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Pop should go all the way with this brilliant strategy. Bring all 5 of our best players in off the bench.
Spurs vs. Thunder: Stat of the Game
by Fred Silvahttp://www.poundingtherock.com/2009/...at-of-the-game20 points 6-7 FGM-A in 16 minutes, 9 points 3-5 FGM-A in 17 minutes. Those are Michael Finley's and Matt Bonner's stats, respectively. I don't know about you, but the fact that they produced this well in the starting lineup made me cringe, just slightly. So, should we expect to see these two in the starting lineup against the Hornets?
Is Coach Pop seriously considering only starting 3 of the Spurs' best 5 players? I think the answer is 'yes' and here's the logic. Michael Finley is a career starter. That's what he knows how to do and he does it fairly well, even at his veteran age. By bringing him off the bench one would negate his positive influence. He is a solid player, makes few mistakes, and opens the floor; all things that you want from a starter. One thing that Finley does not bring is energy. He is not a guy that will change the pace of the game, which is greatly what you want out of a bench player. So even though Ginobili is the better player, one would maximize Finley's contributions by starting him instead.
Matt Bonner is an atrocious defender. He seems to arrive just in time on his help defense to get dunked on or commit the foul. However, he is probably our best offensive sidekick for Tim Duncan. I know Antonio McDyess can shoot and DeJuan Blair has been more than impressive; but as of right now, Coach Pop has to have more confidence in starting Bonner since he started last year and has played well during the preseason. After the Spurs' defeat to the Lakers two years ago, the decision was made by the coaching staff that the Spurs were not offensive-minded enough. I remember Coach Pop saying that despite the great defense that the Spurs played against the Lakers, we lost because we could not score enough points. The following year Bowen saw his role reduced and Bonner came out of nowhere to start. I think they will keep this offensive mindset this season and play Bonner more than most would like.
My feeling is that while starting Finley and Bonner will not improve our starting lineup, the second unit will be vastly improved. Sometimes you have to sacrifice one aspect of the game for another in order to give your team the best chance to win. Coming off the bench, we will have Hill, Mason, Ginobili, Blair and McDyess. What second unit in the NBA can match up with them? The energy that Hill, Ginobili, and Blair will bring to the game will completely change the pace and be unmatched. Blair and McDyess will gobble up every rebound in sight while Hill will be able to lead the break with Ginobili and Mason on the wings and Blair cleaning up after them.
Obviously, I could be completely off here. I mean, who knows what's going on in Pop's head? But I do think the thing to take away from this is that the Spurs are so deep this year that it really would be impossible to mess up. We have 10 very good players, and one could make the case for 9 of them to start. (George Hill can't start, we already have a point guard.) This is groundbreaking for the Spurs. Have you ever seen nine startable players on a Spurs' roster? Not even in '03.
And regardless of who starts the game, the fourth quarter lineup of a close game will include Parker, Ginobili, RJ, and Duncan with whichever big guy is playing best at the time. As I said before, with this much talent it's nearly impossible to make a wrong move. This is getting me excited. Is it the 28th yet?
Now excuse me will I find a hiding place to avoid being injured by the angry mob.
Pop should go all the way with this brilliant strategy. Bring all 5 of our best players in off the bench.
I think the Patriots should bring Randy Moss off the bench. The Vikings should do the same with Adrian Peterson. What a ing BRILLIANT idea!!! Don't start the game with your best players. That's too bloody obvious. You want to take people by surprise. And you don't want your worse players to feel bad that they have to come off the bench. So start some of them. Give all the scrubs hope! Yes!! Brilliant!! Let's hope Phil Jackson doesn't catch on to this brilliant strategy. Can you imagine what would happen if the Lakers put Gasol on the bench? , they'd win a championship or something. And can you imagine how good the Bulls woulda been if Jackson had been smart enough to bring Pippen in off the bench?
