Which makes the team better.
The problem with Demar is that Murray has shown he is going to be moderately aggressive on offense and Forbes is going to shoot every semi open catch and shoot opportunity he gets...so he is just going to have less opportunities this year to handle the ball and to score...
Which makes the team better.
This- to add, as his touches go down, in a contract year, he's going to become disgruntled and a disgruntled demar is going to be awful from a chemistry standpoint. In addition, it will degrade his trade value. If it was me, I'd force feed him for a few weeks and trade him early in the season.
Lonnie getting shelved (probably the first month of the season or so) for Beli might be one of the biggest injustices of the 21st century
The Suckers' defense of Pop refusing to play him in the rotation is akin to 9/11 truthers tbh.....
Lonnie will play this season. Might even be one of those cases where he plays one game for Austin and dominates so convincingly that there's no reason to keep him there anymore.
Pretty solid grades and writeup, as usual.
People a lot about Pop, but I thought starting Lyles was a good move. Most people agree that he had tremendous potential when he came to the league, but he has fallen short of living up to it. If he's going to turn the corner and contribute for the Spurs, he has to be given an opportunity. Pop just told him, "I think you're starter material. Now go prove it." Yeah, he was passive on the offensive end, but I'm not so sure that playing D and snatching rebounds weren't the things he needed to prioritize in his first regular season game here. I like Poeltl, but he's more of an old-school C. Lyles is a better fit for the modern game. If Pop can get him to live up to more of his potential, it will be a great coaching move. If he falters, I'm confident we'll see Poeltl starting again.
I also thought (finally) relieving Forbes of PG duties was a great move. As a ball handler, he's a liability - but as a shooter, he's a potent weapon. He improved his defense as last season progressed. He's not going to become a stopper, but he's not the train wreck he was this time last season.
Someone commented that DeRozan stat-padded at the end. But he came in with 8:20 left in the game, and the Spurs down by 6, and immediately blunted the Knicks' momentum with two layups. And because of those two layups, he was able to freeze the defense and feed Forbes for two wide open 3's. That was anything but stat-padding in garbage time. That's the DDR we need to see. I don't know what the was wrong with him earlier in the game, but at least give him credit for coming through in a pinch. But I hope we don't see that other DeMar DeRozan again any time soon.
I commented on it in the game thread, but the Spurs closed both of the first two quarters very poorly. They just lost focus, especially in the second quarter. They could have put their foot on the Knicks' necks, and instead they let them have hope. Games are lost that way. Pop seems to say that he can't make professionals focus, or shouldn't have to. But I think some of that loss of focus is on him to manage.
Don’t get why people love Lyles tbh. He can’t defend, at all, not even a little bit. He got his points from open layups and dunks. No one bothers to cover the guy on the 3pt line. His advanced stats have been horrendous his entire career and they were even worse last night.
This is even worse than the Bertans short bus because at least the guy was elite at one thing. Lyles is below average at everything and no one has yet to tell me one thing he does well.
I will be proven correct later on (as usual) just like I was when everyone swore Fathead and Bertans were good.
He was overpassing last night. Just shoot it if already open. I know that Pop used to preach overpassing with the beautiful game.
He has great bball IQ like Boris. He positions well
Going to be interesting to see how long Pop refuses to play Murray and White together.
great start considering no real training camp and a ton of turnovers. murray looks great. He can call his number and find others, thought Rudy was solid, LA looked effortless, loving Forbes' game. DeRozan can be really good for us if he becomes content fitting in. Murray is going to be absolutely huge for us.
Easiest bet of the night was taking the Knicks +11 last night. Pop not playing DJ and White together along with pairing Wombat and Belli made it a super safe bet. Plus the fact I knew he was gonna bench Lonnie
Marco playing 18 minutes while contributing to absolutely nothing and playing atrocious defense while Lonnie can’t get a SECOND of action. Meanwhile (11)Carson Edwards,(34) Tyler Herro,(22) Matisse Thybulle,(22) Edmond Sumner,(27) Kendrick Nunn,(12) Anfernee Simons all rookies or second year guys getting minutes on playoff teams last night.
There should never be a game with White playing good defense and no foul troubles where he plays less than Marco. Forget Lonnie for now. It’s white losing minutes that is completely unjustified
Funny you mention that...I just had a chance to watch the game and I totally forgot about Carroll as well. Interesting that he didn't see a single minute considering he was the Spurs "big" acquisition of the offseason.
Wonder if he is having trouble coming up to speed, or if there is something going on physically.
I agree with this. Lonnie really didn't show alot in the preseason. It's White who should take Marco's minutes.
White is playing too damn timid and needs to wake up.
Lyles might be the surprise of the season. He started, played 24 minutes and finished the game. The reason to like his game is that he looks comfortable in the system.
He's on a 2 year $11m contract. That's not bad for a guy who 11 rebounds and 75% shooting (8 points). He doesn't have to look to score, just look for easy opportunities.
Last edited by ceperez; 10-24-2019 at 02:39 PM.
He really did make his efforts look easy out there. Not bad for first official game as a Spur. He has a lot more room for growth. With how much attention the other four starters will get, he'll have his opportunities to shine. As DD said "Smooth." I agree
In the little bit of run he got in the preseason he looked like crap. Two steps slow and his jumper was rotating sideways. Hopefully it's injury related, or else he really just sucks.
He looks physically worse than Rudy Gay and that’s not a good thing...that’s the problem. You see how Carroll is moving in the pre season? Looks completely washed man.
Yeah, I did notice that. He had that one game where he looked great and the rest of the time he was definitely underwhelming.
Let's hope its just something physical that he can shake off, because if he is really so far behind on the system (or just washed up) that Pop can't even find him minutes, it doesn't bode well.
Lyles has good bball iq like Boris, he can shoot, pass the ball, rebound and place himself well. He space for Aldridge. He could very well be the best acquisition of the summer if he pans out.
its pretty cool how all the posters on this site are so used to Pop and this kind of stuff that we all laugh about Belli and Mills together.
Used to be 10 threads per game over these kinda decisions but now we all just take it in stride
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