The Spurs signal a change in philosophy

by

There is a hungry growl coming from the gut of the AT&T Center. San Antonio GM R.C. Buford says the Spurs, or at least their core, are pounding their forks and knives on the dining room table. And the noise is encouraging.

All three [Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker] came to Coach Pop at the end of last season and said “It’s good for us to be pointing to the playoffs, but we also have to recognize that there are a lot of really good teams right now and we want to attack early next season.”

…

We want to be healthy and fresh when the playoffs start, but it’s clear that with as many good teams as there are in the league now it has become more difficult to win a playoff series on the road. So we’re going to approach this season with an eye on doing as well as we can to secure home court advantage.

Come again? The Spurs want to secure home court advantage? Did Gregg Popovich sign off on this memorandum?

Under Popovich, San Antonio’s aloof disregard for the regular season — some might call it a disdain for the regular season — is well-chronicled. Reign in the minutes of the core, give the regulars a game off because the team crossed time zones on short rest, not give a rip about home court because, well, you have to win on the road anyway. In general, Gregg Popovich regards the regular season with the same affection one affords a fly at a picnic. It’s superfluous, it lingers, and everyone wants it to go away.

So should we expect the Spurs to come flying out of the gate, sprinting ahead of the pack in the first few miles of their marathon? Yes and no.

There is no reason to think Buford is blowing smoke, but Popovich isn’t a fool. There is no way Popovich will abide gassing Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker before the games start to count.

My best guess is that Popovich will seek to find a rotation and define roles more quickly this season. With the exception of Tiago Splitter and James Anderson, the Spurs’ should-be rotation is familiar with the system. This includes rotation hopefuls Garrett Temple and Alonzo Gee. And Popovich has every reason to give heavy minutes to George Hill, DeJuan Blair and Richard Jefferson in the early months of the season.

If the Spurs surge ahead in the standings our conversations will be about the continued emergence of Hill and Blair, and the welcomed (late) arrival of Richard Jefferson. We’ll concede that Tiago Splitter really isn’t too bad, and that James Anderson might be another draft day steal. But none of us will worry that Duncan is playing too many minutes, or that Ginobili is going to fearlessly drive his way onto the injured list.

And if any of the Spurs’ core is leading the team’s second tier to an unexpectedly fast start, it will be Tony Parker. And golly, why would the Spurs ever think about trading him. He’s pretty good, you know.

  • SAJKinBigD

    Yay! A positive story! ;P So excited to see what this season brings and this just amps that up a little more!
    Good piece!
    I love our Big Three! There’s not a core out there I’d want more, and that includes the Miami Vice squad!
    GO SPURS GO!

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  • Tyler

    Hopefully, the younger guys will grow significantly this offseason, enabling Pop to use them in heavier doses while still winning games, yet still being able to rest the the big 3 early.

    I would be shocked if Pop played the big 3 more minutes than usual during the regular season. I think his use of them will be similar to past seasons.

  • SAJKinBigD

    I agree. Sounds like that’ll be the plan. Which should make a lot of folks happy - me included - especially those who constantly harp on Pop’s mis-use of the young’uns.

  • Francesco

    I guess most of us would agree that, during the regular season, we would like to see Duncan and Manu limited to no more than 28 a game and skipping most back to backs.

    Regardless, what the players think is of no consequence, it will be Pop and RC taking the final decision.

    On a side note, in the case of the Spurs and especially in the last 3 or 4 years, I’ve often wondered if it would be a good idea to really limit the core against top opponents, letting the young guys grow by experience against the cream of the league.
    Out core has plenty of experience in high stakes competition, and it is often the role players which determine the outcome of close contests…
    What do you guys think?

  • td4life

    Our inability to dominate had more to do with our smaller, softer supporting post players and weaker defensive units than it was the Big 3’s inability to pick up the slack… there has simply been an excess of slack. Surely, Pop, RC and the stars realize that!
    We are dependent on better role play, especially from RJ, TS, Blair, and our backup shooter… that necessitates the minutes and the freedom to play through mistakes, rather than leaning too much on the older guys.

  • SAJKinBigD

    Francesco - Your thought has merit, and I’d like to see some of it, but they’d still need to be able to mesh with the Core during the playoffs in order to know who’ll be where and when, etc. And that comes from game-play more than practice; and we know practice (yes, we’re talkin’ ’bout PRACTICE) is scarce during the season.
    I’d like to see the minutes flipped during those games, though. It’d be interesting to see, but not at the cost of the games themselves - within reason.