Starting Lineup
Starters
Parker
Mason
Jefferson
Duncan
McDyess
After first subs
Parker
Ginobili
Jefferson
Blair
Duncan
Second Sub
Hill
Ginobili
Finley
McDyess
Bonner
Last edited by 007nites; 10-21-2009 at 11:01 PM.
Michael Finley is not a 'startable' player in the league anymore, for any team. Either is Matt Bonner really. Any team can start any player, but whether they have the ability to play starter minutes, or have an impact, is another question. In my mind the Spurs have Parker, Manu, Jefferson, McDyess and Duncan who are starter caliber players - thats it.
I think Holt is a hands off owner, but he would come into the locker room and give Pop a nuclear wedgie if he starts Finley over RJeff after Holt opened the checkbook to the tune of $15M.
i agree.
Bonner's one value could be like an "innings eater" in baseball -- a starting pitcher who protects the rest of the staff by pitching a bunch of innings so they don't have to. Such a pitcher disappears durning the playoffs in favor of the fresher, more talented arms that he protected.
Bonner could be a "minutes eater" who protects McDyess, Blair, Ratleff, etc. for the playoffs.
Only problem is, I thought that's what they were doing with Bonner last year. But Bonner ended up playing big minutes in the playoffs and coming up small.
see! you're already smarter than Poppazit.Bonner's one value could be like an "innings eater" in baseball -- a starting pitcher who protects the rest of the staff by pitching a bunch of innings so they don't have to. Such a pitcher disappears durning the playoffs in favor of the fresher, more talented arms that he protected.
Bonner could be a "minutes eater" who protects McDyess, Blair, Ratleff, etc. for the playoffs.
Only problem is, I thought that's what they were doing with Bonner last year. But Bonner ended up playing big minutes in the playoffs and coming up small.
Speculation eats away the feeble. Only time will tell.
I want whatever lineup wins games. I don't care who is playing.
I like the 'innings eater' analogy. Problem last year was that the more talented arms had broken down by the time they were needed and the 'innings eater' had to start in the big game.Bonner's one value could be like an "innings eater" in baseball -- a starting pitcher who protects the rest of the staff by pitching a bunch of innings so they don't have to. Such a pitcher disappears durning the playoffs in favor of the fresher, more talented arms that he protected.
Bonner could be a "minutes eater" who protects McDyess, Blair, Ratleff, etc. for the playoffs.
Only problem is, I thought that's what they were doing with Bonner last year. But Bonner ended up playing big minutes in the playoffs and coming up small.
Let's hope the talented arms hold up this year and the 'innings eater' can go to the bullpen when the big games roll around.
Except, it wasn't about needing a mindset as much as it was about needing to manufacture more offense; the Spurs simply didn't have enough firepower; now, they do.
I've had a similar take in regards to Bonner, but I like your 'innings eater' analogy.Bonner's one value could be like an "innings eater" in baseball -- a starting pitcher who protects the rest of the staff by pitching a bunch of innings so they don't have to. Such a pitcher disappears durning the playoffs in favor of the fresher, more talented arms that he protected.
Bonner could be a "minutes eater" who protects McDyess, Blair, Ratleff, etc. for the playoffs.
Only problem is, I thought that's what they were doing with Bonner last year. But Bonner ended up playing big minutes in the playoffs and coming up small.
The fact of the matter is, Tim, 'Dyess and Ratliff are older players that are more succeptible to injury the more minutes they play. Starting Bonner to start the season and giving time to the likes of Blair and Mahinmi buys time for the vets and allows Pop to keep them fresher for down the stretch.
People might not like it, but Holt's paying 10M in luxury tax for a chance to win another le. And if Tim, 'Dyess and, to a much lesser extent, Ratliff aren't fresh, healthy, and ready to go when it counts? Holt's all-in approach would be all for not; Pop and RC have to be looking to do everything possible to come through on Holt's investment after all the trust and faith he's displayed with his wallet.
