This is an excellent balanced take. You make a great point about margin of error. The Spurs have an incredibly high ceiling, but they have very little room for error before that ceiling comes crashing down. The Warriors, on the other hand, have three players capable of scoring 60 points. . Even if Curry and Thompson have off shooting nights, oops! There's still Durant going off for 60. ing ridiculous. The Spurs can't do that. They need everyone firing on all cylinders to win the le. Yet, it's still totally possible.
To sum it up, the Spurs have a very high ceiling, but they also have a mediocre floor. That's why they are so difficult to predict, and that's why we have so much disagreement on this topic.
There are biggest problems. What concerns me it's the defense, Pau is even worst defending of what i thought, Tony is the same Tony in defense, we're ugly in terms of defending rebounds, and a couple of young boys aren't stepping up like we wish (Simmons, Anderson). Only Dedmon shows some good stuff, and Lee was is a really nice surprise, good contributor.
One cannot expect current Parker to keep up like that tbh... I mean a 15-20 pts 4-7 apg at .55 - .60 efficiency is a great stretch of 5-6 games but this is that a stretch.
What we should reasonnably expect is:
- Parker good enough to make opponents pay for letting him play, the fact he is still capable to pour +20 pts on 10/18 efficiency is already a great news
- Keep TOV low and feed LMA/Pau on P&R
- Keep healthy amount of penetration to open the 3s for Kawhi/Danny
- keep doin what he does on defense, he is obviously struggling one on one but as part of defense system he is doin it right tbh and putting effort on it
Tony has always been one of the best creators in the game because he's got all the weapons and you can't guard everything. He can still beat almost anyone off the dribble and get to the basket. Or he can stop short with a floater. Or he can misdirect and hit midrange. Or he can hit spot-up 3s when you back off. Add to all of that the fact that he can run the pick and roll as good as almost anyone. He gets the ball moved around the perimeter when it's the right play (evidenced by his hockey-assists). And he still is one of the better penetrate and kick driving point guards. Healthy Parker makes lots of fringe teams contenders.
Head of the Snake doin Head of the Snake things, tbh..
If dude could just increased his 3 pts attempts tbh.... for the dumb asses calling him selfish and arrogant that's pretty much the contrary... dude lacks self confidence sometimes... he is shooting again .40 of his 3s but just try 1 per game... 3 seasons in a row that he is shooting better than .40... what the is he waiting to shoot 2/3 per games tbh ?
It's not just him this year. LMA and Pau are first and third in 3P% respectively, and they barely take any. If those percentages mostly held up, the Spurs could absolutely shoot with anybody.
with higher volume comes lower efficiency but I'd take that in a heartbeat tbh
In his fifth year, Parker and PATFO decided Tony sucked at shooting 3s, they removed completely this shoot of his game even though it was not that bad tbh
I wish LA and Gasol PnPd more from the 3 instead of the 40% long/midrange two. It would improve the offense if they did it more imo.
Absolutely.
You must be new here.....
coming from the same person who thought david west could be a starter this season
coming from the same person who thought david west could be a starter this season
This is part of the idea I was mentioning earlier, considering where this team ranks defensively, and that they legitimately might not be able to turn into a top 5 defense: just go for outgunning the other team.
Then you end up with live by the 3, die by the 3, but realistically it might not be a worse proposition than just losing because you can't stop anybody and can't score enough points.
The Spurs just moved into first place for DRTG. They don't have to worry about outgunning teams right now.
Lol, you called for a truce months ago and come slinking back into here after getting your pushed in by everyone else.
coming from the same person who thought david west could be a starter this season
i never called for a truce, i said i would do my best to reframe from responding to your posts. because they were along the lines of "david west could be starter."
Good point. I haven't looked it up in a couple of weeks, good to see the team climbing up there. And our SOS is not terrible, despite we haven't played the Cavs and the Dubs only once, which is encouraging.
Getting three cracks at Houston already has been helping.
I didn't ask how you rationalized it afterwards. I'm just saying, it's funny that you're trying to come back now.
i never called for a truce, i said i would do my best to reframe from responding to your posts. because they were along the lines of "david west could be starter."
When Pau first came into the league, some of the NBA bigs made some y statements about how they would handle him. (Shaq and Mourning in particular, if I remember right.) He played with a chip on his shoulder, and they quit talking about him. He's capable of being a good defender, but it seemed like that quit being a priority for him after a few years. I know he's older, but I still think he could be a lot better on D if he was motivated to do it. He became Memphis' all time leading rebounder in something like his 5th season. One of my biggest complaints this year is that I've watched him loaf on rebounding - just not make any effort at all to go after them sometimes. None.
I thought Parker was totally shot, but he's shown that he still has something left in the tank. In short spells, at least, he can still get the corner and take it to the rim.
Dedmon has some problem with fouls. I've commented that quite a few of them have actually been smart fouls - stopping auto-buckets, when the defense breaks down. But that doesn't change the fact that he's still picking up too many. He's got to learn that sometimes he has to give up two points, to be sure he can stay in the game.
IF:
If Parker can play enough minutes at a reasonably high level.
If Pau would commit to defense, and actually give something like 100% - even if it's in limited minutes.
If Danny keeps getting back to his old shooting form.
If Dedmon can stay out of foul trouble.
If Simmons improves his decision-making just a little bit, and learns to let it fly when he's wide open.
If Manu can stay healthy and rested.
If Murray can benefit from regular season minutes enough to at least be able to do cleanup duty in the playoffs.
If Kyle... oh, , I don't even want to get started on that one. Just play your best D and don't up too badly, Kyle.
COULD they contend? If everything on that list came true, then without a doubt. But not without the first two things on the list, IMO. I think the Spurs have enough raw talent, and a load of experience and basketball IQ. But Parker can't be shot, and Pau can't be complacent on D. Without those two guys playing at a higher level than, say, last year? They have zero chance of actually winning it all.
We're seeing a different Tony. Show me a different Pau, and then I'll believe. But not until then. Otherwise, I'll still cheer for them, right up until the second round exit.
i didn't rationalize it afterwards, i expressed it in that thread.
anyways, it was just too hard for me to ignore: "Parker's defensive issues are being massively overstated here." i would've called anyone out for that.
I guess it's easy to never be wrong when you never have an actual take about basketball though, right? 90% of your posts to this forum are about Parker. Pretty sad dude.
coming from the same person who thought david west could be a starter this season
Parker's been considered a bad defender for years, but he's never been the reason the Spurs struggled in a series. People like Klay and Barnes have gone HAM on Tony, but that was what the Spurs wanted. It's not like Parker gives up a bunch of threes, which is really the concern. He's ahead of both Green and Leonard in 3P% allowed this season.
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