Game Grades Dec. 8, 2016, Spurs @ Bulls - Loss

[SAGirl]

Well these grades were missing and I volunteered myself to do them. My recollection of the game is a fuzzy right now, and this game was very hard to watch very often (plus things at home distracted me at times), so I welcome further input and contributions in the comments. This review is coming as a community service.

Kawhi: A

The game would have been a blowout if not for him. He did a number of Jimmy Butler and was unstoppable at times himself. He nearly willed the team to victory but not quite. Basketball is a team sport and his teammates didn't show up to play for his one.

Lamarcus: F

Terrible game for him. One of a successive trend of very low scoring games for Lamarcus. His shot wasn't falling and he wasn't aggressive trying to get inside. I remember seeing at one point Pop call up a play very close to the basket for him and his jumphook didn't go in. He's not drawing fouls either which means he's not being aggressive enough. This has been a trend in a few recent games and it's a huge concern. Is he still out of shape? What's going on with him? Does he need to close his tweeter account again? He had 4 blocks here, and was active on defense at times, but it wasn't enough.

Gasol: D-

He scored more efficiently than Lamarcus and grabbed a few boards in this one. For that he gets a bit of a higher grade than Lamarcus. However one cannot shake the feeling off that Gasol is empty calories. There were many plays at the rim that he didn't prevent from happening and at times there are layup lines with Gasol out there. Ugly.

Tony: D+

I was glad to see a spry Tony, but Rondo did a number of him, getting to the rim at will, scoring efficiently and almost finishing with a triple double. Tony himself made a few shots that were encouraging. He got to the basket and had a teardrop I remember. Still, he wasn't efficient with his scoring, and nothing really stands out in this game.

Danny: D+

I don't remember Danny that much, so this grade is almost by default. I apologize for that.

Lee: C+

He came in with a lot of energy in the 3rd Q if I remember correctly and was part of a run the bench made. He showed fire and leadership with the team behind big time. However, he had a few lapses on defense and allowed layups at the rim on the other end as well. Overall, his was one of the better games from the squad so it's hard to dock him that much, but it also wasn't enough.

Dedmon: D

He made mistakes on this one, fouling unnecessarily a jumpshooter with an overaggressive close out. 4 fouls in 13 minutes has to dock his grade a bit. The bench started the game playing very discombobulated and I think that doesn't help Dedmon's game. He tries to cover up for everyone and it doesn't help him to play defense under control. Still, his play is on him, he has to do a better job to keep his fouling under control. He grabbed a lot of rebounds in a short amount of time and that gets him a bump from F, but this was a forgettable game for him.

Mills: A

He singlehandedly kept the bench up at times with his amazing 3 pt shots under hard close outs. He came to play and made tough shot after tough shot. He was active on both ends.

Simmons: D+

He can't shoot and at some point that has to affect his grades. He just cannot make a jumpshot lately. He also missed a runout easy dunk due to wanting to show off? His energetic plays got him a few steals and he was disruptive on defense drawing an offensive foul on Wade. His defense gets him a bump in the grade but he has been very inefficient scoring/shooting. I thought he should have played more than Ginobili in this game, even though he could not buy a bucket (bc neither could Ginobili)

Ginobili F-

I have been vocal with concerns that he's done and it's going to be Kirby levels shooting. I hope to be wrong with that TBH... but this was a horrible game for him and I think his play was one of the reasons the bench was playing so unsettled early in the game. 0-9 overall shooting. His + plus/minus is more a result of the work put in by Mills and Lee.

Anderson: Inc.

1 rebound in less than 1 minute. Still not enough to see here.

Pop: F

IMO he should have gone further into the roster and played Bertans and Anderson at some point. The game was getting away anyways and since guys were not making shots, he could have looked elsewhere. As an early season game, he could have experimented more than he did. Bertans helped in the Bucks game and Anderson played well in the Minny game. Since Dedmon was fouling up a ton, why not try Bertans? Manu was having a horrible game and shooting blanks out there, same as Simmons why not try Anderson? He just didn't do enough... even for all his tinkering, he didn't tinker enough. He's not guilty of the guys poor play though, but he stuck with guys that were having a bad game a lot.

