NBA Playbook on Richard Jefferson

Lets just give the Lakers more depth & veteran defense on the perimeter:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AveD9VQPUqOY41Hzi6ShO.u8vLYF?slug=ys-barneslakers072210

Very good stuff, indeed.

I think Pop will adjust the offense. RJ is our only SF and Pop knows it’ll never work having him stand in the corner. They put in a few plays for him in the 2nd half, but there’s a limit to how much you can do in-season. And while Tony may not be able to hit him consistently on cuts Tim can and Tiago is supposed to be a very good passer.

I have no idea how sensible this sounds, but if you take Jefferson’s PER and/or other reliable efficiency stats and divide by his earnings to find out how much “efficiency” our dollars bought us, you will be enraged. Compare to his days in NJ, and you will begin to froth at the mouth.

The most interesting thing I took from the video was when RC said (paraphrasing), “We wouldn’t have been as good a team had we not retained RJ.”

Basically, RC’s saying that a Hairston/Gee/Temple or some similar combo would not have made up for RJ’s production and made the team worse. Either he’s insinuating he expects more out of RJ in season 2 (more than what we otherwise would have gotten), or that the combo of young guys isn’t ready for full time duty just yet, or both. As someone who has argued for trying out the young guys and letting RJ walk, I really hope RC is right.

At this point, let’s just hope we can get some quality minutes in reserve from Hairston, Anderson, Temple, Gee, etc….

James may have started a pathetic trend will ultimately prove negative for the sport:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5401230

yeah, it’s a sad trend that likely puts the spurs future as championship contenders at risk.

it looks like the knicks will win out on this one. with eddy curry’s expiring and a few young pieces, i think they have more of what the hornets want than we do.

There are some small market teams that are poised to compete with the likes of Miami and other superteams. OKC is only some maturity and a good big man away. Sacramento may have hit the jackpot with Cousins and can build around him and Evans. For the good of the NBA, I would rather see Chris Paul go to Portland, or even Dallas, than New York, even if that would make it tougher on the Spurs.

@ TradeTP

I’m disappointed. You roped the anti-Pop, anti-RJ, and anti-TP rants into a seemingly unrelated posts, but you somehow left out the anti-Bonner rant?!? That’s unlike you…..

@ Ballhog: Only thing I’m going to reply to any of that is about Shaq - he wants too much CASH! We only have part of MLE and the LLE available, and he wants at least the full MLE.

It’s a pipe dream. Let it go!

“RC still looks like he has downs”

lmao!

I thought the same thing when he was biting his bottom lip and shifting his eyes around with that creepy yet juvenile smirk on his face.

@ TradeTP

I don’t expect to change your mind, but I’ll try anway.

I guess the thing that irks me about your anti-Pop rants (besides the fact that your posts are always negative and anti-just-about-every-thing) is that you seem to pin every loss on him, and treat every victory as a win in spite of his coaching blunders. As you might expect, I hardly agree with that.

To me, the true test of a coach is very simple: At the end of the year, when it counts the most (i.e. playoffs), does the coach have his team peaking? If so, he’s done his job. If not, he’s failed. And really, isn’t playing your best basketball as a team come playoff time by far the most important responsibility of the coach? At the NBA level, seeds aren’t too important, especially for the true title contenders - the best team is going to win a 7 game series virtually every time, regardless of home court advantage, right?

To answer the question above, I would say “Yes.” The Spurs ended the regular season playing the best basketball of the year; the type of basketball we expected from the start. As a result, we knocked off a #2 seed (who Pop outcoached btw), and lost to a Phoenix team, who quite frankly, was simply better than us. It wouldn’t have mattered if Norman Dale was on the bench, we still would have lost. PHX made plays, we didn’t, end of story.

Look at the Celtics last year. They didn’t exactly set the world on fire in the regular season, but come playoff time, they were fantastic. And for that, you can’t help but give credit to their coaching staff for knowing their players better than anyone, while just about all their fans (including Bill Simmons) left them for dead.

So we didn’t win the championship this year. But us falling short of our ultimate goal doesn’t necessarily mean the coach deserves a failing grade. I’ve never been a believer that only a championship equals success. Again, if the coach has his team playing their best when it counts, what else can you realistically ask for? Let the chips fall where they may at that point.

I also happen think the anti-Pop stance is sort of victim-of-his-own-success scenario. We’ve grown accostomed to a level of success that only a handful of franchises in the history of modern sports have ever achieved. Could it be that we’re somewhat spoiled? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily (I think that’s actually a good thing), but not to the point we’re set to run every coach off that fails to win a ring - that would be shortsided.

