Silver Lining as the Panic Siren Sounds

[easy7]

The Lakers with Gasol in there will rape any configuration of midget ball. So being an eight seed is not something that I am looking fordward to at all...

[SpurNation]

A silver lining would be seeing a different defensive scheme to compete against the far more athletic players of today's nba.

This scheme worked great in years past when there wasn't as many fast, athletic players as today. That plus after years of implementation...others have caught on to what works against this scheme and the adjustments to that have not been forth coming.

Can't teach height and youth and the ability to be freakishly athletic with that height and youth. Something this team simply doesn't have.

[polandprzem]

I wanted to give my imput on this during the Kori Ellis show after tha Hawks game. But no way. 1st. connection is bad so the voices are late and I do not understand mostly nothing because of bad connection. Also I was lame lately so I quit on making adjustments and breaking myself to provide better outcome so I'm not calling.

Not long time ago I said that the spurs have quite big chances of being in the Finals or taking the LOB trophy. Right now I'm not so sure and the first game when I got really pissed was a game vs Utah. I tought well maybe after that ty road loses Memphis and Bobcats spurs wanted to prove something playing on their floor.
Nope thay failed and my goodness they are playing bad right now.

And ask players - they acknowledge that and what? "we need to play better"
It always was like that. But we always saw a great potential in that team the famous "flip the switch" - now nobody talks about it. And I don't know if we can be delighted by SPAM this year ...

The main problem I think is that Pop's philosophy of giving themselves a time in aseason to be as good as thay can till the playoffs now hounting them.
Players do not have a sense of urgency! They still think they've got time.
No tehy don't. As long as thay are unable to compete on the highest level with best teams they do not have time to calmly ship to the playoffs.

All in all - it;s tough to think but it is true - the spurs do not have it. Even when playing their best they still are somwhere closer worst teams then better.


Yea not long time ago I was thinking about spurs chances.
We got Cleveland and Boston as the contenders from the east. cleveland are beatable either by experience or Pop. For Boston we would need additional advantage - either Boston player injury or somebody from our bench having incredible series. Same thing when it comes to LA. Denver also are beatable. The Mavs is still unknown.

Where is that sense of urgency?

[romsho]

LJ I'm fairly shocked you think that a lineup of 8 players is a good thing for the Spurs. Bonner and Finley should both be in the rotation. The Spurs will have no legs come the playoffs with an 8 man rotation.

Exactly. What happened to limiting the minutes of Tim, Tony and Manu? An eight man rotation, especially with the current cast, is a recipe for disaster. If what you have isn't good enough to make the playoffs while giving the big three adequate rest over the course of the season, than so be it. So you squeak in with this small, old, beaten down lineup? Who gives a ? I would much prefer the Spurs roll the dice with Hairston and Mahinmi in a desperate attempt to find some defensive aggression and intensity than continue to roll out this feeble lineup every night and just hope it gets better. It won't.

[rascal]

if that was Pop idea for this season then why did he trade Kirk, Fabb and Bruce if the only problem last season was that Manu was hurt, we should of kept the old team

That old team was finished. What has Fabb, Bruce or Kirk been doing lately in the league.

[mountainballer]

A true silver lining would be that Pop suddenly went 8 players deep because Bogans, Bonner, Mahinmi and Finley are on the verge of being traded.

you can almost hear it.........hey, this package is proper to bring in....HAYWOOD....

I say Bogans and Bonner bring in ..................James Jones
yes I know, this is a WTF.
on the other hand, the SG spot is covered well with Manu, Hill, Mason, so Bogans is the odd man out as he doesn't bring enough size for SF. JJones brings a lot of what is missing in terms of size and defense, can hit an open 3 and is definitely available right now.
the big comes via another trade.

[spurs_philippines]

The Spurs should be panicking right now. I won't be convinced otherwise. They are in a lot of trouble.

That said, I liked the distribution of minutes. An eight-man rotation featuring RMJ and not featuring Bogans, Finley or Bonner is a playoff-esque type rotation. This alignment allows the Spurs a lot of potential ... even though it'll be an uphill battle to get this rotation to defend well enough.

