Grades: Spurs vs. Grizzlies - Jan. 30, 2021

[timvp]

https://www.spurstalk.com/grades-san-antonio-spurs-memphis-grizzlies-game-20/

RIP winning streak.

[BillMc]

Thanks OP as always good stuff!

[BackHome]

Timvp burning the midnight oil always much appreciated - Like the picture of LMA with that funny look. Oh well will get revenge on them on Monday.

[tbdog]

Grizzlies out of time out plays was a corner 3. They got an open look every time.

[Uriel]

OP, if you think the team is better off with a nine-man rotation than ten, who should be kicked off the rotation?

[ragas]

OP, if you think the team is better off with a nine-man rotation than ten, who should be kicked off the rotation?

not going to happen before the trade deadline.

[tbdog]

9 man rotations are for playoffs. Some teams run 8. Spurs usually run 9 off the top of my head. If playoffs started today, Vassell is out of the rotation.

[Philthemage]

Probably Aldridge if we can get another defensive bigman to replace him

[Rocalcio]

9 man rotations are for playoffs. Some teams run 8. Spurs usually run 9 off the top of my head. If playoffs started today, Vassell is out of the rotation.

I wouldn’t bet on that, defense is valuable in playoffs.

[cd021]

9 man rotations are for playoffs. Some teams run 8. Spurs usually run 9 off the top of my head. If playoffs started today, Vassell is out of the rotation.

Probably tbh. At least he's earning minutes now though.

[tbdog]

I wouldn’t bet on that, defense is valuable in playoffs.

He is shooting below 40% from the field. Starting 5 plus Gay Poeltl, White, Mills. Vassell gets minutes just for foul trouble situation. Of course that's today, Vassell can work himself in the rotation. Walker could work himself out as an example.

[sananspursfan21]

I had to scoreboard watch this one because of the black out (somehow the Grizzlies are in market despite being 5 hours away :rolleyes). But from watching the score, I could tell it was one of those energy lacking games. No excuse for the loss, but it makes some sense. These young guys are gonna have to learn to win these types of games and play through exhaustion. Of course, even our golden age Spurs played like crap off of a back to back, so I guess they really don’t :lol

Oh well, on to the revenge game. Thanks for the grades!

[Dejounte]

https://youtu.be/Rh4UqGgzfCA

Bro that hairline isnt looking good. His hair looks like a wig that's about to fall off

[Dejounte]

The Bucks losing to the Hornets makes me feel better about this loss. Seems blowout losses are common now and not a sign of how bad a team is. It's the losing streaks that shows how bad teams are. Plus, I feel like we're still re-integrating White with different lineup combinations to experiment with. White does change the pace a bit, so the players might have not been used to the change.

[GAustex]

Morant sure is Murry's kryptonite

[Dex]

I think a 10-man rotation is fine, Pop just needs to fix the starting lineup. I don't know how many times you can watch the team start off sluggish and not make a change

White - Murray - DeRozan - Johnson - Aldridge
Mills - Walker - Vassell - Gay - Poeltl

SL benefits from having another defender and playmaker, and Walker can go up against opposing benches and work off of Poeltl's screens with Mills and Gay stretching the floor.

[r0drig0lac]

I think a 10-man rotation is fine, Pop just needs to fix the starting lineup. I don't know how many times you can watch the team start off sluggish and make a chance.

White - Murray - DeRozan - Johnson - Aldridge
Mills - Walker - Vassell - Gay - Poeltl

SL benefits from having another defender and playmaker, and Walker can go up against opposing benches and work off of Poeltl's screens with Mills and Gay stretching the floor.

if Derrick can shoot like in this game, there is no reason not to start Murray/White together, and how can a professional player shoot 21% ft?

[Dejounte]

Last night was also the first game in a while since Lyles played as many minutes as he had, which tells me he was there because Pop was trying to stop the bleeding that our centers (who have massive deficiencies) from being exploited.

Last night's game was far from a regular game for the Spurs as they weren't using the same strengths they had during our wins.

[LeBowen]

10 man rotation is fine, but this roster has way too many incompatible players.

Derrick is a great offball player, but taking the ball away from him just reduces the ceiling of this team.
He should always be the primary ballhandler when he's on the floor.

DJ and Derrick can work together, but add Demar into the mix and that's 3 players who're way more useful with the ball than without it.
Keldon doesn't need the ball, but he's still not someone who's going to stretch the defense with his spacing.

Therefore, that starting lineup has only 2 reliable perimeter threats. Derrick and LMA.

On the other hand, if you look at the bench, all 4 of them are better floor spacers and legit 3pt threats than DJ/DDR/Keldon.
But then agian, Patty and Rudy should absolutely not be allowed to do anything with the ball other than c&s attempts. No pnrs or isos for them, that's just a disaster waiting to happen. Unless Rudy has a guard on him in the post.

I think Lonnie's best role right now would be primary ballhandler of the bench, but we all know Patty and Rudy will just keep chucking and isoing.

One of Derrick/DJ will always be on the floor as the primary ballhandler.

I'm really hoping a contender takes the bait and gives us some assets for Demar. Just think about it, the team already committed to DJ/Derrick long term, Lonnie will also get an extension.
Demar surely won't take anything less than 25 million. No matter how good his game is, a 32 year old who's a bad 3pt shooter and an awful defender isn't worth that money.
Maybe he'd be worth it if our roster construction was different, but he's just taking away from young guys, no matter how hard he tries to be a team player.

I think that the plan should be pretty clear if we're talking about the next few years:
DJ, Derrick, Lonnie, Devin, Keldon and Patty (no way he leaves, unfortunately) as 6 perimeter rotation pieces.
One legit starting PF is needed, Jerami Grant type player. Could be acquired via draft, too.
Another one to take Rudy's role and a legit big to compete with Jakob for the starting spot.

