Maybe Pop is tanking it?
It's also possible that between the new players to integrate (and I'm including Splitter) and the lack of training camp, the roster is lacking automatism.
This is not explaining everything of course but it must be a factor
Defense is first a team effort
A few questions for the lovely denizens of SpursTalk:
1. Who or what is to blame for the decline in defense in San Antonio?
Tony Parker.
He sucks on the defensive side and he said spurs are done... it has killed spurs motivation.
2. What can the Spurs do to improve their defense?
Trade parker for a big
3. How good can this team be defensively?
Bench parker
4. How good do you think they'd have to be to win a championship this year?
very ?
1. Who or what is to blame for the decline in defense in San Antonio?
- starts with FO and Pop. They haven't addressed the needs in a few seasons now. The world has seen the gaping holes the spurs have had. Spurs never addressed them adequately. They've always looked at Tim has being the Tim of his 20s. He can no longer anchor a defense and hasn't been able to in a few years now. You can excuse an offseason, but to go 3-4 years without addressing the issue is inexcusable.
2. What can the Spurs do to improve their defense?
- To win a championship, you need talent. You can't teach height. We need a legit big man. Blair experiment is over. Bonner is over utilized. He works hard, but he's got a very low ceiling. Splitter is getting there. But we need another big, plain and simple.
- would help to have a defensive stopper. I haven't been able to watch a lot of games, but from all accounts on here Leonard has the possibility of being that person. Maybe Green. But they are both a season or 2 away from being that kind of defender.
3. How good can this team be defensively?
- we get 10-15, we'll be at our peak.
4. How good do you think they'd have to be to win a championship this year?
- They have to be top 10 at minimum. IF they could get into the top 5, then they would have a legit shot at a championship.
If things don't turn around, I think we have a real possibility of missing the playoffs this year. We have a winning record at home, but we're losing on the road. Young team, injuries, etc. But it adds up quickly and our cushion for dealing with these problems is minimal. TP hasn't played like he once did. Spurs may dig themselves a hole too deep that we can't dig ourselves out of.
A few questions for the lovely denizens of SpursTalk:
1. Who or what is to blame for the decline in defense in San Antonio?
Tony Parker.
He sucks on the defensive side and he said spurs are done
2. What can the Spurs do to improve their defense?
Trade parker for a big
3. How good can this team be defensively?
Bench parker
, Plus Parker can't rebound and block shots for !
4. How good do you think they'd have to be to win a championship this year?
very ?
But Parker is great, though.A few questions for the lovely denizens of SpursTalk:
1. Who or what is to blame for the decline in defense in San Antonio?
Tony Parker.
He sucks on the defensive side and he said spurs are done
2. What can the Spurs do to improve their defense?
Trade parker for a big
3. How good can this team be defensively?
Bench parker
4. How good do you think they'd have to be to win a championship this year?
very ?
I didn't want to make a post a whole page long, but you're right. I purposely looked at the years from 04-08. The Spurs' defensive decline in those years was more of a slow, steady thing than it looks like if you just look at the graph - because some of the decline was due to the rules changes.
The next couple of years, the Spurs' defensive performance held pretty steady, but a lot of other teams in the league had learned to play better defense under the new rules, and their defensive play actually improved. (To be fair, some of that was due to them getting some younger, athletic players who defend better under the new rules.) But, even that is misleading because one of the reasons the Spurs opponents didn't score more points is because the Spurs still kept the pace of their games relatively slow.
Last year is where the Opponents Points Per 100 Possessions really increased dramatically. And one reason for that is that the Spurs inexplicably started pushing the pace of the game. More possessions equals more points. Not only that, I believe it's just a lot harder to play solid defense in a fast paced game. More possessions plus a higher shooting percentage equals a lot more points.
I think virtually all of the Spurs' defensive problems are in the middle, even though there are other stats (like opponent 3P%) that are up as well. The second chance points really improve opponent scoring and FG%. And with the opponents being stronger in the middle, the Spurs are forced more and more to leave perimeter shooters. Their opponents are getting the wide-open 3's that the Spurs used to get. The Spurs got those wide-open 3's because of Duncan - and the opponents are getting them largely because of Duncan's decline. Fix the middle, and everything else is (at least) good enough.
Very good point. That's why I have been saying start Splitter. The Spurs don't need to help if they have two capable defenders in the middle like TD and Splitter. That over helping killed them in the Grizzlies series. Remember Battier's soul crushing 3's in game 1 and 3 came from over helping. They can play aggressive on the perimeter without having to help.
When half of your bigs don't know anything about defense it already make the job real tough
The decline of Tim Duncan.
... plus the FO's inability to get him some help. The difference is, Tim can't help getting older.
Exactly.
