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If Spliiter is going the way of Gortat a la Orlando, should the Spurs put him on the trade block for someone who theyll play for 25 minutes plus or the highest draft pick they can get or as incentive to dump RJ and save money?
No. Leonard is the lockdown perimeter defender of the future. His job is to concentrate on shutting down the other team's best perimeter defender.
Pop sometimes tries to use Green in that role but the truth is Green isn't a very good one-on-one perimeter defender. Instead, Green is best used as a roamer. That's when his ability to come out of nowhere to block shots and steal rebounds really comes in handy.
If Spliiter is going the way of Gortat a la Orlando, should the Spurs put him on the trade block for someone who theyll play for 25 minutes plus or the highest draft pick they can get or as incentive to dump RJ and save money?
I could not agree any more. Ideally that third big of the bench could also have been Dice.
Thank you. Lots of people wanting to compare Green to Bruce Bowen, and then getting upset when he doesn't live up to it. Leonard has drawn some of the toughest defensive assignments in the league, and done a of a job. Especially for a rookie. For a couple of games, I thought the pressure of that might be getting to him, but he's proved that wrong in a big way I think.
Green cheats down to help around, and in, the paint - a lot. He does a pretty good job of staying around the passing lane to his man while he's doing it, but he gets burned doing it, too. But he disrupts a lot more plays than people here give him credit for. I've watched a lot of bigs coming across the paint get the ball swatted by Green - sometimes just enough to make them juggle it. But also enough to make them tank the shot they were in the process of putting up. He's got quick hands, and good anticipation. But he's also going to get burned at times, playing like that. Pop understands that, or Green wouldn't be getting the minutes he does.
Kawhi and Green together cause a lot of havoc. If they both get better at what they each do, we've done a lot of re-building in place.
Yeah, it was difficult to grade Green. On one hand, he was 0-for-8 with two turnovers plus about four or five notable mistakes on defense. On the other hand, a few of his shots were late in the clock and he came up big with assists and defense when it mattered most.
Even after watching the game again, I'll stick with C+ being fair. If he would have hit some shots or didn't make those defensive mistakes, his heroics at the end likely wouldn't have been needed. Then again, those late plays were so good that his grade shouldn't suffer too much.
Gotta disagree on just about all points. Blair left the game in the third with the Spurs up by nine points, so I'm not sure he could be blamed for blowing the lead. A D- would be harsh for a guy who was pretty darn solid on D. And typically, I'd say Blair has a relatively high basketball IQ for a power forward.
The last few weeks that IQ has been MIA but I doubt it's a case of him suddenly becoming a bad player.
I'm not saying Tiago should or should not just posing the question. What is the value of a guy who will only play 17-20 per game? If you can get a top 15 pick is a 20 min per game guy worth that? If he can save you millions by allowing someone to take RJ is giving up 20 mpg with that? If you can swap him + a few other pieces for someone who Pop sees as a better fit (a skilled power forward vs just a blue collar guy) is that worth it? If he isn't going to be used like a 2nd big consistently, much like Gortat in Orlando why are these not viable options in yalls opinion?
I think it's his knees. Even in a normal regular season, he had a ton of swelling between games. With a condensed schedule, one would have to imagine that his knees are in even worse shape.
Where it shows up the most is running the court. Early in the season, he was oftentimes the first player up and down the court for the Spurs. Nowadays, it's a struggle for him to keep up with the pack.
It's a shame because Blair had been a really helpful player despite his shortcomings. I'm hoping that in these next couple weeks that Blair can get a lot of rest and get a second wind.
I know Spurs Fan has given up on him but I think Blair has a future as long as his knees cooperate.
That would have been an option but then again, the Grizzlies would have been able to swarm even more due to Ford's lack of outside jumper. Memphis still respected Green's jumper, which help spread the court enough for Green to find the bigs at the basket.
One thing about Blair is that while his offense has gone down the drain these past few weeks, his defense has been pretty solid for the most part.
The way he guarded Dirk, Scola, and others was a real pleasant surprise.
