The Spurs' bench...

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Originally Posted by Texas 2 Step

Splitter will be the starter on Day 1 IMO. Hes not a true rookie. Dice and Blair will come off the Bench with Bonner being sprinkled in at times.

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I would love this to be true, but with that contract Bonner got, it might just be a pipe dream.

Oh, and Manu should come off the Bench. He helps our team more when he comes off the Bench. Yes, he is still great as a Starter but he won't last all Season by playing 36 minutes a game.

Plus, its not really who starts, but who finishes. And the finishing team will likely be Timmy, Tiago, RJ, Manu and Tony.

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Originally Posted by Hooks

How many PPG do you think the Spurs' bench will be putting up this year?

If I'm correct we had the #1 bench in the NBA last year yes? I can't remember where I saw the stats but I think our bench scored somewhere around 40ppg last year. Does anyone have the stats?

The improvement of Blair, the additions of Temple, Splitter and Anderson to the bench and the subtractions of the black holes on offense in Mason and Bogans will make our bench even better than last year.

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Not when it mattered. Also, a lot of it was due to the fact that Pop was giving a lot of players time that they didn't get in the playoffs.

Manu will average 11 ppg? I respect your opinion, but i think it's far-fetched. I think it will be 15 ppg or may be even more.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

It's hard to say that Spurs have improved their bench when they have only added rookies this summer.

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One could almost say that it's addition by SUBTRACTION.

It's not like the players coming in don't have pedigree, it's just that they have to manifest themselves in the NBA. Let's say they stay the same, but there could be upside here. We saw what we got with the other bench when it counted, this year, an it's an unknown quantity but truth, I feel better about the unknown than last year's known.

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I would love this to be true, but with that contract Bonner got, it might just be a pipe dream.

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I don't know why people always talk about the contract dictating who starts. When Malik rose got his big contract(which was needed to keep him away from the LAL), he didn't start unless there was an injury or some matchup Pop wanted to exploit. Money isn't the key to starting here. It's always been about effectiveness and this season will be the 1st season the Big three have all been completely healthy to start the season thanks to rest and no International play from Tony or Manu. This is an ALL-IN season.

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Originally Posted by Leonard Curse

see this is why i think we can win a championship if our new guys off the bench explode and contribute consistently like blair and hill then we can defeat anyone

starting is :
Tony
Manu
jefferson
Duncan
Splitter or Dice

Bench:
hill great defense/15ppg expect more due to his hard summer workouts

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Seriously, when was the last time Hill played great defense? Two years ago in Detroit against a retiring Iverson and not much after that. His defense last season was well below average and he got embarassed by most of the better and quicker PGs, whereas his defense on SGs wasn't as bad if you don't count his height limitations.

He must have got this 'great defender' tag from somewhere cause I've seen it lots all over the press and on the forum, but it's most definitely not from the games he's actually played in the past year.