I distinctly recall JVG saying Manu was the second best SG in the league in early March, and then switching to T-Mac the following week. Both are really good, each with their own strengths relative to the other. The key difference is that one (Ginobili) has the benefit of two teammates playing at a superstar level in these playoffs, while the other is surrounded by 1-dimensional offensive players. I do think both are better suited for their respective positions than the other would be.
he was the 2nd best SG for a week or 2 dude. anybody can be like that for a week or 2. nobody is denying this was manu's best season. when parker went out, he stepped up so he got a lot of props and deservedly so. but manu plays with ZERO pressure. that's the thing about a superstar and a good all-star. one has tons of pressure, the other one generally does not.
Just to give credit where credit is due, Manu is a great passer as well. He's not just a scorer only. Agreed with JVG on most of his thoughts. I will still continually disagree about Battier/Gay trade. While Battier brings certain intangibles, I think the offensive efficiencies as a whole from having Gay around would be hard to quantify. For example, Shaq's presence has helped Stoudemire's play. Having a dynamic threat like Gay can change the way defenses play against T-mac and Yao as well. JVG knows far more about basketball than I do, but everyone knows he has deficiencies when it comes to the offensive game plan. While several teams are going downhill in the WC, there's also the issue of Portland with a healthy Greg Oden to worry about. They will have 3 all star type talents on their team as well as a solid bench. I think priority #1 next season will be to limit both Yao and T-mac's minutes. This means we're gonna need to find some more offensive help for them.
This argument would have more weight if you could show that Ginobili plays at a lesser level when he's put in pressure situations compared to McGrady.
in fact, i do. let's look at his playoff stats in his career. people on this board have made it seem like manu takes his game to another level when the playoffs rolls around. lol, that's not the case, just like it is this year. 15.8ppg, 5rpg, 3.5 apg on 30mpg. last yr when the spurs won the championship, he avg 16ppg on 40% shooting. he had a horrible championship series v. the cavs. but they still won with ease. again, i'm sure people on this board thinks manu is more clutch. but compare what he does throughout a game to tmac's, it's unfair b/c tmac's workload is 10x his. if manu doesn't do much throughout a game, he better do something down the stretch (and even that is overblown).
I'll call it tweaking, if you don't say another word about TMac ruining RA's motion offense and trading him, cause that sure isn't tweaking either. Actually, I already stated the reason I thought we needed to rebuild- to win a NBA championship. I still believe that teams most of the time don't maximize the trade value of all star players by not rebuilding soon enough. Case in point (there are many)- Minnesota could have traded Garnett the year after they went to the finals, the die was already cast when they were letting their complimentary pieces get away. They would have gotten much more in return. Miami could have traded Shaq right after the championship and maximized his value. Phoenix waited too long to shake up the roster as soon as they let Joe Johnson get away the writing was on the wall. Dallas made it to the finals but they made a big mistake 'tweaking' by going after a Jason Kidd. And I don't think rebuilding is the right thing to do just because you lose in the playoffs- that is stupid and reactionary. I think you must consider the age of your core stars , their health and the opportunity to get the right pieces in place. I think teams have to be forward looking. Truth is I think our TMac/ Yao window is 1-2 more seasons, so I would look forward to adding the right pieces (tweaking) this past off season and this coming up one. And if we do as well as Landry and Scola this coming offseason then yes, tweaking was the right thing. But I really didn't anticipate the contribution of Landry and Scola when I posted that thread and Rafer has far exceeded my expectations. I think what you have to consider is will TMac and Yao hold up injury free long enough to win in the next 2 years? If not how much of their value will be lost? If we don't win a ring soon TMac will have lost too much, leaving us Yao who can dominate still for a few years (without injury 3-5 years)- but Yao also has to stay healthy. Now a draft steal could really change the landscape of the team, if we could pick up a Tony Parker quality player late in the draft then we could actually reload on the fly. That is what San Antonio did. The thing that has changed my tune is the acquisiton of Landry and Scola. I really think if they stay healthy they are going to get better. Rafer's improved shooting makes him a viable point guard and he has shown leadership. So yes, I have changed my tune, I am all for tweaking, if Morey continues to nail another off season and draft. BTW- Van Grumpy is a very smart BB person and knows his stuff, if he says tweak then that is probably what we should do. I stand corrected by JVG.
