Comments on: On the Five Game Winning Streak

By: Ruffy

Ruffy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:55:29 +0000

We just gone from second to third in a five-gear box. The improvement is apparent, but there’s a lot more to go.

Legler will regret his hubris.

By: Les Spurs attendent plus de Richard Jefferson | Basket USA - Toute la NBA au quotidien

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:31:27 +0000

[...] invoquer le temps d’adaptation aux systèmes pour expliquer ces absences défensives mais le blog 48 minutes of Hell rappelle qu’en défense, la qualité principalement attendue est l’intensité et Richard donne [...]

By: SpursfanSteve

SpursfanSteve — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:42:41 +0000

Excellent point bigtee. I’m looking forward to the matchup tomorrow night, especially hoping to see Hill try to stop Rondo. If Kirk Heinrich (Chicago) can do it, i bet he can. They almost brawled last year and Rondo went running when it got too intense. I dont see Hill backing down.

By: bigtee

bigtee — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:37:29 +0000

Im glad to see Kaveh is down on Rj. Hopefully the trend of will continue, as in last week he pointed out how bad McDyess is and that we shouldn’t expect much from him. McDyess only dropped 15 and 14 that night.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:32:17 +0000

I know we were not supposed to beat the Lakers this season (nobody can do that) but we were supposed to challenge them… I really thought we would be the 2nd best team in the NBA this year. I don’t know what is going on… I still have to believe by the end of the season nobody besides LA will have a better team.

By: mikrobass

mikrobass — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:37:37 +0000

here’s a thought: i figure one big factor we lost last season’s playoff series was the poor play and shooting of bonner, mason and finley. and sure, those guys are shooting well now, but are they gonna disappear again in the playoffs when defensive intensities are higher and their looks aren’t quite as open?

By: BB

BB — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:42:31 +0000

I think Hobson’s comparison of RJ to Brent Barry is apt – Pop can’t really mold his defensive play as if he were a rookie. It takes some time for a veteran to develop the good defensive habits of a model Spurs forward, or even the scrappy intensity exhibited by our less coventionally solid guards. As long as he works on it, he’s doing his job.

As far as asserting himself on offense, maybe we should hire S. Jax as his life coach.

By: doggydogworld

doggydogworld — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:29:37 +0000

RJ has been unable to jump, at least off his left leg, for the past week or so. Don’t know if it’s injury or what. The first time I saw him go up for a dunk and fail to clear the rim I figured he jumped wrong. But it’s happened 3 or 4 times now, including once at Houston and once in the 76ers game.

By: hobson13

hobson13 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:14:14 +0000

Kaveh,

I don’t think anyone expects RJ to score 20ppg or morph into Kobe, but it is obvious that he has not found his way on the offensive end. In the last 4 games he has taken 7,8, 5, and 9 shots. Thats ridiculous if you also take into account that Ginobili has been out. Over the last 4 games George Hill has taken as many shots!! Mason has taken more!! When Duncan and Parker were gone, and Manu and RJ were running the show, he was a stat sheet stuffer and he shot the ball well. This leads me to believe that he is either being too unselfish or is not being aggressive enough. I personally believe its the latter.

I agree that RJ is somewhat of a volume shooter, but he is on a much better team than in the past. A team that can create open shots for him instead of him being on a pitiful Bucks team where he had to do it all. He should be a much more efficient shooter this season compared to previous ones and I think he will once he finds his way.

The RJ situation reminds me of the Brent Barry situation a few years ago. Barry was a downtown bomber, but his first year was a bit rocky and he always seemed to be looking over his shoulder when he missed a shot. Finally Pop told him to just chill and shoot the damned ball. After a while, Barry played good defense (at least by his standards) knocked down his shots, and became a critical component to the team.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:53:54 +0000

Kaveh,

of course if you expect mediocrity from him you won’t be disappointed. If we expect the spurs to lose every game we wouldn’t be disappointed either.

Rj is not and never will be the best player on a contender. He’s best when he’s the 3rd option, as seen with the two nets teams. He will do fine here in SA.

Playing with new guys means you have to figure preferences out with each other. Not every trade works out like the gasol trade. I can’t count how many times RJ would cut and other Spurs would turn the ball over because they were expecting something else. Chemistry matters, and regardless of his shots, RJ isn’t entirely on the same page yet.

By: Kaveh

Kaveh — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:14:24 +0000

I see a lot of people are a bit down on RJ. The problem is NOT that he hasn’t been playing well since being a Spur. The problem is that he has never been a good player, whether this year or year’s past. I said it over and over in the offseason and was flamed a few times on this forum for it, but RJ is an AVERAGE nba player and a bad fit for the Spurs. His defense is bad and has always been bad. On the offensive side, he is a VOLUME shooter, an inefficient player. His numbers were good last year because he was the focal point of the offense, or one of them. He doesn’t fit in with the Spurs, because in SA he is a 4th option at best.

Anyone thinking that RJ is really a great player, just that he is not playing that great right now, is underer a great misapprehension. RJ is an average NBA player. Expect mediocrity from him and you won’t be disappointed.

By: Dr. Theopolus

Dr. Theopolus — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:11:23 +0000

RJ can show intensity when he’s put in a place to actually perform, like in that one road game early in the year (was it Portland when he threw down that monstrous dunk on Oden… I think?)

Anyway, once the stars returned he took a back seat, just like Hill did last year. It may seem odd to compare RJ to Hill but their learning curve to the team seems somewhat similar. In fact, this is often the biggest problem with new players to our team – they want to fit in and play the team game, yet the fans and probably the coaches are hoping for them to play more assertively. This repeating situation seems to be a hidden kink in the system because players want to feel like they belong before they are emboldened to assert themselves.

Don’t worry about the ego. We need the id.

By: SpursfanSteve

SpursfanSteve — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:26:52 +0000

Mostly because they arent needed, if i had to guess. Playing 15 deep would be completely insane, and the team wouldnt be able to gel. If i had to guess, if they are still around next year it will be their year (although it’s likely Haislip and Ian will have to fight Splitter for minutes). Finley will (likely) be gone and that will open up room for Hairston. This year, though, i doubt they are part of our 12 best players.

By: Hicksy

Hicksy — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:25:29 +0000

All good lots of upsides lets just hope the team can come together as expected.
@Hobson13 I think your spot on Tony doesn’t have to score 20ppg every night and is learning to pass more sometimes he does look out of sinc for this reason.
As always I’d like to see more of Hairston/Haslip and Mahinmi to see if they can do what we brought them here to do.
Any reason’s why they’re not playing?

By: lvmainman

lvmainman — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:09:44 +0000

Next 3 games vs Celtics, Nuggets, and Jazz will be a barometer as to where the Spurs stand. Winning 5 in a row against non- championship caliber teams might help with chemistry but otherwise is insignificant.

I’ll be pleased if we can go 2-1.