New Spurs’ tutorials will finish on the fly
Mike Monroe
Veteran players acquired by the Spurs in the offseason remain weeks away from being completely ingrained in the team’s offensive and defensive schemes, but they are about to get some serious on-the-job training, beginning with Wednesday’s regular-season opener against the New Orleans Hornets at the AT&T Center.
Gregg Popovich, beginning his 13th season as Spurs head coach, understands the long process that is the 82-game season, so he intends to throw his best players, old and new, into the mix immediately.
Popovich values what he calls the “corporate knowledge” enjoyed by players who have been teammates for years at a time. He also knows newcomers such as Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess, Theo Ratliff, Keith Bogans and DeJuan Blair can’t learn the offensive and defensive systems without experiencing them when the games count.
“We’re going to give everybody as much time as possible from the beginning to be the best we can be in the end,” Popovich said, “so we’re going to throw everybody into the mix and go, right from the get-go.”
Popovich is confident NBA veterans such as Jefferson, McDyess, Ratliff and Bogans will know how to handle most situations.
“There are guys that are new here that are going to play,” he said. “Maybe they’re not experienced with the Spurs, but they’re experienced in the league, and they’re going to play.”
Jefferson, the small forward the Spurs acquired in exchange for three veterans, declared his first preseason in silver and black a relative success.
“I feel pretty comfortable,” Jefferson said. “There’s a learning curve, obviously, that goes on here.”
Then, Jefferson showed he has a firm grasp on Popovich’s approach to the progression of the season.
“The thing I’m most happy about is that we’re going to be better in February than we are now,” he said, “and we’re going to be better in March, April and May than we are now, and, hopefully, into June.”
Due to the sheer number of newcomers, Popovich shortened his playbook and promised to give All-Star point guard Tony Parker near autonomy to run the team’s offense.
The approach will be an adjustment, even for the most veteran of Spurs.
“I think it’s going to take some time on offense,” Parker said. “It’s very different, even for the old guys. We’re doing a lot more pick-and-rolls, and we want to push the ball a little more to use Richard and use the weapons we have. We’re going to post up Richard, and that’s different for us, too.
“Overall, it’s still going to be Spurs basketball. We’ll start with defense, and transition ‘D,’ and try to win games like that.”
Entering his ninth season at age 27, Parker believes he and the other players who have been Spurs the longest — Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Michael Finley and Matt Bonner — will take it upon themselves to provide on-the-floor leadership through the first weeks of the season.
“I think our experience gives us the edge to get through the first five or 10 games,” Parker said. “You’re going to see a little more of the old guys, and I think the experience will get us through.”
Noting that the Spurs have only 11 home games in February, March and April, Parker stressed the importance of getting out to a quick start, learning curve be damned.
“We need to play well early in the season because we have so many home games, and we need to take advantage of that,” he said. “Our schedule is kind of weird. We have a lot of games at home and a lot of days off, too. So we need to play well at the beginning.
“It’s a little bit different for us. Usually, we accelerate after the All-Star break, but I think this year we need to play better at the beginning, because February and March, we’re on the road all the time.”
The schedule is really strange. We have a bunch of easy home games in the first 3 months of the season. We need a good start because the last 3 months will be tough.“It’s a little bit different for us. Usually, we accelerate after the All-Star break, but I think this year we need to play better at the beginning, because February and March, we’re on the road all the time.”
Maybe they can built on it, just like the 2003 team that came together during the Rodeo Trip
I never looked at the schedule before, but this makes it sound like we're getting screwed over. I suppose there was a thread about it when it was released? What did people think when first seeing the schedule?
NBA and Lakers have back-loaded Spurs schedule with road trips to tire them out just before the playoffs.
we gonna start the season around 5-5
While it definitely seems like the Spurs have a painful stretch at the end of the season, I actually think that may work as a benefit to this team.
You're going to have to play those games one way or another. I'd rather the Spurs hard games be piled at the end of the season, when the team has had more time to play together and become cohesive.
Like the point of the article implies, there is going to be a learning curve and growing pains through these first months. I'd rather be playing the Bucks and Grizzlies of the league then, and save the big games for when the team hopefully has a bit of a groove going.
Tough games leading into the playoffs.. sounds like a good test.
It's strange because it can give a false sense of where they really are playing weak teams early having a good record then late in the season playing better teams. Those latter games are the ones we should judge the team by to get a sense of where they are against playoff and elite teams.
+1
It sounds like the schedule was built for the Spurs. Like you said, you're going to have to play those games and have them effect your record one way or the other. How the would it benefit the Spurs to play the hard games at the beginning of the season, when the team is more likely to lose?
Kinda like the Lakers schedule where they got like 17 of the first 21 games at home (or something) and then have a tough road schedule to close out the season.
This is the most excited I've been heading into a Spurs season in some time!
7-3
ill take the backloaded schedule....gives us time to get the new faces integrated early....get serious around the rodeo trip...and at the end show notice to the rest of the league of whats coming in the playoffs.
come on wednesday...
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