The main reason why I still believe is that Pop seems to seeing the light of common sense when it comes to who should play and how many minutes players should be out on the court. Now if we can only stop Pop from playing midget ball when defensive stops are needed . . . .

amen to that... let's just hope for the best

[Trimble87]

I like three-man bigmen rotations. 1999 and 2003 was Robinson, Duncan, Rose. 2005 was Duncan, Nazr, Horry. 2007 was basically Duncan, Oberto, Horry.

Isn't the difference that at least one of the bigs in each of those years was a presence on defense? Obviously Robinson and the twin towers. Nazr was a 7 footer who intimidated shots and Horry is the msot tenacious big man ever. Even in 07 we had Oberto who played great position defense next to Tim and come playoff time we had Horry up to his old tricks...

I'm not sure we can expect anywhere near the same production from Duncan and two guys who are 6'9 and under. (although Dice playing up to his previous levels would certainly help)

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

I still hope the Spurs can have a season like the '95 Rockets and turn it around. Maybe we need our own Drexler-type trade in february.

[JR3]

I just want him to try and get Ian integrated as best he can this late in the season.

I agree. this is important. especially if we are not trading for an athletic big.

[in2deep]

we need to see some of Ian or Rattliff out there. Blair is great but is getting raped at the post. We need length in some instances.

[Spurs Brazil]

We're in big trouble and it'll get worst with the schedule ahead

My last hope is they can somehow get together on Rodeo Road Trip, like 2003 and start building from there.

And we'll be fighting for a playoff spot instead of seeding in the top 4. Will Pop rest TD in back to backs with playoffs in danger?

[timvp]

LJ I'm fairly shocked you think that a lineup of 8 players is a good thing for the Spurs. Bonner and Finley should both be in the rotation. The Spurs will have no legs come the playoffs with an 8 man rotation.

Disagree. The depth of a rotation is overrated. With an 8-man rotation, you can give everyone enough rest.

C Blair - 26
PF Duncan - 32
SF Jefferson - 33
SG Hill - 32
PG Parker - 32

C/PF McDyess - 28
SF/SG Ginobili - 28
SF/SG Mason - 28

That rotation would allow for everyone to stay reasonably fresh. An 8-man rotation, as long as each of the eight players is getting 25+ minutes, isn't too taxing.

The rest of the players would get playing time due to either foul trouble or if something is needed such as shooting (Bonner or Finley) or defense (Bogans).

When Pop gets serious with his rotation, it has usually been a 9-man rotation. The only difference with this arrangement is that Hill is playing roles that usually necessitate two players: starting shooting guard and backup point guard.

[TJastal]

Disagree. The depth of a rotation is overrated. With an 8-man rotation, you can give everyone enough rest.

C Blair - 26
PF Duncan - 32
SF Jefferson - 33
SG Hill - 32
PG Parker - 32

C/PF McDyess - 28
SF/SG Ginobili - 28
SF/SG Mason - 28

That rotation would allow for everyone to stay reasonably fresh. An 8-man rotation, as long as each of the eight players is getting 25+ minutes, isn't too taxing.

The rest of the players would get playing time due to either foul trouble or if something is needed such as shooting (Bonner or Finley) or defense (Bogans).

When Pop gets serious with his rotation, it has usually been a 9-man rotation. The only difference with this arrangement is that Hill is playing roles that usually necessitate two players: starting shooting guard and backup point guard.

The spurs should have a rotation of 4 bigs at least until April. For the simple fact that Duncan and Dice are not young gazelles out there. This strategy will almost certainly guarantee either an injury or exhaustion before the playoffs even start.

And Bogans sucks. The spurs should give Hairston an opportunity.

[timvp]

Exactly. What happened to limiting the minutes of Tim, Tony and Manu?

Even with the 8-man rotation, Duncan played his fewest minutes in a losing effort in a long time. Ginobili played fewer minutes than the previous three games and around the mark he should average. Parker's minutes were about the same as they have been lately -- and his playing time isn't really affected by the 8-man rotation since his backup is still in the rotation.

To be clear, I still want minutes limited. But I am also in favor of Pop picking and sticking with a rotation that makes sense. His ever-changing rotation has hurt the chemistry of this team and the Spurs need wins too much right now for Pop to continue his mad scientist ways. You can rest the Big 3 while only playing an 8-man rotation that features other players when needed.

