timvp
10-25-2004, 09:37 PM
Underrated Ra-sho Nes-ter-o-vic
By Emmett Shaw
for HOOPSWORLD.com
A few million mental health professionals could have a field day diagnosing the national psyche in these United States. Many people neurotically low-rate to distortion their own achievements, as well as those of others. Somehow the gutsy ouster of a vile mass-murderer in Iraq is regarded as a colossal mistake, not a victory. Somehow the youthful bravery of a candidate who daily risked his life fighting in Vietnam is downgraded, not honored. Yet simultaneously many people and things are being idealized here, if not idolized. Either way, the truth suffers while precious time is mostly spent taking our whopping national blessings for granted.
Those of us who find ourselves in love with a silly game? Even if it is the greatest game ever invented, obviously we can't exactly certify ourselves to be of sound mind either. But if we look closely and devote enough years following the bouncing basketball, we have a chance to burst the blustering of the game's hypesters and haters. We have a chance to see the beautiful game pretty close to the way it really is.
The different pre-season annuals are handicapping the NBA these days and San Antonio is reaching consensus status as the team to beat in the West. And if there's one starter on the Spurs who's low-rated it's center Rasho Nesterovic. Now 28, the Slovenia native takes the court with an MVP, two up and coming All-Star candidates, and an All-Defense perennial. Yet Nesterovic is essential to the Spurs' prospectus.
Ra-sho Nes-ter-o-vic
The syllables are individually muttered by ESPN's Stephen A. Smith in an acute cadance that could wake Howard Cossell. Granted, Kareem Abdul the Spurs' seven-footer is not. Beyond Shaq, TD, and KG, who today is a big of Kareem's order of merit?
Nesterovic has only been in SA for one season and his reputation preceeded him. He was part of Minnesota's contingent that couldn't escape Round One for many years and bore the softness label that Shaq basically hung on every other big man in the West. But Rasho exceeded the physical performance of the latter years' David Robinson by playing in all 82 games in 2003-04. Durability has been the strong suit of Nesterovic. He's only missed 5 games to injury in his career -- with 9 more DNP's in 2000-01 when Flip Saunders experimented with Dean Garrett, Reggie Slater, and LaPhonso Ellis in his lineups. Compared with his 1998 Draft class peers of Olowokandi, LaFrentz, Doleac, Keon Clark, Stepania, Mohammed, and Brad Miller, Rasho's 398 NBA games played heads the group.
Nesterovic is a very quiet man on a quiet team. In his demeanor, he seems to have settled into his profession and into San Antonio, but this is his pivotal season. His first year in San Antonio was somewhat erratic, thereby a reflection of the team's season also.
Rasho's 2003-04 Season
We had to give the big man the first couple of months for orientation to his new team. Then among the high points of the year was his courageous physical work against Yao Ming, enabling SA to regular-season sweep its in-state rival Houston. Included were a few other games in which Rasho had little impact, such as the late February "contest" in Dallas in which Tim Duncan injured his knee. Rasho pulled all of two boards to go with 2 points instead of hammering the soft belly of the Mavs' interior D. That night, the question of Rasho and of the whole team was, "Where is the obsession with winning?" The question would crop up again in May versus the Lakers, not so much of Nesterovic, but of the Spurs generally.
In the two weeks that began Tim's recovery, Rasho emerged as a secret weapon no one knew SA had. In the next six games he averaged 36 minutes, 16 points, and 12 rebounds. He was double-double every night and his team won 4 times to stay in the Division race. When Tim returned, Rasho slid into a support role, blending with Duncan as a tandem post and solidifying the Spurs' stingy defense. But Duncan's absence revealed that SA acually has a top ten center other than TD.
Later, Rasho topped off his season with the best denial defense that's ever been played on Shaq in the NBA in Games 1 and 2. Phil Jackson then adjusted the Lakers' configurations to defuse their surprising problem. Along with LA's adjustments on the other end, they revved up their intensity. Par for the course in the NBA Playoffs, but as the series turned around, strangely the Spurs never really mounted a combative rejoinder, losing 4 straight times!
What is the Nesterovic role?
Defend the post. Contest the drives against SA's wings, drives which usually come in the baseline side according to the Spurs' system. Jump out on the ball when your man screens there. Set thousands of screens, mostly on the ball, often away from the ball, to free mates like Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Play high-low games with Tim, perfecting the touch pass. Rebound on both ends. Step out and make a few jumpers on the catch. Score on the block.
