Drew Eubanks
".....his hands were extra supple"
https://www.spurstalk.com/grades-san...-heat-game-57/
Home court disadvantage strikes again.
Drew Eubanks
".....his hands were extra supple"
the button pop pushed seemed to be the auto pilot button. Cant see how he does not get more Fs.
This was fun to watch for a little over half a game. Yeah, lose tomorrow and we should break out the nails and hammers.
Thanks for the grades. Yet another forgettable game. DJ needs to learn how to attack the zone. I think Pop could've put more Vassell/Walker to shoot the 3's, but as you said, we don't even know what Pop was trying to do. Was that an opportunity to lose? I can't wait for tomorrow and get them on a positive spirit before heading back on the road.
Has Greg with two g's ever in his nba coaching career figured out how to score consistently against a zone
I feel like as a spurs fan every team that runs a zone for any length of time always beats us
Yet the basketball consensus opinion on zone defense in the nba is that you can't run it consistently because nba players are so smart they will easily figure it out
Ok all kidding aside, and maybe I'm missing something here but really want to understand how a young player coming off arguably one of his best games as a Spur gets rewarded with 2 dnps (garbage minutes dont count) in a row? Is there any other sports franchise that does this ?
and the fun fact of the day:
in April (so far), Poeltl has come close to the FT% of an actual NBA player (for a big man at least) at .722 (13 of 18).
it'll still take a miracle for him on the season to get to a rate that will not stick out on the stats as a historic low, but you got to start somewhere..
Glad were a great road team
"We like what we have ... scouted in the draft"
At least it's trending in the right direction. Gotta be good for his confidence going forward.
Because the priority of the head coach is not to just win basketball games, it's to win basketball games HIS WAY playing the players THA HE PREFERS TO PLAY
It doesn't matter how bad Rudy and Patty play...its itched in stone they are playing...
It doesn't matter how good Luka and now Devin play...its itched in stone they are not playing...
I suspect not only pop plays his favorites but he also plays the highest paid players with some sort of hierarchy that it’s not fair to put lower paid players in pressure situations.
No one can explain it. That’s why Pop has fallen out of favor with so many fans. I’m at a loss for words at this point tbh
Thanks for the grades OP.
That game was seriously depressing. Spurs can't handle zone? Won't play youth. Sigh.
i extremely laughed about Bill Lands comment "grab it with two hands" related to a home for the elderly
the game sucked badly ... Vassell not playing is a bummer
Whether fans agree or disagree with the method:
1) Highest paid players get first priority - your max players. Provided they haven't broken down, aren't on the last year of their contract, has no intention of re-signing with the Spurs
2) Vets with expiring contracts get next priority - your players with tenure. These players have a house to pay for, businesses, foundations they support. Imagine if I told you your employer is going to make you stop working and you have to figure out on your own how to pay your bills.
3) then the young players
There were two sparks to this season that could have possibly turned into fires...
Vassell and Luka
pop is doing all he can to douse the out of those sparks...
the rest of the season has just been a predictable warm state of mediocrity.
Unfortunately they don't have the ideal player to break the zone , the passing big man on the high post. They tried Poeltl first - turnover. Rudy worked for 2 possesions. Derozan after but was just too small to get the entry pass.
Oh yeah
lonnie might still turn into something...if pop retires now
The worst news is that it may take Pop 2 more seasons to get the all-time coaching record.
It really is hard to tell what makes this team tick. Is it the coffee gang getting subpar beans in SA that is leading to this home court disadvantage? Vassell has been part of so many of the wins this season, not sure why he’s out of the rotation.
Puzzling team and season.
I get that, and I'm suspecting Spurs are on a "soft tank." It's just difficult to separate "coaching" and "managing" the club. Because as a coach, Pop is supposed to put the best X's and O's to win games, and that's not what we see, regardless of max players, expiring contracts, etc.
Spurs are tanking ...they're just pretending to be compe ive...we all know this team as constructed is going no where...their ceiling is a first round exit...might as well target the draft...win some to keep the fans interested but lose enough to get a decent pick...in the NBA you need at least one alpha to have a shot at the ring ...the Spurs don't have one
Dejounte, when I was talking about your namesake's limitations in terms of IQ/playstyle, last night was a good example of that. His 3pt shooting was outlier-ly good, which is good to see, but his floor general/PG game was extremely lackluster, especially when faced with the zone. It was obviously a "team effort" losing to that, spearheaded by Pop, but DJ's passiveness, lack of understanding of how he could push the defense to create shots for others, or even score for himself, was bad. I'd have to watch the 4th again to be extra-sure I guess (not like I'd be looking forward to that ), but I remember a few possessions where he was straight up passing the ball on the perimeter to other players who were in as bad a position as he was in, and looking like "yo, do something!" as if he'd served them a score on a silver platter.
Not much else to this loss instead of same old Pop... You beat a zone with shooters and/or high post passing, and while we couldn't execute the latter, Pop outright chose not to try the former by benching our most prolific young shooter, again, after his career game. Remember when you were telling me that Pop couldn't be blamed for Lonnie's trust/game issues, and that being benched consecutively and excessively didn't have an apparent effect on his game that could be traced back to Pop? Well..... Sucks to see parts 2 and 3 of the same old story developing again, with Vassell and Luka now both relegated to garbage time, even in games when we could've used their skillsets. Luka especially looked awful last night, totally deflated and going through the motions. Awful play.
I perfectly understand contract players want to play, but ain't no way Rudy or Patty are losing money by being played 5 less mpg (that they're usually ting the bed with) by giving some space to the next generation. It's just Pop and his ways.
Sugus , DJ was due for a bad game. His shooting wasn't "outlier-ly" good when he's done it for 7+ consecutive games. This is an example of downplaying. But like with White, Lonnie, we should extend the same patience when judging his game. White looks solid now but has sucked for majority of the season. It's like we're doing a 20-80 with DJ, using the 20 as a indictment of who he is as a player and using last night to point fingers at his flaws is an example of that. All the while we're doing the reverse with White, using the 20 to say "look how good he looks when he's the point guard!"
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