Do you expect any offensive or defensive structure or scheme changes this year?

[apalisoc_9]

Last year the Spurs made significant changes offensively playing less off Parker and Relying on offensive Talent Kawhi and Aldridge to put up points. Frankly, this was somewhat of a surprise even for the biggest Kawhi advocate myself..Some Numbers giving us an Idea of how the Spurs Played their offense.


Pace: 93.8 (24th of 30)
Three Point Attempt Rate: .22 (25th out of 30)
Mid Range Shots: .137 (2nd out of 30)
Jumpshots from 3-9 ft: .173 (8th out of 30)
Layups: 1018 (12-30)
OffRtg: 113 (4th out of 30)

As evidence with the numbers, the Spurs played a slow paced game that relied on offensive talent from Kawhi and LA..Both love the mid-range and 3-9 push shots or hooks ( essentially, post ups). We took less three pointers, and that is largely a function of playing less Pick and Roll offense and More Pick and Pops and Isolation. This year, We are expecting three competent and willing Roll guys in Gasol, Lee, and dedmon..They should be able to open up the corner three pointers more. In comparison, We only had Duncan as a Roll Guy last year and his role was heavily reduced offensively and teams would just let him score and catch the roll pass.

The team didnt attack the basket that much. The layup stat is a bit misleading because a large part of those layups are post ups and high Post Isolation. I wasnt able to find a stat, but my hunch tells me we are bottom 10 in attacks to the basket coming from the perimeter. Having said all that, We still finished with a ridiculous offrtg thanks to our more patient offense.

I dont expect a whole lot of changes next year, but Gasol should give us a higher ceiling offensively. I think We will be able to run more Pick and Roll this year and a result have more three point attempts, but this will largely depend on what Role Parker will have next year and If Kawhi is Willing to mix up his offensive touches to more Pick and Roll and less Isos..

Here are some Numbers Last year that would give us the spurs general defensive scheme.

Opponent three point Attempts: .244 (29th out of 30)
Midrange Shots: .119 (2nd out of 30)
Shots from 3-9: .173 (5th out of 30)
opponent Layups: 844 (29th of 30) I already miss Timmy Duncan
Dftrtg: 99 (1st out of 30)

The Spurs prevented threes and forced the midrange and push and hook shots. Part of the reason why San Antonio was so Good last year defensively is because they were able to force the drive, force the opponent perimeter to our Bigs (TD most of the time) and still prevent a layup. That is absolutely remarkable. Will Pau Gasol offer the same kind of defensive contribution? Against Elite teams the spurs switched a lot.

What Numbers from the Given, do you guys expect changes?

[alpha_HaZE]

Spurs last year had a historically good defensive season, it would be silly to expect we can improve. Especially with Tim retiring. Pau should be able to replace Manu as the 3rd highest usage guy. He had similar usage % last year as Manu, with higher assists rate and fewer turnovers. Him and LMA would be hard to defend. So I expect our offense to be better and our defense to take a step back.

Regarding pace, it would be interesting to see if Pau starts the game. There are rumors that say he wont. If that's the case, I think our starters will play at a similar pace like last year with Dedmon protecting the rim. Advanced stats and his elite athleticism, gives me some confidence that he can do that. With Pau & Manu leading the second unit, I think our bench guys will play at a higher pace. As others have already observed; Patty, Manu, and Pau will be our new foreign legion add KL & LMA or KL & Lee or KA & LMA to that group and you have 5 guys that can push the tempo, share the ball, hopefully knock the 3, and ultimately out-score their opponents.

[SAGirl]

I do expect some changes bc it's possible Kawhi is still developing as the main player. He's not a player in his prime yet and while one would not expect big leaps bc he's a very dominant player already, subtle things like playmaking he can improve still. Ultimately it depends if Pop sees him as a more ball dominant player or not but Pop was giving him the ball more and more.

