I didn't even read this whole . But being an NBA coach can't be easy. There isn't anybody else I'd rather have as our coach. And that's all there is to it. People making up line ups is laughable...
Why do you think Bowen should be starting this season? and why do you think he hasn't been playing much at all recently? and do you believe Bowen is more athletic than the other 2s and 3s on the bench, since you've put a premium on athleticism?
Don't you agree that the additions of Mason, Hill, and the occasional Udoka sighting, have given the Spurs a great boost in backcourt athleticism already?
Once Manu comes back, Udoka should not even sniff the court. Our guard rotation should consist of TP, Hill, Mason, and Manu. Our Small Forward position should be split between Fin and Bowen. Screw Udoka.
You call yourself a spurs fan??
I swear this forum is bipolar with the type of idiots the
board carried.. 1 loss and they start going ape ..
Just shut up noob..
We started the season with Manu, Parker, Thomas, and Oberto out with injuries. Duncan has been off and on with injuries, and Manu is out again. It's my theory, and admittedly it's just a theory, that injuries to key players affect a teams performance.
While I don't agree with everything in the original post, there were some redeeming comments that deserve pointing out.
The Spurs did take steps to get younger over this past summer. However, the integration of said youth is a slow process. I've always feared that the Spurs would be caught by failing to identify and integrate replacements for Bowen and Finley. The Fakers series clearly exposed the sheer lack of quickness and athleticism at that position. It's just one of several positions where the Spurs simply couldn't match up with them. It is also a position where you will find many of the NBA's best athletes. Unfortunately, the players the Spurs have invested in, at that position, have not worked out or have been grossly undersized or under-athletic. That said, it's alarming that the SF position has been, and still is, a perennial "achilles heel" for this team. As a standard rule of resource planning, it's better to start too early than too late. You can only patch a hole for so long, until it's time to finally fix it.
Hairston has indeed been surprising with his development. I wanted to see more of him too. With Manu out, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for him to get some much-needed PT. Obviously, Pop felt differently. Pops, on the hand, was still a year or two away from possibly contributing as a rotation player, on a good team. I really liked his skills and his raw energy and I would've liked to see him develop here too. However there just wasn't enough roster spots. Once Gooden became available, that virtually sealted Pops' fate with the Spurs.
This much is very true and not surprising. Injuries are an expected downside with having older players. Tim's game has evolved too. He's been setting up more on the high post to preserve himself. Nothing wrong with that. Until the arrival of Gooden, there has not been another low-post presence on this team in 5 years - since D-Rob left the building. Another questionable resource glitch.
Can't argue with this statement at all. In fact, if Ginobili's injury has done nothing else, it has exposed this glaring deficiency. One that many of us already knew. Look no further than the Dallas Mavs to understand why a team of jump shooters cannot win a championship. We all know the Spurs championship teams of the past didn't live by the 3-pt shot, as their primary offensive weapon. It was Duncan's low-post offensive brilliance that drew double teams and created opportunities for open shooters.
The lack of length, rebounding and shotblocking prowess on the frontline was on full display in last spring's WCF series versus the Fakers. In fairness to the FO, the immediate future was bright with the expected arrival of Splitter and the debut of Ian. Of course, we know how that all turned out. Instead the Spurs were forced to trot out virtually the same frontline (sans Horry) that they had last year. Thank God for Drew Gooden and hopefully this will be the beginning of a productive relationship for both sides. For now, Gooden definitely deserves to start. He's far too talented to sit the bench.
