In Due time
Great start from him, and he had some lovely passes but as the game went on he absolutely nose dived.
It's only one game, and I'm still really happy the Spurs were able to sign him, but my god was his defense ATROCIOUS at times. The biggest issue is how often he looked like he didn't give an F on defense. So many lazy plays on that end. Hopefully Pop whips him into shape.
The GS matchup just isn't for him. He'll come in handy against the Clips, Thunder, and Cavs though.
Eh, I'm not a fan, but you can't judge him by his first game with a new team vs. a team that he probably won't be able to play extended minutes against(Duncan didn't, either)..
To me he looked tentative to lost and playing to not make mistakes. Saw several missed rotations, late switches and uncertain technique on closeouts. They ran some games with him on high/lows and off the elbow and he was not on the same page readwise with his teammates which resulted in late passes and broken plays.
In short he played like but it looked like things that could be rectified with diligence in practice. We still won by near 30.
He was playing that Boris 1.0 defense.
He should be fine against the rest of the league since they won't be switching on defense thus he will be allowed to sag in the paint & just worry about the rim.
As far as the postseason is concerned, he more suited for a potential 1st rd battle against the Jazz b/c they don't have a PG that can attack him on PnRs. Otherwise, the PGs on the road to a le (Chris Paul/Curry/Kyrie) are going to feast on him.
Gasol, Anderson and Dedmon's performances were the only disappointing things from this game.
Dedmon played pretty well.. he grabbed offensive boards and got a couple of blocks. He definitely bothered the Warriors. He was +29 too
Rough situation and rough game. It's going to take time with Pau. Especially with Kyle in there instead of Danny (not to mention the opponent) it made it tough. Danny would cover up a lot of defensive issues for Pau and also provide spacing.
The encouraging part was Pau was getting IDENTICAL looks as Tim last year and he didn't even hesitate. Didn't shoot great but everything looked fine there and even saw some passing.
Rim protection should be there from Pau, but defensively we know he's not great. Sa can still be a top 5 defense with him. But on offense he should pay dividends by knocking down those shots Tim just could not and providing the spacing.
Ehh Dedmon played decent defense and was good on the boards. We already knew he was a piece of on the offensive end so no surprise there.
Even Bogut was terrible when he was forced to switch on PnRs, that's what happened to Pau tonight.
Dedman almost morphed into Deadman when he got rim checked.. dude nearly broke his back
Funny that the starters keep getting such for playing one of the most talented starting lineups ever assembled, and Spurs' reserves get all this credit for destroying what we've pretty much all agreed is a sub-par bench. All of the reserves played really well, but the talent level really drops a lot when all four of the Warriors' good players aren't on the court at the same time.
That was funny, but still, I don't think any Spurs will ever top this.
And he was really good the rest of the game, especially on defense.
Dedman reminds me of Fransico Elson so that's not good, only one game though
Dedmon looked great, watching this live. Very active down low and the Dubs seemed surprised by his physicality. He'll definitely be an asset and defensively an improvement over West.
Too bad neither "Pau" or "Gasol" starts with a D, because it would also be a thing to call him that without the D. , he was bad.
Dedmon like Gasol played with a lot of uncertainty. His athleticism is remarkable though.
Agree and don't agree. He is much more aggressive than Elson. Much better rebounder and defender. But that dear in the headlight look on offense, yes, that totally popped in my mind tonight. But defensively, no, way better than Elson.
Wrong on Dedmon.
100%.
However, the effort as mentioned by OP was an issue. Durant blew by him for a layup like Gasol was a cone out there, same thing went for Curry multiple times today. Not saying he has any business keeping up with either of those guys, but he simply didn't move/slide his feet. LMA's defense is so much better, and LMA is not a fantastic defender
let's hope he doesn't have Elson's hands
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