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It's only temporary...until he's cut in the offseason.
Looks like Pop had enough of Juice being a non-factor 3/4 of the season in... isn't a bit late for that though?
Or is it just a temporary visit to the doghouse?
It's only temporary...until he's cut in the offseason.
Anderson's style of play wouldn't bring energy to a YMCA pick up game featuring 60 year olds reliving the glory days of high school.
Alright this is a new enough thread to express a few thoughts after giving the game a re-watch. I rarely do that with loses, but I've heard a lot of people discussing the game and wanted to be clear about a few things. First of all this was a tie game with 3 minutes left in the third quarter and very winnable. Basically several standout mistakes and missteps happened to close the 3rd and that would be the game. Patty missing fts at a crucial time in the game made it a 5 point game and no one got back in transition defense against Curry's easy basket off the Lee strip made in a 7 point game.
Lee's offensive foul call was a big kick in the crotch too. It looks like they should have counted the basket, Green's hands were in the cylinder and Lee got hacked. Our bench play starting the 4th cemented the deal. There was no energy guy. Manu played hard, but was getting no help from Patty who had an especially bad game. When Dedmon played, who many have criticized, we were doing fine. I don't hang too much on +/- but he was our only player with a +5 outside of garbage time. Our bench lost this game and I wonder if it would have been better with 'El Juice' myself. Patty had such a poor game it's hard to assess much from the bench. We do need more shooting threats when they double Kawhi so I hear the argument about Pau over Dedmon with the starters, but out starters did alright and we will miss Dedmon's D.
So so my thoughts were Patty will step it up, Dedmon wasn't so bad, our starters against GSW is better than I thought, and we need an 'energy guy' with the bench. Most of our deficits were with the second unit which is one of the better benches in the NBA.
Now after rewatching this I think I'll go put my hand over an open flame for more fun.
Both Patty and Manu were poor in the GSW game. They didn't shoot it well, they TO the ball and couldn't generally guard their man either. That loss wasn't on Kyle.. geez.
Anyways, Kyle played his minutes well and he really played well against Cleveland. It doesn't mean much, but he played well when he started the last game against GSW too (their stars didn't play but Kyle was fantastic).
Anyways, I don't think Simmons is going to be benched personally, it's more of a match up thing. We can't forget Durant plays in GSW now and Kyle in the few, very few minutes he played against OKC in that series against them last season did a decent job with Durant. If Pop intends to play him in that eventual scenario (however unlikely guys think the odds are they get to that point, etc.) for a few minutes, he needs reps as much as anyone with the bench group. Since Pop switched Pau there, Kyle hasn't played much with the bench, and just like everyone else guys need chemistry with him and him with others. What this tell me is Simmons and Anderson may be situational, depending who they have to match up with, and Pop is likely to have a short leash with both.
It may end up making Simmons better bc since Pop started giving opportunities to Kyle and he has played well, Simmons has improved his play. If he didn't clean up his act, he was going to be out of the rotation for sure. He has played much better in the last few games so I tend to think this is Pop getting Kyle reps and minutes to be ready in case they need him.
I agree with you wholeheartedly that the loss wasn't on Kyle. I thought he played like he should have had everyone else played like they need to in the second unit. I also think you are right that Pop was giving Kyle playing time on purpose. Would Kyle have started the fourth quarter in the sixth game of the WCF's? Would Simmons?
I guess the point here is about the 'energy boast' of the bench. Kyle might not appear high energy, but he has a lot more vision and smarts than many. Always thought of Kyle as methodical and Simmons as reactionary.
He's capable of momentum swinging plays on defense frankly but didn't have them in this game. However as you noticed Patty and Manu both not playing well may be too hard to overcome. They both have the hall a lot and consume too many bench possessions plus thr got lit up.
Kyle got a couple of baskets in that close game between the 3rd and the 4th. He was in the corner when the TO happened and he took off but having been in a corner and Curry almost half court when it happened it wasn't his assignment. He's obviously not the fastest guy either but it should have really been one of Patty or Manu who had to keep track of Curry.
Juice may have made some plays or he could have been making mistakes and fouling guys. He's really unpredictable that way and Kyle getting this chance probably arose from his own good play and Simmons floundering for a couple of months already.
I do agree with Nono, if Pop wanted to switch them up and bench Simmons he should probably have done it earlier. Which is why I don't think this game was about that (coupled with what I stated above. It's likely KA has to stay ready just in case they need him and for that he needs reps too).
This is what dreams are made of
This sucks because Simmons had just found his 3pt shot recently too. Guess we won't get to ever see what postseason JSimms could've been.
Lets look at Kyle's playoff numbers (12.9 MPG):
2.3ppg, 2.4rpg, 0.7apg, 0.4TO, 32FG%
I'm not playing the blame game, tbh, Just pointing out Simms got into the doghouse after fouling Lebron under the basket and Kyle took basically his minutes the last two games. I just thought it's kinda late for the switch once you've been riding Simms for 3/4 of the season...
