it's time to limit Finley's minutes..

[SpursPreacher]

I think finley the last few games has been rushing or in a hurry shooting.I think he needs to settle down and relax in that shot.He is a much better shooter when he is taking his time.

[GSH]

You know what i can't think of any player who hasn't excelled defensively while playing for the spurs. Playing defense for the spurs isn't actually that hard because of the Spurs system. Heck even Beno played a lot better than Finley and even Van Excel wasn't that much of a liability as Finley.

Barry wasn't exactly known for his defense, although he worked at it. Steve Kerr wasn't on the floor for his defense, either. How about Nick Van Exel? Hedo Turkoglu never really got the system. Neither did Elson. Benoh, Charlie Ward, Ron Mercer, Damon Stoudamire? Steve Smith?

Some never got minutes - the most obvious being Jackie Butler. Matt Carrol has a smooth stroke, and can score in bunches, but his defense was non-existent and he couldn't get minutes. They said that Linton Johnson looked like Stephen Jackons but defended like Bruce Bowen... not.

I can't think of anyone who defended like Finley who still got minutes.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

If his jumper is off hes ing worthless. Pop keeping him in games when he has already missed 5 shots in a row baffles me.

[Capt Bringdown]

And the first to blame for Finley playing too much is Udoka. He should have been an important piece of this year's team as a perimeter defender and small ball PF. So far, he has failed in both aspect. Aside of players who have had injuries (Oberto and Mahinmi), Udoka is the only Spurs who has been a disappointment this year.

Udoka can't redeem himself if he's sitting on the bench watching Finley play matador defense and heave bricks.

I agree, Finley has had a decent season until recent games. But at the game management level, I don't understand why Pop gives him so much slack. If he sucks, sit him down. Pop's not adverse to doing that with other players.

[mrspurs]

Props to Finley. He is having a solid season.

And the first to blame for Finley playing too much is Udoka. He should have been an important piece of this year's team as a perimeter defender and small ball PF. So far, he has failed in both aspect. Aside of players who have had injuries (Oberto and Mahinmi), Udoka is the only Spurs who has been a disappointment this year.

Agreed, if Ime had improved, Mike would sit more.

[mrspurs]

Elson and Nazr were not exactly considered smashing defensive successed during their short stints as Spurs.

I bet if they could shoot the 3, they both would be on this roster today.

[Spurs Brazil]

I'd like to see Finley playing less to not see the same disaster of last year playoffs.

I have no problems with Finley shooting a lot since it's a good shots and in the last 5 or 6 games he's shoting a lot of bad shots

[Bruno]

Udoka can't redeem himself if he's sitting on the bench watching Finley play matador defense and heave bricks.

Udoka had played more than 400 minutes this year. That's a lot for a vet player to show what you are able to do. Udoka has had a fair opportunity to show what he was able to do this year and he has wasted it.

Maybe Pop will give him another opportunity but I wouldn't be surprised to see Udoka staying in the doghouse for the whole year or being traded at the deadline.

[easy7]

If we get rid of Finley and lose his 2 points per 30 minutes, 20 bricks and having the opponent score 20 on him each time, then watching the Spurs blow out everyone will just become boring. I say keep Fin and the last second bucket win.

[Baseline]

Finley's minutes need to be reduced to ZERO.

I'm at the point where if he does anything positive, I'm ticked off - because that buys him even more time on the court.

I don't know what his +/- stats are, but it's blatantly obvious that we hurts us more often than not. In my opinion, Bowen brings so much more to the table from an overall standpoint.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I certainly can't tell when Fin will heat up, and I'm sure Pop and the rest of the bunch can't tell either. Pop knows what he has in Fin, Bonner, Mase, and so on...these guys are shooters! Shooters will be hot one minute and cold the next. Hence, you'll often hear Pop say to his guys "shoot or sit". I'm not defending Fin for his shortcomings (on defense mostly), but to put the square blame on him for missing shots is unfair. Should we bench TP for overdribbling? Manu for turning the ball over? No.
The point is Fin was brought here to shoot the ball..be it fadeaways or leaners early or late in the clock. Shooters can't be gunshy about shooting the basketball under any cir stance(i.e. Barry).

Did you even read my post? I described the way to tell whether Finley will be hot or cold, and it works most of the time.

As for this: "The point is Fin was brought here to shoot the ball..be it fadeaways or leaners early or late in the clock. Shooters can't be gunshy about shooting the basketball under any cir stance" - have you heard of SHOT SELECTION? They shouldn't be shy about shooting good shots, but Finley has a tendency to jack up poor shots early in the clock and out of the offense, especially when he's shooting poorly. I'm sure that drives Pop to distraction.

[HarlemHeat37]

I have to re-visit this again..nothing has really changed..there's really no longer any reason for him to be playing the amount of minutes he's playing, since he seems to just be getting worse..