Starting Marjanovic against Detroit...

[BgdSerbia]

Tonight will be...
http://youtu.be/ue2uuoCNKBQ

[ceperez]

Hes not Enes Kanter, he offers rim protection, and alters shots. AND he'll get better at almost everything outside of PnRs where he'll probably always be a liability.

Yes, he's got issues in defense, but half the time he's really disruptive. When he's out of position, he's not quick enough to recover. However he's a massive wall when he is in position. So the Defensive Real Plus Minus does show that he's at least better than LMA.

Interesting combo in the last game, first time I've seen Boban play with LMA. That is a huge front line!

[N0 LyF3 ScRuB]

That's why the Boban > Splitter argument is idiotic. Splitter had his limits on offense, but his defense is what puts him ahead of Boban.

Splitter was soft, oft-injured, and couldn't finish

[silverblackfan]

Boban is adjusting, but he still disrupts a lot of shots. I have seen a lot of easy floater and shots thrown too high next to the basket when he is around. The most exciting thing is that he is improving with every minute he gets against these supreme athletes. He is learning how to move his feet and utilize his strengths on defense. Much like Anderson is using his length to offset his speed to improve his defense.

[Cowboys_Wear_Spurs]

For those who forgot, Boban was owning Drummond in the Preseason game this year for the most part.

It would be nice to see him get least 15 minutes tonight.

[elbamba]

I like Boban and hope he gets playing time but lets not overrate him too much. Most starting big men are too athletic for him to guard. He is doing a great job off the bench and that is what I want to keep seeing from him. You also don't bench the greatest PF of all time unless you are resting him the entire game or he asks to be benched.

[Spurtacular]

Pop won't 'disrespect' West and not start him (if Timmy sits).

[TheDoctor]

Drummond would destroy him. He's big and does non-big like things often but he doesn't play that big on defense most of the time, and he lets little guys block his shot.

Yup, he suffers from Splitteriosis every now and then.

[Cowboys_Wear_Spurs]

Drummond would destroy him. He's big and does non-big like things often but he doesn't play that big on defense most of the time, and he lets little guys block his shot.

Drummond sure destroyed him in the video below. Boban was man handling him like pretty much everyone he has gone against. It looks like Boban was doing the blocking (2 on Andre) not a little guy or even Drummond. Two put back dunks from boxing Drummond completely out for the offensive rebounds. Were not talking about Splitter and his rebounding and his weak shots.

[Proxy]

texted this to Pop. He asked if I was 'punk-ing' him

[TheGreatYacht]

No. Bonner will spread the floor instead.

[DMC]

Boban doesn't know how big he is or what he can do with it. He's been playing soft Euro ball too long. He needs to give a few hard fouls to some bigs to establish himself in the paint. When he puts the hammer down, he needs to emphasize it. On defense he too often has his hands at his chest level instead of over his head. I know it's hard to hold your hands up there all the time, but when he's facing a shooter thats where they need to be, not reaching. His length should suffice near the rim most of the time (enough to matter).

[ceperez]

I don't dislike West the way you do. If you really want to be open-minded, I'll tell you what I see about West.

He's playing out of position, and he's under-sized to be playing the C. But he doesn't have any choice, and neither does Pop, IMO.
When opposing bigs get shots up against him, they can make him look pretty bad. But what I think a lot of people don't notice are all the times that he denies his guy the ball, or forces him to give it up. I think he does that more often than most people are giving him credit for.
Put those things together, and it means that when he lets a big man take the ball close to the basket, he gets lit up. He does a lot of work to keep that from happening too much. He burns a few extra fouls because of that, but he commits a lot of his fouls on the floor, which doesn't give up FT's.

I know you don't like him, so you're not going to like this. But his DRtg this season is 94. Kawhi's DRtg is 92. That doesn't mean he's nearly as good of a defender as Kawhi, obviously. But what it does mean is that his RESULTS haven't been nearly as horrible as it seems, when you watch those plays where he does get lit up in the post. Tonight is a good example. I posted this in the game thread, but I'll risk repeating it here. Tonight, in the second quarter when everyone was screaming about West/Diaw, the Nets scored 8 points in the first six minutes. In the second six minutes, when West and Diaw were out, the Nets scored 10 points.

