Gotta give it Mitch for sticking with his guns on Bassey over Collins. Suspect that Pop would have taken a different approach.
Exactly, he has no room to complain about losing his minutes. It was a long overdue.
Gotta give it Mitch for sticking with his guns on Bassey over Collins. Suspect that Pop would have taken a different approach.
Mitch saying Zollins is "available". Lol I reckon that is a hint for GMs to propose something
I really hope Mitch has Collins out of the rotation going forward and Pop is paying attention to how much better the team is functioning without Collins. Zach is in the role he should be now as third C for emergency situations
The team is functioning better because we have all of our players back off of IR, not because of which 10-15 minute reserve plays behind Wemby.
They've barely had the full teamCollins on the other hand has seen his mins steadily decrease since Mitch took over. There can be more than one reason something is happening. And part of it is definitely because Collins isn't out there getting smashed on defense constantly as soon as Wemby goes to the bench
Last edited by Leetonidas; 12-22-2024 at 01:38 PM.
It’s really been like 5 games, and Sochan has been back for that time. I’ll give you Tre’s return, but I don’t think. 3rd string PG is any more important than backup C.
I’m not a Collins fan by any means,but you guys are glazing Bassey in a major way. He’s missed a ton of bunnys right at the rim, and there’s barely a mention of that.
Anything positive about Collins shall not be tolerated in this topic.
He's missed a few, but Bassey still leads the team in FG% and is second to Mamu in eFG% (technically Sidy is also up there, but I'm excluding his 11 FGA).
The thing with Bassey is that all of his offensive involvement is incidental, coming within the natural flow of how things shake out. The Spurs aren't running plays for Bassey like they were for Collins, so the offense can run around more skilled perimeter players. There is no reason for our backup C to be the focal point of the offense when they are in the game, but that tended to happen with Collins in there. Bassey has been performing better in the garbage collector role, in addition to what he brings on defense and the boards.
We only need our backup C to be as close to net neutral as possible, and avoid being a massive net negative like Collins tended to be.
I'm not glazing Bassey at allI didn't even mention him tbh. Not having Collins in the rotation is addition by subtraction. Any replacement level big would be better in the role than Collins
Non-Wemby mins used to be a net negative for us because the other team would just go on a run. Now, we still have solid rim protection with Bassey in. That's what the eye test says, I'm pretty sure the numbers back this up. I'm too lazy to look for them now.
Also liked scott's point, that Basseys offense are within the flow. Unlike Collins who would be forcing things on the post or airballing threes, and even unlike Barlow last year who a lot of people here admired.
Collins ,is that you![]()
Already stated I’m not a Collins fan. I just think our team burst is from having our top 8ish players all back, not what backup center on our roster plays 15 minutes. You may believe otherwise, and are free to do so.
same old re ed SPurstalk I see
Mitch’s coaching is a breath of fresh air. If there’s one thing I’m certain about, it’s that popovich would never have benched Collins in favor of Bassey.
No Collins, no Branham, I can watch a full game and see nothing but quality players on the court for the spurs, for the first time in a very, very long time.
I'm not a Zollins fan by any means, but but the real reason fans don't like him is for his limited skillset but more so for his big contract. That being said, I'm not that thrilled about Bassey being our full time back up center either. He had his moments where he looks real good out there with his defense, but how long will he last with his injury history. While Zollins gets injured as well, he unfortunately makes 16 million. Bottom line is that neither is that great of a solution. If we can get rid of Zollins big contract, by all means do it. It would at least clear up a slot on the team. For 3 million a year, Bassey can stay as our 3rd stringer and occasionally be our backup center. The real problem is Zollins huge contract. The front office needs to work on somehow getting rid of it.
Bassey just has to do the simple things: rebound, protect the rim, set screens and roll. That‘s where his game excels. He still has a lot of room to grow, but is good at the main things a center should do. That said I agree we should be looking for an upgrade.
If zollins gets minutes...i think it would hurt less if he did not play the center position...just throw him out on a wing for a few minutes - most teams just chuck threes anyway -
its not like the nba is suddenly going to devise plays to run to take advantage of zollins lack of foot speed...they will continue to run down the court and half-penetrate the middle with the intention of passing out for a 30 foot chuck...
It was a little surprising to see Collins not even playing in garbage time against Portland. I wonder what was the reason behind that.
Bassey might be a decent backup C but Spurs currently badly lack of some bench shooting. Spurs' bench is Champagnie with 4 poor shooters (Jones, Castle, Johnson and Bassey). It's going to be very complicate to make it work for Mitch.
i didn't understand why collins didn't get garbage minutes the other night as well.
Some vets might find it disrespectful to be asked to first enter and play in garbage time. Not saying the Spurs should care about Zollins feelings, but having him being engaged and feeling respected might be a good idea considering that Bassey gets hurt all the time.
fk your feelings… respectfully
I have a feeling coach didn't appreciate Collins getting himself thrown out of a game which we were already missing our starting center.
Collins benching while available could mean many things like an incoming trade, doghouse for flipping off a ref, poor play, and poor chemistry more often than not.
All 4 and that's not a player I'd expect to see on the court much. I bet that he gets another chance when things line up fortuitously. Maybe tonight to waste some fouls on Embiid.
Agree, that finger salute is going to get Collins out of town. Spurs will try to move him if possible before the trade deadline.
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