Nesterovic is one of the NBA's notable tip-shot artists, but suffered laughably at the free-throw line (under 50%). Like Shaq, Rasho pushes the rock up there instead of just backspinning the sphere skyward and hoopward with his fingers. Typical big man, right?
No. Enigmatically, Rasho's short post-up shots would not fall last season, while his medium jumper did. Will he break throug with some inside scoring this year and peak his career for the next few seasons? Or has his production already peaked at about 9 points, 7 boards, and 2 blocks a night? The evidence is that 6 game stretch last March in which he nearly doubled his stats on just a few more minutes per game.
Robinson was probably the first NBA player to publicly identify Nesterovic as an X-factor a few years ago, after Rasho racked up 24 points on him in Target Center one night. This year, unlike Brent Barry, Beno Udrih, Devin Brown, and Linton Johnson, all of whom could be Spurs X-Men this season, Rasho's role is more important than that.
Because there is no standout third big on the Spurs currently. Robert Horry, Malik Rose, and Tony Massenburg are filling that reserve role by committee. The don't look so hot at it either, and injured Sean Marks has never even played a regular NBA game for SA. The front office loves big forwards who, like all the reserves mentioned above, played center in college, having honed good help awareness on D. So you would think that Fresno's lanky kid Noel Felix could have fit the mold, but young hulk James Thomas of Texas, who can definitely board, was brought in for a pre-season look instead.
Judging from SA's mile-wide, foot-deep depth situation inside, it could be a big-minutes year for Rasho and Tim. Coach might want to keep at least on of them on the court all the time. Rasho will need to effectively battle the likes of Yao, Shaq, or Ben Wallace if the Spurs expect to avoid last post-season's disappointment. How did that feel?
"It feels like we were stopped short, so it leaves a bad taste," Rasho told NEWS@HOOPSWORLD. Nesterovic isn't a player to lead an NBA club like the Admiral once did. In SA, RAsho must be part of a team's attitude transformation. The Spurs need to go from outstanding players who want to win to Championship seekers who insist on it.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_10111.shtml
By Emmett Shaw
for HOOPSWORLD.com
A few million mental health professionals could have a field day diagnosing the national psyche in these United States. Many people neurotically low-rate to distortion their own achievements, as well as those of others. Somehow the gutsy ouster of a vile mass-murderer in Iraq is regarded as a colossal mistake, not a victory. Somehow the youthful bravery of a candidate who daily risked his life fighting in Vietnam is downgraded, not honored. Yet simultaneously many people and things are being idealized here, if not idolized. Either way, the truth suffers while precious time is mostly spent taking our whopping national blessings for granted.
Those of us who find ourselves in love with a silly game? Even if it is the greatest game ever invented, obviously we can't exactly certify ourselves to be of sound mind either. But if we look closely and devote enough years following the bouncing basketball, we have a chance to burst the blustering of the game's hypesters and haters. We have a chance to see the beautiful game pretty close to the way it really is.
The different pre-season annuals are handicapping the NBA these days and San Antonio is reaching consensus status as the team to beat in the West. And if there's one starter on the Spurs who's low-rated it's center Rasho Nesterovic. Now 28, the Slovenia native takes the court with an MVP, two up and coming All-Star candidates, and an All-Defense perennial. Yet Nesterovic is essential to the Spurs' prospectus.
Ra-sho Nes-ter-o-vic
The syllables are individually muttered by ESPN's Stephen A. Smith in an acute cadance that could wake Howard Cossell. Granted, Kareem Abdul the Spurs' seven-footer is not. Beyond Shaq, TD, and KG, who today is a big of Kareem's order of merit?
Nesterovic has only been in SA for one season and his reputation preceeded him. He was part of Minnesota's contingent that couldn't escape Round One for many years and bore the softness label that Shaq basically hung on every other big man in the West. But Rasho exceeded the physical performance of the latter years' David Robinson by playing in all 82 games in 2003-04. Durability has been the strong suit of Nesterovic. He's only missed 5 games to injury in his career -- with 9 more DNP's in 2000-01 when Flip Saunders experimented with Dean Garrett, Reggie Slater, and LaPhonso Ellis in his lineups. Compared with his 1998 Draft class peers of Olowokandi, LaFrentz, Doleac, Keon Clark, Stepania, Mohammed, and Brad Miller, Rasho's 398 NBA games played heads the group.
