Grades: Spurs vs. Grizzlies - Feb. 1, 2021

[timvp]

https://www.spurstalk.com/grades-san-antonio-spurs-memphis-grizzlies-game-21/

Ouch x 2 :(

[siraulo23]

cant even be mad at the loss, Spurs just got outclassed.

Nobody could stay in front of anybody.

Demoralizing

Pop got a lot of work to figure out the rotation with White back full time.

White needs to start and go from there.

[Dejounte]

cant even be mad at the loss, Spurs just got outclassed.

Nobody could stay in front of anybody.

Demoralizing

Pop got a lot of work to figure out the rotation with White back full time.

White needs to start and go from there.

Does anyone remember how well Tim Duncan anchored the defense as a big man?

The defense in the SL crumbles when our supposed anchor can't guard shit.

Starting White doesn't solve that.

[spurs10]

Thanks for the grades! Of course this was a big disappointment. Having their butt's kicked on their home floor twice in a row don't lie though. Glad I wasn't present for these shellackings. Paying money to see this would be much worse. Don't think I've seen a blowout of this caliber in person and I've seen a lot of games. Go Spurs! Go home and watch this game.

[Robz4000]

Fully expecting a loss to Minny to get that tailspin in full gear.

[Slippy]

Does anyone remember how well Tim Duncan anchored the defense as a big man?

The defense in the SL crumbles when our supposed anchor can't guard shit.

Starting White doesn't solve that.

It also crumbled and had spurs defenders scrambling to rotate when Morant took on DJ off the dribble or off the ball. DJ gambling in a zone d didnt help either

The other standout that got burnt consistently was Demar.

Btw LA got benched for his lack of D. Maybe Vassell should of seen more mins too.

Agree timvp A big concern would have to be how Pop had no counter for both games

[Degoat]

I hate to say this and I hope to god I’m wrong lmao but I bet an adjustment pop makes eventually is starting LMA and Jakob together and playing really small with the bench

[tbdog]

I hate to say this and I hope to god I’m wrong lmao but I bet an adjustment pop makes eventually is starting LMA and Jakob together and playing really small with the bench


At the expense of Johnson or Walker? That's probably not going to work. The offense should have DDR more in the post up / Hornes offense. Defensively, I got no idea.

[Truth4sale$]

Another tough loss. Spurs looked like they were an over matched boxer. No fight. Just taking shots until they were knocked out in the 4th. The Spurs big men are such a weakness, they provide no defense or rebounding. They are extremely unathletic and cant keep up with young athletic players. In fact , the Spurs made Kyle Andersen look like bonafide starter. He was certainly better than what we have now. The Spurs have no help in sight for the big men ,so the spurs can only hope for the best and live with it.
****Of course, the coach of Mephis is a former Austin Spurs Gleague assistant coach so maybe he has some insight on what Popovich likes to do.

[tbdog]

The defensive strategy looks off. Guards get in the paint and then give little gimmies to their bigs. If the wing comes down to help, it's an open 3 in the corner.

I probably need to focus on other teams but it's not my job to come up with a defensive system.

[John B]

I didn’t even read the grades. F to everyone, except Keldon A- for not being aggressive on the get go.

Everybody was too depending the 3. The bench was A WHOLE LOT BETTER. I bet that was Pop told them. But it was just two days that this same them routed them, and no adjustment. I mean they just got f&cked in the ass? Damn

Aldridge cannot guard shit. And Poeltl cannot shoot the freethrow. I mean this wasn’t addressed early? I mean Kyler would probably do better. He can swat like Poeltl and hit his freethrows.

The ball just stops, no ball movement. Everybody watching an iso play. Pass, dribble, fake, pass, reset. Damn.

No aggressiveness to the hole. Keldon tried but too little too late. Do that from the get go and dictate the pace. Lonnie with all his speed, would sprint and outrun everybody, just to stop and pass. Freaking attack the rim and dunk it, get foul. None of those soft layup’s that don’t make it. He needs to play with 2nd team and get more touches.

All in all, it was a waste of time that I could never get back

[PhantomDashCam]

That was rough.
Grizzlies were terrific and deserve all the praise they receive.

My observations:

- Not a big fan of Spurs playing a 3 - 2 zone when you’re 3 best perimeter defenders (DJ, White and Vassell) aren’t going to play together and be a part of it.

- Does Rudy G have an immunity idol right now? Guy just keeps playing. Would like to see a little Lyles (may regret saying that) in certain situations, just to give us a different look.

- Vassell getting squeezed. I get it. He’s lower on the totem pole right now. But come on. The best 5 man defensive unit statistically, in the entire league to this point featured this kid.
Poelt’s defence didn’t fall off these previous two games. The other 3 members sure did though.

A favourable schedule is upon us with potentially 9 games against 8 lottery-esque teams, (We play GS twice).
Let’s start with a bounce back against Minny on Wednesday.

