The mysterious fifth man

[waly.mg]

Tha´s the reason because we never can sign a great big man

Check this Number by 82games.com

Tim Duncan plays Center 62% of the Spurs Total minutes and Plays PF the 4% of the Spurs minutes.
Scola play Center only 12% of the Rockets minutes and the 38% as PF
Every year TD plays Center more and more.
Then, why we need a center?
Because TD want to be a PF?
Yes, but he plays Center all the time
And now, when we are playing Small Ball, we needs a PF more than a Center, because the 96% of the Minutes of the Spurs Tim Duncan isn´t the PF, is too difficult to see that.

For example:
PF:
Duncan 4%
Thomas: 6%
Oberto: 26%
Bonner: 20%
Horry: 14%
Udoka: 14%
Finley: 2%
Bowen. 10%
Others: 4%

Then, there are 6 player who played more minutes than Duncan as PF

Center:
Duncan: 62%
Oberto: 15%
Thomas: 6%
Elson: 13%
Others:4%

TD played 4 times more minutes as Center than any other Spur

Then we don´t need Tiago, and we don´t need Elson, and we don´t need a Center because in the numbers Tim Duncan is our Center

[Solid D]

waly.mg You are correct that Timmy typically plays what most people would consider the Center position. After all, he is the tallest big out there for the Spurs most of the time and he jumps center at the start of games (origin of the positional name "Center" or "Jump-Center").

Now, to address your original thread comments. The Spurs haven't been successful in drafting a key 5th player who can contribute 27+ minutes per game like, Timmy, Tony, Manu and Bruce give them...regardless of position. They haven't been able to sign a free agent who deserves that many minutes yet, either, because the Spurs do not want to pay Lux Tax. Therefore, it has been like hitting all the garage sales because they cannot afford another $7-10M player (aka Corey Maggette most recently). They typically only have an MLE type cap on additional players.

The only way to pull in that Danny Ainge or AC Green type contributor is to get either:
A. a bargain FA willing to take MLE money or less and hope they can merit 27+ minutes,
or
B. find a guy in the draft and get a diamond,
or
C. go over the Lux Tax line and get penalized double the money.

[Brox6]

Kurt Thomas..retain him..He is the Man!!!

[Solid D]

There is one other point I would like to make and that is, there may not 27+ minutes for a 5th player on the Spurs simply because the way Pop likes to manipulate matchups, one Big and a couple of Wings may split those 27 minutes because that actually is more effective defensively. Nowadays, Pop may not want to be locked-in on that many minutes for that 5th defender. (The Large Straight Yahtzee principle: keep the inner 2345... so you can win with a 6 or a 1 ).

[Solid D]

waly.mg, this is actually a quality thread...just so you will know.