Too tough on Kawhi. I thought he dried Nelson TBH. He had a horrible night and someone has to be made accountable for that:
Richard Jefferson, How this game really could have went:
Should have been an over and back instead of a foul = Spurs Lose.
Can only hit 1 of 2, anyway (on the GIFT.)
1 rebound.
38 minutes.
Richard Jefferson with another F.
We'd all be screaming for his deer-in-headlights head rather than complacent with the W.
Bottom line is Splitter needs to be on the court more than Matt Bonner starting like last year. And in the starting lineup. The fact that Pop is still playing stupid little games is only hurting the team now which makes every one of your lame excuses moot.
The great thing is that the Spurs finally won a road game, well in overtime. The bad is the situation with RJ is hard to explain. He should be driving more often, also get some rebounds.
What bothers me the most about Splitter's minutes is that Pop is hurting his development. He needs the extra time on the court to learn all the nuances of the NBA game. It's not like he has been in the league for 5 yrs or something.
Also, the argument that Duncan and Splitter cant start together makes no sense. Sure Blair and possibly Bonner will be the first off the bench but they will be playing against the other teams backups. I rather have Blair going against a backup center or PF than a starter.
Pop might be on the decline and borderline mentally checked out as a coach. He cannot get the maximum out of his players anymore. His mismanagement of Tiago Splitter is atrocious.
CIA Pop.. just trying to hurt Bonner.
Hey timvp, is it sad that the Spurs eked out a win against a team played the last game of a b2b2b? I know it was the Spurs' 8th game in 12 nights, but still. Like you, I also blame this close win on Pop though, Tiago could have gone for 30 min and probably recorded another double double (I was pissed that at one point Bonner was subbed in before Tiago, but Tiago had to sub out when Tim and Dwight came into the game), and throwing in a 100% charged Thomas against a Magic team that was running on fumes for 5-10 min would have made a of a lot of sense, imo.
Secondly, is Leonard maybe hitting a bit of a rookie wall? Idk if you'd call it that, but he has averaged over 30 min since he started I believe (can you target basketball reference for specific stretches of the season?). It's a good thing Green, RJ, and Tony are all smalls who can soak up big minutes right now. If Green continues to play this much, when he has a mini-breakdown JA better not strikeout. He won't have any chances to prove himself once the team is healthy.
I thought you'd at least give props for the Bonner injury scenario.
He does have as many blocks as Duncan in 108 less minutes.
Tbh, the spurs can't afford any more injuries to their frontcourt depth. And since Bonner's knee is bothering him, it's just stupid for Pop to be playing him more than 10 minutes a game (or at all, really he should be resting on the bench).I thought you'd at least give props for the Bonner injury scenario.
He does have as many blocks as Duncan in 108 less minutes.
I used to think Pop had a single meandering artery of common sense flowing up to his brain, just took awhile for the blood to get up there but now I've come to the conclusion that Pop is just a complete and utter imbecile.
True.It will hurt his confidence.Last year was a lost year for him.Now he's playing but he's the four big.When he's on the court he tries to do a lot to earn more minutes but that's not the better way...turnovers,bad shots....
It's a shame but Pop is Pop.
You have at least to give him props for how he's handled the Leonard and Green situations (I admit he hasn't had much choice with Manu injured, but Neal could have conceivably received the Matty B treatment). I hate the Bonner PT situation just as much as you do (haven't reached the breaking point like you though, no offense), but at least Pop is doing a of a lot of good with the smalls rotation.
My one complaint there would be that Green AND Leonard need to start, and have RJ as the Spurs 6th man for the rest of the season, with Manu fighting him for that label if Pop keeps the youngins in the SL all year. Once TJ is back I'm fine with Manu as a starter, but if Manu is back first, the 2nd unit needs a ball handler more than anything else, even (no flaming please) Tiago in the starting lineup.
Like someone said on one of the first two pages of this thread, Tiago starting is possible with a low amount of the infamous Blair/Bonner combination. Tiago would have to average over 30 min a game, and Tim would have to be subbed out early so he could replace Tiago in the 2nd/4th quarter at around the 11:00 min mark (not sure if Tiago can play 2 13 min stretches a game, but I could be underestimating him). I wonder if this has ever come to Pop's attention, or his staff might not offer the suggestion because it would be like trying to represent an argument for segregation to MLK.