I'll take this one...Um..because we haven't seen the Spurs look this bad on defense recently since...well...since Duncan got here. When Bruce is in the game, the defense looks great. When he's on the bench, it's a weak point. We've won 4 championships...not with offense, but with defense. You don't win a 5th le by going away from what won the 4 before that.
moore gooden pls
Agreed, but Bruce has slowly been getting minutes, pop has managed to rest bruce the entire season and I look for more minutes come the final couple of weeks of the regular season and playoffs. All the talk here was rest manu until he's ready. Pop does that and manu has been relegated to an ineffective role player that can only jump shoot. somehow come playoff time I am hopeful the rest will do him good and he does so many other things to force his will on the game. I truly believe this has been pop's masterpiece of a seasom. Experts predicted the demise of the Spurs as an 8th seed at best and probably out of the playoff picture, yet he has managed another successful campaign despite critical injuries and screams for minutes for players like mensa bonsu, malik hairston, cries for flight white, bitter arguments against michael finley and the trash that is bonner. Yet many of the NBA so-called experts admit that the only team in the west that can possibly unseed the Lakers is this crappy decrepit old boring team in San Antonio.
Alright. I'm not challenging you two, just trying to get your opinions. What about my other questions regarding Bruce, Why hasn't he been playing significant minutes this season, and given the original thread topic's emphasis on athleticism, does Bruce give more athleticism than the other 2s and 3s on the bench.
About the Spurs Defense: Spurs' team defense seems to be improving as the season progresses; probably due to the improved health of key players, better integration of first year players and first year starters with the team, and, of course, SPAM.
Yahoo sports sortable stats shows Spurs 1st in the Western conference with the lowest allowed opponent points per game at 93.2, and 2nd after the Lakers in point differential at 3.9.
About Bruce, the Spurs may very well be a better defensive team while Bruce is on the floor, but still, it doesn't naturally follow that Bruce should therefore be the starter or play the bulk of the minutes. It may make more sense for this group of Spurs to have Bruce play the defensive stopper who comes off the bench for crucial defensive moments, but to otherwise start other Spurs that provide more scoring options. What do you think?
That's what they're doing right now..bringing Bruce off the bench for crucial defensive moments...but in my personal opinion, it's not enough. Bruce needs more time. He's shown lately that he can still hit that baseline 3, and he even has added driving to the basket to the game. He can hit the floater...he can dish it off. He's becoming more of an offensive threat. IMO, those times when we have 2 PGs out there (Parker and Hill), we should have Bruce out there instead of Hill. Not wanting to take minutes away from Hill, but I think a lineup with Bruce in it is better than a 2 PG lineup. Or give him Udoka's minutes. He ain't doing crap anyway. Isn't there something wrong when a guy is given a spotlight by Fox Sports just because he scored 7 points tonight, even though he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the 3rd and 4th quarter, when it mattered? Bruce needs to get 2005 and 2007 minutes...we win the le because of defense, not offense.
For someone who claims to be a die hard fan it is incredible how you don't even know the names of the young players you're advocating to be played over established veterans in a championship run.
Remember when Tony replaced Daniels out of no where, Where Daniels was on our team and knew the system for years and he was established.
There has been many instances where young guys stepped up and took the spotlight when given the chance, o don’t even go there.
May as well let Vaughn play over Tony since he is well established and a ”veteran” lol!
Your giving Pop way too much credit here, yes he was won us championships and I have nothing to say about that. BUT I am talking about this year alone, he has not been doing the spurs thing. He ‘s being way too cautious in my opinion, experimenting with people that have no skill and not giving young talent any shot at the team.Pop has developed a fetish for old guys these past couple of years just like his love for “old” whine. There was Claxton, Beno, Scola, Jackson etc. all great players he let go, because of Pop and the FO being cheap. Also the in-ability to replace the young guns/potential stars with equal skill. Instead we fill in those holes with mediocre players. It’s time to invest in the young blood, we cant keep relying on the big three. We need a supporting cast. Signing old guys every year isn’t giving our team a great foundation in the long run. Our prime years have passed, where Pop didn’t have to gamble much with trades and signings. Age is creeping up on this team. The system won’t last forever if we can’t find good replacements and invest our time now. I still don’t understand why many of the posters’ on here can’t see passed this. It’s reality people and sometimes the truth hurts. If a player gets injured , put him on the inactive list, don’t just sit him out or bench him and plug him in next game, hoping he got better. If Duncan is hurting, put him on the inactive list until playoffs, Leave Ginobili out till playoffs, no point in playing him a game here and there until playoffs, its just goes against pop’s way and inflicts a greater risk. Pop has not had consistency this year, at all. I know there has been injuries, but even through these injuries he cannot make a solid back-up lineup. “Mason, your going to play PG from now on” Wait Mason your going to start for the SG” Bonner come start for the center position” Udoka your inactive” Udoka I want you back, I miss your lips on my during half time” “Hariston ill give you a shot” “wait Hariston your too good and you can dunk right now , and I don’t wanna pay you extra cash”
“Hey Mensa-Bonsu looks like a solid player” “Wait, he’s also too athletic for us and young, he needs to age like my whine and become a veteran first before he comes to the team” “Bowen, this year I’m taking away your minutes , you have too many defensive awards. Udoka’s air-filled body should be able to do the same defensively as you” “Bowen you have been one of the anchors of our defense for years, this year I’m going to let you rot and rust on the bench”
Like I said, this is questionable for POP.
