Spurs success translating off the court in more ways than one

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Sometimes these things just work out better than we can write them. In an interesting parallel to the team’s success, the San Antonio Spurs are ranked eighth in the NBA in jersey sales (via CNBC):

1. Los Angeles Lakers

2. Boston Celtics

3. Miami Heat

4. New York Knicks

5. Chicago Bulls

6. Oklahoma City Thunder

7. Orlando Magic

8. San Antonio Spurs

9. Denver Nuggets

10. Phoenix Suns

And yet not a single Spurs player cracks the top-15 in individual jersey sales.

A top-10 finish is not bad for a small market team without one of the 15 biggest stars to help carry the load. It’s sort of like contending for an NBA championship without an MVP candidate or likely All-NBA candidate.

Truly a team effort all the way around. Of course, great teams are not judged by regular season sales. There’s still plenty of time to pick up that new Gary Neal jersey and make it the playoff breakthrough jersey of the year.

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  • TD = Best EVER

    @ Title………

    Blair doesn’t deserve shit. He didn’t earn shit. Pop just loves the guy period. Face it dude Blair is not a center or a power forward. And he’s going to get played. Splitter would kill his ass one on one and I would love to see it.

    So Blair didn’t out play Splitter in the preseason………. hmmmm okay… I remember folks on this board talking about him being an ALL-Star one day…….

    And if Blair isn’t a C/PF why does he out rebound Splitter……. Since Splitter is the TRUE embodiment of a Center……..

    “Splitter would kill his ass one on one and I would love to see it.”

    REALLY…… And how would Splitter score on Blair…….. Please don’t tell me that he would use that RIDICULOUS hook shot of his……. And he doesn’t handle the ball better than Blair and has no Face up game…….. LOL w/o TP/Manu feeding Splitter easy buckets he wouldn’t score much if at all on Blair……..

    Oh and before you say Blair can’t shoot over him to score, just look at these past 2 games…… Blair has a little dribble drive game and is used to scoring over taller players…… That plus Splitter isn’t a shot blocker anyway…. Blair could just miss and go get his rebound on TS…….

  • Titletown99030507d

    @MSteele,

    Talk about the bad karma some people were unloading on Bynum. We almost got paid back.

  • hassan

    @ Title & TD=bestever….

    Listen guys..you won’t ever reach an agreement so be civil about it.

    I do agree that Blair is the best of the 3 but POP uses Bonner much as our offense is predicated on 3-point shooting availability to allow open lanes for TP & Manu and he is a better rebounder than RJ at the 4-spot or Steve Novak(although I say play Novak more if Bonner is not hitting shots and both are poor defensively anyway)….

    I think POP focused on the new offense & resting Duncan too much and not done enough to occasionally “Pound the rock” and get defensive…

    Well hope we can still beat Memphis without Rudy Gay coz if we loose to them it will sting and Barkley will chew our behinds on TNT….

    Anyway, next year we should work on pounding the rock at least 30-35% of the time..and go out and get Dalembert for shot blocking/altering…

    Go Spurs Go…

  • wilksthequaker

    #5 Atlanta would have missed the playoffs in the West and #11 Utah would have made it in the East. Shows how the West is still dominant and that we should be proud of coming out of it with 61 wins and the 1 seed.

  • TD = Best EVER

    Title – just keep on digging yourself in to a hole of stupidity……………

    NO ONE GETS A DOUBLE DOUBLE in 16 minutes……… PERIOD!! Are you kidding me……. and for the few that do, it’s not an average, just a GREAT game for them…….As long as Blair can rebound the ball at his current rate he will always warrant minutes off the bench……… Like I said before, It’s Bonner that needs fewer minutes, not Blair….. Blair gives you his positives on a more consistent level……

  • Bruno

    @TD = Best EVER

    No way Blair is better than Splitter. Period.

    But Pop loves Blair, and loves much more the second worst thing that ever happened to Spurs: Bonner. Bonner only isn’t worse than Finley because Finley made Manu come from the bench.

