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Which is why I fault Pop because he should've had the foresight to know that his continuous gambling on older rotation players would eventually yield this result. He should have been better prepared for it.
With the way people are blowing by the Spurs, Mahinmi should give us four blocks and six fouls virtually every game.
Which is why I fault Pop because he should've had the foresight to know that his continuous gambling on older rotation players would eventually yield this result. He should have been better prepared for it.
We have plenty of young players.
They're just all injured or otherwise out.
Have to slightly disagree with you. The overall age of the Spurs has dropped this season. They are still long in the tooth, but IMO Pop was going to bring along Mihinmi and Tolliver(both young) into the rotation, along with Hill(young) which will drop the Spurs overall age down even further. Of course with Mahinmi's injury and Tolliver's leave of absense, we haven't seen all of the Spurs youngsters, so we just need to wait and see this current Spurs team round into form. Pop has a plan in place, just need for some of the fans to have alittle patience. I mean come on Spurs fans, have some faith. Its only been 4 games! GEEZ.
Having them on the roster is one thing. Demonstrating a willingness to give them playing time is another. The only way these guys will get better is through practice and court time.
Injuries or not, it appears Pop plans on bringing them along slowly. In the interim, we're going to witness diminishing returns as the older rotation get the lionshare of court time. So live with the results for now.
How can you draw that conclusion when they haven't even been available to play?
Hill is already the backup point guard. Live with that.
That's just dishonest, shame on you. Pop has played every available young player so far. Tolliver's mother died and Mahinmi's injured. Hill played ten minutes in his first game, also coming back from injury, and was awarded JV's spot in the rotation as a result. Mason's getting more and more minutes and Bowen's minutes are going to Finley out of necessity. Farmer's a scorer with no defense, and as it happens, scoring isn't the Spurs' problem right now.
You're missing the point. I'm talking big picture - not just this season. Specifically Pop's continued man-crush with Finley and his negligence in not properly addressing the backup SF position on this team for the past several seasons. This is especially damning with Bowen either getting off to a slow start or starting a sharp decline in performance.
All of which, has led to a drastic decline in this team's overall defensive performance. I know he's realized this before now, but my point is gambled too long before incorporating these changes.
Last edited by SenorSpur; 11-07-2008 at 10:26 AM.
First of all, that's another lie. You said that Pop has them on the roster and is unwilling to give them playing time. You should just admit that misstatement because no amount of manipulation is going to make it true.
Secondly, I'd love an explanation of who the Spurs should have picked up to replace Bowen in the lineup. A list of defenders who are comparable to him that they had the money and opportunity to have right now would be a great start. One of the people they had on their radar to eventually take over his spot is Udoka. Whether or not he will work out is undetermined, but the fact remains that he's living proof that the Spurs addressed the issue two years ago. If you are going to criticize and second-guess the Spurs' FO for this year's problems, questioning why Gist, a shot blocking forward that they drafted, isn't on the roster would be a far far better place to start.
This team's overall defensive performance is exactly that: Overall. It's much more than one guy. When Matt Bonner's been as solid on the defensive end as anyone on the roster aside from the rookie, the team has problems that Bowen at his defensive peak wouldn't do much to help.
the defense isn't on Bruce at all IMO..well it is a little obviously, but he takes the same blame as everybody else..Tim Duncan, the best defender of this generation(IMO) is playing average defense, which isn't good enough for us at all..it starts with Duncan as the anchor, and it works down around..
we SHOULD still be a great defensive team though..our system is still there, Pop is still there, Duncan is still there..we've been able to mask our players that lack defensive skill for years, this year shouldn't be any different..
There's no question that injuries/absences have limited playing time for the new additions. But as I said earlier, I doubt think Pop would've come out the gate rewarding them with playing time. His own comments bear out that he values loyalty to his veterans and wants youngsters to earn their court time gradually. My point is he needs to rethink that strategy.
