A lot of us has complained about Pop using a Bonner/Blair frontcourt because of its weakness on the defensive end of the court. Stats backs up this claim:
With a Bonner/Blair frontcourt, Spurs are allowing 102.8 points per 48 minutes.
When Spurs have another frontcourt, Spurs are allowing 96.5 points per 48 minutes.
That's bad and it's even worst when you consider that Blair/Bonner plays again bench players who are often less offensively talented.
Pop has to stop using that frontcourt. It can't and will never work. Giving that much playing time to Bonner, and to a lesser extend Blair, could make sense, even if I disagree with it, but at least use them in a proper way. NEVER put them at the same time on the court.
FYI, the stats for some other frontcourt pairs:
Duncan/Blair: 95.5 pts allowed per 48 min.
Duncan/Bonner: 90.9 pts allowed per 48 min.
Duncan/McDyess: 92.2 pts allowed per 48 min.
McDyess/Bonner: 95.7 pts allowed per 48 min.
Splitter/Bonner: 95.5 pts allowed per 48 min.
Best defensive frontcourt is Dunca/Bonner tandem?! I would have expected Duncan/Dice or a combo of Dunca/Dice/Splitter.
What about on offense, do they at least make up for ppg allowed by scoring more? Both of those guys strenghts are on the offensive end.
It makes sense, especially this season b/c Tim is a legit defensive presence down low and Bonner draws the other big out of the paint with his 3pt shooting.
Blair/Bonner didn't work last season and I don't know why Pop is trying again. Bonner tries hard but he simple doesn't have the ability to play D. Bosh, Marion, Harrington, all those guys killed Bonner lately. Blair is very young and still make a lot of mistakes on rotations.
I hope we don't see them together in the playoffs
I can't believe Pop thought this frontcourt would work in the first place...
Should be erased from Pop's thought process - Blair and Novak briefly when going small but Blair and Bonner again - please no Pop!
I'm curious to know what Splitter/McDyess or Duncan/Splitter would average per 48 minutes.
Unfortunately we will never know.
Not for this season unfortunately.
Bruno, do you post as Bruno on the 48 Min of blog comments? When I read those the name says Bruno but the writing style reads like ducks.
Nope, that's not me. I only post on ST.
Thank god, the rest of the interwebs is saved.
[QUOTE=Bruno;5077950]That's bad and it's even worst when you consider that Blair/Bonner plays again bench players who are often less offensively talented.
Pop has to stop using that frontcourt [QUOTE]
That is some mad truth there bruh
What do ya know, even more proof Bonner is at bare minimum an average defender. and ROFL at some people who replied that just completely disregarded the stats and went on to say Bonner sucks on defense.
here are more glaring stats that the bonner/ blair frontcourt does not work and that Dice and Spliiter should be used more
For their last game vs Denver
Splitter and McDyess had the team lead in plus-minus scores with both at plus-11. Blair had the worst score in the game at minus-15. Bonner was minus-14.
Go figure, need I say more
Uh, I agree that Bonner/Blair is a bad pairing, but these stats are pretty irrelevant to that argument.
Pop knows all of this. The better combos will be used in the post-season.
For a preview on how the frontcourt rotations would work in the playoffs, the recent game at Dallas is very instructive. All the players were well rested and the coaching staff had ample time to prepare for an important game. Plus the game had almost zero garbage time to skew the numbers.
Frontcourt minutes were distributed as follows:
TD- 31:52
Dice- 29:10
Bonner- 18:47
Blair- 13:44
One big: 2:27 (the last 3 seconds of the 1st qtr after Bonner got his 2nd PF and the last 2:24 of the game when Pop took TD out with a 13 point lead. If the game had been closer, TD would have played that 2:24 and taken his minutes played to just over 34).
So, what were the minutes played for the various possible combinations of those four players?
TD/Dice- 18:08
TD/Bonner- 13:44 (notice that the first two combos account for all of TD's PT by using the two best defensive pairings as per the data in the OP)
Dice/Blair- 8:38
Blair/Bonner- 5:03
One big: 2:27
If TD plays 36 minutes, the Bonner/Blair minutes can just about disappear. The coaching staff knows how to limit that pairing and they will when the games matter more.
My favorite frontcourt in the league tbqh...
By favorite, I mean whenever I see it, I wish someone would put a bullet through Pop's brains
Mel_13 bringing out the goods
Reading that post was a huge relief.
You guys better pray Splitter plays balls out for the next few games because if McDyess remains a starter, Blair/Bonner will be the 2nd unit in the post. Pop has to have a floor spreading big on court at all times or his head will explode.
I don't get it... how is the "everything but Bonner/Blair" 96.5 when the other 5 combos listed are at 91-96? So there's a combination somewhere missing that's at like 130 for 5, 10 minutes a game to pull the average up? Most of the potential combos are listed on there. I know Bonner/Blair aren't playing enough together to offset the 90.9 and 92.9 by themselves.
Bruno's numbers are right.
Spurs have played 3423 minutes this season and given up 6910 points. Bonner/Blair have played 239 minutes together and the Spurs have given up 512 points during that time.
The rest is just math.
it sucks.
Garbage time and small ball. IMO, garbage time is the biggest factor.
Spurs aren't doing well in garbage time. Udoka, Novak, Anderson, Splitter and Quinn all have negative +/-.
Good point, let's hope you're right.
Fair enough - I'm just surprised there is that many minutes able to skew the data that high - didn't really seem possible.
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