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Is he a good defender?
Can he defense big SF like LBJ or KD?
Can he shoot from the arc?
Born: Apr 29, 1987
Height: 6-9 / 2.06
Weight: 250 lbs. / 113.4 kg.
Prior to NBA / Country: Arizona State / USA
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Is he a good defender?
Can he defense big SF like LBJ or KD?
Can he shoot from the arc?
a baynes @ da 4... a good player 4 spurs tho cuz they didnt have it last yr
i'm excited about a cojo, decolo/manu, manu/diaw, bonner/diaw/pendergraph, baynes lineup. if pendergraph can off. board, mid ranger, and d his way into minutes over bonner/diaw during preseason. then manu, cojo, and decolo can feed bricks into put back dunks all game every game.
Looking at his career stats he has hardly played. Thus far in his career the most games he has ever played in the regular season was 37 this past season. Looking at his numbers when he gets at least 20 minutes in a game he has put good numbers. I haven't really seen him play though so I know those numbers could be deceiving. Hopefully he plays well in the preseason. The Spurs definitely need another strong rebounder. This is the following rotation I would like to see in the regular season...
PG: Parker/Ginobili/Joseph/De Colo/Mills
SG: Green/Belinelli
SF: Leonard/Diaw/Thomas
PF: Duncan/Pendergraph/Bonner
C: Splitter/Baynes...
It goes without saying that the Spurs need to trade at least one of their point guards. If Diaw stays in shape throughout the season I do believe he can play SF, but that is a BIG if.
Pendergraph and Baynes will have true shot at getting in the rotation. Spurs bench unit will be Joseph/Belinelli/Ginobili/Diaw and a fifth player. Bonner is really a bad fit with that lineup so if one of Baynes/Pendergraph emerges, it will make Spurs bench way better.
One of the issue of last season for Spurs was relatively poor bench play. This season bench should be a lot different and will hopefully be more consistent. On the paper, a Joseph/Belinelli/Ginobili/Diaw/Pendergraph lineup sounds good.
He needs minutes, I hope Pop doenst decide his playing time without giving him minutes to prove what he can or cant do.
I want to see him play and fo good or fail, but playing.
It will be interesting to see how Pendergraph develops as a three-point shooter. He seems to have range from the corner three, or at least the potential to have that range. If that's true, then he'll be able to get minutes with Duncan and Splitter. However, seeing as he would be one of the better rebounders on the team, does it make sense for him to stand out in the corner, especially if Diaw is his front-court partner? It would be nice if he could a legitimate center next to Diaw while being a full-fledged stretch four with the seven-footers.
Obligatory highlight links.
I honestly do think that he lost some athleticism after injuring his knee. He had a dunk at the end of the second highlights, but he wasn't flying all around the court like he was in the first. It seems like he learned to become a better shooter in light of his new limitations, and that should help him with the Spurs. He looks like he can be a good PnP player, and before he got hurt, he looked like a good PnR roll man. In the Spurs' system, he should still be able to get open-enough looks to finish off the roll.
It was nice to hear the Pacers announcers claim that Pendergraph gave the team a lift from the bench. He sounds like a good locker-room guy, which shouldn't be underrated.
And here's an extra video. He sort of reminds me of Bonner, at least in his sense of humor and Bonner's Coach B videos. If he sticks with the team, I think he'll be a fan favorite.
Bruno, do you think pop would let Manu start and use Green as backup SF?
Wow, him and Green could end up being great snake buddies based on that video.
I'm not Bruno, but I doubt it. Green is a better fit in the starting lineup than Ginobili, and the Spurs still don't have anyone to take over Ginobili's role as the bench creator. There were scenarios out there this off-season that could have led to Green and Ginobili switching places, but none of them have come to pass.
And Ginobili should be a good small-forward, at least to the extent that the Spurs will need one in the regular season. He's slightly smaller than Green, but he's a sound defender whose dwindling athleticism may be better suited to defend bigger players, anyway. The average height for NBA SFs is supposedly 6-6, which is right around Ginobili's height.
I think that one of Gino or Beli is gonna be part of the starting line-up.
That's 'cause I think that you always need a wing-creator that can take away some pressure from your play maker.
Both beli and Gino can do that (tehir skills are similar; Gino is obviously a better play maker, but also Beli can create and distribute with the ball in his hands, and in that sense he remind to me a poor's men Brent Barry).
Imho Splitter works at his best with Gino. And Diaw works at his best with Duncan.
The Line ups I would work on are :
Starters : Parker - Belinelli - Leonard - Diaw - Duncan
Bench : Joseph - Ginobili - Green - Pendergraph - Splitter
or
Starters : Parker - Ginobili - Leonard - Duncan - Splitter
Bench : Joseph - Belinelli - Green - Diaw (Pendergraph) - Pendergraph (Baynes)
Situational players, when needed with special oppositeline-ups :
Mills - De Colo - x (Thomas ? ) - Bonner - Baynes
I really doubt it for a lot of different reasons:
- Spurs starting lineup has been great and Green is a terrific fit with it.
