Popovich’s role. He’s to blame.

[vavvi]

Only 2 main reasons why:

1. In-game coaching shockingly regressing. Sadly we may have the worst in-game coaching in the league

2. LMA regressing from top20 player to top100 player. It’s a huge, almost Carmelo-like fall

that's it.

[poopbox]

The nba keeps moving forward and the spurs keep standing in place...

Outdated roster...outdated starts...outdated coaching...outdated schemes...

[JADG79]

The coaching staff is worse. Messina left to coach in Europe and Udoka went to the Sixers. Their replacements are a newbie from the video room and an ex player in Duncan. Becky's one of Pop's yes men, so she's irrelevant too.

Aldridge is a year older and definitely looks like the decline is setting in - his total rebound percentage is the lowest of his career. Compare that to last season when it was the 4th highest in his career. Not to mention his 56 point game.

agreed

we couldn’t keep our coach staff, Tim is not a coach and Becky is just a figure to represent feminism.
It is not sexist to say that we do not want or need a woman as a coach in this league.

The Spurs can't fire her now because she would be discriminating for being a woman.

[duncan2k5]

Starting Murray is what's best for the team... White isn't as good as u guys are making him out to be... Murray is a game changer, is younger, and has a higher ceiling... I'm not gonna throw away the future so we can start a point guard that has a ceiling of current Brogdon...whole we barely make the playoffs to lose

Spurs are in the top half of the NBA in scoring... All the analytics show that Murray starting isn't the reason we score less... It's Forbes... Forbes lineups has the worst numbers offensively and defensively....

Our main problem is defense... We almost the worst defensive team in the league... We may even be after last night... And all u guys can talk about is Murray's shooting? Giannis could never shoot for shit... But they built around him... Simmons is an even worse shooter than Murray and they have a championship ship caliber team because of how they built around him... So spare me the nonsense excuses... Murray is our best player and we surround him with no-heart, no-defense playing, ball hogging losers who check out the game when they don't get touches and expect him to turn shit into gold

[r0drig0lac]

Whats worse? Popovich’s coaching USA Basketball this summer or Popovich’s coaching of the Spurs so far this season?

We have a healthy team with 2 all star players and arguably one of the worst teams in the league. That’s poor coaching and roster management/construction. Both of those result from Popovich’s role. He’s to blame.

[get_mills_out]

Pop

[Darius Bieber]

We've basically lost two out of our top assistant coaches.. That's a huge loss from last year. Other teams getting better and letting their young guys play (Duncan Robinson being lights out with the Heat, Matt Thomas being a three point ninja at the Raptors) while Lonnie and our rookies warm the bench.

[DaBears]

As a SPURS Fan since birth so as i say what i am about to say its from a SPURS fan perspective.

I actually find myself hoping they lose, even in last night game vs WIZ i found my self saying 'Man i actually really want them to lose' because my hope is they will reach a point where Coach POP or the front office will be forced to make a change, and any change to the roster at this point will be a step in the right direction.

[DaBears]

Murray's 4 TO's a game doesn't help, last year we averaged 4 less TO's per game.. We dont have a 3 pt game like last year.. Davis B. Helped out alot.

[dbestpro]

No disrespect, but I wonder if the passing of Pop's wife has caused him mental issues. He may be deflecting his pain towards the team and fans and wants everyone to hurt as much as he does.

[J_Paco]

Whats worse? Popovich’s coaching USA Basketball this summer or Popovich’s coaching of the Spurs so far this season?

We have a healthy team with 2 all star players and arguably one of the worst teams in the league. That’s poor coaching and roster management/construction. Both of those result from Popovich’s role. He’s to blame.

How can a team without a lottery pick for 20 years ever have "proper roster construction." Every team in the league has flaws on their roster, buddy. The Spurs have the tools to be at least be competitive but Pop isn't putting the team or players in a position to succeed.

Stop running with that stupid, contrived narrative ad naseum. Y'all have been saying that stupid shit since after '14.

I agree that his coaching has been piss poor thus far, though. The lack of experimentation with line ups or rotations is baffling. He needs to stop treating role players like they are mainstays and start really shaking things up.

Which doesn't include throwing Lyles/Murray under the bus by benching them to protect one of the main issues; Bryn Forbes being a starter.

[J_Paco]

agreed

we couldn’t keep our coach staff, Tim is not a coach and Becky is just a figure to represent feminism.
It is not sexist to say that we do not want or need a woman as a coach in this league.

The Spurs can't fire her now because she would be discriminating for being a woman.

Get your misogynistic bullshit out of her, man.

She might not be ready to be a NBA head coach but Becky has a great mind for the game. Everyone has heaped praise on her and her knowledge of the sport. She was a PG after all and a very good one.

The problem is the people (Timmy & Hardy) behind her being neophytes, lacking the experience and know how for the job. The loss of Messina & Udoka (who were both labeled "Yes Men" last season by ST) has had an alarming impact.

