Spurs Need a Trade Miracle Like 2005

[TJastal]

I disagree completely. Lack of post scoring can be offset by great post defense. They have that. We have neither.



Disagree. Perkins isn't Boston's Perkins, but he's more than serviceable.

Perkins is capable of shutting down Dwight Howard on one of his good days. Damn why are we even arguing with this fool?

[therealtruth]

Spurs have the same match-up weaknesses as last year, they do not want to face against a big or athletic team.

The Grizz had both of those advantages. For some reason everyone underates just how athletic the Grizz were especially in the backcourt, they were like pitbulls and the Spurs looked like they were playing in slow motion compared to them. The Grizz frontcourt had size, depth, and youth that overpowered and frustrated Duncan/Dice/etc, and the Grizz bigs were even good at midrange too. Luckily there are no Western teams that are as athletic and big as the Grizz were last season, and the Spurs do have Leonard/Splitter playing significant mins to help.

But the Spurs need another legit big and health to truly contend, sounds like the same old song and dance for the past few seasons. They could also use good old luck, the Lakers size is going to be a nightmare

The interesting thing is I think Splitter is the key to matching up with those teams. If you play him and TD together you can matchup one-on-one without helping. That means it's easier on the perimeter defenders because they don't have to help so much.

This team simply doesn't have the athleticism to try to play aggressive help defense against an athletic team. Pop refuses to recognize this and instead calls them out on effort. Another benefit they can also be more aggressive and not give up so many open jumpshots.

[therealtruth]

Not seeing it tbh. I called a thunder triumph last year, pointing out their frontline capabilities were on par (or better) than the grizz.

The thunder, mavs & lakers could have all taken out the grizzlies last year. All could equally match the grizz's size and physicality in the frontcourt.

But if it makes you feel better and helps you sleep at night to imagine the grizzlies were far superior to everyone else by all means keep doing so.

The reason the Grizzlies lost is they didn't have enough perimeter scoring to augment their frontcourt. The Thunder basically said to Gasol and Randolph we're going to play you one on one and let you beat us but we're not allowing anyone else to get going.

[sananspursfan21]

hmmm, seems like ive seen this post before...

[timvp]

We bashed the guy for his awful hands down low and all his stupid pump fakes, but the fact is we wouldn't have won the le in 2005 if not for the trade where we got Nazr Mohammad for Malik Rose who was done by then.

The Nazr trade back in 2005 was primarily a salary dump. The Spurs actually wanted Kurt Thomas and settled for Nazr. Nazr actually becoming a productive member of that team was almost by accident. If you remember correctly, he didn't start until after Rasho sprained his ankle late in the season.

(Looking back at it, Nazr didn't start until April 10th. If Rasho doesn't sprain his ankle, do the Spurs win the championship? Possible not.)

Anyways, I think the situation is much more difficult now because in 2005 the Spurs had Horry, who was able to close games. Today, the Spurs don't have a legit starter or closer next to Duncan.

Let's hope Pop gives Duncan/Splitter a chance to sink or swim. Preferably before April 10th, tbh.

[Cane]

Splitting hairs.

"patently untrue"

Oh come now, Duncan got abused because he was gassed by the 2nd quarter of every game trying to cover Gasol by himself plus play off and give constant help to Bonner/Blair/Dice/whoever. I think Splitter would have helped tremendously if for no other reason than Duncan could have stayed home and guarded Zbo and not had to help off constantly. And maybe Zbo doesn't get into a zone by the 2nd half of every damn game that way and become unstoppable by the 4th quarters.

I love how you claim Splitter would have been such a failure when guys such as spur leftover of yesteryear Nazr Mohammed and all-star Nick Collison managed to succeed.

No doubt Splitter should have gotten more opportunities, and he still doesn't get enough in his second season. A rookie Spliiter probably would've struggled but anyway he wouldn't save the series. tbh with an injured Ginobili, inconsistent divorcee Parker, stubborn Pop, and hobbled players like Duncan and Dice, it was going to be a short run for the Spurs. Grizz smelled blood and tanked to exploit the mismatch

I disagree completely. Lack of post scoring can be offset by great post defense. They have that. We have neither.



Disagree. Perkins isn't Boston's Perkins, but he's more than serviceable.

OKC are the favored team in the West, just listed some of their issues but they got the talent and defense to get out of the conference. Spurs got a long way to go before they are considered legit contenders and they need a trade for a legit big.

Perkins is capable of shutting down Dwight Howard on one of his good days. Damn why are we even arguing with this fool?

In three of the four last games vs OKC, Dwight's put up 33+ pts fwiw

Imo the Spurs want to attack and exploit Perkins when he's on the court, Duncan's midrange game helps a lot here and draws away either Perkins post defense or Ibaka's shotblocking.

[Wild Cobra Kai]

Watching Kenyon Martin play a masterful role (in 20 minutes roughly) last week makes me think he would have been the ideal fit here in SA. I bet Pop probably gave barely a half hearted effort at obtaining him, considering all he took was a 1 year 2.5m deal from the clippers.

Same old story. Other teams make moves to get better while Pop plays patty cake with his favorite .

It must absolutely suck to be you.

[TJastal]

It must absolutely suck to be you.

Somebody pissed in your Bran flakes this morning?

[superbigtime]

People talk about Grizzlies size in gasol, arthur and randolph but forget that tony allen just consistently kicked the spurs ass and relished it. and our smug dumb socially backwards stubborn coach was outcoached by his counterpart.

[dunkman]

Pop never uses a big acquired mid-season, in the playoffs. The last time he did so was with Nazr in 2005. Some struggle guarding and boxing out very strong and mobile bigs, even when they are shorter. The Spurs need that kind of player.

Duncan can score from the outside and still go inside. Splitter can't play PF on offense, but he's remarkably good near the basket. Bonner is great 3pt shooter, he's gaining more confidence in the playoffs. There is a lot of versatility.

While RJ can effectively guard some fast PFs, like Odom, that used to give the Spurs a lot of problems, and Leonard can rebound making him suitable too for small-ball, some deep at PF/C wouldn't hurt however. Dice could help, not sure if he has something left in the tank though.

[phxspurfan]

And guess who's starting at center tonight for Dallas?

[dunkman]

Mahinmi would be third string center for the Spurs. He wouldn't play enough to develop, and Tiago seems to be a much better player.

Trading Scola was the mistake, tbh. He could have been at least a good bench player for the Spurs. And he has heart to play hard in the playoffs.

[ElNono]

I think we're rolling with what we have...