Does anyone not agree that Mills/Marco/Manu/Diaw/Baynes should be the bench rotation?

[AussieFanKurt]

It's quite premature to give Baynes a rotation spot after two good games against bad teams (Toronto and Utah). It should just earned him some minutes in the next few games to prove himself but nothing more.

What likely isn't premature is to end the Ayres experiment. He start to have played a lot of minutes and he still sucks. If I'm Pop, I would give his minutes to Baynes and Thomas to see what I have in them. If both suck and if Spurs can't do some kind of trades, there is still the Bonner option.

Exactly this. I want Baynes to play well since he's Aussie but can't over react and Ayres is just ing poo

[SpursFan86]

It's quite premature to give Baynes a rotation spot after two good games against bad teams (Toronto and Utah). It should just earned him some minutes in the next few games to prove himself but nothing more.

What likely isn't premature is to end the Ayres experiment. He start to have played a lot of minutes and he still sucks. If I'm Pop, I would give his minutes to Baynes and Thomas to see what I have in them. If both suck and if Spurs can't do some kind of trades, there is still the Bonner option.

I know it's sort of premature, hence the "It's a bit reactionary" comment that prefaced my post, but you basically backed up what I'm saying with the second part of your post. It's not that I'm blown away by Baynes and think he's completely ready to play 15 mpg on a nightly basis. Rather, I think Ayres is clearly not the right guy to be playing, and as you said, I'm all in favor of giving his minutes to Baynes. I'd be fine with Thomas getting some burn too but I feel like it's pretty unlikely that he'll get called up from Austin and get minutes so quickly.

So right now it's either let Ayres keep playing 13 mpg, or split that in half and give the rest to Baynes/Bonner. Bonner is already getting 13 mpg himself, so I'd like Baynes to get more of the minutes Ayres would be losing.

[Hoops Czar]

No. Ayres can't even dunk the ball half the time.

It doesn't take athleticism to Dunk a basketball. Ayres just stinks and he's only being exploitd more while he's out there against other starting units. The guy is a bonefied 3rd string/D-league big.

[DrunkTXLabrat]

Im loving baynes right now! Baynes over ayers for sure. I dont know why it wasnt so, from game one.

[Shastafarian]

It really depends on matchup. Ayres is more suitable to guard quicker/athletic bigs (e.g. Griffin, Aldridge) but Baynes is perfect for Howard/Pekovic.

I think this is right on. It seemed apparent to me Ayres was brought in for teams like Miami and GS that tend to go with smaller lineups.

[Raven]

yeah i do not agree one bit tbh. We should look for a rotation that wouldn't hurt us in the PO instead of just looking to statpad the offense ratings in the regular season tbh. Not to mention, we should look to develop our young players with defensive potential for the post Duncan. I know it is nice to see a lot of points and whatever, but only D wins les, so:
Tony, Green, Leonard, Duncan, Splitter
Joseph, Manu, X(where x stands for either Green or Leonard or a small ball lineup with Patty or Marco), Ayres/Diaw, Diaw/Baynes

[cd021]

Marco should join the starting lineup, Danny Greem is awful.

Defense?....

that shouldn't even be an option in the west.

[Bruno]

I'd be fine with Thomas getting some burn too but I feel like it's pretty unlikely that he'll get called up from Austin and get minutes so quickly.

Thomas has already been called up from Toros.

Thomas contract becomes guaranteed for the year in early January. Looking at schedule, Spurs will play 11 games before his contract become guaranteed. So, if Spurs don't give him some playing time in some of these 11 games, their decision to keep him or not for the year will be only based on practices/D-League. Unless Spurs/Pop have already their mind set on Thomas, giving him some minutes in a short future seems logical.

[SpursFan86]

Thomas has already been called up from Toros.

Thomas contract becomes guaranteed for the year in early January. Looking at schedule, Spurs will play 11 games before his contract become guaranteed. So, if Spurs don't give him some playing time in some of these 11 games, their decision to keep him or not for the year will be only based on practices/D-League. Unless Spurs/Pop have already their mind set on Thomas, giving him some minutes in a short future seems logical.

Oh really? How long ago?

Well hopefully we'll get to see something from him relatively soon. Seems like Splitter being out should make it more likely that he gets some minutes. Speaking of that...when is Splitter supposed to be back? He hasn't played in almost 2 weeks if you exclude that small stint he played against Indiana. I thought his injury was just "tightness" in his calf. Spurs just being careful or is it something a little more serious than we originally thought?

[Jimcs50]

It's quite premature to give Baynes a rotation spot after two good games against bad teams (Toronto and Utah). It should just earned him some minutes in the next few games to prove himself but nothing more.

What likely isn't premature is to end the Ayres experiment. He start to have played a lot of minutes and he still sucks. If I'm Pop, I would give his minutes to Baynes and Thomas to see what I have in them. If both suck and if Spurs can't do some kind of trades, there is still the Bonner option.