Also, it's going to be interesting to see which way they go with Tony. Sometimes I feel like we have taken him for granted even at this current level. The Tony we have is not the worst possible Tony. Two seasons ago he was really terrible and a lot of other guys had down seasons then too and injuries! This past season Danny had an off year shooting and father time eventually claimed Tim.

In the beginning of the season everything looks peachy but someone will underperform and someone will get hurt. It happens every season, sometimes multiple guys have down years. Hopefully it's not any of the main guys but it will be someone, maybe two. I expect Danny to bounce back, but it could be others, specially the older dudes: What if it's Gasol? What about Tony or Manu? A candidate for the injured list: Lee.

To answer your question: I think the SL will still be defensive minded and they will look better if Danny is hitting his shots. Gasol will help them offensively a lot but they still need LMA and Kawhi to be themselves and get theirs as well as anchor them defensively. The bench is a question mark bc they need the young guys to grow up but they are hungry and will likely run away with any chance they get. Simms and Mills are in contract seasons. Opportunities like this are what young players kill themselves in the gym for. I expect them to have good seasons.

The bench will shoot a lot more 3s with the addition of Bertans and Anderson hitting the 3 nowadays. They will be more aggressive in transition and overall play at a faster pace than they did last season and when Simmons plays they will look to push the pace often to take advantage of his athleticism in transition. It's by far his best skill. They need Dedmon to pan out and will probably try to fit in Lee somewhere but he's one of those candidates to be injured a lot and not fit in anywhere when guys are healthy and the younger hungry dudes are going to kick his ass if he has nags or is not in good shape.

[kobyz]

They gonna change the formation from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3...

[TD 21]

Offensively, I'm sure they'll be some tweaks (maybe Leonard runs more pick-and-roll while Parker spots up more), but nothing major. Despite all the changes, the actual rotation will likely function similarly.

What Gasol averaged with the Bulls, is irrelevant because his minutes and usage will likely both be closer to Duncan's in recent seasons and it's difficult to feature three players who overlap some.

Without getting into what position certain front court bench players will primarily play and who with, Dedmon and Lee will provide roll where West and Diaw provided pop.

Other than that, they still lack a go to creator on the perimeter and high percentage, volume three-point shooting (none added to the rotation, one less on the roster). Expect an offense that's again efficient, but not explosive.

[skulls138]

More passing, less iso. DG needs to feel like he is more of a part of the action. KL more three pt shots and postups, less faceup. LMA more driving and kicking instead outside shooting unless the shot clock is winding down. I can only talk about the guys who were there last season.

[spurs10]

Last year the Spurs made significant changes offensively playing less off Parker and Relying on offensive Talent Kawhi and Aldridge to put up points. Frankly, this was somewhat of a surprise even for the biggest Kawhi advocate myself..Some Numbers giving us an Idea of how the Spurs Played their offense.


Pace: 93.8 (24th of 30)
Three Point Attempt Rate: .22 (25th out of 30)
Mid Range Shots: .137 (2nd out of 30)
Jumpshots from 3-9 ft: .173 (8th out of 30)
Layups: 1018 (12-30)
OffRtg: 113 (4th out of 30)

As evidence with the numbers, the Spurs played a slow paced game that relied on offensive talent from Kawhi and LA..Both love the mid-range and 3-9 push shots or hooks ( essentially, post ups). We took less three pointers, and that is largely a function of playing less Pick and Roll offense and More Pick and Pops and Isolation. This year, We are expecting three competent and willing Roll guys in Gasol, Lee, and dedmon..They should be able to open up the corner three pointers more. In comparison, We only had Duncan as a Roll Guy last year and his role was heavily reduced offensively and teams would just let him score and catch the roll pass.

The team didnt attack the basket that much. The layup stat is a bit misleading because a large part of those layups are post ups and high Post Isolation. I wasnt able to find a stat, but my hunch tells me we are bottom 10 in attacks to the basket coming from the perimeter. Having said all that, We still finished with a ridiculous offrtg thanks to our more patient offense.

