Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Bobcats - Jan. 30

[jimbo]

Baynes' help D was pretty bad from what I saw. Rest of his game looked solid though. Wonder how he'l do against real compe ion.

[ElNono]

Jack offense is out of whack.. but I still like what he brings on D... he's a big body to throw out there and IMO he always plays tough on D...

[crc21209]

I just think some people around here are still expecting to see the Jack from 03' or even the Jack from the Warriors teams everyone liked. It's not gonna happen people. Jack isn't in his mid-late 20's anymore. Jack isn't going to drop 20 points a game anymore. Like I said, the best we can expect from him is to bring solid defense, toughness, hustle and grit out on the court, rebounding, and every now and then dropping a 3 ball when it's needed...

[crc21209]

And it's not like Jack gets tons of touches on the offensive end either. He's easily the 3rd or 4th option out there when he's out on the court behind Tony/Manu, Tim/Tiago, or guys like Neal and Green...

[TheSkeptic]

Thanks Timvp.

Kawhi was awesome. I'm always happy to see him play well.

Loved the hustle from Baynes. I think this is great news for our frontcourt since it effectively shuts Blair/Bonner out of the rotation. The way he played reminded me a little bit of Cardinal (?) for some reason. So basically, I'm inclined to say that we're set but I'll be very interested in seeing how he does against a decent team on the RRT.

Next step is the backup pg position because I'm not sure how well Manu will hold up and I'd prefer having some insurance. I'd be in favour of trading somebody to get that done but otherwise Pop needs to sort this out. I'm thinking that for now Mills-Manu is fine when Manu's healthy but that maybe De Colo should be the playmaker if Manu's not available. Or something like that.

[spurs1990]

Intangibles. You can't expect every player to score consistently. We'd be 47-0 if that were the case.

I would bet my house SJax is wearing silver and black come late April.

[Hoops Czar]

B- for Nando??? More like a B- FLAT!!! Why De Colo continues to get minutes over Patty Mills I'll never know.


and LOL stephen Jackson, just f#cking LOL!!!!

[TheSkeptic]

People used to get pissed off at Robert Horry for half assing it in the regular season, but you could count on the guy to show up when it mattered. Jack seems the same in many respects. not claiming he is Horry, but there are similarities.

edit: timvp beat me with the Horry ref. by seconds

I'll be honest. I don't buy this. To me, Diaw's a better Horry comparison because that's a guy who's clearly coasting during the regular season and being aggressive only when he feels like it. There's no doubt in my mind that Diaw will probably show up during the playoffs. He hasn't lost his skills, he just operates on a different internal clock.

Jax I think is trying but he just doesn't have it right now. Now I'm sure he'll also put together a better showing in the post-season than he has these last few weeks. But I think he's at a point where although he can have good shooting nights here and there it's not something the Spurs can pencil him in for every night. What we can expect in the playoffs is solid defense depending on the match-ups, grit, and toughness on the boards.

Though speaking of inefficient shooters, I'm actually not sure Gary Neal deserves a D. I watched tonight's game and for the first time in a while I'm not furious about his shot selection. In fact I don't even remember when he was in the game. That's progress imo.

[Dr. Robert Lee]

GAY HERO BALL NEAL SHOULD GET AN F-!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr. Robert Lee]

Stephen Jackson should get an F, too. He truly is a scrub this year. I mean, God damn, Neal is better than he is and that's saying something.

[crc21209]

Stephen Jackson should get an F, too. He truly is a scrub this year. I mean, God damn, Neal is better than he is and that's saying something.

Neal. Neal doesn't play D or rebound. All he does is take shots, and some pretty bad shots at times too...

[letmk]

Baynes' help D was pretty bad from what I saw. Rest of his game looked solid though. Wonder how he'l do against real compe ion.

On the contrary, I feel that his help D is quite good, but one-on-one D is lacking, or at least no flashes there -- he is not being tested enough considering Bobcats has no low-post threat.

[chapnis]

His defence wasn't that great but the block showed promise.

[letmk]

I think Pop just has to keep remaining patient. Jack's pinkie is still bandaged, so I'm sure that's not helping matters. The docs said it was going to still be broken for ~3 weeks after his return. But, yeah, treat him like Horry. Give him enough minutes to keep him in shape and then hope he's playing well come playoff time.

If a trade comes along that you need to include his contract, that's fine. But otherwise, Pop has to keep playing him and hope for the best.

The other reason to keep playing him is to figure out if he has anything at all left in the tank. If he looks done come March, then maybe the Spurs bring in a free agent small forward for depth. Benching Jack now makes little sense; it just muddles the situation even further.

To be honest, I don't buy the pinkie excuse. It's not that he simply missed because of being in a funk. His shooting form, moving and footwork are all looking bad. And unlike Manu in early season, it has been like this for Jack for the whole season.

The only thing he can provide is on the paper, which is we WISH we can throw him at Durant/LeBron in addition to Kawhi. But if he keeps playing like this, we might even be able to pass the Clippers.

