Temple of Austin Daye

[mkurts]

They need to involve Daye in the offense more, put him in Diaw positions instead of Bonner positions. Austin is much better inside the arc than he gets credit for, and he's much worse outside of it than he has a right to be. Honestly, there's little reason why anyone should be primarily spotting up at this point of the season.

no

[exstatic]

They need to involve Daye in the offense more, put him in Diaw positions instead of Bonner positions. Austin is much better inside the arc than he gets credit for, and he's much worse outside of it than he has a right to be. Honestly, there's little reason why anyone should be primarily spotting up at this point of the season.

He looked pretty bad, both inside and out.

If he's only effective inside, he may be of no use to the Spurs. We already have Tim, Tiago, Aron, and Jeff in that category. Daye is also shooting 29% inside the arc, so I'm not sure what you're seeing. CoJo is a player who is effective inside the arc. Daye? Not so much.

Daye is in a terrible, precarious position on this roster. He has no unique skill, and the players (Diaw, Anderson) he shares skills with, like being a very tall ball handler/passer, bring SO much more to the table.

[FireMicoHalili]

Daye is in a terrible, precarious position on this roster.

His proponents always ask for him to be given time and touches. Now he's being given those two things, he appears to be worse than he was last season. He hasn't had a full season under Pop, technically, but on a contract year, and after a summer he was asked to be the focal point of a summer league offense, you'd expect more. He's currently shooting at his lowest field goal percentage and the second-worst three-point shooting clip of his whole career in 13 games in so far. Once the Spurs are back up to speed, with Splitter eating up minutes at the four and five and Belinelli getting minutes at the two and three, Daye could probably have missed his chance.

Then again, he gets paid only $1M so...

[Dverde]

He shots too much. He is a ball stopper. Pass the ball more. I do think his defense and rebounding is better than Bonner. He reminded me of SJAX's last year. I think Spurs phase in Anderson and phase out Daye mid season.

[Mel_13]

Daye is in a terrible, precarious position on this roster.

I think you can fairly say that he's in a precarious position as an NBA player. Even with his very small salary, I doubt that he would be claimed by another NBA team if he was waived by the Spurs.

[Horse]

daye the majority of Spurs talk could hit 50% of the looks he gets. I've never seen someone get and miss the shots he gets.

[Mel_13]

He could be a good Robert Horry kind of role player.

You can't be serious.

[exstatic]

He shots too much. He is a ball stopper. Pass the ball more. I do think his defense and rebounding is better than Bonner. He reminded me of SJAX's last year. I think Spurs phase in Anderson and phase out Daye mid season.

Anderson probably goes to Austin for most of the season. They have a home game today, and it wouldn't shock me to see him play in it.

[ceperez]

I think you can fairly say that he's in a precarious position as an NBA player. Even with his very small salary, I doubt that he would be claimed by another NBA team if he was waived by the Spurs.

I agree with you here that if he's waived by the Spurs, it'll be the end of his NBA career.

Pop is certainly giving him a lot of opportunity to prove his worth. He's give Daye more playing time that players like Mahinmi ever received.

The reason should be obvious by now, Daye enough basketball IQ and ball handling skills that he's not too much of a liability when he's in the court.

Unfortunately, so far he's had too many turnovers and has not been accurate enough with his shots.

I say the Spurs resign him for a long term contract for the bare minimum. He's a good player to have at $1m a year.

[littlecoyotecoin]

His proponents always ask for him to be given time and touches. Now he's being given those two things, he appears to be worse than he was last season. He hasn't had a full season under Pop, technically, but on a contract year, and after a summer he was asked to be the focal point of a summer league offense, you'd expect more. He's currently shooting at his lowest field goal percentage and the second-worst three-point shooting clip of his whole career in 13 games in so far. Once the Spurs are back up to speed, with Splitter eating up minutes at the four and five and Belinelli getting minutes at the two and three, Daye could probably have missed his chance.

Then again, he gets paid only $1M so...

