What I meant by that, is when he has good bigs, good long tall guys like in 05 or 07, he will stay big.
If you disagree with that, thats your right and I respect it.
I used to think that (that Pop prefers to go big), but I'm not so sure anymore. Last year, while I didn't like it, I understood. The team needed more scoring on the floor and more than anything they were undermanned and lacking depth at the power positions. This season (while most would agree they could use another starting big 6'10'' or bigger), that's not the case. They have depth, they have talent; Pop's just not using it.
Last thing I'm going to say to you, basically to prove why I don't bother with your idiocy: The "good bigs" in 2005 are the same ones he benched in 2006 after they helped the Spurs set a team record for wins. The starting center in '07 is not long or tall.
You can't disagree with that, you have a right to make stupid basketball points but I don't have to respect you for it.
I think the trap you and others are falling into, sans tonight's game but others, where do these minutes go?
I mean these minutes are takin quite a bit and Bonner is on the injured list as is Finley.
I mean who's minutes suffer?
Ratliff gives you shot blocking and thats it. He's not a great rebounder and his offense is atrocious.
Mahinmi? I'll give you guys that he should get more run but when?
Again tongiht did you want him guarding Kevin Durant out there?
It comes down to matchups and I know some say matching up with the other team is stupid you should dictate the matchups, sometimes thats true sometimes you can't do it.
Again, I think theres a huge overreaction to the small ball thing over the past few days.
I would counter with in 06 the bigs didn't play as well as they did in 05.
Should Horry have played more? yes, 100% agree with that.
Small ball didn't lose the series however and I will respectfully disagree with you on that.
the starting center in 07 was 6'10 and while not long he was tall. Elson backed him up whos 6'11 and long and Horry would come in as well.
So again, I would say that when his bigs are reliable and playing well he goes with them.
06 was the only year I would say he DIDNT and it was just in the second round against dallas.
Sorry you have such a bad at ude about it.
Hope you can come around
Wow, where's the failboat picture when I need it most? I remember the days when I would attempt to dissect all that stupidity in an attempt to remove it.I would counter with in 06 the bigs didn't play as well as they did in 05.
Should Horry have played more? yes, 100% agree with that.
Small ball didn't lose the series however and I will respectfully disagree with you on that.
the starting center in 07 was 6'10 and while not long he was tall. Elson backed him up whos 6'11 and long and Horry would come in as well.
So again, I would say that when his bigs are reliable and playing well he goes with them.
06 was the only year I would say he DIDNT and it was just in the second round against dallas.
Sorry you have such a bad at ude about it.
Hope you can come around
Sorry you feel the need to insult me.
Again, hope you feel differently in the near future
long term personnel strategy
Doesn't losing a game on purpose hurt longterm strategy though?
Again, I don't see who in the playoffs he takes minutes from.
if Blair Duncan and McDyess and Bonner are all playing well, how does he step in front of em?
Not without a major head injury, sorry.Sorry you feel the need to insult me.
Again, hope you feel differently in the near future
Yet if the Spurs lost, there would have been a chorus of excuses, namely "it's only January." But of course when it's a win, an early January game is "HUGE," LOL.
Bottom line, the Spurs did not get any better by shortening the roster tonight, this will not pay any dividends down the road. We aren't winning a championship with a shortened small ball lineup.
We need to work our bench bigs into the roster. The Pop apologists always insist that Pop doesn't give a damn about regular season games, these early games are about developing the team. No evidence of that tonight. If Pop's going to get all freaky and rest Duncan, he should have given Ian and Ratliff some burn. We're going to need them down the road.
I agree, if Pop doesn't trust 'em, there needs to be trades.
Tony Parker is 27. Comparing the wear and tear on Tim to that of Tony isn't even logical. Manu played his standard 30 mpg. And who gives a what Jefferson or anyone "likes"?
Duncan needs the rest...i'm not even sure what to take from this. I can only assume you're a little emotional after not seeing Mahinmi play.
Duncan and the rest of the Spurs only played 5 games.
Blair goes off, so it's Pop's fault for "relying" on him? A role guy goes off and wins the game and you blame the coach for not having a better game plan. ok
It was a master stroke to win the game without their MVP against a solid team that usually beats the Spurs at full strength.
I don't understand it either, but that doesn't mean i'm going to assume the coaching staff are covering their eyes and throwing darts at a roster.
I fail to see how experimenting is more important than winning games. You're going through the schedule trying to find games that could lead to Mahinmi, Hairston or Haislip logging minutes. I want to see these guys play too, but you're being ridiculous.
Did you ask this question 11 days ago?
It depends on the opposition, but Blair, generally speaking, can play more than his average. Ratliff, wouldn't this have been a perfect time to get him regular game action? When Bonner's back, when does Ratliff get it? My guess is he doesn't and if he doesn't, can he really be expected to step in in a possible series against the Lakers and not look rusty? I know he generally hasn't when called upon, but coming in in a blowout against the Kings is a lot different than being asked to guard Bynum or Gasol in the playoffs. Outside of that, Mahinmi (preferably) or Haislip, would it have killed the Spurs to play one of these two against weaker compe ion? All these early home games, spaced out as well, even if these guys played sub-par in limited minutes, at least Duncan would have had more help up front and really, would the team have lost any of those games because one of these guys set foot on the court?