[slayermin]

Spurs have a tough schedule the rest of the way. But so does everyone in the West. Barring injury, it's a given. The Spurs will make it in.

[TJastal]

Even with the 8-man rotation, Duncan played his fewest minutes in a losing effort in a long time. Ginobili played fewer minutes than the previous three games and around the mark he should average. Parker's minutes were about the same as they have been lately -- and his playing time isn't really affected by the 8-man rotation since his backup is still in the rotation.

To be clear, I still want minutes limited. But I am also in favor of Pop picking and sticking with a rotation that makes sense. His ever-changing rotation has hurt the chemistry of this team and the Spurs need wins too much right now for Pop to continue his mad scientist ways. You can rest the Big 3 while only playing an 8-man rotation that features other players when needed.

What has ruined the chemistry is POop benching Duncan in tough back-to-back games. That's what has snapped TWO good winning streaks and messed up the confidence and chemistry of the team.

It's not too late to see what Hairston has to offer or maybe even Ian at this point. There is much parity in the league right now (surprisingly). It is not a clear cut playoff picture so the spurs are not necessarily in a win-now-at-all-costs mode.

And the 8 man rotation is not enough, its only halfway through the season. I don't even think it's a good idea once playoffs roll around. 9-10 man rotation is good, any more than that then no.

[TJastal]

The advantage of a 9-10 man rotation is it allows Pop to see who is playing well any particular night and the option to use that player more.

[baseline bum]

The silver lining is that at least we'll have the real Parker back next season.

[mexicanjunior]

Spurs have a tough schedule the rest of the way. But so does everyone in the West. Barring injury, it's a given. The Spurs will make it in.

I would guess we have a tougher schedule going forward than just about any of the other top West teams...with more than likely fewer home games.

Besides...is clawing and scratching our way to a 7th-8th seed what we really want?

[lurker23]

To be clear, I still want minutes limited. But I am also in favor of Pop picking and sticking with a rotation that makes sense. His ever-changing rotation has hurt the chemistry of this team and the Spurs need wins too much right now for Pop to continue his mad scientist ways. You can rest the Big 3 while only playing an 8-man rotation that features other players when needed.

There is some truth to this. If Pop picks an 8-man rotation, sticks with it for 3 months, and the team doesn't gel, then they never really had a chance to gel to begin with.

C Blair - 26
PF Duncan - 32
SF Jefferson - 33
SG Hill - 32
PG Parker - 32

C/PF McDyess - 28
SF/SG Ginobili - 28
SF/SG Mason - 28

Also, if you're going to pick 8 guys and only 8 guys from this team, that would probably be the 8.

Personally, I would take a few minutes from a few of the above columns and give Bonner a steady 8-15 minutes per game. I feel that the last few weeks has shown that his offense fills a notable gap in the team's strategy, and at times he plays more solid defense than Blair. However, I can also see the argument in keeping the regular rotation short and putting Bonner into more of a Ratliff role, where he only gets that 8-15 when his skill set particularly matches up with the opponent.

[in2deep]

8 man rotation?!?!?!?!

so when playoffs come around Tim, Manu and Tony are gonna play with a pair of bloddy stumps for legs???

[DAF86]

I like the 8 men rotation, but I would like more a 9 men rotation that involves Ian. I don't get why some say that it's already too late to work him into the rotation, in 2005 we traded for Mohamed in the middle of the season and he turned out to be very useful.

[igruex]

I don't get why are people asking for Ian at this point. There would be little room for him if things were going better than good. As we are right now, you people need to understand that Ian might play only in garbage time. Asking for Ian and stating that we are in big trouble are both inconsistent and contradictory.

On the other hand I agree with lurker23 in finding room for Bonner in the rotation, doesn't matter how much time he plays but he needs to play at least a bit every night. He's not that streaky, he needs regularity to produce at his best.

[barbacoataco]

I see 3 problems (at least) with this year's Spurs. Not sure any can be fixed.

1. Parker is not himself. His inability to break down defenses with penetration has made the whole offense inconsistent,

2. RJ is a big lamo. Neither his defense or offense are cutting it. His defense is NOT a replacement for Bowen, forcing them to play Bogans more than they want.

3. McDyess is underwhelming, Blair is an udersized rookie, and Bonner will never be a starting C for a championship team. This means we are one C/PF short of having a quality front line.