Grades: Spurs vs. Lakers - Nov. 3, 2019

[MultiTroll]

Main point being Pop could have Ginobili come off the bench and Ginobili would see it as a team first move. If Pop tried asking Derozan to come off the bench his head would probably explode haha.

So his head explodes. We could then get the injury exemption and clear his salary off the books.

[FkLA]

No White-Murray is criminal. No way around it. Your best players have to share the court, especially down the stretch. If Nurse can start and close with Lowry (6-0) and FVV (5-10) in their backcourt, there's absolutely no reason that Pop can't do the same with his 6-4 and 6-5 PGs.

Just Pop going against conventional wisdom to show his "genius". Pretty sure his refusal to challenge a single play thus far also has to do with the same thing. Challenges are beneath a "genius" like him.

It really might be time for some new blood on the bench. Pop can move over to a Pat Riley type role.

[Maddog]

It's early.
That said I really think of this season as a transition year, while the Lakers are all in, so the results are not unexpected.
I suspect we'll see a bit of White/Murray in the near future.

[SPURt]

It’s crazy that the Lakers needed Dwight Freaking Howard to save them. He looked great in the 4th. The part of the game I hated the most was at the end when DD ended up defending Anthony Davis two plays in a row by himself, getting posted in the low block. Ugh.

[dbestpro]

Pop is turning into Woody Hayes.

[BillMc]

I think it's just a different league now. Pop used to put parker in the doghouse and it forged the kid into a star. Pop probably told Kawhi to get over himself and rightfully so, but Kawhi is a pussy ass and left over it. Pop got shook on that and does things a little differently now. Besides if you told demar to get over himself it wouldn't work anyway. Parker was a killer and it moulded him.

Pop isn't playing white and Murray together because he is stretching them. You get 2 near starting 5 groups and send them in waves. It's a common way the spurs run. You put the two in together and make a run you cant sustain when you sub mills and forbes or beli in as relief.

Agree with this.

I don't care if White and Murray ever start together. I do wonder how often they'll finish together. (They did for like 5 seconds I think in the Washington game). I suspect it will happen more frequently as Murray's minutes restrictions lift.

Starting White and Murray together would leave a Mills/Forbes pairing in the second unit. Agree with Pop staggering the better players.

Now if DeRozan, LMA and Lonnie can get their heads on straight, team could be good (though the ceiling is limited by deep shooting or lack thereof.)

[TD 21]

No White-Murray is criminal. No way around it. Your best players have to share the court, especially down the stretch. If Nurse can start and close with Lowry (6-0) and FVV (5-10) in their backcourt, there's absolutely no reason that Pop can't do the same with his 6-4 and 6-5 PGs.

Just Pop going against conventional wisdom to show his "genius". Pretty sure his refusal to challenge a single play thus far also has to do with the same thing. Challenges are beneath a "genius" like him.

It really might be time for some new blood on the bench. Pop can move over to a Pat Riley type role.

Play them with DeRozan, they have zero spacing. Play them together some without him, they have zero perimeter defense (because DeRozan would then play some with Mills and Forbes/Belinelli). Resort to rotational gymnastics to avoid both scenarios and Murray probably exceeds his minute limit and/or White is probably among the league leaders in mpg (I doubt they'd be comfortable with this).

No matter how you slice it, the team doesn't make sense and they're going to have to choose between DeRozan and White (obviously, the decision should be easy). It's not about "leaning the system", gaining chemistry or any other cliché. They can keep beating their head against the wall, being unwilling to swallow their pride and making a misguided attempt to save face because of an all-time bad trade or they can face the reality of the situation and try to fix this mess.

[Arcadian]

Just Pop going against conventional wisdom to show his "genius". Pretty sure his refusal to challenge a single play thus far also has to do with the same thing. Challenges are beneath a "genius" like him.

To be fair, I'd hesitate to challenge anything outside the last 2 minutes of the game since you only get one (which is ing ridiculous...even NFL coaches get two).

[ZeusWillJudge]

Nice set of grades, top to bottom.