Sorry, but as good as his defense is, Jakob simply can't be the closer on a playoff team if he's shooting 21%(!!!) from the line.

[D-Robinson 50 fan]

I thought coach Pop waited to long to switch out the starters In the 3rd quarter which helped Memphis get a nice lead.

Morant couldn’t be stopped from getting to the basket last night and of course that killed us because our help defense still needs lots of work. The guys have to do a better job of talking on defense.

solid grades TIMVP

[KobesAchilles]

Can we take away a whole letter grade from LMA every time he does one of those fake close outs? There’s been like 4 games of him jumping to “block a shot” when he is 15 feet away from his man. And I don’t remember him scoring in the second half other than his free throws from getting an offensive board.

Also KJ should have closed last night. Over Demar. I hope the team social distances from him after that performance. Gay looked useless last night too. Dude looks so uncoordinated some nights it’s painful to watch.

i loved Poetl’s hustle last night. He also did a tough ally oop that was hella impressive. But he needs to learn how to box out against quicker players. Dude gave up a lot of rebounds last night. But on the flip side he started to master that volleyball tap back. But is it too much to ask a player to not set an NBA record for worst free throw percentage?

White looked great. DJ looked scared of Morant. He needs to learn how to fight or recover from those screens.But Ja is just a different breed of speed and I won’t hold it against him. I would’ve liked to have seen Vassel on Ja last night. Lonnie reminds me so much of Willie Anderson preinjury and I am loving it.

[ragas]

Last night was also the first game in a while since Lyles played as many minutes as he had, which tells me he was there because Pop was trying to stop the bleeding that our centers (who have massive deficiencies) from being exploited.

Last night's game was far from a regular game for the Spurs as they weren't using the same strengths they had during our wins.

Lyles played when Poeltl was also on the floor.

[spurs10]

Hopefully they are watching film and coming up with ways to better defend these guys and hopefully Memphis won't hit every $##ing shot! Thanks for the grades!!

[tonight...you]

Hopefully they are watching film and coming up with ways to better defend these guys and hopefully Memphis won't hit every $##ing shot! Thanks for the grades!!
We'll definitely see if they do anything different, strategically, on Monday.

[Elementis]

We'll definitely see that they don't do anything different, strategically, on Monday.

^^ fixed your typo

[tonight...you]

^^ fixed your typo
Lol. You may be right.

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

i can see why spurs wouldnt change their strategy — in terms of getting to doublecheck to see if it was the strategy that was the problem ... or if grizz just shot the lights out/were on fire/had an exceptionally good bench game ... and the spurs being off ... or if grizz are simply better than mermaids

if im pop im tempted to run it back and see what happens

[JADG79]

Keldon just played 20min, he is one of the reason we are winning, he need +30min.

[Ice009]

Keldon just played 20min, he is one of the reason we are winning, he need +30min.

Keldon and Vassell should have gotten those minutes in the 4th quarter that Lyles and Mills got. We needed defense and Mills wasn't really on, so I didn't think he needed to be in there in the 4th quarter over KJ, and all the minutes Lyles got, why didn't Vassell play those instead? What did Lyles do to earn those minutes over Vassell?

[rankingtear]

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/2/1/22260012/dallas-mavericks-houston-rockets-san-antonio-spurs

[MultiTroll]

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/2/1/22260012/dallas-mavericks-houston-rockets-san-antonio-spurs

"Gregg Popovich is at it again, adapting his system to better fit the talents of his young, energetic roster." :lmao

[look_at_g_shred]

Can we fucking stop doubling the post. We are leaving shooters WIDE open on the perimeter. JFC

[The Truth #6]

Can we fucking stop doubling the post. We are leaving shooters WIDE open on the perimeter. JFC


We seem to have awful perimeter defense in that in seems like teams are raining 3s on us all year. Perhaps that's just the nature of the NBA, but for a team that is stocked with defensive wing/guards, I can't figure it out, though I haven't really looked into it either.

[buttsR4rebounding]

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/2/1/22260012/dallas-mavericks-houston-rockets-san-antonio-spurs

Holy crap! Since they traded Harden Houston has the No 1 Defensive Rating in the league.

[Seventyniner]

Holy crap! Since they traded Harden Houston has the No 1 Defensive Rating in the league.

Effort is a hell of a thing. Obviously not enough by itself, but I can see why the Rockets have been desperate to prove the "Rockets were only good cause they had Harden" crowd wrong.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I think a 10-man rotation is fine, Pop just needs to fix the starting lineup. I don't know how many times you can watch the team start off sluggish and not make a change

White - Murray - DeRozan - Johnson - Aldridge
Mills - Walker - Vassell - Gay - Poeltl

SL benefits from having another defender and playmaker, and Walker can go up against opposing benches and work off of Poeltl's screens with Mills and Gay stretching the floor.

:tu I think we'll see exactly that happen. White is much more capable as a distributor and defender than Walker. Walker can thrive in the second unit.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Side note...Aldridge is putting up his worst numbers since his rookie year, and his worst rebounding numbers ever.

I figured it would take him 10-15 games to kick off the rust, but I think he's fully cooked, as in stick a fork in him and take him off the grill. The Spurs will need to look for some length to replace Aldridge. It would be nice if that could happen before the playoffs, but it might be a post season move.

As the young guys continue to look better and better, it's our vets that seem to disappoint more often than not when there's a loss. DDR was responsible last game and played like complete garbage, but LMA isn't doing anything great any night. Memphis had no bigs out there...Aldridge should have dominated the paint. His lack of mobility is killing the Spurs defense.

[r0drig0lac]

"Gregg Popovich is at it again, adapting his system to better fit the talents of his young, energetic roster." :lmao

what a joke