[SAGirl]

Spurs

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
L. AldridgePF	31	5-15	0-1	0-0	3	3	6	1	1	4	2	1	-19	10
K. LeonardSF	38	10-19	1-2	3-3	3	5	8	5	1	0	2	3	-9	24
P. GasolC	31	6-11	1-3	0-0	2	8	10	3	0	1	1	0	-4	13
T. ParkerPG	24	4-10	0-1	0-0	0	1	1	5	0	0	3	2	-11	8
D. GreenSG	25	3-8	3-8	0-0	0	1	1	1	3	0	1	3	-13	9
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
D. LeePF	21	4-6	0-0	1-2	2	2	4	2	0	1	1	2	+12	9
D. DedmonC	13	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	6	7	0	0	1	0	4	+1	0
P. MillsPG	24	6-12	4-6	0-0	0	2	2	1	2	0	1	1	+7	16
M. GinobiliSG	18	0-9	0-4	0-0	0	2	2	2	1	1	1	0	+7	0
J. SimmonsSG	14	1-7	0-3	0-0	0	2	2	1	3	0	0	2	+6	2
K. AndersonSG	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	+3	0
D. BertansSF	DNP-COACH'S DECISION
N. LaprovittolaG	DNP-COACH'S DECISION
TEAM		39-97	9-28	4-5	11	33	44	21	11	8	12	18		91
		40.2%	32.1%	80.0%

[dabom]

I'm gonna take sag off my ignore. I usually do it to everyone at a certain point. It's just some of these posts are ing dumb sometimes. No one replies to her anymore.

If OP calls Kyle fathead, I bet you would increase your rep real quick.

[Cry Havoc]

Well these grades were missing and I volunteered myself to do them. My recollection of the game is a fuzzy right now, and this game was very hard to watch very often (plus things at home distracted me at times), so I welcome further input and contributions in the comments. This review is coming as a community service.

Kawhi: A

The game would have been a blowout if not for him. He did a number of Jimmy Butler and was unstoppable at times himself. He nearly willed the team to victory but not quite. Basketball is a team sport and his teammates didn't show up to play for his one.

Lamarcus: F

Terrible game for him. One of a successive trend of very low scoring games for Lamarcus. His shot wasn't falling and he wasn't aggressive trying to get inside. I remember seeing at one point Pop call up a play very close to the basket for him and his jumphook didn't go in. He's not drawing fouls either which means he's not being aggressive enough. This has been a trend in a few recent games and it's a huge concern. Is he still out of shape? What's going on with him? Does he need to close his tweeter account again? He had 4 blocks here, and was active on defense at times, but it wasn't enough.

Gasol: D-

He scored more efficiently than Lamarcus and grabbed a few boards in this one. For that he gets a bit of a higher grade than Lamarcus. However one cannot shake the feeling off that Gasol is empty calories. There were many plays at the rim that he didn't prevent from happening and at times there are layup lines with Gasol out there. Ugly.

Tony: D+

I was glad to see a spry Tony, but Rondo did a number of him, getting to the rim at will, scoring efficiently and almost finishing with a triple double. Tony himself made a few shots that were encouraging. He got to the basket and had a teardrop I remember. Still, he wasn't efficient with his scoring, and nothing really stands out in this game.

Danny: D+

I don't remember Danny that much, so this grade is almost by default. I apologize for that.

Lee: C+

He came in with a lot of energy in the 3rd Q if I remember correctly and was part of a run the bench made. He showed fire and leadership with the team behind big time. However, he had a few lapses on defense and allowed layups at the rim on the other end as well. Overall, his was one of the better games from the squad so it's hard to dock him that much, but it also wasn't enough.

Dedmon: D

He made mistakes on this one, fouling unnecessarily a jumpshooter with an overaggressive close out. 4 fouls in 13 minutes has to dock his grade a bit. The bench started the game playing very discombobulated and I think that doesn't help Dedmon's game. He tries to cover up for everyone and it doesn't help him to play defense under control. Still, his play is on him, he has to do a better job to keep his fouling under control. He grabbed a lot of rebounds in a short amount of time and that gets him a bump from F, but this was a forgettable game for him.

Mills: A

He singlehandedly kept the bench up at times with his amazing 3 pt shots under hard close outs. He came to play and made tough shot after tough shot. He was active on both ends.

Simmons: D+

He can't shoot and at some point that has to affect his grades. He just cannot make a jumpshot lately. He also missed a runout easy dunk due to wanting to show off? His energetic plays got him a few steals and he was disruptive on defense drawing an offensive foul on Wade. His defense gets him a bump in the grade but he has been very inefficient scoring/shooting. I thought he should have played more than Ginobili in this game, even though he could not buy a bucket (bc neither could Ginobili)

Ginobili F-

I have been vocal with concerns that he's done and it's going to be Kirby levels shooting. I hope to be wrong with that TBH... but this was a horrible game for him and I think his play was one of the reasons the bench was playing so unsettled early in the game. 0-9 overall shooting. His + plus/minus is more a result of the work put in by Mills and Lee.

Anderson: Inc.

1 rebound in less than 1 minute. Still not enough to see here.

