http://espn.go.com/blog/nba/post/_/i...purs-preseason
SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Spurs downed the Houston Rockets 111-86 on Friday in the exhibition finale at the AT&T Center and open the regular season Oct. 28 at Oklahoma City.
Here are five takeaways from the Spurs’ preseason:
1. Chemistry will take some time
The Spurs created plenty of buzz over the summer by bringing in LaMarcus Aldridge and David West to play alongside key returners such as Tim Duncan,Tony Parker, Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard. Given all the experience on the roster combined with Gregg Popovich’s track record, meshing the new pieces with the old initially seemed to be a relatively painless undertaking. Throughout the preseason, it has proven to be anything but that, and many of the players believe the Spurs will be tinkering with lineups and combinations, as well as learning one another’s tendencies for the duration of the season.
That’s not to say the Spurs aren’t making strides. Manu Ginobili said the team’s performance against the Rockets looked “more like” Spurs basketball than their other exhibition outings.
“I still don’t think we played a great first half. Then, in the second half, it was pretty good,” Ginobili said. “Many things to improve still, but of course we were better than the previous game. It wasn’t that difficult to play better than last game. At least we finished the preseason with a better feeling.”
In the first quarter, San Antonio showcased the ball movement that makes it one of the league’s most potent teams. Aldridge passed the ball out of the post toPatty Mills after spotting a double-team, and Mills dumped it out to Leonard, who quickly nailed the 3-pointer. Then, in the third quarter, Mills found Ginobili, who tossed a no-look pass to Duncan cutting to the basket for a dunk. Sequences such as that haven’t occurred with enough regularity throughout the preseason. But the only way the Spurs can gain the requisite chemistry to seriously threaten for another le is for them to play actual games together.
So the chemistry will come, just likely not quickly.
“I’m hoping not too long, hopefully no longer than by Christmas,” said starting guard Danny Green, who finished with 19 points, starting off Friday night hitting 6 of 6 from 3-point range. “Hopefully we’re clicking full circle by mid-December. But it’s gonna take some time; hopefully, not too long.”
2. The second unit should be just as productive as the starters
With the team’s effort to improve chemistry between Aldridge and the returners drawing all the headlines, San Antonio’s second group quietly excelled in training camp. In fact, some of the starters said the second group, which is comprised of Kyle Anderson, Ginobili, David West, Boris Diaw and Mills, has already displayed more chemistry at training camp than the first group. San Antonio’s second group plays “Spurs basketball” better than the first group at the moment because they’ve got more continuity due to familiarity with one another. The first group is still trying to get used to playing alongside new starter Aldridge, who scored 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting against the Rockets.
“He needed, I think, to have a good game, to make some shots,” Ginobili said. “He was a little disappointed about what [happened] in the previous game. So it was great to see him get it going like that, making some shots, and getting to the rim. We have a team that focuses a lot on the extra pass, but we need him to score, too.”
3. Kawhi Leonard will continue to evolve
When the Spurs rolled to an 11-game winning streak at the end of last season, Leonard led the team in scoring four times, averaging 19.2 points while shooting 56.1 percent. So while it’s natural for the Spurs to lean on Aldridge, the pricey free-agent acquisition, don’t sleep on Leonard because his knowledge of the game has grown tremendously, and he’s playing more relaxed after signing a max deal in the offseason. He’s more confident after winning defensive player of the year. In fact, Popovich is encouraging Leonard to step up and take on a larger role in the offense. Throughout the preseason, Leonard has spent quite a bit of practice time working in the post and driving to the basket coming off screens. So look to see more of Leonard this season in the post as he continues to improve his perimeter game.
4. Transition D remains an issue
Prior to the team’s loss on Oct. 20 to the Phoenix Suns, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, “Transition D has still been a problem. Our transition D still looks like it did in Game 6 and 7 against the Clippers last [season] in the first round. Worst transition defense in the history of basketball in those two games.”
The Clippers outscored the Spurs 33-4 on the fast break in Games 6 and 7 of last season’s first-round series between the teams, and they haven’t shown improvement in that area throughout the preseason.
The Spurs outscored the Sacramento Kings 19-17 on the break in the Oct. 8 exhibition opener, but have been bested in that category by their four other opponents, and have been outscored 105-76, including 23-11 Friday night against the Rockets.
5. Tim Duncan’s role may be changing, but he’ll still be a vital cog
Leonard’s rapidly evolving game and the addition of Aldridge shifts the offensive focus for the Spurs somewhat. But Duncan’s role has been diminished for quite a while. Duncan’s usage rate of 22.2 percent on San Antonio’s plays marked the lowest of his career last season, but don’t count him out as a major cog in the pick-and-roll game. Duncan was more efficient last season, despite a reduced role, posting a .560 true shooting percentage, which tied for his best since the 2006-07 season. Duncan likely will spend more time in the high post this season with Aldridge in the fold. So Duncan's midrange jumper needs to be a little more accurate. Throughout the preseason, he has demonstrated his ability to distribute well when facing up, and he’ll be doing a lot more of that during the regular season with Aldridge, who needs to do a better job of finishing.
Defensively, it’s clear Duncan has lost a step. But he anticipates so well, he’s usually in place to help out. Duncan averaged 29 minutes during the regular season last season and 36 minutes in the playoffs, where he was the team’s most consistent player.
So even though the Spurs are phasing in more Leonard and Aldridge, they won’t be phasing out Duncan this season. Sure, his role will change some. But Duncan will still be one of this team’s go-to players in the clutch.
