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When you believe that anything short of a championship is a failure and you think honestly that you can't win a championship, then you look like the Spurs.
We could've extended our run, but we've made a string of bad decisions that have caught up with us. In the end, we're still the only NBA small market team to rack up 4 les, right? A truly impressive feat considering how much the system is slanted towards preventing that from occurring.
It's a shame because we've could have really made a dent in the PJ/Kobe juggernaut. But in the end, we'll likely come in 2nd place after they retire with 6-7 championships under their belts.
When you believe that anything short of a championship is a failure and you think honestly that you can't win a championship, then you look like the Spurs.
i hate to admit but we are not good at all this year
nicely done.
after we won the back to back games against the lakers and thunder, i thought the team's confidence would raise and start to glue together as a team, however,everything just fall apart since then...i wonder what happened...
Oh you just know that's coming. You know it.
I have tickets for that game....
None of us should be surprised that it's come to this.
Pop has worn out the Big Three by FAILING to provide them with adequate young reserve players, who could mimic some of the things they do.
Just remember some of the recent decisions he's made:
Shipping out a 1st round pick for an old, washed-up Kurt Thomas in 2008
Refusing to develop & play Ian Mahinmi, when it's obvious his size and skill were valuable assets to the team
Allowing Drew Gooden to walk away in free agency in favor of signing an older player, less-effective (McDyess)
Choosing to invest in a bunch of slow, spot-up shooters, (Mason, Finley, Bonner), rather than players who could've provided more length, quickness, and athleticism at those positions.
Investing in a slew of players who are all terrible defenders (Jefferson, Finley, Mason, Bonner) but then wondering why his defense has fallen off.
Incorporating this mysterious "small-ball" strategy on a regular basis
Banishing Malik Hairston and James Gist, when perhaps both could've helped the team this season
I agree with most of your points except for this:
I think between those 2 it's a wash. Gooden was a ball hog/black hole and McDyess is just toast.
Pick your poison, both are trash players.
Hindsight is 20/20... Dice averaged a double-double just last season...
But, but... they space the floor for Timmy!!! Who cares about defense?
/sarcasm
I don't think they have lost their will to win. But RJ has lost confidence in himself. Without him, they aren't going to make the playoffs. San Antonio isn't LA or Boston so all this media hype about him underachieving will blow over by the all star break. The negativity should quell since all the experts and our own fanbase have pretty much lowered the expectations for this team after last night.
But you know what? That is where the Spurs like it. They want to be counted out. They want to be off everyone's radar. Well, they accomplished that.
And imo, it will take one great game from Jefferson to turn things around. ONE. He's capable of it. I don't know if it's gonna happen but I will be watching the rest of the season to see if it does. I still believe. But acquiring a backup point guard wouldn't hurt. And I'm not trying to knock Hill. He's been great. Just not so great as the backup point at times.
I love Pop as much as any Spurs fan but I don't think he can get much of anything out of anyone right now. I've never heard him have such a defeatist at ude as I have in the recent AW article. His inconsistent lineups, refusal to beef up our interior defense by playing Ian (extremely disappointed with how his situation has been handled) and Theo and his insistence on playing guys that aren't making a difference as of right now (i.e. Bonner, Finley) have this team going in so many different directions. Also, when was the last time you saw Pop just lay into one of our players? IMO, he doesn't have that edge anymore and our team is reflection of that.
“We haven’t developed a trust, a communication, a camaraderie as far as executing on the court,” Popovich said. “Which is strange for us. We’ve never had this situation.
“…For some reason, I’m not getting through to this group.”
This, and
This,
is the strategy that the Spurs have subscribed to for the past decade.
Along with team defense, this offense has always been based on shooting and defense, to go with the solid play of Tim. Even with Tim losing a step, we have still been able to generate quality looks through the half court offense and some good plays. But our flaw this season is execution.
I don't know what stats show this, but it's plain as day when we see wide open corner 3's set up and missed repeatedly by our role players. And for whatever reasons (TP/Manu's summer play, injury, age, personnel), the players haven't been able to do what they've set out to do. That's what Pop gets upset at. It's not that his players aren't listening, it's that they aren't translating the teachings to the court.
If history repeates itself and the system takes a full season to learn for RJ, as it has taken with many a swingman (Jack, Finley, Manu), that Spurs may not be ready to fulfill our potential until a season or two down the line, when Manu is here or not, and when TD remains TD, or not.
Basically the Spurs may be too little too late in making up for past summers of stagnation to succeed in the front office's plan of squeezing out one last championship in the TD Era.
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