Grades: Spurs @ Blazers - Feb. 7, 2019

[DPG21920]

I guess the better way to go about this is; you don’t see a big issue with a team that has lost by 20+ I think 5+ times and beyond that, you are ok with the way the team is playing and the outlook over the next year or two with this core?

[timvp]

Everything to do with it? I am not so sure that Spurs are in the norm with how many huge deficits they face and it to me is a symptom of a team with no leadership, resilience and major flaws.

Sounds like you're diagnosing a disease before knowing whether or not anything is wrong in terms of how often a team is down 10+ points and their winning percentage in such games.

What has me concerned is the fact they get down so big, so often. I don’t think many good teams could get out of deficits that big; I also think most good teams dont face them as frequently so that is my concern.

Sounds like a good research project, tbh. I think Spurs are probably somewhere in the normal range but I could be wrong.

I guess the better way to go about this is; you don’t see a big issue with a team that has lost by 20+ I think 5+ times

Different question, tbh. I agree that the number of blowout losses the Spurs have suffered this season is out of the norm for teams with similar records. But they've probably blown other teams out more often than teams with similar records ... so, I don't know what there is to take from either number. Could be as simple as the Spurs get blown out when their porous defense is figured out and they can blow out other teams when their defense plays better than usual. Maybe something more sinister is afoot but Occam's razor would say otherwise.

and beyond that, you are ok with the way the team is playing and the outlook over the next year or two with this core?

Completely different question, tbh. Do I think differently about this team going forward because of the type of losses they are suffering? Not really. If they were blowing close games left and right but their record and point differential were the same, I wouldn't be more optimistic or less optimistic, tbh.

[DPG21920]

Sounds like you're diagnosing a disease before knowing whether or not anything is wrong in terms of how often a team is down 10+ points and their winning percentage in such games.

Sounds like a good research project, tbh. I think Spurs are probably somewhere in the normal range but I could be wrong.

Different question, tbh. I agree that the number of blowout losses the Spurs have suffered this season is out of the norm for teams with similar records. But they've probably blown other teams out more often than teams with similar records ... so, I don't know what there is to take from either number. Could be as simple as the Spurs get blown out when their porous defense is figured out and they can blow out other teams when their defense plays better than usual. Maybe something more sinister is afoot but Occam's razor would say otherwise.

Completely different question, tbh. Do I think differently about this team going forward because of the type of losses they are suffering? Not really. If they were blowing close games left and right but their record and point differential were the same, I wouldn't be more optimistic or less optimistic, tbh.

While different questions, I think they are all adjacent. I definitely dont have any formal numbers to back it up, and you may be right, but my gut tells me that they stand out (if you look at only the 12-14 best teams).

Too me, if it were a matter of seeing a lot of spark and potential, even in losses I would be ok. But to me, the way they are losing and how they are losing causes me to retroactively have way more concern about the flaws in this team and outlook moving forward.

Spurs made their bed by trading Kawhi for DeRozan. Now the question is, since they chose that direction, where do they go from here?