Jefferson Below Expectations, But Trying To Spark San Antonio

[SenorSpur]

He said interesting playoffs? HAHAHA Well it will be an interesting playoffs alright! He will be right where I am on the chair drinking beer and dreaming of a le or chicks (Well him maybe about dudes but). Playoffs? US? Is he serious? We are an 8th seed at best the way we are playing, not great but okay at best.

That's cold, man.

[SenorSpur]

Pop has as much to do with RJ's fail as he does. RJ is used to being in the role of shooting guard, not a power forward which he has been playing this year like he was 6'10, 260 lbs.

RJ's confidence has been in a downward spiral all year long

Leave it to Pop to force-feed guys into new positions, where they struggle to succeed. And being stubborn enough to leave them there, despite how their poor play affects the rest of the team.

I submit to you the failed Roger Mason, Jr backup PG experiment of last season. No matter how badly it sucked and how those new responsibilities affected his overall play, Pop continued roll with it - to the detriment of the team.

Or how about last year, and Michael Finley doing his impersonation of Bruce Bowen - defensive stopper? Late last season, Pop decided to move Finley ahead of Bowen, in the rotation, and routinely assigned him to the opposition's best scorer. How'd that turn out? Eventually, Pop was forced to dust Bowen off again in the playoffs and he turned in some very productive minutes versus the Mavs, in a first round series loss.

Or we can go back as far as 2006 and the failed Nick Van Exel backup PG experiment versus the Mavs in the WCSF? It was obvious to everyone, except Pop, that NVE was woefully ineffective and clearly done. Of course, that didn't stop Pop from stubbornly rolling him out there anyway.

[Big P]

Jefferson? Lead us to le contention? He cant find his way to the basket, how is he gonna lead us to a le?

[easy7]

It seems to me that Jefferson spends half of his time on the court on the offensive end hiding as to not get the ball thrown to him, that is probaly why his scoring average is low this season.

[elbamba]

Jefferson is not a 4 and should have never been used as one. The rest of the league is going big while the Spurs are going small. Small lineups never win.

[ohmwrecker]

I'm not saying that Jefferson has not been a disappointment, but the expectations for him were set way to high. It seems that Spurs fans expected this guy to be Bowen and Horry rolled into one player. Not very realistic and completely unfair to be disappointed when he has failed to live up to those ridiculous standards.
While Jefferson has struggled mightily this year, looked bewildered and confused at times and has failed to put in a consistantperfomance over a string of games he is a huge offensive improvement over Bowen and it is absurd to expect him to be equal to Bowen on defense (which is why Bogans was brought in). Essentially, the Spurs brought in two players to replace one. Of the two, Bogans is clearly the bigger disappointment.
Now we are waiting for three (Bogans, Jefferson and McDyess) to makeup for the production of two (Bowen and Horry) and Pop to give these guys an honest opportunity to accomplish that.
I say, for the rest of the year, we start Tony, Manu, RJ, Dice & Tim with a healthy dose of Hill and Blair off the bench. Give Ian & Malik a fair shot and live or die with the results.
Of the 18 different line-ups that Pop has tried this year, it is troublesome that the one that makes the most sense has not been employed. Bogans, Bonner, Finley and RMJ have not performed well enough to automatically earn minutes. Ian and Malik deserve a shot.

[LOL@MavsFan]

Spurs get the 8th seed and end up beating the Lakers in 7. It will be a sweet surprise and it will be awesome to see the Lakers knocked out in the 1st rd

Yeah that will happen

[hater]

When you are often the worst player on the floor and are hurting your team, that's when you need to STFU

[xtremesteven33]

I think its a matter of time till Ginobili gets back in the starting lineup...

[Obstructed_View]

I think its a matter of time till Ginobili gets back in the starting lineup...

If only time were something the Spurs have. I forgot to ask why the Manu isn't starting in the mailbox.