http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....26c2790e.html
Spurs Mailbag: Second-year players help fuel start
Jeff McDonald
Express-News Staff Writer
The Mailbag is overflowing this week, so let’s dispense with the opening remarks and get right down to it …
You know what’s funny? The Spurs are not doing anything different than they have in the past five or six years. They run the same offense (generally) and play the same funneling defense, they just so happen to be winning many games. Am I wrong, are they really doing anything different, or is everyone coming together and shots just falling?
-- J.J., San Antonio
You’re right. In general the Spurs aren’t doing many things differently than in years past. The difference was in the offseason. The Spurs brought back every significant piece of last year’s championship squad (sorry, Beno), clearing the way for a quick start.
Last season at this time, first-year Spurs like Francisco Elson, Matt Bonner and Jacque Vaughn were next to worthless on game day, as they worked to learn their new team’s offensive and defensive systems. This year, they are contributing. It is as if the Spurs signed three new free agents over the offseason. Not exactly a Boston Celtics-like makeover, but it’s as good an explanation as any for the Spurs’ sizzling start.
Can you tell me why Robert Horry went from number 5 to 25? I noticed last week when he played for the first time this season.
-- Tonia, Brownwood
Seeing as this is supposed to be Horry’s final year in the league, he decided to switch to the jersey number he wore as a rookie in Houston, approximately 8,000 years ago. (Contrary to popular belief, Horry’s first jersey was not adorned with a Roman numeral). It’s the whole “circle of life” thing.
Either that, or he wanted to confuse revenge-seeking Phoenix fans into attacking Ime Udoka.
I see that spurs.com is advertising the Manu Ginobili Bobblehead... I was wondering what would Manu's reaction be if he saw a kid playing with his funny head?
-- Jiyu, Phillippines
Speaking of Argentina’s favorite Bobblehead, turns out it is a fairly accurate depiction of Ginobili except for one glaring omission: No bald spot.
Even so, the Manu Bobblehead might by our new favorite piece of NBA memorabilia. At least until someone invents the Anderson Varejao chia pet.
Does Ginobili make as much money as Tim Duncan? If not, he should.
-- Paulo Guerrero, San Antonio
If you think Manu should be paid more handsomely than Duncan, this will probably make your head explode: Ginobili doesn’t even make more than Tony Parker, unless you count the Time Warner “Go for Three” money.
Matt Bonner just showed us what he could do in Pop's system even against an athletic team like the Warriors. Do you think we would ever see him starting at the four and Tim at the five? Or does Pop like Matt coming off the bench?
-- Kaz, New York
Sometimes Gregg Popovich seems to like Bonner coming off the bench. And sometimes he seems to like Bonner never getting off the bench. It’s been the weirdest thing. Bonner’s role seems to fluctuate like the weather these days.
After starting three games in Tim Duncan’s absence, Bonner didn’t play a single second in the first game with Duncan back. His role, more than almost any other player’s, is dictated by whether the Spurs feel the need to go small. If the Spurs are going to play much of the game with only one big man on the floor – well, Bonner probably won’t end up having to shower afterwards.
As for your Bonner-Duncan lineup, it has happened before, though never as a starting group.
How would I get the local TV station to air all the home Spurs games?
-- Baldemar Manzanares II, Lubbock
Two easy steps: Pack your bags, and move from Lubbock.
Just wondering about that behind-the-scenes thing the NBA is doing now where everybody is mic'd up. Is it something they are just trying or is it going to stay? I think it's cool to see behind the scenes and everything but I think this may be pushing things a little too far.
-- Ramiro Gamez, San Antonio
Unfortunately, it looks like it’s going to stay, although we don’t really see the point. Nate McMillian told his team at halftime they needed to play hard and hustle? Really? Groundbreaking stuff.
If the league really wanted to make broadcasts more interesting, we say put a mic on the coaches and let it run uncensored. Any game involving Jerry Sloan would have to run on HBO, but so what? And why stop at in-game voyeurism? Put a hidden camera in Stephon Marbury’s car and air the ensuing footage on the e Channel.
The Spurs play the fundamentals as they ought to be played. Are there any plans to use video of their games as training for high school or college, or foreign teams?
-- Terry Wilson, Baldwin Hills, Calif.
Great idea. Bruce Bowen could teach the fundamentals of playing perimeter defense, Tim Duncan could teach low-post footwork and Manu Ginobili could teach how to fall down like a stuntman.
It would be better than anything J.J. Re ever produced.
Seeing as this is supposed to be Horry’s final year in the league, he decided to switch to the jersey number he wore as a rookie in Houston, approximately 8,000 years ago. (Contrary to popular belief, Horry’s first jersey was not adorned with a Roman numeral). It’s the whole “circle of life” thing.
Either that, or he wanted to confuse revenge-seeking Phoenix fans into attacking Ime Udoka.@ the Udoka comment.
"XXV" would take up a lot of jersey space IMO.
Either that, or he wanted to confuse revenge-seeking Phoenix fans into attacking Ime Udoka.
He made a funny....
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