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this game was a automatic loss
but those bench fringe players didnt do to show that they belong on the team let alone more minutes to showcase to pop....
I had this game marked as a loss anyways, I'm not too concerned over throwing it away. We should of lost the Clippers game as well, and I don't have high hopes against Denver. Just too many injuries right now. We've been lucky and playing above our heads, honestly.
this game was a automatic loss
but those bench fringe players didnt do to show that they belong on the team let alone more minutes to showcase to pop....
Corey Joseph belongs in one of those leagues for short players. A really short player must have really exceptional skills to play against legitimate NBA players. It was pathetic to watch him being posted up time after time by any Blazer guard that needed a guaranteed score. They must have been doing rock, paper, scissors to see who got to take him down in the paint next.
Anderson got quite a few points on FTs. That is because he was so slow in getting to the basket he kept getting fouled. Several times his drive to the hoop and layup attempt got blocked because a defensive player caught up with him from benind and blocked his shot.
I don't see anything that would make the Spurs want to keep him after this season and if anyone wants him now, let him go before the trade deadline.
On Eric Dawson, TIMVP said he was brought up as a reward for sticking it out in the Toros for several seasons. For whatever reason, he did pretty well in a first outing against legitimate NBA players, including an All-star. Good job, rookie. Got yourself a highlight reel to show your grandkids if nothing else comes out of the 10 day contract.
People need to stop giving the spurs credit for drafting well, if it really seems like we have drafted two straight busts. I was high on Anderson, but he seems to have no offensive rhythm to his game to speak of.
Back in the last draft thread, towards the end of the first r round I was laughing at the potential plight out Cory Joseph, because a player of his caliber had absolutely no business l leaving college early. None. As a Texas fan I was irate, then when three Spurs drafted him, my spurs homerness kicked in, and I started to think maybe I was wrong about Joseph, maybe there is something there if the lauded Spurs FO picked him.
He really looks exactly like he did in college...he was solid in college but nothing that screamed NBA talent.
Like I said in the game thread, I in the spurs defense, there really wasn't too much to work with that late in the insanely weak 2011 draft. Maybe if Jordan Hamilton our Norris Cole had fallen to us. But there just was not much to pick, so in that respect you can't fault the spurs too much
While clicking to open this thread I thought "what, a grades for this ", but after reading I am more like "i know what you did there"
Go figure
Leonard was so impressive. It was awesome to see him go out there and take charge of the team. He wasn't fazed by anything and just kept doing his thing.
I thought Dawson had a rough start but did pretty well considering who he was up against and what he had to work with. I'd like to see what he can do next to Duncan though and not how he looks anchoring the team defense by himself. Assuming they're really giving this guy a chance that is.
Most biased grades ever.
I dont know how to take jefferson's 4 points in 19 minutes.
as in it was only 19 mins or 4 ing points
I took it as why on earth does Pop still start him.. or even play him at all with all the wing depth on the team now. If Leonard isn't starting in his place by the end of the season Pop needs his head examined.
It's so awesome that we have so many potential NBA coaches here on ST! Pop better watch his back, some posters who think they could coach this team better may soon be taking his job!
Standing reach
Every time I see a player being called up to the top league I think of Kevin Costner's character in Bull Durham and how amazed the minor league players are to finally meet someone who was "in the Show". To have played in the NBA, with the big guys, if only for one game... those few minutes must validate a whole life of effort and sacrifice.
What did I miss with this whole Bonner wanting to be Canadian thing?
The guy is white as snow and is from a state that is basically Canada so just give it to him if he wants it
Indeed. It's a problem this team's had for years. Too bad now they need a PG and bigs.
The guy is terrible. This was the perfect game for him to put the team on his back and at least make it close. He looks like hes constantly scared. Unreal.
Thanks for the write-up timvp, great read as usual. Thought I’d include some feedback from what I remember:
KL
Kawhi Leonard had a pretty good game and he did it with 43 minutes of play time. Pop was sending him a message and I’m glad Kawhi performed as well as he did. I’ve heard of the Kawhi Leonard and Gerald Wallace similarities in the past and the obvious thing I saw was their ninja-like ability on offense to head to the rim undetected while the ball is in the air and get themselves in position to snatch that rebound. Since both Kawhi and Gerald did this I’m actually surprised no one tried to box them out in some cases – wouldn’t that be an obvious thing to try to do to limit their second attempts?
CJ
I agree spot on with Cory Joseph. Every now and then he will put together a surprise drive and ram it into the opposing team but the one time I saw this in game he settled for a layup and I’m pretty sure it was a miss, which doesn’t help. If anything, Canada now has two reasons to be interested in Spurs games, hopefully the Spurs can cash in with that somehow.
JA
James Anderson and Gerald Wallace went after each other a few times, though each outcome involved Wallace seeming to get the better result. I think Anderson became too fixated in this rivalry and ended up trying to do too much which limited ball movement or any type of team play for the Spurs.
