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Thanks, nice write-up.
I hope DeJuan gets better, I have high hopes for him
Five Games In: Player by Player Breakdown
By LJ Ellis | San Antonio Dispatch
Tim Duncan
32.4 mins, 17.6 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.0 blocks, 1.4 steals, 2.6 turnovers
61.3% from the field, 63.2% at the line
To begin the 2010-11 NBA season, Tim Duncan is still Tim Duncan — and that’s a good thing. His scoring and assisting rates are a bit down, however his rebounding rate is up along with his field goal percentage. He has been a little less involved in the team’s offense than usual but he’s making good use of his touches. The only glaring flaw to his season’s start is his turnover rate. Though since most of his turnovers are due to double-teams heading his way, that news is not all bad. In the big picture, it’s pointless to put too much stock into his early season production. With Duncan, it matters if he’s healthy and fresh come playoff time. Perhaps his most important stat is his 32.4 minutes played per game. It’d be preferable if his minutes were closer to 30 but at least the coaching staff has done a reasonably good job of limiting his time on the court.
Manu Ginobili
33.8 mins, 21.0 points, 5.4 assists, 2.6 rebounds, 2.0 steals, 3.2 turnovers
44.3% from the field, 34.2% on three-pointers, 84.6% at the line
After a listless preseason, Manu Ginobili has definitely answered the regular season bell. He’s averaging a career-high in points, assists and steals while playing with boundless energy. Physically, he seems healthier than he has been in years. Despite his good play, Ginobili has some areas of possible improvement. Compared to last season, his rate of assists are down, his rebounding is way down and his turnovers are up. He’s also relying much more on three-pointers, which would be fine if he can get his long range percentage up to around 38%. I’m also concerned with his minutes per game average. I’d like his chances of peaking in the playoffs much more if his average was at least four minutes lower.
Tony Parker
35.4 mins, 16.8 points, 8.4 assists, 3.0 rebounds, 2.4 steals, 3.6 turnovers
47.2% from the field, 88.9% at the line
Tony Parker deserves credit for adjusting his game to accommodate the players performing well around him. Compared to the 2008-09 seasons, his usage rate is down almost 20%. His rate of field goal attempts hasn’t been this low since the 2003-04 season. Not only is he shooting less, he’s passing more — his 8.4 assists per game average is a career-high. While there will be times the Spurs need him to score, so far he’s done a good job of picking his spots. Defensively, Parker has played at a higher level than we’ve seen in a while in regular season action. His steals average is double his previous career-high and he’s done a consistent job of pressuring the basketball.
Richard Jefferson
31.8 mins, 20.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assist, 0.8 steals, 1.4 turnovers
64.8% from the field, 60% on three-pointers, 69% at the line
The surprise of perhaps the entire NBA has been Richard Jefferson’s play through five games. Even though he’s getting a similar amount of touches that he got last season, he’s obviously putting those touches to much better use. To fit San Antonio’s offense, it was imperative that he improve his three-point stroke over the summer — and mission accomplished so far. Jefferson’s arc on his jumper is more prominent and he’s shooting with a softer touch. His other main offensive improvement is his decisiveness. Each time he catches the ball, he acts like he knows what he’s doing. Unfortunately, his defensive improvements haven’t been as swift. His man-to-man defense has been acceptable but he still gets lost in rotations and in transition. Jefferson’s rebounding also leaves a lot of room for improvement. Though overall, nitpicking Jefferson’s first five games is a bit crazy given the limited expectations.
DeJuan Blair
23.8 mins, 4.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.2 assist, 1.0 steal, 0.6 blocks and 2.0 turnovers
26.5% from the field, 5-for-5 at the line
This wasn’t the start DeJuan Blair wanted. Offensively, Blair has been a mess. He’s rushing. He’s forcing shots. He’s forcing passes. He, frankly, gets in the way. On defense, it hasn’t been much better. Blair isn’t defending on the perimeter very well and has a load of trouble defending pick-and-rolls. Covering the rim on defensive rotations is another glaring negative. The only positive on the defensive end has been his post defense, which has been mostly decent. Coming into the season, Blair’s continued development was seen as one of the brightest rays of hope. Five games in and Blair is in danger of playing his way out of the rotation.
