Reply With Quote
Thanks as always for,them excellent grades. Spot on.
After the frenetic victory over the Lakers, the Spurs looked stuck in the mud against the Pacers on Wednesday. Poor defense compounded by Indiana draining 17 of their 32 three-point attempts (including 8 of their first 9) led to an ugly 116-96 blowout.
This game was never really in doubt after the first couple minutes of the second quarter. Defense continues to be the main problem. In this slow paced contest, the Spurs gave up 122.3 points per 100 possessions. That's worse than their defensive rating heading into this game (122.0). Not only is San Antonio the worst defensive team in the NBA, by the numbers they are the worst defensive team in league history.
LaMarcus Aldridge
On defense, LaMarcus Aldridge wasn't that good. However, compared to his teammates, he was actually one of the better defenders on this night -- especially when you factor in his good work on the glass. Offense is were he really struggled. Aldridge missed a lot of easy shots . . . but that doesn't explain all of his issues. He wasn't physical enough and allowed smaller defenders to body him out of the paint. Indiana's swarming defense also seemed to flummox the 33-year-old, as he oftentimes hesitated when trying to decide where he should pass the ball. These Spurs aren't good enough to survive a dud like this from Aldridge.
Grade: D+
Summary: Aldridge has to play better for the Spurs to have a chance to win.
-------------
DeMar DeRozan
DeMar DeRozan finished the Lakers game by missing his final eight shots. His cold streak from the field continued into the Pacers affair, as he didn't score a point until 4:41 remaining in the first half. At that point DeRozan got going, scoring 16 of his 18 points over the next 12 minutes. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. The Spurs never could get in a rhythm offensively. DeRozan has to dominate the action like he did in the first three games this season. Against Indiana, he was too willing to blend into the background. Defensively, he was really bad. His effort was mediocre and his execution was poor. DeRozan has stiff hips and sub par agility, so if he's not fully engaged on defense, it's quite ugly to watch.
Grade: C-
Summary: DeRozan took a back seat and wasn't totally engaged. That can't happen.
-------------
Rudy Gay
I thought Rudy Gay played reasonably well. His perimeter defense was lacking but he was the most physical Spur in the lane and was willing to throw his body around to come up with rebounds. Offensively, he was again efficient. He was physical on that end as well; in fact, in retrospect the Spurs should have gone to him more in the low block. That said, there were also a few possessions where Gay reverted to his black hole ways from earlier in his career.
Grade: B+
Summary: Gay came to play, which is more than many of his teammates can honestly say.
-------------
Bryn Forbes
Really, what more could the Spurs want from Bryn Forbes? He has been thrust into a difficult spot and he produced once again versus the Pacers. I thought he was the best perimeter defender on the team. True, that's not saying much given the compe ion . . . but, hey, it's something. He was in the right spot almost every time, pressured ball-handlers and even tried to help out on the glass. On offense, he did well. This was his best passing game of the season. Forbes shot straight and I didn't have any problem with any of his attempts. Well done.
Grade: A
Summary: Forbes' strong start continued with what might have been his best overall game of the season.
-------------
Jakob Poeltl
Jakob Poeltl started the first two games of the season before getting a DNP-CD in Los Angeles. Tonight, he was back in the starting lineup. Did Poeltl give Pop any reason to keep him in the starting lineup? Nope. He looked like an awkward fit next to the other starters, especially when his hands suddenly turned to stone. On offense, he got in the way. On defense, he didn't bring anything notable to the table. His poor defensive rebounding instincts really hurt his value on that end. As does the fact that he went from being one of the better shot blockers in the league last season to not recording a single block yet this season.
Grade: D+
Summary: Poeltl looked like a fish out of water.