He may be missing his chance, agreed. But, The Spurs are very patient with projects. Daye is shooting worse than ever. The question is, is that the new normal? Or, would you expect him to at the least revert back to the mean? Any player, at his age, I would expect them to revert back to the mean. It would be bizarre to think their shooting ability regresses this much in their "prime" and stays there. Danny Green 18 missed in a row from the arc. Belli started off 0/11 from the arc in the preseason. Still isn't shooting well. Was 0/2 last night. Kyle is 0/5. Kawhi is shooting .229 from 3. Team 3% is ticking up. It was down 8% from last year, but is now down only 4%. Much better, but still indicative of how pervasive the problem has been. It's not just Daye.

Also, I wonder if Chip's tutelage has anything to do with getting in the their heads, if their working on form more aggressively in the beginning of the season, have they also been tweaking Daye's form, or he's just wilting under the pressure of trying to earn a spot? Whatever the case, it has manifested in some real ugliness. I also wonder to what extent Pop has given him the green light to press shots, or shoot himself out of it, etc. I would like to be a fly on the wall to the psychology, there. I do seem to see the team passing more to him, as his slump continues. He may be lighting it up in practice for all we know. They still seem to believe he can knock it down. Even though he isn't.

It has been painful to watch his early shooting, to be sure. And, the team's in general. I wish he would pass on some of his ill-chosen 2-point attempts, as well. However, I doubt The Spurs are going to get rid of him this year. He has still played under 250 minutes of game-time as a Spur. I still don't feel like this is as much time as others seem to pretend it is. I think The Spurs will continue to give him opportunities and coach him up, and see what they've got at the end of the year. If he has made no improvement by March or April, then it will not be a surprise if Bertans gets his spot, or LJC, or any other project, next season. I just don't see The Spurs being as critical of their investment this early in the renovation.

Exstatic is right that he is in a precarious position, but his position has always been precarious since the day he arrived. I believe some even thought he would be waived after the De Colo trade, before the end of the regular season. Many believed that he would surely not have his $750,000 option for this year picked up by The Spurs. They were all wrong. Then there are the ones that floated multiple scenarios where The Spurs would cut him, eat whatever portion of his contract they must and open a roster spot for their veteran that wouldn't come here or their prospect de jour. That didn't happen either. Now, after a shooting start well below his average, the same group of people is saying that Daye's days are numbered and he is playing himself out of the league, etc. He might be. But he's already done enough to make all of those other predictions wrong, thus far, and unless someone spectacular comes available, or we have serious injury issues, Daye will continue to get an opportunity throughout the rest of the season.

He probably misunderstood where he was supposed to be positioned with Tony on one play. That turnover may have been on him, mostly, not Tony. The pass into the corner he fumbled was just a bad pass. Those things are fixed over time. No biggie. Most of these guys have played together for years and years. Even our "young" Danny Green has been in the system for 4-5 freakin' years now, I believe. Some familiarity and calm comes with that kind of tenure.

Daye got burned a few times on defense last night. One time on a switch he ended up guarding Williams out at the top of the key. Daye should not be guarding Williams near the top of the key. I don't expect him to do really well in those situations. Guarding a guard is not a dream scenario for him. He was in a bad situation and didn't survive it. We've seen Tony torch plenty of bigs like that. I don't hold that so much against Daye. Perimeter defense was going to always be his weakness. This is not surprising. There are not a lot of 6'11" perimeter defenders. Much less million dollar ones. His interior defense has been much better than everyone originally suggested. Everyone harped on his weight.

If you take note of all of the criticisms of him this season, thus far, very few issues are being made of his weight. He is holding his own in the paint pretty well. Not great, but acceptable, and already much better than detractors said he would be able to.

Also, some of his other contributions have been adequate (I did not say great, or even good, just good enough) enough that if his shooting had been up to par or better, some of his short-comings would be mitigated. His inability to shoot the ball has put a magnifying glass on his every other flaw, and has even caused observers to dismiss his contributions.

One cannot make fun of his foot speed and getting burned by a smaller, quicker player, and at the same time dismiss his blocks, steals, altered shots, and rebounds as just a function of him being a "tall" small forward. Those strengths and weaknesses go hand in hand. It would be like making fun of Tony for being quick, because, you know, 6' guards are supposed to be quick.

