Grades: Spurs @ Cavaliers - Apr. 3

[Brazil]

Bottom line is Diaw is a better player. Turiaf is a one demsional player. I wouldn't of griped if the Spurs would of signed him, but having a motivated Diaw is 10 times the better signing. Diaw's bbiq has made it seem like hes been with the Spurs for years. He should start of over Blair, but given Blairs penchant for disappearing act when hes benched, I don't know if Pop will bench him in favor of Diaw.

I agree Diaw is a better player but Turiaf would have been also a nice signing IMO. I watched his first game as a starter yesterday, while his stat are not overwhelming (6 pts, 6 reb and 2 blks in 23 mn) he has defended the paint very well for the heat against the sixers guarding with success hawes and brand during significant stretches.

Once again I'm happy with Boris, his versatility is going to be a great asset in the POs, if Pop plays him obviously but I also liked Turiaf idea. I am not sure one can say that a motivated diaw is 10 times the better signing, it depends on what you need.

[Yuixafun]

Thanks for the write up.

Great game considering all the positives that came out of this one. We got to rest the big 3, Jackson/Bonner also got extended rest, Diaw/Mills got some extended burn, Green got some sweet revenge against the Cavs, and no injures! But that wasn't really a fun game to watch. It reminded too much of that "Bully Beatdown" show where a high school bully gets locked in a cage against a professional MMA fighter (high school bully = cavs and the professional fighter = spurs.) The beat down tonight was expected and nothing special. The Cavs are already missing their best defender in Varejao, now they're dealing with injures to Irving and Jamison as well. Very happy with the victory but wasn't entertained.

I still prefer to see Manu at the starting 2 guard. Part of the reason is because I am biased and I selfishly want to see Ginobili start games. But I don't think I'm completely crazy either.
-To me, Green's game is better suited off the bench. Hes a streaky player who can go from being invisible for most of the game to a becoming game changer.
-The Parker, Green, Leonard, Blair, Duncan 5 man unit probably won't work against the better defensive teams. If Parker struggles and Duncan is reduced to outside jumpers, the entire offensive is at risk of complete shut down.
-The current starting lineup has a +/- of -14, eFG of .429 and a eFGA of .491.

Concerns about moving Manu to the starting lineup:
-Ginobili has great chemistry with Splitter and Jackson.
-Replacing Blair with Diaw is the smarter change and would probably improve the statistics from above.

Switching Diaw for Blair in the starting line-up helps both units.

Diaw's passing and chemistry with parker will help get shots for Green, Kwa... his pick's help Tony, his size and iso defense helps Duncan with pre perimiter paint defense work...

Blair with Tiago help's add bang, a guy who can play some further out on the paint and can get shots up, where Tiago can clean up if need be, also Blair works well with Ginobili... I think Blair is good interior passer?

[TheSkeptic]

If Diaw starts in place of Blair, that pushes Blair right out of the rotation IMO. Blair sulked last year after being pulled from the starting lineup and there's no reason to think it wouldn't happen again. I can't see how that would hurt in the playoffs, though, because Diaw is better in most departments and is just plain better overall. It also keeps the Splitter/Bonner tandem intact.

I'm not fully convinced that Bonner will play like this in the playoffs.

I mean, he was supposed to be spreading the floor but Memphis didn't even bother and if they did they sent a smaller but longer wing to go disrupt him. Wouldn't surprise me to see other playoff teams do something similar.

I've also seen a few similar trends this year when the team played against more defensive teams like the Bulls. When that coupled with his lack of defensive ability is also taken into account, I'm not sure what the team can expect from him.

It'd be great if he could prove me wrong this year, but I'm not holding my breath.

Switching Diaw for Blair in the starting line-up helps both units.

Diaw's passing and chemistry with parker will help get shots for Green, Kwa... his pick's help Tony, his size and iso defense helps Duncan with pre perimiter paint defense work...

Blair with Tiago help's add bang, a guy who can play some further out on the paint and can get shots up, where Tiago can clean up if need be, also Blair works well with Ginobili... I think Blair is good interior passer?

I disagree. Blair needs to be gone from the rotation period. Bonner is at least a better defender and a harder worker on the court which is honestly saying a lot.

If the goal is to win a championship, you need to play your best players. On this team, Blair isn't one of them.

[Yuixafun]

I'm not fully convinced that Bonner will play like this in the playoffs.

I mean, he was supposed to be spreading the floor but Memphis didn't even bother and if they did they sent a smaller but longer wing to go disrupt him. Wouldn't surprise me to see other playoff teams do something similar.

I've also seen a few similar trends this year when the team played against more defensive teams like the Bulls. When that coupled with his lack of defensive ability is also taken into account, I'm not sure what the team can expect from him.

It'd be great if he could prove me wrong this year, but I'm not holding my breath.



