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lets just see what phil jackson does to adjust before you annoint the rockets
phil jackson makes great adjustments
I would be shocked to see brooks go for another 20 next game
also rockets traded to get a new point
spurs did not help in that
We forget just how good Sam Presti was. His two master strokes in San Antonio were the scouting of Tony Parker, and his now-little-heralded acquisition of Hedo Turkoglu. While Hedo didn't really pan out in SA, it was still highly impressive how Presti's mastery of the CBA got the Spurs involved as a bit player in the Indiana-Sacramento Brad Miller deal, and got them basically a free quality player (they traded a retired Danny Ferry's non-guaranteed contract for Turkoglu to help make the numbers work in the Miller deal).
With Presti, the Spurs had situations like trying to decide who between Gordan Giricek and Manu Ginobili to bring on board. Obviously, Ginobili was the right choice, but having the luxury of giving up a player like Giricek who ended up giving the Jazz some decent years was a side effect of having somebody up front who knew what he was doing in scouting talent.
The underlined deals in Rodney21a's post above show how Presti has continued his skillful dealings in Seattle/OKC. Rashard Lewis wanted out of Seattle and would have left for nothing. Presti made a deal, and then a couple more deals, and ultimately turned thin air into three first-round picks -- two from Phoenix and one from the Spurs. Presti dumped an aging, expensive Ray Allen for a draft pick, and struck gold with the pick in getting Jeff Green.
His misstep so far was in hiring P.J. as head coach. P.J. apparently is best suited to be an assistant.
We already have seen this year how the Thunder have stockpiled talent and are beginning to come together as a team. If things keep going like this, in 10 years, Presti's reputation will be as the mastermind behind two improbable small-market Western Conference powerhouses.
Meanwhile, R.C. Buford is best known for:
1) Forgetting how old Andres Nocioni was
2) Failing to understand the details of Luis Scola's buyout
3) Signing a borderline-re ed Jackie Butler to a $10 million contract based upon Larry Brown's advice
4) Giving away Luis Scola to the Rockets so he could dump Butler's deal
I think the only reason Presti doesn't take advantage of Buford the way Mitch Kupchak does to Chris Wallace is compassion from working together for so long.
lets just see what phil jackson does to adjust before you annoint the rockets
phil jackson makes great adjustments
I would be shocked to see brooks go for another 20 next game
also rockets traded to get a new point
spurs did not help in that
The Mavs were a horrible match up. The Rockets were a very good matchup.
Nowhere did I say the Spurs would actually beat the Rockets. I'd still would have given the Rockets the edge to win the series but the matchups would have allowed the Spurs to utilize the little talent they had outside of TD and TP. The Thomases and Udokas all of a sudden wouldn't have looked as worthless.
However, getting exposed might be best for the team's future.
Says the guy who picked the Spurs to beat the Mavs. STFU.
Rocket fans remain on the short bus. I never said the Spurs would beat the Rockets. I praised the Rockets throughout the post, even saying they could be the best team in the West.
Yet short bus Rocket fan, per usual, lacks any sort of reading comprehension.
Spurs would have beat Phoenix easily. Minnesota? Please.
They are bad but not as horrible as the Mavs made it appear. Again, bad and in need of an upgrade, but when literally every role player on the team doesn't fit against the opponent (other than maybe George Hill), they are going to end up looking YMCA level.
Going too far and pretending the Spurs would have lost to a WNBA team in the playoffs is about as productive as saying the Spurs would have won the championship if they would have avoided the Mavs. Realistic perspective is needed -- not complete doom, gloom and panic.
I'm not sure who you are talking to but this is hilarious coming from the cat who almost literally started crying when I said the Mavs were probably going to beat the Spurs before the series started.
Not that I could tell. If your goal is to structure your team to beat Dallas, you'd think they'd bring in at least one player who is capable of defending Dirk. Or at least one Long Three .... the type of player the Spurs have lacked since Hedo left and the type of player that is best to have to go against the Mavs.
What did I write that makes you think differently?
Ah, yes, the Sam Presti card. The only more irrational card is the P.J. Carlesimo card.
Presti was good at what he did but he wasn't the only competent person in the Spurs organization, as is the common folk story these days.
The scouting of Parker started before Presti came to San Antonio. The man most responsible for the scouting was RC. Presti's role was piecing together a highlight film for Pop to watch to encourage Pop to give TP a second workout. But Parker was almost all RC's find. If YouTube would have existed at that point in time, it probably would have been 100% RC's find.
The Hedo trade was creative ... but it still brought over Hedo who unceremoniously choked massively in the playoffs. In retrospect, Ferry's unguaranteed contract could have been used much better than getting a one-year rental of a choker who the Spurs never really had a chance to re-sign. The only thing that would have made that a good trade is if the Spurs won the 2004 le. With Hedo choking and then leaving for nothing, I'm not sure how that is a feather in the cap.
