The San Antonio Suns

[buttsR4rebounding]

the rules have changed so many times to limit the effectiveness of defense. no one likes to watch basketball based defense (ala pistons spurs finals), therefore the rules of the nba were rewritten for MJ-type players to prosper. pop and the spurs have been adjusting to the new landscape over the past few years.

Even so, we are 27th in the league in Opp FG% and dead last in Opp 3pt FG%. If we can play average defense we will be a major contender for a ring if this offense keeps up. If not, a 2nd round exit would be as good as we could hope for.

[TJastal]

Even so, we are 27th in the league in Opp FG% and dead last in Opp 3pt FG%. If we can play average defense we will be a major contender for a ring if this offense keeps up. If not, a 2nd round exit would be as good as we could hope for.

That's assuming Jefferson keeps up his 65% FG/60% from 3/70% FT numbers..

[Seventyniner]

The Spurs right now are 11th in the league in efficiency differential (+3.6 points per 100 possessions), 5th in offensive efficiency (109.7) and 17th in defensive efficiency (106.1). They're also a very un-Spurs-like 6th in pace. The absolute numbers will likely drop, but the defense, at least relative to the league, isn't terrible.

Now, for a supposed conference finalist, the D has to improve a lot. Hopefully Anderson and Splitter will help the team D as they learn the system better.

[ElNono]

We're 4 and 1 guys. Save the complaining for when we start losing, you'll need it.

I guess he's preempting the 'You weren't ing when we were 4-1 and RJ was shooting 60%'

You know that one is coming too.

I'm actually surprised nobody played the 'It's only November' card yet.

[ElNono]

the rules have changed so many times to limit the effectiveness of defense. no one likes to watch basketball based defense (ala pistons spurs finals), therefore the rules of the nba were rewritten for MJ-type players to prosper. pop and the spurs have been adjusting to the new landscape over the past few years.

This is a cop-out though. Yeah, rules have changed the way you have to play defense, but there are teams out there that still manage to do more than a good job at it on a rather consistent basis. IE: Boston already held 3 opponents out of the 6 games they played under 90 points. The Magic has done as well.
Heck, even the Heat and their publicized big man woes have been doing it.

So, it's certainly possible to do it, even with these rules. Not going to happen every night, but I don't think you can use that as an overall excuse.

[DBMethos]

Another difference between these Spurs and the run-n-gun Suns: their bench was paper-thin. D'Antoni basically ran his starters + 1 or 2 bench guys into the ground, leaving them extremely vulnerable come playoff time. This Spurs team looks to be ridiculously deep, and Pop has always been one of the best in the league in managing stars' minutes.

We don't have to have the suffocating defense of past Spurs teams to win a le...that just simply can't be done with this roster. But we can get significantly better than what we've seen so far, and that may be enough to give us a shot.

[Brazil]

That's assuming Jefferson keeps up his 65% FG/60% from 3/70% FT numbers..

exactly ! I don't see how people think there is room for improvement on Offense tbh. If we improve our Offense it will be to compensate an overachieving RJ...

As for the Defense, here we have a lot to do...