I dont expect a whole lot of changes next year, but Gasol should give us a higher ceiling offensively. I think We will be able to run more Pick and Roll this year and a result have more three point attempts, but this will largely depend on what Role Parker will have next year and If Kawhi is Willing to mix up his offensive touches to more Pick and Roll and less Isos..

Here are some Numbers Last year that would give us the spurs general defensive scheme.

Opponent three point Attempts: .244 (29th out of 30)
Midrange Shots: .119 (2nd out of 30)
Shots from 3-9: .173 (5th out of 30)
opponent Layups: 844 (29th of 30) I already miss Timmy Duncan
Dftrtg: 99 (1st out of 30)

The Spurs prevented threes and forced the midrange and push and hook shots. Part of the reason why San Antonio was so Good last year defensively is because they were able to force the drive, force the opponent perimeter to our Bigs (TD most of the time) and still prevent a layup. That is absolutely remarkable. Will Pau Gasol offer the same kind of defensive contribution? Against Elite teams the spurs switched a lot.

What Numbers from the Given, do you guys expect changes?

Good info in this post. Have to agree we'll probably step up a bit offensively and step back bit on defense. I too like the idea of more pick n roll and less iso- leaving out Green of the mix.

[AFMadison]

As long as we play team ball and not hero ball like last year.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

They gonna change the formation from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3...

what sport is that

[Spurtacular]

Last year the Spurs made significant changes offensively playing less off Parker and Relying on offensive Talent Kawhi and Aldridge to put up points.

Says the guy that was making threads about how LaBeta needed to defer to Parker

[ElNono]

Expecting Manu to have a bigger role, tbh...

[apalisoc_9]

Expecting Manu to have a bigger role, tbh...

Actually, he might be forced to have a bigger role if Porky gets injured and Anderson flops.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I certainly hope there will be some changes to the offense, but I'm not sure how to change it for the starters given that Aldridge is such a ball-stopper.

Lack of ball movement was awful last year - the bench looked a lot better than the starters for the first two months of the season because they still played the Beautiful Game while the starters bogged down in Aldridge-ball.

As for Kawhi, he seems to thrive in a high ball movement or chaotic environment. We need to get the ball moving again so that he can cause havoc with his improvisational offence.

[tbdog]

http://basketball.realgm.com/analysi...-Label-On-Fire

[K...]

http://basketball.realgm.com/analysi...-Label-On-Fire

Good article

[SAGirl]

Just saw this:
http://youtube.com/watch?time_contin...;v=b75H-4kILuw
Possible Garino makes the team to spell Manu on defense, seriously. Also it's possible Simmons is a better option than Manu at this point bc if he's going to give you defense like that at least he will also be scoring or drawing fouls. I hope Pop looks at that intently and starts to move on.

[apalisoc_9]

Simmins over manu..are you high? You keep on talking about development as if these other younger guys are the same caliber of talent as kawhi

[SAGirl]

Simmins over manu..are you high? You keep on talking about development as if these other younger guys are the same caliber of talent as kawhi

Did you even watch Manu in the above video? Nope then, whatever. Manu was terrible both ends against OKC. Couldn't score one end. Dion Waiters looked like a superstar on the other. Only two ways to go: sub Garino hope defense improves, if he even makes the team. Sub Simmons, defense will be but he will score or draw fouls (if he's not TO, but so is Manu prone to TO anyways). I laid it out for you.

But you only care about Kawhi not the team.... fine for you.

[ElNono]

Did you even watch Manu in the above video? Nope then, whatever. Manu was terrible both ends against OKC. Couldn't score one end. Dion Waiters looked like a superstar on the other. Only two ways to go: sub Garino hope defense improves, if he even makes the team. Sub Simmons, defense will be but he will score or draw fouls (if he's not TO, but so is Manu prone to TO anyways). I laid it out for you.

But you only care about Kawhi not the team.... fine for you.

tbf, half of the points on that video were not against Manu, and at least 1 was on a fastbreak and another two on penetration (where the bigs are supposed to cover).