  • ThatBigGuy

    I like the fact that the players are being vocal about how they want to approach this year. It tells me that they are confident in their ability to seriously contend this year, otherwise why bother?

    This makes me happy.

  • Jim Henderson

    We want to win early and secure a top-tier seed (home court) with a chance for a long playoff run? The last thing you want to do is give the big three more minutes during the early part of the season. The big three will not be “carrying” this team to another championship. If we want ANY shot we have to aggressively develop our young/new guys, and give them the “confidence” by sticking with them for significant minutes in tough & close contests early on so that they can be counted on later on. If we don’t get more than expected out of Blair & Splitter, plus at least one other dark horse (e.g., Anderson, Neal, Temple…), in my view we have virtually no shot at a title. I like the mind-set conveyed by the big three as outlined in Tim’s piece, but that attitude needs to be demonstrated by leadership & encouragement for their young teammates, not by extra minutes from an aging core.

  • Ivander

    …so impatient

  • http://www.yahoo.com TITO

    Jim Henderson you are not fan of the spurs but a Hater, your posts have no meaning whatsoever, you have no idea who Gary Neal is; I believe he is a steal for the spurs IVe been following him since his days at towson and that guy is PURE talent, plus he has experience since he did play overseas, James Anderson is just a clone both can score and play solid defense, I wouldnt be surprised if san antonio wins its 5 th championship.

  • Bentley

    I want to see James Anderson play. I’m so excited about what he could bring. He was the Big 12 Player of the year, although im not sure if that was due to lack of talent in that conference last year, but still high honor.

    I love the attitude of the big three saying they want to win more games now. They’re being competitive, and they want to win that championship. Old or young, players have to go out there and play, and while you still have your players best interests in mind, you also need to do what gives your team the best chance to win. Our big three might be aging, but that doesnt mean they’re not any good. I hope that this season they can light a competitive fire under the whole team, because we’ve acked it for quite some time now.

  • Jim Henderson

    TITO
    September 21st, 2010 at 2:04 pm

    “Jim Henderson you are not fan of the spurs but a Hater….”

    You know what, I’m starting to get a little tired of the comments on here that attack me personally by resorting to unflattering labels ( “hater”), and in the process attempt to unfairly and irrationally impugn my integrity as a fan of the Spurs. Just because someone is willing to look square in the face at BOTH the pro’s & con’s of the team does not make that person any less of a fan. A fan is not a cult member.

    “…….your posts have no meaning whatsoever, you have no idea who Gary Neal is…..”

    That’s a pretty vague criticism, and has NO factual basis. What I do know is that Gary Neal is a good shooter/scorer, but he is also an undrafted player, and at age 26, still hasn’t played even ONE MINUTE in the NBA. Look, I wish him the very best, and I’m sure the FO didn’t sign him if he had NO legitimate chance to help the team at some point. But the idea that one should have “high” expectations for Neal to be a meaningful contributor for this team this year flies in the face of common sense. And thus I referred to him in my previous post as a “dark horse” that has a relatively slim chance of being a factor for us this year. I’ll stick with that assessment and hope that I underestimated him. And you can hold onto your college-day pom poms hoping for Neal’s miraculous NBA transformation.

    “I wouldnt be surprised if san antonio wins its 5 th championship.”

    Great, you’d be in that 5 percent category that follows the NBA. Congratulations.

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  • Badger

    Love the rebuttal by Jim Henderson!

    The really fun part of this GREAT webite is the insights from so many very serious Spurs fans/basketball fans. However, it is important to remember that “Spurs Fan” does not equal “basketball fan” and vice versa. You can be both, and you can be one or the other. Yet, what makes this site so valuable (to me anyway)is that literally every contributor on this site has some blend of the two fans in his brain. We love the Spurs, but we’d be fools if we were ignorant enough to honestly think the Spurs will win championships every year.

    Last season was disappointing, because after a while, the basketball fan part of your brain convinced the Spurs fan part of your brain that it just was not going to be another legitimate shot at a championship. No doubt that the Spurs were a good team last year, just not the team that you watched and thought to yourself: “This team is going to be a beast in the playoffs.”

    I am really excited to see if, by late in the season, the basketball fan part of my brain finally tells the Spurs fan part of my brain that he is absolutely right, once again. Recall that the Spurs fan part says the same thing every year, he can’t help it.

    Jim’s basketball brain is not quite ready to hear what the Spurs fan part of is brain is saying, and for good reason.