Instead, the measure of a coach should be simple: Get the team playing their best basketball come playoffs, and that’s something Pop has done virtually every year in SA. And if we win a ring? Great. If not? Oh well, it just wasn’t meant to be.

I guess you could call this my pro-Pop rant.

Pop is widely considered one of the top coaches in the game by people who know the game (in contrast to Ballhog). The Spurs lost to the Suns because they are starting to show their age on defense, especially guarding the pick and roll. The Suns are or were the best P&R team in basketball. Plus Duncan is no longer dominating on offense night in and night out. A bad matchup and not a whole lot you can do about it unless you have a time machine. Signing Splitter and the growth of Hill gives the Spurs hope though. Sit back, enjoy watching them, and realize that Pop knows more about basketball than you can ever hope to.

Oh, and if you want an example of Pop outcoaching someone, go all the way back to the most recent Mavs-Spurs series.

Go Spurs

@ Jim

It has been a minute…Hope all is well.

As for your take on the 5

I don’t know how you define “true center”, but Splitter is clearly a “center”. If by true you mean Shaq, well, that’s more like “freak of nature”. Splitter might be on the “light” side, but he’s also nearly 7 feet tall. Pairing him with Duncan provides decent size at the 4/5 spot (better than last year).

Splitter comes in as a rookie. Even if he plays half way decent, the physical play of NBA bigs is gonna whip on him for some time before he adjusts.

Not to mention, he wont get any calls. Just as Bonner wont get calls.

Splitter and Duncan in the low post, backed by Mcdyess and Blair, just wont get it done.

I used the Lakers as my example because they went out and got pieces…Piesces that can help now. As for Ratliff…He is serviceable for what he brings. He was effective during his career, effective and starting in Charlotte, and now signed with Lakers..

Strange thing is….He couldnt play here. Not good enough.

Also, seems we really could have gotten value in Matt Barnes. Though I doubt that he was willing to play for this coach. Sure he has lots of company in that sense around the leauge.

My point is that this team has been trying to win with substandard talent for some time now. The addition of Anderson is nice, if, and only if, Pop doesnt destroy his confidence, limit his minutes, and stunt his growth…Same goes for Neal and Richards.

Too many 6’4-6’6 guys. Roster not well assembled at all.

Houston is better, and bigger..

Dallas is better…Lets just hope they dont sign Kayman…

Lakers are better…Barnes and Blake were huge pick ups…

Then there is Denver, Utah, Memphis, OKC, and Portland….

I just dont see the Spurs adding the proper pieces that will allow them to compete at a high level.

With the August shutdown quickly approaching…Im concerned with the lack of movement…

I certainly hope that the Spurs dont feel that this roster will get it done…

Its about 2 to 3 players short…

I’m OK with what has happened this summer. Of course, who wouldn’t want big time names to play for the Spurs.

But for the most part, this off season has been good. The emergence of several D-league and overseas players in Temple, Gee and Neal are positive thus far. In fact, I would say the Spurs have a bevy of role players it probably can count on in these players.

I would like to see a known 3-point shooter such as Kapono on the team. But these young and “developing” players have shown great promise and an ability to play some defense as well.

I think our post players (barring the expectation of Splitter) is one of our weakest elements on the team. WOW…who would have ever thought that with a player like Tim Duncan on the team. But reality is what it is. Duncan might be a shell of who he was just two years ago. And the team’s post players outside of Duncan include….

1)Blair a beast and effective post player IF he doesn’t have to contend with the likes of some of the best over 6′ 10″ post players in the league. The hope is Blair will have developed (develop) a consistant mid range game to his arsenal and learn how to play defense without committing fouls at a rate comperable to his production on the court.

2) McDyess a year older. Perhaps a bit slower and less athletically capable of his production from just a year ago. McDyess should still be good if he were to have a younger athletic partner in the post. Enter Splitter.

3) Splitter…unknown NBA commodity as far as a big man is concerned. Rookie treatment by the officials, a complicated system, nerves, adjustment time, the coaching staff,s trust, ability to mesh with the team….these are all factors the team hope are at least minimal problems to overcome. But the bottom line…a far better option than what the Spurs have had in recent years. Heir apparent might be too much to expect from this talented young man…but it probably will be expected by many of the fans.

4) Bonner. What can we say. At best is a spread the floor big man that if his shot is not falling is probably going to be over paid for his contributions (or lack there of). But intriguing enough, I still like the guy. Bonner is an “everything has to be going right with the rest of the team” in order for him to be beneficial for the team. If there is a way he has improved some of his weaknesses over this summer…he still is a nice player of his caliber to have on the team.