That's an interesting take on Poeltl. During the game, I blamed those missed hookups on the passes. But I'm sure you watched the game again, and so I guess it really was on Poeltl. The PnR is all about timing, and one of the things I always liked about Poeltl is that he adjusted his pace on the way to the basket, to maintain a passing lane. (So many bigs these days just charge blindly to the rim, and are never really in the play.) It's kind of disappointing to read that he's lost something in that department.

There are a number of Spurs (like almost all of them) who have to learn that team rebounding means that sometimes you have to put a body on someone, and let your teammates get the RB stat.

It's kind of hard to win games against talented teams when you have two high-paid "stars" who both get D+ on the same night. It's also kind of hard to build a team when you commit that much of your cap to two guys like that.

[Ice009]

If White plays 28-32 mpg instead of 23, you still get the exact same scenario, plus 5-8 minutes of White & Murray together. It doesn't change anything except for having a traditionally mediocre +/- guy or two off the court more.

Exactly! This is all I am asking for. Unless White isn't 100% healthy, then you just play White at least 32 minutes and then you don't need as much of Mills, Forbes and Belinelli out there. Man, Mills and Marco ing suck. Bryn isn't much better either (great shooter, but too many other limitations). Bryn is a bench player. No idea why he is starting (well obviously I assume spacing as he's a shooter). You could even start White at the 2 and move Derozan to the three, but if you don't want to start white, that is all good, you can have that as a closing lineup. Murray can start the 4th, then sub White in to give Murray a rest for a few minutes and then bring Murray back to close the game with White, Derozan and Murray in the 1-3 positions.

[Fireball]

When Murray and White both play 32 minutes and Carroll takes some time from Belli things could get interesting.

[emanueldavidginobili]

Thanks for the grades!

Man that DJ run was really nice on both sides of the court, that move he put on KCP and LeBron was elite. Yeah he's making mistakes and being loose with the ball but this is his 5th real game in literally a year and a half!! Come All Star break he's going to be a beast.

[TDomination]

I'm wondering how this lineup would fare at the end of games:
Murray - PG
White - SG
Carroll - SF/PF
Gay - SF/PF
Aldridge - C

Would Pop have the balls to not play DeRozan at the end of a game? I feel like he's such a detriment to this team in closing time against true compe ion. He could play until like 5 minutes to go but then take him out.

Or my alternative thought is to NOT have 1 of either DeRozan or Aldridge on the court at the end of the game. Both those guys are notorious chokers against true compe ion in crunch time. Having them both out there hurts this team more than helps. We could deal with 1 on the court but both out there will not work out in the playoffs if we want to go far.

Once Murray is off his minutes restrictions and White is playing more minutes as well, the ball needs to go through them and they can make the plays needed. Plus Rudy "NOT THAT GUY" Gay is actually a guy known for making big shots at the end of games as well. I'd rather have him out there.

[XDT76]

I'm wondering how this lineup would fare at the end of games:
Murray - PG
White - SG
Carroll - SF/PF
Gay - SF/PF
Aldridge - C

Would Pop have the balls to not play DeRozan at the end of a game? I feel like he's such a detriment to this team in closing time against true compe ion. He could play until like 5 minutes to go but then take him out.

Or my alternative thought is to NOT have 1 of either DeRozan or Aldridge on the court at the end of the game. Both those guys are notorious chokers against true compe ion in crunch time. Having them both out there hurts this team more than helps. We could deal with 1 on the court but both out there will not work out in the playoffs if we want to go far.

Once Murray is off his minutes restrictions and White is playing more minutes as well, the ball needs to go through them and they can make the plays needed. Plus Rudy "NOT THAT GUY" Gay is actually a guy known for making big shots at the end of games as well. I'd rather have him out there.

I quite like this lineup, except maybe for LMA. He would be wanting his touches else he might slip into passive mode.

[Fireball]

I quite like this lineup, except maybe for LMA. He would be wanting his touches else he might slip into passive mode.

its an end of games lineup ... hopefully he got his touches earlier