The good news is, he can almost immediately start being a net positive by simply knocking down his jumper. And, as a shooter, that could as easily begin in the next game as it could not.

[Chinook]

He looked pretty bad, both inside and out.

If he's only effective inside, he may be of no use to the Spurs. We already have Tim, Tiago, Aron, and Jeff in that category. Daye is also shooting 29% inside the arc, so I'm not sure what you're seeing. CoJo is a player who is effective inside the arc. Daye? Not so much.

There's a difference between being a post player and paint player like those guys and being an elbow player. Tim's the only one of those four who can really play there, and his lack of mobility really limits his ability to be a triple-threat. If Daye is struggling to hit threes, he should move closer to the basket -- it's that simple. It doesn't have to be a permanent thing; just something to get him some confidence. This is the time of the season where Pop experiments. He shouldn't just do that with lineups; he should also do it with roles within lineups. When the games matter, Daye will be on the bench, and if he has to be in, he'll be a spot-up shooter. But right now, there's little downside to trying to maximize his skill-set.

One of Daye's main problems is that he is encouraged to shoot every time he touches the ball due to playing as a spot-up guy. Give him the ball inside the arc, and he'll be able to do more with it while not just jacking up shots. It took at least a year before the Spurs stopped parking Green in a corner on Parker drives. Now Danny is not as pressured to shoot when he touches the ball outside the three-point line. Daye needs that same progression, even though he hasn't shot well enough to gain a bigger role in a real rotation.

Daye is in a terrible, precarious position on this roster. He has no unique skill, and the players (Diaw, Anderson) he shares skills with, like being a very tall ball handler/passer, bring SO much more to the table.

Obviously. He's not better than Bonner, nor can he really play the three. He's the 15th man right now, or at least tied for 14th with Ayres.

[Chinook]

You can't be serious. He's a Bonner replacement. Bonner just happens to be a Horry replacement, but not a very good one.

He's not a Bonner replacement, nor was Bonner an Horry replacement. Just being an undersized four that shoots threes doesn't put them in the same niche.

If you recall, when Horry played, almost every team would post him up when he was in the court.

And?

Daye provides length, 3 point shooting and defensive rebounding. He can also dribble and pass, but I don't think the Spurs need him for this.

He doesn't provide shooting, which is why he's in such a precarious position. Also, the team needs to use the fact that he can dribble and pass rather than ignoring it. If Daye isn't going to be a reliable shooter, he needs to do other things. Get him in the mid-range and see what he can do.

Regarding post play, the team already has Duncan, Diaw and Leonard to do some effective post play.

That's fine for the low-post. But no one on the team really does anything with the high post except high-lows. There's plenty of room in that spot for a little experimentation.

[DDUBB1770]

daye the majority of Spurs talk could hit 50% of the looks he gets. I've never seen someone get and miss the shots he gets.

Have you not seen Jeff don't call me Pendergraph Ayres play?

[Russ]

ceperez has also said Gary Neal was the next Mario Elie. A less dumb comparison but he's had those takes before.

Gary Neal could've had it all.

Rollin in the deep.

[Horse]

Have you not seen Jeff don't call me Pendergraph Ayres play?

He didn't come here for his shooting. But yeah him too.

[ceperez]

He may be missing his chance, agreed. But, The Spurs are very patient with projects. Daye is shooting worse than ever. The question is, is that the new normal? Or, would you expect him to at the least revert back to the mean? Any player, at his age, I would expect them to revert back to the mean. It would be bizarre to think their shooting ability regresses this much in their "prime" and stays there. Danny Green 18 missed in a row from the arc. Belli started off 0/11 from the arc in the preseason. Still isn't shooting well. Was 0/2 last night. Kyle is 0/5. Kawhi is shooting .229 from 3. Team 3% is ticking up. It was down 8% from last year, but is now down only 4%. Much better, but still indicative of how pervasive the problem has been. It's not just Daye.

