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I can't get over Bonner boarding his balls off. Nando's quick adaptation to the game and Tim's fountain of youth are surprising, but what Bonner is doing (including going for swats and rim-rockers) I thought I'd never witness.
-I'm really starting to think Nando De Colo's game was built for the NBA. I watched him in Europe and in international play and was reasonably impressed but I wasn't blown away. I had him pegged as a limited bench role player at the very best. However, some players (say like Ricky Rubio or even Jose Calderon) are just better in the NBA style of basketball. With more finishers around them, more room to operate, the faster pace and the increased freedom, this league is totally different than any other league. And thus, different skills that may be negated in other arenas could shine in the NBA. I'm not sure yet but we may be seeing that with De Colo. He's showing an ability to play at an extremely fast pace without losing control. He's also exhibiting the wherewithal to take advantage of spacing created following a pick-and-roll set. It's definitely exciting; we'll be able to figure out in the next couple months if this may be the case with De Colo or if he's just going through a hot stretch right now.
-Did Matt Bonner have some sort of rebounding epiphany? Seriously. Beginning in that Heat game, it's like he realized that: A) he's 6-foot-10 B) he's allowed to both box out and also go after rebounds -- not just either/or C) he has the freedom to go after offensive rebounds every now and then D) flopping out of bounds while the ball in the air is never going to be called in his favor. His fouls per minute are way up this season (double of last year) but if the trade off is a more physical version of Bonner (like he was back on Toronto) who *gasp* grabs contested rebound and knocks a few heads, that's a concession I'd sign off on seven days a week.
-I've said this all season but I believe it even more now: The Spurs can't trade Tiago Splitter. He's too damn good when all the cylinders are clicking. If you do trade him, you just aren't going to get equal upside in return. It's impossible. Yes, Splitter may crash and burn again in the playoffs, but that's a risk the Spurs have to make. The guy is a perfect fit for the bench, is starting to learn how to coexist with Duncan and remains the most deadly pick-and-roll weapon in the league.
-Bobcats fans booed Boris Diaw. You can't really blame them since he basically quit on that team. But it was interesting to see Diaw increase his level of effort when he heard the boos. That's a sign that he's coasting, which could explain the majority of his ineffective outings this season. Diaw is the closest thing the Spurs are going to find to Robert Horry. That resemblance may very well include early season coasting.
-Tim Duncan is good at basketball. My respect for him has never been higher than it is right now. I don't know how long this flashback is going to last but I'm going to savor it.
-When he's on, is Manu Ginobili the best passing shooting guard in NBA history? If not, who is? The guy can pass his nalgas off.
-When today's Tony Parker is at his absolute best, how many players in the league are better than him? I really don't think the number is that high. When he's at the peak of his performance, he's pretty damn unstoppable at this stage of his career. (Yes, I realize that despite how damn good he is, he's not in the championship-leading megastar category as a Prime LeBron, Prime Duncan, Prime Shaq, etc. Save the whining.)
-Did David Stern do the Spurs a favor by levying the fine? The Spurs historically get bored this time of year but I don't see that happening. The fine could be a subtle rallying cry for a long while ... perhaps the duration of the season.
I can't get over Bonner boarding his balls off. Nando's quick adaptation to the game and Tim's fountain of youth are surprising, but what Bonner is doing (including going for swats and rim-rockers) I thought I'd never witness.
that manu part made me lol
I watched an interview with Patty recently, and he said Tony had been mentoring him. I saw that tonight on a play where he blew past his man, and threw up one of Tony's patented 45 degree leaner layups. You just kiss the ball off the bottom of the glass with some english on it, and between the body lean/angle and the quick flip off the glass, the shot is ing unblockable.
In Bonner's defense (yeah I went there), he's always been relatively good in the regular season... you compound that with Blair being fairly abysmal*, and I think anything from Matt was going to look good.
Ultimately, unless Tiago can consistently beast like he did the last bunch of games, the Spurs will still need a tougher guy inside, IMO.
* compared to season 1 or 2 Blair
Nando's ball control against big athletic NBA players is really impressive. Very un-Beno. He oughtta be the back-up PG, although Spurs have many who are capable, this is Nando's talent and what he best brings to the team. I hope that is how the season plays out for him, and that Neal and Mills can play their natural positions. Pop's jacking with Neal has payed dividends though, Neal has improved in every aspect including ball handling. I'm a big Neal fan. He is money.
Bonner needs to play with this aggression more often, especially in playoffs, but I like what I'm seeing. He seems to be a cool guy and I think the team feeds off his intensity when he lets it loose. He's great at shooting 3s but those things can falter in the playoffs, as it has for him.
I'll add a random thought of my own that Cory Joseph has been a revelation this season. I know he hasn't gotten much opportunity in the stacked backcourt, but when he gets minutes he plays with a veteran steadiness. He rarely does the eye-popping things (although the spin-move in the lane into a layup tonight was impressive), but he plays solid mistake-free ball on both ends of the court.
Considering he was a hunchbacked clueless rookie with a terrible looking moonshot just a little more than a year ago, I'm really impressed with how far he's taken hiis game.
Co-Signed. That spin move had me like
timvp
With Nando adjusting, CoJo making some progress, and Mills providing offense, there is not going to be enough minutes in the backcourt for all of them. Also, I don't think Pop is the type of coach that would let a player, who is worthy of getting playing time, rot on the bench. Do you think that eventually the Spurs will give one of these players an opportunity to succeed elsewhere? Moreover, who's skillset do you think they would value more?
