Look, to those that feel the need to mock us with "Malik or, Ian the saviour LOL" None of has said that inserting these guys will win the championship but it will provide a positive lift going forward to an otherwise dismal season.
I'd MUCH rather lose in the playoffs with Ian and Hairson getting the bulk of the minutes, than having a BBF combo giving us a -20 on the court night in and night out.
Hairston may not have that high of a ceiling, but I suspect it's higher than the ceilings of either Finley or Bogans. And that's what's important right now.
Ian cannot be in the starting lineup, he will be fouled out in 10 minutes. He will be easier for him coming off the bench against the opponent second units.
If we are talking about this Finley, then we are probably being unrealistic.
exactly
What's amazing about Pop is ever since 2008, he manages to be the only coach in the league who gives players that shouldn't even be in the NBA at this point, significant minutes.
He did it with Vaughan (granted, Jacque had his share of DNP's, but I remember a lot of people being up in arms over his playing time even if he did steady the ship), he did it with a washed up Udoka, and now we have Bogans.
As a matter of fact, I think Bogans is this year's Udoka. Their respective Spurs careers seem to parallel each other. Both had a good stretch of games earlier in the season, went into Pop's doghouse, and then proceeded to stink it up the closer we get to playoff time while getting 20+ minutes.
And I'm willing to sacrifice offense for defense, because the Spurs of old use to be able to afford scoring droughts since their D would keep them in the game long enough that when the offense finally got back in sync they could retake the game towards the end.
This year the offense has absolutely hit the tank after a solid first couple of months, and to make matters worse, the defense has been terrible. It's not like we've got 8 seconds or less Suns offense but no defense, so we can win against the inferior defensive teams. This team just really sucks at both offense and defense, and we have the Bogans/Finley/Bonner combo to thank for this.
At least Bonner rotates well.....half the time.
Corporate knowledge (a stupid phrase anyway) is fricking useless when it produces 0 pts, 0 rbs, 0 asts.
With Spurs heading for the lottery, what has Pop got to lose playing Malik and Ian more? even starting them.
That's an "experiment" that The Mad Experimenter has been avoiding.
Here's what'll happen:
Spurs make the playoffs and are down to the Nuggets 3-1 in the series.
Pop finally decides to give Hairston solid playing time and the Spurs lose game 5 94-89.
We can thank Bogans for games 1-4.
He is Devin Brown with more speed and athleticism. He could be a 7-10 ppg player that plays strong defense. He has the lateral quickness that Finley had 6 years ago. Maybe even a little more. He is not Bowen, but he would be a better defender given playing time than the overrated Bogans.
And he can drive to the basket and make a layup.
What about Malik's quickness in driving last night, and finishing?
Do that enough, and He Don't Need No Stinking Jump Shots.
And what about the play where Malik was all over the offensive guy's drive who through up crazy shot that Ian blocked. Ain't no two guys in Pop's starters can pull that off.
That save Malik had that I believe led to a 3 ball from Hill was a thing of beauty. The only player on the roster capable of that was Manu Ginobili. Outside of Manu, this team has only one energy/hustle guy and that's Blair. Hairston has a knack for loose balls and making things happen.
It sucks that the Spurs O is so predicated on spacing the floor with jumpshots when our team has a non existent perimeter game the past few months. I LOVED all the slashing to the basket. If Hairston can't hit a jumpshot to save his life who cares, this team is full of way too many jumpshooters. I want free throws and fouls and hard drives to the basket. If anything, all the slashing will lead to even more open space for the outside shooters.
But...
Hairston HAS to space the floor by shooting 3 pointers otherwise he can't play for the spurs. Don't believe me? It's in the Popalogist handbook, section 43, paragraph 5 look it up.
But...but he doesn't spread the floor! Ummm,a slasher also has the ability to draw the defencive attention to him leaving others for wide open shots or a dunk/lay-up on the weakside.
