op with the edgelord goods
i was fooled... great article
op with the edgelord goods
My opinion on Forbes is pretty much consistent: he shouldn't be playing regularly (same with Marco and Mills).
PG-SG-SF Lineup should be one of two:
Murray-White-DeRozan starters, with bench with Walker in the backcourt and Carroll/Keldon at SF, and spot minutes by the terrible trio of Mills-Forbes-Marco
OR
Murray-Walker-DeRozan, with White as the third guard in a 3-guard rotation with either Carroll or a hustling Keldon getting 12-18 minutes
First, about Forbes. I don't have the strong dislike for him that I do for Marco or Mills because Forbes always tries and puts forth effort and stays in shape. It doesn't help much, but he gets credit from me for trying hard unlike Marco and for always being in top shape and not overpaid like Mills. But his apparent lock on minutes is just a fluke from the beginning of last year when Murray and White were hurt and he just kind of became the starter (as DDR was still at SG with Cunningham at SF). He is a spot minute guy who can be replaced by Weatherspoon (or he could have replaced Mills had the Spurs done the smart thing and let Mills walk). He's a Yogi Ferrell or a Roger Mason or a Gary Neal. At the high end, he's a Seth Curry who gets an $8 million a year deal.
Walker should be heavily featured in a 3-guard rotation with Murray and White. They should all combine for about 85 minutes a game. And DeRozan pulling the rest as ballhandler with Carroll/Keldon hustle along at SF.
Walker needs time to settle down. And that will only come with time, and lots of it. And I think being with the starters will be the best way. Starting probably tampers down his wild shot selection with all the other guys needing to eat, but also puts him with better, more experienced defenders who can help direct him on the court. He can get comfortable when he just has to concentrate on running, shooting open shots, and defending. And defending while not getting inserted cold to guard the best SF in the entire freaking league. Walker's shooting form is perfectly suitable, he can space the floor.
A Murray-White-Walker trio can be staggered fine, especially if DDR is used as a featured ballhandler in the few minutes without either Murray or White.
Some might argue that Forbes/Marco/Mills are needed to space the floor. I would just point to their poor record against an easy schedule. Grinding on defense by eliminating the trash is the best opportunity to win. And while DeRozan is not good, I'd take him on defense over Marco and Forbes for sure, though Mills is probably more useful as a change of pace defender.
Mills might be deserving of a small role on defense as a fullcourt guy, but he shouldn't get minutes to match his money. If his averages less than 1 minute per million, Spurs will be in good shape.
I have Keldon as a possible spot minutes guy because of how hard he plays. Every year around the league there will be mid-sized wings who are undrafted or 2nd rounders or late firsts who are able to play in small doses as hustle guys. They haven't really been scouted and just by sticking to hustling they can have decent games in small doses as rookies. Sterling Brown, Dillon Brooks etc etc. Sometimes the rookie year is their best year, sometimes they transform into decent players. Keldon can do that. Throws his body around, gets into it, all hustle. That's enough as a rookie sometimes.
I'm telling you - Walt Lemon is capable of giving them enough minutes at the point to allow White and Murray to play together. And he can be had on a min contract. He played a half dozen games for Chicago last year, and averaged 14 points, 5 AST, and 4.5 RB. In his G-League career he's averaged 18.6 points, 5.8 AST, and 4 boards.
Chicago was long on PG's and drafted Coby White, so Lemon was the odd man out. Even during the good years, the Spurs have had a number of 3rd point guards who weren't any better than Lemon. He's a good distributor that could keep things moving well enough to give White/DJ minutes together, and not wear out Murray right now.
It's not even particularly inconvenient, tbh. We have plenty of people who can take his minutes. It would actually be pretty convenient to bench him.
Related.
Statistics bear out that the Lakers will probably remain in Los Angeles.
Where there are no lakes . . .
this thread aged well..............stop bashing forbes
This is all we need to know about how opposing teams rate Forbes' defense. Doncic has the ball against Mills but that's not good enough. Carlisle's play is to literally get Forbes switched off onto Doncic and get out of the way. That's it
And yet, your lord and savior will have him in the starting lineup the entire season.
What a quality UFA Forbes is.
LOL. Look at Carlisle on the sideline screaming and waving Curry over to force that switch. That's the most obvious I've ever seen.
A real Sophie's Choice there for Luka at the end.
Everybody knowing how ing garbage a Mills/Forbes defensive backcourt is.
Everybody except that senile
"But the Golden Years, leave him alone"
Pretty true . I admitted as much in the article.
Imagine what opposing scouting reports must say if Forbes' defense <<<<<<<<<<< Mills' defense.
I don't see Carroll in that video... you know, the guy that was making stops and hittin 3s?
Yeah, what was that all about? Surely, there must have been a good reason why he's been glued to the bench next to Metoo the entire season?
What do we know? We're not HOF coaches tbh.
To be fair, Rudy Gay (Carroll's replacement) had just hit a three to cut it to a two-point game.
That's great, but the point stands. Can't even claim he was tired, dude has been riding the bench forever
Carlisle switching the poor defense of a player 7" shorter than Doncic with a worse defender 5" shorter than Doncic were options #1 & #2. Option #3 is DeRozan. That's a lot of options for an opposing coach in the closing minutes of a tight game.
It's pretty telling that of Mills, DeRozan and Forbes to go against, Carlisle dramatically chose Forbes without a second thought. He couldn't wave over the screen fast enough.
It’s more telling that PATFO had an entire year to see how DeRozan plays and fits with the roster they had and thought to themselves: “Yeah, I am good with this”.
It looks like the losses aren't anomalies, but what should be expected. I am wonder if any of the coaches, like Becky or Tim, are suggesting the obvious 'Maybe letting every team target Forbes is not a great plan.' The rope-a-dope strategy of letting every team in the NBA beat the crap out of us and go up by double digits every game is not working out well.
There's no doubt, going after Forbes was part of the game plan. You can see that Carlisle is frustrated (he's out on the court), because Curry hasn't recognized what he was told to do.
But on the other hand, look at that video and watch Patty's reaction and tell me what you see. It really is a team effort.
patty defending luka to begin with is ridiculous. you think patty would have contested luka's stepback anyway? who cares that dallas thought attacking forbes was better than mills. the fact that mills was the preferred defender to begin with just shows the absurdity of what pop is doing. the analysis doesnt need to go any farther than that
Forbes is going to get Mills type money isn’t he.
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