Preseason Grades: Spurs vs. Thunder - Dec. 12, 2020

[Dejounte]

During the game it seems that some of the vets are taking it easy I remember one instance when the Thunder missed a shot, 3 Spurs were standing around the rim and did not box out. A thunder player just stroll in for and OR and scores. Another thing is probably this is a warm up game with some many players playing out of position. Let's see how the next 2 games play out but one thing is for sure DJM cannot be our primary playmaker.

That was on Lonnie. I think he was subbed out right after that play. That play was an embarrassment

[Dex]

How did I know people were still going to complaining about Mills even though he was probably the best player for the Spurs last night?

Don't get me wrong, I think it's time to move away from him as well but at least give him credit when its due.

[Dejounte]

How did I know people were still going to complaining about Mills even though he was probably the best player for the Spurs last night?

Don't get me wrong, I think it's time to move away from him as well but at least give him credit when its due.

Are you just looking at the box score? Patty's points were empty. You can see the negative impact he had if you were watching.

[Dex]

Are you just looking at the box score? Patty's points were empty. You can see the negative impact he had if you were watching.

I was only able to catch about half the game, but he looked alright for the parts I watched. Patty will always be Patty on defense and that's a fair argument against him, but he was not only aggressive but also efficient on offense when nobody else on the Spurs seemed to be able to score a bucket.

If you want to nitpick, he needs to tally at least one assist if we want to pretend he is a point guard, but Mills was definitely further down the list of reasons why the Spurs lost.

[Dejounte]

I was only able to catch about half the game, but he looked alright for the parts I watched. Patty will always be Patty on defense and that's a fair argument against him, but he was not only aggressive but also efficient on offense when nobody else on the Spurs seemed to be able to score a bucket.

If you want to nitpick, he needs to tally at least one assist if we want to pretend he is a point guard, but Mills was definitely further down the list of reasons why the Spurs lost.

That's the thing though. On the surface, he had an "efficient" game, but when you dig deeper you'll see that there would only be two passes between Spurs players before he tried to score. No one was moving around on offense because he doesn't know how to run plays. Nobody could score a bucket because Patty was being a blackhole on offense. They weren't getting good looks OR touches. I don't care about assists or points or these counting stats. It's night and day when someone else runs the point aside from Patty. It was the same frustration I had when Kawhi was still here and Patty was taking Kawhi's shots.

If he does continue this bull , I hope it raises his trade value and he gets traded ASAP

[GAustex]

Patty gets the ball an its hide and seek around a high pick looking for his shot

[Prime BEEF]

Fade for Cade!

haha ok that’s good

The current espn power rankings have spurs listed as 12th in the west

[Atl Spur]

Lonnie better get his head out of his butt ASAP; Vassell will take/keep his spot!
The more I think about it Murray , Vassell , Keldon , DeMar , LA lineup might work. Bench of white , Mills, Lonnie , gay, poodle. ( I want Bates in there somehow )

[Mugen]

Replacing Bryn/Marco with KJ/Vassell/Tre should likely result in +10 wins this season tbh.

But the wild card the last several seasons has always been that the Spurs have one of the worst coaches in sports currently, so you never know

[Dex]

Lonnie better get his head out of his butt ASAP; Vassell will take/keep his spot!

Obviously it's only one preseason game, but Vassell already looks like he might be the better player. I loved that he came out aggressive and seems to be looking to steal a roster spot.

Lonnie has all the athleticism in the world, but just doesn't seem to have the drive. He just kinda...floats when he is out there. That's fine if he wants to be a career role player, but I think we all were hoping for more out of him.

[Atl Spur]

Obviously it's only one preseason game, but Vassell already looks like he might be the better player. I loved that he came out aggressive and seems to be looking to steal a roster spot.

Lonnie has all the athleticism in the world, but just doesn't seem to have the drive. He just kinda...floats when he is out there. That's fine if he wants to be a career role player, but I think we all were hoping for more out of him.

I totally agree; we need the Lonnie from the Houston game night in night out!!

[R. DeMurre]

If Patty's 24 pts in 20 minutes and a -2 playing with the bench guys were empty, then what would you call DeRozan's 12 pts in 24 minutes, and -10? Mills has his issues, but DeRozan's are worse, and he's paid double what Mills is. The team just doesn't flow with him in there, and there are a decade of advanced stats that back that up, along with two full seasons where the Spurs are significantly better with Mills on the floor than they are with DeRozan.

