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dude...matt bonner was your starting center...i mean....uh o!
Popovich brings stingy back
Jeff McDonald
Back when he was in the Eastern Conference, Richard Jefferson used to look forward to a game against the Spurs the way a child looks forward to a visit to the dentist.
The only upside was that he had to do it only twice a year.
“They were a team that, if they weren't scoring, neither were you,” Jefferson said. “They were consistently one of the best defensive teams in the league.”
If coach Gregg Popovich gets his wish, the Spurs will soon get back to playing the kind of defense Jefferson used to know and loathe.
After a decade of standard-setting when it came to the art of suffocating other teams, the Spurs slipped from “elite” to “just pretty good” last season.
They finished ninth in field-goal percentage defense at 45.3 percent, the team's lowest rank and highest number in a dozen full seasons under Popovich. For a while, the Spurs were floundering along in the low 20s, a ranking that rendered Popovich practically apoplectic.
“When this team was successful in the past, it was based on defense,” Michael Finley said. “The last couple of years, we kind of got away from that a little bit. We focused more on scoring than stopping people.”
Before last season, the Popovich-era Spurs had never finished worse than fifth in field-goal percentage defense.
Their best season came in 2003-04, when they set an NBA record by allowing foes to shoot just 40.9 percent from the field. Since then, the Spurs' defensive numbers have risen incrementally each year.
Popovich has spent much of his time on the pulpit this preseason preaching the need for his team to return to the glory days.
“We tried to ins ute some new things the past couple of years, and they didn't really work out,” Popovich said. “So we're going back to the good old days when we tried to lead the league defensively.”
Tonight's preseason game against Greek power Olympiacos will provide Popovich an early checkpoint in the progress toward that goal.
He is counting on the offseason additions of Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff to improve the frontcourt defense, while more consistent playing time for second-year guard George Hill should help on the perimeter. The Spurs also signed veteran guard Keith Bogans in hopes that he could serve as a spot defender off the bench.
The Spurs will not have a lockdown defender on the order of a mid-2000s Bruce Bowen, nor will they even have last year's model. Bowen, an eight-time all-league defender, was included in the June trade that brought Jefferson from Milwaukee and has since retired.
Instead, the Spurs hope Jefferson, known primarily as a scoring swingman these days, can re-emerge as the reliable defensive presence he once was.
“We want to try and reawaken his earlier inclination to play some ‘D',” Popovich said.
Popovich believes the Spurs' defensive efforts could also receive added support from an unlikely ally — the Spurs' offense.
Top to bottom, this year's team boasts a deeper collection of scorers than any other Popovich has coached. More points scored should equal less pressure on the defense to come up with a stop per trip.
“At times in the past we've been offensively challenged,” Popovich said. “That puts a hit on the defense, because you have to play it too much.”
Despite the offseason infusion of offensive talent, Popovich is still pushing the old tried-and-true cliché: Defense wins championships. His aim is for the Spurs to return to what once was a perennial spot among the league's top three in field-goal percentage defense.
Jefferson believes the Spurs can get there.
“Their heyday wasn't that far off,” Jefferson said, “and they've got some of the same core still here.”
If the Spurs are indeed able to recreate that heyday on defense, Jefferson can rest easy. The only time he will have to play against the Spurs this season is in practice.
DOMINANT DEFENSE
During Gregg Popovich’s 12 full seasons as head coach, the Spurs have ranked in the NBA’s top three in defensive points per game. But last year saw their worst ranking in field-goal percentage defense in Popovich’s tenure.
Year FGP (rank) PPG (rank)
97-98 41.1 (1) 88.5 (1)
98-99 40.2 (1) 85.4 (3)
99-00 42.5 (5) 90.2 (1)
00-01 41.9 (2) 88.9 (3)
01-02 42.6 (5) 90.5 (3)
02-03 42.7 (3) 90.4 (3)
03-04 40.9 (1)* 84.3 (1)*
04-05 42.6 (3) 88.4 (1)
05-06 43.3 (3) 88.8 (2)
06-07 44.3 (4) 90.1 (1)
07-08 44.4 (5) 90.6 (3)
08-09 45.3 (9) 93.3 (2)
* – NBA record for full 82-game schedule.
1998-99 was a strike-shortened season.
Last edited by duncan228; 10-08-2009 at 11:43 PM.
dude...matt bonner was your starting center...i mean....uh o!
Not to mention rebounding. This is what excites me most about this season. The Spurs could conceivably have 3 of the best rebounders (per 48min) in the league. That alone should ease the load on TD as he will no longer be the only above average rebounder on the team.
It's going to be real interesting to see the iden y of the team form. Defense is their goal, yet they have so many more offensive options, Pop is going to have to open it up a little, I would imagine, especially if he is giving the reins to Parker, who is probably looking to run the break more and throw his patented 14 foot alley oops. Ha!
Still waiting on who you would've started.
