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Kewl. But how about a grade for Pop?
B for Buh'bye
Seriously, tanks for the grades
Kewl. But how about a grade for Pop?
B for Buh'bye
Seriously, tanks for the grades
was a fun season overall, but disappointing last game especially Murray, he didnt play well at all after coming back from that illness
finally got what we've wanted for years tho, play them young fellas
big offseason coming up, hope we can add a big talent from the draft
Last night was a much needed reality check. We are a bottom 5 team. We have been all year long. I’m proud of how hard our guys competed and we certainly outperformed my expectations but this is possibly the least talented team in the league. I’m hopeful half of this roster isn’t back next year.
time to start the rebuild around vassel and tre
Ain't reading this fairweather shiite.
I basically feel the same way. Enjoyed the season. Last night was a reality check, yes. I wonder how without Forbes and McD, our defense still seems bad. I expect us to “stay the course”, but this season was a missed opportunity to get more ping pong balls. Our recent run was likely fools gold. But hey, we just need one or two HOF players and we’re right back in the race! Ha.
Thanks for the grades. Mostly agree with the blurbs, the grades per se are not important but they seemed on point.
It was a difficult to watch the game at times because the guys looked spooked in the first half. Deer in the headlights, but they battled back. The team has heart. The game before theirs, the Hornets truly didn’t look ready to play, fact of the matter is they could have used a Jakob Poetl.
I thought the Spurs were compe ive defensively mostly because of his presence and his leadership. To me he was the player of the game for the Spurs, because his presence was felt defensively and offensively. If the Spurs trade Jakob Poetl a true tankathon would ensue IMO.
Vassell stood out because his shooting was a breath of fresh air and he was letting it fly without hesitation. Lonnie provided scoring punch when no one had it going and were playing scared. I think he played up to his potential. His minutes may have been limited by the back injury because I also thought he should have played at least 5 minutes more.
Murray and Johnson sucked in this one though. They were the teams leading scorers in the regular season and they struggled mightily throughout. They both shot the ball poorly and made bad decisions at times, forcing shots. Their combined poor offensive showing was the reason the Spurs lost the game. They looked the same as they did last season in the play in game, where they both were equally inefficient and shot the ball poorly. This game the problem was compounded by bad decisions at key times to close the game. I guess it just shows you that neither has the talent to be a top dog offensively for a good team, though Murray had an excellent season and seems like he can complement an offensively gifted player well if the Spurs had such a guy in their roster. Alas, the Spurs don’t have that guy.
It will be interesting to see what happens over the summer, the Spurs have a real hole at PF and even Pop acknowledged it on National TV in his interview after the first quarter. The Spurs have trouble rebounding the ball and it was not an isolated event for this game, but a problem for the whole season. If they are so self aware and honest to admit it on a TV interview, I would expect that is something they will try to correct (and McDermott isn't the answer there clearly, which makes him a trade target potentially).
I liked Banchero for the current Spurs in this draft to fill that hole, but the Spurs are in their own timeline, not necessarily coinciding with Murray’s for example. They should again draft BPA at their slot and that again may end up being a guy that doesn’t fill the current team’s holes. The thought is that if he ends up being an offensive star then he will fill their biggest hole of all and then you worry about trades to put other guys around him. So while the knee jerk reaction would be to look at trades right now, I think they most likely play it steady and look at the draft again, and then opportunities like they had with Derrick White when the offer was right. Again, if they end up with a star then you worry about putting guys around him, and cashing in the chips you have ac ulated for those pieces.
The draft is the single most important aspect for rebuilding from the ground up. The Spurs still don’t have the guy that is going to put them again in the playoffs and it may be a while until they get him. Things may change in one season with good luck, because when you get a guy with star potential, you will win some games you would have lost otherwise. Those guys are evident early, even if they are not all they are going to be in their prime, the teams fortunes could change in a couple of seasons. But they could also have a long dry spell of several years with bad luck, getting good players from the draft, but not what they need.
This was an interesting and fun game to watch overall, it was compe ive at the end, and the players were well coached to compete. I think the team learned from this experience. They took Pop as far as they could go with current talent level. What happens from here will be interesting to watch.
Last edited by SAGirl; 04-14-2022 at 08:23 AM.
No Pop grade? Come on LJ, it's okay to say he sucked. Keldon at the four all the way to the offseason.
Pop: C. Typical game for him, nothing special. He did manage to keep the team from totally collapsing.
^ Thanks for the grades Timvp. I mostly agree with SAGirl views, and then some. This team just doesn’t have enough talent: 1. Spurs desperately need a goto scorer ala McCollum. I think DJM and Vassell are fine, but when they are in a cold-spell and needed a bucket, they need that Star player who can single-handledly break the defense and score at will. Spurs doesn’t have that. 2. Spurs were outrebounded last night. I hope that experiment of Keldon at PF ended last night. They need to put help on Poeltl to coral rebounds, protect the rim, push people off the paint. I applaud Keldon’s efforts, but he’s not it. Keldon needs to slide at the SF and try to get faster at covering faster SF and guards. It’s even possible that Keldon could best play the Manu role, spark off the bench if he cannot play the starting SF, because J-Rich could very well be more suited for that starting SF, 3 and D role.
