Examining The Spurs De-Evolution From A Team Game To A One Man Show

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Originally Posted by Capt Bringdown

Not necessarily. Certainly Pop's roster/lineup mismanagement must have a bearing on the pressure put on Tony to produce.

Mason and Hill to a certain degree, have shown themselves to be productive players earlier in the season before Pop started his ham-fisted "adjustments."

Of course the old chesnut about "this is the playoffs" will be trotted out, but at some point you have to wonder why other teams can have rookies and new players make positive contributions in the playoffs and we can't. Again, Pop's coaching moves must have some bearing on this equation. I don't believe that it's simply a matter of our role players completely sucking.

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If you are waiting for George Hill and R. Mason Jr. to revive this team your going to be disappointed.

I hate to say it, but it's less of a matter of our role players completely sucking, and more of a problem with our team being completely old.

Spurs need to do some serious recruiting and restructuring.

I love Finley Gooden and Thomas but... well, this team already has enough veteran leadership. We need guys that can play with intensity while Tim and Tony get a rest.

Without a solid bench, Everything else suffers.

Might be a long next couple of years.

duncan is not demanding the double team
because tp has demanded more attention

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Originally Posted by ducks

duncan is not demanding the double team
because tp has demanded more attention

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:lmao

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Originally Posted by austinlakepirate

If you are waiting for George Hill and R. Mason Jr. to revive this team your going to be disappointed.

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That's not my expectation, Mason and Hill aren't the saviors of this team, obviously.

However, we might just be a better team if they were utilized properly. Perhaps it wouldn't of mattered, but I believe players should be allowed to be fufill the role they are best suited for, and rookie development is preferable to what we've seen from Pop this year. I also believe these things have a bearing on how much pressure TP is under to deliver.

As it stands, I wonder where we can go for here if our coach has such rigid and inflexible notions about how to work new players into our scheme. Pop doesn't trust rookies and it's been said that it even takes vets a year to learn the system.

We ain't got a year, and we desperately need young energy. Therefore, it looks like Tony's going to have a great year scoring-wise next year. As for our title chances, well...

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Originally Posted by Capt Bringdown

Not necessarily. Certainly Pop's roster/lineup mismanagement must have a bearing on the pressure put on Tony to produce.

Mason and Hill to a certain degree, have shown themselves to be productive players earlier in the season before Pop started his ham-fisted "adjustments."

Of course the old chesnut about "this is the playoffs" will be trotted out, but at some point you have to wonder why other teams can have rookies and new players make positive contributions in the playoffs and we can't. Again, Pop's coaching moves must have some bearing on this equation. I don't believe that it's simply a matter of our role players completely sucking.

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You misunderstood my point. I was meaning that Pop isn't to blame for having a gameplan that includes Parker creating constantly. Where we stand right now with injuries, ineffective play and poor coaching decisions, Pop giving Parker the reins to the team is the only way the Spurs have a prayer.

I'm not saying Pop is blameless. He'd probably even admit that he F'ed up. His gambles this year have not paid off at all. In past year he gambled on players like Stephen Jackson and an ineffective Robert Horry and there results were golden in the playoffs. This year almost all his gambles ended up being mistakes in hindsight.

Pop coaches outside the box and sometimes that ends up biting him and sometimes it helps the team win championships. This year it all signs point to the former being true.

The way I see it, "poor coaching decisions" must play a role in "a gameplan that includes Parker creating constantly."
I don't see why you're separating those two factors in order to exonerate Pop. He's not entirely to blame for the Parker having to do an A.I. impression, but he must share some of the blame IMO.

It's Pop's strange decisions to effectively neutralize Mason by playing him a a role he's not suited for and give up on Hill that in part dictates the need for Parker to bear most of the burden right now.

The Blame goes to both. Parker more than Pop however seems to be the problem. AI can create his own shot and create for others to. Thats what parker is doing. Thats not running an offense though. And thats not helping your teammates who are down in the dumps confidence. I can sit here and blame parker for all of our loses except game 3 without even flinching. WHY? Parker is slashing , shooting and passing the ball well for 2 1/2 - 3 quarters. Then in the 4th he is exhausted. How is that his fault? because of depending to much on his skills an not developing more Basketball / point guard IQ. His teammates are screwed. Mason jr. / Bonner / Finley haven't done anything. In the 4th quarter the mavs lock down on parker and duncan. The other 3 guys haven't made the mavs react defensively in any way. Parker sees that the team needs points to win. He is going to score all of them. instead of slicing down the lane and kicking out to guys all the time, why not call plays for them which would force them to be more active and take more responsibility and have a part in there own resurrection as POP says. And the main things is that it allows parker to have just enough energy for the 4th qt.