Jeff McDonald @JMcDonald_SAEN
Gary Neal started at PG for silver squad in last night's scrimmage. Said he expects to see most of his minutes as backup PG this yr.
I think Boston is the case of one guy setting the tone defensively, and the team following suit. I'm obviously talking about Rondo, who might have some limitations on his offensive game, but he's a hard nosed guy on defense, willing to do the dirty work. You could say a single guy doesn't matter, but Bruce did a lot of the same thing for us.
rondo and bradley are the best defensive backcourt in the league
and garnett is one of the top pick and roll defenders in the league
its the reason they are a good defensive team
spurs cant emulate that
they should be looking at the zone dallas did in 2011
that team rolled out a 40 year old kidd, jason terry and irk nowitzki and still were a championship caliber defense
He will be benched eventually if Pop is really serious about reestablishing a defensive mindset like he claims he will.
Thanks Tim.
Oh good GOOD! Let's primary backup PG duties to the scrub who's only on the team because he can shoot. Let's also ignore the fact that any PG with basic skills can run a choo choo on Neal. Patty Mills? He needs a year to get over himself.
I can't wait until I see a lineup with Neal, Bonner, and Blair on the floor.
Exactly. I mean Patty isn't Avery Bradley on defense, but he's an upgrade over Gary Neal in that aspect.
focusing on defense this year
Pop is gonna make me hate Gary, and that sucks. He was great at backup SG. While Neal probably has better handles than RMJ (not saying much), it's the same situation all over again.
Same here, I cant understand how Pop thinks he is getting this team back too it's defensive roots with a back up line up of Blair, Bonner, and Neal. Should just call those 3 together a defensive void. I hope to God we don't see them out there together on the floor at the same time for any lengths of time. However I have a feeling these 3 are going to have some of the most bench minutes though. it's just kind of depressing to think about, im still very happy to see the new season starting soon though.
How would you shuffle the rotation with Neal taking the Backup SG?
At this point, I wouldn't be shocked if by season's end he's knocking on the door of becoming a top five SF. My one concern is that he ends up trying to do too much. If he can become something close to a fourth star, then obviously that would be great. But they don't need him trying to be the man.
This was probably the most interesting development last night. If he has in fact developed a relatively reliable jumper out to 17-18 feet, then he's got a legitimate shot at taking Bonner's spot. He'll probably still need to show slight improvement defensively (he's not physically capable of anything more), thoughDeJuan Blair It took DeJuan Blair a few months to work his way into good enough shape to dunk last season. During tonight's scrimmage, Blair was often high above the rim. He looks to be in good shape, he was jumping well and he was able to run the court without tiring. In other words, he's another player who put in work during the offseason. Blair had 19 points, with the most interesting points coming on jumpers. He knocked down a pair of shots from beyond 15 feet ... and the shots actually looked good coming off of his hands. Blair didn't simply launch a no-jump, one-handed missile like we've grown accustomed to seeing. If he legitimately adds a jumper to his arsenal, he'd become a much more valuable player on this team.
This guy is unbelievable. At this point, they've got to be seriously considering whether this is someone they want to invest in the $6M range in long term (I realize that's under market value, but market value is close to what Duncan got and they're not paying him that. Plus, they have a history of signing and re-signing players for well below market value -- his current contract being a prime example) and whether he can ever be a 30 mpg starter.Tiago Splitter Tiago Splitter sat out the scrimmage with back spasms. The injury is reportedly not serious. Then again, Splitter missed games due to back spasms last season and you never want to hear about a bigman struggling with his back. Get well soon.
Not surprised in the least and not sure why so many are.Pop The way the teams were split (I'll assume Pop made the decision) was a little bit surprising. Starting next to Duncan and Parker were Green, Blair and Jackson. I doubt it means anything but you'd think Leonard would have been in that group instead of Jackson. And based on how last season ended, Diaw instead of Blair seemed like the more likely choice. The other surprise was Neal starting at point guard for the other team. At this juncture, Neal is apparently ahead of Mills, Joseph and De Colo on the depth chart at PG. In fact, De Colo played almost exclusively at shooting guard. The Spurs have a deep roster and these decisions in a meaningless scrimmage probably shouldn't be overanalyzed, but they might give us an early clue into what the coaching staff is thinking -- and, besides, if you didn’t want overanalyzation, you wouldn’t have read 2,000 words about a scrimmage.
Nice to see the Spurs gave a camp invite to Patty Mills long lost cousin, Fatty Meals. Geez that son was huge.
People are complaining about this, but surely this is to be expected. Most of the minutes at SG are taken with Green and Manu, they probably won't move up to SF with us having S-JAx and Kawhi, so the only hole where Neal can expect to play is at backup PG.
It's occurred to no one that Neal at PG might be smoke and mirrors? (**edit to clarify for post below** and that the players, and not just Pop, would be in on the illusion as well?) We're just fans and we're still analyzing a scrimmage -- imagine the analysis of that same scrimmage by people who get paid millions to find every way to help their team win. Spurs are a major threat, and it would be naive to think that the Lakers, Thunder, Cippers, Nuggets et. al. didn't send some representatives to that scrimmage.
You have to ask yourself what the Spurs have to gain from this scrimmage, and weight it against what they have to lose. Publicity? Certainly. Marketing? That's the whole point. Want to see how well certain lineups play together? You have practice time for that. Want to try some different plays live? Again, closed practice with the benefit of privacy. Risk injuries? Fans will get the players hyped, so of course they're gonna play harder and risk falling harder.
Strategically, Spurs have nothing to gain and everything to lose from revealing anything about their plans during the scrimmage. Accordingly, I wouldn't view the scrimmage as revealing anything more than who is on the roster. And also how well people shoot. Because the last thing Pop will ask a player to do is to miss a shot on purpose. But he may ask him to play point guard.
Last edited by Samr.; 10-04-2012 at 08:57 PM.
I like Neal as a leader. You can tell he tries to get other's involved and engaged but I really do hate watching him try and defend NBA PG. He has gotten better so I hold out hope that he will continue to do so.
Neal may have started but notice that he played with Manu.
i love it how last season neal went NVE every time he was on the court, dribble down and hoist up a shot with plenty of time on the clock....
That's the best combination. Manu doesn't need another point guard running the offense. He needs a guy who can make the shot when he's open.
I'm still a Neal fan despite his problems in defense.
Neal IS the best 3 point shooter in the league. Other folks need to be open, Neal does not.
Oh no...Neal at PG is Roger Mason all over again. Dude is a baller, but not at PG. I can't count how many times other teams got super aggressive on D when Neal got in the game causing lots of turnovers and going on runs. Its the equivalent of teams seeing Bonner in the post on D....except in the post season Neal is clutch shooter and Bonner is a fraud.
No he isn't. Neal can run pnr sets and get buckets. Roger Mason could dribble up the court and pass it to Manu on the wing.
These threads are one of the main reasons we need a like button... if there's already one could someone show it to me
I was referring to Pop forcing a player to play a position they're not accustomed to playing therefore screwing up their overall game and effectiveness. I didn't say they have the exact game style.
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