Comments on: An Early Assessment of Team Defense

By: evin

evin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:31:34 +0000

oops

By: evin

evin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:25:47 +0000

Rye,

Thank you for commenting. My god I thought I was the only one. I was going crazy.

You are spot-on in the assessment of Bonner. The sooner the Spurs figure this out the better.

We are not going to win a championship, much less get the playoffs, unless we get a traditional young big to start or come off the bench.

By: evin

evin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:24:39 +0000

Rye,

Thank you for commenting. My god I thought I was the only one. I was going crazy.

You are spot-on in the assessment of Bonner. The sooner the Spurs figure this out the better.

We are not going to win a championship, much less get the playoff, unless we get a traditional young big to start or come off the bench.

By: Artis Gilmore

Artis Gilmore — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:59:42 +0000

Awesome stats man! Appreciate the digs

By: ROHAN

ROHAN — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:58:30 +0000

give hairston some minutes…………

By: 'DSilverlining

'DSilverlining — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:44:17 +0000

Pop…why so stubborn? sj_papi.

Because he’s as old as dirt and batty as hell

By: Basketball Product News » Monday Bullets

Basketball Product News » Monday Bullets — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:11:59 +0000

[...] Tim Varner of 48 Minutes of Hell: “The Spurs’ early struggles owe themselves almost entirely to lousy defense, especially in terms of rebounding and contesting shots near the hoop. The problem is neither with schemes (the Spurs typically dominate the defensive glass) nor with the personnel (the roster has more than enough shot blocking and rebounding talent). The team simply needs to adjust the minutes within the rotation and feature more of its traditional bigs.” [...]

By: philbelin

philbelin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:01:16 +0000

Maybe if the Spurs can’t play killer D for 3 quarters, they play a more offense-oriented style until the 4th quarter, and then start to buckle down in the 4th. Run & gun for 3, then play the D-oriented team in the 4th. That might work better for saving the old guys, too.

By: sj_papi

sj_papi — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:32:07 +0000

All great points. I think anyone who watches the SPURS and who has kept up with the new players during the Summer is still scratching their heads over the line-ups so far this season. We rag on Bonner and Finely, but really, I’m starting to question Pop. The Hall of Fame coach that he is, I think that he’s just overthinking things and it’s just not working. I’m sure none of the analysis in this article is any mystery to Pop. The staff has access to any and all statistical data you can come up with.. so why so stubborn? PLAY THE YOUNG GUYS. It just seems that we’re putting line-ups out there to put more points up but SPURS basketball has never been about that. If the team is gonna be a serious contender this year, we got to do a better job of leveling the playing field by playing some of our own young, athletic players. What I saw from the young guys this Summer, especially Hairston, they’re ready. Can Pop take that leap of faith?

By: manu-20

manu-20 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:12:32 +0000

Great read I agree that the spurs are saving Ratliff and McDyess min for the long run. I disagree that Keith Bogans didnt help the team. He was our best permeiter defender agaisnt the Blazers and Roy. Watch some footage of the game again Bogans did a great job of deying Roy and anyone he palyed the ball. He deftinley earned himself another start. He had 4 rebounds in 25 min. What I dont understand is how you say Finley is a better rebounder. Bogans had 4 rebounds and finley hasnt even had more than 2 yet.

By: Area Man

Area Man — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:41:13 +0000

Great read.

Watching the front-courts of the Bulls, Jazz and Blazers get one offensive rebound after another after another, made me throw up in my mouth. I realize that those teams have more athletes around the rim than the Spurs do, but the number of second chance points the Spurs are giving up is just ridiculous.

Preventing teams from having a field day on the 3-point line is nice and all. But it doesn’t amount to jack, if the Spurs can’t limit their opponents to one shot attempt on the defensive end.

Meanwhile, Malik Hairston and Yawn Mahinmi need to be freed from the Men’s Wearhouse end of the bench. I wondered why Pop didn’t think he could’ve given those two a look against the young, spring-loaded lineups of Chicago, Utah and Portland. I get the feeling Hairston could surprise him the same way George Hill did last season …if given the chance.

By: Rye

Rye — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:36:10 +0000

I’m tired of the excuse to play Bonner being “he stretches the floor”, as if to say the Spurs can’t be successful without a 40% 3-point shooting big. Except for the fact that other than Bonner they’ve never had that in the Duncan era. Everyone always brings up Horry, but for as clutch a shooter as he was, he was never a high percentage 3 point shooter.

Guys like Rose, Nesterovic and Thomas could effectively shoot from mid-range, but couldn’t shoot from beyond that. Mohammed, Oberto and Elson had limited shooting range. Championships were won with those bigs, at one time or another, surrounding Duncan (save for Thomas).

The point is in reality the Spurs can do without Bonner just fine. The team has enough good shooters from mid and long range to keep the floor adequately spaced and many of these players contribute more in various areas so as to not be complete liabilities.

Bonner should be splitting 4th big duties with Ratliff and used depending on the situation. Some night’s he can be used for 15-20 minutes, other night’s he shouldn’t be used at all.

If this team is going to get back to play stellar defense, then it starts with pairing Duncan with another big man. He’s not Howard. At this stage in his career he can’t effectively guard the paint by himself and asking him to cover that much ground is only putting further strain on his knees.

The contradictory talk about wanting to be a top 3 defensive team (then starting the 2 worst defenders on the team who also aren’t amongst the top 8 players on the team) has to stop as does this myth about Bonner being more vital than he is in reality because of his ability to stretch the floor.

By: Hardwood Paroxysm » Blog Archive » Great Exercises In NBA-Related Internet Postings 11.8.09

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:34:01 +0000

[...] things in San Antonio, where the Spurs are struggling because of their fundamentals. Like Ron Artest running out of [...]

By: SpurredOn

SpurredOn — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:19:25 +0000

Excellent post. Yes, it made me feel a bit better by confirming some things I already thought. But it also taught me some new stuff and was a great overall breakdown and analysis.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:16:57 +0000

You don’t need to look at a bunch of stats to see that the Spurs are getting beaten by the close-to-mid range game. To say it isn’t a perimeter defensive issue is wrong as the scorers have to get into the seams from somewhere? I remember when the perimeter ethos was to funnel players to the baseline. That isn’t happening anymore.

The Stat geeks really do bug me. They will never replace someone who actually has a mind and feel for the game. I do however believe that the stats can be good indicators, but I guarantee that Pop knows exactly what is going on, on the court without any statistical representation.