But almost everyone on here seems to be on his since he makes that cash to make his decisions, lol.
Coaches can lose their ability, just like players can. Mental stability.
It seems as if no one on here see’s the flaws, and is hoping our problems just magically disappear without proper action.
People question me on my loyalty with the spurs and consider me a newbie Spurs fan.
I’m just a fan who expects the team just to play with their hearts out on the court. They get paid to play they get paid to represent our great town of San Antonio. Same goes for the coach. I don’t like seeing my team like this, inconsistent and lack the defensive force, rely on jumpshots, blah, blah, blah. We all know this wont last.
So all in all, If everything goes back to normal with a solid line-up come playoff time. Then yes we are good. But as of now, there is no chemistry outside the big three/Ginobili-Oberto. You can’t expect a smooth transistion in the playoffs if our regular season has been inconsistent. Injures or not.
I'll be sure to take your uneducated n00b opinion into account when I make up my next game plan.
By the way, posting in bold only makes you look dumber. Pretty hard to do given your weak takes, poor spelling, and bad grammar.
And I like old wine. You like to "whine."
There were 209 yougurts before you?
I spelled wine like that on purpose…haha
Uh oh, it’s the over-educated spell-checker/grammar fixer/l337 speaker forum master, lmao!
Give it a break kid, no one cares about ing grammar on a forum. I know it makes you feel special when you try to correct people.
Go do something worth your time, something else that makes you feel special that actually matters. You superman re , lol
yes yes
just like there were 209 SaTowns before the current one.
If anything Pop fully deserves COY this season, he has done much better than any fan or pundit could have expected giving the ci stances, but I'll let you get your knee jerk reactions over a regular season loss to a lesser team.Like that's never happened before in the history of Spurstalk, I've been around for years, mostly lurking because of the excessive trolling, and over this period of time there have been countless of overreactions like yours, some of them with more reason and facts to support them.
I'm not playing a better fan than thou game here so there's no need to get defensive. Just read some of the comments by knowledgeable posters such as FromWayDowntown, Timvp, etc. and you'll probably get to know the game and the Spurs better.
i love it.
have you stopped and considered that maybe pop knows more than you know about this game?
why don't you wait till the END of the seasons to criticize him, thou holy fan?
Honestly - it's Pop's fault that the Spurs have had so many injuries this year. If only he had realized back in October the powerful forces of Malik Hairston and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, the Spurs would have made it through the season without any injuries and probably would not have even lost a game.
Instead, Pop has this quaint notion that he knows something about NBA basketball and his team suffers because of it. Geesh!
this is clearly not just ONE game, lol.
Im talking about the season as a whole.
If you think that we can get it done and win anotherplaying like this, then that's your opinion. But don't be sad when we come up short.
Like I said, if anyone reads my post. This is not going to last. Even when we had our full line-up, we still were not together. I am speaking in long-term, and this is not over one game, lol.
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