Grades: Spurs @ 76ers - Mar. 14, 2021

[timvp]

https://www.spurstalk.com/grades-san-antonio-spurs-philadelphia-76ers-game-35/

Yeesh.

[heyheymymy]

Rebuilding blues - so this is what it feels like

[heyheymymy]

I guess mills and gay didnt like their rumored trade destinations? A combined 0-11 wow

[Robz4000]

:lol Pop getting a C when his rotations and in-game coaching were deplorable. Otherwise grades are spot on.

[KobesAchilles]

So here’s the thing Timvp. Pop started Lyles against Orlando only to play him 12 minutes. Then he started Lyles this game only to play him 14 minutes. Isn’t that Pop literally admitting he is fucking up our starting rotation but not actually learning from his mistake and repeating it over and over again? Pop should get an F as long as he himself admits that he is sucking at our starting rotation. Just my two cents

[TheGreatYacht]

Wonder what it will take for Pop to get a failing grade..

Starting Lyles, pulling a HOT Lonnie, over relying on Gay and Mills, was most likely watching MSNBC at halftime, worst loss in franchise history, getting embarrassed by Doc as he has been his whole career..

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Lyles sucks. Sad Pop can’t see it. He’ll catch on after the Spurs have played themselves out of the playoff chase.

He’ll probably have a good game against a sh!tty Pistons team and fool the coaches that he’s worth a damn.


Oh and Mills as a team leader is laughable. I love the guy, but if he’s not hitting shots his worth is practically zero. Not a facilitator, not a defender. I like him for 12 minutes of energy off the bench but that should be his role.

[XDT76]

I wonder if the guys are still affected by the aftermath of the COVID. Those that were out were not as consistent and effective as pre-COVID in the last 2 games.

[Fireball]

White finally looked comfortable in the first half ... hopefully he builds on that to get back to "Bubble Derrick". Lyles needs to get out of the SL ...

[siraulo23]

Garbage time positives:

Luka again showing off his potential on offense.
Tre Jones looked good.

Jakob has had a tough stretch, maybe 4 games or so where he hasnt played all that well, defense and cant finish anything at the rim.

[tbdog]

Lyles sucks. Sad Pop can’t see it. He’ll catch on after the Spurs have played themselves out of the playoff chase.

He’ll probably have a good game against a sh!tty Pistons team and fool the coaches that he’s worth a damn.


Oh and Mills as a team leader is laughable. I love the guy, but if he’s not hitting shots his worth is practically zero. Not a facilitator, not a defender. I like him for 12 minutes of energy off the bench but that should be his role.

Pops philosophy is always shooters shoot and keep shooting. I think for most, that's fine. Watching mills for the last 9 or so seasons including international, when he gets cold, he stays cold. I would think Pop would pull him entirely when he goes cold, but here we are.

[Slippy]

Pops philosophy is always shooters shoot and keep shooting. I think for most, that's fine. Watching mills for the last 9 or so seasons including international, when he gets cold, he stays cold. I would think Pop would pull him entirely when he goes cold, but here we are.

Also when he has the turnover bug they seem to last the whole game.. again pop should know this by now about Patty. He should never be the creator or initiator on offense

[tbdog]

Also when he has the turnover bug they seem to last the whole game.. again pop should know this by now about Patty. He should never be the creator or initiator on offense

I mean, is the past Pop had no choice. There was this gap once Manu left where Mills became a point without success. There was one season he played both, he started in both and backup both. But a healthy current team, he shouldn't be.

[horseshue]

Way too good grades for this shitshow.

[John B]

Thanks for the grades Timvp. But I’ve already scratched that off and looking forward to a comeback on tonight’s game. I really hope Pop sees the potential of Luka helping physically over Rudy and Lyle, likewise Vassell with his long reach. Defense >>> offense. That means relying more on defense to get Spurs back in the game than Patty and Rudy to outscore the opponents. If Spurs lose I’m okay with it as long as they played great defense.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

LJ must be grading on a curve. Should be lots more Ds and Fs for last night.

[Dex]

It's time to pull the plug on the Trey Lyles experiment. He plays poorly off the bench and even worse with the starters.

Vassell and Samanic should get all of his minutes going forward. They are better at nearly every aspect of the game and actually have an NBA future unlike Lyles.

[Seventyniner]

It's time to pull the plug on the Trey Lyles experiment. He plays poorly off the bench and even worse with the starters.

Vassell and Samanic should get all of his minutes going forward. They are better at nearly every aspect of the game and actually have an NBA future unlike Lyles.

imo it's quite possible that Pop is "showcasing" Lyles by starting him, for inclusion in a LMA trade.

[Dex]

imo it's quite possible that Pop is "showcasing" Lyles by starting him, for inclusion in a LMA trade.

Well all that is doing is dragging down his value, tbh

[Elementis]

Well all that is doing is dragging down his value, tbh

which at least is consistent with LMA then

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

The only other explanation on Lyles is that it's a soft 'tank'. Miss the playoffs but look like they're trying.

No real other explanation for why this scrub continues to get minutes and Samanic rots at the end of the bench after the run up to the all-star break he had.

