Grades: Spurs @ Pelicans - Jan. 26, 2019

[timvp]

The Spurs traveled to New Orleans to take on a Pelicans squad missing three of their four best players. San Antonio, who was also shorthanded without DeMar DeRozan (knee, ankle, bumps, bruises) and Davis Bertans (personal), took care of business by leaving the Big Easy with a 126-114 victory.

Coming out of halftime with a three-point lead, the Spurs blew it open with a 13-2 run early in the third quarter. The Pelicans never got within single digits from then on out.

All in all, it was a needed road win for the good guys. They weren't overly impressive but, with the Pelicans being without Anthony Davis, Julius Randle and Nikola Mirotic, the Spurs really needed to get it -- and they did. Plus, with a back-to-back game tomorrow night, San Antonio much preferred an easy win. They did that too.

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LaMarcus Aldridge

Heading into the affair, LaMarcus Aldridge was questionable with a left wrist injury. After begging Pop to let him play, Aldridge once again exhibited All-Star form -- even though he was doing most everything one-handed. The University of Texas product was physical in the paint, threw his weight around and gave the Spurs a focal point on offense. Aldridge's right-handed touch was good, he made smart passes and took care of the ball. Defensively, he wasn't a world-beater but he was solid. He was effective on the defensive glass and he was deft enough out on the perimeter to deal with the fact that he was almost always matched up with a small forward.
Grade: A
Summary: Aldridge shook off a wrist injury to post another impressive performance.

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Rudy Gay

With DeRozan out, Rudy Gay stepped into the role of the offense's second option and did so seamlessly. His outstanding efficiency (22 points on 13 shots) was bolstered by a season-high eight free throw attempts. Gay looked comfortable in all facets of the offensive attack: he hit multiple three-pointers for the first time in more than a month, he tenaciously attacked the basket and he was impactful on the post. His defense wasn't anything to write home to Baltimore about but Gay did grab double-digit rebounds for the first time in six weeks. Unfortunately, he twisted his ankle midway through the fourth quarter. Gay says he'll play tomorrow night ... but we'll see.
Grade: A-
Summary: Gay was good until he limped off the court.

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Bryn Forbes

I was mostly pleased with Bryn Forbes offensively. He didn't shoot particularly well but I liked his aggressive shot-selection. His passing was better than usual; Forbes had a pair of pretty dishes to Pau Gasol. Defensively, he made a few mistakes and got overwhelmed on multiple occasions but he wasn't too far south of his normal level.
Grade: B
Summary: Forbes was fine.

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Derrick White

Derrick White was the conductor of the offense more than usual tonight and he did well. He could have pushed the pace more and called his own number more but he ran the sets with precision, made a number of very good passes and his court vision continues to impress. Defensively, it was tough sledding for stretches as White attempted to deal with the Pelicans only standing star in Jrue Holiday. White took his lumps but competed well and eventually had some success. Despite having his hands full with his one-on-one responsibilities, White managed to offer timely help on defense. He finished with team-highs in steals and blocks. (White has posted three straight games with at least two steals and at least one block.)
Grade: B+
Summary: It wasn't easy but White persisted.

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Pau Gasol

I mean, there was definite improvement from Pau Gasol. Offensively, he was a weapon the Pelicans couldn't handle with their top three bigs out injured and their hands already full with Aldridge. Gasol was strong around the rim and passed the ball extremely well -- both from the top of the key and in the low block. This was by far the Spaniard's best offensive showing since returning from injury. Defensively, though, Gasol is a, uh, work in progress. He was absolutely hopeless when his man went out on the perimeter; Gasol simply stayed in the lane and observed from a distance. His slowness also hurt his interior defense, as he couldn't guard the paint unless the offensive player came right at him. Overall, Gasol looked better but I'm not sure if he legitimately regained some of his missing mobility or if the Pelicans simply didn't have the weaponry to take advantage of his labored movements.
Grade: B+
Summary: Gasol had his best game since his return.

