Marc Stein: Lapdog to Spurs Front Office?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Miami showed how to do it. Put strong players on him who can also rebound and you turn Dirk into a jumpshooter.

Of course those of us advocating putting someone like Tim or Nazr on him and having them lay off and daring him to shoot jumpers were chastized for it, yet here you are advocating the same thing.

It was always about turning Dirk into a jump shooter instead of giving him a matchup he could exploit and either shoot over or take to the rack.

It still comes down to the fact that, like 'Sug said, if you protect the paint with two bigs and turn them into a jump shooting team, as opposed to a layup line, your chances increase greatly.

The greatest irony of all is Dallas did exactly that to us - challenged us to beat them with the jumper, and we lost. Same Lakers did to us a couple of times in the days of Kobe and Shaq.

But oh no we can't use that against another team, we've got to ditch our 7 year old system that got us 63 wins because of what a couple of highly physical guards did to us in the Sacramento series.

Same ol' same ol'...

[JUUOT]

Tim, horry and oberto are not the answers and even with all the enthousiast on earth i do not think bonner will prove to be a dirk killer. I will watch with intensity who of Elson or Butler can get the job done during regular season. If none than plan B is having a long three replacing barry, it could be williams or ariza or woods but i do not see them keeping dirk out of the game.

PLAN C: trade Oberto and get a banger 6-9 PF that has good speed laterally. I do not think Jamar Smith from camp can do it but you get the idea.

[SenorSpur]

I don't think anyone has a problem with the pickup of Butler and his potential.

Where most of the Pop critics are coming from is the same place they were the day after our season ended - we need more youth, athleticism, and length on the perimeter.

Dirk didn't kill us in the Dallas series, it was Howard and Terry alternating. We still have exactly zero players to even think about matching up with Howard. That's where a J.R. Smith, Qyntel Woods, or Trevor Ariza would have come in nice.

Instead, in the prime of Tim Duncan's career, we've put our eggs in the Rich Melzer basket. :/

I'm jumping into this late, but very nicely put AHF.

I know a lot of folks here claim that we shouldn't be concerned solely about PHX and DAL, but the fact is they are two of the top teams (along with the Clips) in the Western conference. All of which are expected to better this upcoming season. All of which are younger and more athletic than us.

Pop will continue to draw criticism until both he and R.C. address this specific need for which Pop himself labeled as a area of need that they wanted to address this offseason. If he is serious about fielding a more versatile, quicker, lineup for certain situations (as evidenced by ridding the team of plodders like Rasho and Nazr), then I would expect him to make this an offseason priority this year as opposed to next. At this point, it seems as though he and the rest of the FO are either being coy or unconcerned about this roster deficiency.

I, for one, feel this coaching staff relies too much on Bruce's superb, all-world, defensive abilities. Imagine the havoc that could be wreaked with a 6-8, athletic, forward such as Woods or Ariza.

[ChumpDumper]

Why in the world would Ariza sign here folks?

For the chance to play 8 mpg behind two former all-stars and an all-defense swingman? And Brent Barry half the time?

Maybe another 3 mpg at power forward would change his mind?

[JUUOT]

Why in the world would Ariza sign here folks?

For the chance to play 8 mpg behind two former all-stars and an all-defense swingman? And Brent Barry half the time?

Maybe another 3 mpg at power forward would change his mind?

i totally agree. The only way we will bring a capable swing man is to free up minutes in the rotation more so than cap space.

Bowen - manu - finley are unmovable so it comes down to moving barry and eventually williams depending on who you can get. Even with barry out there are no more than around 15mn to deal with if we do not go small ball.

[SenorSpur]

the game would not be that close if the other mavs players don't destroy the spurs inside. the spurs basically made josh howard into a superstar. everyone was scoring at will on san antonio in that series.

defending nowitzski is NOT the problem.

It's amazing how people seem to forget that. The Mavs made the Spurs look more like the Toronto Raptors in that series. Between Terry, Howard and Stack (at times) they were simply raining points on the Spurs "vaunted" defense.

Having Bowen superior abilities on Dirk or whoever the "hot guy" is is one thing, but doesn't account for all the opposition's offensive weapons.

[FromWayDowntown]

Why in the world would Ariza sign here folks?

For the chance to play 8 mpg behind two former all-stars and an all-defense swingman? And Brent Barry half the time?

Maybe another 3 mpg at power forward would change his mind?

And if he's all that he's claimed to be here in these parts, unless the Spurs offered him something like the full MLE over a number of years -- in other words, unless the Spurs ridiculously overpaid him -- why wouldn't Orlando match?

[Solid D]

It's amazing how people seem to forget that. The Mavs made the Spurs look more like the Toronto Raptors in that series.

2 OT games, 2 one point margins, 1 two point margin, one 5 point victory by the Spurs, one blowout by the Mavs.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Okay, fine, it doesn't have to be Ariza. Qyntel Woods would have been a nice project as well, was an unrestricted free agent, and wouldn't have come in demanding starters minutes.

it. Maybe when all of our wings hit age 35 we can start thinking about a long SF or someone under the age of 28 to play out there.

[ChumpDumper]

Shhh!

Don't say the "Q" word. whottt may be here.

Woods might be talked into coming down here if he was overpaid, I'm just showing the team will have to make a trade for one of these guys.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I hope to God a trade to address our long SF problem is coming. If not, we'll be on the wrong end of another series with the Mavs next summer.

[ducks]

Josh Childress your answer agh?