5) Enter Role Player Name. The Spurs still need an effective, athletic, energy type of post player to inject during games when all else might be failing at the time. The mention of Amundson is a good fit. Also Josh Boone would bring that same scenario. Whoevere it might be…the Spurs DO need that type of post player to compliment who they have now.

Now regarding the OP. I think Jefferson, for as much he was disliked by so many….my self included in that crowd…deserves this second chance. I say this because the likes of former Spur players such as Horry, Barry, Jackson, etc. took at least a year to fit into the Spurs system. And the facts of this off season….RJ is still in the top 5 of SF’s who were realistically available for the Spurs. I would take RJ over the Barnes’ and Jones’ of this league. The likes of the Rudy Gay’s and Le Bron James’ were not a fiscal possibility for the Spurs. What the Spurs need is a decent, dependable back up at the SF position. Kapono would be great just because of his percentage ability. But to what extent of the lack of defense would the Spurs be willing to go just to have a Kapono on the team? I mean…don’t they already have that in Bonner? RMJ…if not hitting his shots… was a total liability to this team. Maybe lessons learned from just a year ago may be at the forefront of the coaching staff regarding our wing players.

If…and I know it’s probably a big if…the likes of Temple, Gee and Neal can bring in maybe not so dependable shooting than say a Kapono and/or Roger Mason Jr. but…have the ability to at least defend better…problem could be solved. Or at least better than it was last year.

We’ll see. I am looking forward to the upcoming season even if this is all the Spurs are going to do this off season.

I think Jefferson will be fine. He wasn’t THAT bad considering his first year….being 4th option…and playing a totally different type of game he was used to playing.

All we can do is hope. It’s a very competitive western conference. Many teams have improved with known commodities. Let’s hope the Spurs will have improved with their talented yet unproven players.

Jim
“Kapono is the #1 active career 3-point shooter in the entire league (44%), and knocked it down at a 54% clip during action in two playoffs. His defense would limit his minutes to 15-17 mpg. Bonner’s defensive liability could be minimized (from lack of playing time) if we got a guy like Amundson to be the 4th or 5th big, at about 15 mpg.”

Yep. You got a point there that I agree with. Bonner and Mason had lots of “great” opportunities last year to hit wide open shots. They didn’t connect on as many as their pedigree said they would be able to do.

That being said. Jefferson was a better 3-point shooter prior to coming to the Spurs as well.

What is it that lent itself to these so called marksman from beyond the mark to fall off their career established stats on this team? I mean…it wasn’t as if they were being forced into these shots. They had ample spacing and time to get off these shots yet couldn’t hit them at a rate they were doing in their proven careers. Weird stats.

And I would welcome without hesitation Kapono coming to the Spurs. But IF that doesn’t happen (or somebody like him), I do like what I’ve seen in Temple and Neal as far as outside shooting. And I like what I saw in Gee with the ability to attack the rim. And their defense (Neal in question) would probably be better than Kapono since Kapono has never had good defensive presense during his nba career.

All in all…I don’t think the Spurs are done dealing prior to the upcoming season.

Addressing the points you and myself have eluded to ARE key components to keeping up with what other teams have been able to do this off season. Amundson or Boone would be that type of post player you and I agree upon. While another “proven” 3-point shooter at the wing to back up RJ would definately be a HUGE plus for this team.

The season hasn’t started yet. But the window of opportunity is soon running out to land such players before the season starts. The Spurs are not known for mid-season trades simply because their system is so complicated that even landing a premier player in that situation would probably not result positive contribution until the following year.

And if they don’t do anything else prior to the season starting to land the types of players you and I have discussed…My only hope is that who they have now will rise to expectations beyond what we deem possible.

Tim in Surrey
July 25th, 2010 at 6:43 am

“And Kapono? I’m sorry, but he has everything that the Bonner haters hate, only more: he’s smaller, slower, and less athletic than Bonner, has never played defense in his life, is a black hole on offense, and isn’t exactly the best guy in the locker room. Oh and he makes $6.6. million, so we’d have to give up a lot to get him. I’m sorry, but we’re not that desperate for shooting.”

