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maybe hes lowered Beno's minutes to give him some rest???
nah.
So what is it then?
Or do y'all think it's great that he's ing with Beno's minutes after the kid had a great first half to his season, all in the name of getting Devin and Barry in a groove?
maybe hes lowered Beno's minutes to give him some rest???
nah.
Devin and Barry sucked.
Marshall wasn't available.
Had to do something.
Well Pop has said a couple times that he scaled back Beno's minutes to try to get Barry and Devin into a rhythm.
I'm sure it was that, plus other reasons (i.e. Beno getting rested up, etc.)
Didn't SolidD already show that Brown and Barry's minutes did not increase as a result of scaling back Beno's?
Devin's minutes went up 5 mpg from January to February, while Beno's went down by over 3 mpg. But the month that Beno's percentages went way down was in January -- and he was getting the same minutes as he did in December.
I miss the ball movement as well. I think that despite the changes in the rotations, or the good scouting by other teams, or the lack of transition baskets --all valid arguments to a certain extent--, the Spurs have gone away from a particular style of offense, and this is by design Pop's decision.
Case to the point, back in November/December, even in the half-court game, the Spurs were moving without the ball beatifully. A classic play would be either a PG or SG holding to the ball on one side of the key, a big coming out of the paint to set up a pick, and two cutters -- either PG /SG and SF-- cutting in opposite diagonals with the other big setting screens for the cutters. That simple play had so many options... the ball handler could hit any of the cutters directly, or run a pick and roll with the big, or penetrate and dish to the cutters (which took perimetral positions after cutting) or pass to the stationary big after penetration, or finish strong to the rack, or... you get the point.
The Spurs had like 3 or 4 plays like that and they were running them increadibly well. The killer for other teams was the mix offense... the Spurs could run a mix of movement, 4-down, and 2-man game, and never settle for any particular offensive style. Other teams looked lost because the Spurs were very unpredictable in their (half-court) offense.
The bench in particular was clicking in all cylinders when running the motion offense. Back cuts, screens, moving without the ball, was the bread & butter of lineups with Beno, Brent, Devin, and Horry. At some point in January the Spurs started going away from that offense, and never used it again. At the same time, the efficiency of our bench started decreasing dramatically. We started using Devin and Brent as spot up shooters almost exclusively, we stop running as much, etc.
I don't know why the Spurs stop doing what was very good for them at the beginning of the season. The only couple of reasons I could think of are:
I don't buy any of them, in particular because the bench doesn't play that many minutes and should be rested, and the Spurs will be rusty if they don't use an offense for so long.
- CIA Pop has stopped doing this on purpose to use it in the playoffs as a secret weapon. I don't think so, but you never know with Pop.
- The Spurs are too tired to run much, and the motion offense was scratched from the playbook to minimize movement and save energy.
- A combination of the above.
In any case, I just wish the Spurs could use some more motion, in particular when playing with Beno and Barry --both players excelled in that offense--. I surely miss that style, and it would give the Spurs that unpredictable touch back again. The current Spurs roster has too much talent to settle for only semi-static offenses.
OK, but that doesn't show that Pop was scaling back Beno's minutes to help Brown and Barry. BTW, I found SolidD's analysis
Why doesnt someone ask POP? Of course, he won't tell the secrets of his rotation that seems to be a mystery to all of us.
The simple loss of consitency shooting wise by the second unit has been it's downfall. Earlier, when Beno was one of the top 3 point shooters in the leauge, he could drive at will. The same thing when Devin was hitting his outside jumpers with a consistency. The games in which Barry has done so, same thing.
It opens up the rest of the floor for the motion offense.
Also, not to beat a dead horse, but when Malik was playing earlier in the year as part of this rotation, there was an inside scoring threat. Malik could put up points from the post position better than any other backup big we had (or have. I like what I've seen from Nazr so far, but he's not going to give you points with his back to the basket.)
Beno has started to hit jumpers on a pretty consistent basis over the past couple of weeks, and Devin has also shown signs. If this continues, I expect good things to come out of it. And if Barry can ever find his stroke, it will also open things up.
But those of you who want to blame it on Pop should know that regardless of what kind of offense he employes, unless those guys hit a few jumpers, it's going to be useless.
If the folks at WOAI are reading this, this post would be a great topic for discussion on a segment for the Pop show.
Kudos, RVB.
As an alternative, I have done similar research as timvp. I took the team average and then deducted scoring (PPG) of five players with most starts.
For example:
team average 96.7 - Tim 21.2 - Tony 16.7 - Manu 16.2 - Bruce 8.3 - Rasho 5.6 = 28.7
97-98: 21.3
98-99: 24.7
99-00: 30.5
00-01: 29.0
01-02: 31.2
02-03: 29.6
04-05: 28.7
My results show the production of the whole bench and not just the three best bench players. This year's bench is more balanced and so the fourth, fifth, sixth and sometimes even seventh player from the bench are also good contributors.
Bench is almost at the same level as it had been it the last few years.
I think the bench is solid. I mean they almost won against the second best team in the league and the hottest team, without two of their three best players.
Barry, Brown and Nazr could start for other teams.
I just think Pop needs to be more consistent with his rotation and subsitution timing. That has always irritated me about Pop. I know he's trying to find the right combination, but he does it more than he should and at the wrong times.
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