As for Danny Green, the saying was something like "Danny Green had one of the better 0-7 games in recent years" might've been spot on
The big difference is that Gortat is older than Howard, while Splitter is eight years younger than Duncan. Even if the worse scenario happens and Pop continues to play Splitter as Duncan's backup, Splitter's value remains very high because of the uncertainty of Duncan's future.
Talented bigmen like Splitter are way too difficult to come by to trade him now for 50 cents on the dollar. Considering Splitter's potential to blow up if given 30+ minutes per game, I'd say he's close to untradeable right now. You just can't trade a guy whose future value is potentially so much higher than his current value.
What matters is not Duncan's age, but how Pop views him. Pop clearly doesn't see him as someone that can blow up if given consistent minutes because he publicly states otherwise & he doesn't give him 30 minutes when his compe ion is Matt & Blair.
How can a bench guy who can't beat out Blair and Bonner and whom the coach calls not very skilled be untradeable is my question I guess. Is getting a top 15 pick really pennies on the dollar for him in this scenario?
If Pop and you truly believe that then it really makes no sense how Tiago is used. I can live with it if pop truly believes he isn't skilled and is just a blue collar oberto-type player. In that case a top 15 pick for Oberto? Seems more than fair. If pop is lying and just not using Tiago for other reasons and going out of his way to name everyone but him as a reason the team is improving than it makes zero sense.
Tim will retire soon and play less regardless.
Well, that all fits. And it makes me a little queasy to think about. Frankly, I'd rather think he's going through a little slump, than that his knees aren't holding up. For his sake, and for the team's. I've been convinced that he drifts mentally - but maybe he's just struggling physcially? Or maybe a little of both.
The big improvement he made for this year, I think, is that he started doing a lot more of his work BEFORE his man gets the ball. A lot of people don't appreciate that, and it will never make a highlight reel. But fronting well, denying his man the ball, or forcing him to take it 4-5 feet further from the basket - those things show up in opponent FG%. And Blair has improved immensely in that department, I think. But it's also hard work that would put a lot of extra stress on knees that already have a problem.
Dammit.
Not even a little bit. Truth is, I don't disagree with Timvp very often. Even when I do, I spend some time questioning my position first. I thought the grades were all dead on. I added my two cents, which is what it's usually worth.
Pop views Duncan and Splitter as centers and Blair and Bonner as power forwards. Splitter, in Pop's eyes, isn't competing with Blair and Bonner for minutes.
And you can never go by anything Pop says. He scoffed at giving Splitter more minutes after the Rockets game and followed it up by giving Splitter his most minutes since the opener. Pop doesn't like to admit when he's wrong and he surely will never admit it to the press during the middle of the season.
An fitting example is the 2005-06 season. All year long he laughed when any reporter asked about playing Oberto more minutes. But then once the season was over, Pop said he was an idiot for not playing him more minutes that year.
If Pop fails to play Splitter more minutes in the coming months, I bet he'll be pulling the idiot card once again this summer . . .
I see what your doing.
Didn't he pull that card at the end of last season wrt Splitter? IIRC, he did mention something about Splitter not being ready and needing him for the series.
Do you think Pop views him as a true skilled big capable of being a centerpiece or do you think he really places his abilities on par w Oberto?
All I'm saying is a top 15 pick for a blue collar 17-20 big who isn't a part of the reason the team is improving has to be considered pretty good value for a team that's rebuilding some, no?
Depends on what is your definition of a "centerpiece". IMO, I hope Pop views Splitter as a starting caliber center. Oberto was a role player, albeit, an important one.
He's averaging 21.1 mpg. Why use 17-20 rather than 21-25? You could call him the defensive anchor of the second unit rather than a blue collar big. Methinks someone is trolling. Effectively trolling, but still...
Yes, I meant like you described. He seems to compare Tiago with Oberto vs say a quality starting big. I wonder if you all believe pop sees Tiago as Oberto.
Because 21 is closer to 20 and in watching the games I feel his average is inflated due to garbage time minutes and/or Tim being out. Me saying 17-20 with 20 being the ceiling when he averages 21 isn't off base IMO. Especially consistently as I described.
I also didn't call him blue collar, I was quoting Pops comments and assessment of Tiago. I'm not trolling (at least not fully), I'm posing questions to question pops logic and what we as fans truly believe Pop thinks of Tiago.
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