-------------
Patty Mills
Ugh. Patty Mills had another game where he didn't look like an NBA player. His defense is just so damn bad. If Doug Freakin' McDermott wasn't blowing by him off the dribble, he was losing his man around a screen or evaporating at the first sign of physical contact. This Spurs team is bad defensively without Mills making things ten times worse. And, I mean, I could live with Mills' terrible defense if he was making up for it on the other end. But he was really bad offensively, too. Mills was scared to dribble the ball when pressured. When he did dribble, he was extremely passive and never tried to make plays. Yet, despite his passiveness, he managed to lead the Spurs with three turnovers. I'm not saying he lost this game by himself but let the record show that the Spurs outscored the Pacers by 10 points in the 24 minutes Mills was on the bench and got outscored by the Pacers by 30 points in the 25 minutes he was on the court.
Grade: F
Summary: Bad. Really bad.
-------------
Marco Belinelli
Offensively, Marco Belinelli made things happen. He was aggressive and mostly stayed within the system. I can't complain about Belinelli pouring in 16 points in 20 minutes. However, I can complain about his defense. It was unacceptably poor, even judging him on the 2018-19 San Antonio Spurs scale. Scoring is nice but it doesn't mean much if Belinelli gives it back on the other end.
Grade: B
Summary: Offense good. Defense bad.
-------------
Davis Bertans
It's difficult to play Davis Bertans when he's playing as tissue soft as he was this evening. He was getting pushed around in the paint and he showed little force when going for rebounds. Yes, he's a slight dude but Bertans has to be willing to get his hands dirty. Daintily floating around on defense won't get the job done. He was okay on offense but he was too much of a disappointment on defense for that to matter.
Grade: C-
Summary: If Bertans is just going through the motions, he's not worth playing.
-------------
Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol is another Spur who had a very poor outing. On offense, he held the ball too long. He was too aggressive and took dumb shots while whining for whistles. His ball hog possessions aided in taking the air out of the building. Defensively, he was too slow to offer much help. Add in an anemic showing on the glass and this was a game for Gasol to forget.
Grade: D
Summary: Gasol was uncharacteristically ball-dominant on offense and worse than usual on defense.
-------------
Dante Cunningham
After starting against the Lakers, Dante Cunningham didn't hit the floor until the second half against the Pacers. When he eventually entered the game, his hustle, transition defense and passion were whiffs of fresh air. Cunningham is probably an average NBA defensive player but on this roster filled with poor defenders, he might have to play if the Spurs want to stop the bleeding on that end of the court.
Grade: B+
Summary:
-------------
Pop
The Pacers are a smaller, quicker team, so going big with Poeltl in the starting lineup was the wrong call in hindsight. Pop has to be willing to bench Mills when he's playing terribly. Has to. After how well Cunningham did against the Lakers, it was odd to remove him from the rotation completely -- especially when effort and energy were obviously MIA early on. Those are the two things Cunningham brings to the table. In Pop's defense, the entire team seemed to be a step slow. There was no way to coach the team to a victory tonight.
Grade: C
Summary: Pop never found a way to get his team out of the mud.
Looking ahead: Burn that tape. The Spurs played poorly and the Pacers played really well. There's not much more to take away from this game than that.
The Spurs have a couple days off and then play the Lakers again on Saturday. This time in San Antonio. Let's hope the good guys can shake off this ugly performance in glorious fashion against their eternal rivals.
Thanks as always for,them excellent grades. Spot on.
Good write up.
Agree on all grades.
Defense was horrendous tbh and it didn’t help that the Pacers seemed to be making every single shot they took.. didn’t matter who it was if they were wearing a Pacer jersey they were getting buckets on us. Oladiplo killed us.
I think Pop deserves an F. The defense is much worse than the sum of its parts, and that has a lot to do with the lack of effort and attention to detail. Pop's job is to motivate and teach. I can't give him a pass because the guys he handpicked don't seem to want to try and can't keep their rotations straight. Poeltl needs to come off the bench or be out of the rotation. He doesn't play good defense right now, and he's terrible offensively. Jakob was always going to get more than a few weeks to figure things out, so there's no shame is not putting him in when he doesn't have it.