  • Titletown99030507d

    @TD,

    For one Blair wouldn’t be able to make any put backs against Splitter when he misses. Two he would have a field day against Blair with his hook, you saw what he does against the shorter ones. Swisshh! Your dreaming now that he would get his rebound against Splitter what a joke. In your own little world. Don’t you think Splitter knows (shorty’s)Blair’s game. He’s a little crafty himself you know.
    And as for the preseason Splitter was hurt remember? By the time the regular season came around Pop didn’t even try playing Splitter and that’s not Splitter’s fault then the jackass realized hey he can play this Splitter guy. But by the time he proved himself Pop was knee deep into Blair and didn’t want to hurt his feelings by not playing him remember? Blair got his feelings hurt when Splitter started showing his ass up. So Pop went back to the old way and now this what you get. You should be happy and proud of that. It will come out in the wash dude. And yes Splitter is that better than Blair whether you like it or not. They’ll tank this playoffs and then Splitter will take his minutes next season as everyone battles for their spots.

  • Titletown99030507d

    @hassan,

    formulate your opinion fine, but will as well. and I beg to differ. Splitter is way better than Blair. No contest. He dive for all the balls he wants but it aint gonna cure the buckets being scored over his head. I can’t wait for Memphis. Put his ass on Marc Gasol if you think he’s that much of a bad ass. I want to see that. I want a double double out of him if he plays 15 or more minutes. He’s a bad ass right? 8 pts tonight didn’t impress me one bit especially if he’s giving up way more than he scores. Stick to your opinion and I have mine. the shit is starting all over agin because Pop is going back to same old shit.

  • hassan

    I think next year, get Dalembert and play him with Bonner in Second unit and he will cover for him a lot and put Blair back with the 1st unit as it worked very well in begining of the year as he husstles, rebounds and passes well…. Splitter should be 5th big.

    Divide 96 mins at the 2 front court positions as such:

    Duncan: 26 mins(even less court time-but pound
    it to him more in 2nd half od season at
    least 1/3 possessions)….
    Blair: 18- 20 mins
    Dalembert: 20 mins + Bonner: 16 mins(with Dal)
    Splitter: 14-16 mins(covering for Duncan, Dal or Blair in-case of foul trouble/Injury or DNPs-rest).
    McDyess May retire if not them he should play a few mins a game to stay fresh.

    POP already has a new offense- more G.hill & JA hopefully on offense to rest Manu….., but we need to go more at defense next year esp if Dal & Splitter improve the defense…

    Also Pop we need to play Danny Green more as I feel he can be a good perimeter defensive player….

    Go Spurs this year and Next too before Duncan Retires….

  • Titletown99030507d

    @TD,

    Oh so getting rebounds at that rate warrants minutes. Then you and Pop need to take a hard look at Splitters efforts in the same amount of time. The stretch where Timmy was out Splitter annihilated Blair in production. I even posted it on one of the threads minutes and production for that 6 game stretch Splitter vs Bonner vs Blair and neither of those two came close to what Splitter put up. And that’s when lots of people were asking for Blair’s head. But then Timmy came back and everything slowly but surely came back to its old self again in regards to minutes for these 3. Why? so that chemistry wouldn’t wreck the team. Bull shit. Well this chemistry is going to wreck this team the way it is. People are sick and tired of these stupid rotations but Pop does it just to keep shorty happy. Truth is in the pudding.

  • TD = Best EVER

    Let me see, Blair can score over Pau Gasol/Marcin Gortat in consecutive nights, as well as pry loose rebounds from Both of them…..Be he can’t versus Tiago the Almighty…… what a joke…..You and others just CAN’T have a rational conversation about Splitter w/o foaming at the mouth anytime someone brings up any negatives, or anytime Splitter doesn’t get as many minutes as you would like…..And I’m living in my own little world……..Also you might recall Splitter against Memphis this year when Darrell Arthur wipe the floor with him…….. or did you forget that already…….So Splitter can get scored on as well…….

  • Titletown99030507d

    @hassan,

    Oh hell no. Splitter gets minutes before Blair. I don’t want to see that tired ass on the floor anymore period. Blair should be traded to get Dal. Splitter can give us more than Blair can in 20 minutes or more.
    Splitter can draw more fouls than Blair can in a shorter amount of time and that will get the opposing team in the penalty sooner than they want allowing our guys to attack freely at will. Splitter can get more rebounds than Blair if they play the same amount of minutes. And Splitter can clog the lane much better than Blair. This last game I saw a lot of Suns blowing past Blair and scoring as if he was invisible. Size matters. Blair needs to come off the bench next season to make room for Splitter. Or if they are that high on Blair and I don’t know why, then trade Splitter for the big man you want. Because someone like him needs to play with the starting unit. It’s just a waste of player personnel.

