Wait a minute......we're playing the Sixers in the first round right?? So TJones and DMo can just tear it up out there. Yeah, we had to lose this game so we can play the Sixers. Or is it the Bucks? Yep...more TJones and DMo please. And replace that Lin loser fella with a real point guard that will get Jones the ball down low where he can crush. Yep..this is all on Loser Lin. Jones only has bad games when Loser Lin screws it up for him. Yeppers. Let's get rid of Lin before the NBA Fantasy playoffs start. So Jones and DMo can roll us to a fantasy championship. Guys........this should have been obvious to you a couple months ago. GIGO...garbage in, garbage out. You can't take wild box scores racked up against Milwaukee, Philly, and Orlando and extrapolate them into great players. It's ridiculous.
Not a good sign so far that Jones struggles in the second half and especially against the better teams. Here's to hoping he makes an equally large leap forward this offseason and learns how to perform when it counts the most.
I'm pretty sure the Rockets favor Motiejunas over Jones because of his defense and shooting. Jones is definitely on his way out with Lin. The only question is if it's for Kevin Love or Carmelo Anthony.
So what's your point, we shouldn't play them? The whole point of this season for them is to inflate their value so other teams can stupidly convince themselves they're getting a big piece to their future.
One thing was made clear tonight. It isn't necessarily Blake Griffin that causes our young PFs to struggle against the Clips. I'm not sure if it is the way they play us on defense, our own guys pressing and trying to do too much, or a combination of both, but the ball movement and offensive flow against these guys has been lacking all year long. It doesn't seem to me like the guys are executing the offense and being patient when they can't get to their first or second option. There is a lot more one on one going on out on the perimeter and guys like TJ and D. Mo need the ball to be hopping in order to get touches on offense because we obviously aren't going to be running plays for them
This thread is calling for MORE of these 2nd year players. 8m dollar/yr player was benched. Coach doesn't have that luxury with 2 2nd yr players b/c GM chose not to bring in a decent PF to bench the 2nd yr players. And yep, Griffin didn't play in this game.
My point is and has been for the last half of this season that for us to win a championship their minutes are going to have to decrease significantly and Asik's minutes are going to have to increase. For us to win a championship: 1. Asik has to play 30 minutes a game and Dwight needs to play 32 minutes a game. That means there is going to be some overlap with both of them on the floor together. 2. We are going to have to play small ball a lot more often with Harden/Parsons at the forward slots and Lin/Canaan/Bev/Hamilton in the backcourt. Essentially a center (Dwight/Asik) and 4 guys that can shoot a basketball. 3. For 1 and 2 to occur, this means minimizing Jones' (and DMo's) minutes because neither guy can shoot a basketball consistently and neither guy can effectively defend the upper echelon bigs who just happen to be on the playoff teams. This thread is calling for them to play more. The only chance we have to win a championship is to play them less.
Sigh. You do realize that over the last 2 or 3 months that D-Mo is, according to advanced metrics, the best defender on the roster? You do realize that D-Mo has a much much better offensive game than Asik? I can see a starting lineup soon featuring three plus defenders - Bev, Howard and D-Mo - and three excellent offensive threats in Howard, Harden and Parsons. With D-Mo and Bev averaging 10-15 points a night. Playing Asik along side of Howard was going to be a failure. Morey and McHale predicted it in the off season. On court performance verified it. If Asik along side of Howard has not worked this entire season why the hell would you ever expect it to work in the playoffs.
Against the better teams they know our offensive weaknesses. They're going to crowd the shooters and dare us to beat them by putting the ball in Jones' hands. When Dwight isn't in there and Asik is it becomes even worse because the good defenses know he can't catch and control the ball in traffic. That's 2 guys...40% of the team on the floor...one can't catch and finish...and the other one can't shoot a basketball. Dwight covers up for some of Jones' shooting deficiencies by attracting a lot of defensive attention making it easier for Jones to finish. But that advantage will be watered down when we are in the playoffs playing true contending teams who have monsters down low. Last night with Dwight out Jones was totally exposed. He can't shoot a basketball and he can't finish when teams are focused on stopping him because they know Asik and his greasy fumbling bumbling mits are a benefit to them, not a threat. What amazes me about this whole mess is McHale can't figure it out early enough in the game. With Dwight out, he should have just started DMo with Asik. He got Jones out of there in the first half but then he comes right back in the second half with the same lineup. And then the worst part was he ran Jones out there alongside DMo for a key stretch in the second half and we got butchered. You can't play DMo/Jones together against good teams. They will chew you up in the paint defensively and then on the offensive end there's not enough shooting on the floor. If you have to play DMo in the middle you've got to go with 4 shooters around him and maximize offensive efficiency because teams are going to get to the rim against DMo. DMo and Jones should NEVER play a single minute on the court together. It's simply a loser combination up front for us. And if shooting is a priority when Dwight is in the game, then shooting is even more of a priority when Asik is in the game. Because if you think Dwight needs space on offense to be somewhat efficient just double down on that idea with Asik in the game. Asik cannot do what Dwight can do in the post. Spacing the floor is even more important when he is on the floor.