Props, Presti. While you were still playing basketball at Emerson and prior to even meeting RC or Pop, you were instrumental in the drafting of Ginobili and Giricek.
Sam Schuler's fault. Subsequently fired.
The Spurs understood it. RC thought he couldn't rebound or defend on the NBA level. He was wrong.
$5.5M.
Presti hasn't done anything too amazing yet in Seattle/Oklahoma City. He has one lottery pick (Jeff Green) to show for Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen. That's not an overwhelming pull. He has a plethora of late first round picks coming but he has them in weak drafts and will end up being forced to move at least a few. He has the Thunder headed in the right direction but take Durant out of the equation and he probably would have gotten fired by now. As it is, Bennett is already turning up the heat.
And where do you mention the moves he was totally responsible for in San Antonio? The Spurs have said five moves were almost all of Presti's doing: 1) The trade for Hedo 2) The drafting of Mahinmi 3) The drafting of Sanikidze 4) The drafting of Karaulov 5) The signing of Francisco Elson.
All of those are failures at the moment. Mahinmi has a chance but he looks like a reach at this point. Sanikidze plays for Fraggle Rock and has never done anything of note -- despite being picked right before Trevor Ariza. Karaulov might be the worst pick in the NBA the last decade. Presti wanted him even though he never saw him play before the draft
timvp being attacked on all fronts.
lol the unspeakable one, good one.
pppppps
tell kori to cash out the vbookie.
Last edited by E20; 05-05-2009 at 10:22 AM.
Spurs and Rockets starters match up well. But that Rockets bench would have worn the Spurs bench down.
I heard that mentioned around here a lot, but this season should prove that if that was the official intent, that it was an overwhelming failure.
I agree with Extra Stout, any decent to good coach has an automatic game plan in defending the Spurs of 2009. Another poster mentioned that it was the one we employed on the Suns (in their last couple playoffs) when the team's offensive power came from Amare and Nash.
Spurs this year after looking at the 1st round debacle, were never going anywhere against any team. We lost 4-1 to the Mavs! At best we could have been compe ive against any team, probably moreso than the Mavs, but all the teams that played in the playoffs, Nuggets, Lakers, and even young Portland had the advantage over us, whether it was in youth, length, or having just one more offensive weapon than our own.
Don't get me wrong I believed we were good enough before the Playoffs started to get to the WCFbecause on paper they look good enough to match up with certain teams better, with certain offensive strengths. In reality however, none of the roleplayers had heart so in-the-actual-game it meant nothing. They didn't give a by the time the playoffs started. They just wanted to go home because it was drilled into their heads during the regular season, "you're worthless without the big three, especially without Manu" and I don't believe that our roleplayers physically were worthless, just mentally. (Tony for instance, should not have been a few rebounds shy of being the second leading rebounder
)
Houston has the pieces to protect the basket, and big enough guards to defend the perimeter, where they can defend everyone else outside of Tim and Tony. With only one penetrator, they would easily kill our three point threat.
And they would definitely out muscle us on rebounds. Our offense was so bad this year, and our defense was only strong in parts (Duncan, Bowen, KT) and not the sum of those parts like in the past.
We probably would only win two games against the Rockets given the slower pace of offense, compared to the Mavs series...
I think Pop would be able to coach and exploit Rockets match up better than Dallas to make it compe ive though it'd be like 2006 against the Kings, and this time we're not as good as 2006, so Spurs would be the under dogs. Artest therefore would eat us alive. So in terms of strength, length, leaping ability, and defense - Houston is miles above us....
I mean, we have Tim to go up against Yao, and Tony to torch Brooks...but they have Scola, Lowry, Artest, Battier, Von Wafer, Chuck Hayes..
I only see George Hill stepping up agaisnt these guys defensively with his length and hops. Bonner would be destroyed. Roger would disappear because he'd be easy to minimize if the game plan is to let Tony and Tim get theirs....and Finley wouldn't do anything. And what's his name, Gooden?? would be on the bench anyway by game 2.
Udoka wouldn't do .
I wouldn't overestimate him. He is made for no team.
We only have one Bowen to defend one of the offensive guards, and I think Adelman would use the Artest mismatch.
If Adelman is good enough he could easily use the bigger Houston bodies to abuse and embarrass the Spurs of 2009. (Didn't Artest shoot a crazy percentage against us in 2006, when we were actually good???) He'd eat us alive this year on offense.
I mean, THIS IS THE TEAM THAT MADE J.J. BAREA look good.
So true, it hurts.
Scola thread!
My CA website inspector has this site registered to a Jonathan Ellis with a SA address and servers out of Slovenia. I guess that's where he got the name.
And yes, he did cry like a when you picked the Mavs to win the series. It was funny.
check out NoName McGee come out of the woodworks to suck on timvp's .