Brett Brown was the Australian head coach and has a great relationship with Patty. I doubt he'll let Patty rot on the bench when Kawhi and Leonard get back.
If De Colo can keep this up, does he become that extra decent piece required to upgrade the big rotation? Or does he become the piece that allows them to peddle Neal to upgrade the big rotation?
Bonner's not dumb. Between his outstanding regular season shooting and decent defense, if he adds decent rebounding, Pop will inevitably find it irresistible to keep him out of the rotation. The added bonus of that is that Duncan-Diaw get to play together more, which is obviously their preferred starting duo.
I was beating the "they need to trade Splitter" drum for a while (not because I wasn't a fan though), but I agree. He's not going to get them a Varejao or Smith and anything short of that is not even worth considering.
Pop clearly loves Diaw, but if the Jazz are amendable to this, does he love him enough to not do a Diaw, Blair, one of De Colo/Joseph/Mills, Anderson and 1 or 2 1sts for Millsap trade?
Ginobili has got to be the best passing SG in NBA history.
Hard to answer where Parker at his best ranks, but you could make the argument that only two or three players are clearly better. You could also probably say the same for damn near any top 20 player though. At their absolute best, they can pretty much all look like top 3-5 players at times.
Last edited by TD 21; 12-09-2012 at 12:11 AM.
Nando has been very entertaining and interesting to watch develop early this season.
the cojo haters will come around ..... cojo is a better avery bradley ....
Yeah if CJ improves as much between Year 2 and Year 3 as he did between Year 1 and Year 2, he'll be ready for a spot in the rotation next season. As it is, he'd have a shot if the Spurs didn't have more PG depth than they've pretty much ever had.
I don't expect the Spurs to cull the herd this season. This team is too fragile to risk giving up depth. What I expect to happen if/when the team gets completely healthy is for Neal and De Colo to battle for the backup PG spot (Neal, as of now, is in the lead). CJ will spend the year in Austin. Mills will be used as a change-of-pace PG/SG ... kind of like how Pop has been using Bonner as his change-of-pace bigman.
This upcoming summer, I think things will shake out in a way that the glut will be gone. Neal is a free agent so he can leave for a bigger opportunity if he wants. Mills, too, can become a free agent. But, no, in the short-term I don't think the Spurs are going to do anything than keep as much depth around as possible.
Hmmm ... that's a good question. Between De Colo, Mills and CJ, the one with the most valuable skillset is probably De Colo. His vision and passing abilities can't be taught. You either have it or you don't. We'll see if he can keep up this level of play once the NBA gets a scouting report on him but as of this second, his skillset is the one that stands out as most unique and thus most valuable.
You have got to be kidding. I wouldn't trade Diaw straight up for Millsap.
Are u nuts? Another undersized big? No thanks. IF Spurs would make a trade, should be to get a 7' C.
I don't think De Colo will gain trade value this season. Maybe by the offseason.
I don't think the Jazz do that. I don't think the Spurs would jump at that either. Millsap has a history of fading late in seasons and doesn't really fit great passing-wise or defense-wise. Having a PF that can be guarded pretty easily by a SF doesn't strike me as the missing ingredient. It'd amount to an expensive couple month rental that may not even offer an upgrade in retrospect.
No to millsap. He's a really good player, but at the end of the day he is undersized, and unless you are some freak like LeBron or Durant, you don't want your starting power forward to be undersized. Also, he's about to become an unrestricted free agent and will be overpaid for his services. I want no part of that
de colo will not get playoff minutes, his not like KL last season when he was needed...
decolo will have to accept the rookie role in the playoffs...limited minutes in scrub mercy games...
Whats happening with James Anderson? Any chance he's given a season long deal? He's already been around longer than the 10 day call up, which means they've called him up twice. He's been decent and we've had injuries so he could always be used as a spare body.
When I see De Colo now, I wonder if his early struggle were really related to basketball.
How is/was his English? Could he get everything Pop was saying?
He looked so shy... which is really uncharacteristic of is game (he was really a leader in Europe)... and now he looks so confident.
Never been a big fan of DeColo in Europe but Timvp may be right about his game being more suited to the NBA. Still, I'd like to see how he performs against a team like the Thunder/Clippers. Having another legit playmaker in our backcourt is always a plus. Now if only he learned how to shoot.
For a casual fan who doesn't study basketball as thoroughly as timvp, I agree most with his last point. Since Stern initialized this "Restgate", I've been wondering whether this served as extra motivation for the whole Spurs team to compete for this season's championship. Imagine how embarrassed he would be to hand the LOB trophy over to Holt/Pop.
timvp, can you talk about the defense not specifically in this game but in the 20+ game sample so far in the season? It used to be that field goal percentage was used to gauge a team but with the quick pace the Spurs have, that can be misleading. So I'm guessing something like defensive efficiency is used. According to these stats , the Spurs are 5th in offensive efficiency and 6th in defensive efficiency (don't know if the stats were updated yet as I'm typing this). That has to be encouraging as far as defense is concerned if I'm reading those stats correctly. But then it has the Lakers at 6th in offense and 9th in defense and that just messes up whatever positives I have in my mind seeing how bad the Lakers are.
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