You havent answered that in about, ohhhh 9 months.
Guess that means we will not be seeing Bonner and Finley get any court time... SWEET!
Agree there really wasn't really another choice for starting center. Doesn't make Matt Bonner a good defender though.
That's great.“We tried to ins ute some new things the past couple of years, and they didn't really work out,” Popovich said. “So we're going back to the good old days when we tried to lead the league defensively.”
This season, with Bruce out, the team defense will have to be great
Coincidently those were the years Rasho was a Spur..... hmmmm....
Trying to be again a great defensive team is great but it won't work if you don't have the players to do so.
For the moment the PF/C main rotation should be Duncan, McDyess, Bonner and Blair. Defensively, it's nowhere near great. Spurs also don't have the tools to be dominant defensively on the perimeter. All in all, Spurs will have a damn hard time to be the top defensive team in the league with their roster.
Agree Bruno, but then offensively we're in a much better shape than in previous seasons, so we don't need to be as good defensively as we have been, just not as bad as last season. We deffinitely have the tools and personnel to do that.
Originally Posted by duncan228
Popovich brings stingy back
Jeff McDonald
Year FGP (rank) PPG (rank)
97-98 41.1 (1) 88.5 (1)
98-99 40.2 (1) 85.4 (3)
99-00 42.5 (5) 90.2 (1)
00-01 41.9 (2) 88.9 (3)
01-02 42.6 (5) 90.5 (3)
02-03 42.7 (3) 90.4 (3)
03-04 40.9 (1)* 84.3 (1)*
04-05 42.6 (3) 88.4 (1)
05-06 43.3 (3) 88.8 (2)
06-07 44.3 (4) 90.1 (1)
07-08 44.4 (5) 90.6 (3)
08-09 45.3 (9) 93.3 (2)
Don't forget the Man from Nazr and Frankie Elson before his eye socket got poked.Coincidently those were the years Rasho was a Spur..... hmmmm....
This upcoming season just got interesting in a whole new way.
I certainly hope Pop got his knack back for defense.
I he's serious about it, then that would actually almost guarantee that Finley, Bonner, Blair and Mason will see reduced minutes.
I really have to see this to believe it.
Exactly.
When you lose Bruce your defense fades...
Popovich brings stingy back
a ranking that rendered Popovich practically apoplectic.
Popovich has spent much of his time on the pulpit this preseason preaching
damn this guy sucks, i can't even take his articles seriously. who's son is he? why does he have this job? He's robbing us all of quality spurs journalism.
When did Richard Jefferson become a bad perimeter defender?
I would hope Theo Ratliff gets to show his impact within the Spurs system, with good health over the course of the season being of great importance.
He's the best paint protector the Spurs have had in a long time.
with McDyess and theo and Tim our positioning might be quite good when it comes to defense. also if pop will use more george with manu and RJ we can be enogh good defensivly
Again, Richard Jefferson in the past has been a damn good perimeter defender and with Pop and others and the great system the Spurs have how does he not
A. Improve as a defender
B. not be Bruce Bowen, but someone that can be that good defensive wing that was lacking last year.
Does that mean they're bringing back the "YOU'LL READY FOR THIS" song? Gee, I hope so...That song really got everybody pumped, including the players....
I think Sequspur hit the nail on the head.
How the can u preach about defense when you start Matt Bonner over Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff.
Popovich can talk all he wants about becoming a better defensive team but when you trot out Matt Bonner to start off the game when you have two guys who are twice the defender he is your philosophy is going to fall on its head.
I'm not necessarily a proponent of Matt Bonner starting. He's not a strong defender.
You can't really look at the Olympiacos game and have an argument, though. Offensively, the Spurs space the floor pretty well when Matt is in there and the Spurs got off to a 20 point lead (29-9) before Matt was subs uted out for Haislip. Bonner started the Houston game and scored 8 points in the first 3 1/2 minutes and although his D wasn't that great, you can't really say "Bonner to start off the game" has been that much of a "fall on your head experience."
It's Matt Bonner over the course of the game where your argument has more teeth.
I totally agree that McDyess and Ratliff are the Rx the Spurs needed to treat the Spurs' defensive ills.
We saw this last year too. Bonner put up good numbers until approximately the all-star break (and a few really nice games like the celtics to his credit) but his shots started missing the mark and it got even uglier in the playoffs.
When Bonner is stroking it, he does make the spurs and especially Duncan that much more effective and difficult to contain offensively. Problem is, when he's not stroking his shot so well, he doesn't bring much else to the table and the spurs are ed.
And... regardless of whether Bonner is stroking his shot well, its alot to pin on Mr Duncan to have to shoulder the entire responsibillity of protecting the rim himself, especially at this stage of his career.
I'd much rather have someone who can look after Tim's back and instead take a look in a new direction for offense, and to me that means getting Richard Jefferson more involved offensively.
You get the same result offensively, but with better defense and better insurance for Tim's knees and health.
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