Kawhi and switching

[313]

at some internet troll criticizing the defense of the reigning, and soon to be two-time, DPOY.

Green has that locked up

[loveforthegame]

Why does Pop let Leonard get away with all these switches? Especially costing the Spurs so many points and games?

[YGWHI]

Green has that locked up

At half season? Good for him! But I'd wait until April, Green had that lockep up last season but...

[YGWHI]

Kawhi does do this often. He's got the green light to do whatever the beck he wants. Sometimes it turns into great plays, other times it's a huge breakdown. With time I'm sure he will get better at making that decision. The great passing teams will tear us up with that free lancing

You really think a Spurs player has the green light to do whatever he wants on defense? On defense on a Pop's team?? Pop wants the switches, he calls it! That's quite clear after the game against Cavs.

[YGWHI]

Do you people even watch basketball

Who knows. At least they don't watch the Spurs and Pop coaching very often.

Uh, no. You're wrong. With two seconds left and the game on the line, every player is told to switch on every screen. This is precisely to avoid any ups due to a lack of communication or misunderstanding. LMA ed up, he should have switched. Oh well.

It's so funny that someone can think they should communicate when they already know it because Pop is who calls the play not only in the game but in every practice.

[still.focused]

Kawhi does freelance & I love it.
A large majority of his big plays come of it and sometimes he misses
But this was a LMA gaff
Late game situations are ALWAYS switches and gone over in the huddles
THATS the communication
Theres a particular Greatest Spur Ever, Best PF of All-Time, 1s ballot HOFer missing from our line up
Reason: Hes not fast enough to.........SWITCH on screens

[Brazil]

Who knows. At least they don't watch the Spurs and Pop coaching very often.


It's so funny that someone can think they should communicate when they already know it because Pop is who calls the play not only in the game but in every practice.

The play involving both LMA and Kawhi is terrible... happens all the time during the games, that's why you see Tim leading defense and being vocale about it... so saying any player does not need to communicate or should not communicate because they already know is dumb especially when you talk about a new guy

Kawhi is leading the defense in particular when Tim is on the bench and yes he has to communicate, help his teammate, compensate mistakes thats what Tim did his whole career.

[YGWHI]

The play involving both LMA and Kawhi is terrible... happens all the time during the games, that's why you see Tim leading defense and being vocale about it... so saying any player does not need to communicate or should not communicate because they already know is dumb especially when you talk about a new guy

Kawhi is leading the defense in particular when Tim is on the bench and yes he has to communicate, help his teammate, compensate mistakes thats what Tim did his whole career.

No. With 4 seconds remaining on the clock? Everyone knows what have to do/what teammates will do.

They defend w/o time on the clock in practice to know they will switch...If LMA slept in that play it's not Kawhi's fault.

[YGWHI]

I mean, being vocal and helping teammates on defense during games it's a great thing, a real leader should do it. But without time on the clock every Spur on the court knows the team-play.

[Chinook]

To the debate in this thread, Kawhi DID actually communicate that switch. What do you think the push meant? He was telling LMA to go, which he did, albeit a second too late. However, it was a little unclear if that's what Pop wanted. Green and LMA didn't switch on the first screen. It's completely understandable why the Spurs would have not wanted to leave Gortat open when they only need a two to win. The automatic switching rule usually only refers to outside shots. You don't want to trade a small on the big inside the paint.

If you want to see Kawhi play a PnR poorly, or at least have bad chemistry with his co-defender, examples are out there.



Pretty much every Durant/Westbrook PnR results in miscommunication and one of those two guys running free. Subjectively, I think Kawhi can or could get so locked into his man that he's disinclined to switch off sometimes.

[YGWHI]

To the debate in this thread, Kawhi DID actually communicate that switch. What do you think the push meant? He was telling LMA to go, which he did, albeit a second too late.

The push meant that LMA forgot it and Kawhi had to push him to go

[Brazil]

No. With 4 seconds remaining on the clock? Everyone knows what have to do/what teammates will do.

They defend w/o time on the clock in practice to know they will switch...If LMA slept in that play it's not Kawhi's fault.

Not everybody knows what to do/will do especially in a team where a lot of players are new. In that play the switch per say was not a good idea. OP point is pretty blank and not backed up, the fact LMA is the only guy to blame or not is arguable, at the end of the day, a dude was let wide open, Kawhi was defending nobody and caught on a no man's land and we lost the game on a terrible defense execution.

For the rest I'm sorry but with 4 sec to go you communicate... Pop has a great system but also has great player capable to adapt and change system when needed..