Antonio McDyess
25 mins, 7.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.6 blocks, 1.2 turnovers
46.9% from the field, 6-for-8 at the line
Antonio McDyess was a bit of a forgotten man heading into the season. But right now, McDyess has arguably been the team’s most consistent player. He has crashed the glass consistently, hustled non-stop and fought for position on both ends. In his second season with San Antonio, McDyess looks much more comfortable and he now knows his role on both ends. If he can continue to play solid defense and knock down his mid-range jumpers, expect the 36-year-old bigman to be a large part of the rotation going forward, especially in crunch time.
George Hill
20.8 mins, 8.0 points, 3.0 assists, 2.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 0.5 turnovers
42.9% from the field, 1-for-9 on three-pointers, 86.7% at the line
George Hill was supposed to claim Ginobili’s sixth man role. So far, it has been mixed results. Offensively, his main issue is his three-point touch has vanished. Counting preseason, he’s just 2-for-25 from deep on the year. That’s a catastrophic fall from last season when he led the Spurs with a three-point percentage of 39.9%. He understandable has no confidence in his outside jumper, which has transformed Hill into a very hesitant offensive player. He still has bursts of good offensively play here and there, but that attacking offensive threat from last year is missing in action. Defensively, Hill has been good at times but he has a lot of room to improve on that end as well. Despite the above criticisms, there are some areas of advancement in Hill’s game. His assists and rebounds are way up, while his turnovers are way down. My belief is that Hill’s game will fully recover once his stroke returns, as most of his issues are related to a lack of confidence and tenacity.
James Anderson
20.3 mins, 7.3 points, 2.0 assists, 0.8 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, 0.5 turnovers
45.5% from the field, 46.2% on three-pointers, 3-for-4 at the line
James Anderson missed all summer while recovering from a hamstring injury. In preseason, he didn’t show much. But since the games started counting, James Anderson has been impressive. His three-point shooting ability has been very much needed and is already making him a valuable player when out on the court. However, Anderson is proving to be more than just a shooter. He can handle the ball better than advertised. He makes quick, smart passes. His body control in the air is also a plus. Defensively, Anderson is improving rapidly. He’s second on the team in blocks per game, a sign of the level of energy he’s playing with on that end. At this point, the Spurs have to be thrilled with their first round selection.
Gary Neal
12.6 mins, 6.2 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.6 turnovers
42.9% from the field, 41.2% on three-pointers
Gary Neal is not afraid to shoot the basketball. The only player on the Spurs who shoots as often as Neal is Manu Ginobili. If Neal keeps shooting better than 40% from three-point distance, the Spurs won’t have any issues with Neal looking to score. Though he’s both short and unathletic as far as NBA shooting guards go, Neal makes up for his deficiencies with his picture perfect shooting form and dogged toughness. He also brings an air of fearlessness to the court that can be contagious. Defense is a challenge at times but his aforementioned toughness allows him survive most matchups. It’ll be interesting to see how Neal reacts once NBA teams have a scouting report on him. Right now, he’s an unknown and he’s using that to his advantage.
Tiago Splitter
12.3 mins, 3.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.3 steals, 0.3 turnovers
5-for-10 from the field, 1-for-3 at the line
Though just 37 minutes into his NBA career, Tiago Splitter’s strength are already exciting to see. On defense, he moves his feet extremely well for a seven-footer, which allows him to excel in defending pick-and-rolls. His post defense has been good and he sprints back in transition. Splitter also instinctively collapses to the basket to help defend the rim — a welcomed trait given San Antonio’s recent struggles to guard the paint. His offense right now is much more of a question mark. We’ve seen him make a few crafty moves in the post and finish open looks right at the basket, but a larger sample size is needed to get a true feel of what he can do on the offensive end in the NBA. All things considered, Splitter has had a successful beginning to his NBA career.
Gregg Popovich
Pop needs to trust his rookies this season — and so far, so good. He has wisely utilized Anderson, Neal and Splitter, putting each in a position to succeed. Pop’s work with Jefferson in the offseason has paid immediate dividends. On the other hand, I think he’s playing the Big 3 too many minutes. Scaling each back about three or four minutes would help in the long-term. Pop will face an interesting dilemma once Matt Bonner is healthy and Splitter is in game shape. How will he divvy the center and power forward minutes up between five bigmen?