I ranted about my issues with the team in the GT. I'll add that the bench right now doesn't have even a bad defender on it. Everyone is terrible. Mills is astic. Beli is a turnstile. Bertans has given up. Gasol only looks good when he cares -- and he doesn't care right now. Without Manu or any other play-maker, there isn't enough offense from that unit to compensate for the terrible D. They need to use Pon's spot on someone who can come in and play some D or make some plays. Yeah, White might be able to provide some of that once he returns. A healthy Walker could also do something. But can they afford to wait? I'm not sure. I guess they have to see where they are in December, when Cun and Pon become tradeable. But I'm looking at making a move sooner, and I'd be willing to throw in a pick if I can get some long-term benefit (like cutting a year off Pau's or Patty's deal). Obviously, I'm not talking about a pure salary dump. But a deal like Houston did for Lou Williams (getting rid of Corey Brewer) or the Wizards did for Bogdanovic (dumping Nicholson) where you get a good rotation player and salary relief.
Or just say it to this season and trade Gasol and Mills for Bazemore and Plumlee.
Poeltl is honestly a waste of space in the starting lineup.. he clogs the lane and evaporates any chance of drives to the basket for DeMar.
Pop needs to be bite the bullet and go with LaMarcus at the 5 with 3 wings and a guard.
LMA-Gay-Cunningham-DeMar-Bryn. It opens everything up. Second unit Poeltl-Bertans-Belli-White-Mills when White is back. Until then try and stagger it with DeMar.
Eubanks played better then Poodle
But I am not for making a stupid moce for short term help vs waiting for high draft pick “ Yes were not good” and getting a decent player for Mills and Gasol contracts.
Why did the Spurs pay Patty Mills so much money instead of going after someone like Tyreke Evans during that off-season like a lot of posters here wanted? Man, Tyreke is so much better value for money that is stinks seeing him play that well while the Spurs are stuck with Mills.
The Spurs need to get rid of Patty. Bryn is better than him for a fraction of the cost. I really do think the Mills and Gasol signings disgusted Kawhi. I said (in anger) after those two signings that if I was Kawhi I'd ask to be traded to the Lakers. He basically ended up doing just that a year later, and unfortunately for the Spurs, completely going about it the wrong way, but the point remains, he asked out. I think those two signings didn't make him happy at all. Loyalty contracts for players that aren't great on the court and aren't worth anywhere near that amount of money is just terrible, terrible stuff. People say the Spurs are run like the military, but does the military keep employees that are liabilities and pay them more money than anyone else would on top of that?
If the young guys don't come back (Derrick and Lonnie) and save the team, then I think the Spurs front office is going to learn a hard lesson this season about handing out those re ed contracts.
Last edited by Ice009; 10-25-2018 at 06:20 AM.
Both Gasol and Mills were complete trash tonight.
This team is a lot worse than anticipated, and I don't see any solution with the players available. I expect another loss against the Lakers.
whatever happen to earning ur minutes,
yet pop continues to throw out mills/forbes heavy minutes, can understand between the both whoever has a good game deserves minutes, but the later has no business getting minutes b4 others on the bench
why isnt pop playing other perimeter players out of position even though team is low on ballhandlers who can perform pg duties, its not like the spurs really need a pg to setup plays in the halfcourt
We need defense!!
Yes. They're called generals.
The basketball points are all painfully valid.
Glad I didn’t watch it. But I was really hoping they start Dante as energizer bunny after the Laker game. Forbes is another breath of fresh air and should help his confidence more. I hope they learn but from this ugly game very early in the season and try to fix. Derozan needs to be aggressive. It’s your team now. GSG
I wouldn't give Pop higher than a D until he does (he won't). Mills plays terribly, what, 75% of the time? I swear Jeff Ledbetter would be better.Pop
... Pop has to be willing to bench Mills when he's playing terribly. Has to.
The Wizards dumping Nicholson got the Nets the pick that's Jarrett Allen. Not really a good thing for the Spurs to emulate.
I would say no to any salary dump trade. The short term is screwed, the long term is screwed. I would rather churn through g-league and two-way guys and see Mills and his ilk benched than waste a pick that has even as little as a 1% chance of being a good player.