    They say hope springs eternal, and my basketball brain needs to see if:

    1. RJ can live up to the potential,
    2. Tiago can win some games for us,
    3. Manu can stay healthy,
    4. TP can step it up and play for the BIG contract,
    5. Blair can become “Barkleyesque”,
    6. Neal can light it up early and often,
    7. Hill can continue to improve + impress,
    8. Anderson can be a solid candidate for ROY,
    9. TD can still average 20/10 or damn close to it, and
    10. Someone will step in to the role of lock down defender outside the paint.

    If all of the above happens, the basketball fan in my head will be high fiving the Spurs fan in my head and the quiet confidence of a championship team will be there every time the Spurs walk onto the court come playoff time.

    CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!

  • Dr. Who

    @Tito
    Seriously??? So anyone who doesn’t blindly ignore the fact that we got lit up last year, swept, had zero 3 point shooters and no defensive stopper on the roster last year and still don’t isn’t a real fan??? I guess the guys a 48moh aren’t fans either since they have posted some realistic and negative articles here. We got Tiago and our younger players should ge better. I hope Anderson is as good as advertised. Even if he is, he’s still a rookie. And c’mon Neal is our new savior? It was Pops Bonsu, Mahimi and Haislip… Now it’s Neal. I hope we can make use of his talents but my goodness… Other teams have made some good and big moves. I think the Spurs could win it all as a fan. But as an honest NBA observer, there are A LOT of things that would have to go right and our young talent will have to be very very good. Ask any fan of any other NBA team if they think the Spurs are odds on favorites to win it all. Probably not. Why don’t we check the Vegas odds for the spurs to win it all? I think we’re as good a lock for the playoffs as there is, but to be thinking championship all the way or else not really a true fan? C’mon… That’s a bit foolish.

  • JustinFL

    Great points Badger. And even if all 10 happen it only gives us a chance. Not trying to be pessimistic. I do see us as the most legit contenders against the Lakers and that’s where our greatest challenge will come.
    As for attacks against Mr. Henderson, I am a hater. I am a Laker hater. I hate their swag because they’ve been to the finals the last 3 years. I hate watching them on tv and then have to see all the smug hollywood out of touch with reality media whores that just go to the game because they know they’ll be on tv. Except for you Jack you’re awesome. I hate their bandwagonidiot fans that talk the most junk like they know anything about their team or even basketball in general. Kobe sure could of used you guys in Colorado.

    Just thought I’d give an example of what a real hater is like and take some heat off Jim. Real fans dog their team because it’s OUR team. There will never be a season we don’t have something to complain or worry about.
    I agree playing the big 3 is not an answer to early or more wins. Very seldom have we ever started the season blowing teams out of the water anyway. I understand what the Big 3 were saying that sometimes wins come a little easier early in the season when younger and newer teams are still adjusting. Everyone knows that later in the season there are more variables involved such as injuries, playoff berths, new trades, roster rotations and stability.
    I will go out on a limb and say that as a fan, I do feel there is something special about this team this year. I feel like we got rid of some dead weight for a change and picked up some younger talent. Now we just have to see how they’ll fit in. Pop gets flak for not playing rookies, but what rookies have we drafted lately that are so good they should be starting or getting major minutes? Blair is the only one I can think of. He has the potential to be a great player, but we all know there are areas he needs to work at.

  • idahospur

    This team needs to do something bold that really gets the other teams scratching their heads. Coming out of the gate, dominating the first month of the year may be that. I’m sure we won’t see Duncan on the court for 40+ per night, but I’d like to see a serious effort to win every game this year.

  • Kevin

    As far as I can tell Jim Henderson spends upwards of 5 hours a day on a Spurs blog breaking down any and every comment he can…

    If that doesn’t make him a Spurs fan, then he must be some sort of sick weirdo.

    I agree with him that the stupid personal attacks are really getting old. I feel like when I first started looking at this blog those were pretty much non-existent… which made this comments section unique and awesome. Let’s keep it that way.

  • chris

    parker, spitter, hill, blair, anderson. If we come flying out the gate; those five will be the reason.

  • Titletown99030507

    In this off season I would trade a damn good player for a damn good player. Parker & McDyess for Melo.

  • Titletown99030507

    I would do the trade: Parker and McDyess straight up for Melo? Salaries match up better and no picks would have to be given away.
    Besides Chancey is 33 and showing signs of wear and tear. Denver would be getting an all-star/MVP finals PG at 28. And we would get that nasty wing guy we need. RJ can come off the bench for Melo. Wow what a trade that would be. If Memphis is stupid enough to part with Gasol well then maybe Denver is sick and tired of Melo’s whining. We’ll take the Whiner.
    Wah! All the way to the finals!

