Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Suns - Jan. 26

[TheSkeptic]

^^ Wow. I'm not sure where this passive aggressive hostility towards Neal is coming from tbh.

[racm]

^^ Wow. I'm not sure where this passive aggressive hostility towards Neal is coming from tbh.

We Spurfans have a pathological dislike for chuckers.

[Splits]

^^ Wow. I'm not sure where this passive aggressive hostility towards Neal is coming from tbh.

His 3ball if off 5% pts this year from the previous 2 at 42%. So naturally he's turned from an ST "Neal with it" clutch shooter into a heroball chucker. Funny how that happens so quickly. Gary will have the last laugh on the court like he did in court.

[jestersmash]

Yeah I think 3 months ago my annoyance level with Neal was about a 1.5 (on a scale of 10 with 10 being the most annoyed and 1 being not annoyed at all). I think through slumps and a slew of ill advised shots my annoyance level with him has jumped to about a 2.

I'm not terribly worried about him nor am I terribly annoyed with him at this point, especially given the amount of $ he makes.

[spurs10]

Thanks for the grades! Just watched again, and we closed this in style. Glad everyone, especially Tony, gets some rest! They %#&$in' deserve it!!

[KaiRMD1]

Is this a contract year for Blair?

[SpursIndonesia]

Green is what he is. Spurs knew exactly what type of player he was when they signed him. Those thinking he could turn into Ginobili aren't paying attention. He's there to play defense and hit open shots. Nothing more. If he's doing those two things well then 3.5 mil/yr is still a bargain.

Truth. Though i must say, Green's kinda flatlined so far this season, if not slightly regressed, and that's somewhat disappointing.

[Fireball]

Is this a contract year for Blair?

yes

[TJastal]

How much longer are we going to keep saying it's the guards' fault if Splitter isn't getting the ball enough?

Like you said, right now the movie usually goes something like this: the guards (*cough* Neal *cough*) start shooting too much even though Tiago is finishing well around the hoop and getting open. The other team consequently goes on a run. At some point Pop calls a time-out and tells them (mostly Neal) to quit fooling around on the perimeter and to try passing the ball inside on the pick and roll. Splitter usually gets the ball then and he makes the shot more often than not. The bench gets a decent lead and then the starters come in to close it out. Thing is, it shouldn't take a time-out and Pop's orders for that to happen.

As essentially our 4th best player, Splitter needs to be taking more shots than Neal (ok so maybe I'm losing my patience with the chucking) and he needs to recognize that Pop's not going to bench him for missing shots anymore unless he's shooting unnecessary contested pull up 3's a la Gary. He may have to ask for the ball more than once before he gets it to start but as long as he's able to keep finishing and making his FT's while making sound passing decisions with the ball, he'll eventually work himself to a place where he'll get the ball on the second unit as soon as he calls for it. If he gets into obviously good positions and calls without getting the ball repeatedly, Pop will either step in or Manu (heck Jax) will take the ball away from Neal in order to make the play. If Splitter did that consistently, at this stage I don't think the team would ignore him. In fact they haven't been in this recent stretch.

I gave Splitter a pass on this last season because he was underplayed and was just getting acclimated to the NBA. This year he's clearly shown that he has another level of basketball in him and he's showing more aggression by going after offensive boards and he's also raising his hand for the ball more. It's frustrating and all but at some point we have to admit that at least some of this is on Tiago. If he can gesture for the ball when Tony's on the floor, he has no reason to be so passive when Gary's running the show. He has to stop allowing people like Neal to think passing him the ball is a nice suggestion and he needs to be more willing to go get the ball during momentum shifts like the one we saw in Philadelphia.*

*Generally speaking. He clearly got more than enough shots this game.

But Splitter getting more touches just wouldn't be fair to the rest of the team.

[racm]

Is this a contract year for Blair?

Also for Splitter, Jax, and Manu (though the later too are long-in-the-tooth vets so they're less affected).

[Baynes]

wow, its been long since the last D or lower grade for Danny Green.

Even when he's shooting bricks, he always gets B.

timvp falling out of love of Green? good!

[timvp]

wow, its been long since the last D or lower grade for Danny Green.

Even when he's shooting bricks, he always gets B.

timvp falling out of love of Green? good!

Going HAM after being a Spurs fan for 24 hours. Impressive, thb.

[exstatic]

Would like to see the Spurs trade Green and Blair for a good backup SF and then move Jax in at starting SG.

Jax or Neal tbh. Jax is too slow to run around screens chasing guys like Kyle Korver and defends post playing wings or guys like Durant better.

Jack SF
Kawhi SG

[Baynes]

Going HAM after being a Spurs fan for 24 hours. Impressive, thb.

naaah, a fan for years. a lurker as well
I like your grades and always looking forward to it, I just noticed the fact that you love Green .

calling someone HAM just because you thought that its a new spurs fan is more HAM to me, tbh.

[TDMVPDPOY]

for t hose that say, spurs are know what they are doing with Green due to his low contract...

his not the same player as jax first stint at the spurs after the 02/03 championship ring, even with the low ball 3m offer by the spurs...jax was 3x the talent of green at the time even if u compared to what green is today....

danny green will never ever be a hybrid of jax or wanting him to play like that young jax....

[DisAsTerBot]

naaah, a fan for years. a lurker as well
I like your grades and always looking forward to it, I just noticed the fact that you love Green .

calling someone HAM just because you thought that its a new spurs fan is more HAM to me, tbh.

lol calling someone HAM

[benefactor]

naaah, a fan for years. a lurker as well
I like your grades and always looking forward to it, I just noticed the fact that you love Green .

calling someone HAM just because you thought that its a new spurs fan is more HAM to me, tbh.

crofl lurker for years but don't know what HAM means.

Color me unconvinced.

[turkish spurs fan]

didier drogba signed galatasaray

[spurraider21]

didier drogba signed galatasaray

this is a spurs forum on a thread about spurs vs suns and you are posting about soccer...

[spurraider21]

btw if you are intent on posting about soccer on ST... here's the link to the soccer forum. enjoy.
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=40

[timvp]

naaah, a fan for years. a lurker as well
I like your grades and always looking forward to it, I just noticed the fact that you love Green .

calling someone HAM just because you thought that its a new spurs fan is more HAM to me, tbh.

I was just messing with you, tbh. Welcome to the forum. You'll notice that I get accused of loving/hating just about every player...

[turkish spurs fan]

DROGBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chinook]

No one should be shocked with Green's grade. He had a terrible game. One thing he's been pretty good about this season was keeping his defensive intensity even when his shot wasn't falling. But he was just bad against the Suns. He hasn't been that bad at fighting through screens since early last season. As someone who's supported Green pretty consistently over the season, I was disgusted.

That said, I'd rather him have this type of game against the Suns than in the playoffs. If anything, this should lend support to the idea that Green is more streaky than anti-clutch. There's no reason to think he's be under any added pressure lately. I'm less worried about Green choking in the playoffs now than I was before this game.

[ace3g]

dan mccarney ‏@danmccarneysaen @drew_48moh was onto something with Icy Hot nickname for Danny Green. % from 3 in recent games: 0, 75, 50, 0, 25, 43, 67, 0, 20, 67, 0.

[Pauleta14]

DROGBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So you get Seinder AND Drogba!?!! Not a bad winter market for Galatasaray...