duncan228
03-25-2008, 10:07 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA032508.buck_0325.en.36311d7.html
Buck Harvey: Barry comes back, as does Pop-a-sub
Buck Harvey
Express-News Staff Writer
"That will be the deal," Gregg Popovich said a week ago. "That will be our rotation, so we're set."
Maybe somebody believed him. Popovich had hoped Michael Finley would be one of them.
But here's the deal: The rotation is never set with Popovich, and now there is more opportunity than ever for him to change. As Brent Barry returns, Popovich has more parts to switch, and, as the Spurs continue to miss shots, he has more incentive to switch around the parts.
Popovich would begin tonight, in Orlando, if he could.
Barry won't see a minute against the Magic. He hasn't played since January, after all, and a few things have happened since then.
The Rockets have won some games. There were a few trades. And the Mavericks have found new and creative ways to splinter; at least Mark Cuban got a crummy T-shirt out of it.
So Barry will need some time. Without many practice days available the rest of the season, Barry will need to get minutes during games to prepare for the playoffs.
This will be a challenge for Popovich, since he would also like to win along the way.
But Popovich has never minded juggling his lineup, and this goes back to his early days on the bench in San Antonio. In 1999, on his way to his first title, Popovich leaned on some guys one night and didn't play them the next.
The process came with a nickname. Pop-a-sub.
A veteran bench player at the time, Jerome Kersey, admitted there was some locker-room shock earlier that season. NBA players like to know when they will play and for how long.
But Kersey also summed up how the Spurs had learned to react to Popovich. "Just be ready," Kersey said then. "Because you could be the first off the bench, or the last."
At the time, Popovich was still forming the culture he wanted. He always figured his guys should be pros, always ready, always listening. So when he called on them, how they reacted told him a lot.
Now he has a group that is 100 percent his, and they've gone through too many championships to be tested. Now, Popovich changes only because he wants to.
Popovich likely wants to right now. He gave his rotation-is-set speech partly to relax Finley, and Finley has continued to stay in a slump so severe that it's generous to define it as just a slump. His 0-of-7 Sunday lowered him below 30 percent shooting for March.
Now Finley is in Orlando, and the last time he played the Magic, he went 3 of 13. That was in November. Barry, that same night, threw in five out of six 3s.
It wasn't an aberration. Many forget Barry started 28 games last season, and that rotation might have continued into the playoffs if not for another injury in early April. Finley replaced Barry then, keeping Manu Ginobili in his sixth-man position, and Finley played well.
Does anyone remember Finley's eight 3-pointers in the elimination game against Denver?
That, too, wasn't an aberration. Finley has put together some nice months, and one was February this year.
His run actually started in late January, when a late 3 in Phoenix changed the game and maybe the Suns' franchise. Finley threw in another 3-pointer at the end of regulation against the Knicks, sending that one to overtime.
His 19 points in the next game, in Boston, was the Spurs' highlight, and he ended the month in contrast to how he ended Sunday. Then, he scored 16 points against Dallas.
He hasn't been the same since. But working in this role, when some nights he gets just a half-dozen looks, it's not hard to lose rhythm and confidence. Barry has been through his own slumps in San Antonio for the same reason.
So this is what Popovich has to play with the rest of the way — an interchangeable group of veterans capable of fire or ice. And when Finley has another 0-of-7 night, and Barry struggles to find his stroke, Popovich will look down his bench in search of an answer.
Who knows?
Maybe Ime Udoka will get the start, and that will be the deal.
Buck Harvey: Barry comes back, as does Pop-a-sub
Buck Harvey
Express-News Staff Writer
"That will be the deal," Gregg Popovich said a week ago. "That will be our rotation, so we're set."
Maybe somebody believed him. Popovich had hoped Michael Finley would be one of them.
But here's the deal: The rotation is never set with Popovich, and now there is more opportunity than ever for him to change. As Brent Barry returns, Popovich has more parts to switch, and, as the Spurs continue to miss shots, he has more incentive to switch around the parts.
Popovich would begin tonight, in Orlando, if he could.
Barry won't see a minute against the Magic. He hasn't played since January, after all, and a few things have happened since then.
The Rockets have won some games. There were a few trades. And the Mavericks have found new and creative ways to splinter; at least Mark Cuban got a crummy T-shirt out of it.
So Barry will need some time. Without many practice days available the rest of the season, Barry will need to get minutes during games to prepare for the playoffs.
This will be a challenge for Popovich, since he would also like to win along the way.
But Popovich has never minded juggling his lineup, and this goes back to his early days on the bench in San Antonio. In 1999, on his way to his first title, Popovich leaned on some guys one night and didn't play them the next.
The process came with a nickname. Pop-a-sub.
A veteran bench player at the time, Jerome Kersey, admitted there was some locker-room shock earlier that season. NBA players like to know when they will play and for how long.
But Kersey also summed up how the Spurs had learned to react to Popovich. "Just be ready," Kersey said then. "Because you could be the first off the bench, or the last."
At the time, Popovich was still forming the culture he wanted. He always figured his guys should be pros, always ready, always listening. So when he called on them, how they reacted told him a lot.
Now he has a group that is 100 percent his, and they've gone through too many championships to be tested. Now, Popovich changes only because he wants to.
Popovich likely wants to right now. He gave his rotation-is-set speech partly to relax Finley, and Finley has continued to stay in a slump so severe that it's generous to define it as just a slump. His 0-of-7 Sunday lowered him below 30 percent shooting for March.
Now Finley is in Orlando, and the last time he played the Magic, he went 3 of 13. That was in November. Barry, that same night, threw in five out of six 3s.
It wasn't an aberration. Many forget Barry started 28 games last season, and that rotation might have continued into the playoffs if not for another injury in early April. Finley replaced Barry then, keeping Manu Ginobili in his sixth-man position, and Finley played well.
Does anyone remember Finley's eight 3-pointers in the elimination game against Denver?
That, too, wasn't an aberration. Finley has put together some nice months, and one was February this year.
His run actually started in late January, when a late 3 in Phoenix changed the game and maybe the Suns' franchise. Finley threw in another 3-pointer at the end of regulation against the Knicks, sending that one to overtime.
His 19 points in the next game, in Boston, was the Spurs' highlight, and he ended the month in contrast to how he ended Sunday. Then, he scored 16 points against Dallas.
He hasn't been the same since. But working in this role, when some nights he gets just a half-dozen looks, it's not hard to lose rhythm and confidence. Barry has been through his own slumps in San Antonio for the same reason.
So this is what Popovich has to play with the rest of the way — an interchangeable group of veterans capable of fire or ice. And when Finley has another 0-of-7 night, and Barry struggles to find his stroke, Popovich will look down his bench in search of an answer.
Who knows?
Maybe Ime Udoka will get the start, and that will be the deal.