Big Shot Rob
01-25-2007, 06:08 PM
This is Greg Moore's column from Hoopsworld:
Spurs: Mid-Season Grade Report Not Good
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Gregory Moore
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Jan 25, 2007, 10:07
SAN ANTONIO – It’s now official. The San Antonio Spurs are at the mid-way point of the 2006-07 season. While the Spurs are the third-best team in the league with a 30-13 record, there have been times when they haven’t played up to the billing of many NBA experts who think that they could actually capture the Larry O’Brien trophy. Here are the mid-season grades on the Spurs.
POINT GUARD: C
While Tony Parker is averaging 19.0 ppg, the position seems to falter at times when he is out and Beno Udrih comes in to gives him a spell. This could be because Udrih is not an explosive guard like Parker. Also Parker does need to get his teammates more involved early in the game rather than late. His assists could be one to two assist points higher. As for his backups of Udrih and Jacque Vaughn, both need at least give this team a combined ten to fifteen points extra from the position whenever possible. Also with Parker now being tentative after Gregg Popovich wanting him to distribute more, you begin to see him second guess on taking shots.
SHOOTING GUARD: C-
Manu Ginobili, Brent Barry and Michael Finley are the keys to this position actually being the dagger in finishing off opponents. Ginobili has been very erratic at times while there have been moments when Finley and/or have disappeared during crucial stretches of some games. While this has not been a major problem, the Spurs definitely need big time consistency out of this position to make a strong push in the second half of the season.
SMALL FORWARD: D
While defensively the position is doing a pretty stellar job (aka Bruce Bowen forcing the top scorer of the opponent to shoot above his field goal attempts), offensively the position needs to step up its production. The problem is that because Barry and Finley play “combo player” roles, consistency in points is either anemic at times or in over abundance at other times. With Bowen’s erratic shooting of late, the point production from this position has suffered enough to begin to affect other aspects of the offense.
POWERFORWARD: D
At the beginning of the season I wrote with Bill Ingram that Tim Duncan needed to be averaging almost 30 ppg for this team to have a realistic chance at being a dominant force in the Western Conference. So far, Duncan has fallen almost nine points short of that goal. Duncan’s inability to be aggressive early in many games has now translated into him hindering other players to be aggressive late in quarters when a run is truly needed. With Matt Bonner out for almost six weeks, the production of Robert Horry, Jackie Butler, and Francisco Elson are sorely needed and their playing times are spotty at best.
CENTER: D-
Of all the positions on the team, this one is probably the most disappointing. The emergence of Fabrico Oberto was to be this season with the trade of Rasho Nesterovic. Oberto’s play has been very sub par at times. Not that the Spurs are looking for him to be a scorer or major defensive presence but his production this season is actually below that of what Nesterovic had provided in seasons past. As for the big forwards playing the position, the lack of a true back up center stretches this team to the fringes. Williams and Butler are supposed to be reinforcements but with their limited playing ability, they are no more help than what Duncan and Oberto are for each other.
OFFENSE: D
Anemic and very much not productive at times, the team offense has been suffering from its shooting woes. While statistically the team leads in some categories, there are fourteen games on their loss column and at least eight of those losses have come from horrific shooting periods during the first half of games. Free throw shooting has been a constant problem while careless turnovers continue to happen at crucial parts of the game. Bench production is not where it should be even though there have been some shining moments during the first half of the season.
DEFENSE: F+
This team has had the worse defense in Spurs history over a ten-year span. With the allowing of opponents to shoot near or above 45% in many of their fourteen losses, the Spurs have allowed some teams to actually think they have a chance at winning against them. Defensive breakdowns seem to come on easy screens and switches. Awareness of the open man comes a little late in some cases but what stands out mainly is that this team gets out rebounded during the lapses they have in third quarters. Also this team has allowed many teams to climb back into games during the fourth quarter, a quarter that used to be owned by the Spurs in seasons past.
COACHING: D
Eventually everything must come to the captain of the ship and the performance of this team rests squarely on the coaching staff. Like the team, the coaching has been up and down this season so far. In the thirty wins, it has been above average to spectacular. Play calling has produced those wins through thorough preparation and a solid game plan but the fourteen losses have resulted from the opposite affect of not being able to put the team in a winning position even though the players may have played their way into those losses. Despite what the players do, because it is a team sport coaches will get the blame for losses and credit for the wins. Right now this staff is not getting the most out of a very talented team like it should.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE: D
This overall grade comes after the 90-85 loss to the Houston Rockets on Jan. 24th. This loss epitomized everything that the thirteen previous losses represented. Lack of offensive production from key players, defensive breakdowns during key stretches of the second half and lack of hustle for the win when it’s within reach.
OUTLOOK ON THE SECOND HALF
While this mid-season report card may seem like a failure to many fans, the fact that this team has the capability of winning almost sixty games at their current pace should be some comfort. Moreover this team’s deficiencies as outlined are things that have been magnified this season above seasons past. Things like long scoring droughts in the second half has been a Popovich trademark with his teams but they have never been a problem until of late coming. Yet even though the second half of the season is upon the team, the concerns mentioned shouldn’t be overlooked by anyone. Right now this team is in a precarious position as a third seed and against the talented Western Conference this year that may not be a position of comfort.
This team’s next thirty-seven games have several teams who are playoff caliber type in both conferences. Even teams like the Memphis Grizzlies could be dangerous if you overlook them or look past them. If the Spurs are truly a championship caliber team, then we will see some adjustments to the afore mentioned deficiencies before the “Rodeo Road Trip” is ended. The prognosis of this team is still on schedule. Right now, at the mid-season point, some rudimentary reinforcement on fundamentals is needed to put the championship swagger back into their game and demeanor on the court.
