Is the bench better or worse than last year's?

[Kikoluna]

If he shoots well enough, he will. The Spurs value shooting and floor spacers (see: Bonner, Matt), and that's definitively Jimmer's strength. They also have a hole in that role with the departure of Beli. If Jimmer can prove reliable enough to make open shots in the system, I think he sticks.

Yes, I agree with you. It amazes how many people here assume he will be gone or just dismiss him. The guy is a great shooter. With the spurs elite ball movement, Jimmer should provide some big 3's a la bonner.

[jsandiego]

The back court assessment is a wash, or incomplete. We will likely miss Beli's shooting, but we'll enjoy the hustle and defense the new guys bring. It remains to be seen how a healthy Patty + McCallum/Simmons will compare to last year.

The front court is immensely improved:
1. LMA steps into Duncan's role from last year, and will be able to do it for more minutes per night.
2. Duncan takes over Splitter's spot. The PnR defense will suffer but the rim protection, ability to create shots, health, and all the other intangibles Duncan brings means this is an upgrade, even at Duncan's age.
3. We lost Baynes and got David West for the price of a #2 at Whataburger. This is such an upgrade I don't even know how to describe it.
4. Bonner is still Bonner, but will not be required to contribute when it matters. He's essentially a baseball middle reliever -- eating up innings during the regular season.
5. Diaw is Diaw.

Kyle Anderson has a year under his belt, and should be better than he was last year.

We're looking good.

[look_at_g_shred]

Jury is still out. This question may be better asked when the season ends.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I'm not sure why so many folks were so sold on Cojo. He did a decent job as a 3rd string point. He could go hard to the basket and became a better shooter, but he didn't do a great job running the offense...in fact the team would usually become more stagnant on that side of the ball when he was on the floor. I don't see that losing him was a huge hit. Belinelli was a bigger loss, in my mind, as he gave Manu some much needed regular season relief and allowed him to stay fresh for the '14 le run.

McCallum v. Cojo will be a wash, West will be huge with the second unit, hopefully Anderson will exhibit some growth, and if Simmons can emerge the second unit should be better.

[Keepin' it real]

RC said at Summer League he believes McCallum will run the offense better than CoJo.

Did you really expect RC to say "McCallum is a significant downgrade. He doesn't know the offense and has a losing at ude from his days in Sacramento. He will run the offense worse -- much, much worse. But what they , right? We already won one for the thumb, so we good. See you guys back at the Bellagio."

[gambit1990]

really interested to see how simmons will play on the nba level.

[ceperez]

I'm not sure why so many folks were so sold on Cojo. He did a decent job as a 3rd string point. He could go hard to the basket and became a better shooter, but he didn't do a great job running the offense...in fact the team would usually become more stagnant on that side of the ball when he was on the floor. I don't see that losing him was a huge hit. Belinelli was a bigger loss, in my mind, as he gave Manu some much needed regular season relief and allowed him to stay fresh for the '14 le run.

McCallum v. Cojo will be a wash, West will be huge with the second unit, hopefully Anderson will exhibit some growth, and if Simmons can emerge the second unit should be better.

I agree with you here.... too many people have this delusion that Cojo was a really good player. No he wasn't! He wasn't even in the rotation last year despite Parker being injured. Better to play an injured Parker than have a healthy Cojo play. Cojo was a scrub who's only claim to fame is that dunk against Ibaka during a blowout.

Someone will need to relieve Manu and right now the only player that fits that bill is a rookie named Simmons.

[ceperez]

A bit weaker. Cojo leaving will hurt. Who knows how the ray kid will play or the giant for that matter. David west will be huge. Kyle, I'm afraid, will get significant minutes and that will hurt as well. Overall, a bit weaker.

Cojo leaving will hurt????? Cojo wasn't even in the rotation come playoff time. Talk about overrated!

[tbdog]

The biggest reason why I believe this bench is better than last years is because of the Aldridge signing. Splitter started and played 20mins a game in the regular season on 52 games played. His playoffs mins was at 19mins.

LMA played 35mins on 71 games played, and his minutes jumped to 41.6mins in the playoffs.

Going by the regular season only, that is a 15min difference. Even if LMA mins drop to 32mins in the regular season and Duncan drops down to 25mins, that still a 10 min difference, where Diaw and West are playing with the second unit and not as much with the first unit.

[ceperez]

Did you really expect RC to say "McCallum is a significant downgrade. He doesn't know the offense and has a losing at ude from his days in Sacramento. He will run the offense worse -- much, much worse. But what they , right? We already won one for the thumb, so we good. See you guys back at the Bellagio."

