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Manu behind the back pass to Kawhi hehehe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3nJDHwDEls
I think Green moving to the starting line-up is a sign of things to come as Manu returns, especially for the second unit. Which I think arguably will be the best in the league;
Neal, Manu, Kawhi, Booner and Splitter. 3 of subs are actually better players than 3 of the starters (Green, Blair and RJ)
Playing Green and RJ to start makes sense , as it balances out defence (Green) with shooting (RJ) who are also natural SG and SF respectively.
Manu as the defacto quarterback in the second unit will work wonders with a screen a role partner Tiago , surrounded with good shooters Neal and Bonner. And with our best perimeter defender kawhi, this unit will definetly give opposing teams second unit fits
Manu behind the back pass to Kawhi hehehe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3nJDHwDEls
Starting RJ, Green, and Blair would give the Spurs one of the worst starting lineups among playoff teams IMO.
That's some nifty font you're using there...
No way. Green is so inconsistent. For every great play he makes, he equals out with a stupid foul. I know a lot of people love him here on ST, and I value what he's done so far, but he isn't a starter.
Manu starts (once he gets back into form). No questions asked. He is the best player on the team. The bench is fine without him, especially when TJ gets back.
PS - Why would Green start when Manu returns if he doesn't even start now? Leonard is a more valuable player to what we need on the perimeter, which is man-to-man defense.
...and yet they continue to win...
They won 1 game with Green as the starter. I don't mind Gino coming off the bench if it means Leonard is a starter. The defense has improved with Leonard in the starting lineup. The results don't lie either.
Best 2nd unit and haven't had a draft pick before #20 since Duncan was drafted.
but the FO sucks.
Manu starts. Why do threads like this continue to exist?
Our second unit might be better than our first unit.
Right now:
Tiago > Tim (slightly)
Bonner > Blair
Green > RJ
Neal = Leonard
The only thing keeping the first unit going is Tony, with some occasional brilliance from Tim. Blair and RJ vanish quickly. The second unit functions much more like a team with better defense and ball movement.
BUT...the lineups are much more fluid than simply first unit vs. second unit. So ultimately, it's a difficult strict comparison to make.
Tiago > Tim (slightly)
really at this point only offensively and thats at the rim (no outside jumper painful to watch) there is not a big man on the team that can defend as well as Tim
Tiago is not better than Tim. but there is no reason to get into that argument right now. Both are crucial to this team. It doesn't matter.
The second unit can play. They beat the starters at the open scrimmage. It took an overtime, but the starters still lost. Manu was friggin pissed.
I had this opinion of Green early on, that he was too inconsistent, however Green has something most other bench guys lack, and that's a set of balls. When Green s up, and he does on occasion, he doesn't hang his head and mope down the floor. He gets back and makes something happen on defense. He keeps shooting if he misses a shot instead of deferring and becoming RJ's style of useless.
As pissed as I get at some of his boneheaded moves, I get just as impressed with his professionalism and short term memory.
manu will start & green will go back to being the 11th man on the roster once TJ Ford returns.
some might argue that a good 2nd unit doesn't quite make it a wash for:
rj
bonner
anderson
bogans
udoka
mahinmi
scola
butler
2nd finley contract
This...
Tiago has great footwork, but Tim's shot and D puts him ahead of Tiago..
Manu starts ... more important is that Kawhi starts with him instead of RJ ... see TIMVPs "10 reasons" thread ...
start...
tim
blair
rj
leonard
parker
....with blair and leonard you can break the opposing will, coz you get any free ball and will hustle the out of them.
then switch to a second lineup with manu leading the way, bonner stretching the court, green bringing even more energie, splitter bullying the bigs and tj running the show.
Kawhi Leonard was selected with the 15 pick... which shows that if they didn't have one is because they didn't think they needed to trade for one (winning 50 games a season wouldn't land them one, obviously).
If you really want to be sneaky, McDyess was selected with the #2 pick, Horry was the #11 pick, Brent Barry was the #15 pick and Finley, while he was selected with the #21 pick, was an All Star multiple times.
In other words, while the Spurs didn't rebuild through the draft during that period (a given, due to their success), they did get solid vet talent that were selected with relatively high picks.
Now, as far as *THIS* second unit, there's no doubt they found great players out there in Neal, Tiago and Green (not sold on Anderson yet). Tiago is less of a surprise for the international crowd, much like Scola back in the day.
Definitely true, but at the same time they weren't exactly getting those players when they were 25 years old and playing some of their best basketball. Most of the veteran pick-ups were former lottery picks that had played long careers and had started to trend downwards already.
its called improvise s...we cant have a 2nd unit which cant score when we need them to score and play defense...while the starters take a breather
For sure advocate Manu off the bench to lead and direct the second unit. Not convinced about the line up you presented. It leaves the first unit with too many gaping holes and places too much pressure for Parker and Duncan if (When) the others in that scenario do not produce.
I'd like to see them try a starting unit of Parker, Duncan, Blair, Neal and Leonard. Primary second tier of Ginobili, Jefferson, Splitter, Bonner and Green. When TJ returns...reduce Green's minutes and/or adjust Green and Jefferson depending on matchups.
Kawhi Leonard was selected with the 15 pick... which shows that if they didn't have one is because they didn't think they needed to trade for one (winning 50 games a season wouldn't land them one, obviously).
If you really want to be sneaky, McDyess was selected with the #2 pick, Horry was the #11 pick, Brent Barry was the #15 pick and Finley, while he was selected with the #21 pick, was an All Star multiple times.
In other words, while the Spurs didn't rebuild through the draft during that period (a given, due to their success), they did get solid vet talent that were selected with relatively high picks.
Now, as far as *THIS* second unit, there's no doubt they found great players out there in Neal, Tiago and Green (not sold on Anderson yet). Tiago is less of a surprise for the international crowd, much like Scola back in the day.
That's the whole point. They didn't have the luxury to rebuild through the draft with high draft picks. They had to play the FA market and either sign older vets or minimum players. Also, Instead they go out and find guys like Gary Neal and Danny Green who either had no NBA experience or failed in the NBA until signing them.
You're reaching.
Some of them were still very productive players... Horry, Barry, even Finley... heck, you could even argue the Spurs didn't have to endure the pains of their growing up seasons...
Hey, I said I was being sneaky.
The point though is that when you have success, building through the draft is damn near impossible. The thing with being a contender though, is that you also make yourself a more attractive place to recruit some good vet talent.
The Spurs ran into trouble when they stopped being contenders, yet winning at a good pace. We didn't get the picks nor the good free agents. While the additions of guys like Neal and Green might not turn them into contenders, the FO certainly deserves credit for making then serviceable NBA players.
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