Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Celtics - Dec. 15

[Paranoid Pop]

Green looks more and more like the guard version of Bonner to me, he was bad at everything but 3pt shooting.

Nando on the other hand plays some great SG defense, not the first time, he did good on Wade too.

Green for a big seems like an obvious move at this point, can't be moved before January 15th tho.

[Captivus]

Every time I read about playing two players together because one of them is getting better (bench players, in this case Tiago) Im always wondering the same thing:
If you have the best players playing together, wouldnt that decrease the effectiveness of them? I mean, at the end, theres only 1 ball and 1 player is going to shoot it.
People always complain when Tiago is on the court that he doesn't get the ball, same with Duncan. If they play together, with Parker, Kiwi and maybe Jackson, or Green, one of them wont have many opportunities to do their thing.
This kind of question, that i have, are a little stupid, because most teams play their best player all together, but then again the effect Manu had (and maybe has) coming from the bench was great, and I don't think Manu would have shined if he started at that time.
Maybe TD and TS could start, in that case at least 1 starter should come off the bench...Kiwi, Jackson...i don't know.

I don't like using positions:
Parker
Green
Diaw
Duncan
Splitter

DeColo/Neal
Manu
Jackson
Kiwi
Diaw

Im only saying this because like I said, theres only 1 ball...
I wouldnt play 5 Lebron if i had them, i would start 3 of them, and let 2 come off the bench.

[Paranoid Pop]

^ yeah I agree, Tiago should be the focus of the second unit long term. And with Manu declining I wouldn't mind if he started again, with say Nando backing him up.

[Brunodf]

Starting TD and TS looks good except there will be times when neither will be on the floor. When that happens, Jack or Leonard on the floor with Diaw and Bonner is a nice enough front court trio, just so Pop grabs Matty by the ears before he sends him in and screams "keep your ass under the basket for defensive rebounds"! I can see it working. During this current string of injuries I would have liked to seen the club offer Rick Jackson from the Toros a ten day contract.

Unless one of them suffer an injury during the game, at least one will be on the court all the time.

[Manufan909]

Every time I read about playing two players together because one of them is getting better (bench players, in this case Tiago) Im always wondering the same thing:
If you have the best players playing together, wouldnt that decrease the effectiveness of them? I mean, at the end, theres only 1 ball and 1 player is going to shoot it.
People always complain when Tiago is on the court that he doesn't get the ball, same with Duncan. If they play together, with Parker, Kiwi and maybe Jackson, or Green, one of them wont have many opportunities to do their thing.
This kind of question, that i have, are a little stupid, because most teams play their best player all together, but then again the effect Manu had (and maybe has) coming from the bench was great, and I don't think Manu would have shined if he started at that time.
Maybe TD and TS could start, in that case at least 1 starter should come off the bench...Kiwi, Jackson...i don't know.

I don't like using positions:
Parker
Green
Diaw
Duncan
Splitter

DeColo/Neal
Manu
Jackson
Kiwi
Diaw

Im only saying this because like I said, theres only 1 ball...
I wouldnt play 5 Lebron if i had them, i would start 3 of them, and let 2 come off the bench.

Why not start them, all, and sub 2 or 3 out early, so all 5 could average 35ish minutes?

[Brunodf]

Every time I read about playing two players together because one of them is getting better (bench players, in this case Tiago) Im always wondering the same thing:
If you have the best players playing together, wouldnt that decrease the effectiveness of them? I mean, at the end, theres only 1 ball and 1 player is going to shoot it.
People always complain when Tiago is on the court that he doesn't get the ball, same with Duncan. If they play together, with Parker, Kiwi and maybe Jackson, or Green, one of them wont have many opportunities to do their thing.
This kind of question, that i have, are a little stupid, because most teams play their best player all together, but then again the effect Manu had (and maybe has) coming from the bench was great, and I don't think Manu would have shined if he started at that time.
Maybe TD and TS could start, in that case at least 1 starter should come off the bench...Kiwi, Jackson...i don't know.

I don't like using positions:
Parker
Green
Diaw
Duncan
Splitter

DeColo/Neal
Manu
Jackson
Kiwi
Diaw

Im only saying this because like I said, theres only 1 ball...
I wouldnt play 5 Lebron if i had them, i would start 3 of them, and let 2 come off the bench.