  • Titletown99030507

    Duncan = 15pts, Splitter = 10, Melo = 25, Ginobili = 15, Hill = 15

    Bonner = 5, Blair = 12, RJ = 10, Temple = 7, Neal = 9, Anderson = 8, Gee = 4

    135pts now play some defense damn it!

  • Marc

    IMO this is a worse strategy ever… in playoffs home court adv. is important but not everything; just look at Boston last season.. spurs didn’t need home court to beat Dallas and for sure they didn’t lose against Suns because of home court. IMHO the only team who can play this kind of strategy without being affected in playoffs is Oklahoma (i consider them a serious title contenders).
    Also, Spurs were always like a diesel engine; they take their time (till after allstar weekend) to really show off what they’re capable off and i expect this year to be the same due to the amount of new players…
    What they need is rest… Jesus, last playoff I felt pain in my knees just by watching Duncan against the Suns..
    The only thing that’ll make this strategy work is having RJ, TP, DjB, TS, GN, JA win games for Spurs in the first 3 months, which is very unlikely due to half of these players never played in NBA before.
    So for me i don’t know what to expect from Spurs this year. Noone knows how the new guys will be (and here i consider RJ as a new guy)..
    I think RJ and DjB are the key players for Spurs this year; they are the ones who can increase the spurs BB level in offense and deffense…
    As for Jim’s comment, it’s very realistic i “cannot not agree” with him.

  • Gary

    I’m All with Francesco, I would love to see blair play more minutes and get fouled out alot more… getting experience that will be crucial for next year

  • http://48minutesofhell.com/2010/09/02/death-of-tradition anonymous

    The big three will do their thing, no problem. The question is, can the rest of the team play to the level of Bowen, Barry,Horry and the former inside defense of a Nesteravich. Maybe, maybe not but they are deeper now past these seven, that is for sure.

  • ITGuy

    Go Spurs Go!!

  • Anoop

    Who will be the wing defender which the Spurs management want to enlist before the training camp starts? I the current line up, the lack of a small forward is the biggest concern - who will man the second unit or what if RJ gets injured? How important is the issue of size - Lakers can potentially “outsize” spurs at every position save PG?

  • ITGuy

    @Kevin,
    I agree with him that the stupid personal attacks are really getting old.
    I feel like when I first started looking at this blog those were pretty much non-existent… which made this comments section unique and awesome. Let’s keep it that way.

    I agree with you 100% and to tell you the truth, a lot of the comments are better than the articles some times.

    Go Spurs Go!!

  • SpursfanSteve

    +5 for Kevin.

  • SpurredOn

    Interesting philosophy. Most would assume that with so many good teams, it’s less about home v road and more about matchups and health come playoff time. You have very little control over who you play but can try to have some control over how you’re playing and how rested you are in April.

    Perhaps the supporting point is that there are some younger and fragile teams for whom h/c is they key to their advancing. Taking it away from them is more about hurting them than helping the Spurs.

  • Hurm66

    Been seeing a lot of Debbie Downers here lately about the Spurs chances. It’s reasonable to believe that the window is closing and there’s less room for error for this team to win another championship.

    The playoff loss to the Suns was hardly a traditional sweep. They had unconscious, lights out shooting, an amazing quarter from their backup PG (that we drafted) and played with a purpose and yet only barely won each game. Seriously - we were in every game in the 4th quarter. This wasn’t like getting punked by the Lakers back in 2001.

    I don’t think those Suns would have beaten the Mavs and we handled them in six. Manu wasn’t the same after the broken nose either, and TP just wasn’t the great equalizer against Nash due to injury and rust. Coupled with RMJ’s lousy shooting and match-ups problems - we could have been really destroyed, but we weren’t.

    I honestly believe the Lakers wanted no part of the Spurs last season.

    The expectations for the young ones are quite within reach and we have a solid blend now of grizzled, savvy vets to go with the youth movement that admittedly should have started a few years sooner.

    The bottom line is that this isn’t the 2005 or 2007 championship teams, but they do remind me of the 2003 team. Sure the big three aren’t as young as back then, but that team had mental issues from losing the the Lakers.

    Then The Admiral spoke up late in the season on the team bus and said - “Why not us?” They had the talent, they just needed the moxie and swagger.

    This team is right where they want to be - slightly below radar with a potent and proven big three (and fourth banana RJ) and high ceiling talent among it’s young players. Specialists will emerge from them - defense (Hill), shooting (Anderson/Neal), rebounding (Blair) and intangibles (Splitter).