- Starting Ginobili while limiting his minutes isn't easy to do.
- Pop has played a lot Ginobili at SF in the past with players like Roger Mason, George Hill or Neal playing SG.
- Ginobili is doing fine at defending most of the SFs. He is tough player that is rarely bullied. With his old legs, Ginobili might even be better at banging with SFs than chasing SGs around screens.
ANother thing that I think will be played out this season is the involvement of Kawhi more in the offense. I think Pop & his crew will now slowly call more & more plays for Kawhi and involve more two-man games for him with him & Parker, isos and so on. It makes sense to play Manu on the bench if that is the strategy, so as to give more offensive space to Kawhi. Kawhi can revert to a more defensive approach when it comes to the crunch and get his offense as it comes, depending upon the opposition. Then, it would make sense to play Kawhi & Manu together with Parker & Green & Duncan if need be in small lineups.
so you think belli is going to crack the rotation right away?
you don't think pop will play the "wait and see" with belli and pendergraph in preseason? i think pop will test a unit of cojo, decolo, manu, diaw, baynes. with mills/bonner plugging in for 3ball. and beli/pendergraph plugging in for wildcard. then thomas will probably be around in the blair chair for manu/diaw injury insurance.
I like Pendergraph looks like a definite Blair upgrade. Concern from above discussion is supposedly Splitter had a nice jump shot prior to joining the Spurs also. Seems like any Spurs big not named Duncan (or Bonner if you want to count him as one) is not allowed to launch a J anymore.
Pendergraph and Belinelli aren't in the same category. Pendergraph has played 977 minutes in the NBA. Belinelli has played 8547 minutes in the NBA.
For Pendergraph, there will definitively be some "wait and see". He will be put in concurrence with Baynes for minutes. If none emerges, Bonner might end up with these 4th big minutes behind Duncan, Splitter and Diaw.
Belinelli will start the training camp as the 4th SG/SF behind Leonard, Green and Ginobili. He will remain at that level in the rotation unless De Colo turns out great and push Belinelli at the 5th wing spot.
More like . . .
PG: Parker/Joseph/De Colo/Mills
SG: Green/Ginobili/Belinelli
SF: Leonard
PF: Duncan (offense) or Splitter (defense)/Diaw/Bonner
C: Splitter (offense) or Duncan (defense)/Pendergraph/Baynes
I'm skeptical they sign Thomas, for two reasons. 1) I think they'd only sign him if their intent was for him to be on the team the entire season (it's not that big a deal, but they'd relinquish his rights by releasing him) and I think they'd prefer to go with a series of non guarantees/10 days, until they either make a trade or sign someone that get's bought out. 2) I don't think he's what they're looking for.
In terms of the rotation, I don't think Baynes has a shot at cracking it. I realize they're well under the tax and that Pendergraph isn't a proven rotation player, but I don't think they pay him what they did to potentially wear a suit.
Most likely, the tenth spot is utilized based on the situation, which means sometimes Bonner, sometimes Pendergraph and sometimes small ball, in which case Green, Ginobili and Belinelli will play more. The latter could benefit from small ball the most, because against good teams and in the playoffs, if they're forced to play conventionally, there's not going to be many minutes available for a fourth wing.
Not convinced they'll do it, but wouldn't be shocked if they did: Leonard, not Green, becomes the first wing out, with the idea being to play him with the bench more, where it'll be easier to make him a more featured scorer.
That is the best prediction based upon recent history. There is, however, one difference that just might result in a slight change in behavior this season. The Spurs have typically operated with a budget that approached or exceeded the luxury tax line. Even a small addition to payroll was often rejected if it would push them over the line. This year they have a comfortable cushion between the current payroll and the tax line. The possibility of using the 15th roster spot on a guaranteed contract is, therefore, greater than previous seasons. They can always create an additional roster spot later in the season by simply waiving the least valuable player on a small contract (Mills or Baynes are the likely candidates).
Yeah, I know. But those guys are either proven, inexpensive depth or worthwhile projects and it doubly doesn't make sense to release them when you have as much room under the tax as the Spurs do.
As I said, if they ended up having to waive Thomas, it's not that big of a deal. It happens every year with a few 2nd rounders (Joseph, English and Murphy, being the '12 examples . . . speaking of Joseph, if he doesn't sign in Europe, it wouldn't surprise me if he ends up in Spurs camp) and chances are, nobody picks him up. But they'd probably prefer to retain his rights or at least have him be in a situation where he's going to play a lot.
Unless you need a roster spot to sign someone more valuable (such as a player bought out after the trade deadline has passed). It's an option that they really haven't had in any recent season. Just saying that they may not be as protective of that 15th spot as they usually are.
I know what you mean. I'm just saying, Thomas would almost certainly be the guy released in that case.
Got it.
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