Upsetting Quote From McDyess

[chazley]

if you think Bonner/Blair make a great pairing then i can do nothing more for you regarding your basketball IQ.

If you're gonna hate on it, provide statistical proof that it doesn't work.

[TD 21]

The only way they can keep one of Duncan or McDyess on the court at all times in the playoffs, is if they rarely play them together. Neither is a 40 mpg player at this point in their careers. McDyess isn't even a 30 mpg player. I expect Duncan to average mid thirties and McDyess high twenties minutes, in the playoffs. Many of which to be played simultaneously.

Lest we forget, Blair-Bonner played plenty together last season. Even if they hadn't, it's not about "learning to play together" or even getting re-acquainted with one another. The reality of the situation is, they're far too small and defenseless to be an effective duo in the playoffs against the vast majority of teams.

This team keeps stressing defense, but it's all talk. If they were really serious about defense, they wouldn't be not playing one of the best defenders on the team. Three of the five players on the second unit are severely undersized and sub par defenders. You can get away with one, maybe two of those guys playing together, but three? With no anchor on the floor to make up for some of their shortcomings? Not a chance. They can play as hard as they want and make timely rotations, but it's still not going to make much of a difference. They're not capable of playing quality defense.

[Capt Bringdown]

But, but, but the stat work ups show that Pop is a genius. Who you gonna believe, Pop, or your own lying eyes?

[silverblk mystix]

A buddy's cousin said her travel agent told Pop has a trip booked in late May and doesn't want the Finals to screw it up.

Obviously, all he is doing is protecting his deposit on the trip.


Seriously.

This time last season we didn't know if we had the team or the stones to even make the playoffs. Every game in March was a must win just to make the playoffs.

Now we are the lead dog and have the luxury to try different combinations and see what we might have as playoff situations arise. Some nights that makes us look bad compared everyone else we play.

Most teams we are playing hit the court fighting for playoff position or just to get in. Their motivation and intensity right now is greater than ours.

The "morons" in the FO quietly assembled this team together when most thought this was definitely our year to be down. Personally, I've been impressed with what they do most nights without any of the ESPN Superstars.

It's amazing how many geniuses show up when there is a small lag in the season and we don't win every game by double digits or compile our 13th lost.

Some Spurs fans think they have more basketball knowledge and ability than Pop, his staff, and his players.

Let the man do his job.

He's the same genius that out coached everyone else four times and was a few lucky shots away from doing it more.

You made some good points....

but just to play devil's advocate here...

let me throw this out;

Pop is also the same genius that did NOT lead the spurs to the le in 2008,2009 & 2010...DESPITE having THREE of the top NBA players on it's roster.

[20beastie45]

This is seriuosly NOT GOOD!!!!!!

[Mugen]

If you're gonna hate on it, provide statistical proof that it doesn't work.

you don't need stats to tell you that playing your two worst defensive/rebounding bigs at the same time is a bad idea.

Both Bonner/Blair are horrible help defenders and below average individual defenders. Bonner might be the worst rebounding big in the league and Blair is still painfully undersized. Absolute recipe for disaster as evidenced by the spurs' play after the switch to Dice in the starting lineup.

+/- of Bonner/Blair together = . There ya go.

God, i hope you're a BUMP troll.

[Cessation]

lol that #1 poster claim must be sarcasm, since he trying to defend the bonner/blair duo

[ChuckD]

“Some of the guys are not in sync with each other,” McDyess said. “I don’t think we’ve seen Matt and DeJuan playing a lot with each other this year. We’re trying to get them used to playing together.”

From JMC's article here: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...ve-breakdowns/

I guess this means they're going to try and make that frontcourt combination work, which is dubious. Maybe when the playoffs start though they'll make sure either TD or Dice are always on the court, like LA does with Gasol and Bynum? I sure hope so.

You understand that if Tim and Dice start, Matt and DB WILL play together, and a lot, since Tim and Dice cannot play heavy minutes. You people wanted Dice starting. Don't cry about it now because you didn't think it all the way through.

[ChuckD]

If he puts both Bonner + Blair in the playoffs its because:
A) We have an injury
B) We are blowing someone out
c) We are getting blown out

D) we're starting Tim and Dice who play 29 and 17 minutes, respectively.

[VI_Massive]

You understand that if Tim and Dice start, Matt and DB WILL play together, and a lot, since Tim and Dice cannot play heavy minutes. You people wanted Dice starting. Don't cry about it now because you didn't think it all the way through.

This is one of the things I really wonder about. We've been conserving minutes all season long and quotes like this from Pop in that same JMC article: "We’ve been saving McDyess’ minutes all year for the stretch run and the playoffs." Make me think that they're planning on ramping up Dice and Timmy's minutes.

