The losses are mainly due to injuries right now, Belli is not the sole reason or near the reason they are losing right now. Neal would not help the cause right now either, period end of story.
I understand where you're coming from. Gary Neal has always been a player during his time with the Spurs as the guy who never met a shot he didn't like, but doesn't play a lick of defense. During the games that I have watched this season with Marco Belinelli, it's becoming more apparent that Gary Neal seems to be the better player to put the ball in the basket during pivotal moments, while Marco Belinelli's stigma is that every big game he's had with the Spurs have resulted in a loss, but plays way better defense (at least compared to Neal)
All in all, this thread is just to say that a lot of you guys are blaming the Spurs losses squarely on Belinelli that isn't warranted. That is all.
The losses are mainly due to injuries right now, Belli is not the sole reason or near the reason they are losing right now. Neal would not help the cause right now either, period end of story.
The point is that Gary is better player for specific role and for the spurs, Belli might be better passer and ball handler but his overall game still weak, in opposite to Gary, Belli while playing make the team worst and weaker, he complicate all because of his style, poor level of intense and softness...
Yeah, the OP's post couldn't have been thrown into the "I miss Gary Neal" thread. People won't get the full gist of how bad Belinelli is until they see him in the playoffs or until someone loses a shoe.
This. I'm sick of everybody saying that the reason Spurs are losing is because Belinelli is lacking intensity or defense on the floor. Half the time, Marco wasn't even playing in his natural position of shooting guard. Granted, the spurs were signing him with the intention of playing a lot of minutes in either the PG spot or SF spot when they decide to go small ball.
This has to be a lakersground troll.
Hoops, I know what you mean by missing Gary Neal in the other thread though. I do remember him making some pretty amazing shots; only problem was that those shots weren't game winners or pressured for him to take it. Belinelli's a different story though, it almost seems as if the Spurs are spoon feeding him the ball during the last seconds of the game because he has the hot hand only to come up short but is not his fault.
ok if you say so than i'm definitely convinced.
You are so childish!!
kobyz has been one of the more obvious trolls![]()
Belenelli has hit a ton of big shots in games that we just couldnt win
I remember games at Portland where he drained a bunch of huge shots in the 4th then Manu bricked the game-tying 3
or New York where he hits the 3 to tie the game when we were down 3 with less than 20 seconds on the shotclock
a big part of Marcos game though as a Spur is his ability to cut to the basket and get layups
vs good teams though they pretty much take away that aspect of the Spurs offense usually through elite shotblockers
Neal was way better at getting his own shot by just receiving a screen and knocking down a mid range
Marco can curl off the screens and knock down them but Neal is way better in getting his own shot in that aspect and it helps that the Spurs have elite screen setters
It think Beli's real value is with the second unit murdering the opposing teams bench. He can't be expecting to guard starters on the regular or be guarded by starting caliber defenders. His numbers since starting have shown that.
On that note, Pop needs to insert DG back into the starters as soon as he is able. Danny's offense will come back if we actually run plays to get him open. DG can't score in a hero ball group but he can hit wide open shots created by smart offense which we haven't played in a good while.
And I would say that Marco has an elite cutting ability but people other than Manu are not looking for him.
would rather have marco but would rather have both. bucks should waive him so we can pick him back up. neal belinelli ginobili diaw splitter off the bench? manu bringing the ball up and gary and marco curling off screens from splitter or boris raining threes? haha 2k'd
Beli's better than Neal, period. But his role, like Neal's before him, is really not that important in the post-season. The Spurs are losing because the New Two are out. Neal being in SA and starting would not make a difference.
The long and the short of it is that Beli in Neal's playoff role is an upgrade, buy Beli taking even a second away from Green and Leonard is a masive downgrade.
Should have signed Webster or Brewer instead, though.
Wouldnt mind having Neal on the team. At least he had balls.
I agree. It's hard to imagine that Pop would play Marco such heavy minutes during the post-season instead of Tony Parker, Danny Green, or Kawhi Leonard. However, his ability to hit big shots (those deep 3-point shots from near half-court as well) makes me tend to think he'll be needed during crunch time. Maybe Pop can go the route of getting a time-out to subs ute defensive players to defense and getting a time-out to subs ute Marco back in on offensive plays.
Bel is better (has a better overall game and a better shooter).. the system made Neal look good. But Neal is slightly more clutch (hes had more opportunities to be fair). If there was a white version of Neal, it's Bel.
The ability to hit clutch shots is overrated. Green and Leonard both his big shots last season, and obviously Parker and Ginobili need no further explanation. Beli will be in on some plays like Neal, but he's not a closer and shouldn't be confused with one.
This is where you're wrong Chinook. Neal's role was never as important to the Spurs as Belinelli's is. Mills has taken the place of Neal in the role Neal should have been playing while he was here. This is where the FO went bust. Instead of signing a Back up PG and limiting Ginobili's role and minutes so his chronically inflamed hamstring wouldn't act up, they did nothing. Mills is not a PG and he really can't play one effectively. But enough about Mills, lets bet back to Belinell. These two guys have very different roles of importance to the team . Belinelli's role is to keep the offense running smoothly whether it be with his passing, shooting or cutting to the basket. The problem is on the defensive end where he is every bit as bad as Neal. The only problem is with Neal, you could just sit him. With Belinelli, you have to play through it. That's not going to work in the playoffs. His offense has slowed considerably and he gives up points in bunches on the other end of the floor. If Green doesn't find his offense, Belinelli's workload will probaby stay the same which is bad news come playoff time.
Come on Hoops, Beli is NOWHERE NEAR as bad defensively as Gary Neal. Don't be a homer.
The reason Beli might be bad on defense is because he has tendencies to leak out towards mid court to get the fastbreak layup. Which to me is better than Neal, because when Neal is playing defense on the court, he was running red rover in circles not knowing where to go.
In the playoffs, Mills or Beli will drop out of the rotation, essentially leaving a combo-guard spot open. That is what Neal did last season. So I'd say they are the same, or will be. The fact that Beli can pass makes him a better fit for that role, which confirms what I'm saying. Beli won't get any more time than Neal in a healthy rotation if Pop knows what he's doing.
He wasn't really a combo guard, he was just forced to play one. In the playoffs, just like last year, it will be Ginobili running the point for the second unit which is exactly what nobody wanted to see after last year's finals. I don't see Beli as anything more than a shooting guard with handles. The reasoning for bringing a guy like him in was to give Manu reduced minutes and helping him out in the post season where he really struggled. I don't see any of that happening and both Beli/Gino are bad/terrible defenders.
But I am curious as to who you think will take the open combo-guard spot if Mills or Belinelli drop out of the rotation ( most likely Mills)... De Colo? CoJo? Mighty Mouse? Peter Pan? The lack of depth is a real problem
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