After the Rockets game, it's down to 46.6% but still 26th in the league.Opponents are shooting 47.1% against the Spurs this season, which ranks 26th in the league.
Down to 103.7 and up to 25th.San Antonio is allowing 104.4 points per 100 possessions -- and that also has the Spurs ranked 26th.
The Rockets scored 97.9 points per 100 possessions last night, which is good but not elite. For example, the Sixers lead the NBA in this category at 89.1.
The defense will be a work in progress this year, but all in all I think will be better than last year and more consistent as well.
1. Tim has aged, the Spurs don't have an elite wing defender anymore, numerous significant role players are poor defenders, including Neal, Bonner, Blair and Jefferson. Players like Splitter and Leonard aren't getting the minutes they should for various reasons.
2. Unless there's a trade, giving more minutes to Splitter and Leonard is about all the Spurs can do. Splitter and Leonard are both above-average defenders, but because both of them tend to struggle offensively, they don't receive as much time as they should.
3. Again, unless there's a trade, the Spurs will be middle-of-the-road at best if Leonard and Splitter receive more playing time.
4. They would have to be top 10, and that isn't happening with the current personnel.
I'm sure people already realize this, but Bonner and Blair are the primary problems here. Blair can't be moved to the bench in favor of Splitter because Bonner and Blair are such poor defenders. Replacing Bonner or Blair (preferably Bonner) with a big that's a competent defender would enable Duncan and Splitter to start together, which would improve the defense because you could pair the new big with Blair. But because Duncan has declined defensively, and Blair is a poor defender, Bonner comes in first off the bench and gets minutes because of his potential to score. Splitter comes in when the Spurs need a stop, but because he can't score consistently, if he struggles even a little bit in Pop's eyes Bonner goes back in.
If the Spurs traded Bonner for a big that plays good post defense, the Spurs would have a starting 5 of:
Splitter
Duncan
Jefferson
Ginobili
Parker
Splitter and Duncan would help alleviate the defensive lapses Jefferson and the guards cause, and Ginobili and Parker's scoring (and to a lesser extent Duncan and Jefferson's) would make up for Splitter's lack of offense. The bench would consist of:
Defensive big
Blair
Leonard
Neal
Ford/Green/Anderson
The defensive big and Leonard would help clean up defensive lapses caused by the sub-par defense of players like Blair, Neal and Ford. The problem with these bench players is that outside of Neal, none of them can score consistently. That's why I think Pop refuses to part ways with Bonner, as he likely believes Bonner's 3-point shooting can potentially give him enough offense to counteract the defensive shortcomings of his bench unit.
In short, if you start Splitter, and commit to defense, your bench consists of one competent defender (Leonard). With Manu injured, and Leonard now starting, your bench consists of NO competent defenders with Splitter starting. I know the bench doesn't all play on the court together at the same time, but an NBA coach likes to sub in defense from time to time. With Manu injured, Splitter and Leonard starting, and the likes of Blair, Bonner, Green, Neal and Anderson on the bench, Pop would only be able to sub in offense.
The Spurs need to really hope Malcolm Thomas can play basketball.
I just caught this thread
The answer is as simple. It's not the system what makes a good D it's the players who can make the system.
We could swallow Admirals absense but Bowens and Tims decline - not.
Tim was leading guys on interior and Bruce on perimeter, and the rest of the guys suit in.
We do not have real tough guys on our squad.
Tims and Manus leadership it's not enough.
Leonard could be what everybody thought Green was.
You need at least one perimeter stopper or two and an inside presence to compete. Hopefully Kawhi and Green can provide perimeter defense and Tiago and Tim can provide the inside defense.
Man, 2004 Spurs were dominant on the defensive end. Too bad about the bull 0.4 and Hedo pulling one of the worst chokejobs I've ever seen.
The Spurs should have definitely have won more chips back in the day. In fact the teams they had on the years they didn't win were probably better than the ones they did.
First to blame is Pop. He can be mad at players if he wants to but he chose who is playing.
Start Splitter and trade for a defensive big for the second unit.2. What can the Spurs do to improve their defense?
Do you have any idea about Blair trade value?
Average. Maybe good Depending on the young kids evolution.3. How good can this team be defensively?
Probably very good (considering the offensive efficiency would drop with an improved defense).4. How good do you think they'd have to be to win a championship this year?
The last NBA champion to yield a higher shooting percentage to its opponent than its own shooting percentage were the 1978 Washington Bullets.
*Thru 2006
What the spurs can do is lose enough games to get into the lottery and draft a future all star impact defensive big with a lottery pick.
Lots of great reasons already posted here. I'm sure the loss of Mike Brown also hurt us.
After Blazers game, FG% defense down to 46.1% for 25th in the league. The Spurs are now allowing 102.1 points per 100 possessions, 22nd in the league.
... and least it's headed in the right direction.
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