Raven, you were wrong about Lee. Accept it.
Actually he was right about Lee. This is the just best D that Lee has played his entire career. Lee has always be a mostly poor to avg defender. Through 4 games, I would rate his D as good to very good. Same happen to LMA last season. Pop does wonders in coaching up players willing to listen to him, especially on the defensive side of the ball. True disciple and testament to Larry Brown.
lol No he wasn't. He said he was one of the worst defenders of all time. Nothing correct about that statement.
Well that is an overstatement. I can name 30 defenders worse than him easily over the past 20 years. But Lee has been a poor defender most of this career, but yes, not close to the worse of all time.
Nothing is obvious at this point - it's so damn early, Spurs have been missing Danny and Pau is brand new. It takes time to fit in, especially with Kawhi breaking out, LMA being a key part of the team and all the lineup shuffling already.
Dedmon has looked very good and fills a nice role, but those giving up on Pau when the SL is doing well will probably regret it.
Like last year, SA had one of the most dominant SL's in the league. As Pau learns and DG is back, it will again be that way.
Coming into the season, the bench was my biggest concern by far. The fact that the bench looks better than expected (especially the front court guys with Lee/Ded/Bertans) I would definitley not change that. Spurs need that unit to click so badly and the fact they are doing well early is fantastic. Keep them together!
Then as Pau adjusts and Danny is back, this SL is going to be special. Even if Pau just gives the SL a little more than Tim did (especially offensively) and DG gets his shooting back to normal this SL is scary.
Even Pau's line against the Kings was perfect - just the threat to score, move the ball and help out on defense was big. Then you see like tonight what Pau still has left when needed (something that Tim could just not do last year later in the year especially).
Encouraged by the last two games and IMO Danny will really help Pau.
A 10th option? So now you're bashing his offense? Look, I was pretty negative when the Spurs signed him - but one thing I never shortchanged was the fact that he is a DAMN good finisher around the rim. I'm looking forward to the Spurs putting in some plays to take advantage of that.
You have to understand that he's not much of a threat away from the basket. (At least he hasn't been in the past - maybe he'll fool me about that, too.) But get the ball in his hands down low, and he comes up with points a lot. And he can do it against starter-level compe ion. He's got a lot of junk in his game, and he comes from a lot of different angles. Right now he's getting a lot of garbage man points. But as the second team firms up, I think he will get his number called enough to convince people (even you) that he's a scoring threat in his own right.
Look I'm not trying to just be argumentative. But I think you're selling him short. He's smart. He's a hard worker. He can definitely put up points. And so far he's been much better on defense than I thought he could be, and he's doing his work early on the boards and coming down with his share. It looks like he's going to shore up one of the biggest holes in the Spurs roster. I don't know who they could have realistically picked up who would have been as good.
I'm saying I underestimated him. I think you are, too.
Lee is actually pretty good off the dribble and an excellent passer. I really hope he doesn't become a black hole like he has been.
I get it - he's an aggressive player offensively and with the bench I will take that more often than not. But he's a very solid passer in his career, solid off the dribble and if he would just look to make more basketball plays it would really help his value overall (and he's been very good all things considered).
Don't you think that will come with some more time, and those guys learning how to play with each other?
One thing worth mentioning. Last year he took about 70% of his shots right around the basket (0-2 feet), and he made 75% of them (.663 for his career from close). If he is a black hole, I don't mind as long as he's working near the rim. I know a lot of those are put-backs, but the point is he's a of a finisher. His percentages go to outside of about 5-6 feet. But working against second-team defenders, I wouldn't mind seeing him being a little bit selfish when they let him get the ball near the rim. Kick it out enough to keep them honest, but it's hard to get the ball to anyone who will shoot a higher percentage than that.
He did have a pretty raggedy shooting game tonight, and he took some shots farther out that I wish he would have had the patience to pass up.
what about? I always thought we were going to win...
I'm not too worried about - seems more of a case of a guy who used to be a focal point seeing himself as the best option now that he's more of a bench player. Plus the fact it's a new team like you said. But he used to make passes that were really good and this year, even though efficient, he's been almost over the top black hole.