Also, I wonder if Chip's tutelage has anything to do with getting in the their heads, if their working on form more aggressively in the beginning of the season, have they also been tweaking Daye's form, or he's just wilting under the pressure of trying to earn a spot? Whatever the case, it has manifested in some real ugliness. I also wonder to what extent Pop has given him the green light to press shots, or shoot himself out of it, etc. I would like to be a fly on the wall to the psychology, there. I do seem to see the team passing more to him, as his slump continues. He may be lighting it up in practice for all we know. They still seem to believe he can knock it down. Even though he isn't.

It has been painful to watch his early shooting, to be sure. And, the team's in general. I wish he would pass on some of his ill-chosen 2-point attempts, as well. However, I doubt The Spurs are going to get rid of him this year. He has still played under 250 minutes of game-time as a Spur. I still don't feel like this is as much time as others seem to pretend it is. I think The Spurs will continue to give him opportunities and coach him up, and see what they've got at the end of the year. If he has made no improvement by March or April, then it will not be a surprise if Bertans gets his spot, or LJC, or any other project, next season. I just don't see The Spurs being as critical of their investment this early in the renovation.

Exstatic is right that he is in a precarious position, but his position has always been precarious since the day he arrived. I believe some even thought he would be waived after the De Colo trade, before the end of the regular season. Many believed that he would surely not have his $750,000 option for this year picked up by The Spurs. They were all wrong. Then there are the ones that floated multiple scenarios where The Spurs would cut him, eat whatever portion of his contract they must and open a roster spot for their veteran that wouldn't come here or their prospect de jour. That didn't happen either. Now, after a shooting start well below his average, the same group of people is saying that Daye's days are numbered and he is playing himself out of the league, etc. He might be. But he's already done enough to make all of those other predictions wrong, thus far, and unless someone spectacular comes available, or we have serious injury issues, Daye will continue to get an opportunity throughout the rest of the season.

He probably misunderstood where he was supposed to be positioned with Tony on one play. That turnover may have been on him, mostly, not Tony. The pass into the corner he fumbled was just a bad pass. Those things are fixed over time. No biggie. Most of these guys have played together for years and years. Even our "young" Danny Green has been in the system for 4-5 freakin' years now, I believe. Some familiarity and calm comes with that kind of tenure.

Daye got burned a few times on defense last night. One time on a switch he ended up guarding Williams out at the top of the key. Daye should not be guarding Williams near the top of the key. I don't expect him to do really well in those situations. Guarding a guard is not a dream scenario for him. He was in a bad situation and didn't survive it. We've seen Tony torch plenty of bigs like that. I don't hold that so much against Daye. Perimeter defense was going to always be his weakness. This is not surprising. There are not a lot of 6'11" perimeter defenders. Much less million dollar ones. His interior defense has been much better than everyone originally suggested. Everyone harped on his weight.

If you take note of all of the criticisms of him this season, thus far, very few issues are being made of his weight. He is holding his own in the paint pretty well. Not great, but acceptable, and already much better than detractors said he would be able to.

Also, some of his other contributions have been adequate (I did not say great, or even good, just good enough) enough that if his shooting had been up to par or better, some of his short-comings would be mitigated. His inability to shoot the ball has put a magnifying glass on his every other flaw, and has even caused observers to dismiss his contributions.

One cannot make fun of his foot speed and getting burned by a smaller, quicker player, and at the same time dismiss his blocks, steals, altered shots, and rebounds as just a function of him being a "tall" small forward. Those strengths and weaknesses go hand in hand. It would be like making fun of Tony for being quick, because, you know, 6' guards are supposed to be quick.

The good news is, he can almost immediately start being a net positive by simply knocking down his jumper. And, as a shooter, that could as easily begin in the next game as it could not.

Great post. I think a lot of folks here are critical of Daye because he doesn't pass the eye test. At the same time, they ignore his stats like steals, blocks, rebounds and even assists.

The Spurs clearly think he has potential otherwise they wouldn't be playing him in the middle of games. In terms of rotation, Anderson and Ayres are definitely behind Daye.

In terms of defense, it is obvious that his length does help compensate for his lack of foot speed.

Daye just needs to be more efficient and less error prone. That comes with sticking what he does well and avoiding situations when he needs to create while driving to the basket. He should learn from Bonner and stick to basic moves on offense. Bonner knows his limitations which unfortunately Daye hasn't yet figured out. That's because clearly he has more skills than Bonner.

