After Nephew got hurt against GS, Davis played a lot and guarded Klay and did pretty good. Poop screw up in handling Davis.
I really don’t agree that Luka doesn’t like to play defense. The man has had some really impressive blocks, and frequently chases perimeter players to the rim and blocks their shots. He’s even used his lateral quickness to make quick recoveries and block a couple of 3s this year down in Austin.
I think he’s just learning the game over here. Like, in Europe, they tend to play more team oriented offensive systems where there is a lot less isolation, and a lot less guards running under multiple screen and rolls where you have to know how to rotate to the right part of the floor to be in a good position to make a play. Luka often looks confused about where to be and how to switch. He’s not lazy.
After Nephew got hurt against GS, Davis played a lot and guarded Klay and did pretty good. Poop screw up in handling Davis.
Actually there is a pretty long list (and growing) of players who Pop mishandled.
Luka Sammich is a sammich
Sometimes Pop needed a scapegoat, and more than one time this has been a good player...in the past that's been Beno Udrith, for example, that was a good player but had a miserable playing against the Pistons in the finals (not athletic enough, he was owned by Hunter, that at the time was a wonderful defensive player). After that Pop admitted to have used the wrong approach with him...but evidently he forgot his mistake and did it again.
That said the mistake made with Davis using him as a scapegoat and trading him for nothing like if he had very limited nba value is inexplicable, expecially compared to the shooter choice :
a) how in can you prefer a non athletic midget with no defensive intelligence and skills to a 6.10 feet player with the same deadly shooting skills and more defensive skills? why use the pat pat discipline with the first one (and re-sign him) and the "I bench and blame you hard whenever you make any kind of mistake" approach with the second one (and trade him for nothing)?
b) considering it was obvious to everybody (except to people that is at the same time blind and deaf) that Davis was gonna be abused under the rim by strongest players and that his body was not going tu support an amount of muscle big enough to compete with such players, how in you do play him strictly as a Center/power forward? it was clear that he was a shooter from three and a potential swingman, able to cut to the rim taking advantage of his height and jumping skills against smaller players (practically quite every G or sf in the league)... Bertans was and is a poor's man Kevin Durant...he has, obviously at an inferior level, the height, lenght and basketball skills (shooting, cutting, passing and a little play making) that Durant has. What he doesn't have of Durant's skils is that Durant confidence with the ball in his hands: in that regard KD value is way highter...(in fact Durant has been for most of his career an isolation player).
But who in his right mind, in this new nba (where shooting skills are the most valuable) would not consider precious a team player (and Davis has always been a team player) with a good amount of KD skills? probably only our coach and patfo?
Big fail. Yes, I always felt that Bertans shouldn't have played as a PF.
Nailed it. What I didn't understand is why they didn't move Beli for Carroll. Beli earns 6 million, I don't think it would've been that hard to get Carroll to sign for 1 million less and give it to him in his 2nd year or guarantee it in his 3rd to get the trade done. Bertans was the best trade asset this team had and giving him away for nothing never made any sense.
Precisely. Well put.
Here’s a fun question, if Luka was in the upcoming draft, where would he be ranked?
Does not knowing where to be on defense include not understanding that he has to be on the same half of the court? The game I watched, he LITERALLY jogged back in transition defense on multiple occasions. That’s where my motor comments come from. He was so far back, he couldn’t have picked up a trailing 3 point shooter, like not across half court yet when the ball was shot by the other team.
I honestly don’t know, I’d have to see the play. I think it also matters when this game was and how quick the transition was. As I mentioned, it does appear that Luka has been improving on the defensive end as his season in Austin has gone on. This is the reason why the G League exists so it’s nice to see the Spurs use it to help their players develop. Lots of posters on this board used to complain that Metu looked lost and low IQ in his first season in Austin, now they want to ship off half the team so he can play more in SA. That’s what I find frustrating about reading this form—it’s like people have unrealistic expectations about how player development happens.
I was gonna respond the same way you did because the couple games I’ve seen in person at Cedar Park, he gave little effort if he didn’t touch the ball on the offensive end the plays before.
Now maybe he was just gassed but it isn’t a good look. He just seemed not to give a lot of effort on defense the games I seen in person but it could’ve been a number of reasons why.
One of the things I love about Keldon Johnson is he plays hard and gives everything he has on the court. As a player who hasn’t proven anything at the NBA level I feel all rookies or guys trying to make it into the NBA should always at the least give maximum effort.
Brandon Clarke today against the Blazers: 25 pts (11-13) 5 rebs and 3 stls; leading his playoff bound team against it's closest compe ion. The game isn't even over yet, lol.
Luka: wallowing in the g league. Can't even sit on the Spurs' bench. Might get to play in the NBA for a couple games in 3 years.
The Spurs drafting for sure will get more scrutiny the more the team has to lean on the draft to find talent. Clarke is already a big time contributor to a seemingly playoff bound team, not even a matter of stuffing the stat sheet on bad teams.
Such a huge whiff of a draft and in such a pivotal year. I want to give Wright the benefit of the doubt and blame Pop/Buford, but he’s going to need to get off to a strong start once Pop retires regardless of the cards he’s left with.
And if we had drafted Clarke here would be wallowing in the G league too. So it doesn't even matter
Regardless of how much your post makes valid points, you have never coached an NBA team. Therefore, all of your points are immediately and completely disregarded as laughable and a waste of time. Why are you even here?
Sincerely,
Sniffers
lol. There are a couple on here that say that all the time.
Ummm… pretty sure those are most of the thing that some people said about him BEFORE the draft. That, plus the fact that he ran out on his teammates in the playoffs to come here and pimp himself for his own draft position.
I can't remember who it was who said all that before the draft, but I'm sure it was someone you all know and love. But I might be wrong. After all, I thought that all G-League players made it to the NBA until you set me straight.
Love Mugen's response.
Ok are sure Mmemphis is going to hold on to that 8th seed because they can easily lose the first 5 games after the All Star break. Furthermore what is this Brandon Clarke this dude is closer to 30 then is to becoming a star. I'm rooting for Luka to be great because y'all overhype Clarke so much when truth be told he's not even better than Eric Paschall.
I am not sure of that. But if they don't make it it's unlikely to be because of him. He is one of their most consistent players and has been a net positive player all season, he plays both ends. This is not a case of empty stats at all. This team could have used him for sure.
I can't say anything about Luka and I am not saying anything about him. Unlike others here, I haven't scouted him or watched his games, and I consider him being in the Gleague a token Pop thing. But he will get scrutinized more, and these picks are expected to pan out. Every season the team misses on the best player available to them is going to cost them dearly. They need talent to pan out better than expected, a gem.
I get your point I really do. My thing is people here not you tend tomato it seem like Clarke was the end all be all of players they could have had. I think that they should have drafted Keldon Johnson at 19 and then got Kevin Porter Jr at 29 but it wouldn't matter honestly because They would never play because of this mandatory first year in the G league crap.
clarke has a low ceiling and has all the look and feel of a decent rotational player but he wasn't going to be a difference maker on this roster. samanic might not be either but you take chances sometimes with the 19th pick. declaring clarke a steal and samanic a bust at this point in time is typical ST premature evisceration.
Last edited by rjv; 02-13-2020 at 12:33 PM.
there is also a weird spin that the Spurs never play young players. Either people forget, or weren't around but when guys are ready early they play. Recently the guys the Spurs have drafted primarily have not been plug and play. They are dudes that are projects and need some seasoning.
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