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Marco Belinelli

This was the first time in eight outings that Marco Belinelli scored less than 12 points. To his credit, Belinelli's lowered output was mostly due to him being more willing to pass than usual, as his four assists were the most he's tallied in a month. Though he was once again a valuable offensive threat, his defense was even worse than usual. Belinelli was slow in man-to-man situations, failed to rotate a handful of times and was basically just going through the motions on that end. It was no coincidence that the Spurs struggled to get stops whenever he was on the court.
Grade: B-
Summary: Offense was a plus. Defense was a minus.

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Patty Mills

The good: Patty Mills' passing was really, really good on his way to racking up a team-high five assists. He attempted and completed multiple difficult passes. Mills kept his mistakes to a minimum and his shot-selection was tolerable, which hasn't always been the case of late. The bad: Mills' overall vivacity was a level lower than it needs to be on a nightly basis. His defense wasn't too terrible but it was definitely on the passive side.
Grade: B
Summary: Mills' passing was impressive.

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Dante Cunningham

Offensively, Dante Cunningham was fine. He didn't explode like he did the previous two games against his former team (his two highest scoring games of the year, 19 and 15, were versus the Pelicans) but he was helping out by passing well, crashing the offensive boards and scrapping for loose balls. (With his 1-for-1 showing from three-point territory, Cunningham is now 9-for-11 from deep against New Orleans this season.) Defensively, Cunningham was bad. Really bad. He struggled mightily to defend out to the three-point line, his rotations were about two and a half steps slow and, to top it off, he was getting scored over in the paint. I'm still amazed at how bad Cunningham is defensively. He plays hard on that end but he doesn't have the physical skills (too slow to defend smalls, too small to defend bigs) and has no defensive instincts at all.
Grade: C
Summary: Cunningham's D was bad.

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Lonnie Walker IV

Welcome to the NBA, Lonnie Walker IV. Playing his first meaningful minutes of his career, I thought Walker was impressive. First of all, he passes the eye-test with flying colors: he's really quick even compared to other NBA players, he's an explosive athlete and he's longer than he appears at first glance. Walker's shooting stroke is looking better and better -- tonight he opened with a midrange jumper and later buried a three-pointer. It was good to see him rebounding well as he's been rather anemic in that category while in the G-League. I also liked what I saw from him defensively. He was making tactical mistakes here and there but the energy he brought to the court was palpable. Walker had trouble navigating around screens but was successful in one-on-one situations and stayed mentally-engaged when off the ball. Truth be told, he's been poor defensively in the G-League, so showing flashes of ability on that end was notable. Considering everything, this was a really good debut for Walker. He legitimately looks like a prospect with an excitingly high ceiling.
Grade: A-
Summary: Walker didn't disappoint.

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Quincy Pondexter

With the Spurs stuck in mud in the second quarter, Pop called on Quincy Pondexter and he delivered immediate results. Over the proceeding minute, Pondexter scored six consecutive points to spark an 11-2 run. Add in some hard-nosed defense and the coaching staff couldn't have asked for much more in his eight minutes of playing time.
Grade: A-
Summary: Pondexter answered the bell.

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Jakob Poeltl

With Gasol playing his best game in a long time, Jakob Poeltl was the odd man out. I hope this doesn't become a trend.
Grade: Inc.
Summary: Poeltl's minutes vanished.

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Pop

Going with Gasol as the replacement for DeRozan in the starting lineup worked out well even though the Pelicans started a tiny lineup. Playing Walker and Pondexter when the team needed a boost of energy also worked fantastically. Pop did well to limit everyone's minutes in this first game of a back-to-back ... with one glaring exception. Why was Gay on the court with the Spurs up by 20 points and only six minutes remaining? Pop has done a good job all year of limiting Gay's minutes as much as possible in order to protect his fragile health. Until tonight. Gay twisted his ankle while playing garbage minutes on top of his already team-high 32 minutes. Mistake.
Grade: C+
Summary: Good except for a glaring mistake.