  • hassan

    @ Titletown

    Yeah we all have our opinions and we should be civil with it anyway…..

    I agree Splitter is better than POP’s playing time suggests but he still seems to be gassed easily in the games which leads to lots of fouls and this is a conditioning problem which is on the player not the coaches.

    Also injuries must have reduced his conditioning a lot as well as longer NBA season and difficulty of POP’s system as all players struggle in year 1 to get comfortable in POP’s system so there are myriad of reason why he doesn’t play much this year along with the unexpectedly quick/great start we had to the season and POP went for the #1 seed knowing he may need it against LAL, DAL, Thunder or east teams but then the unprecedented 6-game loosing streak messed things up by 1 game(BTW)… great season anyway…

    But now we have an injury at a bad time but this is fate.. still liked that he played starters so we try to get back into a rhythm….

  • Titletown99030507d

    Go to bed TD,

    You need sleep your delirious. Didn’t you read my post. Splitter tore Blair a new one when Timmy was out. But now everything is back to normal so you should see shorty in there being a liability. Hey it doesn’t matter your boy is going to play the entire playoffs relax and chill. And I’ll be counting the points going over his head.

  • Titletown99030507d

    Goodnight TD.

  • TD = Best EVER

    @ Title

    We have already discussed TS starting and realized that unless it’s a team tailored for his skills that it ain’t happening……. He simply ain’t that good yet….. And also we saw Both players in the starting lineup VS LA….. and we saw who played the best….. Yes Splitter is better at scoring off the pick and roll….. but that’s about it as far as his offense goes…… And his position Defense is better but he doesn’t rebound as well so the gain there is also minimal……… And as far as his rebounding if given the minutes….. Well he was against LA and didn’t out rebounded him…… Splitter if you watch games doesn’t come up with a lot of low percentage rebounds like Blair does….. he did like 2-3 times last night……….

  • hassan

    @ Titletown

    In my mins. scheme Blair & Splitter get similar mins but Blair starts as he is quicker than splitter & a better passer from the high post for Duncan in the low post when the latter is down there(or do you want Duncan coming off the bench so Splitter can Start).

    Splitter should then be able to play with Bonner as Splitter is only better near the basket(no range at all..needs to work on that and FTs…takes about 2 yrs to get it done) and Bonner can spread the floor for him to to his thing down there…

    Dalembert can play with Duncan, Splitter or Bonner as he has a decent 14-16 foot shot like McDyess but is a more atheletic & Intuitive shot blocker compared to McDyess(only 29 yrs old with carrer averages of 8 points, 8 rebounds & 2 blocks in 24 mins- no stats for altered shots)…

    Go Spurs Go..

  • TD = Best EVER

    And yes I did read your post but pointing out how well Splitter played over a 5-6 game stretch doesn’t make him a better player…….Blair has done well over the entire season, that’s why he gets his minutes…….and he has adjustedto his bench role and is playing well there as of the last 5-6 games…….

  • hassan

    Good Nite you’ll …..

    Hope to wake up to good news about Manu….
    Go Spurs Go……

  • andy

    honestly, i think i’m one of the few that thinks we’re ok playing the grizz.

    yes, they’re a long, talented team, but without gay, i think we can take them in 5, 6 games max. they just don’t have the depth and talent that we have. our top 3 are better than theirs, and our 4-8 are too. end of story.

    also, with okc playing denver, we might get a ton of rest. i could easily see that series going to 7. either way, with dallas and l.a. locked into a 2nd round meeting, i’m not sweating our seeding.

  • manufan

    How about RJ as a Spur for two whole seasons now? Didn’t we trade our whole defense to get him and his ability to slash and finish at the rim. He’s been consistently invisible ever since he got here, with few decent games here and there. With all the minutes he is getting you would think he can step up and take over couple games for us. Can some of you guys that are calling sick to attend his autograph signing sesions ask the man why he’s become non factor. Or maybe some of you senior guys can grow a pair of huevos and ask the coach same question.
    And don’t start me on Matt Bonner, please.

  • manufan

    But it’s not all bad. We are number 8 in jersey sales.