Pop: F

IMO he should have gone further into the roster and played Bertans and Anderson at some point. The game was getting away anyways and since guys were not making shots, he could have looked elsewhere. As an early season game, he could have experimented more than he did. Bertans helped in the Bucks game and Anderson played well in the Minny game. Since Dedmon was fouling up a ton, why not try Bertans? Manu was having a horrible game and shooting blanks out there, same as Simmons why not try Anderson? He just didn't do enough... even for all his tinkering, he didn't tinker enough. He's not guilty of the guys poor play though, but he stuck with guys that were having a bad game a lot.

Thanks for the grades. Wasn't able to see this game as I was at The Lion King in SF. 32 points in the first half is ridiculously putrid, but we were due for a terrible shooting game. We have to find some ways to manufacture some offense when everyone is cold, though.

[Splits]

Grades way too low for most players. 4 point road loss to a 500+ team on 3 in 4 nights. Meh game but Danny, Lee, Dedmon, Aldridge, Simmons, Parker, Gasol all too low. You got Manu right though

[SAGirl]

Grades way too low for most players. 4 point road loss to a 500+ team on 3 in 4 nights. Meh game but Danny, Lee, Dedmon, Aldridge, Simmons, Parker, Gasol all too low. You got Manu right though

To me in reality only Mills and Kawhi showed up for this. I appreciate the input though. This review came up late and my memory is fuzzed. I barely remember Danny TBH. I can't give Simmons even an average grade when he comes up with 1-7 and misses a dunk bc he's showing off.
Dedmon fouled too much thus why he couldn't stay on the court and didn't score. Gasol bad defense.
Tony is the one that I think could be higher, I agree... if more people remark some things I am willing to change grades bc I don't remember details but I remember being surprised Tony was spry and getting to the basket, but Rondo went off, so that tempered my excitement. Tony also fouled a 3 pt shooter in the final minute or so of the game.

In general this team was carried by Kawhi and Mills. The rest of the guys were average (Pau, maybe Tony, maybe Danny, and Lee).... everyone else was below average, which puts them in D to F territory.

They had no business winning this if not for Kawhi's great play.

[Blake]

Giving Manu an F- is stupid. He had a horrific night shooting but he was busting his ass, diving for loose balls. He also finished at +7

In fact, I don't agree with most of your grades since they're based mostly on box score.

[blizz]

Grades were bad and I think you meant to say "did a number ON" in stead of "of". Try reading what you just wrote before submitting.

[SAGirl]

Grades were bad and I think you meant to say "did a number ON" in stead of "of". Try reading what you just wrote before submitting.

hey
these grades were not mine to make. The dude that volunteered them didn't come through...
I just did them way after the fact when I had a moment.. and wanted to be quick as you know.. I don't have all day for these. You could volunteer to add something to this instead of checking grammar in a board when one is getting these out quickly.

But you felt the need to come out not adding anything.

You are sour bc I gave low grades? hah

[SAGirl]

Dedmon was going for pump fakes and not being an effective roller or offensive threat.

Lee was playing because he was showing passion and being effective.

If I was Pop and teaching lessons... I would just have said it we're gonna lose anyway, and I would have sat Gasol righr next to Aldridge and had Lee and Bertans playing.

I'm thining in his mind he wanted to sit Gasol for ing ul on defense and just general laziness, but he was still trying to win the game.

POP is right, those fools get paid to ball and show up ready... I would have sat Parker too for being dumb... but Lap or Murry as alternatives...

Pop's rotation were okay, he doesn't have much options off the bench.

He has to decide if the game is in balance to go for the best chance to win, if everyone does their job... or if the game is out of reach, time to let the players with promise develop.

Lastly it being a nationally televised game, I think it forced him to the former, even though the latter is what was happening.

This is a good summary of the game with input from another person.

[bklynspursfan]

Giving Manu an F- is stupid. He had a horrific night shooting but he was busting his ass, diving for loose balls. He also finished at +7

In fact, I don't agree with most of your grades since they're based mostly on box score.

He showed much more energy out there than LMA that's for sure. He missed some very easy/open shots, so in that regard he was bad. But he was competing, diving on the floor, etc..

[Blake]

hey
these grades were not mine to make.

But you made them.

Don't be sour for getting low grades as a grader

[SAGirl]

But you made them.

Don't be sour for getting low grades as a grader

I stated up front that this was way after the fact and that I had things at home.. it's more of a conversation starter IMO. If you disagree and contribute I will review them and already I think there were guys who were average instead of below average... but if you are coming off at me with you suck I tell you to just off bc you are not contributing much either.

These things are never unanimous ppl always disagree anyways.

[GSH]

So when you average all the grades together, the overall team grade is about midway between D+ and C-. Only two players scored higher than C+, and one of them was a PG who finished with 1 AST. The Bulls were playing at home AND had a +22 FTA advantage. And it was only a 4 point game at the end?