I'm saying that he's a career power forward, being forced to play as a center, against legit centers. He's going to lose some battles, and those will be very visible. But when you look at the outcome, he's doing a pretty damned good job holding his own. To me, it's like people saying Kawhi isn't a legitimate .500 3P shooter. Well he is, as long as the ball is going in the hole. The only thing that counts are the results, and while a guy might get "lucky" for one game, he can't stay lucky for 30 games. All I can tell you is that West has started 7 games this season, and the Spurs have won all of them.

One other thing worth mentioning - West is shooting .571 from 10-16 feet, and .515 from 16 - 3P. That's better than most guards shoot from 3-10 feet. He's got a legit mid-range game. Actually one of the best mid-range games in the league. He bails out a lot of possessions when he's in the game, with those mid-range jumpers. It would be nice if he was a 7-footer, but he's not. I think he gets by with it by playing tough and smart. I know you see things differently. I'd like to see Duncan start, and play about 15 total minutes. If not, count on seeing West, IMO.

West stats do look pretty good. He also surprisingly has gotten a hang of the offense. Not only is he shooting with a high percentage, he's doling out a lot of assists too.

This month, he's shooting at a 67% clip and has 3 games where he shot over 80%.

[MultiTroll]

Boban gets 4 minutes vs Detroit.

How did he look?

[silverblackfan]

Boban looked good. Spurs got some separation out there when he was on the floor. He disrupts the other team. It was nice to see him get some quality time early in the game.

[dabom]

Obviously OP doesn't watch the Spurs.

[ceperez]

Sigh.... I don't get Pop. He doesn't play West, but best didn't play major minutes the game before. So I guess he didn't think West could handle the Piston's center?

Baynes played a lot of minute dishing out his brand of physical punishment. Shouldn't Boban have played more minutes then?

All the starters played over 30 minutes in a back-to-back game. WTF, was Pop thinking? Leonard looked gassed the whole game, but he plays like 35 minutes.

[Cowboys_Wear_Spurs]

Sigh.... I don't get Pop. He doesn't play West, but best didn't play major minutes the game before. So I guess he didn't think West could handle the Piston's center?

Baynes played a lot of minute dishing out his brand of physical punishment. Shouldn't Boban have played more minutes then?

All the starters played over 30 minutes in a back-to-back game. WTF, was Pop thinking? Leonard looked gassed the whole game, but he plays like 35 minutes.

He wouldn't. Drummond is 7'1", West is 6'9". Drummond is one of the biggest Centers in the league and West struggles against these types. Look at the Wiz games against Gortat. I thought Pop should have played Boban more. But Pop is just being cautious. Pop putting him out there for like 4 minutes was him testing the waters.

[ceperez]

He wouldn't. Drummond is 7'1", West is 6'9". Drummond is one of the biggest Centers in the league and West struggles against these types. Look at the Wiz games against Gortat. I thought Pop should have played Boban more. But Pop is just being cautious. Pop putting him out there for like 4 minutes was him testing the waters.

That's why I didn't understand playing Boban more if Pop felt that West couldn't handle the opponent. I guess he was being cautious, but at the expense of tiring out his starters? Did not make sense to me.

[T Park]

Meh, he made some great defensive plays for every time he got scored on. Still think West is worst on defense, he just quits AND he's too short

Stop watching basketball if you think West is worse than Marjanovic defensively....

[Tully365]

Obviously OP doesn't watch the Spurs.

Actually, Pop brought in Boban earlier than usual, so he was thinking along the sames line as this thread, using Boban's size against Detroit. It looks like he didn't like what he saw (even though the Spurs extended their lead by 5 points while Boban was on the floor), so didn't continue the experiment. But (obviously) he was thinking the same thing I was.