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And I also have zero doubt that Neal a better playoff performer/more tough mentally than Beli-no-D
I think you could even look at prime Bowen-SJax vs Green-Kawhi... Then it gets even harder to say who is better... SJax series with the Warriors vs Dirk is probably the best defensive achievement of any of them...
Will Kawhi ever shut down Anthony Davis over the course of a series in his career? Cause thats what SJax did pretty much...
Green has been awesome last year yet he guarded a tosb Wade poorly in the Finals... Will he ever get his Jersey retired like Bowen? We lost with Green running out of ammo the last 2 years, he has been awesome overall yet he's starting to look like quite the front-runner...
Bowen, SJax and even Horry have done things that Green Kawhi and Boris haven't and may never do...
Now you're not unlucky that many years in a row, if they don't win as a first seed this year then this team really lacked something, the mental toughness of quite a few players is really in question... And that's were Bowen and SJax where arguably the strongest...
That said softer Pop and T-Vag are mostly responsible imo for under achieving in the post season the last few years, but Green Kawhi and even Boris still can't touch Bowen SJax and Horry in that regard and if they did the result could have been different...
And I also have zero doubt that Neal a better playoff performer/more tough mentally than Beli-no-D
It seems you forgot the finals too. Yes Leonard defended lebron well, considering lebrons ability and Leonard's age... But it was the spurs team D that took away passing lanes and dared lebron to shoot. You can't argue that it was anything but luck that he shot so terribly for the first 6 games, he was wide open time and again. Game 7 lebron found his shot and that was that.
As for Bowen, how old was he in 2007? How many pounds did he give up on lebron? Do you think Leonard's tendinitis will allow him to defend younger bigger players effectively at age 35? (I'm on my cell can't check exactly). Its a fact that Bowen won us many series with his defense. Did he depend on Timmy holding down the rim and open shots from the big 3? Sure, he was a role player, but he was a great one And clutch too. Green and leonard depend on the same. The dirtiness is being way overrated, tell me who he injured, how many times he fouled out or got ejected. Adding all 3 instances up you still don't need more than one hand to count.
Leonard and green especially are overrated on defense too, in green's case offense as well. Green can barely dribble or finish at the rim, don't see how that makes him much better than Bowen on offense. Leonard has a chance to be the better player but still hasn't produced what Bruce has, one great finals series which we lost under a lebron barrage doesn't trump Bowen guarding the other teams best player literally night in and night out ( to the tune of 3 rings).
You need to read before posting. We all know Pop gameplanned to limit James. But Kidd K argued thay Kawhi only guarded James about a quarter of the time, and that's not true. (By the way, I have nothing against Kidd K as a poster. I just disagree with him here.)
The only reason we're stuck on the 07 Finals is Kidd K taking exception to me saying Kawhi guarded James as well as possible. So saying things like Bowen was old don't tilt the discussion in his favor. Lebron was young in 2007 and in his GOAT prime six years later. Leonard and Green were in their first Finals, and Kawhi was only 22 years old.
As I said up top, it took a village to defend James in both cases, but 07 took less effort (in my opinion) because James was significantly worse and the village was at least just a strong. You disagree, fine. We can leave it at that.
Last edited by Chinook; 03-30-2014 at 12:18 PM.
Who the do you keep calling T Vag? Your own little nickname? Leonard played his ass off in the finals last year when others failed to show up, especially game 6 and 7. Green set a finals record for threes last year so that is not showing up?You say NO D and have the nerve to praise Neal? I would wait and see on this, Beli was pretty damn good last year against the Nets and Neal after that game 5 disapeared along with Green and others when it got tough, period.
Last edited by Sean Cagney; 03-30-2014 at 12:22 PM.
Steph Curry was shut down by Green and Green did a very good job on Lebron. Maybe the best defender in the NBA at guarding Westbrook, who has some of his worst games against Green and the Spurs (including a 6 point game where he needed 18 shots to get that)
a 6'6 guard that is both long and quick enough to cover PGs- SFs is far from decent.
Bowen was a great corner shooter but Green is lethal from any where behind the arc and isn't the spot up shooter he gets type cast as. He can hit transition 3's that he dribbles into. Bowen couldn't fit into our offensive attack with such a limited skill set. He wouldn't have even sniffed the Finals 3pt mark.
Neal needs help defense to cover a chair. Just awful defensively, plus he's so short at the 2 guard that his size (or lack there of) can make him even more of a likability. Neal's net rating was -7. Beli's is +11. Neal's post season resume outside of the game tying 3 against Memphis and him shooting the lights out in game 3 of the Finals. Its not likely Beli doesn't have a resume he's been on bad teams for the most part (been to the post season twice in 6 full seasons).
Belinelli at least can be hidden defensively on some SGs or SFs (like Butler or Sef for OKC)
Thats less to due with him and more to do with the Spurs needing to get younger and retool. That Spurs le team was riddled with 33+ Y.O players (Finley, Barry, Bowen, Horry,) and had 9 players over the age of 30.Bowen = The Truth.
0 championships since he retired, tbh......
Fast forward to now and 9 of our 14 players are under the age of 30. Just 3 are over the age of 33 (Duncan, Manu and Bonner) only two of them are in the rotation and they are 1st and 2nd on the team in P.E.R..
Boris easily has a higher role player ceiling than Horry did. It depends of course whether we win a championship but he is already one of the better role players the Spurs have had in the Duncan era. Very few players can guard 3 positions, score effectively in the post and space the floor along with the occasional drive to the rim.
I don't see why Kawhi not being able to guard a freak of nature like AD makes him lesser than. AD is 6'11, long and super athletic. Leonard is 6'7, long and a decent athlete.
Your Splitter commentary has been pretty silly. He came up big against Memphis and had a couple of nice games against GSW en route to the Finals. He was a big reason why our defense jumped from 13th to top 5 in span of a couple of seasons with the (mostly) the same personnel.
Splitter give Pop another rim protector, when Duncan heads to the bench Splitter can come in and the defense won't fall apart. His ability to score off P&Rs and draw fouls (along with his passing) makes him valuable on the offensive end. He actually has the 2nd best Net Rtg of +15 (behind Leonard)
Danny Green is lethal when he's hot, which is only about 50% of the time. The other 50% he is awful. Bowen was one of the most consistent 3pt shooters in the history of the Spurs.
and my point stands, Danny cannot hold Bowen's jockstrap when it comes to 1-1 defense. Bowen would have raped little elian gonzales of the Warriors
Last edited by hater; 03-31-2014 at 01:40 AM.
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