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  1. #26
    Derrick White fanboy FkLA's Avatar
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    Was the offense even the problem? Yeah, LMA looked disengaged (tbf the perimeter guys weren't even looking for him) but the Spurs still scored plenty of points. I dont see how LMA scoring more points changes the fact that their perimeter guys had a field day out there.

    It's also ing baffling that Pop saw them get what they wanted for 4 quarters, and at no point thought "hey let me throw my best perimeter defenders at them". No White-Murray aside from a minute, no Lonnie until garbage time, very little Carroll. Instead the genius line subs a unit that includes his two worst perimeter defenders midway through the 1st Qtr. He also plays Forbes-Wombat alongside Murray in the second half. Then he has the audacity to say that he was excited to face the Celtics, but that his team apparently wasnt as excited. That they lacked "aggression and effort". It's like nah bruh, their thouroughbreds are just better than the ponies you insist on throwing out there. No amount of effort or trying is going to allow Belli, Wombat, and even Forbes to stay with guys like Brown, Kemba, Tatum. Throw your best horses at them to give the team a fair chance.

    The B- grade for Pop is laughable, OP. No offense.

  2. #27
    Veteran Sugus's Avatar
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    The Spurs need change at the top. Whether it's the coach, or the star players - someone has to give, because the team as currently constructed isn't doing much of anything in the postseason and is too talented to properly tank. Dream scenario for next off-season; Pop hangs it up at last, we ship out LMA and DD for scraps, and we finally buy into the young movement and let these guys shoot 3s without fear of getting benched.

  3. #28
    Veteran John B's Avatar
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    Our switch defense and boxing out is awful. Same with the Hawks game. Too many demoralizing open dunks. It was terrible to watch. I’m sorry but our Defense Coach needs to step up. 39 points allowed in the 1st quarter, 60 points in the half? I rather Spurs play defense first and that’s not playing combination of Forbes/Mills/Beli. Probably not start Forbes and stagger Murra/White/Demar in the PG/Combo position.

  4. #29
    5. timvp's Avatar
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    Was the offense even the problem? Yeah, LMA looked disengaged (tbf the perimeter guys weren't even looking for him) but the Spurs still scored plenty of points. I dont see how LMA scoring more points changes the fact that their perimeter guys had a field day out there.
    Fair points. Some thoughts:

    -Spurs scored 115 points but it was a fast paced game so it was mostly fool's gold. The offensive efficiency was sub par.

    -Defense was bad but not as bad as the 135 points suggests. Also due to the fast pace.

    -Aldridge establishing himself down low would have had a trickle down effect on the rest of the game.
    -----The pace would have slowed, which would have helped the Spurs deal with Boston's perimeter talent.
    -----Boston would have been forced to go bigger to deal with Aldridge.
    ----------The Celtics going bigger and playing at a slower pace would have hurt their offensive production
    -----Boston was doubling hard on Aldridge, which would have opened more three-point shooting.


    I do agree that the Spurs did a poor job of feeding Aldridge, especially early. But it's also on him not to flip the aloof switch just because he's not getting touches.

  5. #30
    Veteran tbdog's Avatar
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    I know Pop's decision have been questionable, especially match ups, but getting rid of him would be a disaster. I think we have lost too many assistance over the years and Becky is the only one that looks like she will be head coach ready at some point. The team lacks iden y and strategy. That to me is the coaching staff as a whole plus who ever is running point guard. Last seasons team had an offensive iden y. I usually knew what we would run. This year I don't know what we are going to get.

  6. #31
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    I had a bad, bad feeling when I saw that Forbes was assigned to cover Brown. At first I thought it was a giant insult to Brown to get the Forbes coverage. But when teams have talent, Forbes has to cover someone ... And that's bad. Forbes might put up a better effort than the likes of Marco, but he's still bad on defense.

    I'm tired all the sacrifices made for spacing. The bad defense of Forbes, Marco and Mills. And what has it gotten them? Nowhere. Maybe Marco has a hot streak, but at the same time Mills will come back to earth. It just won't 'work' in the long run.

    Spurs should just go all in on playing their best players, and their best potential players.

    The offense will suck either way. Just go hard with Murray and White and Walker. Best chance they have is to just hope their individual athletes can make plays. Maybe White and Walker grow into good three point shooters. Maybe not, but worth the effort to find out.

    , part of why I wanted them to draft a guy like Thybulle or Clarke and getting Milutinov was to go more in the defensive direction. Just choke the opposition and hope to be standing at the end. The beautiful game is dead and buried, Aldridge and DeRozan just want to make 1-on-1 midranges anyway, so go with it all the way by defensively grinding and praying that the midrange and athletic perimeter plays are enough.

