I'm not giving up on him, I just don't think he will really help us this year but in future years he could be a solid part of the rotation.
Well said, Plowman. I look forward to Sam's return if he's truly healthy. As others have pointed out, early season Dekk was pretty impactful in a positive way. I apologize in advance for tossing out some numbers, but here goes. Looking at his shooting from distance, and assuming my math's right, he shot 41% from behind the arc for the first 20 games. For the next 20? His shooting from downtown plummeted to 26%. During the 20 games after that, Sam's 3 point shooting improved to 33%, which is still mediocre, being below the league average. At least it improved. But the last games he played? 25% from 3. I'm obviously focused on Sam's 3 point shooting. I think the rest of his game is good enough to justify minutes in the rotation, if he can consistently shoot a decent percentage from 3. Stuck in the middle of all that is the one dynamic start Dekker made, playing 35 minutes, scoring 30, scoring inside and outside, going 6-11 from downtown against a good defensive team, Memphis, 47 games into the season. That game got a lot of us excited. Can the Sam Dekker of that game against Memphis turn up? The Dekker of the first 20 games? Can he find consistency? We'll see, assuming he gets a chance to play. If not? We'll see next season (unless he turns up for the WC Finals - always optimistic!). It's worth pointing out that Sam shot 39% taking corner 3's for the season. That's something in his favor. Besides his 3 point shooting, I hope he's been practicing from the charity stripe as much as his shooting from distance. A wing should shoot better than 59% at the line, in my humble opinion. I like his future as a rotation player, assuming he puts in the work, and I think he will, but who knows whether he'll play against the Spurs? We'll see, starting Monday. The extra days off won't hurt Sam's recovery.
He was in the rotation the entire year when healthy. His minutes dropped after we picked up Williams, but he still played. If Anderson and Ariza continue their awful play, then I would hope that MDA doesn't hesitate to play Dekker. He's not a good three point shooter, but he can run the floor and drive to the basket and rebound. Anyway, it's good to have him back.
He could be useful as a wing defender . He did good work on some tough players , and has a lot of athleticism . Good idea to throw him on kawhi if other options are doing poorly. Also even Brewer played well in the playoffs one year. It's a different animal , sometimes a transition weapon can win you games.
I hope he does get PT since I believe the Spurs are playing 9 deep. It should help with giving some break to Ariza or Anderson.
Well he sure seems confident he is going to get some time . I wonder if he talked with the coach already , or if he is just voicing his own wishful thinking . I hope it's not the second , because that seems fairly immature . Sam is super inexperienced . It will be interesting to see ( if he plays) if he match the newfound physicality and pick it up on both ends . It seemed to take Clint a couple of games to slow down and start making solid/ strong moves . The first game he had good offense , but they were all wide open dunks . He certainly stepped up on D . It took Capela games to grow... But the important thing is that he grew. Capela is going to be very very good soon if he can capitalize on this learning experience. Sam needs that opportunity to see what it's like firsthand if only so that he can grow too . The playoffs are a great opportunity for young guys to test their mettle and mature.
To be fair, Harrell averaged the same number of minutes as Dekker (which is more than Nene) and he was cut out of the rotation entirely. Even with Capela struggling, Harrell didn't get a look - and he's not a "rookie" with zero playoff experience who's coming off an injury. I would actually be pretty surprised if Dekker gets rotation minutes regardless of how Ariza and Anderson play. That's not to say that I wouldn't be in favor of it.
Actually, MDA has used Harrell in the playoffs exactly as he used him in the regular season. Other than garbage minutes at the end of the game, Harrell only plays when either Nene or Capela are unable to play due to injury or rest. Because there are no back to back games in the playoffs, Nene has played every game. Both Nene and Capela have been available every game, which leaves Harrell on the bench. Dekker, on the other hand, was always part of the rotation when healthy. After we acquired Williams, Dekker's minutes declined, but he still played. I like both Dekker and Harrell, so it wouldn't bother me to see MDA give both guys some minutes.
I did find a good number of exceptions when looking through the schedule, but for the most part you are correct. Fair point. Anyway, I think Harrell has a good case for cracking the rotation versus San Antonio. He doesn't have the defensive presence of Capela or the sheer power of Nene, but he's kind of a hybrid of the two and I think his motor could cause issues for their aging bigs.
Everybody loves to bring up the 3pt percentage but nobody ever brings up the overall fg% of .473 that's better than every non big on the team. He's pretty damn good it's just too bad most here have been brainwashed by the Morey-lytics to even see it
I'm looking forward to Ginobli taking a Sam Dekker charge and Ginobli's head falling off and flying into the stands.
