Grades: Spurs at Grizzlies - Dec. 23, 2020

[The Truth #6]

Dude is very soft offensively and won’t take LMAs spot due to this reason. He can’t go up strong. He can’t finish well. He pump faked a ing point guard 3 feet away from the basket. He is and should always be a bench piece that plays the current role he is playing. His defense is great. I was super impressed with it. But he will never get better on offense. Makes him unplayable with the starters this year.

I agree that he is not a strong offensive player. But offense wasn’t the problem tonight. Also, in the bigger picture, having one player who doesn’t need the ball isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as the other four are moving it around quickly, and Yak actually helps with ball movement.

[KobesAchilles]

People put the nail in the coffin for DJ too, and here he is now rising from the dead.

Y'all need to be patient lol

Difference is that DJ actually has put in the work to be better offensively. Poetl clearly has not. Someone find that play for me where he pump fakes that midget. Like that play shows how uncomfortable he is putting the ball in the basket. That is something you learn at a very early age not to do. When you have height, just go up against the much shorter person. It’s taught in middle school ffs. Also he rarely dunks for a 7 footer and goes up soft a lot like he did last year in the bubble when we lost to Philly?

[Dejounte]

"Having a top 10 pick will guarantee us a superstar!"

[poopbox]

Nice win. I am concerned about LMA "set one screen and stand their" offense. That is fine against a young team like Memphis but better teams are just going to pack the paint and make penetration harder. And of course instead of mixing in 3's with his post game, his post game is now completely gone and he has subs uted it with 3's. LMA is 35 with two bad knees so we really shouldn't expect much out of him.

Poeltl still isn't better than LMA but he is a much better fit for this team. His lack of scoring is way overblown because all of our guards are going to be putting up shots. We need a big who sets get screens and rolls to the rim and that is what Poeltl does. Still way to soft with his finishes, needs to finish like Ewwwwbanks who tries to dunk everything near the rim.

Gay could not have played anymore perfect. Whenever he set a screen or got a guard near him he tried to post them up, meaning it was either a mismatch or memphis had to scramble to get someone bigger on him and that caused mismatches elsewhere. It's sad LMA is either to dumb or to lazy to play like this.

If Keldon, Demar, and Gay are going to be playing the 4 this season...how does Luka get on the floor ? Interested to see what kind of teams we play where Pop would think that was a good matchup.

Vassell played well. His defense and high basketball IQ should keep him in the rotation. When him DJ and White really start playing together they are going to be a nightmare defensively. In a year we could legit have 3 of the top 15 perimeter defenders in the league. Keldon and Lonnie can be plus defenders but neither play the hounding defense the others have shown to play.

No Lyles is a good thing. He should be the break in case of emergency or injury player on this team

[exstatic]

Dude is very soft offensively and won’t take LMAs spot due to this reason. He can’t go up strong. He can’t finish well. He pump faked a ing point guard 3 feet away from the basket. He is and should always be a bench piece that plays the current role he is playing. His defense is great. I was super impressed with it. But he will never get better on offense. Makes him unplayable with the starters this year.

LMA scored 20, and did nothing else, in a game where we were missing White, and didn’t get much scoring from Vassell. We can make up those points, collectively, and Poeltl is light years better, defensively.

[KobesAchilles]

I agree that he is not a strong offensive player. But offense wasn’t the problem tonight. Also, in the bigger picture, having one player who doesn’t need the ball isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as the other four are moving it around quickly, and Yak actually helps with ball movement.

I’m not ting on Jak (well I kinda am) bc he does so many things that we need. He is a good screen setter, he actually rolls, and plays stout defense.

But the thing is that DJ is gonna have people go under the screen until it’s proven he can make that 3 at a consistent rate. Everyone and there mom doesn’t even defend DDR at the 3 point line since they know he won’t shoot. The dude keeps pump faking like he’s going to shoot it too and literally none of the 4 different defenders I saw him pump fake at the 3 point line even reacted to it. Teams also are letting LMA shoot 3s as well. He has to hit them at about 35%

Adding Jak to this line up really kills our spacing

[Dejounte]

"Having a top 10 pick will guarantee us a superstar!"

[Mr. Body]

"Having a top 10 pick will guarantee us a superstar!"

Imagine hyping your sons into the NBA and nevr teaching them basketball.

[r0drig0lac]

For me Dejounte was the key in the game, very aggressive, looks like a real playmaker. Lonnie is too timid in the offense but he playing really well moving the ball.