[Bojo]

I wouldn't overvalue the final score, it's preseason. I got some encouraging, some concerning impressions though.

good stuff:
+ LA played like a gunner, looking to shoot quickly instead of iso after iso. Won't fix everything, but he seems at least willing to change a little.
+ If he keeps playing like yesterday and in the bubble, Rudy is a great vet fit for this team. Might make Mills expandable.
+ Samanic looks more confident on the floor, like he knows where to be and what to do. I think his off-ball movement was way better, problem is he got frozen out yesterday. Increases the pressure to force things when he does get the ball a little. This was still encouraging though!
+ All the newcomers and rooks. Especially Devin. This guy needs 20 mpg asap, no discussion.

bad stuff:
- Murray can't run an offense significantly better than Mills. Concerning.
- Lonnie is lost without the ball, gets roasted on defense and worst of all gave up two offensive rebounds by just watching and letting his man go by and grab the board without any resistance. I know the common sense is that Pop ruined him, but maybe Lonnie is not (yet) as good as everyone thinks he is...rightful benching tbh.
- Lyles looks very selfish. Freezing out Luka (anyone seen that already secure rebound he kind of wrestled away from him?), insisting on putting the ball on the ground too much instead of doing what I think is expected from him (giving it up quickly)...needs to focus on his strengths and play with the team and not force horrible spin move isos.

[BacktoBasics]

Everyone wants to trade LA, DDR, Patty and Gay. Then can’t figure why it’s important to give them early minutes in a meaningless game to showcase these guys.

How do you expect this team to get any reasonable value if they don’t play them?

Trading one of these guys for Al Far Aminu is ing stupid. The you guys think cons utes an upgrade or even a reasonable return is laughable. They got to show value to get value otherwise it makes more sense to keep these guys and take the salary cap freedom for nothing.

At least with salary cap freedom you can absorb some send offs in a 3 way deal if you can’t land any quality FA’s.

[Dejounte]

If Patty's 24 pts in 20 minutes and a -2 playing with the bench guys were empty, then what would you call DeRozan's 12 pts in 24 minutes, and -10? Mills has his issues, but DeRozan's are worse, and he's paid double what Mills is. The team just doesn't flow with him in there, and there are a decade of advanced stats that back that up, along with two full seasons where the Spurs are significantly better with Mills on the floor than they are with DeRozan.

The difference is I've seen DeMar switch to a facilitator role (he wasn't one last night) and do it effectively, whereas Mills can only do one thing and one thing only - score.

No one is defending DeMar. He was bad.

[KobesAchilles]

That's the thing though. On the surface, he had an "efficient" game, but when you dig deeper you'll see that there would only be two passes between Spurs players before he tried to score. No one was moving around on offense because he doesn't know how to run plays. Nobody could score a bucket because Patty was being a blackhole on offense. They weren't getting good looks OR touches. I don't care about assists or points or these counting stats. It's night and day when someone else runs the point aside from Patty. It was the same frustration I had when Kawhi was still here and Patty was taking Kawhi's shots.

If he does continue this bull , I hope it raises his trade value and he gets traded ASAP

That was always my fear when I heard about the new ball movement (movement) we were gonna implement. We have a team full of chuckers and only really 2 people that know how to create for others and neither are elite at it

[Dejounte]

That was always my fear when I heard about the new ball movement (movement) we were gonna implement. We have a team full of chuckers and only really 2 people that know how to create for others and neither are elite at it

I think things will change once White comes back to takeover those PG duties.

I'm reserving judgment on the team until 10 games into the regular season. Others should too. Preseason always makes people go nuts.

[Spursfanfromafar]

It is just one pre-season game, but it still points out how redundant the duo of DDR/ LMA is to the team when played together. At best, they are forcing one of them to play unnaturally (to his ability) at age 35 and at worst, they are hampering the development of one of the Spurs' PG prospects in Dejounte Murray who should be thriving in a fast paced offense. I was hoping so much for LMA to be traded this offseason mostly because he was the better trade-able commodity among the two mid-rangers. Sadly, the Spurs FO has failed in doing so. Now I hope they dont overplay these two in the game as the season begins. And I hope fervently that White's and Johnson's injuries are minor or else this season would be to watch.