    Maybe Poeltl will get better with better athletes around him. Maybe not. Wish Milutinov was here, that guy knows how to roll hard and catch.

  7. #32
    Veteran sasaint's Avatar
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    Fair points. Some thoughts:

    -Spurs scored 115 points but it was a fast paced game so it was mostly fool's gold. The offensive efficiency was sub par.

    -Defense was bad but not as bad as the 135 points suggests. Also due to the fast pace.

    -Aldridge establishing himself down low would have had a trickle down effect on the rest of the game.
    -----The pace would have slowed, which would have helped the Spurs deal with Boston's perimeter talent.
    -----Boston would have been forced to go bigger to deal with Aldridge.
    ----------The Celtics going bigger and playing at a slower pace would have hurt their offensive production
    -----Boston was doubling hard on Aldridge, which would have opened more three-point shooting.


    I do agree that the Spurs did a poor job of feeding Aldridge, especially early. But it's also on him not to flip the aloof switch just because he's not getting touches.
    You make some good points, however your final point is true in theory only. Boston’s doubling hard on LMA will not result in more threes until LMA learns how to pass and develops the necessary willingness and ability. freezes over first.

  8. #33
    Derrick White fanboy FkLA's Avatar
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    Fair points. Some thoughts:

    -Spurs scored 115 points but it was a fast paced game so it was mostly fool's gold. The offensive efficiency was sub par.

    -Defense was bad but not as bad as the 135 points suggests. Also due to the fast pace.

    -Aldridge establishing himself down low would have had a trickle down effect on the rest of the game.
    -----The pace would have slowed, which would have helped the Spurs deal with Boston's perimeter talent.
    -----Boston would have been forced to go bigger to deal with Aldridge.
    ----------The Celtics going bigger and playing at a slower pace would have hurt their offensive production
    -----Boston was doubling hard on Aldridge, which would have opened more three-point shooting.


    I do agree that the Spurs did a poor job of feeding Aldridge, especially early. But it's also on him not to flip the aloof switch just because he's not getting touches.
    I mean sure, it would've helped if LMA showed up but the defense still looked hopeless to me even in the halfcourt.

    I just don't get when and why Pop started valuing shooting/spacing over defense. How he went from a perimeter defense consisting of Green, Anderson, Murray, Manu, Wombat two years ago to Forbes, DeRozan, Murray/White, Beli, Wombat is so frustrating. Both are low ceiling teams, but I enjoyed that team two years ago more than this team. At least the best defenders were getting the bulk of the minutes. For a guy that preaches defense and hates the new age NBA, his moves sure are baffling.

  9. #34
    You have no idea UZER's Avatar
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    I mean sure, it would've helped if LMA showed up but the defense still looked hopeless to me even in the halfcourt.

    I just don't get when and why Pop started valuing shooting/spacing over defense. How he went from a perimeter defense consisting of Green, Anderson, Murray, Manu, Wombat two years ago to Forbes, DeRozan, Murray/White, Beli, Wombat is so frustrating. Both are low ceiling teams, but I enjoyed that team two years ago more than this team. At least the best defenders were getting the bulk of the minutes. For a guy that preaches defense and hates the new age NBA, his moves sure are baffling.
    Pop ain’t benching Patty...ever. No matter how bad he is on offense and/or defense, Pop ain’t gonna bench him. Why? Because reasons.

    Just think about how ridiculous that is.

    On top of that, he went and found his newer pet who is an exact copy of Patty Mills.

  10. #35
    You Are Not Worthy ZeusWillJudge's Avatar
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    Fair points. Some thoughts:

    -Spurs scored 115 points but it was a fast paced game so it was mostly fool's gold. The offensive efficiency was sub par.

    -Defense was bad but not as bad as the 135 points suggests. Also due to the fast pace.

    -Aldridge establishing himself down low would have had a trickle down effect on the rest of the game.
    -----The pace would have slowed, which would have helped the Spurs deal with Boston's perimeter talent.
    -----Boston would have been forced to go bigger to deal with Aldridge.
    ----------The Celtics going bigger and playing at a slower pace would have hurt their offensive production
    -----Boston was doubling hard on Aldridge, which would have opened more three-point shooting.


    I do agree that the Spurs did a poor job of feeding Aldridge, especially early. But it's also on him not to flip the aloof switch just because he's not getting touches.

    One of the things the Spurs' defense used to do was to slow the pace of the game. It was part of Pop's philosophy. The fast pace itself is a sign that the defense was bad.

  11. #36
    5. timvp's Avatar
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    I just don't get when and why Pop started valuing shooting/spacing over defense.
    You kinda answered your own question, tbh.

    You need shooting to win games in the new age NBA. The Spurs are already teetering on not having enough shooting -- even with playing all their all-shooting, no-defense guys. If Pop would go all defense and forgo shooting completely, that would simultaneously lower the floor and ceiling of this team.