Good NBA coaching staffs do not depend on spur of the moment knee jerk decisions about the rotation. This late in the season the coaching staff cannot jerk players around since the rotations have been set. Especially when that coaching staff is heavily influenced by stats gurus like Morey. Nothing will change overnight in the rotation. Gradual shifts will occur. Patience is a great virtue. You should learn to practice it. I believe I detect a hint of transitioning D-Mo into the starting lineup. Especially for match ups against more talented teams.
The REASON that DMo is the #1 defender for the past couple months according to advanced metrics is because: 1. He's playing alongside Asik 2. They're playing against the opponent's second teams. This is why you have to watch the games. It was right in front of you last night. DMo cannot control the paint against the better teams playing the 5. He can't do it. He's improved. He's got great size. He's got post moves out the wazoooooo. Yada yada yada. But the bottom line is ..... he cannot control the paint playing the 5. So you need to put that in your advanced metric pipe and smoke it. Because if you comb your advanced metrics for minutes where DMo is playing the 5 against teams with a winning record...you will see a huge black hole of deficiency. I'm not trying to be a jackass. But I get tired of some of you guys not being realists. Watch the durn games and learn something. Advanced metrics are only one piece of the equation. You have to understand the playing circumstances that build up those numbers that the advanced metrics are derived from. IF you have to play DMo at the 5..... like we did last night..... THEN McHale needs to do 2 things: 1. Make sure he's got DMo at the 5 when CP3 (or the opponent's primary first team shot creator) is out of there. Playoff teams shot creators are going to chew DMo up and spit him out when he's in there at the 5. At least minimize the damage by putting him at the 5 when the opponent's primary shot creator goes to the bench. 2. Put 4 shooters around DMo and maximize the offensive efficiency of a unit that is going to be soft defensively in the middle. You SHOULD NOT have Jones out there jamming up the space in the paint and not able to shoot the basketball and maximize offensive efficiency.
That is a bunch of crap. The best coaches in this league (POPS!) mix and match their players according to WHAT WORKS! It's not knee-jerk either. This is a season long condition. I'm saying this from the perspective of not being a McHale hater. I actually like the guy a lot. I actually think he's a quality coach. I like his work ethic. I've always liked him even when he was a player. Quality person. Quality coach. But I do believe what I'm saying 100% too. And frankly I'd be surprised if McHale and Morey don't already know the same things. I think they know they've got to play small ball with Harden up front for a lot of minutes in the playoffs if we are going to win a championship. I think they are saving it for the playoffs.
You obviously do not watch much Spurs basketball. If you did you would see how deliberately Pops integrated players in the lineup. One minute at a time. It has taken years for Patty Mills to become an integral part of the Spurs rotation. Pop is just the master at what McHale and Morey are attempting to do.
I do not care enough. And you are mostly right. However I will leave you with one statistic. D-Mo last night +/- +3. Chew on that a while.
DMO was +3 because he played alongside Asik and when Asik wasn't in there we McHale actually went with a shooter at the 4 spot instead of Jones in the first half. IF McHale had not run Jones out there alongside him in the second half DMo may have been about +10 for the game. Keep chewing. Hate to inform you but I've watched practically every Spurs game for the last 10+ years. Pops will jerk a player and sit them down in a heartbeat when he sees that they are causing the team to stumble. Yes, he does develop guys. But developing guys, integrating them in slowly, and pulling them in a heartbeat is how he operates. Another note on Pops. He knows he's got to get his Twin Towers to working to have any chance of winning a championship. Hence, he continued to play Splitter alongside Duncan until they figured it out. He lsot games early but kept at it because he knew they have to be able to play together for a number of minutes for them to win a championship. The one key mistake McHale made this season was letting Asik run the asylum early in the season and force him into shutting down the twin towers. McHale should have forced the issue and made Asik work with Dwight until they got down their chemistry and defensive matchups. Pops would never have accepted that outcome.
Just as people need to water down their enthusiasm when Jones & D-Mo have great games against sub par competition, they also need to water down their criticism when Jones and D-Mo look like scrubs against the best PF in the NBA currently. The truth is always somewhere in between. The stats back up that Jones and D-Mo have been very productive, and the team is having a historically productive year, partly because of those contributions. Yes.. this team has weaknesses. Yes, they are not perfect players, but I don't know how anyone can say they both combined have not helped the team get where they are this year instead of believe what some wannabe internet politicians on the board would lead you to believe just to prove some point they tried to make back in October. Calm the F down folks. One bad game from a first year starter, second year player, currently the youngest player one the roster, and going up against the best PF in the league. What the hell do you people expect??? I'll just leave it at that, and move on to something more relevant.
Ummmmmmm, the "best PF in the NBA currently" played a grand total of 6, count 'em 6, minutes last night. Jones and DMo are not good enough to be in the front of the rotation of a championship team. On a championship team they are at best the last men in the rotation and would play limited minutes. The only chance we have to win a ring this year is by limiting their minutes in favor of small ball lineups and the twin towers combined with 3 smalls around the 2 giants.
What a genius strategy for one of the youngest teams in the league. Let's play our young guys less so they don't develop as much and management will never know if they should be a part of the future. Oh, and let's make sure we don't try to increase their value as a trade asset for the off-season where we could acquire a 3rd star. Are you really delusional enough to think we're good enough to win a championship this season? Not even the organization is expecting to win it all this year, and Morey has already made it clear we lack a third star. It's a REALLY good thing Morey doesn't share your extremely myopic view of player development.