IMO a slasher has more ability to attack a defence far more then a jjump shoter does. Sure you need a couple of jump shooters on the floor but having over 3 jump shooters on the floor at the same time is rather redundent and easy to defend reguardless how much it's supposed to spread the floor.
Thing is we have way to many 1 trick pony's out there at the same time. We either have guys that can only shoot jump shots and jump shots only. IT would be nice to put a bit more deversity out there. Sure a slasher such as MAlik will never shot jump shots like a pure shooter but if he can consistantly make a decent jump shot when open along with his driving, that would be a of a lot better then just having a pure jump shooter.
It's called a balanced attack. Spurs O seems to like to run lopsided
Last edited by Chomag; 02-27-2010 at 01:56 PM.
haha yep, thats what I was saying in the game thread last night. "Hairston isn't chunking 3s yank him!"But...
Hairston HAS to space the floor by shooting 3 pointers otherwise he can't play for the spurs. Don't believe me? It's in the Popalogist handbook, section 43, paragraph 5 look it up.
Unless I'm wildly mistaken, the Spurs have absolutely no say in the matter. They have no way to retain him or to keep him from going. They can't offer him more money than anyone else can. He was gone like Donkey Kong the second they didn't pick up his option.
The slashing also leads to easy putbacks. When you've got a guy like Blair in the game, the best thing you can do for your team is to shoot inside, because he's going to be able to get his hands on a lot of misses. Long range misses typically don't drop to the guys standing under the basket.
I know how I'll act...without the slightest bit of surprise. Here's how I think it will play out: Hairston active; Mahinmi not active. Bonner and Finley not in the regular rotation until/unless the Suns begin to runaway with it and Pop just empties the bench. Hairston with a brief first half appearance, then if the Spurs are leading/close in the second half, he inexplicably won't play again.
As an aside, I have to think a lot of players on this team are pissed off with this coach. The insane (starting) lineups, the constantly, drastically changing of the rotation, the (Blair alluded to this at All-Star weekend) his playing minimal minutes despite his excellent per minute production, Hairston/Mahinmi not playing over Bogans/Bonner/Finley, even though it's painfully obvious that they should be, the playing ridiculously small, a lot of the time when the situation doesn't call for it. In particular, Jefferson, Blair, Mason and Mahinmi have to be frustrated/furious with this senile old man.
Actually you can't say Pop is hidebound about his starting lineups. He's willing to experiment, but not with any experiments that give most of the fans what they think should be done.
This is the 20th different starting experiment this season--and featured three starters who gave us NOTHING>
You could say he's had a good look at those three in different lineups this year, but never together.
His goal seems to be discovering the absolutely worst starting lineup we can field while keeping Tim as one of the five.
Of course, any one of us could have given that info to him but he has to prove it on the court. Must be some kind of game he plays with himself.
Hope springs eternal.
I like Bogans a lot more than most here and I think he can contribute in a high-level rotation.
Mahinmi and Hairston could also be nice contributors. It's a good sign that Pop is beginning to use them, even in garbage time. That's a first step.
The talent is there -- much more than last year or even '08. Especially if Ginobili (and now Parker) are healthy.
But Bonner . . . Please Pop . . .
I guess the only thing they can hope for now is that he likes the club enough to resign. The only saving grace will be a very tight economic market on NBA salaries and a well-stocked free agent class of superstars. There will be few teams with money and those that have it will have a lot of it.
If Ian does bolt, this would make the decision NOT to pick up his option, one of the most bone-headed decision this regime ever made.
Which is another issue this team is going to face. If they end up going out in round 1, why the would Ginobili want to come back? Ian I could understand, but then again, I'm sure he'd rather go to a lottery team that can guarantee him minutes instead of being jerked around by Pop.
For all this talk about rebuilding around the Big 3, it wouldn't surprise me if half the players would rather just leave the Spurs altogether than stick around on a sinking (or already sunken) ship.
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