Can we live without a Stopper?

[024]

time for a battier to spurs trade.

[stealthjbravo]

No justification needed.

"Can we live without a Stopper?"

Answer: NO

Agree. This team is in serious need of a Bowen type player

[TJastal]

No the they can't. Just look at the way Kobe carved the Spurs up in 08. Hill, Bogans, Manu? Not gonna cut it.

Truth be told the Spurs should have went after Trevor Ariza - hard. Most effective Kobe defender in the league currently.

Your right 21, Ariza would defenitely help the spurs situation. Alot.

Too bad Ariza wasn't a free agent a year ago when the spurs had the midlevel exception to spend and were in the market for a swingman. Maggette, Pietrus, and Mason were the free agents available at the time that fit what the spurs were looking for. While Popovich was busy wooing Maggette, Otis Smith quickly snatched Pietrus up for the midlevel. Couple days later, Maggette signed a contract with the warriors after playing the spurs for a fool. They ended up with Roger Mason on a short term deal.

Now.. they did have have that kind of cash available this year too, but with Thomas and Oberto gone they kind of had to use it for a big man, which ended up being McDyess.

[21_Blessings]

You guys might just have to settle for good ol' Raja Bell. He'll be real fresh come playoffs.

Heh.

[ElNono]

What's with insecure Lakerfans that were MIA before the Gasol trade?

Now they're supposed to know anything about basketball?

GTFO

[TJastal]

You guys might just have to settle for good ol' Raja Bell. He'll be real fresh come playoffs.

Heh.

Raja Bell is about the same size as Bogans I believe. Not big enough in other words.

Shane Battier would be great however.

[21_Blessings]

Yes but is Bogans enough to clothesline Kobe in a playoff series?

[z0sa]

If we signed Ariza, we could not have signed McDyess. If one simply takes all factors into account, he will see that signing a big man with the MLE was much more a priority, and indeed, ownership would not have had it any different.

[ceperez]

We can, but it would be alot easier with a defensive stopper that has the tools to slow down the bigger guards and forwards of the league. Keith Bogans is not tall enough and his wingspan is probably a good foot shorter than Bowen's. His physical stature makes him good against the shorter, bulkier guards around the league such as Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd, but as we saw against the Ray Allen, he has problems against guys that can elevate. He's very easy to shoot over the top of.

Back a year or so ago, I wanted the spurs to try to sign Mikael Pietrus to fill this need to get themselves a defensive stopper with some length to guard those 6'6"-6'10" athletic superstars that are dominating the NBA currently. The list is becoming huge, and the spurs are going to have problems with all of them this year.

Carmelo Anthony
Kobe Bryant
Lebron James
Danny Granger
Josh Howard
Kevin Durant
Paul Pierce
Joe Johnson
Dwayne Wade
Brandon Roy

I gotta give credit to Otis Smith, I think he was the only GM at the time that was targetting Pietrus while everyone else was going nuts over that pile of horse Corey Maggette.

Agree. If RJ isn't that stopper, then we definitely are in deep trouble because there's nobody else in our team with that length and athleticism (unless you count Haislip in the mix).

[Chomag]

i have confidence in hill and bogans. give them a little while, if i remember, bowen wasn't playing his best defense until about 5 years ago. he was always good, it took about 3 years of patience before he was a true ultimate defender

Hill and Bogans are great stoppers imo but they have size limitations especially when we would go up agaisnt Kobe, Lebron, Melo, among the many powerhouses. These guys are just way to big and strong for our current "Stoppers"

[SenorSpur]

Your right 21, Ariza would defenitely help the spurs situation. Alot.

Too bad Ariza wasn't a free agent a year ago when the spurs had the midlevel exception to spend and were in the market for a swingman. Maggette, Pietrus, and Mason were the free agents available at the time that fit what the spurs were looking for. While Popovich was busy wooing Maggette, Otis Smith quickly snatched Pietrus up for the midlevel. Couple days later, Maggette signed a contract with the warriors after playing the spurs for a fool. They ended up with Roger Mason on a short term deal.

Now.. they did have have that kind of cash available this year too, but with Thomas and Oberto gone they kind of had to use it for a big man, which ended up being McDyess.

I, for one, have always thought Pietrus would've made a fine addition. Yet somehow the Spurs FO, and many on this board, turned their collective noses up on this guy. All I know is that he was a significant contributor to an Orlando team that made it to the NBA Finals. And he's younger and cheaper than RJ. Still like RJ and hope he pans out, but right now, it doesn't look good.

[kace]

I'm waiting for poster sa210 or whatever his name is to go boinkers with this thread. Truth be told its the defensive rotations and lack of a legit defensive big. Mcdyess/Bonner/Blair and even Ratliff have weaknesses. Mcdyess is pretty solid but can he guard a rashard lewis/Lamar Odom. Bonner will hustle but is not quick enough to guard Odoms/Lewis' and not strong enough to handle solid post players like Gasol/Shaq heck even Sheed. Blair is to short and not defensively sound yet. Ratliff (many feel he is the best option) is old and can only play a certain amount of minutes. Also he isnt versatile enough to play against quicker 4's in the league. And we all know Tim guards centers cause perimeter PF's will eat his lunch cause he is older and too slow. My point is that your perimeter defenders are only as good as the backline help. A better, versatile/defensive C-F would make Bogans/Hill/RJ look alot better. Just like Robinson made slow-poke Mario Elie look good guarding lightning fast Sprewell.

not so often, but i agree with you.

Our bigs used to make our good perimeter defenders look great and our average perimeter defenders look solid.

Bruce, as a defensive freak, used to play elite offensive player straight and had succes. Still, being backed by defensive bigs helped him.

but for others like TP, it's very clear. tony often used to block only one side of his man, daring him to attack the bigs on the other. now, not so much and we see how much it really helped.