Comments on: Spurs beat Thunder 99-89, split season series

By: M. Smith

M. Smith — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:35:28 +0000

Royce, sounds like your grasp of the the team is square on. We like the insight and the feed back from the readers. Keep up the good work.

By: kev

kev — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:43:55 +0000

we have 1 1/2 three point shooters Durant (and sometimes Green). that’s it. It’s an issue that has to be addressed in the offseason. Hopefully a guy like Thabo will work all summer on his shooting – he has to be a offensive threat to stay in the starting lineup. Westbrook needs to work on his shot as well. I know it’s a substantial amount of hard work, but it can be done. Michael Redd was a 2nd round pick, but now he’s lethal behind the arc due to work, work, work!!!

By: MartzMimic

MartzMimic — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:16:22 +0000

I keep going back to the recent post on the value of the three-point shot. Why did we only attempt one in the second quarter and only two the entire second half? I don’t know how many times I saw one of the guys get the ball outside the arc, then take a few steps in for a 20-foot jumper.

By: John

John — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:48:25 +0000

I think you nailed it Royce (and Joe), Coach Brooks seemed to be just trying out a few different rotations, giving them enough time to dig themselves out of a hole if necessary. Probably that odd lineup you mentioned got 3 minutes because it’s valuable for Brooks to see how that specific group handled being outscored, and apparently these experiments are more important than winning in these last (relatively meaningless) games of the year.

Personally, I don’t particularly care if we finish losing every game or winning every game, I think I’ll feel the same about our chances next year regardless of outcome. But if Brooks and Presti are pretty content with this group of guys heading into the draft, I definitely like using these last few games as valuable game time “practice” with different rotations. If it turns out that Weaver can’t defend opposing PGs but can run the offense if necessary, well that’s something we didn’t know earlier in the year and is good to know going forward. Same thing with Livingston and White.

Also the fact that a few of our last games here are being played against playoff teams who are trying to win to get better seeding, well that’s just a bonus. All these different combinations get real experience, and that should help our team greatly for next year.

By: Royce

Royce — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:12:55 +0000

@Bo
Well, no… just high school at a relatively big high school. Not that high of a level, but I didn’t mean that I just played little league ball when I was eight.

Actually come to think of it, the highest level I played at was probably at OU, where I was a scout team player for the OU women’s squad my sophomore year. I actually learned quite a bit that year about basketball.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:04:29 +0000

I really liked the guard rotations tonight Brooks ran. Westbrook/Thabo, then Weaver/Thabo, then Weaver/Livingston then Westbrook/Thabo. Very clean. Weaver was only -1 and he ran the pick and roll wonderfully, but it was a high pnr mostly, so the roller usually took a dribble and no assist for Weaver. He found the open man quite a bit. I really like him as a combo guard who handles the rock. He found guys.

I also thought the defense was very good at times. I can’t say it enough though, we need another shooter who can scare the crap out of the other team when he has the ball in his hands.

By: Kev

Kev — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:51:32 +0000

@Royce

I don;t really think Weaver was baiting – I tihnk this was a directive from the coach (of course, I am taking an educated guess). Maybe our staff realizes that Weaver can’t stop Parker straight up, so they force hi8m one way and make sure there’s help – that’s the way I see it. But, I am with you, the same thing happens every time, Parker dishes it off for an easy two. I believe that another guy is supposed to rotate down and cut off the pass to Duncan – but that rotation (a lot of the time) never shows up . . .

By: Crow

Crow — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 08:04:20 +0000

It may be too early to expect much from the odd lineup of Kyle Weaver, Shaun Livingston, Jeff Green, D.J. White and Nick Collison but you eventually will want to have confidence in such a lineup here and there. Probably not in the 4th quarter now though. Add Westbrook or Krstic and you might do better.

Durant can’t always be in and sometimes probably shouldn’t if he is off or stymied by a match-up at one end or the other. If Green is a #2 he will have to be able to play a pretty big role in this kind of lineup. If he can’t then he really is a #3 0r #4. Not sure if Westbrook is ready for that role either. 2 years from now could be a lot different.

They could well contend for playoffs in 2010-11 but it will probably be on the order of 4-6 team contention for final 2 spots. Next season I expect if will probably be at least 7 of the same 8 and more likely all 8 than just 6 the same unless there are significant injuries.

By: Bo

Bo — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:30:27 +0000

Hey Royce, what “levels” have you played basketball at? By “pretty high” do you mean college?

By: Royce

Royce — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:36:56 +0000

Kev, I feel like you’d be a good person to explain this:

I’ve played basketball at pretty high levels and I understand “baiting” a ballhandler into a double-team or trap. But sometimes (especially Weaver) it seemed like he’d give Parker the baseline drive and it would force Krstic to come off Duncan and it made for an easy dish and layup. I know this is something lots of teams do and it’s nothing new to turn your body to try and force a guy into that, but it seems so easy to beat. Were we just executing it wrong tonight or is it just a bad play?