With Finley, no championship? With Barry/Udoka, repeat? Who knows....
Pose all the hypotheticals you want, but it's about putting the best team on the floor with the best shot at winning. Bottom line that.
So are the games meaningless or do we think our record could be better?
I'm of the mind that Udoka isn't quite ready for regular minutes and if I want to monitor anyone's minutes with the playoffs in mind it's Manu first then Barry. If Udoka starts getting it, he can take some of Bowen and Finley's minutes.
The team on the floor wins 83% of the games they play.it's about putting the best team on the floor with the best shot at winning. Bottom line that.
Both actually.
I'm of the opinion that a "green" Ime couldn't possibly do worse than Finley and giving more minutes to Barry while he's playing at this level can't be a bad thing....
However, if the experiment does fail (Udoka fails to impress and Finley responds by shooting an even worse percentage), it is early enough in the season to reins ute the the rotation that the Spurs began with and hope that Finley's shot isn't irreparably damaged.
Solid points. Udoka's readiness and Barry's ability to handle a few more minutes a night are things that you and I will have to disagree on.
So if the games mean something, there's no need to fix the lineup.
If the games mean nothing, allowing Finley to play through his slump is as legitimate an experiment as any others proposed.
Finley was very bad last year in November before playing well at the end of the season. It's too soon to do a lineup change. If in a couple of months, he is still that bad and if he hurts the team, a lineup change could make some sense.
You just described Barry right there too. In reality both Finley and Barry suck on D. I mean who are we trying to kid here? I'd also like to point out that me labeling Finley's D as decent, thats me being generous right there.
But there's always a method to pops madness. And I'm guessing pop sees that Barry and Manu's spark off the bench as of late, trumps Finley's lack of production on the offensive end starting.
And Pop has stated on numerous occasions that he's not worried about Finley and his slump. And thats the thing when it comes to shooters. I remember a time when Barry sucked ass too on offense. And now look at him. I doubt the people that wanted to trade him then would want to trade him now. And Finley was in the same sort of funk last year too. But when the playoffs came around he became a solid contributer.
I can play that game too...
If the games mean something, then the Spurs must be proactive and not simply wait for Finley to get out of his slump.
If the games mean nothing, then the Spurs have nothing to lose by allowing a "green" Ime the opportunity to earn some additional minutes.
Exactly. The offense will be tinkered with this season thats for sure. But I don't think it will be that much like it was last season because players 1 through 11 are back from last years championship run. So in essence pop has more of an idea then he did last year on what line ups are better for the situation. People are arguing the problem when the solution isn't that much more of an improvement.
Except they are winning more than anyone expected.
I said it was as legitimate as any other experiment.If the games mean nothing, then the Spurs have nothing to lose by allowing a "green" Ime the opportunity to earn some additional minutes.
I say Pop sticks to the same lineup and brings in Elson to play Center and Oberto plays the PF spot.
If it was a mistake to keep Mike another year in the roster giving him minutes or not it will be a matter of time, too early in the season right now to tell.
After all we still have a great record and the best reg season start in a long time.
Trust you to leap onto one word--"meaningless" and make it the centerpiece of a quibbling arguement.
My point was that Pop has always said he doesn't think that coming in first in the conference is necessary. He apparently believes it doesn't matter if you lose a few games--and we will--as long as the goal is to find the means to win the championship at the end of the season.
It's a given that we won't go 79-3 so we don't know whether we'd lose more games with a different lineup or not. But during the regular season, and most especially the early part of the season, experimentation with lineups and with players is less likely to affect the team chemistry. By March, Pop wants to know what to expect from each player and his rotations tighten up.
We know what Fin can give us, at least when he's playing well. What can a different look give us? Why not give it a try while Fin isn't playing well.
Well, you said it.Trust you to leap onto one word--"meaningless" and make it the centerpiece of a quibbling arguement.We know what Barry can give as well. As for Udoka, I said giving him welfare minutes is as legitimate as giving them to Finley if that is what we are doing with him.We know what Fin can give us, at least when he's playing well.
If we don't care about winning at all, we should play Udoka, Washington and Mahimni 40 mpg and shoot for the eight seed.
True, we are winning in spite of Fin's shooting and confidence problems.
I just think we can compromise, keep Fin as the starter, reduce his minutes marginally and give those to Udoka and Barry, continue with the green light for Fin to continue to shoot in the event that he regains his mojo and until he does make him earn is minutes. I'd rather tinker with the rotation now then towards the end of the season. You see it's just a tweak rather then a major overhaul. I do see the merits of your point, not only that but you after all are one of the great basketball minds of this or any other generation.
Please, flattery -- even if it's not true -- will get me to agree with you. It's not a huge deal either way.
Yeah you're probably right, Pop probably knows what he's doing better then I do, I'll concede that much.
I was afraid I worded that incorrectly.
With Tim out I think the basis for the argument has shifted. Who knows what small ball lineups Pop will pull out of his bag of tricks? Finley will probably play as the 4 along with Barry for stretches in the second half.
No, you don't start Barry. Finley will shoot his way out of any slump eventually. And you put Barry in the starting lineup and probably Barry will go cold. Since the Spurs are 15-3, I wouldn't mess with a good thing right now. Hopefully Duncan is not out more than a couple of games.
I totally agree. Finley starts because he plays better defense.
the regular season doesn't matter enough to the Spurs to waste my time arguing about this. wait until the playoffs.
-Mars
Finley is in a funk. I'd suggest a change of strategy and have him attack the rim more often. Get a few layups and preferably get fouled in the process. He's deadly at the FT line and seeing the ball go into the basket should inspire him. Then he can start mixing it up and take longer-range jumpers. He still has the physical ability to get to the rim. His offensive game is too one-dimensional in its present form.
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