[J_Paco]

Starting Murray is what's best for the team... White isn't as good as u guys are making him out to be... Murray is a game changer, is younger, and has a higher ceiling... I'm not gonna throw away the future so we can start a point guard that has a ceiling of current Brogdon...whole we barely make the playoffs to lose

Spurs are in the top half of the NBA in scoring... All the analytics show that Murray starting isn't the reason we score less... It's Forbes... Forbes lineups has the worst numbers offensively and defensively....

Our main problem is defense... We almost the worst defensive team in the league... We may even be after last night... And all u guys can talk about is Murray's shooting? Giannis could never shoot for shit... But they built around him... Simmons is an even worse shooter than Murray and they have a championship ship caliber team because of how they built around him... So spare me the nonsense excuses... Murray is our best player and we surround him with no-heart, no-defense playing, ball hogging losers who check out the game when they don't get touches and expect him to turn shit into gold

Wow, I can't believe but I completely and wholeheartedly agree with you.

Also, Murray and White have both been uneven with their play and have underwhelmed. They both need to play better and play together (not sure why Pop insists on not playing them or giving them a minutes distribution ala Tony/Manu) for the team to be better. That is partly on Pop, though, since thinks they can't share court time.

[quentin_compson]

LMA is clearly worse than he was last season so far. Most of the other players' difference in performance quality is pretty lateral, I would say. The thing is that the margin for error is pretty slim with this Spurs team. It was the same last season, but they mostly kept on the good side of said margin whereas they have been on the wrong side of it more often than not this season.

[Poolboy5623]

I cant believe you guys actually watch this shit show.

[duncan2150]

I want an inside Guy who can protect the Rim all summer

We need that badly, defense is the problem for us and off course Bertans is better than beli.

[JADG79]

Get your misogynistic bullshit out of her, man.

She might not be ready to be a NBA head coach but Becky has a great mind for the game. Everyone has heaped praise on her and her knowledge of the sport. She was a PG after all and a very good one.

The problem is the people (Timmy & Hardy) behind her being neophytes, lacking the experience and know how for the job. The loss of Messina & Udoka (who were both labeled "Yes Men" last season by ST) has had an alarming impact.

She can be very smart but we are talking to be the head of a group of men.
Is your wife the head of household?
Why do you want a woman to be the head of a group of men?

I'm not talking about sexist is about roles and we as a men need to be better.

[emmo]

She can be very smart but we are talking to be the head of a group of men.
Is your wife the head of household?
Why do you want a woman to be the head of a group of men?

I'm not talking about sexist is about roles and we as a men need to be better.

Ok, Boomer.

[JADG79]

Ok, Boomer.

Forgot that this is the generation of Soy boys.

[emmo]

Forgot that this is the generation of Soy boys.

Ok, Boomer.

[sananspursfan21]

We really relied on this season’s team’s success on growth from the young guys and I’ve seen more regression in them so far. White has not had a bad season so far by any means, but I was hoping for more growth in him. Dejounte’s minutes restriction I think keeps him antsy and slows his ability to learn the game (not that I disagree with re-injury caution). Poeltl has appeared to regress and Lonnie isn’t get any burn so the few times he’s out there, he’s kinda just clueless. It’s possible that Pop sees something we don’t and that’s why we’re not seeing much of him but I’d like Lonnie to prove to everyone he’s a wasted pick if he really is. Might as well at this point.

Oh, and defensively capable aren’t committed to defense, and the defensively incapable are. Forbes can’t play defense but you see him out there trying his guts out :lol

[sananspursfan21]

No disrespect, but I wonder if the passing of Pop's wife has caused him mental issues. He may be deflecting his pain towards the team and fans and wants everyone to hurt as much as he does.

I’ve wondered this myself. I wonder if it has to do with his (what appears to be) apathy towards the gameplan. Call me a sniffer, but when the dust has settled, it’s typically hard to actually criticize the results of his decisions no matter how silly or low IQ they seem in the moment. But this year has too many head scratchers. For crying out loud, anyone else could have guarded Bradley Beal. It looked like Forbes was intentionally assigned to him as if he were some kind of stopper. I dunno, I’m stumped this year. I can’t make any sense of what Pop is doing and I’m a “sniffer” through and through.

[slick'81]

No disrespect, but I wonder if the passing of Pop's wife has caused him mental issues. He may be deflecting his pain towards the team and fans and wants everyone to hurt as much as he does.


If he cant remove his personal issues from his coaching then spurs are truly fcked

[duncan2k5]

Ok, Boomer.

Lol

[Coach X]

Assistant coaches gone.
No 2 big lineup.
Murray and White lack of focus.
Forbes new status.

All these circumstances are hurting Spurs defense. Forget about offense. This Spurs team is playing the worst defense of the NBA.