Looking ahead: Got the win. Nice job.

Next up is a back-to-back against the Wizards. The game is at home and Washington is 6-18 on the road so, really, this is another game the Spurs need. No excuses.

[Chinook]

Eh, I assumed Rudy was going to rest tomorrow, which is why Pop played him so much. You gotta finish the game. I wanted to see Metu get more time (even if he was wonky in what time he ended up getting), but I'll hold my tongue on guys staying in too long for quite some time after that Philly game. I really don't expect to see Rudy play tomorrow, but it's another match the team needs to win, so Pop may well let him get some run if Bertans is out. If DeRozan is also out, Gay has to play, because Aldridge hasn't been as explosive on the second night of most B2Bs this year.

I think your grade on Lonnie was optimistic or at least somewhat misleading. I thought it was a great (first real NBA action) game, and I'm a believer in his ceiling. But the grade sort of implies that he was actually putting in good rotation minutes, and I didn't see that. I thought his rebounding was okay. Like it's nice that he got that many, but he didn't attack the glass or anything. The balls just happened to bounce to him. In order to be a really good rebounding guard, one has to be able to get into the paint and tip balls away from the opponent or at least help box out. Not a church thing, but Murray rebounds in a completely different way than Walker did tonight. DeJounte's way of getting boards is just way more consistent, even accounting for the volume difference. With Lonnie's athleticism, such rebounding isn't out of his reach. He should become a very good rebounder for a guard, but that wasn't what was going on. The shots were objectively nice. , the game was nice. I'm more than happy to overlook the short-comings and go straight to the ceiling. But he didn't look ready for rotation minutes.

As I mentioned in the trade thread, Pau played well, but the game showed why he's not all that valuable. It's easier than ever to find a center who can score. Gasol adds a whole bunch of intangibles, but he just can't do enough to play with Aldridge against most teams, and I've yet to see him and Poeltl both play well in the same game. The rotation just doesn't seem big enough for three centers. It's gonna be hard for Pau to get his consistent minutes, on the Spurs or anywhere else. He's not a bad player, but he's an awkward one in today's league, and with that contract, that's not a good thing.

[MoSpur02]

Happy with the win after the last couple of games. Gasol playing all those minutes should get Pop a F.

[playbonner15]

Lonnie Walker was getting beat by his man a couple of times so I wouldnt put a grade so high for him

[ceperez]

Eh, I assumed Rudy was going to rest tomorrow, which is why Pop played him so much. You gotta finish the game. I wanted to see Metu get more time (even if he was wonky in what time he ended up getting), but I'll hold my tongue on guys staying in too long for quite some time after that Philly game. I really don't expect to see Rudy play tomorrow, but it's another match the team needs to win, so Pop may well let him get some run if Bertans is out. If DeRozan is also out, Gay has to play, because Aldridge hasn't been as explosive on the second night of most B2Bs this year.

I think your grade on Lonnie was optimistic or at least somewhat misleading. I thought it was a great (first real NBA action) game, and I'm a believer in his ceiling. But the grade sort of implies that he was actually putting in good rotation minutes, and I didn't see that. I thought his rebounding was okay. Like it's nice that he got that many, but he didn't attack the glass or anything. The balls just happened to bounce to him. In order to be a really good rebounding guard, one has to be able to get into the paint and tip balls away from the opponent or at least help box out. Not a church thing, but Murray rebounds in a completely different way than Walker did tonight. DeJounte's way of getting boards is just way more consistent, even accounting for the volume difference. With Lonnie's athleticism, such rebounding isn't out of his reach. He should become a very good rebounder for a guard, but that wasn't what was going on. The shots were objectively nice. , the game was nice. I'm more than happy to overlook the short-comings and go straight to the ceiling. But he didn't look ready for rotation minutes.

