Comments on: Spurs vs. Spurs, Training Camp Scrimmage

By: yoyo

yoyo — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:15:47 +0000

Hairston is explosive and will make the team and contribute. better on the wing with 3s, D, taking it to the hole than others. I think he has starting potential and better potential than mason. more athletic and stronger.

williams good and great potential and would rather trade finley and his expiring contract and keep williams. will make good point foward.

PG: parker, hill, ??? we need a 3rd PG
SG: manu, mason, hairston
SF: jefferson, finley, bogans
PF: duncan, blair, bonner
C: mcD, ratliff, mahinmi

haslip vs williams? haslip contract likely guaranteed. I say keep williams as point foward and trade finley!!!

We need perimeter D and hopefully it’ll work out

By: Tydus

Tydus — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:07:46 +0000

H-Town Up SA Town Down
October 5th, 2009 at 7:43 pm The Rockets will dominate the Spurs on Tuesday. The Spurs were once a team to be reckoned with, but now the Spurs are nothing more than washed up scrubs. Duncan needs to retire, Manu will get hurt as usual, and Tony will struggle to carry the team. Give up Spurs fan.

-This coming from Houston where the stars never stay healthy.

Anyways, I watched the scrimmage on Spurs.com and for the most part I like what I saw.
McDyess, Ratliff, and Jefferson all played well and seemed to fit in very well with what the team was doing.

I am nowhere near convinced that Marcus Williams deserves a roster spot. I firmly believe that this guy is case of “should have stayed in college a little longer”. That said, I’m not in love with Jerrells. I liked what I saw from him more than Williams but he still didn’t seem function as well as he could have.

Malik Hairston is ridiculous. He just sent a message to Williams, Jerrells, and Dwayne Jones that the last roster spot is his and they all need to send thier resumes elsewhere.

I think R.C. Buford can now rest easier knowing that he officially has an ass-kicking forward in the line up with Blair. And I agree with the line above. If Dejuan gets enough minutes he will contend for ROY. He wont win on account of not being named Blake Griffin, but he will definitly produce. (god willing he’ll throw Thabeet over his shoulder again when the Spurs play the Grizzlies)

As for everyone else they pretty much played as they were expected to. Even Tim Duncan. I know he might as well have just kept his warm ups on, but after a summer of not playing I didn’t expect to come out and go for 20-15.

By: H-Town Up SA Town Down

H-Town Up SA Town Down — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:43:08 +0000

The Rockets will dominate the Spurs on Tuesday. The Spurs were once a team to be reckoned with, but now the Spurs are nothing more than washed up scrubs. Duncan needs to retire, Manu will get hurt as usual, and Tony will struggle to carry the team. Give up Spurs fan.

By: Rye

Rye — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:24:15 +0000

No reason to play all of the veterans in back-t0-backs at all this year? How about to build chemistry and to set a playoff rotation? I’m all for resting these guys, particularly the more significant ones when it absolutely makes sense (during a 4 games in 5 day stretch or even a back-t0-back in which an inferior or 2 opponent is mixed in), but not all the time.

This team could potentially push the Lakers for the number 1 seed in the West. They shouldn’t push at all costs, but they also shouldn’t just concede either.

As for the depth, sure a guy like Haislip looks impressive now, but he’s not a proven NBA player and guys like Ratliff and Bogans are merely defensive specialists.

Haiston the 8th or 9th man? I’m willing to admit I may have missed the boat about Williams having the “inside track” to the 15th roster spot, but I’d be absolutely stunned if Hairston were even regularly on the active roster. If he makes it, I think he’ll primarily be with the Toros.

By: Crow

Crow — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:14:36 +0000

His raw +/- is inflated by playing next to Duncan and his Adjusted +/- comes from a lot of time in that favorable shadow but Adjusted does try to account for how good Duncan is. It is saying Bonner is performing well above what an average player does in any context or a similar one. But contexts are different and Adjusted’s ability to level them all to the same playing field is not certain.