And that makes me wonder, will they begin to ramp up their minutes in the last 15 games to get them used to playing heavy minutes? You can't just flip a switch from 29 and 18 MPG to 37 and 30, right? They'll need some time to adjust to the extra workload? Or maybe vets like that can flip a switch? I really don't know and would be interested to hear thoughts on the issue.

And if they ramp up the minutes, does that mean they'll play one or both of TD and Dice on the floor almost always during the playoffs? I think that would be the plan, assuming at this point that they've written off Splitter's ability to contribute in the playoffs. I think that's a fair assumption given the minutes Splitter has (not) played this year. And let's not turn this into a Splitter thread because we certainly have enough of those on which to express our Tiago frustrations.

[PopRocks]

[/B]

You made some good points....

but just to play devil's advocate here...

let me throw this out;

Pop is also the same genius that did NOT lead the spurs to the le in 2008,2009 & 2010...DESPITE having THREE of the top NBA players on it's roster.

True but at how often were all THREE healthy and right together?

And look at the rosters of the 2008, 2009, 2010 Champs. Those teams had a few stars too. (Built by free agency and miracle trades from Memphis)

Not saying Pop is beyond reproach, but it gets a little old when we gripe because he keeps sticking to a rotation and he gets criticized for playing with rotations.

[Leonard Curse]

so this is whats in the mind of a genius???? wow something tells me were not getting rings gentlemen. our brilliant coach wants to start playing 2 guys that are atrocious when together not to mention haven't played together all freaking season!.

pop you are a fool, look i would never wish anything bad on our own players but this is an emergency spurs fans!! and i'm doing it for their own good dammit!! ok fellas heres to THE RED ROCK (just made that up btw) OK HERES TO BONNER PLAYING A $HIT LOAD OF MINUTES AND HERES TO MATT NOT GETTING HURT and BEING THE HEALTHIEST SPUR BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS!!

[thOOdee]

so this is whats in the mind of a genius???? wow something tells me were not getting rings gentlemen. our brilliant coach wants to start playing 2 guys that are atrocious when together not to mention haven't played together all freaking season!.

pop you are a fool, look i would never wish anything bad on our own players but this is an emergency spurs fans!! and i'm doing it for their own good dammit!! ok fellas heres to THE RED ROCK (just made that up btw) OK HERES TO BONNER PLAYING A $HIT LOAD OF MINUTES AND HERES TO MATT NOT GETTING HURT and BEING THE HEALTHIEST SPUR BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS!!

and to not break a leg

[rmt]

It's unrealistic to expect TD and Dice to jump from 28 and 18 mins to 35+ and 28+ mins. These will be a 35 year old and an almost 37 year old - both with bad knees. If Spurs were to make the Finals, that's almost 2 months of playoff-intensity basketball.

It's either small ball or the other bigs must play. The mistake was in not at least trying to integrate Splitter. Playing TD/Blair and Dice/Bonner all season masked the deficiency of Blair/Bonner which pretty much must occur (if Splitter doesn't play) if TD/Dice start. I can see the reasoning behind starting TD/Dice together against playoff teams' starting 5 so that Spurs don't get into too big a hole.

I'm hoping that Spurs can save Dice for the WCF (if seedings hold up) against Dirk or Gasol. Maybe they can get by the first 2 rounds without playing Dice too much. I'm hoping for MEM to either move up to #7 or drop out of the playoffs because Dice would be needed against MEM (Gasol & Randolph) but maybe not against UTA (Bonner can chase Okur out to the 3pt line).

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

It would be fitting that we get bounced early after the best regular season in recent memory because of Pop's mancrush on Bonehead Bonner. WTF, another year of Tim's career wasted by Pop's stupidity.

[Cessation]

Pop gambled on bonner and blair, and ignored splitter. Well, now spurs got exposed, even though it was clear from start of season, that blair is too short to start in the playoffs and bonner is too much of a pussy to contribute. Championship? I think not. WCF loss to lakers, and pop will say, "well we never were a championship contender, tbh, but at least we made it to wcf" as he always says something to that effect, after season's end.

[TD 21]

It's unrealistic to expect TD and Dice to jump from 28 and 18 mins to 35+ and 28+ mins. These will be a 35 year old and an almost 37 year old - both with bad knees. If Spurs were to make the Finals, that's almost 2 months of playoff-intensity basketball.

It's either small ball or the other bigs must play. The mistake was in not at least trying to integrate Splitter. Playing TD/Blair and Dice/Bonner all season masked the deficiency of Blair/Bonner which pretty much must occur (if Splitter doesn't play) if TD/Dice start. I can see the reasoning behind starting TD/Dice together against playoff teams' starting 5 so that Spurs don't get into too big a hole.