As I mentioned in the trade thread, Pau played well, but the game showed why he's not all that valuable. It's easier than ever to find a center who can score. Gasol adds a whole bunch of intangibles, but he just can't do enough to play with Aldridge against most teams, and I've yet to see him and Poeltl both play well in the same game. The rotation just doesn't seem big enough for three centers. It's gonna be hard for Pau to get his consistent minutes, on the Spurs or anywhere else. He's not a bad player, but he's an awkward one in today's league, and with that contract, that's not a good thing.

Walker needs to get more minutes in the NBA. He can't learn how different it is to play in the big leagues by playing in the small leagues. If we want his to play defense then he's got to know how hard the screens are in the NBA and how to work your way around it. He's is not getting that exposure in G-league. I think White needs a break defending the opponents best player, so Walker has a role to play.

Pau is good for beating up the bad teams. The way most teams are constructed, they are too small against Pau. Against the good teams, Pau is a liability.

[duncan2150]

I understand the grade for Walker, we talk about a rookie who played a lot of g league. I watched him closely on defense and he was active, fast and that’s Good. Offcourse he made some mistakes and he needs some work.

Overall it was a good game for him.

[Robz4000]

Yeah, I'm not sure about the whole Pop critique concerning Gay. The game was still relatively in doubt and it made more sense to keep Gay in than LMA who was already playing a lot of minutes. I like to call out Pop as much as anyone but I can't really blame him for Gay's injury.

[vavvi]

Just watched the replay. Pretty ugly game. Have to say it looked like a Russian league outing in a half-empty house but without the defense. Anyway, a win is a win.

I wasn't too impressed by Lonnie. The good was his quickness which is special. The bad... I didn't like his bball IQ. Not sure if he's a Spurs type player but who knows what the Spurs will look like when Pop retires.

[Harry Callahan]

It's pretty interesting that a player's basketball IQ can be determined in a rookie's first NBA game of meaningful minutes.

Honestly, Lonnie seems much more comfortable than a lot of veteran NBA players as it relates to expressing himself and interacting with media people.

If he can stay well physically, he has a lot to offer in the coming years.

[Play Boban]

Walker was a turnstile defensively.

[monty4329]

It's pretty interesting that a player's basketball IQ can be determined in a rookie's first NBA game of meaningful minutes.

Honestly, Lonnie seems much more comfortable than a lot of veteran NBA players as it relates to expressing himself and interacting with media people.

If he can stay well physically, he has a lot to offer in the coming years.

Agree. Especially if you compare him to Metu, who honestly has no business being in the NBA

[GAustex]

When Walker was defending weak side and a big set a screen on him-everytime he got rubbed off on the screen and his man stolled into the paint. LW needs to see that coming and do better-that is really fundamental. Walkers awareness abount what is going on needs improvement. He can run and elevate with that sweet stroke though...

[monty4329]

Good win, game was tricky, with all the missing players on both sides you really never know...Anyway, I find extremely positive that, once ahead, the game was never in doubt. Which is quite something, considering last game and others in the near past.

Impressed by QP, played well with good energy, a true pro. Proved why he was signed. I also liked Pau start, pretty solid minutes.
Pity for Gay, but with a depleted bench and LMA injured, he had to be on the court. Let's hope he can rest tonigh -if not him then it will be LMA.

Any news about Bertans?

[Spurs Homer]

Walker is a player. He needs all the time that can be given immediately. He will be wasted if he is not thrown into the rotation immediately.

If Steve Kerr had him on the warriors - the most talented team in the world - Kerr would find minutes for him so that by the playoffs - he would be in a groove already.

C'mon pop - just force feed the kid some minutes and allow him to get his awkwardness and mistakes out of the way.

Do NOT take another 3 years the way you did with Splitter and now Bertans -
heck pop even gave Forbes time - no reason to give a player with a much higher ceiling less time than that.

[vavvi]

It's pretty interesting that a player's basketball IQ can be determined in a rookie's first NBA game of meaningful minutes.

Honestly, Lonnie seems much more comfortable than a lot of veteran NBA players as it relates to expressing himself and interacting with media people.