[Jimcs50]

Spot on

[jeebus]

Oh really? How long ago?

Well hopefully we'll get to see something from him relatively soon. Seems like Splitter being out should make it more likely that he gets some minutes. Speaking of that...when is Splitter supposed to be back? He hasn't played in almost 2 weeks if you exclude that small stint he played against Indiana. I thought his injury was just "tightness" in his calf. Spurs just being careful or is it something a little more serious than we originally thought?

I heard he was day to day at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if he came back tomorrow imo.

It's quite premature to give Baynes a rotation spot after two good games against bad teams (Toronto and Utah). It should just earned him some minutes in the next few games to prove himself but nothing more.

Airs played against the same 2 bad teams and failed miserably. We all know Boner's ability and it seems Pop is kinda going away from him this season thank the Lord. That just leaves Bane, and he's at least shown up to play. The big test will be tomorrow against LA's bigs.

[Jimcs50]

No matter how off Green is (offensively), he should remain in the lineup for three reasons:

1) he's still our best defender after Kwahi and can effectively guard Stephen Curry, James Harden, and other athletic/smaller PG's and SG's
2) We don't need anymore scoring in the starting lineup (Green just needs to defend and stretch the defense on offense)
3) If we replace Beli with Green, Green basically becomes useless because he cannot offensively spark the 2nd unit/bench like Beli can

This is quote I agreed with, not previous one.

[will_spurs]

Marco should join the starting lineup, Danny Greem is awful.

This. Danny Green is a liability right now, he's only worth 5 fouls.

And Baynes > Ayres, that's quite obvious.

[spurs10]

Yeah that sounds right. We have a solid 10 man rotation:

Parker/Mills
Green/Marco
Leonard/Manu
Duncan/Diaw
Splitter/Baynes

This seems right to me, with Bonner playing a bit. In the thick of it, like the playoffs, we are likely to see the rotation shortened to 3 bigs. Is it possible that Pop sees Ayres as a subs ution for Tiago and sees Baynes in the second unit? Much like putting CoJo in for Tony as a starter, he didn't want to distrupt the second units chemistry? At least Ayres has gotten some rebounds lately.

[mingus]

Danny Green's usefulness will show against teams with a lot of perimeter/ball handler threats because of his defense. Last year his D was a big reason we got past GS and took Miami to game 7. Teams are aren't leaving him open anymore which sucks for us because he doesn't have a counter move, but you can still stick him on a Curry/Wade and he'll help in that regard. I think his role is more situational than last year. Against some teams he shouldn't see much playing time, but against others he should. It sucks because that can affect team continuity, but he's just not a viable option against some teams.

[Baam]

Danny Green's usefulness will show against teams with a lot of perimeter/ball handler threats because of his defense. Last year his D was a big reason we got past GS and took Miami to game 7. Teams are aren't leaving him open anymore which sucks for us because he doesn't have a counter move, but you can still stick him on a Curry/Wade and he'll help in that regard. I think his role is more situational than last year. Against some teams he shouldn't see much playing time, but against others he should. It sucks because that can affect team continuity, but he's just not a viable option against some teams.

He wasnt good on Wade actually, hes mostly good against small PGs. Wade looked done against Stephenson in the ECF but was much better in the Finals.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

It's quite premature to give Baynes a rotation spot after two good games against bad teams (Toronto and Utah). It should just earned him some minutes in the next few games to prove himself but nothing more.

What likely isn't premature is to end the Ayres experiment. He start to have played a lot of minutes and he still sucks. If I'm Pop, I would give his minutes to Baynes and Thomas to see what I have in them. If both suck and if Spurs can't do some kind of trades, there is still the Bonner option.

Ayers lover

your ship is sinking, sir.

[KL2]

I'm not even sure Ayres is an NBA quality player, he's that bad. Pop is doing everything he can to get this guy going and Ayres simply isn't responding. He can't defend, can't rebound, can't even dunk, they're giving him minutes, playing him, giving him the ball in positions to score easy points and he still can't do anything. The only thing he can do is set screens and run the floor.

Can you imagine this guy on some other team where he's not surrounded by guys like Manu/TD/TP/Leonard/Belli etc, being coached by one of the best in the game? Because I sure as can't. Spurs are wasting valuable playing time they could be using to develop a guy like Baynes.

[timmy2003]

He wasnt good on Wade actually, hes mostly good against small PGs. Wade looked done against Stephenson in the ECF but was much better in the Finals.

True. Wade was pretty efficient in the final

[look_at_g_shred]

True. Wade was pretty efficient in the final

If we were to face Miami again, I don't think we change the strategy we had against them last year. They just seemed to catch fire in Game 7. Seeing as Belinelli is a better defender than Neal was, he should do fine against Allen/Battier.