Here is the most important part of their conversation, in my opinion. I listened to it again and transcribed it: Jeff Van Gundy: <b>Utah plays a unique style of defense. They foul on every possession and basically dare officials to call it.</b> When you look at the differential between their fouls on the road and their fouls at home, that’s home court advantage. Lance Zerlein: How important is it to have a mentally tough officiating crew in Utah? JVG: Well, I think that’s important, but anybody that says officials don’t play a part or even a big part in the game are taking a polyanna-ish outlook on the game. There are going to be three parts, there is going to be Houston, there is going to be Utah, and the third part is going to be the officials. The officials, I do believe, try to do the best job they can, but they are human. They do get impacted at certain times by players, there are rubs personality-wise, there are rubs coach/official-wise, but most importantly, it’s how they call the game, how they see it. What may be a hand check or a forearm check at home, it’s easy to let go particularly if you don’t call it early in the game. That’s why I think it’s so important that someone like Steve Jabby, who almost relishes going on the road like a player would, distinguishes what’s a foul. <b>Because like I said, as a team, if you’re like Utah or like the teams we used to have in new York you almost wear officials down because if five guys are fouling on every possession, are you really going to call every one?</b> And that’s really what they get, where they wear officials down where in the first quarter it’s a little physical and in the second quarter there’s a little more hand-checking, and by the fourth quarter it’s hand-to-hand combat many times. And so I think it’s critical that the game be called well for the Rockets and like it says in the rule book about freedom of movement and being able to um, if you have a forearm like Harpring when he guards McGrady, there is to be no touching on the perimeter when you are faced up, yet when I look at Harpring guarding McGrady I am saying to myself, you know those are fouls even before he puts the ball on the ground. So I think it’s critical that the game be officiated from the first quarter all the way through the way the NBA wants it called. Lance Z: You know, it seems to me that the Jazz are willing to push the envelope, that they are willing to take some early foul calls because they understand that the officials will not be willing to continue to call the game like that, and what was shocking is that the officials did continue to call the game like and they got into the bonus, they had four fouls two minutes into the fourth quarter in game 3. But I think they feel like if they keep pushing the envelope either the basketball team, their opponents, are going to wilt a little bit or get intimidated or the officials are going to stop blowing their whistle a little bit and they are going to be able to get away with it, and then on the Rockets’ end, I think McGrady has to go right at the shoulders of Harpring so that the officials have to make those calls or at least bring attention to it.
Also, about JVG's Battier/Rudy Gay comments which everyone is in a big ol' hurry to dismiss out of hand, do you remember when JVG said he was playing Rafer so much because <i>he had to</i>, and everyone laughed and thought he was r****ded. Two games without Rafer, and what have we learned? JVG was right. Maybe, just maybe, you should give him the benefit of the doubt on the Battier thing. Just a thought.
If they still won with ease, how was it a pressure situation for him? Parker and Duncan were dominant, so Ginobili didn't have to take over. Criticizing his performance in a sweep of the opponent makes little sense to me. As you say, in real pressure situations when the game is on the line, Ginobili is widely considered to be the better (more clutch) player. You chalk that up to him being fresher. Ginobili busts his tail when he's on the court far more T-Mac, so I'm not sure I completely buy that. Personally, I think him being a more aggressive attacker, a better finisher around the basket, and a better shooter has a lot to do with it. McGrady's advantage is he can raise up and hit midrange jumpers or make the pass over opponents with his size. As I said, they each have their own strengths, but I'd prefer Ginobili late in a game when a basket is needed.
JVG had no choice -- the backup point guard was Luther Head (which sounds real funny right now). He never gave V-Span nor JLIII any real game experience... they were useless by the playoffs. You can't dismiss the fact that he never got any help at point guard when he had the chance. It helps having two guys rather than one and Aaron Brooks, but just the same, Rafer has done an outstanding job shooting the ball in our two wins, no question about it. That was not the case in last year's playoffs, which JVG said again today.
Yes, I believe JVG built his own PG bed last season. When we see good Rafer we see Rox win. When we see bad Rafer rocks bleed.
it's not pressure b/c if he misses or spurs lose b/c he misses, he would not get criticized. pressure is if you miss, you get grilled. look at tracy in game 7 last yr. he put up 29 and 13 and lost. he got criticized. manu can put up 8 pts in a game 7 and no one really cares. they would focus more on what tim duncan does. so in reality, manu has ZERO pressure. even if he is taking the last shot of the game and misses, no one will care what manu does, but what tim duncand and the spurs.
We beat the Hornets twice during the streak. Even without Yao, if we play to our potential, they are definitely beatable.
That was my entire point all of last year with him, we could all see that Rafer struggled a lot, and that we needed a backup option at his spot....... Oh well, spilled milk. D "Scrooge McDuck" D
