I was thinking about this about a week ago while watching Splitter out there with Brazil. The Howard trade just brought it back in my head.
Offensively, the only relatively consistent back to the basket guy we have is Tim, and even that is debatable. He's been morphing his game into more of a mid range shooter as seasons have gone by, mostly out of necessity to lower the toll on his body.
Diaw is a pass first guy, Splitter is a pick and roll guy, Bonner is Bonner, Blair has basically no offense. Except for Tim, none can create anything for themselves. Only Diaw and Tim have a mid range game.
Defensively, it just gets worse, IMO. Tim, at his age and with all his miles, is basically still our top interior defender. Diaw has a big body, but he isn't really athletic, or a guy known for his defense. I have to admit Splitter has been a disappointment in this area. He has the tools, but he picks up a lot of silly fouls or gets manhandled too easily. He just doesn't look out there like the alert, quick guy that screams defensive talent. And that's pretty much where it ends. Bonner and Blair might be ok to match up with the middle of the road teams, but their defense is basically below average.
Now, I know the Spurs can't just go out there and get Chandler. And while I yet don't have buyer's remorse spending the money on Diaw, I was hoping we would make a few more moves to shore up the middle a bit, especially on the defensive end.
What are your thoughts? Is this a realistic concern, or not? Are there any players still out there that could help?
Definitely a realistic concern. Tbh, just getting another big body would help no matter how much of a scrub he is. Here are some of the guys still in FA that I think could help.
Kenyon Martin
Anthony Tolliver
DJ White
Ivan Johnson
If you want someone 'big' to clog up the middle and get physical there are less options. Looking at the FA list on NBA.com these are the best guys I could find.
Shelden Williams
Darko Milicic
Lou Amundson
Jamaal Magloire
Greg Oden (if he plans to play this season)
We've only trades and the vet min.
Chris Anderson?
You are hosed, Lakers look severely tall and skilled.
With Mike Brown as head coach, Good luck with that
Isn't he facing child porn charges? I'd stay away from that if I'm San Antonio's FO.
A defensive minded 'big' is a big concern. While I have to remind myself that we won a lot of games with our current lineup, I feel like the FO must be looking for someone. If rumors are correct they are trying to move Blair, but have no takers. I also have to remind myself that a full season and training camp with Diaw and Jax will be a real blessing. Didn't Tiago play next to Tim more often at the beginning of last season? Is it written in stone that Tiago can't play in the 4 spot?
Despite their character questions, I'm leaning toward K Mart and /or Blatche for the reasons ElNono mentioned. We need some tough defensive presence under the basket. I'm also counting on Kawhi and Green to pick up the perimeter defense. Diaw is the best 4 we've had in a long time, to be sure.
Blatche seems like the last option. While he would be a risk, the other options seem like they would take miracles.
Pop needs to play TD and Splitter heavy minutes together so they can get used to each other. TD can play C on defense and PF on offense (jumpers). Splitter - Pf on defense and pick and roll with TP/Manu.
Spurs should try to trade Blair and some of their many guards (2s) for a PF. Any of the above mentioned: Martin, Darko, Oden even is worth the risk.
We're in smoke and mirrors mode right now (and have been for a few years). Pop found a magic formula to win regular season games and he had the team playing on all cylinders. You won't have that same dynamic if you bring in all these other guys to fill needs. It's hard to build a championship team, and the illusion that "we just need one good piece" seems to permeate these threads. The gap between a champion and the Spurs is much larger than it seems. The Thunder got destroyed and they destroyed the Spurs. There are other teams who didn't get that far who have better players, they are just trying to get it together.
So, if the goal is just to get to the playoffs again to keep the talking points going (consecutive playoff seasons or 50 game win seasons or whatever) then that's one thing, but there's absolutely no move the Spurs can make that will make them a championship contender.
OMG, like this topic hasn't been addressed ad nauseum... This has to be like the 30th "Spurs need another BIG" thread. Give it a rest.
