What If Tony & Manu Were to Switch Places?

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Not debating for nor against this idea, but how would you guys think the Spurs would do if Tony and Manu switched places? Tony as the 6th man and Manu starting?
Starters:
Oberto
Duncan
Bowen
Udoka
Ginobili

Next rotation:
Horry
Bonner
Finley
Barry/Vaughn splitting time
Tony

Oh yea I slid Udoka in too.

Just a "what if" thought...
Discuss without angry comments?

[T Park]

THey would be struggling just as bad..

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

I did edited in like 10 seconds after I posted and saw from none to 7 users viewing.
That looked funny.

[Kori Ellis]

Pretty horrible.

[timvp]

My post from before the Seattle game when someone else brought up this idea...

I think it's time to try something radical. I don't want the big three to start because when that happens Manu becomes essentially useless because Pop either calls every play for Tim or Tony just tries to get himself going.

What about the 2005 playoff run? Ginobili had his best games as a starter. The team dynamics really haven't changed much since then.

The whole reason Pop went to Manu on the bench was because we had this stretch of like 6 or 7 straight games where he checked out at the 6 min mark of the 1st quarter with 1 or 0 shot attempts and the bench was also struggling big time.

Eh, the bigger reason is the bench sucks without him and becomes perhaps the best in the league with him. The second biggest reason is it makes it easier for Pop to ensure that there are always at least one fresh member of the Big Three on the court at all times. The third biggest reason is it allows Ginobili's relatively limited minutes to include more vital minutes instead of the trash minutes at the beginning of each half.

The "Manu not getting enough touches" angle is further down the list. I think it's more that Manu just gets to touch the ball every time up the court when he plays with the scrubs. If he starts, he gets regular starting shooting guard amount of touches. With the second unit, he gets point guard level amount of touches.

Putting Manu to the bench was a brilliant move because he ignited the second unit, he was the one who was already most used to playing by himself out of anyone in the big three anyway, and it took forever for teams to adjust to the tactic, especially if Brent was out there with him. Really, this move took us to the 4th le as much as anything did.

I've long been a proponent of Manu coming off the bench going all the way back to the beginning of the 2003-04 season. It's always made a lot of sense to me and I'm happy Pop has finally settled on it. Ginobili off the bench makes him a huge weapon and it doesn't affect his game negatively at all. I never saw a reason why he should start.

That said, I think Ginobili should start for the time being. And I say that as the world's biggest Ginobili-off-the-bench fan in existence.

While bringing Parker off the bench is a decent idea, I don't agree with it. Just put Ginobili into the starting lineup a la 2005. Parker doesn't strike me as a player who would thrive off the bench. I don't think he'd sulk or have an at ude about it -- I just don't think it fits.

That's especially true with this injured version of Parker. If I thought it was a lack of motivation behind Parker's struggles, I'd be all for drastic measures. But I don't think it's motivation related ... he just doesn't have his legs right now for whatever reason.

Without Parker being able to be aggressive offensively, the offense on a whole is really hurting. Parker is the best player on the team at penetrating and kicking it to three-point shooters. A big reason why the Spurs can't hit a three to save their lives most games is because Parker isn't able to drive and kick right now. Bowen, for example, makes his offensive living by hitting threes on assists from Parker. (In fact, historically an amazingly high percentage of Bowen's baskets come off of assists from Parker. That duo led the league in that category last year or the year before.)

With Parker hurting, Bowen and Finley become much more useless on the offensive end. That's why recently it's been basically just Duncan and four players watching him to start games. I say you just move Ginobili back to the starting lineup until Parker finds his legs. Having a weak bench is better than the starters sucking. The Spurs used to have the best of both worlds ... now they don't.

[TMTTRIO]

Eh, the bigger reason is the bench sucks without him and becomes perhaps the best in the league with him.

Well lately the bench sucks even with him coming off of it and it just seems like he's not bringing the same energy from the start anymore from the bench that made it very successful. I think as long as Tony is injured we should start him. The other night when we started him, he got us into the game right away and kept us into the game starting.

[suitedkings]

Then Manu would be married to Eva

[dallaskd]

Then Manu would be married to Eva

Manu isnt cute like tony. i dont think he could swing eva.

[genomefreak13]

Then Manu would be married to Eva

I like this guy!

[ducks]

manu can not play the point regular tp can
be bad for them to change their roles

[SuperManu!!!]

Manu would also make rap cds

Yo yo yo my name is manu, and i am a as a player as a big nosed guy

[WalterBenitez]

What If Tony & Manu Were to Switch Places?

You mean EVA? ah... no.. no, sorry

TP sparking the bench? nahhhh

Probably (not guaranted) that Manu wuould improve his performance but TP won't.

Not sure what to say in terms of combos

1. TD + Manu + Bruce + Finley + ??? or
2. Td + TP + Bruce + Finley + ???

[MB20]

Manu would start throwing behind the back passes from minute 1.
Which means, the team would have 75 turnovers at halftime.

[ancestron]

I like it when Manu runs the point, but Parker as a 2 guard? not so much.