Sorry, but Kapono is a much better, and more consistent shooter than Bonner, and he can actually make threes in the playoffs. Also, he would negate the need of playing Bonner as much, allowing us to acquire and allocate minutes for additional defensive help in the interior. Anyone that doesn’t realize that Amundson would be the perfect fit in that role as an additional “defender” in the interior doesn’t understand what the Spurs need to win, IMHO. As far as Kapono, there’s nothing wrong with him “in the locker room” (other than maybe he’s tired with playing with losing, incompetent franchises ever since he won a title with the Heat), and his defensive weaknesses are more pronounced with match-ups against the “quicker” SF’s around the league, a weakness that can at least be partially mitigated by him playing most of his 15-17 mpg. against the other team’s back-up SF, as well as playing with a front line of Duncan, Splitter, & Amundson, which would be an excellent rotation of “rim protectors”. And actually, he’s only about an inch shorter than Bonner, and offers a better height advantage over SF’s than Bonner does over PF’s, not to mention his better ability to hit shots in the face of a close-out defender, and his generally quicker release. As far as his contract, it’s an expiring deal, and his fire-power off the bench would clearly be worth it. And as I said, it might be reasonable to give Philly McDyess & Gee to get him (AND get Amundson as a FA).

“Like many of you, I’d love to see us pick up some talented players. Of course. But I only want us to do that if they’re capable and willing defenders…..”

As I’ve already stated, we’re not going to be able to get an excellent, clutch shooter AND defender in one guy at this point without making a trade for a major piece, like TP. Absent that, we’re left with trying to get the very best of one or the other, and Kapono is the #1 active career 3-point shooter in the NBA, which includes 54% in the playoffs. The fact is, we need another “real” veteran shooter in order to truly contend in the West. Getting Amundson as well would make us stronger defensively, even with the addition of Kapono, and we’re going to need to ask ALL of our players to pick up their level of commitment on the defensive end to even have a chance this year anyways, regardless of what piece or two we pick up at this point.

Ryan
July 25th, 2010 at 9:14 pm

The fact is, our team last year was not even close to being championship ready. Thus, without making at least a few relatively significant moves, we are simply not going to challenge this year either.

We know a lot more about other players around the league than you let on, especially those who’ve been in the league for at least a few years. For example, Kapono has been in the league 7 years, and as primarily a spot up 3-point shooter, he has had only one season where he shot under 40% from behind the arc, and for 3 seasons he has shot over 47%. We KNOW he can shoot, and it would not be hard for him to learn how to effectively chip in for our team as a spot-up shooter for 15-17 mpg.

Amundson is a smart, active, defender that can rebound & block shots. He’s done it for three years with the Suns, and has gotten a little better each year. He’s about all he’s going to be right now, at age 27, which is plenty for us as a 4th or 5th big for about 15 mpg. We need to ratchet up our “D” everywhere possible, including in the interior, and get our shot-blocking back to close to where it was in 2004-05. Along with Splitter chipping in, Amundson could get us there.

“You argue Kapono shoots 54% in crunch time, but whose to say Bonner can’t have a breakout a year this year?”

Very unlikely. Bonner’s been in 4 playoffs and has shot just 32% from three. He’s had enough of a chance to prove himself, and he has simply not come through.

“…..but the same thing that happened with RJ this past year could happen with any one of these guys you’ve suggested.”

Again, not likely. We should not be gun-shy to add players in light of the RJ experience. That’d be like never driving a car again after you’ve experienced an accident. Look at Blair, a 20 year old rookie, and he didn’t have some big problem adjusting to his new role with the team. RJ truly is a special case. And the RJ disappointment really had little to do with his stats. It had to do with his struggle to adjust, and the fact that he let his game slip in terms of rebounding & defense, which is mainly because of a lack of mental focus, preparation, and effort. I expect him to have a better year this year, but I never expected him to shoot 39% from three like he did the year before in Milwaukee because he only had 2 of his previous 6 years where he shot the three above 36%.

Hey guys i got an idea Howbout we…. Trade richard jefferson (ghasp) howcome noone talks about things like this i say we trade Rj Mcdyce and Bonner add up their salaries and thats 18 million dollars we could acutally get someone who can fit our offence and what we need at the wing and defensively i say trade them to the lakers 4 Ron artest Sasha vugagich and adam Morrison

Ron artest is a great fit defensively can shoot the three consintantly and make plays on his own (RJ cant)

They say we need a wing player well who better than Sasha vugagich great shooter and pesky defender

as for adam morrison… well we just need a player to help fit the cap space 4 this trade

“Amundson is by far the best available for filling our most important need.”

I’m on board with Amundson. I don’t know about his hair though. Maybe Pop, being a military man and all, just can’t deal with a guy who has hair like that…