    I don’t believe we’re at the winter of the Duncan era just yet - this is the September of his basketball career. It’s going to be a little more challenging, Durant is a monster and match up nightmare, but we can win a seven game series against them.

    No one, nor team really scares me that much - the Heat will be formidable and the Celtics are the Spurs of the East. I keep hearing about the 5% chance or 5% who believe we have a title shot with this team.

    Barring a catastrophic injury, if Pop can figure out a solid rotation for what suddenly appears like a self-motivated squad, I believe our chances are much closer to 20%-25%. Go Spurs!

  • SEANB

    DR WHO, responding to your quote:vegas odd’s has nothing to do with spurs making it to finals as i would lost money, on Boston get there over Orlando as they big 3 is much older than spurs big 3 .Remember people you read how spurs old by many articles with Duncan and Ginobilli but you are forgetting that L.A. (kobe-32,fisher-36)
    DAL (nowitzki33,terry33)
    BOS(pierce,32garnett34,allen35.Oneals old
    I dont think any these teams have found fountain youth.
    The only real contender thats young is Miami!! that has 2 top francise players that made it final’s
    For all the other playoff teams that are young,it hard make it to NBA finals so until they win Eastern or Western Coference final then we can say they are true contender’s.Just because oklahoma took L.A to 7 games doesnt mean they wont be knock out in first round this year!! It’s about match ups,every team has weak opponent they have trouble beating during year and if they meet them in playoffs,anything can happend. So SPURS has just of good chance as any top team’s because they EXPERIENCE.I do agree with you that spurs are going with young bench this year but as u stated DR WHO,others have experience players but thats something spurs has always had each year off bench and it has not work last 3 yrs so they going with youth and these guys will transend to replacing vets if they are succcessful in next 3 yrs

  • http://www.sanantoniospurs.com SPURS FAN SINCE 89

    In my opinion the West 2-7 is still up for grabs. Good point Sean B about matchups being the most important thing in the playoffs. I believe last year that’s why the Spurs got smoked in the 2nd round. Also the Spurs are nuts to think that they will get back to the Finals without playing good D-fense. It doesn’t matter if these aren’t the same Spurs teams, Defense wins championships; and so does making freethrows when they count. That’s why L.A. won last year because of d-fense. And speaking of L.A. who I hate with a passion more than the Yankees, actually wait, okay yeah I do; are the Spurs even big and athletic enough to match up with L.A? When Bynum wasn’t even healhty that dude was averaging like 7 blocks a game in the Finals. Pretty scary. I hope that Pop is addressing these things in the off-season. Still, unfortunately, as hard as it is for me to say and admit and trust me I’m sick of saying this……
    To get through the West and make it to the Finals you still need to get through L.A. Period.
    The Spurs have a big road ahead of them this year and we will get our revenge on Phoenix and show everyone that they were just a fluke.
    Also I still want revenge on L.A. from 2000, 2001, and especially 2004 & 2008.
    I haven’t forgotten.
    Beat L.A.
    Anyone, Please!!!
    SPURS FAN SINCE 89

  • ChillFAN

    Excellent news! The Spurs tend to think they can coast as the season starts and last year it cost them.

    They say leave it all on the court, but man. Spurs battled against the Mavs in Round One, and promptly laid down against the Suns. No guarantees, but if Spurs get a higher seed it improves their chances, because even in a stacked West there are teams limping into playoffs (Nuggets, Blazers)

    I’ve gotten over our not gambling on Shaq or McGrady on the cheap, because of the character risk, but I still can’t believe we didn’t add another servicible big.

    But a bigger priority than winning early is giving Tiago some burn. Lets face it. Long minutes for Duncan and McDyess is nothing short of elderly abuse. Heck RJ owes us heavy minutes and I say give the youth a chance. Can shooting get worse than those deadbeats Finley, Mason, and Bogans from last year?

  • http://www.nba.com fatsocalifornia

    I have a ? to Pop. What happen with Raja Bell? Did he say No to join the Spurs? I thought if Spur would sign him, we would had have 3 pointer!

  • http://www.sanantoniospurs.com SPURS FAN SINCE 89

    The Spurs had to get another big to contend with L.A. Duncan needs more help. We have plenty of shooters and way too many guards. What are they going to use the unathletic flat footed pasty Matt bonner as a big again? What a joke. What was wrong with Ratliff last year? Pop didn’t give him enough pt and then he goes to Charlotte and is blocking the ball all over the place. What ever happened to Raja Bell? Jus saying!!!
    BEAT L.A

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