Post game Ruminations. At Spurs.

[LSWF]

Popovich is an all time great coach.

[bluethunder0005]

It's been 7 games folks. The Spurs and Jazz are both 5-2, the Spurs have beaten the 76ers and the Jazz have beaten the Nuggets and the Pelicans. I guess those teams should panic too? Through 17 games, the 2010 Miami Heat, who had the best player, another top 3 player, and another top 10-15 player started off 9-8. If everyone saw our opening schedule and thought we'd be 6-1 or 7-0 they should have thought about how many new pieces we have. It takes a long time to develop chemistry.

Anderson, Gobert, Forbes... That's pretty much it. Outside of Gobert they don't even play high minutes.

What chemistry, outside of Gobert, this starting lineup is familiar with each other. Yes we lost Beas, Bev, and V8. But outside of that our 'Big 3' is the same as last year.

We're making excuses. Yes 7 games is an early time to jump the gun, but we are playing poorly, especially compared to last year.

We lost 40% of our starting lineup, our 6th man from last year is gone, and a key bench piece is now a starter. It's not necessarily about how many new pieces the team has, but also how roles have changed within the same players we had last year. It's going to take months to start getting used to it.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't loved what I've seen, especially defensively but I'm not panicking until the calendar says 2023 on it.

[Calinks]

I also think our youth on the perimeter is hurting us. Ant and Jaden are getting mentally wrecked by smart offense. We have constant break downs, guys getting open, giving up great looks. Then you add Dlo being slow, then you add KAT being slow for a four, lots of chances for things to break down. We need much better play from Ant and Jaden as they have the speed and capability to step up there but I don't know if they have the experience.

The offense is jacked up too.

[guest81]

It's the rebounding that's the most confusing thing to me. Being huge was supposed to be their biggest strength but they're terrible and it makes no sense

[winforlose]

It's the rebounding that's the most confusing thing to me. Being huge was supposed to be their biggest strength but they're terrible and it makes no sense

Guys still need to box out. Rudy is often alone trying to offensive rebound, and defensively Rudy keeps getting forced to help and taken out of position. When this happens our guys don’t box out, position well, or secure the boards.

[MN7725]

It's the rebounding that's the most confusing thing to me. Being huge was supposed to be their biggest strength but they're terrible and it makes no sense

Jaden, ANT, Russell are awful rebounders, hurt team last year
It's a mindset, Beverly is excellent rebounder even though he is 6'1
Not sure that will change, although Wiggins becoming a good one, at least in playoffs, gives me hope

Rudy will help, but I think it will be more like the Wolves will go from 29th DREB last year to like 20th

[Nick K]

Maybe I can simplify the result last night.

We were 4 for 29 from 3. They were 16 of 40.

No matter the coach, how many games do you win shooting 4 for 29 from 3? Especially when the other team shoots 16 of 40.

We're supposed to be a 3 pt shooting team. We were built for that.

I agree that I would have gone with the group that got us back into the game but you have 80 million dollars of talent on the bench or 2 of your 3 best players. They need PT together. tough call.

[MN7725]

Read on Twitter

That is interesting

Goes to show the hero ball that is going on

[winforlose]

Maybe I can simplify the result last night.

We were 4 for 29 from 3. They were 16 of 40.

No matter the coach, how many games do you win shooting 4 for 29 from 3? Especially when the other team shoots 16 of 40.

We're supposed to be a 3 pt shooting team. We were built for that.

I agree that I would have gone with the group that got us back into the game but you have 80 million dollars of talent on the bench or 2 of your 3 best players. They need PT together. tough call.

V8 and Bev wouldn’t help with 3 point shooting this year. Beasley is shooting 14/39 for 35.9% across 7 games. Nowell is 9 of 34 so far which is 26.5%. Clearly Beasley has the advantage through 7 games. But, do we really think Beasley is that much more valuable than Nowell? Do we really think Nowell won’t improve his numbers? Of course not. Outside of those guys Lea was a non factor and Kessler was never a Wolf. This struggle with team 3 point shooting is a function of the returning Wolves not hitting their 3s. Nick nailed it with the 4/29. We have all seen power outage games. Anything sub 20 percent is a statistical outlier or a major problem or both. We shot 29 attempts from deep, 20% of 29 is 5.8. Let’s round that up to 6. If we make just two more of our 3PAs, then we have 6 more points at the end of the game. Then, instead of playing the foul game and being off balance, it is just straight up basketball. This game should have been a win, but for god awful shooting.

This is not to say we don’t have other problems that BADLY need fixing. But it is too say that while they didn’t help us in game 7, they aren’t the main story. 4/29 IS.

[IceManBK1]

I'd forgive dlo if he can have a few straight games of high % shooting. These 4-15, 5-17 shooting is just horrible. He's missing a lot of easy and open shots. Need to do a better job at converting those on a higher clip.
His 3 pter been struggling, it used to be sth he's decent at. If he can get back to 36, 37% 3pt shooting then he'll be alright.

[Folklore]

Maybe I can simplify the result last night.

We were 4 for 29 from 3. They were 16 of 40.

No matter the coach, how many games do you win shooting 4 for 29 from 3? Especially when the other team shoots 16 of 40.

We're supposed to be a 3 pt shooting team. We were built for that.

I agree that I would have gone with the group that got us back into the game but you have 80 million dollars of talent on the bench or 2 of your 3 best players. They need PT together. tough call.

V8 and Bev wouldn’t help with 3 point shooting this year. Beasley is shooting 14/39 for 35.9% across 7 games. Nowell is 9 of 34 so far which is 26.5%. Clearly Beasley has the advantage through 7 games. But, do we really think Beasley is that much more valuable than Nowell? Do we really think Nowell won’t improve his numbers? Of course not. Outside of those guys Lea was a non factor and Kessler was never a Wolf. This struggle with team 3 point shooting is a function of the returning Wolves not hitting their 3s. Nick nailed it with the 4/29. We have all seen power outage games. Anything sub 20 percent is a statistical outlier or a major problem or both. We shot 29 attempts from deep, 20% of 29 is 5.8. Let’s round that up to 6. If we make just two more of our 3PAs, then we have 6 more points at the end of the game. Then, instead of playing the foul game and being off balance, it is just straight up basketball. This game should have been a win, but for god awful shooting.

This is not to say we don’t have other problems that BADLY need fixing. But it is too say that while they didn’t help us in game 7, they aren’t the main story. 4/29 IS.

With V8 and Bev the Spurs would have turned the ball over more and we would have gotten more steals and outlets. Nowell will be gone next season. There's no way he sees himself as a bench player IF he starts to shoot better. Unless he outplays Jaden or Ant why would they pay him starter money? Beasley would have been happier here and would have taken less to stay on the team just like Prince. Also, Beasley 3s are far more contagious than Nowells are, when Beasley makes a shot, he tends to look at the other players to celebrate. As far as the role changes, having a cheap big like JaVale Mcgee to come off the bench when we only need to get REB and rim protection would have caused less damage. And with the current team, yeah, Rudy really screwed things up. But hey, Rudy alone should have made us the top defensive team.

Watching Rus play makes me wonder why the hell we didn't draft a PG.

[Klomp]

It's the rebounding that's the most confusing thing to me. Being huge was supposed to be their biggest strength but they're terrible and it makes no sense

You just said it. Being huge is the strength, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will result in rebounds.