Saturday, October 16th, 2010...11:25 pm
Preseason: San Antonio Spurs 108, Caja Laboral 85
AT&T CENTER — It was close at first. And then the San Antonio Spurs made it look easy. It wasn’t, but that’s how they made it look. The Spurs outrebounded Caja Laboral by 18 rebounds on the night in the Spurs’ 108-85 win at the AT&T Center. 18 of San Antonio’s 58 rebounds were of the offensive variety, and Caja Laboral had no way stopping the Spurs inside.
Tony Parker got layup after layup at the hoop, and if he didn’t make one he got fouled instead. Parker led the Spurs with 22 points and added four rebounds, two assists and three steals for good measure. Parker also shot 4-4 from the free throw line.
Caja Laboral ran a lot of sets designed to get open 3-pointers for their guards on the wings, often running players through two or three down-screens near the blocks. Unfortunately for Caja Laboral, their players weren’t hitting shots. As a team, Caja shot just 37.5% from the field and only 27% (7-26) from behind the 3-point line.
“I think they had a tough night shooting,” Spurs head Coach Gregg Popovich said after the game. “I think they’re better shooters than we saw tonight.”
When Caja Laboral’s offensive possessions were one shot and out, and their defensive possessions allowed one or two or even three shots, there wasn’t much hope for success. DeJuan Blair had five offensive rebounds and Matt Bonner had three. Tim Duncan had another five, most in the second half.
Garrett Temple played almost 14 minutes for the Spurs with the regular rotation players, backing up Tony Parker in George Hill’s absence. Hill didn’t play Saturday night because he was in Indianapolis for personal reasons.
Temple scored eight points and added two rebounds and three assists in his time against Caja Laboral. The shift Temple put in gave every impression that he’ll be on the opening roster as a reserve guard when the regular season starts.
10 Comments
October 17th, 2010 at 12:03 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by San Antonio Spurs, Andrew A. McNeill. Andrew A. McNeill said: 48MoH / Preseason: San Antonio Spurs 108, Caja Laboral 85 http://dlvr.it/77KXG [...]
October 17th, 2010 at 1:11 am
What was the deal with the foul on Timmy? I only know about it because I saw the highlights on nba.com. I’ve never seen him go down like that. Hope it wasn’t anything serious.
October 17th, 2010 at 7:39 am
@NYC: I watched the game. He was poked in the eye (it was really painful for him), but after a stay in the locker room, he was back in the game for a few minutes proving he could still see by hitting a few shots. It was scary seeing him on the floor for a while, but thankfully he’s fine.
October 17th, 2010 at 9:20 am
i like the idea of temple being a rotation player. we can have offensive and defenaive options at the reserve guard position with he and gary neal. looks like we could be working on a solid defensive back court with temple, hill, ans anderson.
October 17th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
From Draft Express on Anderson, 2009:
“…..While he is certainly at his best when he can catch and shoot, Anderson is pretty effective shooting off the dribble, able to get good elevation under his shot. There is no question now that he is a top flight perimeter shooter, connecting on 42.5% of his over six attempts per game from this range……
The biggest hindrance for Anderson continues to be his less than stellar ball-handling skills, particularly with his right hand. An excellent athlete, he is able to compensate a lot of the time thanks to his quickness off the dribble and ability to improvise while in the air, but improving this aspect of his game would make him a much more dangerous scorer……
……..It is clear that he has become a smarter defender as well and his instincts have made definite strides, resulting in an increased number of steals and blocked shots this season. At times last year Anderson would seem to lose track of his assignment on the floor, but he seems to have cut down on these mental lapses in the later part of this season. Overall, with his size, athleticism and wingspan, he is a very pesky defender who shows improving instincts at this end of the floor.”
