Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Warriors - Jan. 18

[AFBlue]

Quick thoughts...

Time to see what the Spurs have in CoJo. Mills out of his element running sets, De Colo with at least one cringe-worthy play every 2 minutes.

Splitter manning the eff up is encouraging. Wonder if it has anything to do with Baynes signing?

Parker showing clutchness once again, but it was also good to see Green hit that three-ball.

I wish Neal was traded. Then again, I may change my mind if he goes "hero ball" against Atlanta, scores 25pts in 20 minutes, and nets the Spurs a win.

[PingPong]

Quick thoughts...

Time to see what the Spurs have in CoJo. Mills out of his element running sets, De Colo with at least one cringe-worthy play every 2 minutes.

Splitter manning the eff up is encouraging. Wonder if it has anything to do with Baynes signing?

Parker showing clutchness once again, but it was also good to see Green hit that three-ball.

I wish Neal was traded. Then again, I may change my mind if he goes "hero ball" against Atlanta, scores 25pts in 20 minutes, and nets the Spurs a win.

The backup PG is the biggest issue for the spurs right now.

Splitter is showcasing himself in his contract-year.

Parker started slow, but get hot in the second half.

Neal is a shooter. Nothing more.

[Captivus]

Im gonna try to rescue Neal here.
His problem is that he has to take a lot shots with a defender in his face, because the backup PG cant run a play to let him open.
It happen yesterday.
I would like to see Neal stat when playing with Parker vs. playing with another PG (which off course has no "game" because Pop cant make up his mind and just pick one of them). Dont know where to get those stats.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I think this was the worst game I have ever seen Leonard play. He was completely out of sorts. He struggled early and it seemed to get into his head. Passing up shots, losing focus on defense, poor passing, the inbound at the end of the half.

I think Pop may need to lay off him a bit. He is playing like he is afraid to make a mistake and we don't want to kill his confidence.

[Ice009]

I think this was the worst game I have ever seen Leonard play. He was completely out of sorts. He struggled early and it seemed to get into his head. Passing up shots, losing focus on defense, poor passing, the inbound at the end of the half.

I think Pop may need to lay off him a bit. He is playing like he is afraid to make a mistake and we don't want to kill his confidence.

It's up to Kawhi to step up. If he wants to be great, he has to take it and improve his game, not let it get in his head and play poorly because of it.

[Paranoid Pop]

Im gonna try to rescue Neal here.
His problem is that he has to take a lot shots with a defender in his face, because the backup PG cant run a play to let him open.
It happen yesterday.
I would like to see Neal stat when playing with Parker vs. playing with another PG (which off course has no "game" because Pop cant make up his mind and just pick one of them). Dont know where to get those stats.

Neal is a fine player and an offensive force, like you say he's just badly used.

Since Pop made it clear he likes Green better, they should just trade Neal, there's just no minutes availlable at SG...

But Neal starting between TP and Leonard could be awesome, Green's D is overrated and Neal can do so much more on O...

[Strategic]

any big who can jump or any sort of basketball skillset is still better than blair....even a fkn traffic cone is more useful then blair atm

20000 post on ST when all along you could have been a comedian. Actually, Blair's skillset is the least of his problems. I might count desire, dedication, and physical attributes as his biggest problems. Oh, and there is that other thing.

[Paranoid Pop]

It's up to Kawhi to step up. If he wants to be great, he has to take it and improve his game, not let it get in his head and play poorly because of it.

Sure but there's also the question of Pop's ability to develop any player not named Tony Parker...

[AFBlue]

It's up to Kawhi to step up. If he wants to be great, he has to take it and improve his game, not let it get in his head and play poorly because of it.

Easier said than done when you have a quick leash. I trust Pop to know what motivates his players, but it's easy to understand how being pulled for a single mistake might make Kawhi hesitant to take more initiative on the offensive end.

[Strategic]

Sure but there's also the question of Pop's ability to develop any player not named Tony Parker...

Possibly Tony hung around not because of Pop but because of the success along side TD and MG? I give Parker credit for his own development.

[BackHome]

I think this was the worst game I have ever seen Leonard play. He was completely out of sorts. He struggled early and it seemed to get into his head. Passing up shots, losing focus on defense, poor passing, the inbound at the end of the half.

I think Pop may need to lay off him a bit. He is playing like he is afraid to make a mistake and we don't want to kill his confidence.

I agree I don't think Pop does a good job with new players..Tiago, Kawhi have all had problems because they are scarred to make a mistake. You can't play scarred in the NBA and Pop need to coach them in a way that they will respond to.