Spurs: Mid-Season Grade Report Not Good
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Gregory Moore
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Jan 25, 2007, 10:07
SAN ANTONIO – It’s now official. The San Antonio Spurs are at the mid-way point of the 2006-07 season. While the Spurs are the third-best team in the league with a 30-13 record, there have been times when they haven’t played up to the billing of many NBA experts who think that they could actually capture the Larry O’Brien trophy. Here are the mid-season grades on the Spurs.
POINT GUARD: C
While Tony Parker is averaging 19.0 ppg, the position seems to falter at times when he is out and Beno Udrih comes in to gives him a spell. This could be because Udrih is not an explosive guard like Parker. Also Parker does need to get his teammates more involved early in the game rather than late. His assists could be one to two assist points higher. As for his backups of Udrih and Jacque Vaughn, both need at least give this team a combined ten to fifteen points extra from the position whenever possible. Also with Parker now being tentative after Gregg Popovich wanting him to distribute more, you begin to see him second guess on taking shots.
SHOOTING GUARD: C-
Manu Ginobili, Brent Barry and Michael Finley are the keys to this position actually being the dagger in finishing off opponents. Ginobili has been very erratic at times while there have been moments when Finley and/or have disappeared during crucial stretches of some games. While this has not been a major problem, the Spurs definitely need big time consistency out of this position to make a strong push in the second half of the season.
SMALL FORWARD: D
While defensively the position is doing a pretty stellar job (aka Bruce Bowen forcing the top scorer of the opponent to shoot above his field goal attempts), offensively the position needs to step up its production. The problem is that because Barry and Finley play “combo player” roles, consistency in points is either anemic at times or in over abundance at other times. With Bowen’s erratic shooting of late, the point production from this position has suffered enough to begin to affect other aspects of the offense.
POWERFORWARD: D
At the beginning of the season I wrote with Bill Ingram that Tim Duncan needed to be averaging almost 30 ppg for this team to have a realistic chance at being a dominant force in the Western Conference. So far, Duncan has fallen almost nine points short of that goal. Duncan’s inability to be aggressive early in many games has now translated into him hindering other players to be aggressive late in quarters when a run is truly needed. With Matt Bonner out for almost six weeks, the production of Robert Horry, Jackie Butler, and Francisco Elson are sorely needed and their playing times are spotty at best.
CENTER: D-
Of all the positions on the team, this one is probably the most disappointing. The emergence of Fabrico Oberto was to be this season with the trade of Rasho Nesterovic. Oberto’s play has been very sub par at times. Not that the Spurs are looking for him to be a scorer or major defensive presence but his production this season is actually below that of what Nesterovic had provided in seasons past. As for the big forwards playing the position, the lack of a true back up center stretches this team to the fringes. Williams and Butler are supposed to be reinforcements but with their limited playing ability, they are no more help than what Duncan and Oberto are for each other.
OFFENSE: D
Anemic and very much not productive at times, the team offense has been suffering from its shooting woes. While statistically the team leads in some categories, there are fourteen games on their loss column and at least eight of those losses have come from horrific shooting periods during the first half of games. Free throw shooting has been a constant problem while careless turnovers continue to happen at crucial parts of the game. Bench production is not where it should be even though there have been some shining moments during the first half of the season.
DEFENSE: F+
This team has had the worse defense in Spurs history over a ten-year span. With the allowing of opponents to shoot near or above 45% in many of their fourteen losses, the Spurs have allowed some teams to actually think they have a chance at winning against them. Defensive breakdowns seem to come on easy screens and switches. Awareness of the open man comes a little late in some cases but what stands out mainly is that this team gets out rebounded during the lapses they have in third quarters. Also this team has allowed many teams to climb back into games during the fourth quarter, a quarter that used to be owned by the Spurs in seasons past.
COACHING: D
Eventually everything must come to the captain of the ship and the performance of this team rests squarely on the coaching staff. Like the team, the coaching has been up and down this season so far. In the thirty wins, it has been above average to spectacular. Play calling has produced those wins through thorough preparation and a solid game plan but the fourteen losses have resulted from the opposite affect of not being able to put the team in a winning position even though the players may have played their way into those losses. Despite what the players do, because it is a team sport coaches will get the blame for losses and credit for the wins. Right now this staff is not getting the most out of a very talented team like it should.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE: D
This overall grade comes after the 90-85 loss to the Houston Rockets on Jan. 24th. This loss epitomized everything that the thirteen previous losses represented. Lack of offensive production from key players, defensive breakdowns during key stretches of the second half and lack of hustle for the win when it’s within reach.
OUTLOOK ON THE SECOND HALF
While this mid-season report card may seem like a failure to many fans, the fact that this team has the capability of winning almost sixty games at their current pace should be some comfort. Moreover this team’s deficiencies as outlined are things that have been magnified this season above seasons past. Things like long scoring droughts in the second half has been a Popovich trademark with his teams but they have never been a problem until of late coming. Yet even though the second half of the season is upon the team, the concerns mentioned shouldn’t be overlooked by anyone. Right now this team is in a precarious position as a third seed and against the talented Western Conference this year that may not be a position of comfort.
This team’s next thirty-seven games have several teams who are playoff caliber type in both conferences. Even teams like the Memphis Grizzlies could be dangerous if you overlook them or look past them. If the Spurs are truly a championship caliber team, then we will see some adjustments to the afore mentioned deficiencies before the “Rodeo Road Trip” is ended. The prognosis of this team is still on schedule. Right now, at the mid-season point, some rudimentary reinforcement on fundamentals is needed to put the championship swagger back into their game and demeanor on the court.