Also, I stand by my statement about his continued force-feeding of minutes to Finley. In fact, why he is even on this team is a freaking mystery. The point remains that Pop has had 5 years to address the backup SF position. Yet he chose to put this off for a series of patchwork, end-of career vets, who had decent offensive skills, yet failed to provide much else.
If you want some names over the course of that time period, I'll give you a few. There was a time that Trevor Ariza and Matt Barnes were on the street a few seasons ago. Either of these would've been better options than Finley. Also, there is no reason that Malik Hairston isn't on this roster today. I've got no issues with Udoka and hope he continues to perform well.
You are absolutely correct in that the defensive problems are an overall, collective one. However, we all know that the core of the Spurs defensive philosophy and success has been rooted in Bowen's dogged defensive prowess on the perimeter and Duncan's defensive brilliance in the post. I'm troubled that there are no sutiable backup options at either spot.
If you think Pop is above criticism - that's fine. If you think I'm off-base, that's OK too. We can differ on opinions, but that doesn't mean I'm a liar anymore than you are.
So you're just complaining about a Bowen replacement.
You should have said that in the first place.
I for one am glad you guys didn't snag Trevor Ariza. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite Lakers.
I thought Hairston would have been a good addition to the Spurs but then again, there just weren't enough roster spots.
The Spurs could easily bring back Hairston. I don't see anyone else desperate for his services yet.
I find this pre-season case to be hilarious. We have no roster spots available but yet have no productive help for Tony, Tim, and RMJ. Seems like poor decisions were made in regards to our roster spots. Roster spots are supposed to be hard to come by for stacked teams, not thin/weak teams.
For example, JV has no business on our roster. We have TP, George Hill, and RMJ/Manu are more than capable of running the point for a little while if we need that 3rd PG. Tolliver and Bonner will play the same role (I use the term "role" loosely in Bonner's case). Meanwhile, we get to wonder "what could have been?" in regards to Hairston and Gist.
Gist is still ours. My guess is he will be here next year.
As far as Gist goes, I'm pretty sure the Spurs want to sign him to a two-year deal and ddn't want him to be a free agent in 2010.
FWIW, Hairston has 31pts, 7 boards, 4 assists and is 17 of 17 from the free throw line....and the game isn't over.
Make that 33 (19-20 from the line), 7rebs, and 6asts.
Box Score
http://www.nba.com/dleague/games/box...eId=2020800009
Toros won the game
So do we drop Ahearn (since we have Parker, Mason, Hill, and Ginobili and Vaughn who can all play point) and lock up Hairston with a roster spot now? I don't see why not, before someone else grabs him. Let him stay in Austin though.
Then again, he does have a .286 FG% on the season. Is he a streaky shooter or something? Hill had trouble in summer league, did Hairston just have a rough start to the season?
I think Ahearn is a goner, soon, but for who I don't know.
Wow. That is an amazing game from Hairston.
I'm all for cutting Hearn right now to bring Hairston in.
I'm also up for cutting Tolliver and bringing back Horry. Our bigs truly suck right now. Bonner is playing very good though. Unless we need to keep Tolliver around to keep Bonner on his toes I don't see why he's on the team.
I really do think Robert Horry could have contributed more than Tolliver has thus far and possibly even out shoot him too. Would it be safe to say now that Tolliver is an average shooter? Does he still need more of a chance?
I preferred Farmer as I thought the team needs scores. Now it didn't work and hence I seconded the proposal to bring back Hairston, if he can play good man to man defense.
If Pop feels the need to have a 3rd string point guard then I think Ahearn is a better option than JV, but of course JV isn't going anywhere. Perhaps next Summer we can try to get Ahearn to take JV's place somehow some way.
As for Hairston, I don't see him getting a lot of minutes ahead of Udoka right now, who is hardly playing either.
If anyone gets cut I think the better argument is for cutting Tolliver and bringing in another big to see what they can do. That assumes there is a better big out there - others can answer that better - but I don't see the wing position being something we need to focus on right now.
A post player is what we need and with Ian hopefully coming back soon we'll probably just stay pat with everyone we have, including Ahearn.
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