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Bonner plays like a shooting guard without speed ... so Yi is an upgrade
Isn't Yi a small forward? That's the skill set he seems to display, can't say that I've watched him much, I just recall that he plays more like a SF than a big.
Bonner plays like a shooting guard without speed ... so Yi is an upgrade
Bonner plays more like a shooting guard than a big. Upgrade.
It certainly appears that the long lockout hasn"t affected Bonner. He picked up right where he left off in the playoffs. He shot poorly, plays scared and continues to be a huge liability on defense. In short, he still sucks.
Yup, the basis for grades is expectations.
The good news is the D. Last year, the Spurs didn't lose so much because they relied on 3s as because they couldn't protect the paint on D and get stops.
You earn the right to jack up 3s if you play D. That was Bowen's mantra (and now Leonard's).
Even in the Spurs' glory years, the O was always a threat to disappear. Duncan can't singlehandedly rescue them from that situation anymore, but if they keep up the D, the offense will probably be good enough (even if it seems too reliant on 3s).
I was at the game last night. I'd give the crowd a B. I don't know if the lockout had anything to do with it, but I expected more since it was the first game of the season. Oh well.
If it were me, I'd give Leonard an A-. Maybe I am just excited about a new player, but I thought his offensive rebounds were very important. The risk he took like Timvp stated paid off and caused Memphis to turn the ball over. For being a rookie, not having a real season camp and pre-season to help him get prepared, I thought he played great in his first game as a pro.
I really tried so hard to care about this game- to care about any game these past 2 days. I had the day off yesterday. I got lots of stuff done so I could just sit on my couch and watch basketball last night. I flipped from game to game, looking for something... anything. The only excitement I could muster was seeing how well Manu was playing and personal excitement at seeing a great 4th quarter for Hedo.
I thought Parker looked awful, only to be outdone in that category by Bonner.
Red Comic Sans MS grades?
Seriously?
Those cannot be legit...
Agree. There's no problem with taking open 3's as long as they get back and get stops on the other end. Good defense like steals can lead to good offense.
I don't mind Bonner. He's good for the team with his hustle and his shooting. The problem is with the person who puts him in a position to fail by playing him as a rotation big instead of a shooting role-player.
I think we need a 5th big. Not because I'm not content with what he currently have, but because it's important to have a guy who can go out there and play til the end of the quarter when your starters are in foul trouble.
The great news, is that James Anderson looks like a scorer. I don't think he's your typical role player who's a solid shooter and decent defender. He's a guy who looks like an All-Star waiting to happen. He's got the aggressiveness and confidence you want out of your 6th man that George Hill was lacking last year.
Not just that. Timmy will need to sit out some B2Bs and with this schedule the probability of injury is higher. Especially Splitter seems to be prone for small but nagging injuries. So a fifth big is still a necessity.
This guy would be helpful
Oddly, my favorite play of the game: Blair's successful postup of Zach. He quickly got position on him low in the block, two power dribbles to knock him off position, then straight up for an easy shot. I can't recall Blair using his obvious advantage like that before, ever. Instead he always either tries his awful spin move or an awful flip shot. It seems so obvious this "Barkley" like post game is what he needs to focus on. Sure, a jump shot would be great but here in his third year he still needs to establish his obvious strengths. Hopefully it happens.
If they tried they failed. If they didn't try they failed.
I don't understand the knock on Pop for "allowing" Tim to get his 3rd foul in the first. Pop has always trusted duncan when he is in foul trouble. It usually works out fine. The ref just made a terrible terrible offensive foul call on duncan. Should have never been an issue. Its avoidable, but not really a coaching error if you ask me.
The Spurs had 12 Steals, but most of the TO's were unforced. I also dont mind taking 3's, but 33 out of 88 shots. Were talking about 40% of all shots were 3's and thats way to much. If Im playing the Spurs, I make all the wing players play the 3 point line and force them pass inside where I would man up.
Kinda what Grizz did to us in playoffs last year.
I think we averaged like 20 or so 3 point attempts last year and I still think its a little high.
Rotations in the middle were Great by TD, but it often left his man wide open. Weak side help for TD seems to never be there.
Have you ever made a positive post on this board?
I don't like Blair much at all but that play had me up and cheering. I watched him start his move and was SO stunned that he didn't do that damn spin move he always does which gets him no advantage at all. It was great to see him just make a power move.
I thought about giving him a higher grade but his offense was just so bad I couldn't. All the other bigs had a offensive rating about 30 points higher when not paired with Splitter -- so it wasn't just his individual offense that was struggling.
But again, I'd much rather have Splitter struggle on O and be very good on D then the other way around.
For this game, I didn't have a problem with the three-pointers. The Grizz, especially Randolph and Gay, were sagging to the middle. Just about every three-point look the Spurs got was open ... so I'm fine with that.
I think the best sign for Blair is that Randolph didn't score a basket during the nine minutes the two were on the court at the same time. Considering how Randolph has historically abused Blair, that's quite the accomplishment.
Great take
That was definitely a "where's-that-been?" moment.
Duncan picked up two fouls in the first quarter. 99% of the time, that means Pop will send Duncan to the bench. But TD waived off Pop, Pop relented and it ended up backfiring. I bet we don't see Pop leave Duncan in the game with two early fouls again this season. I can only remember a couple other times in Duncan's career that Pop has let him play through early foul trouble.
I agree Hill's problems all stemmed from confidence. When he had confidence he was very good but he lacked it too often. Confidence is a huge part of being a consistent and good player. I like Anderson's confidence because his shots are eventually going to fall and he still competes on the defensive end.
Thompson, they may be able to acquire for Blair, Green, another non-guaranteed, minimum salary type (which they'd need to sign) and Richards. The Kings were rumored to have promised him that they'd take him with their 2nd round pick until Whiteside unexpectedly fell to them.
I'd prefer Patterson to Thompson, but if they could make that trade, I'd do it in a second. Richards is an intriguing project, but he's just that: a project. And because Thompson would be replacing Blair, he wouldn't really be a loss. So what would they really be giving up?
Davis, to even have a shot at acquiring, they'd have to offer Leonard. Even then, I can't see the Raptors parting with him. Maybe if they threw in Blair, with a 2nd coming back (most likely that would be 31-35, so that wouldn't be far off having two 1sts).
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