Sadly, I still can't disagree too much. I could debate a few individual grades, but what would be the point? That was an ass-ugly game.

I still think people are missing the biggest issue in that game. The Bulls shot 22 more FT's, even though the Spurs only committed 5 more fouls than they did. That's got nothing to do with the refs - they may have gotten a few home-court calls, but the foul count was close enough.

[SAGirl]

So when you average all the grades together, the overall team grade is about midway between D+ and C-. Only two players scored higher than C+, and one of them was a PG who finished with 1 AST. The Bulls were playing at home AND had a +22 FTA advantage. And it was only a 4 point game at the end?

Sadly, I still can't disagree too much. I could debate a few individual grades, but what would be the point? That was an ass-ugly game.

I still think people are missing the biggest issue in that game. The Bulls shot 22 more FT's, even though the Spurs only committed 5 more fouls than they did. That's got nothing to do with the refs - they may have gotten a few home-court calls, but the foul count was close enough.

There was Tony fouling a jumpshooter and Dedmon also fouling a jumpshooter.
There was quite a bit of fouling guys in the act of shooting. Some of it was rim protection issues. (maybe one or two of the Wade calls were homecooking, but certainly not all... Spurs were fouling guys shooting...)
What's your take on that?
I mentioned that part of what docked LMA grade wasn't just that his jumpshot wasn't falling. He needed to get aggressive enough to draw fouls...

[blizz]

I don't care about the grades. I think they're stupid anyways. Like any of you are qualified to give grades on a sport you've never played and qualified to give a grade to a HoF coach like any of you could do better. So no. I'm not sour. You made that grammar mistake twice and it's not a grammar issue. You probably thought that's what the saying really is.

[SAGirl]

I don't care about the grades. I think they're stupid anyways. Like any of you are qualified to give grades on a sport you've never played and qualified to give a grade to a HoF coach like any of you could do better. So no. I'm not sour. You made that grammar mistake twice and it's not a grammar issue. You probably thought that's what the saying really is.

ok
dude whatever...

[superbigtime]

Easily dedmons worst game. Paul should've had a more spirited home coming and he made some shots and the 3 is nice but just doesn't pass the eyeball test at all. LA...just pitiful.

[ElNono]

thanks for the grades....

Manu was a D- at worse though, tbh... one of the few guys that was hustling his ass off and diving for loose balls even if his shot wasn't falling...

[YGWHI]

Thanks for the grades!!

The fans and the media are saying that Dedmon should start over Gasol or at least play more minutes than him, but 'benching Danny for Simms' is the only move that Pop is willing to make...Y'all know it.

"Pau and LMA are getting killed in P&Rs every game? Nah...Our defense is OK, it's our offense the only issue"

[SAGirl]

thanks for the grades....

Manu was a D- at worse though, tbh... one of the few guys that was hustling his ass off and diving for loose balls even if his shot wasn't falling...

Plenty of Fs dished to Anderson on nights he hustled on D but gave nothing or not much on offense. Same standard.... about the same for Simmons.. in he case due to showing off he blew an open shot. In Manu's case it's worse since his role either requires that he take shots or high usage. I can't give him a pass.

Any of the young kids would have been able to reproduce Manu, or even be better last night... but that is on Pop not on you or Manu.

Also, I will note this was harsher due to being a loss... have to take into account the result.

[vander]

I don't care about the grades. I think they're stupid anyways. Like any of you are qualified to give grades on a sport you've never played and qualified to give a grade to a HoF coach like any of you could do better. So no. I'm not sour. You made that grammar mistake twice and it's not a grammar issue. You probably thought that's what the saying really is.

Lol then WTF are you doing here?

[blizz]

How cute. A white knight trying to score pts.

[Spurtacular]

I'm gonna take sag off my ignore. I usually do it to everyone at a certain point. It's just some of these posts are ing dumb sometimes. No one replies to her anymore.

If OP calls Kyle fathead, I bet you would increase your rep real quick.

Nobody gives a who you exclude from your safe space.

[ElNono]

Plenty of Fs dished to Anderson on nights he hustled on D but gave nothing or not much on offense. Same standard.... about the same for Simmons.. in he case due to showing off he blew an open shot. In Manu's case it's worse since his role either requires that he take shots or high usage. I can't give him a pass.

Any of the young kids would have been able to reproduce Manu, or even be better last night... but that is on Pop not on you or Manu.

Also, I will note this was harsher due to being a loss... have to take into account the result.

I'm not even defending Gino, he had a terrible night, tbh... that said, how is it not expected for a young talent that's in his 3rd season with the team to beat a 40 year old for minutes?

I mean, Manu at least has an average to good game here or there...

And personally I expected more from Bertrans, but while I think he can be a lot better, he's obviously experiencing that transition season that a lot of euros go through when coming over.