Observations From the Opener

[Johnsyounger]

1. Spurs are still working on finding a rhythm for LMA. Although he receives isolation post-ups from time to time, he's still not a part of many plays others than screens at the top of the key. Once those change to pick and rolls with less awkwardness, good things will happen. In the meantime, LMA will be lucky to average 15 ppg.

2. I'm not anti Tony Parker at all. At all. That said, facts are stubborn things, and Pop is going to have to adjust to the fact that Tony Parker is a MAJOR liability on defense. Players are most fresh at the beginning of the season, and I was amazed at how slow Parker's footwork has become. He will still make some tear drops and contested layups, but this is a grim problem for the Spurs. The decline in speed for TP has been dramatic. Which leads to #3:

3. The Spurs cannot afford to keep Manu Ginobili out of the rotation to end games if he continues to play as well as he has throughout the preseason. It is imperative that he play less than 25 mpg, but Ginobili was a fabulous catalyst for good things while on the court... and when he left it was put totally on Kawhi's shoulders to make things happen. I don't care about Parker's psyche, if things continue as is for the next few games, it's time to consider playing Ginobili at PG in the final 3 minutes of close games.

4. Tim Duncan shows zero signs of deterioration from last year and amazes with his selflessness. Duncan never demanded the ball, never took an unnecessary shot. He is the greatest Hall of Famer to care so little about stats. Fantastic.

5. David West is completely and utterly lost. His effort was there, but he has no idea what is going on around him. Hopefully he can get things fixed by the midway point, because right now he's a detriment to offensive movement.

6. Kawhi is a top ten player now and will be the alpha in front of Aldridge. Whether or not that causes issues with Aldridge and why he came to the team waits to be seen. Leonard's defensive a en and physical prowess have maximized and his offensive skills have amazingly caught up completely. Few players ever see such a huge increase in offensive abilities from their rookie year to their prime. Kawhi has gone from a defensive role player a la Bowen in his rookie year to a legitimate destroyer of teams.

7. The Spurs have zero, and I mean zero, means by which to stop premier scoring point guards. There are no bandaids for this issue with the current roster.

8. The experiment of West and Diaw on the frontcourt is an experiment that will not work. Though the effort is there, the size is just too lacking. This combination along with Parker's defense in the fourth quarter were the two glaring reasons the Spurs lost a game while looking much better.

1. This. They surprised me when they went to LA in the clutch. Like Pop was testing him. LA is def not comfortable yet.
2. Yes, Parker is a liability on D. But he was up against the best PG in the league last night. TP showed some explosion and quickness last night. And even tho Waiters got off those 2 shots, those weren't exactly high percentage.
3. Gino looks great, but he is fragile. He will probably miss some games this year too injury. Pop has no choice but to limit his mins.
4. Tim may be the 2nd best player to play the game.
5. West is new, but he has the correct mindset. He's a willing passer and has a decent IQ. He may the best fit for the spurs in a long time.
6. Kawhi is an animal. Plain and simple
7. P Thrils and Parker can't stop anyone, but D Green and Kawhi can guard a PG in the crunch. Hard game to judge as well. Westbrook is just a beast.
8. Yes i fear this is right....

[dweaver99027]

Okay... things i took from the opener...

Good game overall. These are 2 of the 5 best teams in the league , and they both played a great game on offense and average on defense. That performance would have netted the Spurs a W against 26 other teams in the opener had the schedule been different. Now, specifics:

1. Kawhi looked awesome. Fantastic on offense, fantastic on defense. It's pretty rare for someone to pull an A+ on both sides of the ball during a high profile game. This was seriously jordanesque. I loved how much better he's become in controlling his body while driving, changing pace and muscling his way past his defender. VERY FEW wings can drop their shoulders during a drive and send their man flying, even Adams. The fact he set a new career scoring high in the first game of the season says a lot. Here's hoping for more of the same from him.

2. LMA was a little out of sorts, and somewhat lost on offense during the execution of some sets. For those who do not like the shots he takes, tough break. Pop doesn't want to change his game, and rightly so. I loved his presence on defense, though. he has size and length and while he's no ibaka, he can block straight up like Timmy, and definitely better than Splitter.

3. Manu is feeling it. Should be feeling good about it, but him being on a tear during the early season is not the best thing for our playoff chances. Hopefully he'll keep palying at at least 70% of his current level.