  • http://www.bpifanconnect.com Alix Babaie

    Bruno
    April 13th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
    What joke Pop, after tanking last game, put the starters today. Really?
    Phoenix killing the Spurs in PnR, and Spurs have one very good PnR defender, and he is in bench.
    Really a joke.

    Bruno
    April 13th, 2011 at 7:31 pm

    Spurs now is going to be eliminated in 1st round, great. Manu out for 5 days- 30 days

    Bruno
    April 13th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
    Is Pop trying make Duncan got hurt too?? This game is over. Put the scrubs. Spurs have no power

    Bruno
    April 13th, 2011 at 8:50 pm
    Spurs enemy of last 15 games attacks again, just he, the most consistent “player” of Spurs in last 14 years, is time to retire, Pop.

    The joke is you coming onto this blog and saying that you are a Spurs fan! The fucking playoffs have not even started and you are already jumping ship!

  • irongiantkc

    Bruno, Titletown, etc.
    You guys are idiots if you really think you could coach the team better than the 100% sure Hall of Famer that’s coaching them now. It’s so boring to hear you talk about Popovich playing the B/B combo. Are you serious? Pop transformed this team from a defensive team to an offensive team, not because he just loves his guys to shoot threes but because he had to. What other coach in the NBA has had to do that? If the winningest coach in franchise history goes with a certain lineup, I say I’ll back him up. Besides, Bruno, Pop already explained his reasoning for resting the players yesterday and playing them today. He wanted to give them rest and then not have too many days without playing so that they wouldn’t be out of rhythm.

    But maybe you whiners should just freak out. Or is all your whining and moaning just a ploy to be able to say “I told you so” just in case we lose. You guys, along with TD=BE have been second-guessing Pop all year. I guess it makes you feel safer. Now, even if we win the whole thing, you geniuses will say that Coach was able to win “despite” your brilliant suggestions of resting the starters 45 minutes a game, or starting Splitter, or playing five centers.
    NO. Coach has won with this team, because he’s alot smarter than you guys. He’s won because he knows how to put together the pieces he has. He’s won because he’s the best small market coach of all time. Hey, maybe Bob Hill or Larry Brown are still available. Or better yet, we’ll hire Bruno to be the Coach so that he can hide all of the starters and hope that we can make the playoffs with a .500 record. Or even better, Coach Bruno with Asst. Coach Titletown could coach the Spurs and run around panicking and wringing their hands any time things don’t go exactly the way you want them.
    In the meantime, Pop will keep going out there, tweaking here and there, always working, always thinking, almost always winning.

  • irongiantkc

    btw, don’t actually know if TD=BE has been questioning Pop or just the idiots in the front office.

  • irongiantkc

    @Titletown: “Well this chemistry is going to wreck this team the way it is. People are sick and tired of these stupid rotations but Pop does it just to keep shorty happy. Truth is in the pudding.”

    Are you insane? You are, aren’t you. How do you win 61 games in the toughest division of the Western Conference of the NBA with bad chemistry?

    You, my friend, are a jackass.

  • irongiantkc

    @Manufan: “But it’s not all bad. We are number 8 in jersey sales.”

    No, it’s not all bad, Chicken Little. We have the second best record in the entire league.

    I swear you guys are a bunch of little girls. I used to like reading your comments at the beginning of this season, but now you’ve been so spoiled by success you want some sort of guarantee that we’ll win it all.

    btw, I still enjoy reading the well formed and informed opinions of Alex Babaie, NYC, Tim in Surrey, Spurs Fan in Dubai(?), and (yes, you too) TD=BE.

  • Melbourne Spur

    I think I am 10% dumber from reading all of the above arguments about our 9th and 10th players. We are about to enter the first round of the playoffs, and all you can do is argue over who is better out of Blair and Splitter.

    How about some insightful analysis on matchups in this series (matchups that don’t involve guys that will play no more than 10 minutes)? How about praising the team for one of our best regular seasons in history? How about backing the team and getting excited about the upcoming games?

    The ridiculousness above is mindboggling.

    Titletown if you aren’t going to watch this anymore because Tiago won’t play in front of Blair and Bonner, then please don’t. We don’t need to hear about how upset you are with a team that just won 61 games, and how upset you are with a coach that is clearly one of the best of all-time. You’ve said before that you have been a Spur for a long time, and if that is the case, how can an issue such as Splitter vs Blair cause you to not want to watch what could be our fifth title. Terrible fan.