By: DoesAnyoneRememberLaughter

DoesAnyoneRememberLaughter — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:41:42 +0000

Of all the Spur’s preseason scrimmages I’ve attended this was the most fun and interesting due to HALF the team not having been there last season. Big part of me is very thankful we did not have to trade any of the big three for such a big overhaul. I know of many other teams in the league in which this has been a reality (Orlando).

The game had some really fun notes as well, such as all the long, skinny big men San Antonio has (new-look Duncan, Ratliff, Bonner, and Mahinmi) and then short, stout, Blair. He’s the same height as Jefferson, and he plays small forward on the wing. This will make his victories that much sweeter. He was humiliating Bonner out there.

As for the sit-a-veteran policy, it’s going to create quite the scandal if they’ll be more nights like last year’s Denver game. Many fans who have paid money for the Spurs expirience expect to see the teams stars at least do something in the game, and will be greatly disappointed. Myself included. I am aware of the reality of the championship window depending on such unorthodox practices (I cannot think of another team that does this, aside from the last few games of the season), but there is also the reality of people feeling ripped off when they see healthy players on the bench and treated only to the Spurs*. No amount of warning will justify that to the fans, especially those not living in San Antonio who only have a few opportunities to see their favorite players when they come to town.

*May not include face of the franchise and greatest power forward of all time Tim Duncan, all-star French point guard Tony Parker, or the greatest Argentine to ever play the game, Manu Ginobili.

By: Jaceman

Jaceman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:19:50 +0000

I find Bonner’s +/- to be somewhat inflated given who he always plays next to. I’m inclined to lean towards major big man minutes to go somewhere between Haislip and Blair.

By: Crow

Crow — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:13:28 +0000

Bonner’s often under-rated. How much Pop sticks with him will be interesting to see. His Adjusted +/- last season suggested he fit the role he was given quite well, at least regular season.

By: Twitted by rita202109

Twitted by rita202109 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:33:26 +0000

[...] This post was Twitted by rita202109 [...]

By: SA_Ray

SA_Ray — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:48:47 +0000

I attended the open practice also.
I was just watching as a fan as opposed to an analyst but here were my thoughts during the game.
-When Manu was on the court I watched him carefully. He didn’t seem to be favoring any ankle, wasn’t afraid to drive or shoot and even had a beautiful behind the back pass. I wish he took every summer off.
-Blair looks like he could provide instant impact of the bench. Rebounding, running for lose balls and abusing poor Bonner on offense. His D still needs some work but the Spurs isn’t an easy system to learn. I hope Pop gives him minutes.
-McDyess looked like he had been playing with the Spurs for years.
-RJ looked a little out of sync in the offensive set but he can still create his own shot at will.
-Marcus Williams likes to dribble the ball, a lot.
-Hill just strikes me as more confident. Hard to describe really.
-The idea of Finley and Bonner coming of the bench, instead of starting, really adds to our depth.

By: NL

NL — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:19:04 +0000

Thanks for posting this is great. This may be included in a separate post but this was interesting from The Express:

George Hill has been the most exciting part of training camp thus far,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich declared. “He has really welcomed the responsibility we’ve given him to be the backup point; to not only play defense, but to be explosive offensively and show additional leadership at the point.

“He’s doing all those things. The summertime really helped him, and he has been the most impressive of anybody in camp to this point.”

Exciting stuff.

By: Robby

Robby — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:44:34 +0000

Nice post! the Spurs will be tough to beat and I agree with Rick, Bonner is a useful player in the Spurs system. This year he is not a starter and 10-15 minutes of productive minutes from him is reasonable…. Blair, Hill and Hairston looked good.

By: Rick Ashford

Rick Ashford — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:02:13 +0000

That should say, “bring him off the bench as a stretch 4…”.

That’s what I get for writing this on my phone.

By: Rick Ashford

Rick Ashford — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:00:34 +0000

I think Bonner is still useful, as long as he’s running with the second team. He was our starting “center” last year, and that was a bit much. But bring him off the bench 4 who has the all-important corporate knowledge…? There’s some value in that.

By: Tydus

Tydus — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:10:36 +0000

When the spurs spread four shooters out and let Parker go to work are they gonna have Duncan spotted at one of the elbow spots?

His stroke looked pretty good in that video.