[ceperez]

There's a difference between being a post player and paint player like those guys and being an elbow player. Tim's the only one of those four who can really play there, and his lack of mobility really limits his ability to be a triple-threat. If Daye is struggling to hit threes, he should move closer to the basket -- it's that simple. It doesn't have to be a permanent thing; just something to get him some confidence. This is the time of the season where Pop experiments. He shouldn't just do that with lineups; he should also do it with roles within lineups. When the games matter, Daye will be on the bench, and if he has to be in, he'll be a spot-up shooter. But right now, there's little downside to trying to maximize his skill-set.

One of Daye's main problems is that he is encouraged to shoot every time he touches the ball due to playing as a spot-up guy. Give him the ball inside the arc, and he'll be able to do more with it while not just jacking up shots. It took at least a year before the Spurs stopped parking Green in a corner on Parker drives. Now Danny is not as pressured to shoot when he touches the ball outside the three-point line. Daye needs that same progression, even though he hasn't shot well enough to gain a bigger role in a real rotation.



Obviously. He's not better than Bonner, nor can he really play the three. He's the 15th man right now, or at least tied for 14th with Ayres.

If you're a Spurs role player, taking a mid range jumper is a no-no. You either lay it up or take it from the 3 point line. You don't see Baynes or Ayres jacking up mid range jumpers.

I don't think Daye would be more accurate if he shot closer from the basket. He clearly has the range. What he needs is to improve his consistency. He should learn something from Bonner and Green. Both always have the exact same form when they launch their shot. Daye by contrast still needs to improve on being more consistent.

[FireMicoHalili]

He may be missing his chance, agreed. But, The Spurs are very patient with projects. Daye is shooting worse than ever. The question is, is that the new normal? Or, would you expect him to at the least revert back to the mean? Any player, at his age, I would expect them to revert back to the mean. It would be bizarre to think their shooting ability regresses this much in their "prime" and stays there. Danny Green 18 missed in a row from the arc. Belli started off 0/11 from the arc in the preseason. Still isn't shooting well. Was 0/2 last night. Kyle is 0/5. Kawhi is shooting .229 from 3. Team 3% is ticking up. It was down 8% from last year, but is now down only 4%. Much better, but still indicative of how pervasive the problem has been. It's not just Daye.

Also, I wonder if Chip's tutelage has anything to do with getting in the their heads, if their working on form more aggressively in the beginning of the season, have they also been tweaking Daye's form, or he's just wilting under the pressure of trying to earn a spot? Whatever the case, it has manifested in some real ugliness. I also wonder to what extent Pop has given him the green light to press shots, or shoot himself out of it, etc. I would like to be a fly on the wall to the psychology, there. I do seem to see the team passing more to him, as his slump continues. He may be lighting it up in practice for all we know. They still seem to believe he can knock it down. Even though he isn't.

It has been painful to watch his early shooting, to be sure. And, the team's in general. I wish he would pass on some of his ill-chosen 2-point attempts, as well. However, I doubt The Spurs are going to get rid of him this year. He has still played under 250 minutes of game-time as a Spur. I still don't feel like this is as much time as others seem to pretend it is. I think The Spurs will continue to give him opportunities and coach him up, and see what they've got at the end of the year. If he has made no improvement by March or April, then it will not be a surprise if Bertans gets his spot, or LJC, or any other project, next season. I just don't see The Spurs being as critical of their investment this early in the renovation.

Exstatic is right that he is in a precarious position, but his position has always been precarious since the day he arrived. I believe some even thought he would be waived after the De Colo trade, before the end of the regular season. Many believed that he would surely not have his $750,000 option for this year picked up by The Spurs. They were all wrong. Then there are the ones that floated multiple scenarios where The Spurs would cut him, eat whatever portion of his contract they must and open a roster spot for their veteran that wouldn't come here or their prospect de jour. That didn't happen either. Now, after a shooting start well below his average, the same group of people is saying that Daye's days are numbered and he is playing himself out of the league, etc. He might be. But he's already done enough to make all of those other predictions wrong, thus far, and unless someone spectacular comes available, or we have serious injury issues, Daye will continue to get an opportunity throughout the rest of the season.

