Is Brent Barry Third String or is Udoka?

[Solid D]

To start the season? You make the call.

http://blogs.cisco.com/news/uncle%20sam.gif

[timvp]

Knowing Pop, probably Udoka. Pop will make Udoka earn his playing time. Wouldn't really surprise me if Udoka isn't seen much until the 2008-09 season.

That said, I'm pulling for Udoka to make a big impact early on. The Spurs can use his relative youth on the perimeter and he's already the second best perimeter defender on the team.

[td4mvp21]

Pop better play Udoka some to see what he has. I remember he gave us some problems in Portland.

[td4mvp21]

Well, for one game :lol.

[Walter Craparita]

Hopefully 1st/2nd string.



on another team.

[Samr]

Barry will start the season second string, simply because he has been with the Spurs longer. But Pop loves him some defense, so I imagine Udoka gets some major PT (at the expense of Barry) fairly quickly into the season.

[barbacoataco]

I think there will be another roster move at some time before February. If Udoka breaks into the 12-man aactive roster the Spurs are one man over. Barry makes a lot of money to sit on the IR.

[raspsa]

Pop will play the player that the situation calls for.

[T Park]

If Udoka isn't ahead of Barry by the beginning of the season, I will call into question Pop's sanity.

[Kori Ellis]

To start the season, I'm guessing it will be Barry. It will take a little time for Udoka to learn the Spurs system, so I think they'll ease him in.

But if the Spurs bench is getting killed by opposing wings, that will speed up his development :lol

[ss1986v2]

one of them is going to end up on the IR (or whatever they call it these days) if pop decides he wants to carry 3 pgs on the active roster again this year. the 12 man unit is still intact from last year:

1.duncan
2.parker
3.manu
4.bowen
5.oberto
6.finley
7.horry
8.elson
9.barry
10.bonner
11.vaughn
12.beno

so if ime is going to even be active, someone else is going to have to be in a suit. beno?...barry?...bonner?

[saporvida]

easy... beno.

[barbacoataco]

The Spurs have carried 3 PG's on the active roster for some time.

[Demo Dick Marcinko]

easy... beno.

Yep, if they can't trade him, put him on the IR, that way Brent becomes the 3rd string, emergency and mop up duty PG. Throughout the course of the early season watch as Ime starts eating up Barry's minutes and becomes Bruce's primary backup, maybe even gets into the lineup at the same time as Bruce. A line up of Udoka, Bowen, Duncan, Ginobili and Parker will rock.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Udoka should beat out Barry easy for his spot in the rotation.

[SenorSpur]

Udoka should beat out Barry easy for his spot in the rotation.

Agreed. People forget that Udoka started every game in which he was healthy (75 or so) for the Blazers during last season.

The mere fact that Udoka comes in and is already the Spurs 2nd best perimeter defender should enable him to see action sooner than later.

My prediction is that his value to the team will be realized with the more higher-octane, offensive-minded teams - particularly those that throw 3 or morer scorers on the floor at the same time.

He may start the season behind Barry, but once he completely learns the system, he should easily move ahead of Barry in the rotation.

[Indazone]

just trade Udrih, he doesn't even want to be a Spur anymore.

[T Park]

just trade Udrih, he doesn't even want to be a Spur anymore.

if someone actually wanted the piece of shit, they would've already I think...

[timvp]

If people remember correctly, Brent Barry began the 2006-07 season completely out of the rotation. In the first game of the season against the Dallas Mavericks, Barry didn't play at all. If it wasn't for the fact that he was on fire early in the season, he might have been benched all year.

Unless Udoka gets the First Season On The Spurs Yips, he'll eventually get into the rotation. However, I wouldn't rule out those yips just yet.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Wait--we signed Udoka?

[ChumpDumper]

I have fewer worries about Udoka's learning curve than I have other guards in the past. The Spurs aren't asking him to do much different from what he did in Portland, so it will be less of a culture shock than it was for Barry or Finley.

[pad300]

There's a crapload of people here who expect Barry to get displaced by Udoka... I'm not sure I believe it. Udoka has to adapt to new defensive and offensive systems. This traditionally, has caused shooters that come in to show significant decreases in productivity. Comparing stats from last year (via 82games.com),
Player Position PER Opponent PER NET PER
Udoka SG 14.6 16.8 -2.2
Barry SG 18.0 11.3 +6.7
Bowen SG NA (Bruce didn't play enough at SG for this to be worthwhile)
Finley SG 15.4 18.2 -2.8
Udoka SF 13.1 19.3 -6.2
Barry SF 18.4 16.1 +2.2
Bowen SF 8.5 13.5 -4.9
Finley SF 15.6 14.5 +1.1

Who stands out statistically? At the top end, Brent has both the highest PER spots (and because of this, both highest NET PER spots)... He's by far the most offensively productive (PER is a good measure of offense). Opponent PER is not the best measure of defense, as it does not track such effects as in game switches(eg. in many cases Bruce typically takes the most effective opposing Wing player, whether this is the SF or the SG, or even the PF[Dirk]), and misses many other subtleties .Still, Barry has the best measured defense on SG's... Also Udoka is not strong offensively. It is unlikely that we will risk having two offensively insignificant players on the court. Therefore it is likely the Spurs will replace like with like. Bowen and Finley are more likely to make room for Udoka, if he comes good.

[ChumpDumper]

Udoka isn't here for his offense. The wheels are about to come off Finley big time and we didn't get a whole lot of offense out of him anyway.

[pad300]

Udoka isn't here for his offense. The wheels are about to come off Finley big time and we didn't get a whole lot of offense out of him anyway.


I think I agree. But that suggests that Barry isn't the 3ed string - Finley is...

C - Oberto, Elson
PF - Duncan, Bonner, Horry
PF - Bowen, Udoka, Finley
SG - Manu, Barry, Finley
PG - Parker, Vaughn

With Mahinmi, Williams and Udrih rounding out the 15.

[ChumpDumper]

Well, I think Fin will start at the beginning of the season unless he really shows his age in preseason. Udoka is made for this system though -- his time will come sooner rather than later. As I said, the wheels are likely to come off Finley and they want to keep that from happeneing to Bowen too. Barry will be trade fodder once more and if his leaving creates an empty roster spot, the Spurs will look for another vet.

[Solid D]

Pop likes good defense so if Ime shows that he can pick up the Spurs team defensive scheme, then he will probably be the 4th wing to start the season. Throughout the season, it may boil down to Pop and his matchups game. Choosing the right club for the right golf shot, if you will...a 50 degree pitching wedge or the 60 degree lob.

Brent is very good offensively in certain combinations. The ball typically moves very well with Brent in there. He's a deadly shooter. That counts for a lot when the Spurs don't get hurt so much at the other end of the floor. This is a very deep team with this many skilled options at the wing. It's a long season with bumps, bruises, strains, sprains and pulls, so the depth will be needed.

[barbacoataco]

The problem with comparing PER's and +/- of opponents is that it punishes players like Bowen and Udoka because they always defend the other team's top scorer. Because they always defend the Lebron's and Kobe's, their opponents PER's are higher, even though they are the best defenders. But people just abuse meaningless statistics all the time in basketball.