Spurs still upbeat on offseason investments
Jeff McDonald
Twenty-three games into his Spurs career, forward/center Antonio McDyess is flirting with career lows in several statistical categories.
This, McDyess assures anyone who asks, is perfectly normal.
“I'm always a slow starter, my whole career,” McDyess said. “You can ask anybody who knows me.”
Fellow newcomer Richard Jefferson is beginning to fall into a groove, producing four solid games in his past five, but can't forget the four-point clunker he put up in the Spurs' only loss during that span, a 116-104 defeat at Phoenix.
“I was 100 percent getting in my own way,” Jefferson said.
The Spurs invested heavily in Jefferson and McDyess over the offseason, somersaulting past the luxury-tax line to make the two former Olympians the centerpiece of an extensive roster renovation. So far, the contributions from the team's two most costly offseason additions have sprung from a decidedly mixed bag.
The 34-year-old McDyess, signed as a free agent to a three-year deal worth as much as $14.5 million, is averaging 5.5 points and shooting 46.8 percent, career-lows should they last. He is also averaging 5.7 rebounds.
A scoring star with Milwaukee and New Jersey, the 29-year-old Jefferson — obtained in a June trade with the Bucks and due to earn $29.2 million between this season and next — is averaging 13.4 points per game, his lowest output since his rookie season with the Nets.
Still, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich remains bullish on the team's offseason investments. He continues to urge patience with his newcomers as they adjust to their new team, and their new team adjusts to them.
“What I'm learning is we lost more corporate knowledge than I thought,” said Popovich, whose team is 13-10 after a 2-1 Western road trip. “It's taken a little bit more time than I thought to get everybody on the same page.”
McDyess blames his early-season struggles on his own circadian rhythms. The numbers seem to support his claim.
In three of his five seasons in Detroit, McDyess' production rose across the board after the All-Star break. Last season, McDyess went from averaging 7.3 points before the break to 12.1 after it.
In that, McDyess has drawn comparisons to ex-Spur Robert Horry, a fellow University of Alabama product, Houston resident and notorious slow starter. Still, McDyess admits, he is off to a more halting start this season than is ordinary even for him.
“It's a new team, a new system, and I'm already a slow starter anyway,” McDyess said. “You add that together, and it's super slow right now.”
McDyess believes he is “still thinking too much,” an assessment with which Popovich agrees. Since a 15-point, 14-rebound performance at Houston on Nov. 25, McDyess has posted three scoreless games and three two-point games.
“I don't think he's got the confidence level about where he wants to be on the court, where we need him to be,” Popovich said.
Jefferson's battle has been with consistency. He has displayed intermittent flashes of scoring brilliance, speckled with stretches of apparent invisibility.
Popovich continues to wrestle with Jefferson's optimal role in an offense that already includes three potential 20-point scorers in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
“How does he fit into the offense as far as how much is he going to score and shoot?” Popovich asked rhetorically. “And if it's X, how does that take away from Timmy, from Tony, from Manu?”
Of late, Jefferson has shown signs of discovering his place in that equation. He has scored at least 17 points in four of the past five games, after reaching that threshold just four times in his first 18.
“I'm not as consistent as I'd like, obviously, but I've gotten more comfortable the past few games,” Jefferson said. “I expect a lot out of myself.”
The Spurs, likewise, still expect much of Jefferson and McDyess this season. In time.
What about having a starting 5 of Parker, Mason, Bogans, Mcdyess, and Duncan.
It seems clear Blair and Jefferson excel with the the ball in their hands. A bench of Hill, Ginobili, Jefferson, Blair, and Bonner would bring high energy and I think would be pretty efficient. I have yet to see Jefferson mesh well off of Parker and Duncan. Or maybe Mason and Gino starting with Bogans and Jefferson off the bench.. eh just thinking out loud.
I went to the Spurs v Warriors game and it was a pleasure watching Duncan played so well. I was proudly wearing my #21 jersey
Although I am as frustrated as most at the slow start, I remain optimistic because Duncan is playing at a high level. Hopefully everything else will fall in line. A few observations from the Warriors game:
-Parker needs to improve in passing and getting others involved. On fast breaks, he is still solely looking to score even though he's got RJ running down with him. Also, he seems a step slow.
-RJ needs to take advantage of opportunities. On one fast break, Manu was bringing up the ball and RJ had a smaller man on him...instead of posting up and demanding the ball, RJ went to the corner. Manu pointed to RJ to post up...but the advantage was lost and it was too late. Hopefully RJ will figure out when to be aggressive.
-Seeing Blair live...the guy is huge!
-Watching Duncan was so cool...he's a master..so patient..and he's got long arms!
-Watched Haislip warmup..this guy is super athletic....doing windmill dunks w/o breaking a sweat. So wish this guy will do more in practice to earn some playing time
Jefferson is out on an island. He is a slasher when he is in a run and gun system i.e New jersey with kidd and milwaukee both teams he either had the ball most of the time or had someone getting it to him in stride like kidd. None of which S.A possess. He will continue to struggle as he is truly preoccupied with the fear of compromising tim and tonys touches. The best scenario for him is to come off the bench where he will be the leader of the second unit like l. odom in LA.
Other than the money and the filled roster spot, I am not too bummed about Haislip. I am hoping he is continuing to learn the system and will be a factor next year. its still seems like a worth while experiment. The playing time is just not there this year.-Watched Haislip warmup..this guy is super athletic....doing windmill dunks w/o breaking a sweat. So wish this guy will do more in practice to earn some playing time
Most guys need time in the system to get good. The exceptions, Blair, Tim, Manu, are just flat out ballers that can compensate for not knowing the system perfectly by being themselves.
Should be interesting to see what happens with McDyess as he gets more acclimated to the team. Offensively I'd prefer he not force tough contested shots like I've seen him do the past few games. I think he's feeling the pressure of being under the microscope and is trying to do too much.
If McDyess scores under his career average I'm not going to cry. The spurs have plenty of other scoring options this year, and I'd prefer he focus on defense, rebounding (offensive especially) and protecting the paint. If he can do an above average job in those categories he'll earn his paycheck.
I disagree wholeheartedly. The 1st unit really needs a true tall athletic SF like Jefferson who can add a little bit of everything - shooting, slashing, rebounding, defense. You take him out of the starting lineup its going to have major repercussions.
The 2nd unit is fine as is, with Manu running the show. Tops in the league in many categories. Why mess around with a good thing?
Anyone can see RJ is working on adapting his game to fit in with TP and TD, and we're starting to see a return on investment. Just be patient.
I too saw haslip during warmups and had my hopes up, but at least he wasn't in street clothes and thats a start......anyone know anything about splitters contract overseas? we're gonna have plenty of roster spots this summer....thanks
yup but players like him always find there way in any system. Never underestimate the value of intelligence.
Agree 100%
I like RJ to continue playing with TD and TP for them to develop chemistry. It might take awhile, but the returns would be huge later, especially in play offs.
They either need to run more of the first team offense through Jefferson, or move him to the bench and let him play Robin to Manu's Batman.
yeah they never did that before
they ran him the first play on half and second half for a few games
and gave him over 5 shots before tp took a shot
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