That's all the Spurs need from Ratliff, is to protect the rim. Rim protection and length are the biggest weaknesses on the team.
Mahinmi was an ideal match-up against Ibaka. Had the Spurs shown a proclivity to play big early, Brooks likely stays with his normal big man rotation of Green-Krstic-Collison-Ibaka. Mahinmi could have played against any of them save for Green.
What does this indicate we'll see in the playoffs? You think all of a sudden we're going to see strictly traditional lineups? Pop's preference with this group, for whatever reason, appears to be playing small. Even against the Lakers (granted, Gasol was out), he gave Ratliff the hook awfully quick, despite him and the team playing well in his limited run.
Shame, your a good poster and seem like good people.
Sorry again you feel that way.
Ah you see Jeff Green is a long forward, again, thats not staying big.
The Thunder never "stay big"
they play like they did tonight.
Long wings guards and one big who's not all that big to begin with.
Pop went small against LA because they were small
Bynum Odom Walton Brown and Artest was their lineup.
Thats one center and wings and a guard.
McDyess however played alongside Duncan and guarded Odom well.
If it's rest for Duncan at the expense of the other major contributors, I'm still puzzled how you think the Spurs are going to fare better in the playoffs than they did last year. If this win is so important that the Spurs need to shorten the rotation and grind out a win with their vets, why didn't Duncan start? If the games are too important to lose, but Timmy's rest is too important, then at what point are they going to try to develop the young guys? Bonner and Finley are out now, so is there a better opportunity? The Spurs only have one more game against New Jersey.
Does anyone think that a fully healthy Spurs team is going to have a worse chance against the Lakers in the playoffs because Ian Mahinmi didn't get any chances to develop, or because the Spurs lost a January game to the Thunder?
For the record: I would have loved to see Mahinmi in there. There were multiple times throughout the game when i thought Mahinmi could have been in there contributing. But Pop's lineups were working. The same lineups that built the 20 pt lead are the ones that lost the 20 pt lead. I fail to see how Mahinmi was the answer for the run the Thunder went on.
The correct term is combo forward, but in the case of the Thunder, Green plays almost strictly power forward, because they're limited at the big positions, he's either their second or third best player and their best player happens to play small forward.
Like I said, they start Green and Krstic and play Collison and Ibaka off the bench. Earlier in the year, Thomas was in their rotation ahead of Ibaka. They only went super small tonight to match the Spurs.
Odom broke into the league as a three-four, but with the way the game has changed in the past decade, he's officially been a four-three for longer than a while now.
You can define combo forwards like Green and Odom was wings all you want, the fact of the matter is one is 6'9'' 235 and the other is 6'10'' 230; Jefferson is 6'7'' 225. Asking him to guard these types as much as Pop does is playing with fire.
If you cant see the importance of Duncan resting then i don't know what else to tell you.
And it's obviously not enough that Blair is starting and Hill is getting 40+ minutes at times, you want full rookie lineups and player development from a team that is trying to win a championship. Again, I don't know what to tell you.
Yeah, it's completely amazing to me how people seem to make excuses for Pop's refusal to put a guy in for any length of time, as though it's somehow a sound basketball decision, or that it instantly means a loss if he does it. We all know Pop has a quick hook for young players. You don't think Pop's capable of putting a guy in and saying "play til you up". If you don't believe the guy can play, then why's he on the team? If he can't be trusted to play two or three minutes against OKC in January, then are you going to be able to rely on him if Dice's Achilles lets go in March? As I've said numerous times, if you can't get a young wing and a young big some time with Bonner and Finley both out at the same time, then what exactly is your plan?
Tonight he guarded Green quite well.
He only got off 9 shots and prevented him from balancing the attack out.
Look at the shots taken
Durant took 31 and Westbrook I think took like 25.
2 guys took a huge majority of shots.
That means the defense was working and it was forcing the Thunder into a game they didn't want to play, spreading the ball around to Green, Thabo, Harden and others.
Jefferson is gonna be able to guard a Green easier than mahinmi.
Mahinmi doesn't have the lateral quickness on the perimiter to keep up. Green is a wing, his height doesn't make him a power forward, the Thunder just don't have any good bigs to start two of, so they do it that way.
Sefolosha, if they had good bigs to start two of, would come off the bench.
Not sure where you think you've seen that I said that. If you're going to make up fake points to shoot down then we're going to have trouble communicating here.
Let's be crystal clear here: This team isn't trying to win a championship, this team is trying to rest a superstar in January with two major rotation guys injured and another starter hobbled. If they want to have a shot at a championship they're probably going to need to either take some pressure off the other major rotation players during those periods of rest or they're going to need to develop some of their younger players sooner rather than later.
Hey, here's a crazy idea: Do both at the same time!
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