The defensive problems..

[DPG21920]

A smarter move would have been a move for Kaman with the expirings and using our MLE for Ariza. It's easy to go back and wish things were different.

But the offer at the time was a no brainer move by the Spurs. Everyone who followed basketball agreed from SI to Yahoo to ESPN.

If that was the case, then the Spurs could still do it. Why would the Clips take the Spurs offer then, but not now?

[HarlemHeat37]

I liked the RJ trade, I'm not knocking it now, it was a good trade at the time..as I said when he was acquired, I trusted the FO, because I watched the guy in NJ in his last year and heard about him in Milwaukee..he WASN'T a good defender during his last year in NJ and in Milwaukee..he WAS a very good defender in the years before that though..I said that I trusted that the FO believed he could get back to the defender he once was, which is something Pop even said multiple times..clearly they were wrong in this regard..

I'm not getting paid to acquire the players though..

[SouthTexasRancher]

Interesting points, Harlem.

I still think that Dice will improve on the defensive end and be able to play more consistently the way we saw him play sometimes already this season. That should improve our interior D drastically, I guess.

Sorry to inform you, but Dice is dead in the water, over the hill, all washed up, finished, finito, done!

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Sorry to inform you, but Dice is dead in the water, over the hill, all washed up, finished, finito, done!

And we get him for the next 3 years.

Lovely.

[z0sa]

And we get him for the next 3 years.

Lovely.

He'll surely retire before then. I'd bet on next season being his last.

[fotan2]

Bogans is the biggest redundance on the team. who is guarding Kobe during the crucial minutes? it's George Hill. If Bogans can't guard the stars of another teams,then why keep him? Plus, he is kind of the king of travelling the ball lately. Look back to the game on wednesday, he travels for at least 3 times as I can remember.

[HarlemHeat37]

He was an unnecessary signing too, which makes it worse..

[ElNono]

He'll surely retire before then. I'd bet on next season being his last.

That's what I thought about Finley about 2 seasons ago...

[ploto]

Spurs used to play more aggressively on defense. I think a lot is really about execution and trust. Defenders on the perimeter used to know that there were 2 big guys waiting in the right position behind them. When one guy helped on defense, he knew his teammate had his back, as well.

[itzsoweezee]

one problem is our frontline is playing particularly bad on defense. the lack of effort is the most glaring part of it. the backcourt is at least trying.

two, it looks like the players don't know what they're supposed to do on defense. i don't understand why mahinmi does not get more playing time. at least he knows the system; he knows what he's supposed to do when he's out there. that's pretty evident when he gets some playing time.

[Gooshie]

One guy who the Spurs could legitimately go and get who I think could really help Defensively would be Jared Jeffries from the Knicks. Now, his Offense is beyond terrible, but I think we all agree we would sacrifice some Offense for Defense at this point.

He makes $6.6 mil and has one year left on his contract, so the Knicks would love to give him away so they can be completely under the cap in the summer to sign two max free agents. I'm thinking an offer of Finley, Bogans, Hairston, and Ian would work (they would prob cut all these guys and we would have our pick of who we'd want to bring back). Knicks could also give the Spurs $3 mil (max cash amount for a trade) to help out with our luxury tax woes.

Jeffries is 6'11", 240 lbs, is averaging 4.4 pts, 4.2 rbs, 1.6 ast, 1.1 blk, and 0.93 stls this year in 27 mins a game. If you have followed the Knicks at all this year, you would know that since D'Antoni put him in the starting line-up and gave him extensive playing time, they became a much better Defensive team and started winning games.

The guy could guard almost any position on the floor in spurts - for us, he could guard the likes of Dirk, Odom, Artest, and Durant for sure. But then he could also see minutes on bigs like Gasol, Randolph, Aldridge, Kenyon Martin, etc... Finally, he could even give a different look on the Kobes, Carmelos, and LeBrons of the world.

I'm not saying this guy is the savior, but the Spurs obviously need to do something about their defense. To me, this is the most significant trade they can make which is realistic. The Knicks would surely do it so that they maximize their cap space this summer, I'm just not sure Holt would buy off on it because it would put us even deeper into the luxury tax next year.

Parker/Hill
Mason/Manu/Bogans(re-signs after 30 days)
Jefferson/Jeffries/Finley(re-signs after 30 days)
Blair/McDyess
Duncan/Bonner/Ratliff

[spurtech09]

no more small ball....thats when the spurs start struggling

[Chomag]

He was an unnecessary signing too, which makes it worse..

Hairston can blame that signing for not getting implemented and allowed to develop this year.

Hairston out played Bogans in every aspect in the pre-season. Yet still got the no-go behind Bogans.