Nesterovic is a very quiet man on a quiet team. In his demeanor, he seems to have settled into his profession and into San Antonio, but this is his pivotal season. His first year in San Antonio was somewhat erratic, thereby a reflection of the team's season also.
Rasho's 2003-04 Season
We had to give the big man the first couple of months for orientation to his new team. Then among the high points of the year was his courageous physical work against Yao Ming, enabling SA to regular-season sweep its in-state rival Houston. Included were a few other games in which Rasho had little impact, such as the late February "contest" in Dallas in which Tim Duncan injured his knee. Rasho pulled all of two boards to go with 2 points instead of hammering the soft belly of the Mavs' interior D. That night, the question of Rasho and of the whole team was, "Where is the obsession with winning?" The question would crop up again in May versus the Lakers, not so much of Nesterovic, but of the Spurs generally.
In the two weeks that began Tim's recovery, Rasho emerged as a secret weapon no one knew SA had. In the next six games he averaged 36 minutes, 16 points, and 12 rebounds. He was double-double every night and his team won 4 times to stay in the Division race. When Tim returned, Rasho slid into a support role, blending with Duncan as a tandem post and solidifying the Spurs' stingy defense. But Duncan's absence revealed that SA acually has a top ten center other than TD.
Later, Rasho topped off his season with the best denial defense that's ever been played on Shaq in the NBA in Games 1 and 2. Phil Jackson then adjusted the Lakers' configurations to defuse their surprising problem. Along with LA's adjustments on the other end, they revved up their intensity. Par for the course in the NBA Playoffs, but as the series turned around, strangely the Spurs never really mounted a combative rejoinder, losing 4 straight times!
What is the Nesterovic role?
Defend the post. Contest the drives against SA's wings, drives which usually come in the baseline side according to the Spurs' system. Jump out on the ball when your man screens there. Set thousands of screens, mostly on the ball, often away from the ball, to free mates like Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Play high-low games with Tim, perfecting the touch pass. Rebound on both ends. Step out and make a few jumpers on the catch. Score on the block.
Nesterovic is one of the NBA's notable tip-shot artists, but suffered laughably at the free-throw line (under 50%). Like Shaq, Rasho pushes the rock up there instead of just backspinning the sphere skyward and hoopward with his fingers. Typical big man, right?
No. Enigmatically, Rasho's short post-up shots would not fall last season, while his medium jumper did. Will he break throug with some inside scoring this year and peak his career for the next few seasons? Or has his production already peaked at about 9 points, 7 boards, and 2 blocks a night? The evidence is that 6 game stretch last March in which he nearly doubled his stats on just a few more minutes per game.
Robinson was probably the first NBA player to publicly identify Nesterovic as an X-factor a few years ago, after Rasho racked up 24 points on him in Target Center one night. This year, unlike Brent Barry, Beno Udrih, Devin Brown, and Linton Johnson, all of whom could be Spurs X-Men this season, Rasho's role is more important than that.
Because there is no standout third big on the Spurs currently. Robert Horry, Malik Rose, and Tony Massenburg are filling that reserve role by committee. The don't look so hot at it either, and injured Sean Marks has never even played a regular NBA game for SA. The front office loves big forwards who, like all the reserves mentioned above, played center in college, having honed good help awareness on D. So you would think that Fresno's lanky kid Noel Felix could have fit the mold, but young hulk James Thomas of Texas, who can definitely board, was brought in for a pre-season look instead.
Judging from SA's mile-wide, foot-deep depth situation inside, it could be a big-minutes year for Rasho and Tim. Coach might want to keep at least on of them on the court all the time. Rasho will need to effectively battle the likes of Yao, Shaq, or Ben Wallace if the Spurs expect to avoid last post-season's disappointment. How did that feel?
"It feels like we were stopped short, so it leaves a bad taste," Rasho told NEWS@HOOPSWORLD. Nesterovic isn't a player to lead an NBA club like the Admiral once did. In SA, RAsho must be part of a team's attitude transformation. The Spurs need to go from outstanding players who want to win to Championship seekers who insist on it.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_10111.shtml