He probably misunderstood where he was supposed to be positioned with Tony on one play. That turnover may have been on him, mostly, not Tony. The pass into the corner he fumbled was just a bad pass. Those things are fixed over time. No biggie. Most of these guys have played together for years and years. Even our "young" Danny Green has been in the system for 4-5 freakin' years now, I believe. Some familiarity and calm comes with that kind of tenure.

Daye got burned a few times on defense last night. One time on a switch he ended up guarding Williams out at the top of the key. Daye should not be guarding Williams near the top of the key. I don't expect him to do really well in those situations. Guarding a guard is not a dream scenario for him. He was in a bad situation and didn't survive it. We've seen Tony torch plenty of bigs like that. I don't hold that so much against Daye. Perimeter defense was going to always be his weakness. This is not surprising. There are not a lot of 6'11" perimeter defenders. Much less million dollar ones. His interior defense has been much better than everyone originally suggested. Everyone harped on his weight.

If you take note of all of the criticisms of him this season, thus far, very few issues are being made of his weight. He is holding his own in the paint pretty well. Not great, but acceptable, and already much better than detractors said he would be able to.

Also, some of his other contributions have been adequate (I did not say great, or even good, just good enough) enough that if his shooting had been up to par or better, some of his short-comings would be mitigated. His inability to shoot the ball has put a magnifying glass on his every other flaw, and has even caused observers to dismiss his contributions.

One cannot make fun of his foot speed and getting burned by a smaller, quicker player, and at the same time dismiss his blocks, steals, altered shots, and rebounds as just a function of him being a "tall" small forward. Those strengths and weaknesses go hand in hand. It would be like making fun of Tony for being quick, because, you know, 6' guards are supposed to be quick.

The good news is, he can almost immediately start being a net positive by simply knocking down his jumper. And, as a shooter, that could as easily begin in the next game as it could not.

mostly speculation, *still* not enough time, point could have been made had you said 'I agree, he's bad on both ends, he should start knocking down shots'

[FireMicoHalili]

Great post. I think a lot of folks here are critical of Daye because he doesn't pass the eye test. At the same time, they ignore his stats like steals, blocks, rebounds and even assists.

The Spurs clearly think he has potential otherwise they wouldn't be playing him in the middle of games. In terms of rotation, Anderson and Ayres are definitely behind Daye.

In terms of defense, it is obvious that his length does help compensate for his lack of foot speed.

Daye just needs to be more efficient and less error prone. That comes with sticking what he does well and avoiding situations when he needs to create while driving to the basket. He should learn from Bonner and stick to basic moves on offense. Bonner knows his limitations which unfortunately Daye hasn't yet figured out. That's because clearly he has more skills than Bonner.

1. If eye test says bad body language, it's a fair shake to be critical. Not only is his body language bad, but so are his stats. Small sample size yes, *may* regress to the mean (a speculation with not much to cling to thus far), but this is as good a chance he'll ever get this season. No one ignores his other stats, but to be fair, if you're a 6'10" small forward with that much length and mobility (as pointed out by someone else, he's not too heavy), it's fair to expect stats like that.
2. He clearly has potential, or maybe they just need another warm body while the other players are injured. Potential or not, there hasn't been much showing of it.
3. See point #1, fourth sentence.
4. "Daye just needs to be more efficient and less error prone" Ya think?

[Ice009]

I say the Spurs resign him for a long term contract for the bare minimum. He's a good player to have at $1m a year.

If the Spurs need a roster spot then either Ayres or Daye needs to go. They certainly don't need to keep him around just because he's cheap.

[littlecoyotecoin]

If the Spurs need a roster spot then either Ayres or Daye needs to go. They certainly don't need to keep him around just because he's cheap.

Obviously if they need a roster spot, they would want to get rid of the guys furthest down the bench, if possible. I'm not sure why this keeps needing to be restated. The questions are:

1) Who would you replace them with for the same price or cheaper that would contribute as much, or more?

2) Does that player actually want to play here?

