when you refer to stats, be accurate. with duncan, you're rounding his 36.8 mpg to 38 mpg. with ginobilli, you're rounding his 2.6 increase in minutes down to 0.
More the former. I think Popovich places less importance on seeding then just ensuring that his team is capable of playing at high level when necessary. I don't think he cares as much as most coaches who his team matches up against. It's very different. I don't think Jordan or Kobe would tolerate being limited to 30 minutes, firstly. And none of Jackson's teams had an All-NBA duo like Parker and Duncan that would still be in the starting lineup.
So, you are saying that Popovich rests Gino during the year so he has fresher legs for the playoffs. But then, Popovich still only played 30mpg last year, while Parker and Duncan played 38mpg. I just don't get your point. Last year Gino started. Then the Spurs had a bad stretch and people were saying they weren't the same (me included). You know what Popovich's response to that bad stretch was. He put Gino back on the bench as the super-sub 6th man. Clearly, Popovich decided that his team is more efficient as a team when Gino comes off the bench to take on the 2nd team of the opponents. Then Popovich again rests his legs in the 3rd so he can play most of the 4th.
And what makes you think Popovich wouldn't want to do the same thing if he had T-Mac instead of Ginobili? Of course, McGrady would be harder to convince to accept that role (can't discount the role ego plays in all of this).
b/c he's simply better. there's no convincing or anything. that's why duncan averages 35 mpg this yr. great players play.
my point is that its more important to have fresher players than home court advantage when the playoffs roll around.
if the spurs had duncan, tmac, and parker, i believe tmac would spend more time on the bench (like ginobilli currently does). simply put, parker complements duncan better than manu does or tmac would.
i meant that he currently averages greater. if he were on the spurs, i believe he'd have minutes comparable to what manu gets.
If anyone who believes Ginobili is as good as T-Mac is certifiable and needs some serious help immediately. This is Manu's first 20 point avg in a season. Mac has done that the last 8 seasons, and have had some very Jordan-like and Nique-ish like years..... The only thing Manu has over Mac is the rings and 3 point shooting....but when Mac is in the zone he can easily go for 50 or 60 on bad team.
that u truly does not know basketball. ur going to play a guy 30 minutes per game in the playoffs who has shown he can put up 29, 7, 6 v. double/triple teams??? we're not talking about a guy who puts up 17ppg on 44% fg in the playoffs in manu now? the manu love-fest is really getting out of hand. i understand he's unselfish, nice guy, hard-working, come from argentina... but c'mon now.
i believe that a duncan/parker tandem is more effective than tmac running isolation plays. if means i dont know basketball, then so be it. but ask yourself this: "how many championships has duncan won?"
so are you saying tmac will average 30 minutes per game in teh PLAYOFFS if he played for the spurs? yes or no. i never said tmac was better than duncan, b/c he's not. we're comparing tmac to manu here. tmac is a better player, playmaker, decision-maker, creator, pick and roll player than parker. and more importantly, he has the height advantage that none of the spurs players do. u don't think pop would relish at the opportunity of a 6'8 guy controlling his offense? u do know the spurs don't run a high post w/ manu or parker right? there's no posting up by their guards right? the spurs offense would have so many more possibilities with tmac. but what do i know?
if my options are a duncan/parker tandem vs tmac by himself, the choice is easily the duncan/parker tandem. as such, if this were the scenario, then tmac would have fewer minutes. to effectively compare tmac to manu, you have to factor in the circumstances in which manu plays. he's on the same team as duncan and parker, so you have to take into account how their presence will affect his minutes. then you'd have to imagine tmac on the spurs instead of manu. if you believe tmac would be more effective than parker/duncan, then yes, he would receive more minutes. if you think parker/duncan is better, then tmac would receive less minutes. welcome to manu's world. after passing to duncan, parker will usually cut through the lane hoping for easy layups. how many times did you see tmac do this with yao? i wouldnt say tmac is a better decision maker, but he does have a lot of advantages when compared to parker. but the most important aspect of their games is that parker's complements duncan's better. so if duncan is going to receive hefty minutes, you should expect parker to as well. its not hard to throw an entry pass to duncan. its much easier than throwing one to yao. and you have to realize that since the offense will flow through duncan, tmac wont be controlling the offense as much as you think.
you do realise this is the same Parker that TD didn't prefer in preference to Kidd. The same Kidd that rafer Alston that gave a good lesson to not that long ago? Parker passes it to TD and then cuts in. Thats really all about he does. The offence we have does not call for Mcgrady to cut in. Thats a coaches call not Mcgradys. I still can't believe you can question his decision making even after many people have credited his decision making. ITs like you go out of your way to not like him.
how many years ago was that? you do realize that parker's game has evolved since then, right? he's also arguably the best mid-range jump shooter in the game. if mcgrady were as effective in cutting as parker is, then the coach would call for mcgrady to cut. lets make one thing clear. during this streak, i do think mcgrady has been a good decision maker. understand? let me say it again. during this win streak, i do think mcgrady has been a good decision maker. that being said, i cant say he's a better decision maker than parker. honestly, i've seen mcgrady take many ill-advised shots. and i cant say i've ever seen parker take a bad shot. but i realize that this freedom is afforded to mcgrady and not parker. so i cant say that parker is a better decision maker either. you call this disliking mcgrady. i call it being objective.
One thing I heard from JVG from that Spur-Suns game is "we have better defense than last year". Can you believe it? The defense-first coach is giving props to RA. I guess it's really impressive to him.