[keywester]

B- for Nando??? More like a B- FLAT!!! Why De Colo continues to get minutes over Patty Mills I'll never know.


and LOL stephen Jackson, just f#cking LOL!!!!

Must be the French Connection. Its obvious that Mills will never make it with the Spurs. Best he opt out and hope a lessor team takes him and lets him play his game.

[Cry Havoc]

I honestly think Jack doesn't care about games in January. It's gotta be a little boring to him after so many seasons. That's just his MO. He's going to wait for the playoffs to put in any effort at all. Very similar to Horry.

Keep him unless a good deal comes along. It's not like he's costing us games right now anyway.

[letmk]

I'll be honest. I don't buy this. To me, Diaw's a better Horry comparison because that's a guy who's clearly coasting during the regular season and being aggressive only when he feels like it. There's no doubt in my mind that Diaw will probably show up during the playoffs. He hasn't lost his skills, he just operates on a different internal clock.

Jax I think is trying but he just doesn't have it right now. Now I'm sure he'll also put together a better showing in the post-season than he has these last few weeks. But I think he's at a point where although he can have good shooting nights here and there it's not something the Spurs can pencil him in for every night. What we can expect in the playoffs is solid defense depending on the match-ups, grit, and toughness on the boards.

Though speaking of inefficient shooters, I'm actually not sure Gary Neal deserves a D. I watched tonight's game and for the first time in a while I'm not furious about his shot selection. In fact I don't even remember when he was in the game. That's progress imo.

I also think Horry is more similar to Diaw's situation. It seems that he is sort of disinterested during the regular season. But his overall physical form looks fine. It's just that he doesn't try hard enough. While Jack is playing hard, especially considering he is playing for his next contract. But he is that bad, at least for half a season up to now.

[Hoops Czar]

I honestly think Jack doesn't care about games in January. It's gotta be a little boring to him after so many seasons. That's just his MO. He's going to wait for the playoffs to put in any effort at all. Very similar to Horry.

Keep him unless a good deal comes along. It's not like he's costing us games right now anyway.

The guy is in a contract year. I think he cares!!!

[Hoops Czar]

Must be the French Connection. Its obvious that Mills will never make it with the Spurs. Best he opt out and hope a lessor team takes him and lets him play his game.

Mills is the only backup pg this team has so that wouldn't be a smart thing for the Spurs to let happen. There's no way De crapo will come anywhere near a postseason roster so it's probably time for Pop to start switching gears a bit and giving Mills some much needed burn.

[MR-Clutch]

Judging from the box score I would say the Reggie Evans comparison is right on the money.

[maverick1948]

My lord, Spurs have the best record in the league with 12 scrubs on the team. At least that is the consensus on here. Either the players are a lot better than anyone gives them credit. Or is it Pop and his rotations that suck? At least they suck according to some on here.

I'll take this team against any in the league in a fair officated 7 game series. If we play Spurs ball, we can win. We have proven it.

[Cry Havoc]

The guy is in a contract year. I think he cares!!!

Jax don't need dollahs. He ain't bout dat lyf.




Besides if he plays well in the playoffs no one's going to care about this bad stretch in January.

[racm]

Nando was the best guard off the bench not named Manu Ginobili tbh

Mills was a pack of energy but got in too late, Neal was more passive than Boris

[jestersmash]

I'll be honest. I don't buy this. To me, Diaw's a better Horry comparison because that's a guy who's clearly coasting during the regular season and being aggressive only when he feels like it. There's no doubt in my mind that Diaw will probably show up during the playoffs. He hasn't lost his skills, he just operates on a different internal clock.

Jax I think is trying but he just doesn't have it right now. Now I'm sure he'll also put together a better showing in the post-season than he has these last few weeks. But I think he's at a point where although he can have good shooting nights here and there it's not something the Spurs can pencil him in for every night. What we can expect in the playoffs is solid defense depending on the match-ups, grit, and toughness on the boards.

Though speaking of inefficient shooters, I'm actually not sure Gary Neal deserves a D. I watched tonight's game and for the first time in a while I'm not furious about his shot selection. In fact I don't even remember when he was in the game. That's progress imo.

Surprisingly one of his glaring mistakes in the game came when he gave up a wide open 3 point attempt. I was kind of surprised. Hope he's not in a mental slump of sort.

[freetiago]

Spurs top 4 are extremely good and you can plug any scrubs around them from the gutters of the d-leauge to journeyman to euro league rejects and they still crank out 50 wins
tim and tony are both in the top 10 in PER in the nba
ginobili is in the top 20 with a couple guys ahead who have good per minute numbers but cant be relied on to play big minutes or havent proven themselves in the league, so i would say hes around top 15 in PER
Splitter is 27 but if you factor out the brendan wrights of PER then hes top 25

Miami is the only other team with 3 guys in the top 25
and those 3 are all future hall of famers in their primes

and the spurs roleplayers have gotten exposed in the playoffs every year for the past 3 years