Eric Dawson
I thought Eric Dawson did great. Half of his rebounds were offensive rebounds. He showed he was more effective in a post-up game than Dejuan Blair with not as much effort – though he did seem gassed at times. He even ran what I thought was a surprise pick-and-roll set for Kawhi Leonard at the corner three spot. Dawson set the pick, it seemed to me like Kawhi took a second to figure out what happened and then he drove to the basket, I don’t think it ended up being points on the board but he was setting up a player for a score, what more could you ask from a big besides an effective post-up game. He also had a block. While he may not have moved well, showed bad timing with his jumps this was his first NBA game. How many players mention the speed of the NBA game being fast? Pop also did the smart thing about it too, instead of asking for too much, he played Dawson in the last four minutes of the first quarter, let him get over the situation and then called on him at the beginning of the second quarter after he’s had a moment to absorb the moment. I think with more playing time the game will slow down for him (that much should be guaranteed) and in this one outing he has showed a good amount of what he can bring to the team. What’s nice is that there is still room for improvement, while he may not be an absurd physical specimen he can still improve and perfect the things that he already does, which was more good than bad on this night. At some point there will be a scouting report on him and hopefully he doesn’t do too many detrimental things to offset what he brings. I hope he continues to get his chance to show some consistency.
DG
If Danny Green can get to the free throw line more often he would be amazing and his future would be even more promising.
DB
What is Dejuan Blair doing wrong with his rebounding? Is he not concentrating enough to get himself in good position for the rebound? Does he think the balls will just bounce his way? Or is the difference that he can no longer sneak into position to obtain rebounds because most of his work this season is in the low block? In years past Duncan was doing more work in the low block so it was easier for DB to go in and yank a rebound. If this is the case it would make sense that his rebounding would decrease when the team has him positioned in the low block for the majority of the minutes. This might also mean that he should be paired with someone who can bring it on the low block so that he can find himself sneaking in for some rebounds a la Leonard and Wallace.
RJ
I think RJ is mesmerized and watching the action on the floor instead to realizing that he can make himself part of the action. He may also see this experiment ending soon and doesn’t see the point in adding any more effort since someone will pick him up. If he did start to put in more effort though and the stat sheet reflected it how would that affect the Spurs chances to get rid of him? I guess it would be more likely for a trade to happen but his contract is probably still too expensive for any reasonable person to want for half a season’s change in his stats.
GN
Gary Neal continues to do good when the ball is in his hands. I think he had a turnover on the break when he was passing it to someone, maybe James Anderson or Green and Neal did a soft bounce pass that was quickly stolen by the lone defender between them. I’m just hoping he learns from this mistake.
MB
Almost had a full night of rest. Overall, I think his defense is getting better at least. Where would one go to obtain his defensive stats for the last few years?
Pop
I liked Pop’s decision. I was really surprised by the amount of new threads today with people complaining about ruining the win streak. To hear people on Spurstalk complaining about a win streak is ridiculous since fans on this site are usually interested in one outcome to the season, and it’s not a win streak. This team still has some things to clean up as evidenced by the young guns running the show for a night and the young players have tons of room to grow and they don’t have that opportunity when the team has to play within TP and Duncan all the time. If anything, this may have given TP and Duncan ideas about ways they can further utilize their teammates. It also gives the young guns more confidence when they try to dust off and use these moves again in a game situation. On a side note: I was really hoping they’d make it to 100 points but they just missed it.
I had no problem with the decision. I think he's handled the minutes recently about right. He rode Duncan, Parker and even Bonner hard to get the ones that were winnable throughout and they got them. The worst thing he could have done is played them a few less minutes in those games and lost them. But with the run they've been on, they were at the point where they could afford to tank one. And let's face it, they more than likely weren't winning that game anyway.
So how good is Dawson? Is he Blair with a jumper?
From what I recall he shot one fifteen footer that he attempted and he made it. It also looked to me like he has an interest in playing post-up offense that isn't a put-back. So his game may be more well rounded, I don't recall Blair having success on the low-block this season.
Everyone asking about Bonner. He will be 32 in about 6 weeks. He, also, played a lot of minutes in the last 2 games. He will be playing heavy minutes against Denver. He has averaged 20 minutes a game this season. 6 minutes in a game that was gone at the end of the 1st quarter. The rest he got will help us to be fresh against Denver.
Almost 32 minutes for Dawson told Pop that he can play. Now to see what happens against Denver. Does he get minutes or not? I hope Pop gives Dawson the run to prove what he can do. He will only have 1 more game under this 10 day contract. A second 10 day would follow if he shows promise after getting some practice with the kiddie corp during the all star break. One thing, keep him away from RICHARD JEFFERSON.
Very creative writeup TIMVP. One of your best yet.
After watching Cory play I now understand what all the mock draft have us taking a pg..
These grades were a stroke of genius. One of those times you read something and say, "I wish I'd thought of that." Trying to do in-depth analysis of this game would have been just as pointless as the game itself.
I think Jefferson deserved an "I" for Invisible. How in the could a veteran player, with what we've seen him do in the past, be such a complete nothing in a game like this? There was nothing holding him back. And he's been around long enough, and in enough tough games, that he should have been able to at least do something worth remembering. If you didn't know better, you would swear that he's been a career second-stringer all his life.
You know how some guys manage to put up some impressive stats while playing for a bad team? And people shrug off the numbers, because "he's the only guy on the team who can play"? That should have been Jefferson last night. He should have gotten some numbers just because, with his pedigree and experience (and salary), he should have been our best player on the floor.
The only other thing worth mentioning is that I've seen a lot of players who had a hard time finishing in their rookie seasons, but got a lot better the next year or two. George Hill had his problems finishing his rookie year. Blair, too. (He has problems, but he does finish MUCH better than in his first year.) Hopefully Green is in that same boat. He really is able to get himself some very good looks. He misses way too many of them, but there's reason to be hopeful. If he can improve that part of his game, there will be a lot less negative to offset the good things he does. Probably not this year, though.
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