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Ya ya, we know Manu is great
I thought this was a good, early test, both for Pop and the team to asses what they have, depth-wise.
Some thoughts:
McCallum: he looks like he can play. He drove and finished strongly a couple times. His mid-range also looked good. He looked engaged whenever his number was called. He's still lost rotation-wise, etc, which is expected this early in the season, with few minutes under his belt and on a new team.
Anderson: I thought he was overall ok, but he made terrible decisions on both ends. Either rushing his shot or incorrectly helping on D and leaving his man open. He's a guy that has had more run with the team, so I thought more was expected from him.
Butler: He never stops hustling but he hasn't differentiated himself from Kyle yet, which is what could buy him more minutes. He finally got a 3 pointer to fall, hopefully that gets his confidence going.
Simmons: On a night where everything looked like a jumper, he was one of the few that was able to penetrate and create for others. This Spurs team need more of this. I though his defense was good. IMO, he had a positive night overall.
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On a side note, we should be pretty happy that Manu decided to come back. This team looks about twice as smart with it's decisions when he's out there. Hopefully his injury doesn't keep him out long. I also thought Boris should've closed the game instead of Anderson. Bobo is just the other natural playmaker we have out there, and also has a very positive effect on our offense.
Ya ya, we know Manu is great
Ya ya, we know Manu is great
tbh, good times to be able to write something about the new guys in a real game. Spurs have been on a fairly short rotation so far. I expect that to change sooner rather than later.
Elnono is always Baggin on Slomo.
Anderson played a great game (for a second year backup, pressed to start) he had numerous blocks, steals, tough on the boards, AND he was knocking down the 3 balls tonight. he made a couple defensive errors in 31 minutes but who didnt? He had an ill timed post up fadeaway in the 4th, but those mistakes were few and far between.
Anderson is a net positive and i gotta feeling hes going to grow to become something really special after the TD and gino leave the team. Hes got game. Just needs more minutes to develop.
Thanks for the thoughts, OP.
That game was all on popovich. Every time we'd get a big lead, he's put in a bull lineup. We could have won that game by at least 40 last night.
Fair enough. Maybe I'm just incorrectly expecting more from him. I actually stopped commenting on him pretty much since the season started to take a 2nd look. This was his first game where he had more minutes, that's why I wrote about him.
Our X-Factor
Still need Green to find his shot. When he does it's game over NBA.
Totally agree that McCallum looks terrific for his youth and experience. I believe that he will become what everybody hoped Cojo would be. Really really like this kid, and hope that he gets to play more to learn the rotations and defensive sets better.
This was Anderson's best game ever, imo, but I remain unconvinced that he will ever be what the FO seems to want him to be. Maybe his problem is similar to Danny's, i.e., difficulty maintaining focus. Hope that I am not expecting too much, but I continue to be a bit underwhelmed with the kid.
I think Butler is further along than Anderson right now in learning where to be, when to be there, and what to do while he is there, and he has a lot less time with our system than KA does. I think he was a really good addition.
I take your points on Simmons. I really haven't seen enough of him to form an opinion yet.
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Your side note is well observed regarding Manu, to the point of belaboring the obvious. I don't mind you saying it because it is true. It is just so clearly true, though, that mentioning it just seems to invite player-haters to find something to about. For a while I thought that Boris should be playing more, but he had such a terrible night that I think he was right to stay on the bench at the end. He, more than Parker during the game, seemed terribly distracted. Post game comments from Parker indicated that he thought he was done for the night when he came out when we were up by 16, and didn't expect to go back in. It was utterly clear that his mind was nonfunctioning when he went back in, and Pop was right to take him out. Although you are right that Boris is normally a good ball handler and playmaker who we can usually count on, I don't think it was true lat night. Really, it was Timmy that settled the crew long enough for us to get the win.
Thank you for the observations, though, and than you for avoiding left-handed compliments.
Maybe I just want him to be something else. His speed is never going to get better, so I expect a much, much smarter player. Perhaps his inexperience doesn't allow him to be that right now, or perhaps he doesn't have it in him. It's true that's too early to answer that, so I can see how my comment might sound unfair.
Butler is a 13 year NBA vet of course he's picking up the system faster. He has less to learn. He's also past his prime so what you're seeing is as good as it gets.
Anderson is coming along nicely. He makes some mistakes which is expected but overall he has been playing good D. That's all he needs to focus on for now. Pop has the luxury of being able to develop his game slowly.
I thought Anderson played really well, but I just skimmed through the game, to be fair..didn't really take it seriously, though, it was evident that most of the Spurs, including Pop, couldn't give a about this game
If ever there was a game to experiment with lineups, it was this one.
I didn't even watch the game. Dleague.
We knew that already.
I thought Anderson played really well, but I just skimmed through the game, to be fair..didn't really take it seriously, though, it was evident that most of the Spurs, including Pop, couldn't give a about this gamebut gutless worms tho
You are correct.
10 points, including 2 of 2 from 3pt range, 4 of 9 shooting overall, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, only 1 turnover, and 1 foul.
Slomo did fine.
Anderson played great. I'm not sure where the Butler love comes from on this site. I'd rather see Kyle take back his rotation spot from Rasul than more of what Butler brings to the game.
Probably from Butler being better than expected, after he was a last-minute pickup, and considering his age. And I would say, yes, better than expected, except for the 3 pt shooting.
You hit the proverbial nail on the proverbial head, I think.
This whole thing between KA and Butler may be little more than a reaction to expectations. I had very little expectations of Butler precisely because of his age...I just expected him to be a place-holder, mostly. On the other hand, KA has been so hyped for the last couple of years I may be expecting more of him than the FO is. I have never hesitated to say that watching him always makes me nervous, and I have trouble seeing him getting to the point of being a consistent rotation contributor; having said that, I was also impressed with his play last night given what I have seen in the past, and if he can continue to improve I will be thrilled.
Yeah, I agree with most of the other people in this thread. I thought KA did a good job. I like that he passes to people when they're in rhythm. It's a small thing but it really shows his potential as a ball handler.
Eh, he was 2/7 from 2-pt range. I don't want him shooting a bunch of threes so in his range he did really bad tbh.
Expecting more out of Anderson in his second year than we expected from Cory in his second year does not make sense. Both were drafted very late in the 1st round as projects having barely turned 20. The need for Kyle to perform is greater than that of Cory in his second year because he is counted to provide meaningful bench minutes and be a part of the regular season rotation. Cory had no such expectations thrust on him. We should not hold our team's roster composition against Kyle.
Overall , he had a very good game. If he can hit his wide open threes at a 40% clip, then along with his disruption effect on defense and ability to be a secondary or tertiary ball handler, he'll give us a lot of quality minutes in the regular season.
Those who believe a second year player not yet 22 years old, drafted at no 30 can provide 15 mins of backup duty in the NBA Finals without hiccups are in denial of the truth.
PSA: Kyle Anderson is the same age or younger than 24 players taken in this summer's draft.
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