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I think with Splitter and Leonard the Spurs have a chance to be quite a bit better than they were last year, even if it's not reflected in their regular season winning percentage.
Words of wisdom from the OP. Corporate knowledge is necessary but not sufficient. We will be a good team but I cant see us beating the Grizzlies since they should be slightly better this year and we should be slightly worse. It was a great run though.
I think with Splitter and Leonard the Spurs have a chance to be quite a bit better than they were last year, even if it's not reflected in their regular season winning percentage.
Like you said big 3 were mostly healthy and they got lots of lucky breaks. They ran into several good teams missing their stars.The Spurs were winning regular season games because the big 3 were healthy and playing their ass off. Which works in the regular season. That's the real 'corporate knowledge', being good enough when healthy to win regular season games. But the playoffs are a different animal.
The Spurs were one of two teams iirc that had 3 rotation players all with a PER of at least 20. The other team was the Lakers, and Bynum missed I think 28 games. The big 3 combined missed only 9 games when you don't count that tanked LA game right next to the end.
That's remarkable, and shows just how under served the big 3 were both by the scrub chokers around them (RJ and Bonner) and Pop's antics with Splitter.
So when the playoffs come, and the big 3 are no longer healthy, and the pressure ramps up and the chokers choke, and Splitter gets George Hill'd . . . the corporate knowledge is useless.
No more of the choking Axis of Failure with Bonner and Jefferson and the Spurs will be on the road to giving the big 3 the help they need. That means Splitter, Leonard, and Anderson getting playing time all season long has to be a priority. But will that happen?
I wish
I hope so but I don't really think so with Duncan and Manu being one year older and Hill and maybe Dice gone. Also, while I would prefer to see Splitter get minutes instead of Bonner and teddybear Blair Pop is still the coach.
Man this guy the season hasn't even started. And this team did not lose to memphis cause Manu was hurt. If we can jump out early and avoid injury we'll be fine. With a healthy Manu who know what could've happened last year. No one and I mean NO ONE picked dallas to win last season.
The Spurs will not go full blowup/rebuild mode until Tim's no longer on the roster.
Look for him to retire at year's end and then get ready for some .400 - .500 ball if we're lucky.
Its fairly clear that the spurs are not going to make any major changes to the roster. I'm still rather optimistic has a at least 1 more playoff run in them but in order for that to happen TP needs to take full reign of the team. I'm looking for TP to average 20+ points and around 7 assists...
Their performance in the playoffs tells me that the team is automatically better with them not on it.
This. I would also toss Blair in there, who from reports, has shown up in shape and seems motivated.
I would also toss in Neal, and Anderson who should be pretty solid on both ends of the courts. His athleticism looked pretty good in those games he played over the summer.
Eff Corporate Knowledge.
Corporate knowledge is an asset, not a strategy. The world doesn't stand still - internally or externally. The Air Force put a lot of effort into retention of pilots for prop-powered planes. But pilots grow old, and those irritating new jets come on the scene. Corporate knowledge can become counter-productive if you don't keep an eye on the changes going on around you.
Time stamp this post for July 2007 and I'm down.
I don't think it's any great secret what happened last year or what needs to happen this year. The only unknown, really, is what Holt wants from this team.
Great thread! And I've only read the first page!
Excellent OP by timvp, and I've been thinking similar thoughts, although I'm pretty sure our Era ended 2 years ago with that dismantling by the Suns, or even the year before. Ever since Bruce hasn't been locking down the perimeter (2007-8 was his last strong season), we've been sliding slowly into obscurity.
My take is that, if the rumours I've been hearing about Tim's knees are correct, he will probably retire after this season (please correct me if I'm wrong).
Even though the franchise would love to give Tim one more strong run at a ring, they simply don't have the assets to strengthen the roster much. I'm sure Pop would love to add a nasty perimeter defender, shotblocker, or post scorer, but where's he going to get one with the assets he's got? This FA period there are bloated contracts being thrown around (ironic given that from the owner's perspective the lockout was all about bloated contracts!), which makes it even harder for the Spurs to be a player in the market.
Thus, Pop's thinking is probably as LJ suggests - go with what we've got and whatever bargains we can pick up in free agency, then pray that corporate knowledge and peaking at the right time like Dallas did last year will be enough to get the miracle done. Supreme optimism, although I guess we did it in each of the Championship years.