That being said, I'm hoping we won't see both Bonner and Finley starting together on any kind of consistent basis. I realize Pop might want to start the season with some familiar faces around Timmy while he gets back into form, all while allowing the newcomers to get their legs and/or find their way in the system, but there's plenty of corporate knowledge there to not have both Bonner and Fin starting together; replace Fin with RJ in your starting-5 from last year, and that'd be fine to start the season; the team did win 54 games despite key injuries.
I ing hate Bonner.
Glad y'all liked it. Either way, it was meant to stir discussion. After all, we have a week to kill.
Please read the article and 67 comments before you attack. I answered most questions there.
Also, I never said Finley should start in front of RJ. The lineup I thought Pop might go with consisted of Parker, Finley, RJ, Bonner, and Duncan. Basically last year's lineup plus RJ because Pop digs what's familiar.
Musar... You meant 'neither.'
And Pesky, come on, man. Comparing the NFL to the NBA does not make any sense. In the NBA, you can get away with not starting your best 5 guys, as we did in '07. The analogy does not translate for a plethora of reasons. It's really not worth getting into, unless you insist.
The analogy doesn't translate? Of course it does. It's very simple. In any sport, any sport, you put your best players on the court, the field, whatever. It's always been that way, always will be. Pop's trying to re-invent the wheel.
And for the record, so do I. I did begin writing about him with, "Matt Bonner is an atrocious defender. He seems to arrive just in time on his help defense to get dunked on or commit the foul." He drives me more crazy than the people who live below me and are blasting hip hop at 1:30am. Seriously, wtf. I nearly knocked their door down a second ago but they refused to open the door.
No, absolutely incorrect. In basketball, the goal is to maximize the potential of your roster. For example, let's say you have a wing player that excels when the ball is in his hands, [read: Ginobili]. The way to maximize his abilities would be to play him when he can have the ball in his hands. That is to say, play the guy when Parker, RJ, and Duncan are not on the floor. Else, you do not maximize your roster's potential and render your second unit inferior to what they could have been. That would be why Ginobili has come off the bench since '07.
Bonner and Finley are now pure shooters, which is perfect.
They rock that job.
We're finally deep on matchup strategy and y'all give a crap who starts?
Pop is working the rest of the league and y'all need to shut up and figure it out for yourselves.
Sshhh!!!
If you read the article; its TP Fin RJ TD Bonner not Fin over RJ.
Which kinda makes sense, since Fin is a big guard, plays above average D, and can stretch the floor for us. If you think about it; That starting five should be a pretty good regular season team. Last year with Mason over RJ we did pretty well.
I guess the question is who plays the 2 better Fin or Mason? If we face the Lakers I 'd take Fin, being stronger can defend Ron Ron better than Mason.
This guy is re ed. I'll go with starting Finley if he plays the first 10 minutes of the game and is never seen again...What do these people not get about all the Spurs championships were due to their defense. Mavs man handled us last year in the playoffs because we couldn't stop . The whole season actually looked like that last year. The Spurs that won championships made alot of people miss and when they drove to the paint someone was there to alter their shot. Bonner, Finley, and Mason are all defensive liabilities. Don't want to sound mean, but I don't want to see any of those guys on the court in crunch time in the playoffs. Defense wins Championships.
Our "second unit" can beat at least 1/3 of the "first unions" in the league I guess.
I don't care if Bonner or Finley start, as long as they are used in the role they are supposed to have (15-20 mpg max) and not in the role they had to have last year because the Spurs roster was so shallow. Some (enlightened) people here have been saying it time and ever, Bonner and Fin are good around 15 mpg, very bad at 30 mg with a mission to carry the load.
The other thing that stands out for me is that the Spurs 2nd unit is "Hill, Mason, Ginobili, Blair and McDyess". That's a team that would go .500 or more in the first place. Things look good.
I love that second unit. Maybe even RJ in there rather than Mason, for a little more height. Idk, I have no idea what the rotation is going to be, I'm sure it will change several times throughout the year. I'm just great-full that we have this much talent!
Says the guy who can't help but keep coming back after getting banhammered multiple times.
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