[sananspursfan21]

Couldn’t watch either game (thank you black outs), but I’d like to have at least seen part to witness the problems for myself. Maybe this is the kick they needed though. Losing twice in a row to this division rival will hopefully wake them up. I still believe in this team to make some noise, but they’re clearly not the kind of team to just walk on the court and win whenever they want. I think a huge part of their success has been playing with some fire in their bellies. Thanks for the grades!

[lebomb]

LA has been playing HORRIBLE.

[Fireball]

LMAs defense really cannot be offset even when he is on fire on offense it seems ... Grizzlies just played two perfect games against the Spurs. Spurs have talent, but there are more teams with better talent ...

[LeBowen]

As I said the other day, this starting lineup simply can't work.
There's a reason 1st and 3rd quarters have way worse +/- ratings than 2nd and 4th.

Offense? Sure, everyone can make the open 3, but right now noone is a legit threat opponents need to focus on.
Everyone will live with Demar shooting 3s.
DJ and Keldon can hit them, but are still unreliable and aren't legit c&s threats if not wide open.
Lonnie is shooting 38% on 4.6 attempts which is fine, but as we all know in most games everyone just ignores him. He's not someone you'll run 3pt plays for.
LMA is at 35% on 3.7 attempts. But he's streaky. If he misses a couple, might aswell not even guard him out there.

Defense?
LMA and Demar are abysmal defenders, Keldon has potential but still lacks awareness and is often caught in no man's land.
Lonnie also lacks awareness, but he's really quick and can keep up with everyone. Problem is that Pop always assigns him to big wings and he just gets bullied.
Lonnie and DJ also have absolutely no help on picks when LMA is on the floor, basically defending 1v2 every single time.
But then if you replace LMA with Jakob, spacing goes from bad to horrible.

On top of all that, the biggest issue is that we're probably the only team in the league that doesn't have a single 6'7-6'10 player who's even close to being a positive on defense.

Just an extremely frustrating season to watch. Last year I wasn't even that mad.
Pop decided he'll play Bryn and Marco no matter what and I was at peace with myself.

But this season has just been frustrating. It's not even about losses in games that should've been easy Ws, it's about every single one of those games being lost due to awful spacing and even worse defense.
Rudy was completely useless the first time he checked in, but he still played 19 minutes, while Devin got only 12.
Could someone explain how could the franchise benefit from 35 year old Rudy Gay playing 19 minutes while having a horrible game?

[r0drig0lac]

Spurs had the worst defensive guard in the league starting for two years, now has the worst defensive center and worst offensive center on the same list, insane

[MoSpur02]

The obvious problem is defense. The two main components for that obvious problem are Mills and Aldridge

[poopbox]

When we start the game with LMA...we play 4 on 5 on defense...he is one of the worst defenders in the entire nba...and beyond that he doesn't rebound OR get to the line anymore.

When we sub him out for Poeltl...we play 4 on 5 on offense...he is one of the worst offensive players in the entire nba...beyond that he is on pace to be the worst freethrow shooter EVER...which limits his already anemic offensive game...

So yeah...when your playing 4 on 5 on both ends of the floor for 48 minutes...it's going to be hard to win consistently...

This isn't going to get any better this year...luckily for us in the offseason it would be almost impossible NOT to get upgrades over LMA and Poeltl since they are both so awful...

Gay has been mostly bad on both sides of the ball to

[Joseph Kony]

Yep, biggest problem is LMA imho. Spurs defense is non existent when he is on the court and it's a layup line out there. your C is supposed to anchor the defense, and contesting shots from 20 feet away aint gonna get it done. Spurs need to find a trade partner ASAP

[Dex]

I was hoping for F's across the board :lol

I know that's not really fair or necessarily warranted because Fs should be saved for only the worst of bad performances....but man it sure felt like it.

[couchman]

We saw multiple failures, but Aldridge's failure on D is the consistent problem.
Aldridge has deteriorated so much on defense. His knees are clearly getting old and he can't bend and move as needed.
He is moving so poorly that he's not even rebounding well.
The evolution of the game isn't helping him either.
The Grizzlies targeted him repeatedly in the 1st quarter and started the avalanche early, as we've seen numerous other teams do to take 1st quarter leads against us.
I really think he needs to be benched and come in as a bench scoring option.

I want a lineup that can switch any pick on D, has enough rebounding to get by, can all slash to the basket to finish or dish it, and can all hit the 3.

My starting 5 going forward:
DJM
White
Keldon
DDR
Gay

Keldon and Gay are the pick setting guys who can either roll or pop for 3.

Mills is 6th man
Poeltl is the alternate starter at C when we play bigger teams
Lonnie and LMA provide scoring off the bench
Vassell has great promise but ideally he would be in Austin getting a ton of reps

That's it.
I think Pop is scared to do that because LMA's ego is so fragile, but it has to happen eventually.

[rjv]

i hate couch coaching but, as a fan, from what i saw it appeared that the grade on pop is spot on. while the players have a lot to blame on themselves for their horrendous effort and poor shooting, it also seemed to me that pop didn't have them clued in to what kind of offensive sets he wanted them running.