[SenorSpur]

2 OT games, 2 one point margins, 1 two point margin, one 5 point victory by the Spurs, one blowout by the Mavs.

Of course the games were close, except for one, but you're underselling the point. The Spurs couldn't stop the Mavs offensively. Pop realized he had serious matchup problems against this team. Therefore, he changed his strategy and decided to go smaller and try to outscore them. Of course, he sacrificied rebounding in the process.

The Mavs clearly held an obvious advantage on the perimeter and on the glass against this team. Had it not been for Duncan's brilliance on offense, it may have been many more blowouts.

[SpursWillOwn]

Josh Childress without that fro's my answer

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

yeah, I'd be all for pilfering a SF from Atlanta, they've got enough of them (Childress, Smith, Williams).

[FromWayDowntown]

I hope to God a trade to address our long SF problem is coming. If not, we'll be on the wrong end of another series with the Mavs next summer.

In his comments after the Butler signing, R.C. specifically mentioned that problem, so you can at least be sure that the front office is aware that the problem exists.

Frankly, I'd rather see them work to find the right deal than do something rash and end up with someone who looks the part but can't get the job done.

[picnroll]

Of course those of us advocating putting someone like Tim or Nazr on him and having them lay off and daring him to shoot jumpers were chastized for it, yet here you are advocating the same thing.

It was always about turning Dirk into a jump shooter instead of giving him a matchup he could exploit and either shoot over or take to the rack.

That's where the SMALL BALL rant falls apart. Heat didn't lay off Dirk. Posey and Walker crowded him to contest the outside shot and could still stay in front of him. Nazr, Rasho and Horry (the real failure) couldn't.

[Quasar]

Posey and Walker crowded him to contest the outside shot and could still stay in front of him.

That's because fouls got called on him left and right.

Don't really know why as I have yet to watch any game of that series because I was so disheartened after the loss I couldn't get around to downloading the games.

I was so sure the Spurs were gonna win game 7, down to the last 20secs... This is almost as bad as 0.4

[GhostofAlfrederickHughes]

Jesus, just let the Dallas series go already. It was a (mostly) tight, 7 game series that could have gone either way. In the end, Dallas got some of the additional luck, benefit of calls, and all the other 'intangibles' that teams that win those series get. Win some, lose some. Play it again, and it probably swings the other way.

Move on!

[Obstructed_View]

If only you were right. Miami defended him and defended him well. The Spurs could not.

Nowitzki's stats are virtually identical in the Heat series as the Spurs series. This is with Bowen unable to cover him full time due to the lack of shot blocking.

I agree that with different players, the Spurs MIGHT have had bigger leads on the Mavs. As close as the games were, the Spurs could not avoid the bad breaks they got in the last 10 seconds of some of those games.

A couple of centers and a backup point guard that the coach has some faith in would be nice for that.

[Obstructed_View]

That's where the SMALL BALL rant falls apart. Heat didn't lay off Dirk. Posey and Walker crowded him to contest the outside shot and could still stay in front of him. Nazr, Rasho and Horry (the real failure) couldn't.

So Antoine Walker and James Posey are better defenders than Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen. Sensible.

By the way, the idea is to lay off Josh Howard and Devin Harris and turn THEM into jump shooters, figuring Dirk is going to do damage by being a great player.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Jesus, just let the Dallas series go already. It was a (mostly) tight, 7 game series that could have gone either way. In the end, Dallas got some of the additional luck, benefit of calls, and all the other 'intangibles' that teams that win those series get. Win some, lose some. Play it again, and it probably swings the other way.

Move on!

The problem with that viewpoint is that like it or not, we have to go through Dallas to get back to the NBA Finals.

Not looking at that series with them to identify our weaknesses is ignorant, and borderline criminal.

And it's not like Dallas is going anywhere. This igorant, myopic view that we were 'just one point away in a couple of games' is so ridiculous I don't even know where to start.

You're talking about a team that is still extremely young, just grew more confident in their play by leaps and bounds, and now has it in their head that they can beat the big bad Spurs. They got a taste of the Finals, and know what it takes to get there. Dirk has been elevated to Humpty Dumpty status (touch him, he falls off the wall and you get a foul), Josh Howard is blowing up, and Terry is about as y as an NBA two guard can be.

And we still basically have no answer for any of those three.

Saying we just need to improve 5 points over the course of 3 games to reclaim supremacy is about the dumbest thing I've ever heard on this site.

Dallas built a team to kill the Spurs. I want to see Spurs management build a team to kill small ball, and so far I'm not seeing it.

[furry_spurry]

The only way those two moves are HUGE is if the Spurs were getting desperate for big men. Butler- good move; Elson- he's going to have to prove he can play defense.

The problem with his opinion is that he acts as if there were only two options-- option 1; paying Nazr the MLE or option 2: Elson and Butler. We all know there were plenty of other options.

I also enjoy how people who hated Rasho and Nazr are so sure of what the Spurs can turn Elson into, especially given that Elson is older than both of them.

[alamo50]

I think Elson will be fine, but people should just accept him for what he is. A big guy who can run and shoot jumpshots. If he just does the basics on D, he'll be okay.

Word.

[mabber]

I wouldnt mind putting Finley on Dirk in that situation, he did guard Dirk decently when he had that assignment in the Dallas series.

Finley guarded Dirk in that series better than everyone else (including Bowen) on the Spurs. Obviously, Bowen is a much better defender than Finley but for some reason Dirk was missing his shots when Finley was on him. It was strange.