Compared to the Spurs, the Jazz are pretty elite, if we're being honest about the situation. And that's before you factor in the Spurs being without two of their three top players. Last night, unquestionably the Jazz had the top two players on the court in Mitc and Gobert -- and maybe more depending on how you want to rank Conley and Bogandovic.
So, yeah, while excuses are lame in most cir stances, it's just odd to pretend that these are two evenly matched teams and that San Antonio lost because their "training sessions" weren't good enough. The Spurs lost primarily because the Jazz are a better team, have better players and have more cohesion due to experience playing together. Add in factors such as Murray not being able to make a shot, Poeltl uncharacteristically getting exploited on defense on all three levels and a starting lineup in 2021 with one made three-pointer and there's really no need to reach for nebulous explanations like a lack of quality training sessions.
Is Quin Snyder a better coach than Pop these days? Yeah, I mean, probably. But the impact of coaching in the NBA, especially in the regular season, is highly overrated. Give Snyder the Spurs roster and give Pop the Jazz roster and the outcomes would basically be the same.
Spurs fans like to overrate their team, underrate the opponent and then overrate the impact of coaching. Once Pop retires and there's someone else in charge, there will be a rude awakening that coaching wasn't what caused the fall from grace.
Welcome, LeBowen. That username makes me a fan of you already
I don't think you can really take anything from Luka's play in garbage time. The guy has barely played any compe iveness basketball in the last year. Him being extremely rusty and getting tired fast is to be expected.
Luka was always a home run swing of pick. Considering he was a below average player in the Slovenian league just two years ago, the soonest he was going to be ready was Year 3 ... and that was in an ideal situation. If the Spurs knew a pandemic would halt the first G League season, erase summer league and neuter the next G League season, they probably wouldn't have selected a project. But, regardless, he's still an athletic big who can shoot threes, which would make him valuable if he figures it out. I haven't seen anything out of him yet that makes it clear he's an NBA player ... but the opposite is true too. He has the tools. Hopefully the G League starts up soon so he can work on those tools and so we can get a better idea of if he's progressing. Five minutes of garbage time out of the blue isn't the stage where that could be determined.