Thanks for posting.
The starters can really spread the floor with their many options on offense... We were really just 4 on 5 at times, on offense last year when Tiago caught his passes at the elbow and did nothing with it... Now having LMA, teams can't sag off at the elbow anymore...
That second unit does have defensive issues. Though having Diaw, Manu, and Kyle out there at the same time will lead to some amazing passes and easy buckets.
It'll take time for the new guys to adjust but they'll figure it out. Come March, I think this team will be a nightmare for any team it faces (barring injury), mostly because they'll be able to match up with practically every team in the league.
True. It was evident last night that when the 2nd unit played against Brewer and Ariza. Rox went on a 11-0 run. Most if it thanks to their their athleticism tbh. The 2nd unit will need to rely on their offensive "prowessness" to stay afloat. Can see the same happening when playing against Livingston, Barbosa and Iguadala. Only that our starters would have crushed GS regulars to a point where any run their 2nd unit could do won't help them that much.
Pretty spot-on assessment. Personally, I'd like to see more rebounding effort on the Spurs' part. In fact, I wished we had some young legs that could chase rebounds down. As it is, the Spurs have a solid roster and will compete for a Championship.
Thank you for posting.
It is why the team retained Simms I think, despite his poor training camp performance. Despite his problems with ballhandling/no jumpshooting, he's atheltic enough to help in transition against athletic teams for a few minutes. Its possible in cases like that he'll sub in for Manu or Anderson, strategically, depending on who is struggling (or needs a rest -Manu?). I have to note that Anderson is able to find him running ahead in transition too, and if his confidence were back, he could get a few buckets in transition. Simms has a potential to fill a needed role in that bench, which is why I think it was smart to retain him. He just needs to pull it together, and possibly not try to do too much. There was a lot of experimenting in preseason with him, and he's not ready to take the burden to create for others. But just throw him there with Anderson and maybe we see some SL run and gun like these two pulled b4.
Simmons actually did a great job in once sequence completely denying Harden the ball. That alone could have been enough to keep him on longer.
NEWS FLASH: It takes time to develop chemistry when integrating new players into a team.
2ND NEWS FLASH: Pop didn't take the pre-season too seriously until the last game, and his experimentation will likely continue into the regular season.
3RD NEWS FLASH: Duncan's role will be different with LMA on board. (I expect TD to have a reduced role for the "meat" of the season, but spending as much or more time with the second unit as the first and being its principal focus.)
I don't think Duncan played the entire second quarter and seemed very energized and eager in the third. Will be interesting if he is used like that often.
doubt it...Green and to a lesser extent Leonard have seen their minutes drop significantly in the last two pre-season games. It's just a result of having to try new guys, getting west acclimated, and having Diaw play out there. Duncan is still going to play close to 28...
He still could make 28 that way. A lot of it might depend on how effective the other bigs are any given night.
Well the one thing we haven't seen, and I'm interested to see, is Boris in this new look 2nd unit. I mean, he's played, but not like you would normally expect. I wonder how much he might be able to help West (I would imagine quite a bit, but not sure).
I've been pleasantly surprised by West's passing. Gonna be fun watching them all learn to work together.
Yep. That's what I expect for the bulk of the season.
We have seen some effective lineups with Anderson at the 4 TBH. He can pair up with any rim protecting big for a few minutes against perimeter teams specially and take away their advantage. TD/Anderson, LMA/Anderson, Boban/Anderson have been very effective for the most part. These combos will probably be used during the season for a few minutes.
I know Boban and Bonner will be mainly reduced to garbage time but is it realistic to think Boban will play more minutes than Bonner to start the season at least?
While I agree Spurs struggle out-of-the-gate, I think they still win over 50 games and compete for a le. Seeing them against Houston, they looked tough. My only concern is consistent three point shooting. We have some streaky players that can shoot flames when they are hot, but are also as likely to go 0 for 15 over several games. I think Patty is the closest to a pure shooter that we have. Again, Green and Kawhi are streaky. I think that's where we will miss Beli. He wasn't a streak shooter. Sure he had good and bad games, but if he was open, he was deadly. Not always so with the other Spurs shooters.
Assuming everyone's healthy, then it seems very realistic that Bonner will be in a suit and Boban will get the garbage time minutes.
I hope so, i consider Boban as a player who can contribute more than Bonner and he's developing at this level. Specially, the Boban/Anderson combo has potential TBH. Those two are developing a lot of chemistry.
thanks Bill!
I'm just going to soak in all these last moments of Tim and Manu playing together. It could be their last year. Tony looks more fluid in the offense during this preseason and like I said before will rack up assists easily. I would love to see patty break out this season.
Beli could always give you scoring if he was run off the 3 pt line, so if other teams were very aggressive with that, he was still able to put points on the board with his mid-range jumpshot. He truly was a scorer. Anderson needs to at least make that corner 3 at a decent rate, from there he has a nice midrange game though and can draw fouls at a decent rate if he wanted to force the issue.
I don't think the Spurs will struggle generally. I am really optimistic.
Agree with all these points. The exception, however, may be the opener. Bonner has proven useful against OKC in the past by drawing Ibaka away from the basket. That might be less needed with LMA in the game, but it still wouldn't surprise me to see Bonner active and Boban in a suit for that game. I think the situation will reverse itself however very quickly, possibly as soon as the following game.
No problem.
I seriously think this won't be much of a problem due to the fact that our best shooters will have more open looks or better looks than in year's past.
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