Patty Mills will start tonight: Book it

[tmtcsc]

Well, for a night it worked at least. This thing still looks broke.

[GSH]

Sadly, still watching two bigs and David Lee out there while Bertans and Dedmon rot on the end of the bench.

Both of those guys have balls, at least. I keep thinking how Bertans' rim protection could help, not to mention the chance of him making some 3's. But I have to admit - I can't imagine any parallel universe where Dedmon has 18 and 14 like LMA had tonight. I'm still sort of shaking my head. I mean, you can't deny that those points added to the winning score, and the rebounds were vital. But he ought to be lighting the Rockets up in the paint.

[GSH]

Well, for a night it worked at least. This thing still looks broke.

I've been saying that all season, even after a lot of their wins. I keep scratching my head about the number of W's they piled up, and the thing still looked broken. If the Spurs somehow managed to stumble through and win the Finals, they'd be saying that this was the worst team to ever win a Championship. And I wouldn't argue with them. I was thinking during the game, "Have you ever seen a team under-achieve at home like this year's Spurs?" I understand teams losing at home, but I'm talking under-achieving. This has just been one of the strangest seasons I can ever remember.

[sasaint]

Both of those guys have balls, at least. I keep thinking how Bertans' rim protection could help, not to mention the chance of him making some 3's. But I have to admit - I can't imagine any parallel universe where Dedmon has 18 and 14 like LMA had tonight. I'm still sort of shaking my head. I mean, you can't deny that those points added to the winning score, and the rebounds were vital. But he ought to be lighting the Rockets up in the paint.

Deadman does not get the usage to ever score 18. If somebody like CP3 were consistently looking for him on oops, he would, however, score some. And I think if he were involved in the offense more, he might play more disciplined defense. That said, I can imagine Deadman getting 14+ boards, playing better defense on perimeter switches, and protecting the rim as well or better. AND he is capable of passing the ball, too.

[tmtcsc]

I've been saying that all season, even after a lot of their wins. I keep scratching my head about the number of W's they piled up, and the thing still looked broken. If the Spurs somehow managed to stumble through and win the Finals, they'd be saying that this was the worst team to ever win a Championship. And I wouldn't argue with them. I was thinking during the game, "Have you ever seen a team under-achieve at home like this year's Spurs?" I understand teams losing at home, but I'm talking under-achieving. This has just been one of the strangest seasons I can ever remember.

Same here. I had high-hopes that an infusion of youth along with the vets would make the Spurs dangerous. Instead, LMA is a pussy, Pau looks soft and confused, Simmons didn't improve as much as I thought he would and Parker was Parker. The only guy who legitimately looked better was Kawhi. However, the offense looked awful with all the iso's for him. Was it to appease KL or did everybody else just suck? Why get away from the beautiful game? Pop and RC will have work to do if they want to get this thing back on track. The team will sorely miss Manu's compe iveness. He doesn't have the physical skills anymore but he sure as competes and wants to win. He's the anti-Aldridge.

[GSH]

Deadman does not get the usage to ever score 18. If somebody like CP3 were consistently looking for him on oops, he would, however, score some. And I think if he were involved in the offense more, he might play more disciplined defense. That said, I can imagine Deadman getting 14+ boards, playing better defense on perimeter switches, and protecting the rim as well or better. AND he is capable of passing the ball, too.

Heh. But you can't do it can you? You can't make yourself say that somehow Dedmon might squirrel into an 18 and 14 night, even bringing CP3 in from the alternate universe to facilitate. You want to... but your fingers just won't type it.


I'm not jamming you up. I'm the same way. I see that Dedmon plays with some aggression and I think maybe he... nah. Not 18 and 14.

[YGWHI]

A lot of good calls before this game. OP tmtcsc about Patty starting the game, DAF86 about the smallball lineups, ElNono keeping the faith in Manu, dabom with the winner game-thread...

Great job guys

[dabom]

A lot of good calls before this game. OP tmtcsc about Patty starting the game, DAF86 about the smallball lineups, ElNono keeping the faith in Manu, dabom with the winner game-thread...

Great job guys

I also called 5 patty mill 3s. Got deleted 6 hours ago.

[dabom]

I've known Simmons strengths long before this game too and I wish we would have started Patty a lot more.

[YGWHI]

I also called 5 patty mill 3s. Got deleted 6 hours ago.

Deleted? But they didn't delete those horrible threads trolling Kawhi from LongtimeSpursFan ,right??

I've known Simmons strengths long before this game too and I wish we would have started Patty a lot more.

[dabom]

Deleted? But they didn't delete those horrible threads trolling Kawhi from LongtimeSpursFan ,right??

[sasaint]

Heh. But you can't do it can you? You can't make yourself say that somehow Dedmon might squirrel into an 18 and 14 night, even bringing CP3 in from the alternate universe to facilitate. You want to... but your fingers just won't type it.