    The path to the highest ceiling for this team is to supercharge the offense as much as possible with shooters while using smoke and mirrors (and Murray and White) to make the defense as good as possible.

    To be clear, I don't condone playing Belinelli, especially when he's not hitting shots. And I could do with less Mills and Forbes if it meant more White and eventually more Murray. But the answer to San Antonio's problems isn't to go from the worst three-point shooting team in the league and travel further south, IMHO. They're already as low as they can go.

  12. #37
    Veteran Floyd Pacquiao's Avatar
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    Spurs have no 3 and D players. Carroll is too old at this point and Keldon Johnson is a rookie. Sad.

  13. #38
    Veteran GAustex's Avatar
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    It’s easy to stop LMA by double teaming. If you double competently there is no way LMA will punish you.
    usually he turns it over.

    Remember when they the would go down low to Duncan and the poor saps would double?

    Tim would turn in the face of the double and do something positive with the ball. Bowen made $ off of Tim passing out of the double team.

    Remember then? Good times...

  14. #39
    R.C. Drunkford TimDunkem's Avatar
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    It’s easy to stop LMA by double teaming. If you double competently there is no way LMA will punish you.
    usually he turns it over.

    Remember when they the would go down low to Duncan and the poor saps would double?

    Tim would turn in the face of the double and do something positive with the ball. Bowen made $ off of Tim passing out of the double team.

    Remember then? Good times...
    Aldridge handles double teams notoriously bad. It's why he can never be a true #1 option.

  15. #40
    Enemy of the FCC and AMA Dr. John R. Brinkley's Avatar
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    You can't have DD come off the bench we we have no starting SF.
    Not a lot of great options, but it’s addition by subtraction.

  16. #41
    You Are Not Worthy ZeusWillJudge's Avatar
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    It’s easy to stop LMA by double teaming. If you double competently there is no way LMA will punish you.
    usually he turns it over.

    Remember when they the would go down low to Duncan and the poor saps would double?

    Tim would turn in the face of the double and do something positive with the ball. Bowen made $ off of Tim passing out of the double team.

    Remember then? Good times...


    Too often, Aldridge doesn't see/feel the double coming, and he reacts too late. By the time he does react, they've got his passing lane(s) cut off.

    Tim was incredible at making teams pay for doubling. I used to love watching him wait for the double team to come, almost baiting them into it. , not almost - he would bait them into it. Then snap the perfect pass. Those days are gone forever.

  17. #42
    Veteran GAustex's Avatar
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    Too often, Aldridge doesn't see/feel the double coming, and he reacts too late. By the time he does react, they've got his passing lane(s) cut off.

    Tim was incredible at making teams pay for doubling. I used to love watching him wait for the double team to come, almost baiting them into it. , not almost - he would bait them into it. Then snap the perfect pass. Those days are gone forever.
    Good times they were

  18. #43
    6X ST MVP
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    Defensively, a ton of F's tbh.

  19. #44
    Veteran tbdog's Avatar
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    Not a lot of great options, but it’s addition by subtraction.
    We have no SF other than DD. Beli is playing it and Walker plays spot minutes. Both undersize. Carroll and Gay are strictly 4's now with the minutes here and there by 3. Again I don't see how Spurs issues this year is on DD. He is playing really well out there. LMA is the problem.

  20. #45
    Veteran r0drig0lac's Avatar
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    We have no SF other than DD. Beli is playing it and Walker plays spot minutes. Both undersize. Carroll and Gay are strictly 4's now with the minutes here and there by 3. Again I don't see how Spurs issues this year is on DD. He is playing really well out there. LMA is the problem.
    players that the Raptors used as sf for a few minutes: Hollis Jefferson, Boucher, Siakam, Stanley and none of these guys would see 1 minute as sf in SA, in fact Carroll can and should be used as sf to increase defense and team size, the question is more about Pop than about players' ability.

  21. #46
    Enemy of the FCC and AMA Dr. John R. Brinkley's Avatar
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    We have no SF other than DD. Beli is playing it and Walker plays spot minutes. Both undersize. Carroll and Gay are strictly 4's now with the minutes here and there by 3. Again I don't see how Spurs issues this year is on DD. He is playing really well out there. LMA is the problem.
    I would say DD is a two guard playing up at the three. But in the grand scheme of things, I do think that his style of play, and the limitations in his game, are the foundation of the problems. Yes, he is putting up decent stats right now and LMA isn’t as much, but LMA can’t play in a team system, and I’m not convinced DD can. I mean, LMA has been a great defender before as well. DD? Never.

    Is pop causing a lot of the problems also? Yes. But I do think he has shown the ability to fix things as they go.

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