From Draft Express, 2010:
“….More than just a spot-up shooter, about a third of Anderson’s jumpers come off the dribble, of which he converts an excellent 43.4% according to Synergy Sports Technology. At 6-6, he needs very little space to get his shot off, as despite getting just average elevation on his jumper, he is able to fade away and create enough separation from his defender to get a good look, while still holding his mechanics steady…..
……Not sporting an amazing first step, Anderson takes a measured approach to his slashing game, letting things come to him and playing the game at his own unique pace. He’s very under control and thus turns the ball over at an extremely low rate considering how heavy of an offensive load he’s forced to shoulder.”
By the way, Anderson has the same max vertical leap as Derrick Favors and Blake Griffin (35.5 inches). And if the following clip is an accurate indication, I’d say that Anderson’s a pretty decent athlete. Once he upgrades his ball-handling, he could be pretty dangerous. But have some patience with him, he’s still just 21 years old. Give Pop & Co. a little time to facilitate his development. I think it’s reasonable to suspect that his ceiling could be higher than many would initially anticipate. We’ll see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjO82Qxo2Wc
October 17th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Its amazing how well the Spurs develop players to get the Max out of their talents. I think a good bit of this is because with the Spurs draft choices are not required to be in the starting lineup from day one. Having the luxury to be worked with to refine their skills makes players who have significantly better developed games. It allows the Hill’s, Blair’s, and Anderson’s to achieve more from the skills they have than if they were drafted by the Clippers or Nets or …….??
October 17th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Jim Henderson
October 17th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I’ve heard many “experts” claim that Anderson is only an average athlete. However, I’ve never really understood this claim nor been given an indepth explanation as to why he is viewed as only “average.” To me, the eye test says that while he is not a super athlete, he is at least above average. If you look at several of his dunks on this highlight film, one can clearly see that he has good elevation.
While it is widely believed that Anderson was one of the most NBA ready picks, it still appears he has a way to go if he is to become a really good player in this league. However, IMO, he got picked by a team that is one of the best in the department of player development. Look at the progress Hill has made in 2 short years. I’ve heard experts recount how deplorable Hill was 2 summers ago and now he is one of the better (if not best) young combo guards in the league. Also look at Blair. He was a good player (for a rookie) last year, but after 4 preseason games (I know it’s a bit early to tell) he looks to be an impact player on a perennial playoff team that has good veteran big men.
My point is this: There are a number of organizations that consistently have a top 15 draft pick and yet those teams rarely even make the playoffs with excellent, young talent. I think it may take Anderson 2-3 years to really reach his potential, but the Spurs, like GitErDun said, are a great team at maxing out talent. Anderson is an above average SG in many regards so look for Anderson to be a very nice, large SG who can score and defend better than the league average SG.
October 17th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
[...] are already three deep at point guard, featuring a depth chart of Tony Parker, George Hill, and Garrett Temple. Additionally, because of financial reasons, the Spurs plan to keep no more than a fourteen man [...]
October 17th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Hobson13
October 17th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
As far as I can tell the part of Anderson’s game that will hold him back from going to the next level is his “mediocre” at best handle for a SG. But I think he can improve significantly in this area with the Spurs, who as you said, are one of the best organizations in the league in player development. And like Hill & Blair before him, I think Anderson is “teachable” and has the work ethic to make big progress over the next 2 years. He already has a sweet stroke with superior range, which will only improve as his confidence grows. If he can develop his ball-handling to the point where he becomes a dangerous creator/scorer off the dribble, that along with his size and shooting from deep could make him a scary cover for many opposing SG’s. Also with Anderson’s size & above average hops he could be a much better than average rebounder for a SG. I would think they he could “potentially” get to 18 & 5 someday. Probably someone like John Salmons is the most reasonable upside for Anderson over the next 3-5 years.
October 18th, 2010 at 5:47 am
[...] the team’s leading scorers, DeJuan Blair’s impact was still felt in last night’s 108-85 victory over Caja Caja Laboral, leading the way to the Spurs 18 rebound [...]
Leave a Reply