I see.
I had the spurs barely squeaking past the mavs in 7 games. You also had the spurs over the mavs. Was it 5 or 6 games? Your picks are no longer up in the 1'st round prediction thread. Were they that bad? Kori did well missing only two series. She must have smoked you.
You don't make much sense. You say the Spurs wouldn't have beaten anyone yet you picked them to beat the Mavs? Props.
You need to follow along more closely
For me, watching the remaining Western conference games, I've come to realize just how much trouble the Spurs were in - and not just because of the Ginobili injury.
Watching the Rockets take on the Fakers, it's obvious that this Houston team is a tough, physical, and a very hard-nosed, defensive-minded team. They pounded them and kept the score low. They reminded me a lot of our Spurs in recent years. Offensively, the Rockets are not the offensively-challenged, "walk-it-up" team they were under Jeff Van Gundy. They can get out and run on selective occasions, yet they still thrive in half-court sets.
That said, I don't think the Spurs would've matched up well to them. First off, despite being smart, battle-tested, former champions, the Spurs simply were not the formidable defensive team they once were. Much of this decline had to do with the slippage of their best two defensive players - Duncan and Bowen. It's easy to see how their decline affected the Spurs overall team defensive efficiency. Because no other player(s) emerged as stout, on-the-ball defenders or rim-protectors, there was little to offset that slippage. Thus, the Spurs have been gradually reduced to a good defensive team - rather than a great one. This was evident throughout the year and into the playoffs. Despite Pop having drafted a terrific playoff game plan against Dirk and Terry, it was obvious there were leaks in the dam, as the Mavs supporting cast (especially Josh Howard) hurt the Spurs in other areas.
Next, the Mavs also exposed offensive flaws with the Spurs roster. Their bench was simply too thin on talent, too long on age, and far too low on skill. Outside of the Big Two, the Spurs simply did not have the offensive firepower needed to keep them in games. They got very little from their bench, as the Mavs reduced them to a virtual 2-man team. If the Mavs exploited this flaw, surely a superior defensive team, like the Rockets, would have.
I'm further convinced the Spurs would've struggled no matter who they were matched up against. In fact, watching the remaining teams in the Western conference, makes me realize just how talent-poor this Spurs team really was. Obviously, Manu's presence would've helped, but his presence also would've only masked the painful reality. The Spurs were simply not good enough this year. If you struggle to score and have trouble stopping the other team from scoring, it's tough to be successful in the playoffs.
It wouldn't matter because the role players would've been pitiful come playoff time anyway.
Show me where you picked the Mavs over the Spurs. You said the spurs did not match up well with the Mavs and would have a better chance against the Rockets but still went ahead and picked the spurs over the Mavs. In matter in fact I have never seen you pick against the spurs.You don't make much sense. You say the Spurs wouldn't have beaten anyone yet you picked them to beat the Mavs? Props.
You need to follow along more closely
I make sense. You follow along. I said the spurs wouldn't have beaten anyone after they lost to the Mavs. Thats an after the fact statement made in this thread. I did not expect the spurs to go far this year.
I did expect them to get past Dallas in the first round, same as you. You act like your above making a failed prediction. Your predictions are not anything special compared to anyone else in here.
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123106
Apology Accepted.
Again, you have no credibility when it comes to understanding what makes the Spurs win or lose. You picked against the Spurs winning championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007. This year, you pick the Spurs to win a series they lost.
Saying the Spurs will lose every year since you've found the internets isn't a talent. It's especially not a talent when the Spurs end up losing in one of the rare series you pick them to win.
Tossing a coin into the air and calling heads or tails has more credibility than you.
I picked the spurs in every year that they won the championship. I have never picked against the spurs in a finals. No doubt I didn't think they would reach the finals in all the years other than 1999. I have said the spurs will never lose a finals.
Nice call in that particular thread on the Mav-spur series. I missed seeing that call on % for victory in that thread.
You picked the spurs in the prediction thread and thats what I saw. You have since pulled your predictions in that thread down.
@ trying to use reverse mojo to help the Unspeakable One.
I like how you tried to disguise this thread as a "matchup" thread. It's understandable cause this has the potential to be a huge (rocket PF) butt-fest.
I also agree with your take...the Spurs had and have always had terrible matchup problems with the Mavs. But i still dont think the Spurs would match up with the Lakers any better.
timvp it looks a bit like you are crying
You said the Spurs would lose against Denver, Phoenix, Dallas, etc in 2003/05/07.
How can you possibly claim you made the right pick simply because you called the NBA finals?
Jezzz it's all messed up right now
I've been here quite a bit longer than you, junior member.
Did you get a good enough cry out of the horror of the owner of this site saying the Spurs were probably not going to win the series? Or do you want to cry and some more? If so, find somebody else's leg to hump cause I just don't give a about you.
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