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I disagree that its a tough decision for Pop. It is obvious that Lapro is ready. You can't say the same for Forbes, Arcidiacono and Garino. Anthony is experienced, but there's just no room for him this year.
I've said it ad nauseam: Lee is neither a power forward or a center, he's a power forward (defensively) and a center (offensively). Ideally, he'd be paired with a floor spacer/rim protector.
Duncan and Splitter had excellent basketball IQ and chemistry and weren't paired with a sub par shooting small forward, yet even they had to be broken up against the other two elites and the game has further evolved the past few years.
I disagree that its a tough decision for Pop. It is obvious that Lapro is ready. You can't say the same for Forbes, Arcidiacono and Garino. Anthony is experienced, but there's just no room for him this year.
You are probably right.
Spurs have years of experience in hiring over-the-hill, but previously productive, veteran big men just for insurance. Lee will only get minutes under Pop if he can produce enough to put someone else's butt on the bench rotation behind him. One of the advantages/disadvantages of playing for Pop is that he rewards players with minutes based on their value on the court on both offense and defense combined. It isn't always about PPG. If it was, Bruce wouldn't have had much of a career with the Spurs.
Some people always bring up Bonner as an example of Pop playing favorites for keeping him in the rotation and on the team. But if you think about it, as Bonner's productivity declined, so did his minutes and other players moved ahead of him in the rotation. Eventually his contract expired and he was not re-signed. Even TD had his minutes reduced as his productivity dropped.
Personally, I think this system of rewarding productivity and hard work is the cornerstone of the Spur System--if there is such a thing. It gives the young guys a fair shake at moving up and keeps the vets on their toes.
Exactly, thanks. You have to ask yourself that question, "Why did Pop sign him?" As you said, "insurance." If he's productive he'll play. When he does play he'll most of the time be playing against the other team's bench. Good signing and has looked motivated in the pre-season. To those saying 'it's too early in the season to judge', I'd say 'before the season starts is indeed too early.' All that being said our bench productivity is really important. Many ways for us to go.
Thanks for sharing
Very well thought out. Also goes right in line with what Pop said this season: that the players themselves tell him who deserves the minutes with the quality of their play. He was also looking at how guys fit with each other and how they play, and he also said he wasn't looking at any new guys yet for the main rotation, bc he didn't want to form an opinion about someone young learning to play in the league one way or another, when those guys are still evolving and once he gained a perception about somebody, it was hard to change.
What this tells me is that the bench specially will be in a transition with the possibility of younger guys eventually getting ahead if they show they deserve it, so that is encouraging.
My thought still stands that they will suffer from the lack of spacing by Lee, I haven't changed my opinion or my mind about that, but I do think Pop will find out ways for it to work, either by lineups he plays Lee in (I have seen him with both LMA and Pau at times) and what they are running.
I did change my view in that I agree it was too early to proclaim him "cancerous"... we just have to see. I probably felt too strongly about him in a negative fashion after seeing him get owned by Bertans in this scrimmage on both ends.
Thanks for your post. It was only the "cancerous" part that I thought was a bit harsh. My thought has been that Pop is indeed going to be figuring out how to use these different looks we can throw at people. Other than experience, Bertans has been really looking like the real deal- of a deal we made for Hill! He is obviously an offensive threat and think he has the potential to be a capable defensive player. It's such a long season and throughout we'll probably see every match up under the sun. Who we see in the playoffs will tell the tale. I won't be surprise to see Bertans out there- 'instant offense.'
The question isn't whether he will be in front of Bertans in the rotation. At this point a coach will ususally pencil in a vet with good credentials aheand of a rookie. You have to start somewhere. And trying to decide whether one player is so much better than another this early is tricky. Maybe he is. But I remember Austin Daye with 6 3s in a preseason game and thinking he would be pushing the starters. It never happened and he never shot that well again. I hate to see players get tagged with harsh nicknames and even harsher analysis of their games/skill sets when I want to see all of them be as successful as they can be as members of the Spurs team, even at the far end of the bench.
But then I'm a team fan first and foremost. Not a player fan.
Oh I agree, I like Bertans but his own shooting spree didn't form my opinion, it did make it too emphatic I admit.
I had expressed concerns about the spacing and Lee himself from b4 this scrimmage and its based on observations from b4 Lee joined the Spurs, and the trends that make it very difficult for teams to score with paint clogging bigs, see for example how Greg Monroe and guys like that are getting devalued.
Seeing what I have seen (I don't want to be repe ive but it's here) hasn't eased up the concerns, in terms of how teams that play Led as a 4 struggle. but again it is early specially about fit since lineups have been all over.
I'm surprised Aldridge not playing isn't getting more run, especially with the rumors.
Pop's reasoning was flimsy too. Something to the effect of him bringing him along slowly after being honored . . . which took place Friday, while the scrimmage did Tuesday.
picture i took:
Nice brother!picture i took:
telling that Udoka was (baby)sitting next to LMA on an afternoon of "trade rumors"picture i took:
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Awesomeness!picture i took:
Agreed. The reason that Pop gave that they were taking it slow with LMA seemed flimsy, fabricated. He still could have played a few minutes and get that rhythm back.
Also, when asked about J.Simms he kind of had a blank stare and was at a loss of words, then said Simms had something. I made something out of it within this thread as soon as I noticed it. I initially thought both were being held out to prevent injuries bc of a possible trade. In LMA case, I had checked online the pictures of the scrimmage in 10/17 and he was absent from there.
But being more realistic, I think Pop wanted to see others in this scrimmage, between guys battling for a roster spot, to those competing for minutes.
But what can you do? It's all a wild speculation right now. I definitely think the timing of the rumors don't make sense, as I pointed elsewhere bc they could have gotten more and gone a different direction with the team if they sought a trade b4 the draft and shaped the roster through FA and trades from there on. They didn't do that, so this rumor right now is ill timed. It's not even like the team is floundering or anything like that. This is all b4 a game has been played to inaugurate the season!
Weird stuff going on. LMA looks like he's in uniform, but didn't play a minute. JSims though look like he's not dressed for the game. Go figure. What's the explanation for LMA not playing?
I don't know the basketball reasons. Like why is Leonard playing with the second unit?
Pop said they wanted to bring LMA back slowly after going to Austin for his HoF induction.
Like, so Pop can, like, look at, like, different personnel combinations and, like, synergy amongst players and like, stuff and s?
I spun my own wild speculation about that. I like to speculate about things like that. Lol
Edit but that was way b4 Jackie Mac broke the story....
I always thought that it was to balance things out? Putting him with the 1st unit vs the bench would be a fcking rape tbh.
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