4. Parker has definitely put his MVParker days behind him. He has lost a step on offense and more than one on defense. This team needs him to be a good game manager though and occasionaly have a vintage game, and he's more than capable of being that, and possibly more.

5. West still is learning the ropes, and also looks a bit lost on offense, but it's an understandable process. Having both your starting and backup bigs being able to muscle down in the post is going to be a big weapon for the Spurs come playoff time.

6. Timmy looked like 2015 Timmy. Which is great. If he plays at that level again we'll have a Top 5 C in the game again for our le run.

7. Patty looked much improved in assuming the parker role of getting the team into its sets when supported by Manu. Pesky defense too. Having 2015 playoff Patty instead of 2015 reg season Patty will make a big difference.

8. Green had an Icy night. Comes with the territory of being a role player. Liked the improved touch he showed when putting it on the floor and driving. Excellent defender as always, the days when his cold shooting night took their toll in hid defensive focus seem over.

9. Kyle looked good, he can get to his spots almost at will, which is a rare trait. the problem is he can't get to those spots while also having lost his man, so his shots always carry a high degree of difficulty. Made a couple yesterday. Much better defensively than anticipated when drafted, should develop a corner 3 to be a constant plus for the team.

10. Westbrook is awesome. When he refrains from pulling up at inopportune times, he's unstoppable if the opposition does not have a shotblocking big. Which is us.

[ElNono]

Holy ing ... bobo mightve been the second best spur last night. Only Gino was giving him a run for his money.

ElNono gettin old. ElNono needs glasses

Maybe I do.

I'll rewatch the game later.

[Gametight]

Great observations from everyone and I also agree we played pretty good last night all things considered. Last night did not have the feel of an opening night game whatsoever and we definitely had a chance to walk away with a W.

- My biggest concern is how will Aldridge feel playing behind Leonard. Kawhi was playing aggressive last night and and Aldridge looked somewhat lost out there. I think a lot has to do with the system and it will take some time to to get him worked in. How he handles that is anyone's guess considering some of the media reports about him last season and also during the offseason. I don't think there is any way in he will get his touches and numbers like he wants to when Kawhi is playing like he did last night.

- My 2nd biggest concern is with Tony Parker. I love the guy and he is one of my favorite players but he has become a s of his former self. It's tough to watch a shoot first point guard try and transition to a pass first point guard when it doesn't work. He has become such a liability on both ends of the floor it's time something has to be done about it. Do you think it's time to try and start Patty and have Tony come off the bench?

- Kawhi Leonard...wow Not much to say here, he could easily be considered most improved player every season since his rookie year which says a lot since he is now a top 5 player in the league (top 3 if he keeps playing like he did last night.) I think it's time everyone throws out the Scottie Pippen comparisons because he has surpassed Scottie Pippen on both sides of the floor imo.

- Danny Green is also an important puzzle to this team. His shot was off last night and I don't know what the he was thinking taking that jumper off of the screen towards the end of the game but we need his defense. I feel he is one of the top tier perimeter defenders in the league and when he is dropping the 3's we are a scary scary team. Hopefully he doesn't go through long cold streaks this season.

- Manu looked really good last night and I don't know why he wasn't in there when Danny took that ill advised shot towards the end of the game.

- Timmy as usual looked good which is nice to see.

- I thought Boris played really well and I think some of his shortcomings especially with the pick and roll was from playing next to West. Rebounding is going to be an issue with both of them on the floor like others have said and I agree with N0 LyF3 ScRuB about getting Boban in there, last night's matchup was a bad matchup for the second unit.

- I thought West played pretty well on the offensive end and had some good post ups but looked a little lost on defense. I wasn't impressed but it's the first game of the season and it was a bad match up for him so I'll wait to make judgement.

[Old School 44]

?

Holy ing ... bobo mightve been the second best spur last night. Only Gino was giving him a run for his money.

ElNono gettin old. ElNono needs glasses

Haven't you heard? ElNono's dead!

[ElNono]

?

Haven't you heard? ElNono's dead!

[FromWayDowntown]

Having saved so much on Cici's in the future, ElNono's family got that wifi in the coffin to keep it going on ST.

[ElNono]

Having saved so much on Cici's in the future, ElNono's family got that wifi in the coffin to keep it going on ST.

You'll be surprised how much delay I get from the game stream until it reaches the netherworld...

[tholdren]

Observation - Plust minus fails again.

