What's the story with Udoka?

[2centsworth]

Why no minutes? Is he just an insurance policy?

[Spurologist]

Pop building some hunger/aggression

[Darkwaters]

I was wondering that too. He probably didn't hit the floor because Barry was playing awesome tonight. If Barry hadn't been so good I think he would have shared some time with Ime.

[Chris]

CIA Pop ;)

[AFBlue]

Ime and Bonner are both going to have their minutes vary significantly based on the health of the players in front of them.

If Barry and Finley both continue to produce and stay healthy, it's conceivable that Udoka won't see the floor much this season. However, I expect Udoka to get at least a few opportunities to prove himself throughout the course of this long season.

[mystargtr34]

Udoka isnt an insurance policy.

I would have liked to see him out there on Webster since he absolutely torched Barry/Finley and Manu. Bowen locked down Roy.

[cheguevara]

Barry + Bonner w/little help from Elson almost blow the game for us tonight

[Russ]

They need his energy tomorrow.

[Walter Craparita]

Too much defense in one night would overload the league

[coachmac87]

ya i didnt understand why pop stuck with barry that long..ya he made alot of threes but ime can hit them as well (41%)..he guarded all of those guys last year so i was kinda surprised...but hey its the first game of 82....he will get his chance no doubt about that...he could take barry min if he hits that 3 ball...MARK THOSE WORDS!!!

[SequSpur]

udoka for Kobe!

[T Park]

ya i didnt understand why pop stuck with barry that long..ya he made alot of threes but ime can hit them as well (41%)..he guarded all of those guys last year so i was kinda surprised...but hey its the first game of 82....he will get his chance no doubt about that...he could take barry min if he hits that 3 ball...MARK THOSE WORDS!!!

ya know pop cant win.

He gets ripped up for taking out guys that are making shots

tonight he keeps in aguy making shots and gets ripped for it.

fuck :lol

[leemajors]

They need his energy tomorrow.
no kidding. def champs get a b2b right off the bat.

[K-State Spur]

ya i didnt understand why pop stuck with barry that long..ya he made alot of threes but ime can hit them as well (41%)..he guarded all of those guys last year so i was kinda surprised...but hey its the first game of 82....he will get his chance no doubt about that...he could take barry min if he hits that 3 ball...MARK THOSE WORDS!!!

udoka's more like bowen on 3s, solid at hitting the corner 3s when nobody else in the same zip code.

he's not in barry's class as a spot-up shooter.

not to say that he won't have plenty of value to the team this year, he'll get his minutes, and relatively soon.

[PerforatedNeckline]

Barry + Bonner w/little help from Elson almost blow the game for us tonight

i don't think this game was ever in jeopardy. we got buckets whenever we really wanted/needed them.

[Solid D]

i don't think this game was ever in jeopardy. we got buckets whenever we really wanted/needed them.

Well, there was that spot with 2 minutes remaining in the game when Portland was only down 3 points. If TP doesn't hit that tough jumper with the clock running down in a stagnant possession, the game would have certainly been up for grabs.

Thanks to Bruce Bowen for locking down on Brandon ROY in the final few minutes. If it were up to me, I would have given Bruce a game ball for his efforts.

[spurscenter]

part of the trade deal was that IMe could not play vs. Portland

i read it, its true

[Kori Ellis]

Why no minutes? Is he just an insurance policy?

I don't know why particularly he didn't play today. But he's learning the D and there's a lot of wings ahead of him. I saw Pop ask Matt Bonner to move on the bench so Pop could sit next to Udoka to explain some stuff on D that was going on during the game. It would been nice to see if he could have done something considering the turnstyle D of the other wings (outside of Bowen's awesome play).

[timvp]

As I said in the game blog before the game, I didn't think Udoka would play. I get the vibe from Pop that he's going to go extra slow with Udoka to make him earn every minute he plays. He's not going to hand Udoka anything.

Besides, with Ginobili, Bowen, Finley and Barry splitting the wing minutes, there's no room for a fifth wheel. Eventually Udoka is going to get a shot and beat out either Barry or Finley. I don't know if that's going to be in a couple weeks, in a couple months or next season. All I know is Pop is going to be slow with the process.

[thekingrobert]

even Ian got in but on b2b i understand it

[BeerIsGood!]

He may see some minutes in game 2 of the b2b.

Bowen was stellar off the bat defensively, TP was electric early but his lack of conditioning at this point showed in stretches, Manu was solid on offense but a bit too reach happy on D, Oberto was good when he wasn't fouling at a high clip, Finley was what we expect of Finley, Barry was o.k., Elson missed rotations but brought energy and took the damn ball straight to the rim with no fear, and Bonner was attrocious on his rotations. Webster hit so many shots off of late rotations by Bonner that he should personally give Bonner a courtesy call. As expected, the defense is below sub-par to start the season, but we all know how this process goes by now.

[Kori Ellis]

Bonner was attrocious on his rotations.

Steam was practically coming out of Pop's ears about Bonner in the first half. It was kind of comical. :lol

[spurscenter]

THIS IS THE ONLY ROTATION I KNOW.....
http://www.spurscenter.com/images/mattbonner.jpg

[bejanicek]

Just wondering if anyone knew why Ime didn't get any playing time last night. Is it because he doesn't know system yet or what? I just saw him as having a bigger role.

[MoSpur]

I was puzzled by that as well, but I think Pop wants him to learn the system first before putting him out there. I honestly think we'll see him play 10 minutes or so since its the second on a back to back. That's just my opinion though.

[bdictjames]

Pop doesn't want him to play against his former team obviously.

Tonight, look for Udoka to get some minutes. And I didn't know that we signed Mahinmi. Do Washington and Mahinmi have deals done already?