No panic thread, tbh, we're 5-2, one of the best records in the NBA...
That said, it's happened twice this week already. We walk into the AT&T Center and give the other team whatever they want in the 1st quarter, digging a hole too deep to crawl back from.
I mean, I remember this stuff happening even in the prime Duncan years, but it either was once in a while or we actually managed to dig ourselves out of that hole.
Twice already in one week is kinda alarming for a team that should look to be top 5 in defense if they want to remain up top in the West.
Love Danny, but I can't expect him to fix this all by himself. Does Pop needs to pull the soft card already, tbh?
Would be interesting to see how the defense would look with DG and Dedmon in the starting unit..unfortunately, Pau would never happily accept a bench role IMO..
He wasn't content with sitting to accommodate a prime Dwight Howard, he certainly wouldn't be happy sitting for a no-name in Dedmon
The Jazz game was mostly just bull shots. This was the Spurs not being able to get into any offensive rhythm and allowing LAC push the pace of misses. That led to a bunch of mismatches. Also, Kawhi and Anderson forgot who LRMaM was.
1st of all, we lost Danny. The best defensive 2 guard in the league.
2nd of all, we replace him with Fathead/Simmons.
3rd of all, we keep switching the rotation between Fathead and Simmons.
4th of all, we inserted Pau Gasol into our starting lineups. He needs time to adjust to all these different like ups and rotations and synergy.
Time will fix all these problems.
I can see another slow defensive start against the Rockets for sure. Harden will feast.
4 out of our 5 starters are defenders. It's more of a terrible starting defense than slow defensive starts. Kawhi is also our leading scorer now which takes away even more from our defense.
Green to FAThead/Simmons is just as big a drop off as Kawhi to Fathead.
Didn't think it was possible, but someone actually made Mbah a Moute look like a scoring machine.
Who says Kyle Anderson sucks at offense? His assignments explode offensively each time
Pau's been fine defensively. He's been a top-four player in like every category on that end. The problem has been that Parker, Mills, Simmons and LMA have been bad or subpar.
I don't think Anderson was guarding MaM on most of those makes. On that one to break the Spurs' run in the second, Kawhi was hanging out in the paint and did that "my bad" sign running back up the court. Anderson had his bad moments, though. For MaM, I think it was just him exposing the game-plan. The Spurs should never leave someone open by design, because they always get burned by scrubs.
Frankly I haven't liked Gasol's effort on defense at all and the pairing with LMA hasn't been good.
I had stayed mostly out of voicing opinions about it bc due to fathead being in the lineup I am sure guys would chew me out but the game with Simmons was similar. Tony had been playing poorly as well, so it was hard to pin a single guy or factor. . . but Pau's rim protection is horrendous... and the switches are terrible for him. I think this early Pop is still trying to figure out what works with the two bigs together on defense (zone? I have seen some and they are bad at it.)... frankly they have been listless on defense. I could see Pau's minutes be limited (remember against GSW when he was benched and Dedmon changed the defense with his energy?)...
I don't think Pau has been bad, but I don't think he's good enough to cover for Aldridge, who has been a disaster defensively, for whatever reason(he was actually pretty decent, last season)..Dedmon would be a better fit IMO..
I do think Pau's shot-blocking strength will be emphasized when Danny returns, though..his ability to keep the opposition in front of him + funneling will aid Gasol to display his best defensive attribute..
Not to mention that Danny is now one of the veterans on the team..without Tim QB'ing the defense, they're going to need somebody other than Kawhi(who isn't the most vocal player) to be the vocal leader on D, which will probably be DG, this season(based on his experience in the system and his personality)
Biggest Diva frontcourt in the NBA, tbh?Would be interesting to see how the defense would look with DG and Dedmon in the starting unit..unfortunately, Pau would never happily accept a bench role IMO..
He wasn't content with sitting to accommodate a prime Dwight Howard, he certainly wouldn't be happy sitting for a no-name in Dedmon
Frankly, I expect Pau to show his age here or there, tbh... he's been very good overall, I thought, so far.
If you get a minute, check out the 1st quarter, I thought switching everything was really a bad idea in this game.
Softridge played like ass during the first half of last season, dude probably doesn't stay in shape during the Summer.
Something I didnt think much about was the scheduling. It was a tough first couple weeks, with quite a bit of traveling and a back to back. Might explain some of the brain farts away.
Moute doesn't make shyt against GSW who give him the Tony Allen treatment. They also did the same thing to Roberson this week.
I thought Pop has had a short leash with Pau so far... I think against the Kings and New Orleans he went with Dedmon more when he was getting abused down low.
I mean, I'm not against Dedmon starting for defensive purposes, but that would make the SL even more reliant on Kawhi/LMA for offense... not sure that's a great idea.
Yeah it's obvious Dedmon needs to start. Softdridge needs someone to hold his hand still on defense. Both Gasol and Aldridge need to get over themselves and do what's right for the team. Funny that Pop preaches that but picks up two divas in the front court.
LMA had a rough rough night with Griffin tonight for sure.
LMA doesn't have the worth ethic to be a Spur. I honestly think lma is perfectly fine without ever winning a le. I see zero drive in his game.
I'm talking about Pau, not LMA.
Pau off the bench would actually be really nice but, as we all know, he'd never accept it.
You have a good point and considering what he's paid and his diva reputation, Pop may play it by the occasion with a short leash, but since they start together, those are the bad defensive starts..
Pop has been tough coaching Dedmon to stop his fouling too (that is the occasional super small lineup he's run with Lee as a 5). He won't bench Pau and it may be damage control. If Pau is in position he does affect and block shots, the problem is that he's so statuesque that he can't get in position. I don't know what the answer is.
When Danny returns we shall see, they should improve but frankly it doesn't escape me how the bulls struggled on defense last season..
That's all true enough. Keith Smith's source had a point. But I know people are going to try to blame Pau and Anderson for the drop in D, and that's not really the case. Has a ton to do with LMA and the back court.
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