[Horry Hipcheck]

I think most of these are spot on. The Spurs will look rusty out of the gate for a while, and will probably drop a few against high profile, more cohesive teams while they get into gear. I'm not worried at this point. A six point loss in an arena where the Spurs typically lose by 20, where most players did okay to great, I'll take it. Beats the out of Houston's opening night.

[-21-]

I wonder if playing Timmy some more time with the bench, in place of West, would help some of these rebounding/defensive issues. I'm not saying bench Tim (heave forbid!) but match the subs uion patterns so he has more time with them. Conversely West or Boban could get some run with the starters. LMA at 6-11 and when engaged defensively can do things Boris and West can't, so maybe he can take up the slack without Duncan and let Duncan help out the backups.

I also vote for Timmy to get a quick break in the 1st and 3rd quarter so that Diaw or West play with LMA ... and Timmy later plays with Manu in the 2nd unit

I think Pop will eventually try to play Tim more with the bench as the season goes on. I don't expect to see it anytime soon because Pop's priority right now is to make Aldridge comfortable and get the starting lineup to gel. Tim's chemistry with Mills/Manu/Diaw is not a problem so once we see progress from the starting lineup, I believe that's when we'll see Pop give Tim more minutes with the bench to address the Diaw/West situation.

[TD 21]

I wonder if playing Timmy some more time with the bench, in place of West, would help some of these rebounding/defensive issues. I'm not saying bench Tim (heave forbid!) but match the subs uion patterns so he has more time with them. Conversely West or Boban could get some run with the starters. LMA at 6-11 and when engaged defensively can do things Boris and West can't, so maybe he can take up the slack without Duncan and let Duncan help out the backups.

One wonders if Simmons has the speed to guard quick pgs? But his offense, particularly his handles, are such a liability that I don't think Pop can play him.

It's not that simple. If Duncan comes out at the under 6 timeout in the 1st and 3rd and returns at the 2 minute mark in the 1st and 3rd, he'd need another 5 minute break in the 2nd and 4th, to get to 30.

Now obviously, it won't be quite so rigid. The exact amount he plays in any given game will depend on the schedule, opponent, the way the game is going, etc. But he'll probably average roughly 28, which means mostly playing on a 30 minute rotation, with blowouts getting his average down.

If Aldridge averages roughly 34, but is on a 36 minute rotation, that means he'd come out at the 2 minute mark in the 1st and 3rd and return at the 8 minute mark in the 2nd and 4th. Giving Duncan a 5 minute break at that point means he'd return at the under 3 timeout in the 2nd and 4th quarters.

First half, whatever. Second half, I want them generally playing the final 6-8 minutes together, if the result is in question.

[LittleCriminal]

1. Put Bonner in street clothes

2. Put Boban in his uniform

3. Let Boban play

[Russ]

1. Put Bonner in street clothes

2. Put Boban in his uniform

3. Let Boban play

Wouldn't change a word.

[dbreiden83080]

I saw nothing to make me think they won't have a great season if healthy.. They should have won last night IMO, had a lead most of the way just played bad down the stretch. They will reel off a few in a row coming up here with this weak early schedule..

[SAGirl]

1. Spurs are still working on finding a rhythm for LMA. Although he receives isolation post-ups from time to time, he's still not a part of many plays others than screens at the top of the key. Once those change to pick and rolls with less awkwardness, good things will happen. In the meantime, LMA will be lucky to average 15 ppg.

2. I'm not anti Tony Parker at all. At all. That said, facts are stubborn things, and Pop is going to have to adjust to the fact that Tony Parker is a MAJOR liability on defense. Players are most fresh at the beginning of the season, and I was amazed at how slow Parker's footwork has become. He will still make some tear drops and contested layups, but this is a grim problem for the Spurs. The decline in speed for TP has been dramatic. Which leads to #3:

3. The Spurs cannot afford to keep Manu Ginobili out of the rotation to end games if he continues to play as well as he has throughout the preseason. It is imperative that he play less than 25 mpg, but Ginobili was a fabulous catalyst for good things while on the court... and when he left it was put totally on Kawhi's shoulders to make things happen. I don't care about Parker's psyche, if things continue as is for the next few games, it's time to consider playing Ginobili at PG in the final 3 minutes of close games.

4. Tim Duncan shows zero signs of deterioration from last year and amazes with his selflessness. Duncan never demanded the ball, never took an unnecessary shot. He is the greatest Hall of Famer to care so little about stats. Fantastic.

