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I think it has something to do with Matt Bonner's plus/minus #s.
This blog post (which I found on the "bullets" post on Truehoop, the ESPN blog aggregator), suggests that the Spurs are one of only a few (7 teams) which have better than league average defense AND offense. In fact one can possibly argue that only the Cavaliers, Lakers, Jazz and Magic are better than the Spurs overall. And yet we have this poor record (31-23).
I suppose all those third quarter/fourth quarter meltdowns; in game turnovers when the game is in the balance and the lack of all-48-min effectiveness is all the Spurs are lacking. Possibly thats because of the too many new personnel or possibly the coach is screwing up in-game.
Whatever it is, the above average defense + offense in the league overall is a light in that dark tunnel that is this season. Possibly the stats are skewed because of the easier (than for others) schedule so far; but still they are still pretty good.
I think it has something to do with Matt Bonner's plus/minus #s.
The stats are heavily skewed for the Spurs because of the games vs. below .500 teams..
For example, in efficiency differential(which measures all the stats on both ends for the Spurs and their opponents), the Spurs are #8 in the NBA..vs. below .500 teams, the Spurs are #1 in the entire NBA, meaning we've been the best team in the league against ty teams..
When you measure in the stats vs. +.500 teams, the Spurs are in the middle of the pack, which is an accurate measurement of the Spurs as a whole..a middle of the pack team..
As the schedule evens out, you can expect the Spurs overall stats to continue to fall, since that's usually the case with average teams..
... and at home.
Unless we improve drastically defensively very soon, our record should also level out by the end of the season...
The fact that the Spurs have had an easy schedule doesn't take away from the fact that they are No #1 against ty teams. Easy schedule would mean that the Spurs played more ty teams than less, but they still beat them handily to be No 1 in that department. That they are No. 8 in the other, means that they are able to overcome their gelling troubles (or their coach's small ball pigheadedness or their foul trouble ) or whatever in-game misgiving they have, better against ty teams, because their opponents are ty.
Which means that if they improve on court vis-a-vis those turnovers, fouls, in game decision making, etc, they stand a better chance against the better teams. They are not necessarily lacking the personnel. Only the personnel are more better on paper than actually as a unit that executes. That gives me the proverbial light in the very dark tunnel.
Disagee. Our frontcourt is awfully slow and we have very little depth in our backcourt thanks to Mason/Bogans playing like crap and Finley being ancient. Playing Hairston/Mahinmi might alleviate some of the problems we're having but Pop isn't willing to give them any time and, instead, opts to go slow.
If you go by eff we have one excellent player in Duncan(eff is 25), six solid players in Parker, Ginobili, Jefferson, Blair, and Dice(eff ranges from 10-15), one mediocre player in Bonner(eff is 8), and three poor players in Mason, Bogans, and Finley to round out the team(eff ranges from 4-7).
Unfortunately, our three worst players all play on the wing making us very thin at that position. Along with Parker's gimpy legs and Jefferson/Ginobili losing their lateral quickness due to injuries, this is partially why our perimeter defense has been so underwhelming this year. Bowen, despite never having an outstanding eff or PER, was a defensive beast. He took the load off of Manu/Parker and made their jobs much easier. Pop and the FO made a gigantic mistake in thinking that Jefferson/Bogans could fill that role.
Also, they neglected to bring in a quick defensive big. Someone like Haywood would be outstanding on this team but the Spurs, supposedly, didn't have the pieces to pursue him or Ty Thomas.
On a player-by-player basis we really don't stack up compared to LA, Utah, Denver, Dallas, or even OKC. I don't expect this team to finish higher than sixth. For that to happen, we would need:
-Pop to stop playing smallball
-Parker/Mason to play like they did last year
-Duncan needs to avoid breaking down like last year
-Manu needs to extend his excellent RRT form into the rest of the season
-Hairston/Mahinmi to get Bogan's minutes and contribute
-Hill/Blair have to speed their improvement
-Dice has to find his role on the team
It's not impossible but highly unlikely.
Last edited by Johnny RIngo; 02-23-2010 at 07:51 PM.
I think..all the above is quite possible, but the key is that RJ fits in better and plays adequate defense to go along with some decent shooting %.
I know that doing nothing at the trade deadline was the wrong step; but all is not lost.
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