    TD=BE, you should know better than to even get into a discussion about it with this guy.

    I’m not in the States, and I think we probably had only one games coverage of the Griz on TV this year, so I would appreciate people’s insights into this team and the matchups, positives, negatives, etc. I can’t really get a handle on them from highlights and stats.

    We all love our Spurs, otherwise we wouldn’t even know of this sight, but can’t we use it to offer some meaningful conversation. Splitter vs Blair really means jack this season. Next season or the season after it may be relevant, but right now, campaigning for your favourite non-playoff factor isn’t worth it.

    Look forward to reading some people’s thoughts on the Griz.

    Personally, I’m optimistic against a team with such little playoff experience. Spurs to sweep, with Manu not missing any time.

  • SAJKinBigD

    Aw, you forgot about me, igkc… :( ;)

    Seriously, nothing’s guaranteed – either as a positive or a negative. The League is NOT rigged. If our guys play better than the other guys for four games per series, we move on to the next round. Do that a total of 16 times and that equals Championship. All they can do is play against the people on the court and do what they can do. I really think Pop’s been playing a bit of a shell game this regular season and there are going to be some big differences in the Silver & Black in the Post-season – which is the only part of the season that really matters.
    Go Spurs GO!

  • rob

    So who’s better…Blair or Splitter? :)

    C’mon man. It’s like some are preparing their negative comments to a forgone conclusion in their head that the Spurs have NO Chance winning the championship.

    For me…I look forward to the best part of the season. Where regular season records and early expectations are cast out the window.

    Now’s the time to suit up for the big show. All the maneuvering, training, learning and focus will be exhibited in the games that Really do matter.

    As far as the Grizzlies…they are a young dynamic team that when running on all cylinders can give ANY team in this league a hard time. If they click during playoffs …then it’s more about them pulling it all together at the right time more so than ANY team faultering at the wrong time.

    I look forward to a highly contested series against the Grizzlies. My hope is it will be a no contest for the Spurs.

    We’ll see.

    Go Spurs Go!!!

  • manufan

    Hey guys can I have my own opinion or I must agree with other people on this blog. Does that make me less Spurs fan than you. I didn’t call anybody moron, idiot, little girl, etc. And I have been called one.
    All I am saying is that we spend too much time and money on RJ and Bonner. They got brand new contracts after absolute no show last year in the playoffs.

  • Frank

    Who gives a crap what Rank spurs are in jersey sales…. Lebron is Number 1.. and he has no rings.. same with Carmelo and all the other clowns.. Keep sellin them jerseys guys! Job Well done! Keep losing in the First Round!

  • spursgermany

    “Who gives a crap what Rank spurs are in jersey sales…. Lebron is Number 1.. and he has no rings.. same with Carmelo and all the other clowns.. Keep sellin them jerseys guys! Job Well done! Keep losing in the First Round!”

    AND THEY ARE NOT AS PROFITABLE AS THE NFL TEAMS!!!!

  • irongiantkc

    “Hey guys can I have my own opinion or I must agree with other people on this blog. Does that make me less Spurs fan than you. I didn’t call anybody moron, idiot, little girl, etc. And I have been called one.
    All I am saying is that we spend too much time and money on RJ and Bonner. They got brand new contracts after absolute no show last year in the playoffs.”

    Probably nobody will read this post today, but I just wanted to respond to this. One, I didn’t call you a moron, just a little girl. If you’re going to be hurt, get it right. Two, if you had just said that the team spent too much money on RJ and Bonner then you wouldn’t have gotten such a visceral response. Three, apparently, the money was well spent because, despite all the hand-wringing Bonner and RJ have been a huge part of the reason this team has 61 wins.

  • irongiantkc

    Melbourne Spur: How about some insightful analysis on matchups in this series (matchups that don’t involve guys that will play no more than 10 minutes)? How about praising the team for one of our best regular seasons in history? How about backing the team and getting excited about the upcoming games?

    +10

    Sorry, SAJKinBigD, I have a hard enough time remembering how to spell your name. But I do actually remember some of your posts about the Mavs and comments about the media in Dallas.

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