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Tim Duncan B+
Pop allowed Tim Duncan attempt to play through foul trouble in the first quarter but that strategy backfired when Duncan picked up three fouls in the first quarter. Despite the foul plagued minutes, Duncan played well. His defense was solid, he had a handful of good passes and he competed on the glass. Turnovers were a negative but all in all, it was a pretty decent first game from TD.
Manu Ginobili A
Early in the first quarter, Manu Ginobili almost single-handedly kept the Spurs in it. His energy -- especially on the defensive end -- was very impressive. Even though Ginobili got tired at times, he kept scratching and clawing. It was just another shining example of a classic Manu Ginobili game -- not always pretty but the effort was fantastic and he helped in numerous aspects of the game.
Tony Parker C-
Ugh. Tony Parker began the game getting schooled by Mike Conley. It looked like a repeat of last year's playoffs. Thankfully, Parker got better as the game progressed. By the second half, he was playing at a decent level. That said, the Spurs need a lot more out of Parker going forward.
Richard Jefferson A-
Richard Jefferson had a strong stretch to begin the second quarter to help stop the bleeding and get the Spurs rolling. He shot well from three-point land, he played with a passable amount of energy and his defense was better than average. Overall, Jefferson helped more than hurt tonight.
DeJuan Blair A-
Only able to play ten minutes due to foul trouble, I actually thought DeJuan Blair played quite well in his limited time. Defensively, Blair was much, much, much better than he was in preseason. He bodied up Zach Randolph and didn't give him any easy shots. On offense, he didn't try to do too much but still made an impact. Perhaps the best thing Blair did against the Grizzlies was run the court hard both ways. Along with the fouls, Blair's lack of rebounding (1) was a lowlight.
Tiago Splitter B
It was a tale of two halves of the court for Tiago Splitter. Defensively, I thought he was really good. He rebounded well and used his length to protect the rim and disrupt passing lanes. However, on the other end of the court, Splitter was bad. His post moves were soft and he failed to use his size on numerous occasions. But honestly, as long as Splitter is a major asset defensively, I'll be happy.
Matt Bonner D-
Matt Bonner looked like he aged about ten years since the last time we saw him in real action. He didn't (couldn't?) jump at all on the defensive end, which led to a grand total of zero rebounds in 28 minutes. Bonner also was embarrassingly bad when it came to defending the rim. On offense, he wasn't much better -- missing five of the six shots he attempted.
James Anderson B+
In the second quarter comeback, James Anderson played a staring role. He was aggressive on the offensive end and had mostly positive results -- outside of his 1-for-5 shooting on three-pointers. Defensively, Anderson was up and down but the effort was there. Overall, the best thing I saw out of Anderson was his sky high confidence translate from the preseason to the regular season.
TJ Ford B
Although the production wasn't too impressive, I give TJ Ford credit for doing his part to steady the ship after Parker's horrible start. Ford had a few really good passes ... although he still has a lot to learn. Defensively, he needs to do a better job of staying in front of his man. On offense, Ford will help out a lot more once he learns his main goal should be simply to blend in. When he dominates the ball, the offense is bound to stall.
Kawhi Leonard B
Well, I liked the energy. In the exhibition games, Leonard was mostly invisible. In this game, Leonard was heard loud and clear. In his 14 minutes, he took nine shots and made noise elsewhere on the stat sheet. Defensively, he took a few smart gambles that ended up paying off. I also liked his individual defense. On offense, he's going to have to figure out a few go-to moves. Right now, I don't think anyone really knows how he's going to consistently score on the NBA level. But in his first night out, there was more to like than not to like about how Leonard played.
Pop B+
Pop began the season with a head-scratcher when he allowed Duncan to pick up three fouls in the first quarter. But outside of that, I thought he pushed the right buttons (although Bonner playing 28 minutes might have been 27 too many [but there are only four bigs on the roster so Pop didn't have much of a choice{although isn't that his fault?}]). He gave good minutes to Splitter, Anderson and Leonard and showed confidence in each. Hopefully that continues in upcoming games.
Last edited by timvp; 12-26-2011 at 11:50 PM.
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Solid grades. A lot of people are ting on Ford but considering he's only played two preseason games with this group in his entire career I think he did ok.
Nice grades!
Isn't A- a little too much for a 10-minutes performance for Blair?
really impressed with tj ford, who everyone else on here is trashing without reason. anderson was awesome. leonard showed a lot of positives too. i'm just hoping splitter becomes more aggressive as the season goes along.
i like this team. i don't want to see too many adjustments, other than bonner being shipped off for good.
I'd give a B- to Parker, his second half was very good, he stole the ball 4 or 5 times with 6 or 7 assists in 25 mn thats pretty solid IMO. His shooting was off in the first but I think your overall evaluation is too harsh.
Manu has been great
I would have give a A++++ to Tiago, I didnt expect this level of D by Tiago
Ford sucks I dont like him at all
you think ford was great wowow
yeah, he was great in the first quarter. parker was stinking up the place, ford came in and started facilitating the offense, making the easy pass (which parker couldn't even do), finding the open man, and not taking ill-advised shots. it's been a long time since the spurs had a pass-first point guard.
Tiagos net impact was greater than many whos grade is higher?
Quick turnout on the grades - nice.
Looks prety dead on. My only comment - you didn't adjust Leonard's grade becasue he is a rookie, which I like. What he did is what he did. But did you maybe adjust Tony's grade downward because you have higher expectations for him?
all ford can do is dribble dribble dribble
parker had 7 assist
Sorry...couldn't understand you over the grunting...
not sure if serious
Agree. Once he learns where everybody wants to get the ball he's going to help stabilize the offense if Parker is struggling.
I wouldn't grade Jefferson as high. He did hit some shots, but shots are what they are. He missed a couple boxouts and got really lax later in the game.
Better than he's been, but not that good for someone with his resume and his salary.
Thats because you're a sip. If this is what Ford is going to bring all season than I much rather have Neal get his minutes and continue to let Kawhi and Anderson play. It's early so I'm holding off my judgement of Ford but he was pretty bad tonight.
yeah lets turn the reigns over to ford
see parker hates wanted people to give the reigns over to hill now that hill is traded
in first game against a bad matchup for tp he struggled in first but ended up with a decent game they are ready to give the reigns over to ford
unreal
tp should have just not resigned with the ungratefully spur fans
I cannot stop laughing at that just like the first time I saw it.Sorry...couldn't understand you over the grunting...
if you backed RJ you can't call others out imvho
Thanks for the writeup
Sorry...couldn't understand you over the grunting...
Agreed.
After about an F first quarter, Parker actually recovered pretty well.
I gave Leonard a small bump because I wasn't expecting much, although I did give him a break for the bad shooting night. And yeah, Tony along with the rest of the grades are based off of expectations.
I'd rather have Neal get those minutes too...and I expect him to as soon as he gets back. I never saw Ford as much more than insurance. Please go find a post where I said he would make some huge impact.
Oh...and lol McGee. So glad that QB is backing up Romo.
Thanks for the writeup. These help when you're too cheap to buy LP and too busy to watch every game.
yeah ok tony shooting 16 shots who does he think he is tony chucker
he did ok with some passes but tj can take his place basically he should know
this team is still Manu's what's he trying to do take the reigns from him
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