Manu off the bench?

[zocool16]

I, as a Spurs fan, may be biased. But I could never blame Manu for a Spurs' loss. The guy is pure heart and I don't think anyone can point at him and say he didn't give himself entirely in a game. Anyways I think maybe Manu coming off the bench could ONCE AGAIN be the spark the team needs and also reinstate either Brent Barry's or Michael Finley's confidence. I don't know, I also think a trade might be best for us, but for now I think it would be worth a try. Do you think this would be a good idea?

[ChumpDumper]

I think it won't do anything for this team as currently constituted.

Therefore, it will be done.

[SAtown]

This worked pretty well in 05, so it might be a good idea

[Big Shot Rob]

Start Barry...bring Manu off the bench.

Leave Fin on the bench or groom him as a coach, with only sporadic minutes.

Same with Horry.

[ginobili fan]

Yeah it's a good idea,it worked well in the past.

[johnpaulwall21]

lent barry did pretty good when he started those games and manu did good off da bench, im pretty sure popobiotch will try it at some point.

[Manu_The _Best]

I, as a Spurs fan, may be biased. But I could never blame Manu for a Spurs' loss. The guy is pure heart and I don't think anyone can point at him and say he didn't give himself entirely in a game. Anyways I think maybe Manu coming off the bench could ONCE AGAIN be the spark the team needs and also reinstate either Brent Barry's or Michael Finley's confidence. I don't know, I also think a trade might be best for us, but for now I think it would be worth a try. Do you think this would be a good idea?


Timmy, Tony, Manu and Barry CANNOT be blamed in general - theyr are the CORE right now - BLAME the Rest of the "garbage" around them that didn't produce anything substantial during the entire season - the Spurs HAVE NO bench right now - even Bruce is playing very bad from the starters - when Bonner-Red Rocket comes back, I hope he provides some offense to us, otherwise look for a plan 2008 - if the Spurs don't make the Western Con. FINAL this year (which I don't think they will with the current ROSTER), you will see many changes next year 2008...Look for changes in the entire ROSTER besides Timmy, Manu, Tony, Bowen, Elson and Barry - everyone else WILL BE GONE FOR SURE!!!

[johnpaulwall21]

believe me everyone has already tore the bench up

[STEVEYCU]

changin the starting lineup is probably the only thing that can help them right now

[johnpaulwall21]

bowen to the bench, we need to get off to a firing start. then bring bowen in when we start grinding it out.

[Pugglekicker_21]

i like that and i think when ionner comes back he should be able to easily produce more than bowen and then with manu off the bench... well it wont get them to the finals conference or championship but at the very least it should get them there. it'd be better than losing in the first round by a hungry youthful team

[Please_dont_ban_me]

Maybe?

Some benefits (in my opinion) would be:

+ TP get's more free reign in the backcourt.
+ Barry/Finley can spread the floor alot better than Manu. (Finley NORMALLY can)
+ Manu brings energy off the bench.
+ This might help with the backup point situation. If you play Manu along with 2 other guys who can all handle the ball. Just for a stretch of 5-10 minutes per game. Minimize Udrih/Vaughns role and most importantly KEEP TONY FRESH FOR THE FOURTH.
+ Manu gives you a safety valve on the bench. If the teams going well, great you stick him in when you please to build up the lead more. If the teams sucking it up, you stick him in to help change momentum.



Just my opinion. Pops done it before. It's not like it's not possible for him to do it again.

[ilovemanu625]

belive manu,believe Spurs

[Big P]

Since Pop cant decide who to give minutes to, Barry or Finley, I think a good strategy would be to leave Manu as starter, bring Finley in as Manu's replacement on the 2nd squad & bring Barry in as the backup PG over Beno...when we need another guard in, bring in Beno if we need more of a SG or bring in Vaughn if we need more of a PG.

[Please_dont_ban_me]

Since Pop cant decide who to give minutes to, Barry or Finley, I think a good strategy would be to leave Manu as starter, bring Finley in as Manu's replacement on the 2nd squad & bring Barry in as the backup PG over Beno...when we need another guard in, bring in Beno if we need more of a SG or bring in Vaughn if we need more of a PG.

You lost me on the 2nd half of that post...

As for the first half. Barry hasn't shown any signs of being able to handle the back-up PG role. Otherwise Pop would already be doing that. I doubt he likes suffering through Udrih's 8-10 minutes a game, either.

[SAtown]

Since Pop cant decide who to give minutes to, Barry or Finley, I think a good strategy would be to leave Manu as starter, bring Finley in as Manu's replacement on the 2nd squad & bring Barry in as the backup PG over Beno...when we need another guard in, bring in Beno if we need more of a SG or bring in Vaughn if we need more of a PG.

Agreed. I don't see why we can't have Barry playing point sometimes instead of Udrih. He just never seems to get the job done.

[Big P]

You lost me on the 2nd half of that post...

As for the first half. Barry hasn't shown any signs of being able to handle the back-up PG role. Otherwise Pop would already be doing that. I doubt he likes suffering through Udrih's 8-10 minutes a game, either.

When have you seen Barry get consistent minutes at backup PG? Sure he has played PG in a pinch, but I dont think he's ever been Tonys primary backup, he cant be any worse than Beno. All I'm saying is if Pop brought Barry in as TP's primary backup & Finley as Manus primary backup, they would both be getting minutes. Pop has said he finds it hard to get both Finley & Barry consistent minutes, so theres a solution to getting them both some burn. As far as Beno goes, if Pop is so down on Beno, why is he getting the minuted instead of Vaughn?

[Big P]

What I meant in the 2nd part of the post is...Beno can play SG & Vaughn can play PG..when we need another SG if Finley & Manu need a rest, put in Beno...when we need another PG if Parker & Barry need rest, put in Vaughn..Pop has played Beno at SG with Parker on the floor as Point, so it wouldn't be the first time he's ever played SG. So basically the depth chart for the guards would look like this:

PG-Starter=Parker...Backup PG= Barry....3rd PG=Vaughn

SG-Starter=Manu...Backup SG= Finley...3rd SG=Beno

[bresilhac]

This worked pretty well in 05, so it might be a good idea

It did work in 2005 and might be just the thing that the Spurs need now to jumpstart the offense. It certainly isn't a short-sighted trade that would end up doing more harm than good. Bringing Manu off the bench adds a dimension that seems to confound opposing coaching staffs.

[SCdac]

I hate the idea of bringing our most versatile and intense player off the bench, and replacing him with old one-dimensional players. Barry/Finley can hit three's and jumpers, but are defensive liabilities. Starting SG's will eat them up; we'll end up giving up as many points as we get. Manu's one of the few players we have nowadays that works hard on both ends of the floor. Tony Parker is no defensive PG, Bowen's offense is nearly non-existant... how is throwing Barry or Finley in the starting 5 going to complement any of that? If anything, I think it will compound our troubles, and turn the games into uphill battles even earlier than normal... If y'all think we're working the "big 3" hard now, it's going to be even worse when you split them up and make them create on their own IMO. How good could Ginobili possibly be with our current second unit? Won't it tire him out carrying the load while Parker and Duncan are out?

[ArgSpursFan]

The spurs can defenetly play small ball in the 2nd quarter, with the backup squad without a natural point guard,but with barry or manu as a point guard instead,that way you have at least 2 guys out there with a good 3 pts range+finley and horry who have a good 3 pts range too.