Thanks, these grades are dead-on. I left tonight's game thinking Pau was pretty bad and Patty was much worse. It was hard to watch. As you said, Forbes and Gay were anomalies out there. I too was puzzled after Cunningham's decent start in LA why he didn't start tonight. Let's hope for some redemption on Saturday!
The Wizards just gave away a big in that trade. They weren't going to draft Allen. That's the kind of hindsight that isn't helpful. Yes, the Spurs could end up giving away a pick that's a really good player. They've done so in the past with guys like Dragic and Lee. That's not something to worry about. The Spurs made a win-now trade with DeRozan. They lost their chance at winning once Murray went down. But they still have one or two more years with their current core, and the goal is likely going to be to compete as much as possible with those guys signed. That means they'll need to clean up their roster and boost their rotation. The goal would be to get a guy into your team with a year to adjust so that when Murray comes back, the team is that much stronger.
I'm certainly am not talking about giving up an unprotected first for Avery Bradley or something. But the Toronto pick to turn Gasol into Carroll and Dinwiddie? Could make a really big difference next year when the team would be able to use their full MLE to attack their weaknesses rather than splitting it up again.
Carroll holds no more allure for me now that he's had ankle surgery and is out for another couple of months. He'd be 33 next season, and bringing back 33 year olds with bum ankles doesn't do it for me. I don't think the Toronto first could get Dinwiddie. I also don't think RC and his Orlando Interns that assist him would be interested in paying Dinwiddie to stay even though he would have a small caphold. I think Brooklyn could value him more than a late first.
And of course the Spurs really value Pau and his culture, moving him .... can't see it.
Carroll ..33? ... what did I miss?
-30 in just 24 minutes? you Paddy you little aborigine. Get a haircut also you goon.
i actually look forward to this season...it's gonna be real relaxing and stress-free for a change.
For those who are totally against the Forbes and Mills lineup. Truth is, we don't have options. We have four guards. One of them is playing a lot at SF. The other one is Beli. Mills and Forbes are going to happen until White and Walker come back. And playing Cunningham and Bertans more doesn't really help as they both combo forwards, and mainly play the 4 at that. Playing Gay more minutes is really the only option going forward to reduce the Mills and Forbes backup.
Spurs severe lack of athletic talent requires that their players be mentally engaged and superior to the opponent.
Well, the entire team checked out when they saw DeRozan not look for his shot for the entire first half.
This is a domino effect because we got guys who have been in the league for too long and likely are very disinterested in a regular season game. Unfortunately, the young guys aren't talented enough to beat most teams in the NBA.
This can end in a disaster very quickly!
Pau - Disinterested in most games and doesn't have the spring left to score on an opponent.
LaMarcus - Always seeked an easier game by chucking mid-range shots instead of battling in the paint.
DeRozan - Obviously checked out this game.
Gay - He tries, but he's got limited mobility.
Mills - Is now faking effort!
Bryn - A young guy who obviously makes the effort regardless of score.
Bertans - Just can't defend anyone.
Poetl - Limited offensively
Belli - Takes a ton of ill-advised shots.
Cunningham - Can't score on his own.
Pons - Only wants to prove he can still get an NBA contract
Metu - This kind of a game, he has to be played so he prove himself.
Eubanks - Not an NBA player.... but maybe he'll play better than Pau
The team basically sucks big time and it doesn't help if the so called veterans aren't engaged.
I'll spend my time watching the Raptors... the team the Spurs should have been!
"As does the fact that he went from being one of the better shot blockers in the league last season to not recording a single block yet this season."
when its perimeter does not have the ability to press the opponent, this happens
F sighting. No surprise who is wearing it...
I agree on the grades, however when a team starts spring 9/13 on threes that makes it very difficult to find any kind of defensive rhythm.
Anyway it was indeed a very bad game.
Mills continues to suck and it's now near 2017 Tony Parker's level. Worrying.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
