Dice sucked because much like Tim, father time caught up to him. The worst defender wasn't Blair either (who got fat, lazy, and collected DNP during the playoffs). IMO, Darrell Arthur absolutely destroying Ginger was hard to watch (although not unexpected). Bonner is literally the guy that has the size and should have the quickness, he's just a terrible defender.
lol can't start threads
The other issue I have with Blair is that teams will try to make the Spurs run offense through him. He has no post game, no in-between game, and his "floaters" are a toss of the coin.
Frankly, outside of Duncan, what we're going to miss the most with Dice retiring, is a big that can hit that 10ft-15ft jumper to keep defenders honest.
Why should? I never have seen any inkling of Bonner having potential quickness.
Most teams usually have just one starting big that can consistantly hit the midrange jumper, so the Spurs are pretty much similar to other teams in that aspect. Somehow Blair is going to have to find a way to score other than putbacks and garbage points, at least be average in that department, so Tim doesn't get suffocated by double teams. Its asking a whole lot out of Blair, but it is what it is.
He sure runs backwards with his hands up fast whenever he's giving up those and1. He's obviously has no problem getting and staying in front of players. He just doesn't know how to take a charge or at the very least not foul.
Ok so Blair sucks with Bonner but I attribute that to Bonner's 1-dimensional play. Bonner not known for making his teammates better.
I think we are going to be very pleased w Blair's play. he's gonna bring it.
Whats always bugged me about Bonner, is just looking at him, he looks pretty stout, but as we know, he conistantly gets pwned in the paint by whoever hes guarding.
Agree. Remember Blair talking about working on his jumper? That was the previous offseason, right? Never panned out.
Spot on, but remember El, that it tis the season for hope.
Bonner has all the tools to be at least as good as Oberto on defense. He has the size, he's younger with fresher legs, quicker feet. He just needs a better understanding of how to defend (take a charge, flop, etc), and to grow a pair.
IMO, if he doesn't celebrate Christmas in Whataburger, I'll call it a success.Spot on, but remember El, that it tis the season for hope.
Had to share.
Had to share.
That is the 64,000 dollar question. Much has been said about the 5 and 4 being interchangeable in our system, but at the end of the day who is guarding Randolph and who is guarding Gasol? Though Blair is being called the center I'm wonder if Tim and Tiago aren't our true centers and Blair and Bonner are the PF by default. I get the idea of Duncan/Blair and Tiago/Bonner but wonder if Tiago and Tim aren't better suited to guarding formidable front lines like we will be facing on opening day. Even then who is going to guard Zac? At the end of the day we are missing a power forward with Tim now being better suited at the 5. I truly am baffled by what our rotations are going to look like....
You think that, or you hope that? I ask because I haven't seen anything to make me think Blair is going to be any better than he was in the post season. It's been a few months only, and he's not gone through a time machine.Ok so Blair sucks with Bonner but I attribute that to Bonner's 1-dimensional play. Bonner not known for making his teammates better.
I think we are going to be very pleased w Blair's play. he's gonna bring it.
I have the impression both Blair and Bonner should be reserves and play depending on matchups in the case of Blair and depending on how Bonner shots. Outside of that, the Spurs should play with Splitter-Duncan and somebody like Dice in the standard rotation. Too bad Dice retired, because he knew the system and replacing him will be complicated.
Why are people expecting a second round pick to perform like an all star?
Who's expecting that?
I think the Lakers game where they got blown out showed Pop that Blair might not work against the bigger frontlines. Blair was basically useless in that and Duncan was left defending Gasol/Bynum. Splitter can defend power forwards better than Blair. Also players can't just shoot over him like they can with Blair. That's why Blair reaches so much he doesn't want players shooting over him. However, Splitter and Duncan really don't have the bulk to defend centers like Bynum or Gasol. We saw that when Gasol basically pushed Duncan around.
Did Blair start that Lakers game when we were blown out at home or was Dice starting?
IIRC, that was Blair's last game as a starter. After that Laker game, Pop started McDyess.
Truly you shouldn't bother posting if you don't know what the you're talking about. The Spurs were down by six in the Lakers game until Matt Bonner came in for Blair. When Blair came back in the next time the Spurs were down by 24. Go look at the +/- numbers for that game and then come back and apologize for the above post. If that's not enough for you, look at the first Lakers game where Blair dominated the Lakers' front line. I think he had 15 and 15 for that game. He's the reason the Lakers treated that second game like it was the NBA finals. What Pop thinks he saw after that game is anyone's guess, but it's not that Blair played badly. If he were going to react after that game he'd have been smarter to bench Duncan.
I wish sometimes that people would stop talking about the stats and focus more on the play.
I'm being facetious of course, but really just reminding everyone that hes a second rounder with no knees. If he can manage to come out and grab some boards and play average defense, everything else is just gravy.
Until he's your starting center then that gravy is actually runny .
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