Game Thread: Spurs vs. Kings - Wed. 3/31/2021 - 7:30pm CST

[Sugus]

And people said to me it's too small of a sample size when i said earlier in the season that he can't shoot free throws to save his life, and that it is embarrassing he's getting that much money and he's worse than some of the worst ft shooters of all-time (a lot of those guys didn't get anywhere near what Poeltl is getting paid now). Yeah, give him more free throws and he'll regress to the mean alright (with two massive air-balls that aren't even close).

I was looking forward to Dieng being able to hit some shots & free throws out there. I hope he is not out too long .

Poeltl is paid ridiculously well considering his production, minutes, age on contract and role on the team. Go look at other teams' starting C's salaries, then come back and tell me who's paid less than Jakob whilst being significantly better. He can't hit a FT to save his life and will probably have to do extensive work to get to even league average, but beyond that, he's excellent at defending the rim, deterring shots, deflecting passes and shot attempts, and then screening and occasionally rebounding on both ends. You don't get that for $9m/per, anywhere. Those other players who're historically bad at shooting played in significantly different eras, and logically will have significantly lower salaries given the modern money boom the league has seen.

Having said that, I also hope Dieng's not out long. I liked what we saw from him tonight, and between him and Eubanks closing out games if other teams go Hack-a-Jak, I'd much rather have Dieng out there.

[tim_duncan_fan]

Good win, but I remain conflicted about wins.

[Thomas82]

I didn't see it. What happened to him?

He sprained his shoulder when Metu fell on him.

[Thomas82]

Good win, but I remain conflicted about wins.

The less wins, the better is how I see it. It's time to rip the band-aid off.

[spurs10]

He sprained his shoulder when Metu fell on him.

Thanks! Hopefully the sprain isn't too bad. If it's a bad one he'll be out for the season.

[Thomas82]

Thanks! Hopefully the sprain isn't too bad. If it's a bad one he'll be out for the season.

It didn't look too bad, but we'll see.

[Blackhaus]

Metu fell on him? Sheesh, isn’t that crazy. Hopefully he didn’t play his last game for the Spurs

[Ice009]

Poeltl is paid ridiculously well considering his production, minutes, age on contract and role on the team. Go look at other teams' starting C's salaries, then come back and tell me who's paid less than Jakob whilst being significantly better. He can't hit a FT to save his life and will probably have to do extensive work to get to even league average, but beyond that, he's excellent at defending the rim, deterring shots, deflecting passes and shot attempts, and then screening and occasionally rebounding on both ends. You don't get that for $9m/per, anywhere. Those other players who're historically bad at shooting played in significantly different eras, and logically will have significantly lower salaries given the modern money boom the league has seen.

Having said that, I also hope Dieng's not out long. I liked what we saw from him tonight, and between him and Eubanks closing out games if other teams go Hack-a-Jak, I'd much rather have Dieng out there.

I understand all the good he does, but since I grew up in that other era (started middle of D-Rob era), I recall the worst free throw shooting centers back had a better free throw percentage than Jakob. I know it doesn't mean anything due to the salaries being different between eras, but some of those guys could play good defense, set good screens, rebound, shoot a little bit, and even make a somewhat reasonable free throw percentage at 50%+, and they got paid a of a lot less than Poeltl to do all that. Plus, I am extremely frustrated seeing him air-ball two free throws in a row, as I was a shooter myself, free throws were like layups to me. I just don't understand how someone can massively air-ball two in a row and not even come close to making them other times. He either has absolutely no feel for shooting the ball AT ALL, needs a different shooting coach, or is just not plain working on them enough. Surely it's not a mental thing as there aren't even fans there, which is also another reason I am shocked at his historically low percentage. A lot of the time bad free throw shooting bigs miss them when there is a crowd/fans screaming and cheering, but there's not even that out there to put him off. He is really shooting poorly and I wonder how he'd take it if he was in the era where teams used hack-a-shaq on a regular basis.

Anyway, I don't disagree with anything you said (you're right on all of it), I'm just extremely frustrated with Jakob's free throws. For all the good he does, I don't believe he'd be playable in the playoffs if the Spurs were to hopefully come up again as a championship contender while he is still on the team, I think teams would use the hack-a-shaq on him during playoff games.

I hope Dieng's injury isn't too series and he's back soon.