He would tell you his opinion, and its basically very simple.... McCallum was a steal.

[ceperez]

The biggest reason why I believe this bench is better than last years is because of the Aldridge signing. Splitter started and played 20mins a game in the regular season on 52 games played. His playoffs mins was at 19mins.

LMA played 35mins on 71 games played, and his minutes jumped to 41.6mins in the playoffs.

Going by the regular season only, that is a 15min difference. Even if LMA mins drop to 32mins in the regular season and Duncan drops down to 25mins, that still a 10 min difference, where Diaw and West are playing with the second unit and not as much with the first unit.

There's value in the bench preserving players in the regular season, but almost any scrub in the NBA could do that. Even if the Spurs lost because of those rest days, Spurs will still make the playoffs.

The only criteria here is determining who will be playing in the playoff rotation.

Last year's bench had 2 players, Belinelli and Baynes. Baynes was there because Splitter was injured, but if he wasn't, then Baynes wouldn't be in rotation. So really only 1 guy in the rotation left the team. ONE PLAYER!

How about this year, the additional player is David West who absolutely will be in the rotation. Come playoff time, will West be more valuable than Belinelli? ABSOLUTELY.

[tbdog]

There's value in the bench preserving players in the regular season, but almost any scrub in the NBA could do that. Even if the Spurs lost because of those rest days, Spurs will still make the playoffs.

The only criteria here is determining who will be playing in the playoff rotation.

Last year's bench had 2 players, Belinelli and Baynes. Baynes was there because Splitter was injured, but if he wasn't, then Baynes wouldn't be in rotation. So really only 1 guy in the rotation left the team. ONE PLAYER!

How about this year, the additional player is David West who absolutely will be in the rotation. Come playoff time, will West be more valuable than Belinelli? ABSOLUTELY.

You forgot about Manu and Mills.

Anyway, yes in the playoffs you want a 8 man rotation with a 9th man as a specialist. Usually backup point, swing, and big. At this stage West, Diaw, Mills, and Manu round out a 9 players.

[dweaver99027]

True. But a better performing bench could be the difference between a 2 seed and a 6 seed.

[Old School 44]

Much has been made of the Spurs' sacrificing depth so they could make a splash in free agency. Some analysts have argued that the Spurs lost two of their biggest strengths in depth and chemistry when they gutted the team to acquire Aldridge.

So while some analysts have declared that the Spurs aren't as good as advertised because they gutted their depth, I'd argue that our bench overall is only slightly worse than last year's, and in some respects, even better.

I wouldn't say we gutted the bench. To me the key bench players last year were Manu, Boris, Patty and maybe Bellinelli, then Joseph. The Spurs bench this year will be better. I think it has the potential to be outstanding. One of our best benches ever.

[Kidd K]

Can't help but wonder if OP is at least partially trolling. Corey Joseph and Marco Belinelli were not that great of players. Joseph was serviceable but not impactful and Belinelli could barely do anything but shoot the damn ball and he was streaky as with that anyway. His defense was atrocious and he was sloppy with the ball in his hands. NOT a big loss imo. We have barely downgraded there if at all. With Parker and Mills hopefully healthier this year, we will not even need a 3rd PG for anything but garbage time. I realize McCallum will be worse than CoJo. . .but this is solely because he had 4 years to fit in. 3rd string PG isn't going to be a major role unless someone gets hurt.

And yeah, let's not act like David West's massive addition is in any way just equalizing going from CoJo and Belinelli to two new people. Having both West and Ginobili off the bench is hilarious and overpowered. Not to mention Diaw, Mills, and a 7'4" center.

All we "lost" was a 3rd stringer and a defensive turnstile. We gained David West and a7'4" euroleague center. And as someone else already said, Aldridge will be playing more minutes than Splitter so our frontcourt rotation will be nothing short of back-breaking for any opponent. Duncan, Aldridge, Leonard, West, Diaw, Boban. lol.

We have the best bench in the league.

[HarlemHeat37]

The "gutted the team" narrative is mostly from fans and media trying to fabricate flaws for the team, tbh..

I don't know why Spurs fans listen to non-Spurs fans and media that watched like 12 Spurs games last year, tbh..never going to understand sports fans and their need for approval..

[AFBlue]

He would tell you his opinion, and its basically very simple.... McCallum was a steal.

Good value relative to his contract does not equate to being better than CoJo though.

[spursince#99]

The "gutted the team" narrative is mostly from fans and media trying to fabricate flaws for the team, tbh..