Pop/RC's secondary thinking is that if things go pear-shaped they can always go into full-blown rebuild mode by trading some or all of the Big Three around the deadline, or by simply waiting until the end of the season when Tim's contract comes off the books, then trading Manu (who has one year left on his contract and could be just the piece a contender would need - imagine him in Chicago!) and Tony. It'll be a sad day, but things could pan out that way.
So, I think it's one more time around the track, sorry we couldn't bring better horses, cross your fingers and pray for 2007 (when we came out of nowhere to snatch the le!).
Agreed.
They are the great hope for this season, along with some improvement from Grizzly and Neal, and a presence from Anderson. If they all outperform reasonable expectations, we could be a very good team. Unlikely, but you've gotta hope.
Sad but true.
Also sad but true.
Yup.
Last season was such a massive disappointment after that start! For the first two months of the year we weren't only firing on all cylinders on the offensive end (although that was certainly winning a lot of games), at times, for short stretches, we also look like an elite defensive team. Unfortunately, the defence looked better than it really was because it takes a month or two for most NBA teams to get their offence right. As other teams improved their offence, so our defence went down the toilet.
Manu has plenty of value! He could easily be the piece that puts a team over the top. Imagine him in Chicago for example.
It's almost hard to say Dallas was peaking. They were lights out all season except for that stretch when Nowitzki got hurt. Besides, their HOFer isn't worn into the ground and they had a top defensive big. You can't say either for the Spurs. I don't think Dallas' le was a fluke, but the Spurs winning one would sure be. Amazing to say that with Parker and Ginobili still playing at peak levels, but that shows just how important Tim Duncan is. The guards get way too much credit for the Spurs success last decade.
Yeah, I'm not comparing our chances to last year's Mavericks who were clearly a more complete team than we are by a long way.
And yeah, Tim's rapid decline last year, and the absence of elite Bowen for the past 3 seasons, has been instrumental in our slow decline. However, Manu should've been co-Finals MVP in 2005, TP was unstoppable in the 2007 Finals, and both had clutch moments in the 2003 playoffs (although Jax had more! And Speedy saved TP's arse in the Finals!).
I thought the decline was pretty rapid. The team dropped off pretty quickly in 2008-09 and has been stuck at the same level since.Yeah, I'm not comparing our chances to last year's Mavericks who were clearly a more complete team than we are by a long way.
And yeah, Tim's rapid decline last year, and the absence of elite Bowen for the past 3 seasons, has been instrumental in our slow decline. However, Manu should've been co-Finals MVP in 2005, TP was unstoppable in the 2007 Finals, and both had clutch moments in the 2003 playoffs (although Jax had more! And Speedy saved TP's arse in the Finals!).
maybe I'm just nitpicking and I know you're talking about offense, but the reasons Leonard wasn't a lottery pick weren't about his game.
I posted this awhile ago, but
Add in the other stuff like only doing measurements at the combine and those without warm-up, and it looks like his agent and Leonard's actions in the run up to the draft are why he wasn't a lottery pick.Lon Babby was on PHX radio and basically said that the reason they chose Morris over Leonard was because Leonard refused to workout for them and they took him completely off their board as a result. He said that when you as a player do that, you "disqualify yourself". And of course Morris was enthusiastic about becoming a Sun going back to Chicago.
One of the things that really bothers me is that last seasons champion didn't have an inside-out game. That team swept the Lakers and beat the Heatles in the finals. Perhaps the NBA has changed?
Franchise player
When Dirk is posting up and going aggressively to the rim, the Mavs are an inside-out team. Doesn't matter anyway; the Spurs haven't been inside-out in several years. They now gameplan to shoot threes.
It looks as if the FO is banking on the starters holding their own against the top heavy compe ion and the team's depth being able to gain the edge for the Spurs. The Lakers, Mavs, Thunder, Grizzlies and Clips are leaning heavy on the starters, and ditto for the top teams in the East. The problem is that depth doesn't play as big of a role in the playoffs. If the team is able to jump out to another regular season great start maybe the FO(corporate knowledge) is banking on convincing a top player to come on board with success rather than with huge payroll? In the meanwhile the TD, MG and company paraphernalia keeps flying off the shelf? With the Spurs, corporate knowledge is staying focused on the bottom line. If not, the team is gone!
Would you believe I was going to say that but thought my memory might be faulty!
Bruce made all the difference, he really did.
Big 4 until the end of time.
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