1)Good point but i disagree, playing your best players since the beginning is good to start strong and to destroy the opposite team confidence.

2)I think he would be even better.

[MR-Clutch]

I feel for Manu, I've had a quadriceps contusion before and its way more painful than it sounds. It hurt so bad that I thought my femur was broken so the next day so I went to have a check up and was diagnosed with a grade 2 quadriceps contusion. I limped around for about a week, but after two weeks I was back to training. Depending on the grade, the problem with Manu is that if it was a severe grade 3 contusion,if he doesn't rest his quadriceps long enough, or re injures it he could develop a condition known as myositis ossificans. This condition is only know to be caused by a quadriceps condition, and is a result of the body calcifying rather than healing the hematoma. Small fragments of bone can begin growing deep within the quadriceps muscle and cause significant and long term pain to the athlete. With the spurs being as conservative as they are, it wouldn't surprise me to see them hold Manu out least 2-3 weeks depending on the severity of it.

[Obstructed_View]

Because he's still too RAW for the NBA. Joseph's prone to making bad decisions, his jump shot isn't near as good as Mills' and the team just doesn't have as much chemistry with him as they do with Mills or De Colo. He'll get his chance eventually, but right now, there are better guards out there to choose from (Neal, Mills and De Colo.)

[Obstructed_View]

If you have the best players playing together, wouldnt that decrease the effectiveness of them? I mean, at the end, theres only 1 ball and 1 player is going to shoot it.

If basketball were team pop-a-shot, you might have a point. It's not. Good offense isn't who takes the shot, it's who gets the best shot. Having better players on the floor that play well together results in more layups and dunks, which are always the highest percentage shots. They also result in three point plays and drawing fouls. A team that costs a great player three shots but gets into the bonus five minutes sooner is a better offensive team. There's a defensive end of the floor as well, and having good defenders, shot blockers, guys with quick hands increases the effectiveness of your team.

The Spurs are ridiculously deep; having lineups to try to cover perceived deficiencies of the bench is an obsolete concept.

[Paranoid Pop]

We're ridiculous unbalanced rather than ridiculously deep, our big rotation is essentially composed of three players.

[TD 21]

While I like the Splitter/Duncan starting frontcourt, it's a risky pair given Spurs roster. If one start to be in foul trouble, Spurs will have to play heavy minutes in a game without some kind of interior defensive presence. Starting Splitter with Duncan would be better if Spurs have another center at the end of the bench. Maybe Spurs will do a move in that way. I find it weird that Pop didn't put Blair in the game for the garbage time. Other than that, it's nice to see Nando bouncing back after a couple of bad games.

Exactly. I mentioned this in my "Eliminated in the Conference-Semis (if they don't make a trade for a big)" thread. I also mentioned Amir Johnson as an ideal candidate in this scenario. I realize he's really a power forward, but he's played center for two years and they could get away with pairing him with Diaw off the bench.

I wonder if they'll go after Camby, though. Even when healthy, he's buried and they've got a massive payroll for the foreseeable future. But he'd be a questionable fit, because he can't play with Duncan or Splitter, so those two would have to play together almost exclusively. Also, there would be no roll man on the 2nd unit (he'd have to be by default).

Ice, they won't play small off the bench. Splitter will double as the starting PF/C (defense/offense) and the backup C.

[Ice009]

Ice, they won't play small off the bench. Splitter will double as the starting PF/C (defense/offense) and the backup C.

That sounds good to me, but if someone is in foul trouble I would much rather they go small rather than have Bonner or Blair in the regular rotation.

[BackHome]

Too raw. Says who?? Mills is not a point guard, he is an undersized 2 guard with bad shot selection. Neal is not a point guard either and is better as 2 guard. De Colo is the only true point guard of the bunch but he has only been with the team a couple of months unlike CJ who bounced from the D-League and back last year. CJ is clearly the best defender, probably equal with De Colo on ball handing and has a better shot than De Colo. To not give your best defender at pg (Parker included), doesn't make much sense. Now, I'm not saying given the opportunity, he will succeed but he at least should be given a fair shot and not just relegated solely to garbage time.

Dude you lost me after "probably equal with De Colo on ball handing".