If he can stay well physically, he has a lot to offer in the coming years.

Sure It's way too early. And unlike Metu it's easy to see NBA potential there.
Was just saying he seems like... not the type of player Pop prefers to work with, that's all.

[vavvi]

Good win, game was tricky, with all the missing players on both sides you really never know...Anyway, I find extremely positive that, once ahead, the game was never in doubt. Which is quite something, considering last game and others in the near past.

Impressed by QP, played well with good energy, a true pro. Proved why he was signed. I also liked Pau start, pretty solid minutes.
Pity for Gay, but with a depleted bench and LMA injured, he had to be on the court. Let's hope he can rest tonigh -if not him then it will be LMA.

Any news about Bertans?

Agree I liked that Pop played Pau, QP, Cun extended minutes. Pels had basically one one real player out there, and it was more important to stay pro and play with energy than use some special skill and athleticism. For such games serious vets may be better than moody DeMar.

[Kobe'sAchilles]

QP looks like a dying deer when he runs. Like I'm always amazed when he does something positive bc he just looks like the most unathletic guy I've ever seen. Just awkward. But I'm glad he did well lol

[BlackAndWhite]

Maybe QP should get more playing time. I remember him playing pretty well in 2013. His skills couldn't have diminished that much considering he's still only 30

[ceperez]

Sure It's way too early. And unlike Metu it's easy to see NBA potential there.
Was just saying he seems like... not the type of player Pop prefers to work with, that's all.

The question I got about Metu is.... why can't he replace Cunningham?

He's taller, more mobile and can shoot the 3. He's not as bulky, but Cunningham can't guard anyone and is worthless in help defense.

[Degoat]

Will be interesting tonight, idk who’s playing yet but potentially LA, DeMar, Gay, Davis could be out, id imagine some of them will play though but if not lonnie should get some more minutes again

[sasaint]

Good win, game was tricky, with all the missing players on both sides you really never know...Anyway, I find extremely positive that, once ahead, the game was never in doubt. Which is quite something, considering last game and others in the near past.

Impressed by QP, played well with good energy, a true pro. Proved why he was signed. I also liked Pau start, pretty solid minutes.
Pity for Gay, but with a depleted bench and LMA injured, he had to be on the court. Let's hope he can rest tonigh -if not him then it will be LMA.

Any news about Bertans?

Do you think there is the remotest possibility that Pop believes that Quincy is still in recovery mode, that he can recover enough to approach his former level of athleticism/effectiveness and that, consequently, they still have a plan (at least a tentative plan) for him as a Spur?

[vavvi]

The question I got about Metu is.... why can't he replace Cunningham?

He's taller, more mobile and can shoot the 3. He's not as bulky, but Cunningham can't guard anyone and is worthless in help defense.

I saw every minute Metu played in NBA and zero minutes of him in Austin. I haven't noticed a single thing he's good at or can be good in the future (except cheering for his teammates). He looks clueless on both ends. And I doubt he can shoot the 3 as you say.
Also: it's weird to develop a young prospect into Cun's role meaning vet min body you are playing when noone's available

[Chinook]

Chim's already a pretty good d-league player. What's hurting him is that he's not going to be a first-option player in the NBA, and it's hard to develop those skills with the lack of complimentary talent. Guards have it easiest there, because they can pretty much do everything they need to no matter how bad the rest of the team is. Bigs just need a good guard. Forwards are tricky. Chim being a selfish/"assertive" player in the d-league works, but in the pros, he'll have to learn to be "solid" before anyone's gonna start giving him the ball. Give him time. The Spurs guaranteed two years of his deal for a reason.

[BackHome]

I think they will start focusing on Walker as far as making him run point and given him the Green light to shoot the 3 ball. I think Metu can make it but SF/PF takes longer to develop and I think he will be the next player they focus on next year in G League.

[Pavlov]

I think they will start focusing on Walker on Walker as far as maybe making him run point

That was a disaster in the D-League tbh.