5. David West is completely and utterly lost. His effort was there, but he has no idea what is going on around him. Hopefully he can get things fixed by the midway point, because right now he's a detriment to offensive movement.

6. Kawhi is a top ten player now and will be the alpha in front of Aldridge. Whether or not that causes issues with Aldridge and why he came to the team waits to be seen. Leonard's defensive a en and physical prowess have maximized and his offensive skills have amazingly caught up completely. Few players ever see such a huge increase in offensive abilities from their rookie year to their prime. Kawhi has gone from a defensive role player a la Bowen in his rookie year to a legitimate destroyer of teams.

7. The Spurs have zero, and I mean zero, means by which to stop premier scoring point guards. There are no bandaids for this issue with the current roster.

8. The experiment of West and Diaw on the frontcourt is an experiment that will not work. Though the effort is there, the size is just too lacking. This combination along with Parker's defense in the fourth quarter were the two glaring reasons the Spurs lost a game while looking much better.

Agree with your observations on all points.

I noticed the West-Diaw problem last night and even during preseason. Believe it or not during preseason, the best bench bigs were Boban and Anderson TBH with Rasual Butler thrown in (Diaw barely played, was rehabbing and getting his rhythm back, but sub him in for Butler, and even better). It might be that the best bench X-factor lineups involve Boban/Diaw/Kyle for a few mins here or there, particularly to calm down the situation with bench bigs attacking the rim. It's possible we'll see some Tim or LMA in the bench. I am not liking West as a 5 in the bench for sure.

The PG issue is a huge problem with no solution. Both TP and Patty are small enough that even if they exert effort, like they did last night, the athletic PG in the league like the John Wall's and Westbrooks will do whatever they want unimpeded. Even ultra fast PG like Schroder are a problem, and guys like Austin Rivers, whose game is to drive hard to the rim, and have size, are a problem for both Patty and Tony. Not sure how ready Ray is to come in with defensive hustle. Its a problem for sure.

[SAGirl]

One wonders if Simmons has the speed to guard quick pgs? But his offense, particularly his handles, are such a liability that I don't think Pop can play him.

Simmons athleticism was not put to well use. He gets caught on picks very frequently, and I mean completely taken out of the play like Belinelli would. He ballwatches and looses track of his man and gets faked out on backcuts for example. He has the tools to be better, but right now he's not. There is a reason Kyle beat him to the SF minutes and its not bc he's cute.

[SAGirl]

8. A Diaw and West frontcourt is light years ahead of where the Spurs were just 3 years ago with Bonner and Blair.

I wasn't around to witness that frontcourt, but a team with those two playing rotation minutes in the bench didn't get the Spurs very far, so its not that difficult to best them. They are not the gold standard for benches.

[LittleCriminal]

The 2nd unit should be this.

Boban
West
Diaw
Anderson
Manu

[BillMc]

Simmons athleticism was not put to well use. He gets caught on picks very frequently, and I mean completely taken out of the play like Belinelli would. He ballwatches and looses track of his man and gets faked out on backcuts for example. He has the tools to be better, but right now he's not. There is a reason Kyle beat him to the SF minutes and its not bc he's cute.

You've got some good points. I'd forgotten about his ball watching and ease of being picked off, we'd seen during the preseason.

[CGD]

I think Bobi v West is going to become a thing, which is going to be tough given the whole west taking less money narrative. I hope Bobi gets his shot though.

[ceperez]

wtf

you did not watch or something ?

Despite the fact Bobo played his first meaningful minutes of the year last night, he had a very solid 20 mn that even translated to the box score, 4/5 on shooting, 6 assists !! (second best of the team) with 2 stl, 3 blocks ! Along with Kawhi and Manu, he was the best Spurs. He had a couple of clutch plays in defense that put the Spurs in excellent situation to win the game. The only down side was his lack of effort in the rebound department. For the rest you can't ask better impact for a player off the bench logging 20 mn

Bobo... extremely under rated.

[SAGirl]

9. Kyle looked good, he can get to his spots almost at will, which is a rare trait. the problem is he can't get to those spots while also having lost his man, so his shots always carry a high degree of difficulty. Made a couple yesterday. Much better defensively than anticipated when drafted, should develop a corner 3 to be a constant plus for the team.

