Originally Posted by
SAGirl
I agree with you. It was an interesting game regardless. IMO if we had another big but Bonner it wouldn't have been a blowout. It was a loss anyways, but the game got away from us when Bonner got in at the end of the 2nd Q, start of the 3rd. His lack of defense, rebounding, boxing out and in general contributing anything positive was a downfall but that is nothing new.
The new guys were Anderson, Boban, Simmons and Martin and Pop learned from each and the first 3 rarely compete against elite teams like this. The fact they didn't hang with them is no surprise but you hope they can build up from success or failure. They don't get chances like this regularly.
I though if Boban had a good game we would have a chance to make it a game and I stated that hours b4 the game. He didn't. Adams played him defensively better than any big he's seen in the league. He's strong enough to not be backed down by Boban, boxed Boban out of the way, didn't let him get good post position for high low passes, etc. Made Boban look human, not like the demigod he's in garbage time. You don't learn that if you are just playing Boban in garbage time and how much is Boban worth to us next season$$? Can't tell if you don't put him in this kind of position. It's possible Pop learned a lot about Boban from this one.
There were things to be learned about the wings too. Obviously Simmons and Anderson being the newbies they are and Anderson being a youngster still developing his game, any opportunities you can give them against really good competition they can benefit from anyways, on both ends, and they still have a lot of chemistry together. Whether that is bc their games complement each other well, they are comfortable playing with each other having developed together or what? I don't know. That is how young cores develop everywhere else in the league. They go through struggles together, work behind close doors, get better. They just did that in the dleague, SL and staggered this season, not night in and night out like other teams, not even like Danny and Kawhi did. Given that, they still play well together. They look for each other in games and we really haven't seen them together much. They have been split up most of the time. Either one or the other is in the game etc. That maybe is not of much use to us to know right now, but it is for Pop this off-season, when he has to restructure the bench.
Pop can consider things like whether he needs a veteran wing next season if Manu retires, or if he can trust in the continued improvement of these two. I think in their case, the whole package of the two of them together is better than the individual parts. They were much more tame when they were split up, maybe lack of chemistry with others, but I think not. They fit together in their own way.
Is Martin a fit for the team long term if we don't get Manu back? I though possibly previously, but after this game, maybe not. He's not a better fit next to either Simmons or Anderson than these two are together and with possibly Bertans coming over as a designated shooter we probably don't need his skills next season.
It was an I interesting game from that point of view. Pop learned from OKC, but also from his guys.