[ragas]

I understand all the good he does, but since I grew up in that other era (started middle of D-Rob era), I recall the worst free throw shooting centers back had a better free throw percentage than Jakob. I know it doesn't mean anything due to the salaries being different between eras, but some of those guys could play good defense, set good screens, rebound, shoot a little bit, and even make a somewhat reasonable free throw percentage at 50%+, and they got paid a of a lot less than Poeltl to do all that. Plus, I am extremely frustrated seeing him air-ball two free throws in a row, as I am a shooter myself and free throws are like layups to me. I just don't understand how someone can massively air-ball two in a row and not even come close to making them other times. He either has absolutely no feel for shooting the ball AT ALL, needs a different shooting coach, or is just not plain working on them enough. Surely it's not a mental thing as there aren't even fans there, which is also another reason I am shocked at his historically low percentage. A lot of the time bad free throw shooting bigs miss them when there is a crowd/fans screaming and cheering, but there's not even that out there to put him off. He is really shooting poorly and I wonder how he'd take it if he was in the era where teams used hack-a-shaq on a regular basis.

Anyway, I don't disagree with anything you said (you're right on all of it), I'm just extremely frustrated with Jakob's free throws. For all the good he does, I don't believe he'd be playable in the playoffs if the Spurs were to hopefully come up again as a championship contender while he is still on the team, I think teams would use the hack-a-shaq on him during playoff games.

I hope Dieng's injury isn't too series and he's back soon.

I don't understand it at all and wonder how that's even possible. BUT: He wasn't so bad in his sop re season in college, when he shot 69% on a relatively high clip (6,6 attempts/game). , I even remember him shooting threes for the Austrian National Team before he played in college. So I guess, something went wrong. Did he try to change his form too often? I don't know, but it definitely is a problem, he has to fix over the summer - at least that it's not embarrassing for himself and his team. I want him to do nothing else - just shooting free throws the whole summer.

[Dejounte]

Poeltl was a beast outside of those free throws in last night's game. They're really looking for him on offense more and more and what a difference it has been.

[ragas]

Poeltl was a beast outside of those free throws in last night's game. They're really looking for him on offense more and more and what a difference it has been.

I would be really happy for him...but...it's so embarrassing. Even if he played like prime Shaq, nobody would care and just remember the airballed free throws.

[ragas]

I would be really happy for him...but...it's so embarrassing. Even if he played like prime Shaq, nobody would care and just remember the airballed free throws.

I mean, actually he shot his free throws like prime Shaq

[Sugus]

I mean, actually he shot his free throws like prime Shaq

I know the comment was made in jest, but disagree tbh.

Shaq had the fundamental issue that the ball was just too small for his hands, and he tended to shoot it trying to grab it with his fingertips or something like you would shoot a tennis ball into a hoop. Jakob has nowhere near that kind of issue - if you look closely, his mechanics aren't so bad. His true mistake and downfall is that he doesn't use his left hand to guide the ball as he shoots, as if he were trying to shoot a floater, leading to a high variance on the shot. The fact that he knows he's bad at shooting them, and gets Hack-a-Jak'd in the 4th Q, doesn't help at all and psyches him out, leading to shots like last night's.

I'll get some reference pictures here, because it's becoming an ongoing trend, and I'd like to have some comparison images out there.

[poopbox]

idiotic

Even more so when you consider the kings challenged the exact same play last game and got the and 1 and then went on an 8 - 0 run

[poopbox]

I don't expect much. But he is and was played as a second string center for a LOT of games this season.

Only because LMA quit.

[ragas]

I know the comment was made in jest, but disagree tbh.

Shaq had the fundamental issue that the ball was just too small for his hands, and he tended to shoot it trying to grab it with his fingertips or something like you would shoot a tennis ball into a hoop. Jakob has nowhere near that kind of issue - if you look closely, his mechanics aren't so bad. His true mistake and downfall is that he doesn't use his left hand to guide the ball as he shoots, as if he were trying to shoot a floater, leading to a high variance on the shot. The fact that he knows he's bad at shooting them, and gets Hack-a-Jak'd in the 4th Q, doesn't help at all and psyches him out, leading to shots like last night's.

I'll get some reference pictures here, because it's becoming an ongoing trend, and I'd like to have some comparison images out there.

It has become a mental thing partially. But I don’t think that not using the left hand is the main problem, but he gets a bit too low and his up movement is too shaky, not fluid enough, for a stable shot.

Here’s a clip how shot in 2017: https://youtu.be/YVZPB_MF09o (at mark 47 s)
He didn’t get that low and shot 5/7 or something in the game.