I don't know why Spurs fans listen to non-Spurs fans and media that watched like 12 Spurs games last year, tbh..never going to understand sports fans and their need for approval..

THIS!!!

[313]

The "gutted the team" narrative is mostly from fans and media trying to fabricate flaws for the team, tbh..

I don't know why Spurs fans listen to non-Spurs fans and media that watched like 12 Spurs games last year, tbh..never going to understand sports fans and their need for approval..

antiquated Spurs fans

[313]

The "gutted the team" narrative is mostly from fans and media trying to fabricate flaws for the team, tbh..

I don't know why Spurs fans listen to non-Spurs fans and media that watched like 12 Spurs games last year, tbh..never going to understand sports fans and their need for approval..

antiquated Spurs fans

[AFBlue]

I agree with you here.... too many people have this delusion that Cojo was a really good player. No he wasn't! He wasn't even in the rotation last year despite Parker being injured. Better to play an injured Parker than have a healthy Cojo play. Cojo was a scrub who's only claim to fame is that dunk against Ibaka during a blowout.

Someone will need to relieve Manu and right now the only player that fits that bill is a rookie named Simmons.

wasn't even in the rotation

He started 14 games, averaged 18MPG and had the fourth highest Win Shares on the team last year. He played much more than a typical third string PG, and that's why he got handsomely rewarded in the offseason with an above-MLE deal. I agree his assist rate leaves much to be desired, but he scored at a very efficient rate and played solid defense.

Again, I'm not saying Ray needs to be that caliber of player with Parker and Mills at 100%. But the peeps on here criminally under rating the production CoJo delivered when thrust into a starting role need to be corrected tbqh.

[KL2]

-Simmons & Anderson>>>Beli

Just by losing Beli, the Spurs get immediately better. Every positive thing he did on offense was completely cancelled out by his defense, without him the Spurs would've gotten the 2nd seed last year. He gave up numerous rebounds, blew his defensive assignment and his help defense was also a failure, he was responsible for so many blown leads last year.


-West-Marjanovic>>>>Baynes-Ayres

West is a starter quality player and started the 66-66 games he played last year, now he's going to be coming off the bench, playing against bench players on our very talented bench. IND relied on him way too much, without Hill and George the defense focused more on him making the game harder, and without those two players he lacked play makers to get him quality shots causing his offense to suffer. It's a massive upgrade, especially in the playoffs where Baynes rarely played.
Marjanovic>Ayres, I don't even need to go into that.


-McCallum is probably just as good, if not better than Cojo.

As the season went on the game started slowing down for McCallum, he started to learn from his mistakes and became much more productive. Under Karl he averaged 11ppg, 4.4 assists, and 3.4 rebounds in 29 MPG, with a very low turnover rate. This 3rd year, SA is getting a much more polished version of Ray thanks to SAC doing all of the dirty work for us.

The minutes played by Splitter and Baynes were also very low. Lamarcus averaged 35 last year, Splitter just 20. West averaged 28 last year, Baynes 15. We can keep these guys on the court much longer.

[Hoops Czar]

He didn't say that tbqh. He said McCallum is ahead of where Cory was at the same stage of their respective careers. Keep in mind, Cory was a full two years younger in his second year in the league. RC did day that he thought Ray could run a team more effectively, but that's not the only measure of value.

I think the biggest gap between the two players is defensively, where CoJo is by far the more impressive player. In no way do I think they are comparable players, but fortunately I don't think they have to be. As others have stated, a healthy Parker and Mills combo makes the third string PG position a much less needed quan y.

So suddenly Mills is a point guard? That's news to me. The only thing Mills can do remotely better than Cory is shoot, sometimes. If Manu wasn't running the back up PG position, the second unit would be total chaos. Parker, looking like garbage the last two seasons and Ginobili being 37 doesn't bode well for a 2 point guard system. McCallum is a homeless man's CoJo and Jimmer is just homeless. There is no back up plan in place. This organization is putting a lot of stock into a Parker resurgence and a bunch of NBA unknowns. If it doesn't work out, The PATFO will be the one holding the bag, not the players.

[AFBlue]

The "gutted the team" narrative is mostly from fans and media trying to fabricate flaws for the team, tbh..

I don't know why Spurs fans listen to non-Spurs fans and media that watched like 12 Spurs games last year, tbh..never going to understand sports fans and their need for approval..

Right. It'll be a drummed up talking point for nationally televised games to eat up a good 10 minutes of air time between plays. Nothing of aubstance actually to it tbqh.

[JeffDuncan]

We have the best bench in the league.

+1