3) Does Pop and the FO also want them here, or is it just you?

Most of the suggestions I see are no better than Daye or Errors, and a lot of them seem much worse. Some wanted Cotton, for example. He looked like a dead end, even though we could use a guard. Others thought J. Green was the bees knees, but he failed a combination of #1 and #3, above. If he was the answer to the 14th or 15th spot, Pop and the FO didn't believe he was a significant enough improvement to justify the financial hit. They had a lot of time to mull that over, and ultimately disagreed with the peanut gallery on that one, etc etc etc.

If they still have some faith in these two guys being their best options at the moment, I won't second guess them as I tend to agree with them and am patient.

[ceperez]

Obviously if they need a roster spot, they would want to get rid of the guys furthest down the bench, if possible. I'm not sure why this keeps needing to be restated. The questions are:

1) Who would you replace them with for the same price or cheaper that would contribute as much, or more?

2) Does that player actually want to play here?

3) Does Pop and the FO also want them here, or is it just you?

Most of the suggestions I see are no better than Daye or Errors, and a lot of them seem much worse. Some wanted Cotton, for example. He looked like a dead end, even though we could use a guard. Others thought J. Green was the bees knees, but he failed a combination of #1 and #3, above. If he was the answer to the 14th or 15th spot, Pop and the FO didn't believe he was a significant enough improvement to justify the financial hit. They had a lot of time to mull that over, and ultimately disagreed with the peanut gallery on that one, etc etc etc.

If they still have some faith in these two guys being their best options at the moment, I won't second guess them as I tend to agree with them and am patient.

I personally am not very keen on Ayres. I thought he would be a McDyess like player that had a decent mid range jumper, but I have yet to see evidence of this.

I think the Spurs may need another center. Splitter's injury is a big unknown and having just Baynes as a backup to Duncan isn't going to be enough. Not sure if there's anyone out there that has the basketball IQ to not be a liability for the Spurs.

[littlecoyotecoin]

I personally am not very keen on Ayres. I thought he would be a McDyess like player that had a decent mid range jumper, but I have yet to see evidence of this.

I think the Spurs may need another center. Splitter's injury is a big unknown and having just Baynes as a backup to Duncan isn't going to be enough. Not sure if there's anyone out there that has the basketball IQ to not be a liability for the Spurs.

My thinking is outside injury talk. If we lose Splitter, anything goes. Etc. I am just saying, what good player is comin' to SA cheap, to sit on the bench and play garbage minutes? Good players usually want more money, more playing time, etc. So, you usually fill those spots with old vets or young long-shot prospects or yeomen. Daye and Ayres are infinitely more useful than have been the Tracy McGrady and and Bateers of years past. I am all for upgrading these positions, but most of the choices that have been floated have been exchanging a five for five ones. RC isn't sitting around with his thumb up his ass. I'm pretty sure Pop and he are aware of some other options. And, I want to see Daye play out the year, so I'm good with their decision. And, during a le defense, I think it might even be good to stand pat with Ayres, too. Corporate knowledge and all that.

[ChumpDumper]

If you're a Spurs role player, taking a mid range jumper is a no-no. You either lay it up or take it from the 3 point line. You don't see Baynes or Ayres jacking up mid range jumpers.

Well, not anymore since they proved they couldn't make that shot last season.

[Chinook]

If you're a Spurs role player, taking a mid range jumper is a no-no.

That's not even remotely true. Joseph takes them all the time. The important thing is to be a good mid-range shooter, not to be a star.

You don't see Baynes or Ayres jacking up mid range jumpers.

They're not particularly good at it. That's why they don't take them.

I don't think Daye would be more accurate if he shot closer from the basket. He clearly has the range. What he needs is to improve his consistency. He should learn something from Bonner and Green. Both always have the exact same form when they launch their shot. Daye by contrast still needs to improve on being more consistent.

Not sure that Daye really does have the range. But that's not the point. He should move closer to the basket not only to get an easier shot, but also to be able to better use his passing and dribbling. Sure, it would make him easier to close out to, but it would also give him a shorter driving lane. Also, his height would be a bigger advantage as he moves closer.