Comments on: A Note of Caution: Work to be Done

By: Popovich "Getting Ready" « Spurs Basketball

Popovich "Getting Ready" « Spurs Basketball — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:21:29 +0000

[...] All this new players bring different dimension to the Spurs game and with a healthy BIG three and an even deeper bench that includes Hill, Mason, Finley, Bonner and maybe even Hairston, Mahinmi and Williams, the Spurs championship success for this coming season seems to be within grasps but as Timothy Varner puts it there is more work to be done… [...]

By: Rye

Rye — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:15:56 +0000

Of course at 33 years old after 12 seasons in the league and a lot of mileage from repeatedly playing deep into the year and getting a shortened summer of time off, he’s not quite at his peak. Neither is Garnett, or Bryant. But people act as if he’s no longer amongst the elite in the game.

I still would rank Duncan & Bryant as the two best all around players and standards in the game (one for post players, the other for perimeter players).

I don’t care about Howard’s numbers, his game is far too underdeveloped to be considered better than Duncan’s. The way I see it: Duncan, Bryant, James, Wade, Paul, Howard. That’s the elite of the elite.

By: Robby

Robby — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:13:28 +0000

The purpose of signing McDyess and Ratliff is to mix youth with experience… we already have enough young bigs in Blair, Mahinmi and Haislip…
Veteran players most of the time have high Basketball IQ (see Dice and he is hungry to win a title as it is with Ratliff).If youre thinking we should sign somebody else (like Gooden, Bass etc…) i think the reason are pretty ovious these guys will ask more money, and we can also argue that atleast McDyess is more proven than guys you’ve mentioned… Ratliff will only be used for short stints so i’d say for the minimum and 1 yr. he is a good signing.

By: Tim

Tim — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 05:57:56 +0000

I love McDyess and Theo is ok but why did our beloved spurs just sign two old guys? It kinda goes against everything we started to do this summer with the signings of Blair and RJ. Brandon Bass or Drew Gooden or Channing Frye, Glen Davis, cough cough Rasho, would all be younger and your choice if you think they are better worse or even players. Hope our spurs will be ok this year. Do you see that we need to do anything else this summer? Or do you see any other moves coming on the horizon? Been a great summer, we’ve lost nobody of importance and gained RJ, Dice, Theo and Blair. Exciting year ahead.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:21:33 +0000

What I think people mean by decline is that Tim Duncan isn’t the crafty, aggressive player who dunked on pretty much everyone that he used to be in his younger years.

However the man still does put up 20 and 10. People need to be careful when they use the word “decline” with Duncan

By: Robby

Robby — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:37:15 +0000

The Duncan decline has been mentioned since 2006 or 2007 (i guess?) but still we won 1 ring since its been an issue… i think its getting more focus now because:
1. Injured his knees last season, and we all know
he is not 100% during the playoffs.

and

2. We are stcked up so much with BIGS to help out
Duncan this upcoming season.

But if you look at his numbers… there’s hardly a decline. He is so consistent despite the fact that he had played 12 straight years without missing the playoffs. To my mind, Timmy D. has at the very least 2-3 good years left in him…

By: Timothy Varner

Timothy Varner — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:59:27 +0000

The Duncan decline thing is overblown.

By: SpursfanSteve

SpursfanSteve — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:49:37 +0000

Kobe is a shooter- and a common maxim is the shot is the last thing to go. I think thats one of the reasons hes not getting the type of attention regarding declining that Duncan has.

By: Rye

Rye — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:40:45 +0000

I guess there’s more evidence to go on that Duncan has, or is in the process of, declining, but how come nobody even entertains the idea with Bryant? At 31 (by the start of next season) he’ll have more mileage on his body than anyone in the history of the game at that point, with very little down time the past two years. He is due to begin to decline as well, but it’s as if people have gotten so caught up in the NBA attempting to market him with their next generation of superstars (James, Wade, Howard, Paul, etc.) that it’s become almost forgotten how old he is by NBA standards.

It’s also completely overlooked how well Duncan was playing before the All-Star break last season. That was, if not exactly, then close to the Duncan from his MVP years. He was carrying the Spurs and playing as well as anyone in the league. But, of course as usual, that got little to no attention nationally, because it didn’t involve Bryant, James, or the Celtics.

By: McShane

McShane — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:21:22 +0000

I am inclined to say that winning games is very much correlated with winning a championship. Simply put, it gives a team an edge in two ways – homecourt advantage, and a mental edge.

It is quite possible that 64 wins means more to the Spurs than 60 wins.

Yes, staying healthy is ultimately their primary concern.

But a Spurs team without a number of vets is still a formidable team. It might not come down to losing 4 more games.

By: BB

BB — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:38:58 +0000

If any of that stuff translates to the NBA, he’ll be pretty dangerous. I have some major doubts about that, but I’d like to be proven wrong.

By: bigtee

bigtee — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:21:23 +0000

I think Marcus Haislip spells the end of bonner. heres a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyiK5nf95Cs if he plays half this good it’s better than bonner shooting, can create off the dribble, and the D. I’m excited to see this guy.

By: andrizzle

andrizzle — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:12:01 +0000

Every Laker fan talks about Jefferson’s + – and how it was not efficient last year. Thats because he was on a bad team. Now that he doesn’t have to carry a large load, his efficiency will go up. As for Haislip, who knows how he will be now in the NBA after fixing his game in Europe. He may be a surprise player in the NBA this year.

By: James

James — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:45:39 +0000

Yea Kaveh, I think you’ve posted this for the tenth time already…get some more material man!

By: BB

BB — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:27:06 +0000

Kaveh – didn’t you make that same argument about RJ’s +/- on the Bucks a week ago? Quit trolling.

And Simmons, though he is at times annoying with his digressions and not very strict about his evaluations, he definitely knows his basketball. I will always respect a guy who watches every game, every season over one who prefers to sort the data.