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The reason Mills is better defensively is he is fast enough to keep up. The most important part of defense is staying in front of your man, something Neal struggles to do.
Patty Mills will miss the next two preseason games with a sprained right ankle.
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The reason Mills is better defensively is he is fast enough to keep up. The most important part of defense is staying in front of your man, something Neal struggles to do.
Its a big part of why even though Neal is short for a SG his defense on SGs is better since they are typically larger and slower. He's also fairly strong for his size and with a less sure ball-handler being bodied up by a defender can make them less likely to try and turn on you.
is that blair hitting some 10-15ft jumpers in the background?
De Colo
TP would be a good backup PG
too selfish
Bump.
It's difficult to tell where the compe ion stands. Could Neal have fallen out of the backup point guard race? Today Manu was back, Green was active yet the backup point guards were Joseph and De Colo. Neal has been exclusively playing shooting guard the last three preseason games. And considering that Neal can use all the extra work possible at point guard, it makes sense to play him at point guard as much as possible in the preseason so he can get those reps.
Mills' injury throws a wrench into the process so I can't get a good read at what Pop is thinking. But judging just from his actions, it really is starting to seem like De Colo is closing in on that backup point guard job. Then again, Joseph has played well, Neal is the in bent and Mills was probably who the coaching staff thought would eventually win that job.
So it's confusing, to say the least.
Very tough my friend. I'm almost certain that Pop is still uncertain.
Timely bump. I still vote for Gary at the backup. I think most will agree that Mills and CJ are on the outside looking in at this point. I'm not sure even a healthy Patty would bump either Neal or De Colo in the PG pecking order, and CJ still requires more polishing in my opinion. On paper, one would think that a Neal/De Colo back court would be able to play their respective natural positions on offense, while defensively De Colo would cover the SG and Neal the PG; but, Neal's defensive deficiencies are well chronicled here and from what I've read from other posters, De Colo still needs to develop that part of his game. Because Neal has the most experience at this point, and his excellent shooting skills are a known quan y, my money is still on Neal starting the season at the back up.
Danny Green, in my opinion, is the player that stands to lose the most by an ahead of schedule emergence De Colo. Barring any injuries, Pop could confidently move Manu to the starting line up for good, knowing that the offense would flow with De Colo helping to orchestrate the second unit, and SJax and Neal providing much of the fire power. Nando could also run the pick and roll action effectively with either Blair or Splitter. Danny's contract is very reasonable and therefore tradable, so I think he stands to lose the most of anyone if he cant shake of the post-playoff hangover.
Danny Green's major value is on defense. At this point his defense is probably better than Manu and he can guard 1-3. You could pair him up with De Colo on the second unit and have him take the PG if he's too quick for Nando. I am not in favor of Neal playing until he improves his defense.
I think Nando. His better playmaker than others.
Joseph is the most versatile of the bunch, but he's soft IMO..
He can't consistently play with aggression, he stalls too much, waiting for offensive sets to develop, tbh..
Yeah, after 2 weeks of training camp, the backup PG spot is far from being settled. Mills injury has of course slowed the picking process but Ginobili injury has slowed it too. Being paired with Ginobili changes quite a lot of things for the backup PG. Mills or Joseph should do fine with Ginobili but I don't really know if a Minimanu/Manu backcourt can work well.
it should be explained what the backup pg's job at the spurs is first tbh.. imho it only has to take the ball the other side of the court safely and give the ball to manu since he's the playmaker whenever he's on the floor.. so basically it should have reliable safe ball handling and be quick enough to defend the other pg in the league, that's why neither decolo or neal should be an option at pg. My choice is Mills for this year and a battle with Joseph for next season (if possible).
The Spurs have alot of options. They can start TP, Manu, KL, TD, and TS. Tim and Tiago improve the defense and Manu makes the offense work with TD and TS. That allows them to bring Nando, DG, Jax, Diaw, and Curry/Blair off the bench. Nando takes on the Manu role. DG takes the PG on defense if necessary. That puts maximum firepower and strong defense in the starting lineup and still allows for a dynamic bench.
1. Patty Mills
2. Patty Mills
3. Patty Mills
...no Patty homerism...I like all of the options, but really feel it will turn out this way.
If Mills plays, Pop will have to sub him in when Manu is on the court...Which you also could call 1. Manu, 2. Manu, 3. Manu
Forget who is backup Pg who is our back up PF?
Patty and Neal have shown the most out of all the players competing for the Backup Point Guard spot!
tp - green - leonard - diaw - duncan (and not the other way but ok it's debatable)
mills - manu - jax - blair - splitter
/ - neal - / - bonner - /
/ - decolo -/ -/ - /
that's the depth chart, assuming blair becomes full time pf considering that's the position he should play..
at this point in the season, anyone have a change of mind?
Neal's now out of the equation. 0 ball-handling abilities + 0 speed = turnover machine against quicker guards.
I'd say De Colo should (Neal will still end up with the job) be the backup pg with Patty as the third string PG and SG. Although when Patty's on, Ginobili plays the play maker, which works just as well.
From the standpoint of defense, if Spurs face OKC, Neal can never guard KMart
Patty is also not an option imo. No feel for when to pass, shoots too much, undersized, and doesn't play defense. Unless he's on fire and he can be hidden on D, there's just no reason to play him. Out of all the back-up guards on the second unit, De Colo's the only one who has looked like a viable option long-term. He's still learning though and we obviously don't know how well he'll play in the post-season.
Neal would be guarding Maynor with Manu guarding KMart most likely.
I really really want Nando to win the backup role but you just can't drop a player like Neal from the rotation. Outside of the Big 3, he's the only guy that can literally carry the team offensively by himself. When the defense tightens up and the Spurs hit those dry spells in the playoffs, that trait is absolutely invaluable.
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