I'm not jamming you up. I'm the same way. I see that Dedmon plays with some aggression and I think maybe he... nah. Not 18 and 14.

No, I admit I can't. But the point is, he could be more effective than LMA in other aspects of the game to offset the loss of scoring. LMA is an absolute black hole on offense. He missed Kawhi on a cut to the basket that everybody on ST saw from their recliners. Kawhi would have had one of his monster slams. Deadman has shown the kind of passing ability (not to say unselfishness) to make that play. LMA will never ever even see that opportunity because he is so focused on his scoring. Blindfolded, Deadman could average more assists than LMA... Fantastic rebounder... Also, while I admit that LMA is (most of the time) a better rim protector than expected at his signing or many on ST currently acknowledge, Deadman is an excellent rim protector as well as perimeter defender on switches. Eh, our discussion is purely conjectural since Deadman is as good as a goner, and we will never know.

Then again, Pop et al get to see him in practice... PRACTICE? We talkin' 'bout PRACTICE?!

[therealtruth]

Deadman does not get the usage to ever score 18. If somebody like CP3 were consistently looking for him on oops, he would, however, score some. And I think if he were involved in the offense more, he might play more disciplined defense. That said, I can imagine Deadman getting 14+ boards, playing better defense on perimeter switches, and protecting the rim as well or better. AND he is capable of passing the ball, too.

CP3 has a proven record of turning ordinary bigs into alley-oop monsters like with Tyson Chandler Deandre Jordan. No reason Kawhi couldn't develop that more as a point forward.

[SAGirl]

No, I admit I can't. But the point is, he could be more effective than LMA in other aspects of the game to offset the loss of scoring. LMA is an absolute black hole on offense. He missed Kawhi on a cut to the basket that everybody on ST saw from their recliners. Kawhi would have had one of his monster slams. Deadman has shown the kind of passing ability (not to say unselfishness) to make that play. LMA will never ever even see that opportunity because he is so focused on his scoring. Blindfolded, Deadman could average more assists than LMA... Fantastic rebounder... Also, while I admit that LMA is (most of the time) a better rim protector than expected at his signing or many on ST currently acknowledge, Deadman is an excellent rim protector as well as perimeter defender on switches. Eh, our discussion is purely conjectural since Deadman is as good as a goner, and we will never know.

Then again, Pop et al get to see him in practice... PRACTICE? We talkin' 'bout PRACTICE?!

Not to put Deadman down, but he has never, ever, ever shown the passing ability that you describe. His assist to TO ratio has been godawful his whole career... whether bc of him starting to play late in life or what he doesn't have it with the passing. In fact often times he has an O board with 3 or 4 guys on the block converging (bc they were also looking for that board for example) and he will not pass that ball back out and reset, ending up with a lot of strips on him and blocks despite his hops bc it's so predictable. He is just not as good of a passer as you state. Now if you were saying Bertans, I buy it. If you were saying Anderson, Lee, Simmons, I do buy they have passing skill, but Dedmon no. His passes are often so off target they end up as TO...

He has other positives but one of the reasons he's limited offensively is decision making. He could maybe improve IMO given more opportunities as a bench player to begin with (same as Simmons) b4 being promoted to start games against elite compe ion without being ready. I think he was shafted development wise a little bit due to that. He was promoted to start and when his mistakes, etc were too much to be offset by his good defense, he was then dropped altogether from the rotation, instead of just getting bench minutes.

[sasaint]

Not to put Deadman down, but he has never, ever, ever shown the passing ability that you describe. His assist to TO ratio has been godawful his whole career... whether bc of him starting to play late in life or what he doesn't have it with the passing. In fact often times he has an O board with 3 or 4 guys on the block converging (bc they were also looking for that board for example) and he will not pass that ball back out and reset, ending up with a lot of strips on him and blocks despite his hops bc it's so predictable. He is just not as good of a passer as you state. Now if you were saying Bertans, I buy it. If you were saying Anderson, Lee, Simmons, I do buy they have passing skill, but Dedmon no. His passes are often so off target they end up as TO...

He has other positives but one of the reasons he's limited offensively is decision making. He could maybe improve IMO given more opportunities as a bench player to begin with (same as Simmons) b4 being promoted to start games against elite compe ion without being ready. I think he was shafted development wise a little bit due to that. He was promoted to start and when his mistakes, etc were too much to be offset by his good defense, he was then dropped altogether from the rotation, instead of just getting bench minutes.

It is possible that I overstated Deadman's passing ability, but not his willingness. Whereas, LMA is not a willing passer. He lacks vision to pass because he is only looking to shoot the ball himself. As long as he is looking to make some passes, Deadman might learn some discernment. LMA is a black hole, and he isn't ever going to become a willing or capable passer. He isn't interested. That was the point I was trying to make.