the less we see of lyles, the better, especially since he eats up other players' minutes. when poeltl rolled his ankle though, one should did realize just how thin we are up front.
It's crazy because Luka was actually a good defender during that stretch. It's also painfully obvious that he needs as many reps/mins as possible to get used to the big boy speed of the NBA. All that's happening is delaying his ability to contribute next season. Ridiculous.
There’s really no excuse especially with the team lacking depth in the positions he plays. The “he’s not ready” excuse is also bull because we saw glimpses of what he can do before the AS break. It’s just the old man being stubborn.
As usual, the bench is the only thing keeping this team above water
I don't think that's the excuse. I think it's the "Rudy Gay is a seasoned veteran who has earned his dues and we're going to do right by him to make sure he earns his next contract" excuse, which is in line with the Spurs mantra, "we take care of people".
The obstacles in Luka's way to regular rotation minutes are:
1) Rudy Gay, as described above. If he's out or takes a step back, Luka gets his back-up minutes
2) DeMar. Keldon is forced to take minutes at the four. Without DeMar, Keldon slides down allowing potential for Luka to get starter four minutes down the road.
Last edited by Dejounte; 03-16-2021 at 11:40 AM.
This convo reminds me of the moment I realized the humbling period was coming sooner rather than later. In the postgame interview after the Knicks win where Luka impressed locking up Julius Randle, Pop was asked a question about Luka and what adjustments he had made since early season and last year. Pop explains he is more confident catching and shooting, thinking less and letting the game come to him- stresses playing time and confidence as the two keys to building him up going forward.
The follow up to that question is the reporter asking if he "held his own" with Randle where Pop almost comes to and catches himself and says "Well we don't want him to think he's ready for the all star game or anything, bring him along slower". Pop is caught in a development conundrum, apparently. Just ing play him, Pop. Damn.
https://streamable.com/q42xqy
luka still has a lot to learn. last night, during an offensive set, luka ran over to the left corner, where vassell was already postioned and stood next to him. devon had to gesture for him to move away and luka just moved about two steps to the left, still leaving the left corner crowded. and the previous night, luka's defensive intensity in the 3rd quarter was non-existent. that being said, i do hope we get to see more luka this season-in meaningful minutes-but he'd have to somehow take some of gay's minutes for that to happen.
It's the old "he's playing this way because he hasn't gotten playing time" or "he's not getting play time because he's playing this way" conversation like Lonnie last year.
Truth to both, for sure. It's really difficult to come off the bench cold in what is essentially garbage time against a team that is rolling and feeling themselves and play with the same intensity you had coming off the bench in the first quarter of say the Knicks game for example. Definitely room to improve in his preparedness, but I'm not going to hold some awkward spacing and timing issues against him considering the context of his minutes against the sixers. Last night similar thing coming off the bench cold just in a win. Keldon is the starting 4 and has been the cause of turnovers in back to back games by standing in the wrong position on the perimeter. Patty passed to the corner when he was standing at the break against philly, last night Keldon was in the corner and Jakob passed to the break thinking that's where he'd be. It happens.
i agree that intensity may wane depending on the cir stances but the spacing issue was against the pistons. as to the sixers' game, i'm not making a point on my behalf; i'm simply stating that in pop's world there is one area that he does not tolerate any lack of effort on, and that is on the defensive side of the ball, no matter the cir stances. whether that's pop being too critical is besides the point. luka has to understand this. but even then, pop is riding with gay for the moment and luka is going to be hard pressed to find PT as the current rotation stands. i just hope that luka at least moves in front of lyles for any valuable minutes.
Last edited by rjv; 03-16-2021 at 12:15 PM.
If Lonnie is any indication for Luka's timeline, then he'll get all the playing time in the world next season, even when he's playing like .
It's frustrating but obviously a trend.
I think Pop "over develops" young players, so to speak. Meaning, I think there is a time to withhold their minutes to demand certain things. But once the player turns the corner, you don't continue to bench them. It confuses the player (and the fanbase, tbh). I think the same situation occurred with Lonnie. Benched him and scolded him early on—I was ok with that. But at a certain you have to reward the player with minutes when he does what you are asking him to do. Now, Pop doesn't even seem to be coaching Lonnie while he's on the court.
Dejounte on IG:
"Shout-out to my boy, Tre Jones! I want to see all my dawgs grow and flourish!"
Last edited by Dejounte; 03-16-2021 at 12:28 PM.
Jones will move into Mills' slot whenever Mills retires or leaves. Obviously a different skill set.
pop is old school. no pun intended. he inherited this trait from Larry Brown, who was notorious for keeping players in the dog house.
A person who does things they didn't normally do before is a sign that there was an influential figure involved. It may be that things we don't see on the court happen off the court.
Damn, Lonnie's shoulders look like prime Dwight Howard's in that picture. I swear he doesn't look anywhere near that jacked on the court.
He was always well-built, but this offseason he grew some insane mass. It's been a personal theory of mine that adding so much muscle so quickly, kind of displaced his game a bit, which explains his early shooting woes in the season. Now, he's been shooting considerably better (I haven't checked month-to-month percentages, just my eye test, would be nice to see some stats on this though) and seems to be "growing into" his body. People forget he's really young still... Manu was 3 years older as a rookie. Apples to oranges, I know, I don't have those expectations for Lonnie, but it's still worth mentioning.
I'm all alone on Lonnie Island at the moment, but ST will catch on soon enough. He's a year away.
Tre is a solid solid backup PG with the poise and defensive mentality. Such a great pick-up for Devin and Tre, really solid players and great characters.
not at all. i've been hoping for quite some time to see walker back in the starting lineup and was furious to see lyles getting to start instead. i still think lonnie has a great deal of potential and can be a big threat offensively. and i am not keen on any trade scenarios that would involve shipping him out.
Lonnie had a great game last night, decision making wise. He was passing and calling his own numbers and not committing ticky-tack fouls. I always see him asking questions. I think the game is slowing down on him. I was a big fan, then I got frustrated with his deferring, but Lonnie is winning me back. Lonnie, Luka, and Vassell improving next year would be great.
Last edited by John B; 03-16-2021 at 01:50 PM.
Lmfao that's a great interview in retrospect. Pop really is ruthless in his development... How long until he realizes putting players in the doghouse following good performances isn't going to make them better? Like seriously, I can't believe he looks at Lonnie playing now and goes "yeah, that's exactly the strategy I should use on Luka as well". He's gonna up another promising prospect unless Luka suddenly breaks out at a level where you can't bench him - and even then, I wouldn't put it past current Pop, tbh.
I bring the food, you get the beer, let's get this lol. I'm also not keen on trading him at all, people just jump the gun as usual hoping for immediate success. Then those same people trash the FO for "letting go of good players!!" like they didn't want to all along. Cheers.
The forgotten man, Q, has big dreams of cracking the rotation.
The question is - how?
Is someone on the coaching staff giving him this confidence? If so, why?
I think Tre is already ahead of Q in the pecking order
I mean, Q can play SG too. It's the position he played in Austin - there was always a lead guard he played with.I think Tre is already ahead of Q in the pecking order
But the question remains as to how? Unless Lonnie goes, there's no minutes available for this guy to be a permanent fixture.
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