Reply With Quote
The problem is... they signed Belinelli who also plays the same natural position as Bertans! Bertans is too thin at the PF position.
Bartens just doesn't have what it takes, he was patethic with his softness even in europe, dont know why spurs even borough him, i wrote him off long time...
The problem is... they signed Belinelli who also plays the same natural position as Bertans! Bertans is too thin at the PF position.
Bertans is way better defensively than Beli, but Beli is, once again, a bit of the coache's pet.
Davis looked bad on defensive end last night, at times, uncharacteristically, giving up on possessions. But, a really large lump of it goes to the guards he played with. They were so bad on defence, that Poeltl, Bertans and Metu had to cover too much.
I do not see this as a premature statement at all ... I always wanted for Davis to have more consistent playing time, but I am losing my patience ... but I guess thats because all is for naught anyway after Murray's injury
The Spurs are not physically tough enough literally every single player on this team is a finesse player. Don’t have a single player with any type of grit and toughness, well we have one player but he just blew out his knee the other day. Especially the second unit, Mills, Forbes, Marco, Bertans and Poeltl have to be bottom 20 in the entire league in physicality and athletic ability. Any NBA player in this league sees those players and salivates at the opportunity to go at them. We need players that are athletic and tough It’s 2018 and these kids are super athletic now and we have one of those on this team maybe two with Lonnie. Offensively we will be fine but defensively we are going to get pushed around and dominated.
To lose DJ for the entire season is so depressing.
That's why I've been promoting the idea of getting Huestis. Yet some moron in ST keeps arguing that he can't shoot. We've got shooters galore but nobody in the roster can stop anyone!
I would like to say Metu has potential, but he's a rookie and needs years of experience to really be a good defensive player.
This team can't guard an athletic 6'7" player!
Bertans is too thin and can easily get muscled.
Cunningham has feet of lead.
Gay has lost all speed in moving his feet.
DeRozan has arms that are too short.
Pondexter... is three years removed from his healthy years.
Lol Metu is not a 3, hes a modern day 5 that can play the 4. But yes, he will be able to defend wings better than any other big off switches/hedges. Last night he had a really awesome possession defending Prince.
This is my point, Metu may be the best player in team to guard an athletic 6'7" wing player. BTW, Metu gets bullied against average PF/C in the NBA.
Spurs need to call up Shane Heal, Nando De Colu, and Alex Garcia tbh. All hands on deck.
This is my hope as well. I'll reserve judgement on the defense until the regular season actually starts. I don't really expect the guys to be going 100% on defense during the preseason, especially after seeing what happened to Walker and Murray.
Metu will need to play more. He was apparently the best shot blocker in training camp and looks like it in preseason. Also moves his feet well on the perimeter.
Aldridge, Metu, Gay, DeRozan, Forbes starting line up
Poeltl/Gasol, Bertans/Cunningham, Belli, White, Mills
Poodle power is def still is bust tier
I wouldn't out too much stock into this game. The hawks are a juggernaut offensively. It's unfair to ask Forbes/mills to be able to guard Jeremy lin or a rookie trae money young.
On a side note I miss blue font
It's too bad that the Spurs didn't look into bringing one of their stashed wings over this past offseason; either Hanga or Dangubic would be useful to throw at some of these athletic wing scorers.
As it stands, it seems like the Spurs are going to go with what they have, and hope that either Walker or Huestis can give them something defensively. Failing that, they're going to try and hold on until the buy-out market opens and look for someone there (Ariza or DeMarre Carroll would be the top candidates).
DeRozan was a terrible move. The scary thing is it gets even worse in the playoffs.
Spurs should've gone for draft picks instead.
People are making too much out of this game. The problem with the defense had as much to do with the pace than anything else. Without Aldridge, the Spurs had no way to slow the game down. They scored really well without him, but their defense eventually got tired and broke down. Despite what some people think, I don't not believe the loss of Murray will have no effect on the defense. I don't think they can be an elite defense with the personnel they have now (though I guess I was skeptical even before DeJounte got hurt). But there's a wide gap between being an elite D and being good enough on that end, and they can still do the later with proper scheming. Pairing Forbes and Mills hurts them there, as does Poeltl regressing.
Having two bigs play together is the solution so long as the players hold onto the mentality of contesting threes and forcing their men to move inside the arc. I really did like what Cunningham brought, but he was also part of the problem. He was definitely not helping with the rebounding either, and that killed the Spurs almost as much. The issue with playing Gasol and Aldridge together is that Poe isn't getting it done on the bench. This isn't like 2016 where the team had Lee and Dedmon on the bench to play big the whole time. Poe was so bad that Pop pulled him out and talked to him, and Metu came in and looked immediately better, to the extent that Pop had to quickly sub him back out to prevent Jakob's confidence from shattering. As I've said, I'm not done with Poeltl, but the dude needs to EARN his spot in the rotation, not be given it by lack of compe ion. I actually like Bertans and have no idea why he's struggling to get minutes every game. Yes, he does some things wrong, but so many guys are doing wrong things right now. He can shoot, has size and is an active shot-blocker. Him getting time is important for the team's two-way destiny.
Bring back the hammer!!
what no blue font? damn. no blue font, no multiple quotes...
testing
didn't work
Projecting this team to miss the playoffs based on one preseason game immediately following DJ's injury seems like a knee jerk reaction. They are going to struggle mightily on the defensive end, particularly on the perimeter early in the season -- that is a given. I don't have faith in Huestis to fill this role nor do I have faith that Walker can come back in January with elite defensive traits (although I am optimistic about his long term defensive potential). This seems like a time where RC needs to be earning his paycheck and gauging the market on Mills, Forbes, & Bertans. Those guys are expendable but isn't there a time frame restriction on trading Forbes & Bertans since they just re-signed? Offloading Mills is the best option but that seems unlikely considering the intangibles that Pop covets and his unattractive contract. Mills/Forbes in particular needs to be sorted out though, there is no point in having them both. I'm glad Forbes had a nice game and maybe that helps his confidence but yeah, smoking the pre-season Atlanta Hawks does not impress me one bit.
Agreed, even then it'll take a little time. Guys gotta learn the schemes, positioning, etc... I don't think last night is a reflection how they'll be defensively this year.
i'm going to hold off on defensive evaluations for now as veterans rarely put all their effort on that end in the preseason and i would also think that there are some that are weary of injury considering what has happened over the last week.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