Offense
At the moment, the Spurs are — hold your breath — fourth in the NBA in scoring at 109 points per game. Shooting is a main reason. San Antonio is fourth in field goal percentage (48%) and seventh in three-point percentage (38.2%). However, an arguably bigger reason is the Spurs playing at a faster pace (their pace is tied for sixth with the Golden State Warriors). The Spurs are also sharing the ball well, averaging 26.2 assists per game (second in the NBA). The turnovers have been too frequent to begin the season but otherwise these Spurs are proving to have the ability to score rather easily.
Defense
The defense has been nightmarish. The Spurs are allowing 105.4 points (24th) while allowing opponents to shoot 48.1% (28th) from the floor. Most alarmingly is San Antonio’s inability to defend the three-point line. Opponents are shooting 41.9% on threes, the highest mark against any team in the league. Rebounding has been decent (better on the offensive glass than usual, worse on the defensive glass). Interestingly, the Spurs are second in steals and seventh in forced turnovers — two areas where the Spurs historically struggle. Overall, these Spurs are light years away from playing championship level defense.
Related Articles:
http://www.sanantoniodispatch.com/sa...five-games-in/
Thanks, nice write-up.
I hope DeJuan gets better, I have high hopes for him
Spurs musta put in a ton of work to transform this offense in one season.
good read timvp
IIRC, Pop said he had signed Richard in order to provide more scoring, and to give more effort on defense than what he did with the Nets and the Bucks, which wasn't much. It seems that scoring is primary and defense is secondary. Can Richard give more than acceptable defense and should we expect more considering Pop's remarks?Richard Jefferson
Unfortunately, his defensive improvements haven’t been as swift. His man-to-man defense has been acceptable but he still gets lost in rotations and in transition. Jefferson’s rebounding also leaves a lot of room for improvement. Though overall, nitpicking Jefferson’s first five games is a bit crazy given the limited expectations.
Nice choice of Pop's pic.
Really nice breakdown timvp, keep the articles comin'
thanks timvp!
Nice recap
Dice has made up for Blair's pathetic play. As someone mentioned in another thread, he's almost playing against us at times.
Kinda sad how a SG is second on the team in blocks.
I'm not liking Hill so far. Shooting is horrible and I feel like he slows the tempo down than usual and when he speeds it up it's a mess. Hoping the Spurs trade him.
I like what Im seeing of this spurs. Compared to last years debacle. This team with RJ not sucking, Neal surprising Hill playing regular and Splitter learing we somehow have depth. I like it, Im not this happy in the early season since 05.
If Hill and Blair can get going, Splitter more acclimated with the team and better conditioned and Anderson/Neal doing what they do, I like where this team is headed.
Most impressive stat: Tony Parker - 8.4 APG
The Spurs aren't as good as their record indicates, they certainly aren't a 5-1 caliber team right now..they're making a lot of bad decisions offensively, a lot of bad shots/turnovers..one of the starters(Blair), is playing horrible basketball..the other guy that was supposed to have a big year, Hill, is playing horrible basketball as well..the Spurs aren't getting enough points in the paint, too..
More importantly, the defense is just average right now..a lot of missed rotations and lack of effort..
They're pretty much getting by strictly on talent right now..that's a good thing though, because I'm assuming the defense will get better with more work/chemistry + the integration of Splitter..
i think its a plus that they are able to win games based on just talent. Its only 6 games into the season and we already know they are winning despite not playing to potential.
The Spurs D does look terrible, tbh
Trade Tony Parker! Hill is our point guard of the future!
I'm going to have to go back to look at some old film, but something about Gary Neal reminds me of Vinnie Johnson (the Detroit version not the Spurs one). He can get his shot off against anyone despite his height and he has no conscience.
Nick Van Exel had no conscience...
Good stuff, timvp.
The potential of this team is intriguing, although the inability to defend is a worry. On the flipside, the team has turned up the defensive intenisty a couple of times this year and looked markedly better. Can't really judge the D until they've played 30 games together.
I agree. Our defense is what needs the most improvement.
too many minutes for tim and manu!
parker d will be better if he is not shooting as much this season
The defense never friend ratchets up till february or
Marxh. I'll take 5-1....
I was thinking Tony was going to score around 22 ppg with a better Fg%.Maybe it's not only about resting the summer and his better days are gone.But it's good to see how his assists per game are a lot higher.I remember how some people said he can't do it in the Spurs system. He's a different PG and that's what we need from him.
And it's nice to see how Manu still playing at the same level he showed at the end of the last regular season.He's carrying the team and the team is winning so he could have a shot for the MVP
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