I have noticed this too. He can't break free from anyone most of the time. But if he becomes effective taking those floaters or his shots while guarded, what a problem he will become for others. Yea right now the criticism is spot on, bc he's not athletic, he won't get freebies, easy dunks or stuff like that. But if he becomes really good at what he does, he will be able to do it against anybody and that is a potential weapon for the bench. He can potentially bail out posessions for the bench for example. Very tough to block his shot too, has some Dirkesque fadeaway.

[Phenomanul]

Great observations from everyone and I also agree we played pretty good last night all things considered. Last night did not have the feel of an opening night game whatsoever and we definitely had a chance to walk away with a W.

- My biggest concern is how will Aldridge feel playing behind Leonard. Kawhi was playing aggressive last night and and Aldridge looked somewhat lost out there. I think a lot has to do with the system and it will take some time to to get him worked in. How he handles that is anyone's guess considering some of the media reports about him last season and also during the offseason. I don't think there is any way in he will get his touches and numbers like he wants to when Kawhi is playing like he did last night.

- My 2nd biggest concern is with Tony Parker. I love the guy and he is one of my favorite players but he has become a s of his former self. It's tough to watch a shoot first point guard try and transition to a pass first point guard when it doesn't work. He has become such a liability on both ends of the floor it's time something has to be done about it. Do you think it's time to try and start Patty and have Tony come off the bench?

- Kawhi Leonard...wow Not much to say here, he could easily be considered most improved player every season since his rookie year which says a lot since he is now a top 5 player in the league (top 3 if he keeps playing like he did last night.) I think it's time everyone throws out the Scottie Pippen comparisons because he has surpassed Scottie Pippen on both sides of the floor imo.

- Danny Green is also an important puzzle to this team. His shot was off last night and I don't know what the he was thinking taking that jumper off of the screen towards the end of the game but we need his defense. I feel he is one of the top tier perimeter defenders in the league and when he is dropping the 3's we are a scary scary team. Hopefully he doesn't go through long cold streaks this season.

- Manu looked really good last night and I don't know why he wasn't in there when Danny took that ill advised shot towards the end of the game.

- Timmy as usual looked good which is nice to see.

- I thought Boris played really well and I think some of his shortcomings especially with the pick and roll was from playing next to West. Rebounding is going to be an issue with both of them on the floor like others have said and I agree with N0 LyF3 ScRuB about getting Boban in there, last night's matchup was a bad matchup for the second unit.

- I thought West played pretty well on the offensive end and had some good post ups but looked a little lost on defense. I wasn't impressed but it's the first game of the season and it was a bad match up for him so I'll wait to make judgement.

The Scottie Pippen comparisons are pretty valid IMO... Pippen is considered by many to be the premier wing defender of all time... On the other end of the floor he routinely flirted with triple doubles, and brought an intensity and tenacity matched by few.

I believe Kawhi has the tools to surpass Pippen, and actually has a more mature at ude and outlook about the game than Pippen ever had. That said, Pippen could shoot the 3 from anywhere, and had the court vision of a point guard... it is in this last department that Kawhi would need to make 2 or 3 more leaps before he could step outside of Pippen's shadow in terms of comparisons.

Look up Hitmany2k's Pippen videos on youtube if you have the chance...

[ceperez]

Agree with your observations on all points.

I noticed the West-Diaw problem last night and even during preseason. Believe it or not during preseason, the best bench bigs were Boban and Anderson TBH with Rasual Butler thrown in (Diaw barely played, was rehabbing and getting his rhythm back, but sub him in for Butler, and even better). It might be that the best bench X-factor lineups involve Boban/Diaw/Kyle for a few mins here or there, particularly to calm down the situation with bench bigs attacking the rim. It's possible we'll see some Tim or LMA in the bench. I am not liking West as a 5 in the bench for sure.

The PG issue is a huge problem with no solution. Both TP and Patty are small enough that even if they exert effort, like they did last night, the athletic PG in the league like the John Wall's and Westbrooks will do whatever they want unimpeded. Even ultra fast PG like Schroder are a problem, and guys like Austin Rivers, whose game is to drive hard to the rim, and have size, are a problem for both Patty and Tony. Not sure how ready Ray is to come in with defensive hustle. Its a problem for sure.

The Spurs can't have a hole in defense with an undersized point guard. Spur have 3 of them (and could have had 4 if Fredette stiuck)!!!

There are only two players that can fill that role in the team, Manu and Simmons. In fact, I think Manu may not be quick enough. So Spurs absolutely need to make sure that Simmons can get on the court come playoff time.