I'm so sick of Pops like this. Pull a guy for a couple of possessions, maybe the rest of the game. But Pop just never ever cares about rhythm or momentum from game to game, even minute minute. It's his way of ruling with a iron fist.
He's recently started this "Kawhi rests to start the fourth" no matter what the game situation is. How many games have we've seen slip at the beginning of the foruth whether we're ahead or not (miami 2013 is the biggest one). I hope he doesn't carry that into the playoffs. But knowing Pop, he'll do it because he can do it.
Slowpoke did hit shots and briefly gave hope to an otherwise dark depressing game. How is a black man that slow a runner?
Yes and I kinda agreed with you, it's late to be doing lineup changes. Spurs10 went off topic a bit with his impressions on the game and I engaged him but to answer your topic, despite Simmons unspectacular season Pop persevered with him and I don't think he will be benched. I could be wrong of course.
I think it's just more likely that Pop foresees a scenario where he needs KA to play and in that case he needed to get him ready too quite frankly.
Kyle doesn't work against GSW. All those guys can go at him 1v1. He is a good help defender/weak side defender. Simmons is a good 1v1 defender. He can play off the switches good. Simmons is better suited vs gsw. Fathead might be decent vs the cavs..
Not exactly an energy guy, but a guy who is capable of making a couple plays defensively. Outside of Simmons chase downs and Manu doing his thing defensively when he can, there aren't a lot of guys on our 2nd unit who have quick hands defensively to make plays.
He's just so hesitant on the offensive end, and gets caught in the air too often in no mans land. I think depending on the flow of the game he could get some minutes. He and Simmons bring 2 very different things to the table. It's a real shame neither have become the 3 point threat the 2nd unit needs.
Just because he plays with a chip on his shoulder and gets up for teams like GS, I'd rather see Simmons having dibs on the rotation spot come WCF
This part alone may have turned the tide against the Dubs. Not playing what has been a huge weapon against them was weird. Or maybe CIA.
Nonetheless Kyle hasn't been terrible lately. Just needs a more consistent jumper and he will be what Lonzo Ball is right now.
The officiating to end the 3rd quarter was beyond awful. Lee got screwed again and again. Patty fouled on a 3 could've been a huge momentum swing till he missed 2 of 3. I think Kawhi missed one also. As many layups as they got they also took some low percentage shots even for them. We can beat these s.Alright this is a new enough thread to express a few thoughts after giving the game a re-watch. I rarely do that with loses, but I've heard a lot of people discussing the game and wanted to be clear about a few things. First of all this was a tie game with 3 minutes left in the third quarter and very winnable. Basically several standout mistakes and missteps happened to close the 3rd and that would be the game. Patty missing fts at a crucial time in the game made it a 5 point game and no one got back in transition defense against Curry's easy basket off the Lee strip made in a 7 point game.
Lee's offensive foul call was a big kick in the crotch too. It looks like they should have counted the basket, Green's hands were in the cylinder and Lee got hacked. Our bench play starting the 4th cemented the deal. There was no energy guy. Manu played hard, but was getting no help from Patty who had an especially bad game. When Dedmon played, who many have criticized, we were doing fine. I don't hang too much on +/- but he was our only player with a +5 outside of garbage time. Our bench lost this game and I wonder if it would have been better with 'El Juice' myself. Patty had such a poor game it's hard to assess much from the bench. We do need more shooting threats when they double Kawhi so I hear the argument about Pau over Dedmon with the starters, but out starters did alright and we will miss Dedmon's D.
So so my thoughts were Patty will step it up, Dedmon wasn't so bad, our starters against GSW is better than I thought, and we need an 'energy guy' with the bench. Most of our deficits were with the second unit which is one of the better benches in the NBA.
Now after rewatching this I think I'll go put my hand over an open flame for more fun.
I did use this thread to talk about the game in general. It was perplexing watching a second time and the absence of Simmons had me wondering. I can certainly see us needing KA and Simmons in different scenarios. This particular game was an odd one to bench Simmons from the outside looking in. Whether it was a doghouse issue or a CIA issue who knows. I'm leaning more with Pop just seeing what he has.
Right on!
Pop could be trying to devalue him so the Spurs could sign him to a below market deal in the offseason or maybe KA isn't the only player with a big head. All dat D-Wade swag on the court is fooling a lot of people into thinking he has the "it" factor. There's a reason that Wade is a hall of famer and Simmons is a D-league scrub. It's possible he needs to be taken down a peg until he realizes that he's absolute trash of a basketball player that shouldn't be any significant part of a championship roster, but because of lack of alternatives and salary cap restraints, here he is.
Last edited by Hoops Czar; 03-31-2017 at 01:57 PM.
Simmons is not in the doghouse per Pop.
As I suspected, Kyle has played recently just well enough for Pop to give him some reps and experience with the current bench in case he's needed.
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...popovich-says/
He's been player better, but needs to be more aggressive...
Never use Anderson and energy together in the same sentence.
I don't think Simmons is in the "dog house", so much as they view them as roughly equal and since neither has any equity built up, that means both are always on a short leash.
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