Reply With Quote
Barry, when healthy, has been a lot more consistent this season than Finley.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/c...n.36311d7.html
Buck Harvey: Barry comes back, as does Pop-a-sub
Buck Harvey
Express-News Staff Writer
"That will be the deal," Gregg Popovich said a week ago. "That will be our rotation, so we're set."
Maybe somebody believed him. Popovich had hoped Michael Finley would be one of them.
But here's the deal: The rotation is never set with Popovich, and now there is more opportunity than ever for him to change. As Brent Barry returns, Popovich has more parts to switch, and, as the Spurs continue to miss shots, he has more incentive to switch around the parts.
Popovich would begin tonight, in Orlando, if he could.
Barry won't see a minute against the Magic. He hasn't played since January, after all, and a few things have happened since then.
The Rockets have won some games. There were a few trades. And the Mavericks have found new and creative ways to splinter; at least Mark Cuban got a crummy T-shirt out of it.
So Barry will need some time. Without many practice days available the rest of the season, Barry will need to get minutes during games to prepare for the playoffs.
This will be a challenge for Popovich, since he would also like to win along the way.
But Popovich has never minded juggling his lineup, and this goes back to his early days on the bench in San Antonio. In 1999, on his way to his first le, Popovich leaned on some guys one night and didn't play them the next.
The process came with a nickname. Pop-a-sub.
A veteran bench player at the time, Jerome Kersey, admitted there was some locker-room shock earlier that season. NBA players like to know when they will play and for how long.
But Kersey also summed up how the Spurs had learned to react to Popovich. "Just be ready," Kersey said then. "Because you could be the first off the bench, or the last."
At the time, Popovich was still forming the culture he wanted. He always figured his guys should be pros, always ready, always listening. So when he called on them, how they reacted told him a lot.
Now he has a group that is 100 percent his, and they've gone through too many championships to be tested. Now, Popovich changes only because he wants to.
Popovich likely wants to right now. He gave his rotation-is-set speech partly to relax Finley, and Finley has continued to stay in a slump so severe that it's generous to define it as just a slump. His 0-of-7 Sunday lowered him below 30 percent shooting for March.
Now Finley is in Orlando, and the last time he played the Magic, he went 3 of 13. That was in November. Barry, that same night, threw in five out of six 3s.
It wasn't an aberration. Many forget Barry started 28 games last season, and that rotation might have continued into the playoffs if not for another injury in early April. Finley replaced Barry then, keeping Manu Ginobili in his sixth-man position, and Finley played well.
Does anyone remember Finley's eight 3-pointers in the elimination game against Denver?
That, too, wasn't an aberration. Finley has put together some nice months, and one was February this year.
His run actually started in late January, when a late 3 in Phoenix changed the game and maybe the Suns' franchise. Finley threw in another 3-pointer at the end of regulation against the Knicks, sending that one to overtime.
His 19 points in the next game, in Boston, was the Spurs' highlight, and he ended the month in contrast to how he ended Sunday. Then, he scored 16 points against Dallas.
He hasn't been the same since. But working in this role, when some nights he gets just a half-dozen looks, it's not hard to lose rhythm and confidence. Barry has been through his own slumps in San Antonio for the same reason.
So this is what Popovich has to play with the rest of the way — an interchangeable group of veterans capable of fire or ice. And when Finley has another 0-of-7 night, and Barry struggles to find his stroke, Popovich will look down his bench in search of an answer.
Who knows?
Maybe Ime Udoka will get the start, and that will be the deal.
Barry, when healthy, has been a lot more consistent this season than Finley.
...........
Last edited by Deuce; 03-25-2008 at 11:57 AM.
Wow. What a pretty box.
Did this board just get spammed?
Did you post that because Finley is part of the Jordan team? If so, good job.
It's going to be tough to get Barry going this late in the season. Let's hope he's quick to get back in game shape.
Barry seems to bounce back from injuries pretty quick. Hopefully he can get game conditioned just as fast.
Brent will be fine. He has played here for quite a while, just consider how fresh he will be from his vacation!
The thing about Barry is he helps the offense even when he is not scoring.
I guarantee you, even if FInley continues to struggle as is (which is likely), Pop still won't start Barry over him in the playoffs...
duncan228 thanks!
You are putting most of the articles on this site. Good job
Someone had to say that
As for Barry. It is unknown, but he will definitely will bring more good then bad. He can take a pressure from Mike which can be very usefull when the spurs be in need to make a shooting punch.
yeah he struggled last year and never snapped out of it.if FInley continues to struggle as is (which is likely)
Oh wait....
You could start Udoka, and bring Barry, Manu and KT from the bench. This trio would be provide a powerful punch off the bench.
Use Finley and Horry in a reduced role and only give them minutes if they are hot or the starters suck.
I like the sound of that
It's not a stretch to imagine Barry as the starter. Last year, he was starting at this time of year and lost the starting job in early April due to injury. If he wouldn't have gotten injured, Barry would have started in the playoffs.
In 2005, it went the other way for Barry. Devin Brown had won the third swingman in the rotation job until he got hurt and then the job defaulted to Barry.
We'll see what Pop decides to do but he won't go with Finley for too much longer if he keeps sucking. He also won't give just give the job to Barry, Barry will have to earn it by playing well.
In all fairness...if Barry had shot as poorly as Finley has this season and last year, he'd have been run out of town.
Finley is shooting 38% from 2, Barry has only shot worse than that from 3 once and every hated him for it...
That 38% is not inconsistency, that's sucking.
Barry shot 35% from the field last year in the playoffs. 30% from three. If Finley had shot that poorly from the field in the playoffs, Spurs fans would wanted him to GTFO of town.
FG% smack from a Barry fan doesn't really fly after Barry laid an egg last year in the playoffs.
At times I get sick of Pop sticking with guys like Finley and Horry.
So what did Finley shoot in the playoffs last year?
41% from the field and 42% from three.
and was the third highest scorer in the first round helping them get by Denver.
Barry wasn't starting...he was getting garbage minutes, and his decline wasn't as great as Finleys.
Prior to last season Barry was the 10th best 3FG% shooter in NBA playoff history and the best ever for the Spurs.
Last year would then seem to be the aberration.
Anti-Barry smack from a noted Barry hater doesn't really fly after that little factoid.
PWNT!
And Finley sucked just as bad, in the finals!
Checkout the records for 3FG%...then hate.
http://www.nba.com/history/records/a...nd_career.html
Yes, that is the playoffs.
Fact: When Barry had the audacity to shoot 428% FG% and 357 3%, IN THE REGULAR SEASON, his worst season as a Spur, timvp engaged in a season long hateathon.
Finley has now shot much worse than thtat 2 seasons in a row, and completely choked in a finals series...and he gets a pass.
Instead he gets hyped for a game against a 6 seed...
, even Hedo did that.
Finley is being given the Robert Horry pass...only he's not Robert Horry. He shoots, and when he's not hitting, he's a brick layer extraordinare and little else.
And at least Barry tended to play better when guys were injured...Finley now sucks worse.
When Barry was a FA after the trade:
And now, I give you:
Damn...all it takes for me to get Mr. VP to own himself is to, accurately, point out that Findog sucks some serious butt this season...and it's not like he has a legacy of playoff clutchness either.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