Just something to keep an eye on as the season progresses and could really help the 2nd unit even more if that clicks.
well, 5 starters, ginobili, patty, dedmon, KA, Simmons and he's already 10th at best
I'm not going to argue with you. Just not. So far, he's got the 6th most points on the team. He's an inside scoring threat, and he doesn't have the opportunity to call his own number. But when he gets the ball down low, he converts at a high rate. Beyond that, you'll just have to argue with yourself.
i don't think anyone argued that he can't score..
The way I figure it;Cheers.That's really useful. Thanks.
Spurs should have around $10,077,921 committed to;
PG-Parker, Nico Lapr.
SG-Green, Simmons*, Murray, Forbes
SF-Leonard, Bertans
PF-Aldridge, Anderson
C-Gasol, Milutinov*
*Cap hold or QA
I think Mills is almost certainly gone and it will be almost impossible to keep both Simmons and Dedmon under that scenario.
I highly doubt that Gasol opts out of $16 million next season unless he is looking for a 2 year deal with guaranteed $. If he is, then the Spurs could offer him a 2 year deal in the area code of $24 million if he were to opt out. That could give the Spurs around $14.5 million to try and bring back two of those three.
Mills has a cap hold of $6.8 Million, leaving around $7.7 million in cap space for either Dedmon or Simmons in the second scenario. I'm not sure whom the Spurs would pick if that were to happen. Mills is a starting caliber PG, while Dedmon could certainly develop into a starting caliber center as soon as next season, while Simmons has shown that he could be the replacement to Manu as the backup SG.
They don't need cap space for Simmons. In a scenario where he and Mills are both on the team, you can just count their cap holds. The issue is that Patty's hold is actually going to be larger than it's currently projected to be, about $11 Million. Simmons's cap hold will be around $3 Million - $5 Million depending on playing time.
I'm not as number savvy as you or Chinook but, based on early returns, if it came down to a choice of Dedmon or Simmons, I'd take the former. When players are roughly equal take the big.
Very interesting discussion. I have wondered about that but bc I am not good with cap and contract intricacies, truth is I had no idea how to work it out. All 3 players will be in the prime of their careers for the next contract and will produce well if healthy.
We have to wait for the postseason bc that's where the big bucks are earned. Mills and Dedmon have not gotten a big contract and Simmons needs to get the best $ he can get. I don't expect anyone to give a discount. They will probably chase a role too. It's lime Biyombo and guys like that (its not just only about money but a role)...
If the team and them individually do well in the postseason it doesn't seem possible to retain them all, but again I just don't understand the cap issues enough to speculate about it.
Dijon projects as similar to Simmons too. He should be better next season, just something to watch for. Performance in the postseason is what will really make it happen or not in terms of increased role and $... though they are both NBA players...
these two are such an upgrade, thank god.
and no bonner?
Chinook is a crybaby, and SA Girl thinks that Anderson is a good basketball player. I don't think they are the same person. Chinook knows a lot of contract garbage and legality, but his/her ability to analyze the game is baffling at best, as he/she disregards any eye test and solely does the box advanced stat regurgitation. Back to the topic - Dedmon and Lee are both playing better than Pau - which is expected and sad, but good for the team. Pau needs to stop playing like some dude that gets manicures. Bully people.
I was under the impression that Simmons was Arenas FA, like Boban; where the first couple years of his deal are limited to the value of the MLE with the the 3rd and 4th year only limited to the max for his years of experience, say year 1 and year 2 are $5.6 million each and then year 3 was worth $ 9.2, ($21 million) his cap hit would be $7 million to the Spurs in order to keep him.
I heard that they were going to raise cap holds, but I thought that was only for rookies coming off their rookie contracts. Anyhow; while I really like Mills, if the Spurs can lock up Simmons and Dedmon along with bringing over Milutinov, I would be fine with that.
Boban was an atypical Arenas RFA. The Spurs don't need to worry about fitting his contract in, just his hold.
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