[C-Dub]

Rudy tries to do more than his body will allow and he clearly doesn't have the basketball IQ to understand this fact. He always tries to power dunk like some young athletic player and over half the time it will miss, when instead, he should have just attempted a simple layup with the hopes of and 1 opportunity. He will dribble up the court of off the other teams turnover without having the IQ to understand that the other team is pursuing from behind him and more than not, the other team will punch the ball out from the back. Last night, he tried a behind the back dribble that went behind his bf back, right to the opposing teams playerhands. He's too old too not understand. He needs to be traded by the deadline and do not resign LMA or DDR in the offseason. Bring back Patty for the bench unit next season and he will be retiring after the next 3 year contract and the Spurs should have the rebuild about complete by then and ready to truly compete again for a deep playoff run in about 3 to 4 years.

[Spurs Homer]

Only the spurs could convincingly make the scrubby grizz

look like the prime championship GS Warriors team

[KobesAchilles]

Can we get a do over with this team? Trade LMA. Not sign Poetl. Ship off our Gay player for a second rounder. Keep MVPatty for culture of course. And sign Christian Wood. That would be great. Thanks

[Fusternino]

How did KBD look?

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Well...that was yucky.

These two Memphis games sucked away a lot of my enthusiasm regarding this season. It's weird that we can beat Denver, beat the Clippers, the Celtics and the Lakers, and then look like complete garbage in these two games.

The fact that our vets are not very good was highlighted by these two losses.

I think Timvp said it best in that we're not that good, and that if we intend to win games, it has to be with grit and determination. Against Memphis we had neither. I do think we'd of done just as well, or better, had we just run with all our young troops and left Demar, Aldridge and Patty at the practice facility.

[3&D_TBH]

Pretty clear to most people that we are getting killed in the paint in most areas. LA is a problem. We don’t need his scoring anymore tbh (what little he even provides these days). And that’s really all he has ever brought. We need an upgrade at his position with the quickness. He is the most glaring problem on the floor. And like others have said, Rudy getting 35 minutes is something that nobody can explain. Mad love for Pop, but I don’t get some of these decisions the last two years. My philosophy would be simple. Get DJ, KJ, White, Vassel, and Walker on the court as much as possible in whatever combinations are feasible. Keep Jakob on the floor quite a bit because he’s our only viable rim protector. Try to trade for an upgrade to Aldridge. Not much else you can do tbh. I like our young core but our front court players are not good enough.

[rjv]

Pretty clear to most people that we are getting killed in the paint in most areas. LA is a problem. We don’t need his scoring anymore tbh (what little he even provides these days). And that’s really all he has ever brought. We need an upgrade at his position with the quickness. He is the most glaring problem on the floor. And like others have said, Rudy getting 35 minutes is something that nobody can explain. Mad love for Pop, but I don’t get some of these decisions the last two years. My philosophy would be simple. Get DJ, KJ, White, Vassel, and Walker on the court as much as possible in whatever combinations are feasible. Keep Jakob on the floor quite a bit because he’s our only viable rim protector. Try to trade for an upgrade to Aldridge. Not much else you can do tbh. I like our young core but our front court players are not good enough.

I agree but I don't see LMA having much value at this time. The only trade we would get would be one in which a team is looking to dump a bad contract or salary. We'll probably just have to let him walk and pick up the cap space. This summer will have to be about getting a more athletic big that can rebound and protect the rim-either through the draft or FA. Because the Spurs definitely need another rim protector and rebounder.

[r0drig0lac]

https://twitter.com/EvanClosky/status/1356739301984337922

[poopbox]

https://twitter.com/EvanClosky/status/1356739301984337922

Hopefully this happens in perpetuity

[Elementis]

didn't know you could be out with injured ego

[Ice009]

Do you guys think the Spurs would grant him a buyout if they can't trade him for anything decent?

I wonder why he's out tomorrow?

[weeks]

I remember that story from back in the day, when lma first joined the team. He's working out with Timmy and gets tired and says something like "man I don't know how you do all this every day" and 21 replies, if you wanna be playing at a high level when you're my age, you gotta put in all the extra work" and lma threw in the towel and bounced.
He ain't gonna make that long

[r0drig0lac]

Turner / Brogdon / Sabas making the Grizzliers looking like ... the Grizzlies

[Ice009]

Turner / Brogdon / Sabas making the Grizzliers looking like ... the Grizzlies

I just saw that a minute ago. Grizzles down 24 right now to the Pacers :(. Not sure if they have the Spurs' number, or if the Spurs are a fools gold team looking better than the really are against the top teams.

[RD2191]

I remember that story from back in the day, when lma first joined the team. He's working out with Timmy and gets tired and says something like "man I don't know how you do all this every day" and 21 replies, if you wanna be playing at a high level when you're my age, you gotta put in all the extra work" and lma threw in the towel and bounced.
He ain't gonna make that long
Should've been cut on the spot.

[spurs10]

https://twitter.com/EvanClosky/status/1356739301984337922 That's not a bad thing .....anymore.

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

maybe he hurt

[RD2191]

Sore vagina?

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Sore vagina?

:lol

DNP - Yeast infection.

[RD2191]

:lol

DNP - Yeast infection.
:rollin