I disagree. Blair needs to be gone from the rotation period. Bonner is at least a better defender and a harder worker on the court which is honestly saying a lot.

If the goal is to win a championship, you need to play your best players. On this team, Blair isn't one of them.

Each player different skills/weaknesses

Some combinations will yield greater results as a whole

I think a Splitter/Blair/Jackson/Manu/Neal as a second unit

would be stronger overall than a Splitter/Bonner/Jackson/Manu/Neal(Mills) 2nd unit.

Especially in the playoffs.

Bonner has some of that Loser Funk on him that RJ had.

Bonner is redundant as a shooter in that line up...

With Blair and Tiago you have a stronger inside presence and not such a jump shooting offensive attack?

I like the idea of our bigs able to do a little bit of bullying.

I've seen Blair do that, Bonner never...


Just my thoughts...

[therealtruth]

I agree Diaw is a better player but Turiaf would have been also a nice signing IMO. I watched his first game as a starter yesterday, while his stat are not overwhelming (6 pts, 6 reb and 2 blks in 23 mn) he has defended the paint very well for the heat against the sixers guarding with success hawes and brand during significant stretches.

Once again I'm happy with Boris, his versatility is going to be a great asset in the POs, if Pop plays him obviously but I also liked Turiaf idea. I am not sure one can say that a motivated diaw is 10 times the better signing, it depends on what you need.

I don't think it should be Diaw vs Turiaf. The Spurs really should have gone after both.

[ducks]

d is pretty good grade considering how bad neal was and he was stat padding in garbage time

[Mel_13]

I don't think it should be Diaw vs Turiaf. The Spurs really should have gone after both.

Spurs had interest in Turiaf. He judged Miami to be the best fit for him. Diaw had multiple suitors as well and chose the Spurs.

[angelbelow]

I was thinking this when reading your post then you said it at the very end...

I only got to see some of the game due to the weather knocking out my satellite, but from what has been said I see no reason to continue to let Blair start. Right now loyalty and corporate knowledge are the only reasons he is still there. It has to be obvious to Pop and the rest of the coaches that Diaw is the vastly superior player and needs to be on the court. Bonner is better than Blair, so it's just simple process of elimination now.

Haha, yeah I didn't want to make it look like I was bashing Green because I love Green. I just want to see Ginobili as the starter, which should improve the way we start games but not necessarily compromise Green's role and minutes.

Blair definitely played poorly and deserves a C- or D+ instead of a C. However, hes played well the past couple games so I don't want to bash on him too hard. But this game was a good example of when to leave Blair on the bench if he struggles during the first 6 minutes.

At this point, with the depth the Spurs, it seems to be more about balance being starters and bench, than starting the 5 best players at their respective position. Actually I wonder what the latter might achieve, apart from the subs being destroyed time and again. Right now the bench is playing so well, especially when mixed and matched with starters, that the spurs should be able to apply constant pressure, whereas the opposing team will go through highs and lows.

The main issue with the Spurs right now for me is how can Duncan-Splitter and Manu-Tony co-exist. While Manu and Splitter are great players in their own right, they both make the other member of the duo worse when on the court. Pop has solved the Duncan-Splitter issue by giving Splitter very few minutes, but obviously that won't (and shouldn't) happen with Manu. Actually it shouldn't happen with Splitter either but that's another story.

Can Pop figure out a way to make them all efficient when on the court together, instead of just going with the sitting strategy he chose with Splitter?

Great points as usual, Will (my name too ). I agree that we're winning these games based on the effectiveness of our lineups through out the games. Its definitely not a product of just our starting lineup, which is why I wouldn't be afraid to mess with it.

Based on the stats I mentioned earlier and my personal opinion from watching the games; I think the starting lineup could see a big improvement while maintaining the effectiveness of our bench. So I don't think we have to play the best player at each position either, but upgrades and tweaks can be made to further improve the flow of the games.

1. Parker - Ginobili - Jackson - Blair - Duncan: Incredibly well rounded when it comes to offense and defense. Very difficult for the offense to become stagnant in this scenario as each player is capable of creating their own shot (except Blair.)

2. Parker - Green - Leonard - Diaw - Duncan: Simple switch between Blair and Diaw does wonders for a number of things. First, defense vastly improves just with Diaw in the game. Blair's defensive rebounding has dropped off so much that Diaw isn't that much of a drop off. Add in Leonard's rebounding ferocity and Green's above average rebounding capabilities, I think we'll be fine. The next big improvement is offensive flow because Diaw is a dedicated play maker compared to an "occasional blackhole". One example is that Diaw has shown time and time again that he loves to hit Leonard with open 3s and strong cuts.

[jjktkk]

I don't think it should be Diaw vs Turiaf. The Spurs really should have gone after both.

You seem okay spending Holt's money.