That said, Manu and our bench overall was poor that series, on both ends. Notice also how one of Westbrook or Durant is out there with their bench. I'm still skeptical of what our bench defense is going to look like. I don't know what Dedmon can do, but the rest don't strike me as above average defenders.

[skulls138]

OKC caught everybody by surprise. They were physically superior in every way and their coach taught them how to not choke. Manu is by far the best leader on the floor and is still a great passer, way better than Simmons. Cant just throw legends to the side like that.

[SAGirl]

tbf, half of the points on that video were not against Manu, and at least 1 was on a fastbreak and another two on penetration (where the bigs are supposed to cover).

That said, Manu and our bench overall was poor that series, on both ends. Notice also how one of Westbrook or Durant is out there with their bench. I'm still skeptical of what our bench defense is going to look like. I don't know what Dedmon can do, but the rest don't strike me as above average defenders.

I don't know who or how the other guys are going to step up but I hope Pop starts looking. They already went down with an underperforming bench last season. It's time for Pop to start looking around. I don't want next season to go like 2015: Pop went down overplaying a horrendous Tony while young Cojo watched helplessly from the bench.

Pop will die with the veterans but it's about time that he's looking around. It's impossible to win each season but he's starting to get eliminated prematurely from the postseason bc he's not even using other guys when the veterans are failing. Heck, Cojo bailed out Lowry and Derozan some games in the 2016 postseason and he couldn't get off the bench for Pop in 2015. I think he's misused Kyle and wasted the team's time with Kmart only bc he "fit" better with Manu bc he played off the ball. Might as well gone with JSimms TBH and give a chance to Kyle b4 the ship sailed. I just hope he's learned his lesson. It's not Manu that worries me it's Pop and maybe Manu is the one who is going to have to open Pop's eyes.

Spurs need to look at others.

The first comment I made in Sir Apo9's thread above, was precisely about injuries and guys underperforming. Manu was remarkable getting back to form after his injury but he was bad that series and he's probably done as the main bench guy. He's frankly probably being taken for granted by the old man and it's sickening.

Either way, I don't care who it is. I don't think Simmons is going to be a star but dude can do some things and others weren't doing squat. I hope Pop is not afraid to give options to others. The time will come when there will be better options than Manu and that will be the time when he will probably say ok, it's time to retire. I think it's this coming season. Maybe no one else can step up, but I hope for the Spurs sake that someone does and I hope Pop looked at that and saw what I saw. Manu needs to infuse our bench guys (specially the youngest ones) with his compe ive fire and desire but he can't be the one.

[SAGirl]

OKC caught everybody by surprise. They were physically superior in every way and their coach taught them how to not choke. Manu is by far the best leader on the floor and is still a great passer, way better than Simmons. Cant just throw legends to the side like that.

I hope Pop knows when it's time. Otherwise it will be an early exit again. Heck we may again not get to GSW, that's how alarming it's getting.

[YGWHI]

Notice also how one of Westbrook or Durant is out there with their bench.

Well, most NBA coaches with two main scorers on their teams, sit just one of them and let the other on the floor with the bench. Like Cavs with LBJ and Irving, OKC with Westbrook and Durant, Warriors with Curry and Thompson...

But Pop is an innovative coach, we had the pleasure of watching how he sat Kawhi and LMA at the same time many minutes of the 2nd and 4th quarters in crucial playoffs games.

Just amazing

[dabom]

Well, most NBA coaches with two main scorers on their teams, sit just one of them and let the other on the floor with the bench. Like Cavs with LBJ and Irving, OKC with Westbrook and Durant, Warriors with Curry and Thompson...

But Pop is an innovative coach, we had the pleasure of watching how he sat Kawhi and LMA at the same time in the first minutes of the 2nd and 4th quarters in crucial playoffs games.

Just amazing

Is Kawhi to Fathead one of the biggest drops in talent in the NBA?..

[jehawk81]

But you only care about Kawhi not the team.... fine for you.

Dayum SAGirl, why no lube? RIP Applesauce's ass