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By Spurs standards I think the defense will be sub par at the beginning of the season. I expect it to be better than last year by the time the playoffs come around.
Just curious, we lost Bowen, Timmy's older, we added McDyess and Jefferson both of whom are good defenders but not on the Bowen/Duncan level of a couple of years ago. How do you think can we compete defensively with teams like Cavs, Celts and Magic?
I really hope we can get back on top defensively cos it ALMOST guarantees a.
By Spurs standards I think the defense will be sub par at the beginning of the season. I expect it to be better than last year by the time the playoffs come around.
With all of the new faces next year, I expect our defense to be mediocre at best to start the season. It will no doubt improve later on, but I don't think it will even begin to compare to the defenses of yesteryear. Hopefully our offense and rebounding will be improved enough to overcome that.
I hope that they'll be able to pick it up earlier this season though.
And given our new pieces, I really really hope stubborn Pop does not reappear (which has a good chance as we got two good defenders in McDyess and RJ) and choose offense over defense (more mins to Fin and Bonner). We still do not have a Bowen-caliber defender so I'm really not sure what to expect defensively from this team but I think our defense inside should pick up with McDyess and Blair (hopefully Mahinmi) joining Tim. Perimeter D is still a question mark for me.
Overall, the Spurs perimeter defense will suffer with the loss of Bowen. However, the addition of McDyess and Jefferson, as well as the prospects for a young, athletic, energetic bench (Blair, Hill, Hairston, Ian) will help offset that loss. Those additions will mean the Spurs potentially will field a squad that will be longer and quicker than last year. So long as both Finley and Bonner's minutes are kept to an absolute minimum, their overall team defense should be better.
defensive rebounding is going to improve and this will prevent some of the second chance points that killed us last season.
Do you think Pop has some new defensive sets in place for our new pieces? I'd like our team to be able to play good team defense (no need for an elite perimeter defender) like the Celts (but not necessarily the same schemes).
Agree with this. This is something I'm excited about.
One thing I can tell you, it's going to be a of a lot more solid than last year. Probably not at the level of Spurs team in the past, but I think we have enough offensive firepower to overcome that. Rebounding will be the key, and I'd be surprised if we weren't in the top 3 in that category this year.Just curious, we lost Bowen, Timmy's older, we added McDyess and Jefferson both of whom are good defenders but not on the Bowen/Duncan level of a couple of years ago. How do you think can we compete defensively with teams like Cavs, Celts and Magic?
I really hope we can get back on top defensively cos it ALMOST guarantees a
The Spurs definitely needed some defensive rebounding and they got it....
They also needed to get younger and they have.....
I still think we need one more piece, not an all-star player but a solid role player either a backup three of post that can contribute solid numbers.
But I think our defense will be better next year if everyone plays their roles to perfection
60ppg
I think we will be much better defensively. As our defense is based on the team concept it is really an issue of coaching and mobile players that are receptive to the coaching. We are much more mobile and the players that have been added are of the mind set that will make them receptive to the coaching. Our players were receptive last year but the mobility factor was overwhelming either due to injury or the lack of athleticism. Pop would often try to mask Bonner in the defensive schemes. Now Pop will be able to play straight up team defense.
Pop seems to have insisted on defense a few years ago when the Spurs didn't have reliable scoring, but I think he's lest insistent on defense now, and more interested in the PG pushing the ball up the floor for transition offense, rather that 19th century set-piece half-court offense. I figure he will be more relaxed this year about defense.
As good as it can be.
on paper the team has improved a lot, but IMO not so much on defense, if at all.
at best Dice will be equal on defense to what we got from Kurt. (much better on offense though). a lot will depend on the role of RJ, of course his size and athleticism would help on defense. we can't count on either Blair or Hairston to upgrade the defense, as long as we didn't see them defend veteran NBA players in regular NBA games. Haislip for sure won't be an upgrade of our defense. maybe when the season goes on.
the biggest effect on defense might come from increased minutes for Hill at the expense of Mason. if Mason's minutes go down to about 20 and Hill's minutes go up to about 25 (means he plays half of his minutes at SG), the backcourt defense will be significantly better.
but for a top defense team, the Spurs will need to find 2 more pieces. (a perimeter stopper and a defensive big. like Foster and Stevenson. just to drop 2 names.)
Well, that settles it.
We will rape.
I think We Improved Our Rebounding Drastically, by adding Blair, and mcdyess.... So 2nd Chance Opportunities Should be Slim this Season. But it will Take time For A new group Of Guys to Gel On the overall team defense. We will Be Mediocre In the beginning, and probably 7th or 8th by the time the season is done.
Assuming we don't get Bowen back, the defense will obviously suffer. However, without a good team defense, it doesn't matter if we have Bowen or not. Having a good team defense is better than having one of the best defenders in the league on a team with a mediocre at best defense.
Bowen will be Missed....... but wasnt even in our rotation half the year last year..... His Defense Is Not as good as it used to be..... he is still A Good Defender, but Not a great defender..... I will Always Love Bruce, but the Spurs did the right thing on moving on.....
Perimeter D has always been decent, its the bigs inside which has caused trouble due to poor rotations. Bonner, Gooden, oberto were always out of position. TD was always tryign to help cover their asses and his own man would end up scoring. With Dice and Blair, I think it all comes down to how well they work with Timmy.
I'm predicting our defense may not be as good but this offseason we really needed to get some more offence, we had way too many droughts, costed us alot of games. I still think our defense will be good though, Mcdyess is a really good defender but im not sure about Jefferson.
Bonner was rarely, or never, out of position defensively by 20 games into the season. On offense, he actually made plays and shots nicely up until his "choke" (ie, mason at PG can't pass, tim not being doubled, parker must score, mavs running him off the 3 etc etc etc)
Maybe with gooden gone Bonner will gain back his mojo and i like that Dice came from Detroit, another defensive minded team its going to be a wild card but i think by the all star break people are going to start to realize how much better the spurs got this year! Spurs dont rebuild they reload!
it depends on how many elite wingman ghill can contain below there avgs...we be good.
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