The X factor,,,,Elson

[sammy]

He was playing well before he injured his shoulder! All he needs is playing time! Sorry Oberto is too slow and not atheltic enough as he tries to rotate to his defender who has flown by him and he reaches in and fouls! At least Elson is athletic, can rebound and block shots! He helps Timmy when he's in the game! He will never be David Robinson, but he helps Timmy defend the paint!

[Kori Ellis]

...

If his team defense improves, he will be just what the doctor ordered.

I agree. I just haven't see any signs of that. Up until last night, he had looked like he was regressing in recent weeks.

Last night he looked good offensively because he was been spoonfed and unguarded. (Sort of like Oberto's big game against the Suns). And defensively, he was guarding Hayes.

Eventually, I just want to see him play decent against an actual front court player who guards him (and he has to guard). I want to see him stop missing the majority of the rotations. And for the love of God, I want to see him learn how to set a pick. He leaves early about 80% of the time.

[cheguevara]

hey Oberto also did a good job last night.

He played pretty good D. Man,all Spurs just killed last night. oh, except for Beno and Vaughn

[George Gervin's Afro]

Personally I really like Vaughn's energy and defense. He moves his feet pretty well and seems to be an above average on the ball defender. To bad he can't shoot...

[Spurs Brazil]

I don't know if Elson will be good or not but not have Oberto playing is already a MAJOR upgrade

[Clutch20]

I've observed that the faster the player NOT familiar with Off./Def. structure of a team, the more the turnovers and mistake-prone plays that results. Elson's
speed is way past the level his knowledge of what Spurs is all about at this point. I'm firmly convinced his "walls' will be fewer and farther between as the weeks come in, provided he gets enough playing time, like Finley does.

[Kent_in_Atlanta]

He was playing well before he injured his shoulder! All he needs is playing time! Sorry Oberto is too slow and not atheltic enough as he tries to rotate to his defender who has flown by him and he reaches in and fouls! At least Elson is athletic, can rebound and block shots! He helps Timmy when he's in the game! He will never be David Robinson, but he helps Timmy defend the paint!

Sammy, I agree with you. He is exactly the type of player that we need. He just needs to improve his team defense, and I think there's a good chance that will happen over the next 6-8 weeks if he just stays on the floor.

Also, he is much more adept at shooting the mid-range jumper than either Nesterovic or Mohammed. That means he can play away from the basket and clear space for Timmy offensively when needed.

[timvp]

Elson's weaknesses this year have been rebounding in a crowd, defending the low block, making the right rotations to protect the rim and scoring against physical defenders. Last night against the Wizards, he was isolated on the wing against shooting guards on defense and on offense was getting wide open dunks. I didn't take any steps back ... but didn't really take any steps forward, either.

The Magic are going to be a much better test. They have a lot of bigmen who like to score, so Elson is going to have to show up and play at a high level.

I'm happy that Elson is starting over Oberto. Oberto just doesn't bring it night in and night out often enough to start. And if you look at his +/- stats, if he's not on the floor with Manu, he's just not effective.

[YoMamaIsCallin]

The Spurs run a lot more effectively as a team when Oberto is in there, or Horry for that matter. Elson is a more effective individual player, but he doesn't fit in as well yet with the team.

[ploto]

I think right now they are going to go with him and see if he catches on to the D (and hopefully he does). But if he doesn't (and he hasn't so far this season) then the Spurs will be right back to where they started from - going small, getting outrebounded, and having other teams own the paint.

Nazr, part II.

[itzsoweezee]

i'm not worried about elson. elson's been good when given the minutes. or at least good enough. the spurs don't need much out of the center position. just someone who can rebound and defend the rim. like 'knowing rotations' should not be the deciding factor in who gets the minutes.


i'm more worried about bowen. anytime bowen doesn't make his shots, the spurs are in trouble. and when bowen isn't playing well, that means the spurs have to look to finley. and there's been too many games when both have played like .

spurs win when bowen plays well and lose when he doesn't.

[itzsoweezee]

He was playing well before he injured his shoulder! All he needs is playing time! Sorry Oberto is too slow and not atheltic enough as he tries to rotate to his defender who has flown by him and he reaches in and fouls! At least Elson is athletic, can rebound and block shots! He helps Timmy when he's in the game! He will never be David Robinson, but he helps Timmy defend the paint!

you're completely right.
at least someone gets it. hopefully pop has figured this out too.

[objective]

LOL @ Elson being a legit/good shotblocker.

He started 55 games for the Nuggets last year and went without a single block in 33 of them. He's been better with the Spurs having a block in 6 of his nine starts with a staggering 1.1 blocks per game in about 24 minutes, something I would be surprised at if it stays above 1.0 as a starter over the rest of the year.

But he's not a good shotblocker. The only reason people think and say he's a good shotblocker is because he looks like he should be good at blocking shots.

After all, he's tall, long, fast, jumps well . . . he has all the tools you'd think he'd need to be a shot-altering, ball destroying monster.

But he isn't.

[itzsoweezee]

LOL @ Elson being a legit/good shotblocker.

He started 55 games for the Nuggets last year and went without a single block in 33 of them. He's been better with the Spurs having a block in 6 of his nine starts with a staggering 1.1 blocks per game in about 24 minutes, something I would be surprised at if it stays above 1.0 as a starter over the rest of the year.

But he's not a good shotblocker. The only reason people think and say he's a good shotblocker is because he looks like he should be good at blocking shots.

After all, he's tall, long, fast, jumps well . . . he has all the tools you'd think he'd need to be a shot-altering, ball destroying monster.

But he isn't.

well, the spurs system is designed to funnel players towards the shotblockers. so i don't think it's an anomaly that his shotblocking is up with the spurs. and i expect it only to increase. like you said, he certainly has the athletic ability to be a good shotblocker. besides, the spurs don't need a monster in the lane, just someone who can be some sort of presence; as opposed to the layup line that is the spurs defense when it plays small ball.

[Big Shot Rob]

The Spurs salvation lies in the Big 3 and some of the key bench shooters making their shots. Fransisco Elson is going to be completely marginalized in the playoffs.

Role players are very important in the play-offs.

Elson needs to improve to stay as close to Dirk as humanly possible.

[Spurs Brazil]

Tonight 2pts 2rebs against big guys

Spurs bigs sucks

T-Mass and M.Bryant would do better than Oberto/Elson

[1Parker1]

More telling, THIS is the real Elson. Tonight he got a taste of having to play some defense against a REAL center and couldn't do .

[Kori Ellis]

Tonight 2pts 2rebs against big guys

Spurs bigs sucks

T-Mass and M.Bryant would do better than Oberto/Elson

Yeah I'm sick of the Spurs having to go small because of having no decent big. It sucks.

[objective]

Elson and Oberto combine for 34:44, 6 points, 7 rebounds, 1 blocked shot. Way to go!

[timvp]

Too bad Elson can't be matched up with shooting guards every night.

[Das Texan]

That was a fun mirage the other night though!

[Cant_Be_Faded]

When are we going to reacquire a JR Reid type player

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

How much does Elson weigh? Do they want him to put on some pounds or keep him swift?

[conversekid]

How much does Elson weigh?

He needs to do a cycle over the summer and bulk up.

[Kori Ellis]

I'm guessing he weighs about 230-235.