The other option would be to have Leonard/Joseph/Green on the court whenever the turd towers are. I know that would suck for Neal, but if Neal has to lose PT for Splitter to gain PT, I'm all for it. Only Leonard and Green's PT are more valuable than the Brazilian imo, especially now with theout.
P.S. Has anyone noticed how often Splitter has utilized the waist-as-a-starting-point hook shot from the Portland game til last night? He seems to be using his height now, in the Portland game especially he feasted on Batum and Wallace, and last night he feasted on Davis and (possibly) Anderson. Blair might get more attention on O because he's at much more of a disadvantage physically, has shown so much improvement, and is less experienced with pro bball than Splitter, but Splitter has the higher FG% atm. Not to take away anything away from Blair, but this season his only bright spot is scoring, which sadly might be needed more than his rebounding of the past two years with Splitter/Green/Kawhi combining to average over 40 mpg.
P.P.S. How does basketballreference work? I can't find current stats, and when I search for Leonard in the search engine, he's nowhere to be found. I thought timvp used that site for all his player specific stat threads recently, but I could be wrong.
P.P.P.S. Whoever replies to this, if you would be so kind as to reply to most/all of my post, that would be fantastic. No need for multi-quoting, just don't zero in on one or two paragraphs please.Also, if you're reading this sentence, then I
to you.
Idk what games you are watching, but Splitter doesn't seem to force anything tbh, and he's the 3rd big minutes-wise. I'd rather 10 of Bonner's minutes go to Splitter once the season is over, but I'll be realistic and just hope that Tiago will have averaged 25 min somehow once this pathetic excuse of an NBA season is done with. The optimistic part of me hopes he starts more than any big not numbered 21 in the playoffs.
Absolutely not. With the state this team is currently in, they need to win the games they're supposed to. And coming off a day off, at home, against probably the worst and definitely the most dysfunctional team in the West, more than qualifies as a game they're supposed to win.
He not only shouldn't even consider resting them, he should do the opposite and play them as many minutes as necessary to insure victory. If they don't have it the next night against the Rockets, pull them early and keep them stapled to the bench for the remainder of the game.
A loss isn't the worst case scenario, a loss in which the key players play major minutes is. They can't afford to attempt to have their cake and eat it too right now.
I don't know if it's that, I think it's more so his aversion to playing anyone over 6-7 major minutes. Occasionally, he'll relent and have Duncan do so, out of necessity more than anything, but anyone else, he just refuses to do it. Not that the Spurs have had a big besides Duncan who consistently deserved major minutes since Robinson, but even when another big was having a strong game or a strong stretch of games, he'd still manage their minutes, as if they'd die if they had to play 35 minutes the odd game or 25 mpg period. There's no reason Splitter shouldn't be playing at least that much on this team. That he's not is flat out insanity.
b2b2b yes but as you said the Spurs where playing 8th game in 12 nights.
An Ill Tim Duncan, minus their best player and backup point guard
In addition, 71 of the 265 minutes where played by 3 guys with a collective 66 games of NBA experience
I'll take it
Rj can't do what he can't do.
He's above average rebounder for a SF and he used to go to the line very often. Pop said he wasn't hear case like S-Jax and was able to draw defensive attention, something Bowen couldn't do. That was when the Spurs signed RJ. Not sure what's going on. Pop said recently he expected from Parker, RJ and Duncan to step up, in absence of Ginobili. All of sudden, Jefferson disappears completely. Even the rebounding became pathetic.
Last edited by dunkman; 01-19-2012 at 11:28 PM.
I was wondering how much longer Obstructed_View was going to be able to bite his tongue regarding the Bonner/Splitter situation . . .
Yeah I tried. I've said my piece, and for the longest time I knew most of my posts were just repeating the same things over and over. It's nice to see that some people are starting to come around, though I wish I had been more convincing over the last several years. Last year was just such a bitter repeat of 2006 where you could see what was going to happen every time Pop did something stupid. I'm just beat down by it now.
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