I like the staring 5, but we will have trouble with bigger teams.

if this is the new "normal" Murray, he is already a better 2-way player than Fox, for example.

[wildbill2u]

Looks like Lyles may be the next Spur to feel the wrath of ST haters. They gotta find someone to beat up on.

[KobesAchilles]

LMA scored 20, and did nothing else, in a game where we were missing White, and didn’t get much scoring from Vassell. We can make up those points, collectively, and Poeltl is light years better, defensively.

I agree he is better defensively. That’s not even a question. But I think Pop is using him right. Until he can finish at the rim he will never be a starter. It’s not necessarily the points that are the problem for me, it’s how we score.

Jak fits a lot better with the bench than he does the starters. DDR has shown that if you spread the floor and surround him with shooters than he can excel at that offense. Jak kills that. But Jak does free up Mills and Gay for jumpers with his screens. He rebounds well for the bench when we have good rebounding from DJ. He brings defense to the bench which we in theory should have with DJ and KJ.

[Dex]

Looks like Lyles may be the next Spur to feel the wrath of ST haters. They gotta find someone to beat up on.

This is the way.

[Dejounte]

This is what I've been preaching forever.

We see the token Lonnie to Poetl connection in the first clip.

Unlocking this side of Lonnie will increase the ceiling of the team even more. He is an electrifying passer.

[KobesAchilles]

This is the way.

I mean I am so happy Pop is not playing him. You have no idea. He was #2 on my list last year (behind Marco) for Spurs that I hated. He doesn’t bring anything to the team. We have actual good youth and short of people being injured or resting there is no reason to play him

[BackHome]

Charming soft Purrtl was probably one of the Big Reasons Spurs made the Turn around in the first Half. He is not there for the offense, but for the Defense. Get it in your head. Poeltl will never ever be a great Scorer.

Yes we know he is a very good second unit guy but if he ever entertains the idea he thinks he should be a starter then he needs to at least score as many points as he does rebounds. He stated Spurs want him to be more aggressive on offense well as long as he keeps trying I am fine he might fail but hopefully eventually he will get better if not we draft another center who has offense and defensive skills.

[Mr. Body]

Looks like Lyles may be the next Spur to feel the wrath of ST haters. They gotta find someone to beat up on.

Yeah but he's legitimately terrible.

[BackHome]

This is the way.

I see what ya did. Lol.

[BackHome]

Charming soft Purrtl was probably one of the Big Reasons Spurs made the Turn around in the first Half. He is not there for the offense, but for the Defense. Get it in your head. Poeltl will never ever be a great Scorer.

Yes we know he is a very good second unit guy but if he ever entertains the idea he thinks he should be a starter then he needs to at least score as many points as he does rebounds. He stated Spurs want him to be more aggressive on offense well as long as he keeps trying I am fine he might fail but hopefully eventually he will get better if not we draft another center who has offense and defensive skills.

[exstatic]

I agree he is better defensively. That’s not even a question. But I think Pop is using him right. Until he can finish at the rim he will never be a starter. It’s not necessarily the points that are the problem for me, it’s how we score.

Jak fits a lot better with the bench than he does the starters. DDR has shown that if you spread the floor and surround him with shooters than he can excel at that offense. Jak kills that. But Jak does free up Mills and Gay for jumpers with his screens. He rebounds well for the bench when we have good rebounding from DJ. He brings defense to the bench which we in theory should have with DJ and KJ.

Yes, I agree that LMA and Poodle are a terrible mix, but the clock is ticking on LMAs time in SA. Poodle will have to start at the 5 after that, and he’ll do fine.

[JuneJive]

Walker's playmaking really stands out.

It can get only better from here.

Poeltl is indeed a limited offensive player, and sure you can call him soft, but he is soft with the ball in his hands. When he is crashing the off board he is very aggresive.

[R. DeMurre]

For me, Poeltl can be the Luc Longley/Andrew Bogut of this team. An efficient 7 & 7 from him with good defense in 20-26 mpg wouldn't be eye-catching numbers, but it would help the Spurs immensely.

[Dejounte]

[Dejounte]

[Floyd Pacquiao]

I don't understand how Aldridge's 3 point shooting could have taken a step backwards so far while His mid-range jumper still looks good.

[The Truth #6]

Walker’s confidence was much better. Hitting the first 3 likely helped. I think he had a role that made sense for him: shoot threes, play defense, drive the lane when it’s open. He’s basically learning to react. If he gets more trust and playing time I think he can become more assertive. I think it’s going to be a process, but played well last night.