[YGWHI]

Pop has a great system but also has great player capable to adapt and change system when needed..

Adapt? Sure. Change? No. We don't have many LeBron's on the team who can change a designed play to run or to defend in the last seconds of a game.

[YGWHI]

In that play the switch per say was not a good idea

Like it wasn't a good idea to play zone against the Cavs in the whole 3rd quarter switching Patty/Manu on Lebron when this team has one of the best LBJ one-on-one defenders in Kawhi.

But we can't negate the fact that Pop wanted it, like in Washington.

[Brazil]

The push meant that LMA forgot it and Kawhi had to push him to go

I disagree, I don't think LMA forgot to go I think it is the contrary, as Chinook pointed out I doubt Pop wanted them to switch on dat one. LMA was staying with his man and that was the right move in this particular situation.

[Brazil]

Adapt? Sure. Change? No. We don't have many LeBron's on the team who can change a designed play to run or to defend in the last seconds of a game.

for a starter Manu is doing it all the time and Pop is fine with it

[Brazil]

Like it wasn't a good idea to play zone against the Cavs in the whole 3rd quarter switching Patty/Manu on Lebron when this team has one of the best LBJ one-on-one defenders in Kawhi.

But we can't negate the fact that Pop wanted it, like in Washington.

well except here I don't think Pop wanted dat switch

[YGWHI]

I disagree, I don't think LMA forgot to go I think it is the contrary, as Chinook pointed out I doubt Pop wanted them to switch on dat one. LMA was staying with his man and that was the right move in this particular situation.

Well, I disagree too. It wasn't the first time they switching in those situations. Like others said that didn't work last season because Tim/Splitter/Bynes weren't mobile enough, with LMA it seemed a good idea on paper.

[YGWHI]

for a starter Manu is doing it all the time and Pop is fine with it

I wouldn't say that Manu has the green light to change a play to close a game now.

He can adapt to the defense but if Pop calls a play in playoffs, sadly, Manu won't change it. I'd have preferred that Manu to call the last play against the Clips in game 7. Eveything would have been better than a lob against Lob City.

[Brazil]

Well, I disagree too. It wasn't the first time they switching in those situations. Like others said that didn't work last season because Tim/Splitter/Bynes weren't mobile enough, with LMA it seemed a good idea on paper.

let's agree to disagree then... it's all good. For me the play / mistake is quite obvious but I can see where you come from so yeah good talk

[Brazil]

I wouldn't say that Manu has the green light to change a play to close a game now.

He can adapt to the defense but if Pop calls a play in playoffs, sadly, Manu won't change it. I'd have preferred that Manu to call the last play against the Clips in game 7. Eveything would have been better than a lob against Lob City.

the whole serie was a mess tbh

[Mnky]

You really think a Spurs player has the green light to do whatever he wants on defense? On defense on a Pop's team?? Pop wants the switches, he calls it! That's quite clear after the game against Cavs.

Kawhi breaks out of system. If he is iso on a guy, and gets switched, he sometimes just decides to leave the switch man and come double from the top of the key instead if allowing the interior help defense to take that assist. Like you said, that doesn't happen in POps system which makes it painfully obvious when he does do it. Being DPOY and pushing Kawhi to take over, I'm sure it has to do with Pop building up his confidence. He definitely has the okay though, as Pop has never allowed so many pulled assignments in all the years I've seen the spurs play. If it wasn't allowed, and it was just a mistake, he would have put a stop to it by now.

Pop likes his high screen man to chase over the screen and contest the shot. Chase off the three and force the contested 2. He does call switches, and sometimes you can't help but switch but I'm not sure where people are getting that that is the staple of the defense.

[SAGirl]

Kawhi breaks out of system. If he is iso on a guy, and gets switched, he sometimes just decides to leave the switch man and come double from the top of the key instead if allowing the interior help defense to take that assist. Like you said, that doesn't happen in POps system which makes it painfully obvious when he does do it. Being DPOY and pushing Kawhi to take over, I'm sure it has to do with Pop building up his confidence. He definitely has the okay though, as Pop has never allowed so many pulled assignments in all the years I've seen the spurs play. If it wasn't allowed, and it was just a mistake, he would have put a stop to it by now.

Pop likes his high screen man to chase over the screen and contest the shot. Chase off the three and force the contested 2. He does call switches, and sometimes you can't help but switch but I'm not sure where people are getting that that is the staple of the defense.

Specially earlier in the season I saw him gamble a lot on defense. It was very noticeable like you mention. It could be part of Pop's experimenting.... Playoffs could be a different scenario where you want to limit the gambles.