I'm hoping that Spurs can save Dice for the WCF (if seedings hold up) against Dirk or Gasol. Maybe they can get by the first 2 rounds without playing Dice too much. I'm hoping for MEM to either move up to #7 or drop out of the playoffs because Dice would be needed against MEM (Gasol & Randolph) but maybe not against UTA (Bonner can chase Okur out to the 3pt line).

How is it unrealistic? They've played roughly 28 and 18 mpg so that they could be as fresh as possible for the playoffs, in order to play significantly more minutes when they get there. 35 and 28 mpg is right around what I'm expecting from them. They'll be the odd blowout, though, where they don't play much. Also, keep in mind, the playoffs (particularly first round), the games are spread out. Not only are there no back-to-backs, but there's plenty of two and three day breaks. Within' reason, you can't worry about them wearing down. This is probably McDyess' last season and it might be Duncan's last legit chance at a championship. If it takes playing them more than what's ideal, so be it.

It's not ideal at this point, but there's still time to integrate Splitter. Speaking of the initial starting lineup masking the backup big deficiency (with Splitter not playing). What was overlooked in Blair's move to the bench was the positional change involved. He went from guarding four's to guarding five's. He already had his hands full with four's, but he's completely over matched against most five's.

No chance the Spurs can save McDyess for the WCF. It's looking like it's going to be the Grizzlies or the Hornets (I'm guessing Hornets), both of which McDyess would have to play a big part against. Especially against the Grizzlies. The Jazz aren't going to make the playoffs and even if they did, Okur is done for the season.

[rmt]

1. Sheer arrogance that his system works as long as everybody is where they're supposed to be. That's not going to stop anyone from shooting/rebounding over Blair/Bonner.

2. Over-reliance on veterans - you'd have thought he'd learned his lesson from GHill (09 playoffs).

Here's hoping that Splitter's confidence (when he hopefully sees court time next year) isn't messed up by Pop's lack of confidence in him.

[silverblk mystix]

It would be fitting that we get bounced early after the best regular season in recent memory because of Pop's mancrush on Bonehead Bonner. WTF, another year of Tim's career wasted by Pop's stupidity.

The problem with this --is that this is like the 3rd year in a row that some kind of Pop stubborness will cost this franchise another chance...

(see Finley mancrush, Mahinmi/Ratliff, Bogans/Mason, Bonner mancrush, Hairston, etc...)

Gotta be grateful for having a great coach...but if we are really gonna be honest...Pop has made as many bad moves as good moves...who knows if the spurs wouldn't have had 3 or 4 more rings with a little bit of checks and balances---instead of the Pop dictatorship???)

[rmt]

How is it unrealistic? They've played roughly 28 and 18 mpg so that they could be as fresh as possible for the playoffs, in order to play significantly more minutes when they get there. 35 and 28 mpg is right around what I'm expecting from them. They'll be the odd blowout, though, where they don't play much. Also, keep in mind, the playoffs (particularly first round), the games are spread out. Not only are there no back-to-backs, but there's plenty of two and three day breaks. Within' reason, you can't worry about them wearing down. This is probably McDyess' last season and it might be Duncan's last legit chance at a championship. If it takes playing them more than what's ideal, so be it.

It's not ideal at this point, but there's still time to integrate Splitter. Speaking of the initial starting lineup masking the backup big deficiency (with Splitter not playing). What was overlooked in Blair's move to the bench was the positional change involved. He went from guarding four's to guarding five's. He already had his hands full with four's, but he's completely over matched against most five's.

No chance the Spurs can save McDyess for the WCF. It's looking like it's going to be the Grizzlies or the Hornets (I'm guessing Hornets), both of which McDyess would have to play a big part against. Especially against the Grizzlies. The Jazz aren't going to make the playoffs and even if they did, Okur is done for the season.

When you say "odd blowout," do you mean that the Spurs are doing the blowout or that they are being blown out? I'm not seeing any team that the Spurs are going to blow out - even in the first round.

I'm not holding my breath that Pop's going to integrate Splitter. I was at the Heat game last Monday night and Anderson and Novak both got more PT than Splitter in a 30 pt blowout. It's a disgrace that a real rookie (one who's spent the vast majority of this season injured) and a player I'd never even heard of before he came to the Spurs is getting PT over Splitter.

[chazley]

you don't need stats to tell you that playing your two worst defensive/rebounding bigs at the same time is a bad idea.

Both Bonner/Blair are horrible help defenders and below average individual defenders. Bonner might be the worst rebounding big in the league and Blair is still painfully undersized. Absolute recipe for disaster as evidenced by the spurs' play after the switch to Dice in the starting lineup.

+/- of Bonner/Blair together = . There ya go.

God, i hope you're a BUMP troll.

