Rhetorical question ftw
Last 5 games:
Splitter
22.2 mpg, 8 ppg, 7.8 rpg, .6 bpg, 1.2 spg, 3.2 pf, .4 to
Blair
22.3 mpg, 7.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 1 spg, 2.5 pf, 1.3 to
Of these two, who would you rather have starting?
the problem here is fkn pops ability to play splitter whether its bad matchups or anything
just play the fkn dude
1. Blair's a better shot blocker than people give him credit for.
2. Yeahyeahh, start the 7 footer with better stats.
Not to mention a lot of what Splitter's good for doesn't show up on the stat sheet.
More important is I would like to see Tiago finish the game when he played good ... just do not play Blair and Bonner together.
Something that's not being addressed since Duncan has been sidelined is Antonio McDyesses playing time. When they're sitting Splitter and wearing out McDyess they are ing off the playoffs. There's no short or long term planning behind this decision not to throw Tiago in some of the fire. If they think that a rested Duncan, a 6'6" Blair, a ? Bonner, an unused Splitter and a worn out McDyess will do it in the playoffs, they're smoking crack.
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Well, they have long-term plans for Splitter - thats obvious. But Pop should recognize that this year is the final chance for Timmy to win the le, so yes, throw Tiago into the fire, get him playoff ready and give Dice some rest ...
Non-Issue. Blair has corporate knowledge and has gotten over himself. Wouldn't be fair to the team if him and Bonner didnt get all the 4th qtr minutes over our best defensive big.
Bleu for sacasm I presume![]()
That's my favorite of the bull Pop excuses he's been using this year. "It wouldn't be fair to the rest of the team to play Tiago crucial minutes".
gmafb
Yup. It's a complete cop-out on his part.
To bring over the Spanish League MVP(!) known for defensive/rebounding and not play him in favor of a soft 3pt chucker and a undersized 2nd year center is a slap in the face to Tim Duncan and thats just absolutely inexcusable.
But who am I to question a guy who's won 4 rings....blah blah PopApologist bull ..blah blah....
Tim Duncan won thosefor us and Pop owed it to him to get adequate help in his declining years and he got him Matt Bonner.
This is more like it. Blair is great in many ways. Bonner and Blair, as our bigs, closing out games is not so great.
For the life of me I cannot explain Splitter's inability to see the floor come the fourth quarter while Duncan is out. It is mind boggling that even when he plays a good role - and he's played really really well with Duncan out - that they don't even give him a shot. Blair does nothing better than Tiago outside of offensive rebounding. I understand the coaches wanting to ride the Blair PNR yesterday because it was effective for a stretch, but Splitter does the PNR really well also and has more size and defends 10x better then Blair.
There was just some really stupid coaching yet again in the fourth yesterday. I just hope this staff has enough vision to see the errors of their ways now with games still left in the regular season.
We all know that Pop strongly believe that the playoffs aren't for new players. We've seen it with George Hill two years ago and Dejuan Blair last year. That only means that both Splitter and Anderson will be doing their rookie year playoff apprenticeship chained to the bench - which is bull .
The one saving grace is that I believe Gary Neal looks to be both the mythbuster and the exception for this year. He's part of the rotation and has earned his spot.
Despite Splitter's injury-plagued absences, it's not as if he is an inferior option to both Bonner and Blair. However, it's still astonishing to me that Pop seems to think so - despite evidence to the contrary. Pop needs to shelve his prejudiced principles and look at the productivity.
Splitter rolls to the basket as well as Blair. I've noticed a lot of times he manages to get open, but the ball-handler doesn't always look for him.
The main problem with his PNR is that he's had to run it with George Hill so much this year. George Hill is awful at finding the roller.
i'm pretty sure the reason Splitter hasnt gotten any 4th quarter time is that the coaching staff is terrified that he'll get a bunch of cheap foul calls called on him and put us in the penalty early combined with his perceived lack of offense.
Problem is theres a reason Bonner doesnt get fouls called on him and thats because the extent of his defense is to stay on the ground with his t-rex arms raised up high and pray that his defender doesnt score over him. Most of time, his man gets such deep position on him that its pretty much a layup as soon as he shoots over Bonner.
Dice has to do everything out there to make up for Bonner/Blairs shortcomings defensively and its absolutely murdering us in crunch time.
This and the previous poster. It is hard to run a pick and roll offense when the point guard is blind to the guy setting the pick who is wide open moving to the basket. I mean Tiago picked up 14 easy points this way earlier in the year in 10 minutes when Manu was actually passing him the ball on the PNR.
Tiago is open on the roll 50% of the time at least. The other teams also know this. They leave him open it seems like because, it, no one is going to pass him the ball so they can play 5-4 outside defense.
Need those rebounds, Splitter starts before Blair.
Amen Brother!
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Splitter is seeing more PT right now, just give it time. He's proving himself and I have a feeling that he'll be utilized in the playoffs. Sending Blair down from the starting lineup is a big signal that Pop intends to incorporate size. Thing is, Splitter's getting in early foul trouble and called on a bunch of tic-i-tac fouls. I do take issue with Splitter not seeing the floor in the fourth quarter, last game, but who knows what that motive was? It was an obvious mistake, but I'm sure Coach Bud had a motive. Coaching will go back to the drawing board and discuss their options, and one of the things they'll look at are comparative stats. It was posted in another thread, but in the last six (?) games, Splitter is proving to be more productive than Blair. I mean, right now, he is starting in place of Duncan and OVER Blair. Give it time and his responsibility will increase.
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