I agree that this team should draft the BPA, one who can score at will. If by June they don’t get high enough pick to draft that type of player, I rather they trade their picks to get to that player whether through draft or trade. Contrary to what other posters think, I think this team is missing a player or two to become a good team. Any of the concensus top 4 picks and Keegan Murray would be ideal for me.
Thanks for the grades.
Here are some things that caught my eye.
- Murray and Johnson faced a defense designed to slow them down. NO has the length to make things difficult for them.
The Pelicans game plan and defensive execution contributed to their rocky starts.
- Maybe I missed her, but, I did not see Becky Hammon on the bench.
- Pop let the young ones play. I commend his choice in this. Winning a post-season game on the road is hard. These guys will have plenty of summer motivation to grow as players.
- This roster lacks the height and length to compete at a playoff level.
- Lastly, that NO crowd was insane. Their intensity and volume was a huge asset for the Pels.
I also thought it would have been worth it to give Lonnie some more minutes, especially when the spurs were struggling to score in the 2nd half.
It's called strategy and tactics. To pull off a strategy like that, you have to have players who are capable and willing to focus on slowing down the other team's best two players.
It's also called "coaching". And that's all I have to say about that.
You did dumb ass lmao.
thanks for the grades. always appreciated
when the spurs beat NOLA late in the season, landale was a big part of it. he and poeltl played together on the court to finish that game. spurs outrebounded the pelicans by 7 in that game. spurs were outrebounded by 19 last night, 19!
there's your ball game.
i agree that lonnie should have seen more than 17 minutes. JOHN B mentioned how we lack that player who can score at will, and though Lonnie is far from a star he has been so much more confident lately and when he really wants to he seems to get to his spot pretty easily. he could have been that guy to help us get over the hump during the pelicans 5 minute drought. but who knows how the defense would have translated??
I have always been on the ship that believes that Vassell will the be the top player of this bunch. And last night gave me a sense of why i believe that. He let it fly without hesitation. The playoff atmosphere did not phase him. When no one could buy a basket, he was out there keeping the spurs in it on his own. And his defense got better as the game progressed. I would love to see more plays run for him to see what he can do.
Overall, i'm very happy that the spurs played this play in game. It was a great way for these young guys to get a taste of playoff basketball. regardless if it truly wasn't a playoff game, no one can convince me that it didn't feel like a playoff game. it most certainly did. and this should only build that hunger and desire to get better.
with this current group and hopefully a decent addition at PF, i expect them to be a top 8 seeded team next year.
I didn't really understand Lonni not getting much minutes especially in the second half, he was scoring just fine and providing a spark when the offense started stagnating....I guess this is what happens when 80% of your roster consists of guards.
On a better note Vassell is making me a believer in him.
I’m not big on the social media analysis but the fact he liked a ton of posts where others also questioned that tells me he wanted to be out there.
This isn’t load management; it was win or go home and a player you might not even re-sign. An ailing back injury that Walker basically admitted he just needs to play through. This has to be on Pop.
This season was much more enjoyable than the last three. Here’s hoping the spurs luck into the top 4 in the lottery.
What a waste those Demar years were. Ac ulated a bunch of role players and now we are still years away from being in a position to contend.
I read that Becky left us after regular session to join up with the Aces
Alot of positives for sure. DJ and to a lesser extent Keldon appear to be long term building blocks. We didn’t sacrifice team culture for the tank. PATFO had a very successful trade deadline and had the parts to move someone like D White who would have traditionally been untouchable which shows there is a shift within PATFO. Once Pop retires we can really begin this rebuild.
This is one of the youngest teams in the league (scary that Minnesota and Memphis are both younger) with a ton of flexibility, cap room and draft capital going forward.
It’s going to be tough to crack the upper echelon of the west unless a ping pong ball falls the right way, and they pull off something with cap space. But the future is a lot brighter than a lot of other teams. But as last night showed, there’s a ways to go.
I knew everybody would be getting B's from SniffVP. Murray and Keldon deserve F's
Our best players are 21, 22, 25, and 26 years old Lonnie is only 23 and Primo we hope can turn into something is 19. This isn't going to happen overnight. Last offseason and this season PATFO completely flipped this team and got rid of Patty, LA, Rudy, DeMar, Lyles, Forbes, Thad, Eubanks, and got 2 FRPs. The same players everyone was ing about last year and we got rid of them so the Spurs can play their YOUNG guys just like everyone was begging for. Obviously this season was going to go this way with ups and downs and stretches of cluelessness. We have young players and picks to make something shake this offseason, it will be interesting.
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