Bonner is still here so our bigs situation is pretty much ed.
Harsh, but likely true.
However, I hold out hope for one "inside straight" type scenario -- an improbable "under-the-radar" return to Spurs D.
Why could it happen? Because defense is the one area that can be improved without getting the higest profile, highest paid free agent types. And defense can win les (especially when the Spurs have pretty good offensive potential in reserve).
Why won't it happen? It's still a tall order to find the right pieces. Still very improbable, almost impossible. And for whatever reason, Pop seems to have given up on defense (at least publically).
So you're probably right -- offense and regular season wins sell tickets. And we'll all watch the sun set to the rhythm of that fading samba drumbeat.
I believe the big rotation should mostly be TD, TS, and Diaw. If Pop wants to decrease TD's minutes he can increase TS and Diaw's minutes and play small ball.
OMG thanks for your opinion
Pop thinks otherwise of course. Pathetic
You are probably right, but they were looking mighty strong before they came up a couple wins short of the Finals. Our chances are a lot better if we can get some help for TD, TS, and Diaw. We added two important pieces at the end of last season, so it's really not adding just one player. Jax, Diaw, and Kawhi have at least improved our chances of doing something. Another championship??? No, probably not, but I wasn't thinking we'd sweep our way into the WCF last year either...
We need to flip Blair and Bonner and Neal and Pop's wine cellar and TD's collection of hardback, 2nd edition AD+D manuals for Ilyasova, but that's not going to happen, so we may as well resign ourselves to an entertaining regular season and, barring major injuries to Fakers/OKC, a first or second round playoff exit. C'est la vie.
We need to flip Blair and Bonner and Neal and Pop's wine cellar and TD's collection of hardback, 2nd edition AD+D manuals for Ilyasova, but that's not going to happen, so we may as well resign ourselves to an entertaining regular season and, barring major injuries to Fakers/OKC, a first or second round playoff exit. C'est la vie.
Injuries? Blatche can help with that, all he gotta do is elbow Dwight in the back or break Durant's arm.
Howard vs. Blatche, a pay per view matchup with more potential than a mayweather Pacquio fight
You could actually NOT click on this thread!
Or rather the lack of, but I know what you meant.
The concern I have is that there just hasn't been a real sense of urgency to upgrade the frontline around Duncan - at least the past 3-4 seasons. Diaw has been a nice addition, yet he's still undersized. Which leads me to my next concern. Pop's continued insistence in employing 2 bigs that are both undersized and underskilled is mind-boggling. We all know what Bonner is, and more importantly, what he isn't. The experiment has failed and his time on this team should have been up a year ago. Meanwhile, Blair, who has been serviceable during the regular season, has seemingly gone off the edge and has also outstayed his usefulness. The overall sheer lack of size, skill and athleticism around Duncan is quite alarming. At age 35, there is absolutely no reason for Duncan to continue having to be the best big on this team. A better complement of bigs around him is long overdue. However, as of now, there just aren't many options now for the Spurs.
The Howard acquisition by the Fakers, ceremoniously locked the window that the Thunder closed shut, on the Spurs, this past spring.
Last edited by SenorSpur; 08-12-2012 at 10:01 AM.
[QUOTE=ElNono;6070150]
Offensively, the only relatively consistent back to the basket guy we have is Tim, and even that is debatable.
I think you're confusing debatable with a debacle. Maybe the reason the FO has been loading up on 2 and 3 position players is because Timmy needs to throw the ball back out. This only works if the low post player is a real scoring threat, which Timmy isn't at this point. All of the teams strategizing was just super trumped by the lakers bank roll. Only money will speak now!
^ I think the Spurs expected a better post game from Splitter to complement... he did show some of that in Spain, but obviously there the compe ion was fairly subpar...
That relegated his offense to basically pick & roll, which dropped him into the pile of players we have that cannot create for themselves, and, as you said, doesn't really let you run an inside-out game
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