[r0drig0lac]

Jakob is

[onechance87]

It is just one pre-season game, but it still points out how redundant the duo of DDR/ LMA is to the team when played together. At best, they are forcing one of them to play unnaturally (to his ability) at age 35 and at worst, they are hampering the development of one of the Spurs' PG prospects in Dejounte Murray who should be thriving in a fast paced offense. I was hoping so much for LMA to be traded this offseason mostly because he was the better trade-able commodity among the two mid-rangers. Sadly, the Spurs FO has failed in doing so. Now I hope they dont overplay these two in the game as the season begins. And I hope fervently that White's and Johnson's injuries are minor or else this season would be to watch.

Only way murray was gonna thrive if he got a solid 3 point shot...It has yet to come...His court vision is not of a pg as well

[BackHome]

It is just one pre-season game, but it still points out how redundant the duo of DDR/ LMA is to the team when played together. At best, they are forcing one of them to play unnaturally (to his ability) at age 35 and at worst, they are hampering the development of one of the Spurs' PG prospects in Dejounte Murray who should be thriving in a fast paced offense. I was hoping so much for LMA to be traded this offseason mostly because he was the better trade-able commodity among the two mid-rangers. Sadly, the Spurs FO has failed in doing so. Now I hope they dont overplay these two in the game as the season begins. And I hope fervently that White's and Johnson's injuries are minor or else this season would be to watch.

Why do people think DM is a PG he has not show the ability to play point since day 1 it’s plain to see that White is easily our best starting PG. Also, don’t be surprised when Tre will soon beat him out of backup PG spot for Murray it’s either SG or bust the sooner he figures that out the better it will be for his career.

[Mr. Body]

I wouldn't overvalue the final score, it's preseason. I got some encouraging, some concerning impressions though.

good stuff:
+ LA played like a gunner, looking to shoot quickly instead of iso after iso. Won't fix everything, but he seems at least willing to change a little.
+ If he keeps playing like yesterday and in the bubble, Rudy is a great vet fit for this team. Might make Mills expandable.
+ Samanic looks more confident on the floor, like he knows where to be and what to do. I think his off-ball movement was way better, problem is he got frozen out yesterday. Increases the pressure to force things when he does get the ball a little. This was still encouraging though!
+ All the newcomers and rooks. Especially Devin. This guy needs 20 mpg asap, no discussion.

bad stuff:
- Murray can't run an offense significantly better than Mills. Concerning.
- Lonnie is lost without the ball, gets roasted on defense and worst of all gave up two offensive rebounds by just watching and letting his man go by and grab the board without any resistance. I know the common sense is that Pop ruined him, but maybe Lonnie is not (yet) as good as everyone thinks he is...rightful benching tbh.
- Lyles looks very selfish. Freezing out Luka (anyone seen that already secure rebound he kind of wrestled away from him?), insisting on putting the ball on the ground too much instead of doing what I think is expected from him (giving it up quickly)...needs to focus on his strengths and play with the team and not force horrible spin move isos.

If Lyles is freezing a player out -- and by many accounts he was -- he cannot see the floor. This is a very limited player who is not far from moving out of the league. Not to say that behavior is excusable for anyone, but for a player with his limited gifts, he needs to go.

[Mr. Body]

Why do people think DM is a PG he has not show the ability to play point since day 1 it’s plain to see that White is easily our best starting PG. Also, don’t be surprised when Tre will soon beat him out of backup PG spot for Murray it’s either SG or bust the sooner he figures that out the better it will be for his career.

I've not considered Murray a point guard for some time, if ever. He's a shooting guard or wing who cannot shoot.

[GAustex]

and that drunk assed senile poop over paid DJM

[Mr. Body]

That was always my fear when I heard about the new ball movement (movement) we were gonna implement. We have a team full of chuckers and only really 2 people that know how to create for others and neither are elite at it

I don't think you need elite facilitators, necessarily, so much as players who can slash and kick if they need to. This creates a churn that opens up the perimeter. You do need attentive guys who can see collapsing defenses, but this isn't impossible for players who are good in other categories. Of course it's not Manu and Diaw, but Parker wasn't an exceptional floor general and he learned to see and know where everyone was.