Blair is a bad rebounder? Both are below-average defenders? WTF are you smoking. Just because Bonner is white doesn't mean he isn't a good defender. Is he a bad help defender? Yes. Is he good at holding his own man 1 on 1? He's at the very least average. Blair is at least an average defender when you take in all aspects of defense, including steals, where he is above average. I would say Blair's main weakness is his help defense, not his one on one defense.

Keep in mind, this is our second unit. To be able to trot out the best 3-pt shooter in the league and one of the best rebounding bigs when given minutes is not bad at all. I'm not claiming either Blair or Bonner are more than average on defense, but if you trot them out there with a lineup of Hill/Manu/RJ (who isn't being given enough credit for his defense), the need for either Blair or Bonner to be good help defenders is irrelevant.

Also, good job just throwing out useless facts with no evidence to back up your argument.

[chazley]

Random thought: McDyess might be the most overrated Spur in recent history.

[TD 21]

When you say "odd blowout," do you mean that the Spurs are doing the blowout or that they are being blown out? I'm not seeing any team that the Spurs are going to blow out - even in the first round.

I'm not holding my breath that Pop's going to integrate Splitter. I was at the Heat game last Monday night and Anderson and Novak both got more PT than Splitter in a 30 pt blowout. It's a disgrace that a real rookie (one who's spent the vast majority of this season injured) and a player I'd never even heard of before he came to the Spurs is getting PT over Splitter.

Either. You don't think the Spurs are capable of blowing out the Grizzlies, Hornets, etc. in the first round? They're capable of blowing anyone out and capable of getting blown out. And if one occurs, the chances of the other occurring increases. It's not literally going to be 35 and 28 minutes every single game for Duncan and McDyess.

I'm not either. But there is still time. Yeah, it's bad enough that Splitter isn't in the rotation to begin with, but now he's apparently been passed by the immortal Novak as the fifth big.

[VI_Massive]

The problem with this --is that this is like the 3rd year in a row that some kind of Pop stubborness will cost this franchise another chance...

(see Finley mancrush, Mahinmi/Ratliff, Bogans/Mason, Bonner mancrush, Hairston, etc...)

Gotta be grateful for having a great coach, but if we are really gonna be honest, Pop has made as many bad moves as good moves...who knows if the spurs wouldn't have had 3 or 4 more rings with a little bit of checks and balances---instead of the Pop dictatorship???)

In those previous three or so years I don't think the Spurs had a realistic championship shot because at any given time one or more of the big three were hurt. However, given the health of the big three this year, I am fearful that Pop wasted one of the last prime years of Duncan and Ginobili and one of the prime years of Parker in not having a full commitment from the beginning of the season to developing Splitter.

I know this has been said many times on this website, but I want to reiterate my feeling that he should have been considered a member of the rotation from the start. Injured? Fine. Rehab him and get him back. There's no way to get him ready to play without, well, playing him.

Pop seemed to have that sense in one of the early LA games when he put him in and seemed to be saying "these are the big boys, learn how to play against them". That's how it should have been all year. And again, when he got injured, heal him up and put him right back where he was.

It's a failure of player development in my opinion, and normally it wouldn't be an urgent issue except for the expiring core teammates named Duncan and Ginobili. If Pop thought he could win a le with only Duncan and Dice as his defensive big men, well, that's very dubious judgment.

Maybe not a failure of player development so much as a failure to realize the importance of developing a specific player in a specific time frame.

[Leonard Curse]

In those previous three or so years I don't think the Spurs had a realistic championship shot because at any given time one or more of the big three were hurt. However, given the health of the big three this year, I am fearful that Pop wasted one of the last prime years of Duncan and Ginobili and one of the prime years of Parker in not having a full commitment from the beginning of the season to developing Splitter.

I know this has been said many times on this website, but I want to reiterate my feeling that he should have been considered a member of the rotation from the start. Injured? Fine. Rehab him and get him back. There's no way to get him ready to play without, well, playing him.

Pop seemed to have that sense in one of the early LA games when he put him in and seemed to be saying "these are the big boys, learn how to play against them". That's how it should have been all year. And again, when he got injured, heal him up and put him right back where he was.

It's a failure of player development in my opinion, and normally it wouldn't be an urgent issue except for the expiring core teammates named Duncan and Ginobili. If Pop thought he could win a le with only Duncan and Dice as his defensive big men, well, that's very dubious judgment.

Maybe not a failure of player development so much as a failure to realize the importance of developing a specific player in a specific time frame.

very truehe acts like theres no time i then catch myself saying "its barely the middle of the season and pops already saying he cant find minutes for tiago??" i think pop has something against him, something strange is going on maybe pop got bought out, shoot even phil jackson really liked tiago splitter this is probably pop becoming a stuck up SOB !