Observations From the Opener

[TrainOfThought5]

The 2nd unit should be this.

Boban
West
Diaw
Anderson
Manu

Negative. We'd be absolutely slaughtered on anything remotely resembling a fast break and 2-5 PnRs.

Mills - Gino - Butler - Diaw - Boban would keep spacing high and defense Flexible. I love Anderson and i think he might break out this year but not while playin with gino. Hes just not good off the ball yet.

[SAGirl]

So Spurs absolutely need to make sure that Simmons can get on the court come playoff time.

Simmons is not ready to play even regular rotation minutes. See my comment above. He's athletic, but that is it. Defensively, he's not aware or can't execute what is needed. He gets caught on picks frequently, or really most of the time, and by getting caught, I mean literally, Belinelli style stuck in the pick and out of the play entirely. He ballwatches, and is late to rotate. His man gives him the slip on backcuts, he gambles too much on steals and racks up fouls just on that alone. I would say right now, he's just athletic and that is it. He needs to work on his defensive fundamentals. I don't think he will be ready to help much this season. But we will likely see him against the weaker teams in blow outs, with scheduled rest for Manu or stuff like that. I hope he's working behind doors on this stuff and can help if needed, but right now he's too raw and undeveloped to help.

[Keepin' it real]

I'm surprised with the overreaction about West. It's just one game. West played well offensively. He finished with the 2nd best +/-. We all know he's not a center, so I for one am not expecting him to play like a center. We have the luxury of a starting-quality power forward as our 4th big. I'll take that every day of the week. The Spurs are much better off with West than Baynes coming off the bench.

What's funny is people here (and at PTR) blew their tops last month about the PTR article claiming West was a bad fit for the Spurs. So many people disagreed and trashed the PTR writer. Now, after just one game, everyone is panicking and sounding exactly the same as that writer.

The Spurs are lucky to have David West. RELAX.

[SAGirl]

I'm surprised with the overreaction about West. It's just one game. West played well offensively. He finished with the 2nd best +/-. We all know he's not a center, so I for one am not expecting him to play like a center. We have the luxury of a starting-quality power forward as our 4th big. I'll take that every day of the week. The Spurs are much better off with West than Baynes coming off the bench.

What's funny is people here (and at PTR) blew their tops last month about the PTR article claiming West was a bad fit for the Spurs. So many people disagreed and trashed the PTR writer. Now, after just one game, everyone is panicking and sounding exactly the same as that writer.

The Spurs are lucky to have David West. RELAX.

I was among the ones who criticized the writer because he was overly pessimistic without so far as a preseason game being played out. Right now, I admit he was spot on in his concern and not just based on this one game. All through the 6 preseason games, the bench was better off with Boban/Anderson than with West TBH, even in ty lineups with D'league and non NBA players, Boban/Anderson were able to get stops and move the ball intelligently. West,Butler,Anderson however (Butler was in instead of Diaw, due to Diaw's rehab and Butler still trying out for the team), was mixed reviews with a game like the Rockets for example blowing wide open when West was sitting down.

I might be overreacting, but its based on games played now, not on speculation like the PTR article.

[Gladney to see you]

It is one good game. Nothing to worry about. I feel a lot better than I did last week.

[tholdren]

I'm surprised with the overreaction about West. It's just one game. West played well offensively. He finished with the 2nd best +/-. We all know he's not a center, so I for one am not expecting him to play like a center. We have the luxury of a starting-quality power forward as our 4th big. I'll take that every day of the week. The Spurs are much better off with West than Baynes coming off the bench.

What's funny is people here (and at PTR) blew their tops last month about the PTR article claiming West was a bad fit for the Spurs. So many people disagreed and trashed the PTR writer. Now, after just one game, everyone is panicking and sounding exactly the same as that writer.

The Spurs are lucky to have David West. RELAX.

rewind the game and watch his attempts to set a high screen. mcdyuss part 2

[cd021]

We played well overall, can't knock this team. If we lose to Brooklyn, then there's a reason to panic.

- Aldridge was nervous, he just needs to get put into the offense more and take a few more shots.
- Green looked cold, but we know Green starts the year off slow, and finds his mold.
- We should try to run Diaw at the 3 and Boban at the 5 at times with bigger line-ups. Absolutely no excuse for Boban not to dress up.
- West looked fine. His midrange jumper is good. Rebounding we all knew was going to be an issue with him and Diaw in.

Thats basically the Memphis lineup of Allen, Randolph and Gasol in terms of spacing or lack their of. iaw is coming off a poor season shooting the ball, playing him at the 3 would have been better when he was 2.0 and shooting at a 40% clip. West can shoot from mid range but Boban, probably can't space the floor.

Leonard should be playing 33 mpg at the 3, with Green getting 3 or 4 minutes at 3 as well (which should put him over 30 mpg) and give KA the other 12 mpg.

Pop should stagger minutes and play LMA and West together and Duncan and Diaw together. In that scenario, Duncan would be playing some with the second unit and going against other second units. We could see a Miils, Manu, Green/ Anderson, Diaw and Duncan unit and a Parker, Green , Leonard, West and LMA unit.

[ulosturedge]

Overall offense looked good and defense was terrible. No need to panic though thats generally how the season starts for the Spurs. Defense will tighten up as the season goes on.

Obviously we have some weaknesses we will need to try and band-aid up on defense, but we have to make due with the personnel we have.

I'm encouraged by how well our offense looked in just the first game. I don't know if we will be using the 3 ball as much this year without Beli. I guess we will take what the defense gives us. I hope i'm wrong on that as I loved seeing us kill teams with the 3 point barrages. Hopefully Patty will return to form and Danny wakes up.