[Dejounte]

The only other explanation on Lyles is that it's a soft 'tank'. Miss the playoffs but look like they're trying.

No real other explanation for why this scrub continues to get minutes and Samanic rots at the end of the bench after the run up to the all-star break he had.

Agreed. The answer is usually more complex than the "he good he play, he bad he dont play" ideas thrown around on this website. Can't expect everyone to know what a professional environment is like.

[RC_Drunkford]

Worst loss in franchise history and TimVP gives out a bunch of C's and D's :lol

[Mugen]

Worst loss in franchise history and TimVP gives out a bunch of C's and D's :lol

:lmao

[RC_Drunkford]

The only other explanation on Lyles is that it's a soft 'tank'. Miss the playoffs but look like they're trying.

No real other explanation for why this scrub continues to get minutes and Samanic rots at the end of the bench after the run up to the all-star break he had.

There are other explanations. Flopovich is an idiot is one of them. He ain't tanking and he wasn't tanking the last 2 seasons when he started Bryn Forbes for 150 games straight and played Belinelli over Walker. It's the classic Flopovich pecking order

[Dex]

Agreed. The answer is usually more complex than the "he good he play, he bad he dont play" ideas thrown around on this website. Can't expect everyone to know what a professional environment is like.

The problem with Lyles is he has shown flashes of being a rotation player. He plays well enough to fool the coaching staff that he should play more. Then he completely disappears for games at a time.

There is a reason why the Spurs got him for cents on the dollar.

If we are going to be losing games, I'd rather be doing it while developing our young players than by playing some guy who is going to end up on the scrap heap. We can still "soft tank" by giving Devin and Luka more minutes.

[RC_Drunkford]

The problem with Lyles is he thinks he's Rudy Gay on offense, when he's actually worse than Kyle Anderson. He was working on all kind of turnaround jumpers over the left shoulder in the offseason, things he will never be able to do in the NBA due to being too slow and not athletic enough

[Dejounte]

The problem with Lyles is he has shown flashes of being a rotation player. He plays well enough to fool the coaching staff that he should play more. Then he completely disappears for games at a time.

There is a reason why the Spurs got him for cents on the dollar.

If we are going to be losing games, I'd rather be doing it while developing our young players than by playing some guy who is going to end up on the scrap heap. We can still "soft tank" by giving Devin and Luka more minutes.

No doubt on your assessment of Lyles. He's been given chances and I wouldn't be surprised if they give up on him soon. Guy has a lot of talk in him but can't back it up.

I think it's a combination of different things: showcasing is the cause and soft tanking is the result that comes with it. I don't think losing is the ideal result, but they live with it and adjust their moves on the chess board because of it.

[slick'81]

Spurs need to right this ship and fast

[Seventyniner]

Well all that is doing is dragging down his value, tbh

I'm grasping at straws here. He had a decent few games before these last three. Pop used to also start the third-stringer when the normal starter was out to keep the bench rotations the same.

I do agree with your overall point, though. Starting Lyles doesn't make much sense.

[spurs10]

That 3rd quarter was torturous. Philly looks good though. Thanks for the grades, hopefully today we can grab a win.

[Sugus]

There are other explanations. Flopovich is an idiot is one of them. He ain't tanking and he wasn't tanking the last 2 seasons when he started Bryn Forbes for 150 games straight and played Belinelli over Walker. It's the classic Flopovich pecking order

It's the only explanation, really. You don't have to start a guy like Lyles - not even a case like LMA, where he's been starting his whole career and you'd be hurting his image by making him come off the bench - to try and up his trade value. If it was that high of a priority, you could have him come off the bench, but stay in the court longer, and close out the game even, a nice 20-25mpg could be had. But no reason for starting him, and definitely moreso when it's consistently led the Spurs to some of their worst performances of the season.

The fact that Pop cannot see Lyles' negative effect on the SL is a big, big problem, and it cannot be chalked up to "CIA Pop" stuff, because if Pop was truly invested in upping Lyles' value, he wouldn't put it in such a position to fail. Playing him alongside a non-shooter in Poeltl and forcing him to take a brunt of the offense because the rest of the lineup is low on 3pt shooting and shot creation doesn't make Lyles better - it makes him look overmatched, unproductive and a part of the problem, instead of a solution. This is just Pop fucking the roster up, just like it was when he was benching Lonnie after 10m to close the game out with Forbes (and he did that as well too yesterday, only gave him 15m - and there's similarly no way that was supposed to "build up Lonnie's confidence" like people were saying last season).

An F- for Pop wouldn't have been enough, but it would've been a start.

[r0drig0lac]

it's easy to talk about fit when you support a team with D-Rob, Duncan, Manu, Parker and Kawhi for 20 years, in 2021 SA needs talent, and that is clear when facing elite teams. I get confused when people really believe that it is not worth having a guy like Collins or Vucevic on the team because of a possible "bad fit", these guys would automatically make the game easier for youngers just by being on the court.

[duncan2k5]

We need to stop acting as if there's hope in Lyles' career for him to become a significant rotation player... He had had many chances in his career... Bench him completely and let's see what Luka has