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The sun is mostly hot.Jefferson has been mostly disappointing
Spurs turn to their backup plan
Jeff McDonald
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. It was a habit Richard Jefferson had come to foster throughout his playing career, from New Jersey to Milwaukee to the Spurs, and it came with an enabler. A public address announcer would call his name to start a game, and he would bound onto the floor to great applause.
Now the time has come for Jefferson to change that routine. His place in the Spurs' starting lineup?
I'm giving that up for Lent, Jefferson said.
It's not as if Jefferson had a choice. Gregg Popovich has moved Jefferson a starter in 548 of 623 career games to the bench, partially in hopes of producing a long-awaited spark from his team's defining offseason acquisition.
Jefferson has appeared as a reserve in both the Spurs' games since the All-Star break, replaced at forward by Keith Bogans in a lineup shuffle that also moved Matt Bonner to center in place of Antonio McDyess.
The results for Jefferson have been mixed so far one solid game in a victory over Indiana, one inconsequential outing in a 106-94 loss at Philadelphia.
Jefferson has accepted his new role, even if it isn't his preference.
I prefer to start, but I prefer winning more, said Jefferson, who had a streak of 232 consecutive starts snapped by injury Jan. 18 in New Orleans. I trust Pop and what he's trying to do.
Thursday's NBA trade deadline came and went with no reinforcements arriving for the Spurs. They will proceed with this 13-man roster, which means they desperately need their last major trade June's swap with Milwaukee that netted Jefferson to begin to pay dividends.
Brought in to infuse the Spurs' offense with more firepower, Jefferson has been mostly disappointing, averaging 12.1 points and 3.7 rebounds. Against Philadelphia on Friday, he had eight points and five fouls.
I'm frustrated and have been for a while, Jefferson admitted.
Jefferson isn't the only one. To a man, the Spurs have been confounded by their hit-or-miss season, which hit low ebb in Philadelphia.
The Spurs (31-22) head into today's game at Detroit looking to salvage a 5-3 record on their annual rodeo trip.
We're not used to being as up and down and inconsistent as we've been, Tim Duncan said. It's wearing on all of us.
Jefferson has been the poster child for that. Popovich hopes pairing him with Manu Ginobili, another could-be starter who has thrived as a reserve, will energize Jefferson.
That wasn't the only reason for the lineup shakeup. Popovich likes the defensive presence Bogans brings to the starting group, and he likes the offensive blast he can potentially summon off the bench with Jefferson and Ginobili surrounding McDyess and DeJuan Blair.
We've got a solid group to start, and in some ways an even more explosive group coming off the bench, Popovich said.
That arrangement is still an unconventional one. The Spurs are one of the few teams in the league with two of their top four highest-paid players working as reserves.
Though Popovich has vowed to stop tinkering with the lineup, more games like Friday's might have him re-thinking things.
Despite the Spurs' defensive-minded lineup, they allowed more than 100 points to the Sixers. Bogans and Bonner, the two new starters, combined to go 2 of 8 for four points.
Should Popovich keep Jefferson on the bench, Ginobili says it will take the former starter a few games to adjust. Ginobili knows this from experience.
It takes a little time, Ginobili said. The first time it happened to me, it hurt a little bit. We haven't talked about how he's feeling, but he's a great guy, and he wants to win. He's taking it great and just trying to contribute.
That, of course, is the rub for Jefferson.
For Lent or otherwise, he has given up his need to start. One way or another, the Spurs still need him to produce.
The sun is mostly hot.Jefferson has been mostly disappointing
Good thing Pop made these changes after that disappointing game in Denver. It's only been two games, but already there's been a big difference in performance.
Somehow, I never expected this would be the proper headline from this past summer:
Spurs shore up bench with acquisitions of Jefferson and McDyess
Sadly, this move doesn't even do that.
all round Fail, from Pop and his dumbass 'strategies', to jeff and his bust, to the media/announcers trying desperately to rationalize pop's 'strategies' hahhahaha
A solid group to start? I probably misread! or is it Pop's dry sense of humor? I'm confused, it's not easy to detect on writen quotes without seing the video.
Is this really some kind of disgusting joke?..honestly..Bogans-Bonner is our "defensive minded" lineup?..seriously?..
Bogans is a bulldog. He looks like Bruce Bowen . . .
The theory was sound.
Hill is one of the team's best defenders. Bogans was supposed to be the defensive stopper. And Bonner has been playing the best defense for a bigman outside of Tim Duncan (which says more for the play of the other bigs more than it does for Matt's abilities).
Unfortunately, theory doesn't always equate to reality.
"In theory, Communism works...in theory"
yes harlem, the pinche media keeps trying desperately to go along with/rationalize pop's absurd 'strategies', and its just hilarious to hear.
they are all thinking, 'wow thats quite an unconventional strategy fro popovich..bu hes the 4-ring genious, wat do i know? it must be another brilliant move by pop!!!!' *proceeds to rationalize with audience*
hahahhahahahaha
I'll take Excuse for News reporting excuses for 1000, Alex.
Yes looks he does, but game he doesn't remotely resemble him
We've got a backup plan???
The only reason Bogan's developed a rep as a defensive stopper is because he is so damn bad on offense. Coaches probably thought, this guy sucks on offense, so he must be a pretty damn good defender to have been in the league this long.
But seriously, the amount of sarcasm/frustration on the board lately is funny but depressing at the same time. It shows how far the team has fallen, pretty rough times for all of us... but gotta try keep out heads up. Somehow.
Ive been on basketball-reference.com every day for about the last 2 weeks looking at old box scores right through championship years. Even regular season one, some of those Opp. FG% were disgustingly good... ahh the good old days.
"Solid group to start"??? "Defensive-minded lineup"???
Pop has truly gone mental, and the news lackeys are just fueling his idiocy.
no. we've got writers, who call everything a plan.
if today in Detroit Pop suddenly rips his clothes off, runs to the free troth line naked and tries to pee thru the hole from there, McDonald and the other Spurs court reporters would call that a plan either.
Playing backups as starters against the other team's best players makes no sense.
In your first organized team sport you learn that your best players play against their best because your second best players will get creamed against their best.
If you hide this fact by having the second best players on the court as starters, but for less minutes, haven't you acknowledged this basic fact?
WTF is Pop thinking?
The replies to this thread are full of win.
And yes, Communism does work in theory.
At least Bonner hasn't been a liability. Bruce Bogan has been nothing but a liability issue for this team in the starting line up and coming off the bench...
Unfortunately he hasn't been a huge asset, either. I think most fans would be okay (not necessarily happy, but okay) with Bonner starting if he found his shot again. Even if Bogans went on an offensive hot streak, fans would probably (with good reason) consider it to be fool's gold. He'd really have to turn up the defensive intensity to be worth playing more than 10 minutes a game.
bonner as our starting center....there's part of the problem
The way Jefferson and McDyess have been playing they are backups. I look at how quickly the Mavs have brought in Butler and Haywood into thier scheme and I see one glaring reason. Jason Kidd. In the 3 games there has been no rumbling of getting adjusted to their game, adjusting Kidd's game to theirs, or theirs to Kidds. I love Tony but a good pass first Pt. Guard gets his guys involved first and takes what the defense gives him. No I don't want to trade Tony I like his moxie and he's a fighter, which it seems that Jefferson and surprisingly McDyess are not.
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