2003 Spurs: Replace Duncan w/ Peak Giannis

[Matt15]

How far would the Spurs go if you replace Duncan w/Peak Giannis?

[OhayoKD]

They probably win again. Wouldn't be hard to see them being better honestly.

[BIGJ1ER]

I don't think they'd win, since I don't think Giannis is as good as Duncan, and 03 was an ATG playoff run, which Giannis hasn't replicated over a full run (21 Finals was legendary, but the whole run wasn't)

[Peregrine01]

They probably win again. Wouldn't be hard to see them being better honestly.

I don't think they'd be better. The paint was far more congested then for Giannis to bulldoze his way to the rim and it was much more of a half-court game. Giannis also isn't as strong as Duncan to deal with Shaq in the paint. The Spurs were one of the teams who played Shaq the best because Duncan was strong enough to hold his own in the post while Robinson helped on the weak-side.

[70sFan]

Don't like Giannis with this roster and scheme, I think they'd lose to Lakers.

[OhayoKD]

They probably win again. Wouldn't be hard to see them being better honestly.

I don't think they'd be better. The paint was far more congested then for Giannis to bulldoze his way to the rim and it was much more of a half-court game. Giannis also isn't as strong as Duncan to deal with Shaq in the paint. The Spurs were one of the teams who played Shaq the best because Duncan was strong enough to hold his own in the post while Robinson helped on the weak-side.

Packing the paint doesn't stop Giannis. Teams that tried that were punished, including the Raptors for the first two games of the ECF. The "Giannis Rules" involve sending out three man-walls past the free throw line as he crosses half-court and then funnelling him into a strong paint protector(or Bam whose similar build and agility allowed him to mirror Giannis).

2003 Shaq didn't do much better against Garnett and scraps compared to the Twin Towers and Shaq doesn't really have the lateral quickness to limit Giannis on the other end(at least, not without that 3-man funnel). Without extraodinary aid, Gasol couldn't, and Shaq was not a better defender than Gasol at his peak, let alone in 2003 where we're entering his post-prime.

Should go without saying the Mavs, the Suns, and the Nets aren't stopping ****

[70sFan]

They probably win again. Wouldn't be hard to see them being better honestly.

I don't think they'd be better. The paint was far more congested then for Giannis to bulldoze his way to the rim and it was much more of a half-court game. Giannis also isn't as strong as Duncan to deal with Shaq in the paint. The Spurs were one of the teams who played Shaq the best because Duncan was strong enough to hold his own in the post while Robinson helped on the weak-side.

Packing the paint doesn't stop Giannis. Teams that tried that were punished, including the Raptors for the first two games of the ECF. The "Giannis Rules" involve sending out three man-walls past the free throw line as he crosses half-court and then funnelling him into a strong paint protector(or Bam whose similar build and agility allowed him to mirror Giannis).

2003 Shaq didn't do much better against Garnett and scraps compared to the Twin Towers and Shaq doesn't really have the lateral quickness to limit Giannis on the other end(at least, not without that 3-man funnel). Without extraodinary aid, Gasol couldn't, and Shaq was not a better defender than Gasol at his peak, let alone in 2003 where we're entering his post-prime.

Should go without saying the Mavs, the Suns, and the Nets aren't stopping ****

Giannis played with different officiating and much better spacing than he would in 2003. This Spurs team wasn't optimized to play that way. Robinson wouldn't space thr floor like Lopez did. If you think Bledsoe made Giannis struggle, then look at Spurs startinf backcourt - sophomore Parker who couldn't shoot and Stephen Jackson who shot 32% from 3P line.

You assume that teams would have to defend Giannis the same way Raptors did, but teams defend teams - Spurs didn't have personel to play Giannis ball.

Then of course there are other things, like Duncan playing full games in the playoffs basically (Giannis plays at high intensity, but doesn't play high minutes), Pop running his offense from thr post (Giannis is much worse post player than Duncan), the value of offensive rebounding being bigger etc. Then there are other factors unrelated to Giannis/Duncan - would Dirk still get injured, for example?

I think you start to overrate Giannis a little bit recently, though that's just my opinion of course.

[dooki667]

I'd say they'd be a little worse. The list of people who could replace Duncan is very very small imo but I'd be fascinated to watch him and peak Shaq go at it.

[Frosty]

Who is going to beat them?

Phoenix - hell no
Lakers = Kobe tore his shoulder in the series before and needed surgery, played anyways, Fox went out, George got injured. They were far from deep. Horry would be trying to stop Giannis...

If they use the same strat as they did on Duncan, look out
"Coming into this series, they (the Lakers) decided to let me do what I had to do and shut everybody else down," Duncan said.

Dallas - Lost Dirk in Games 3 and almost every big man. They literally had one left. Lafrentz.
New Jersey - not a chance

[Peregrine01]

I don't think they'd be better. The paint was far more congested then for Giannis to bulldoze his way to the rim and it was much more of a half-court game. Giannis also isn't as strong as Duncan to deal with Shaq in the paint. The Spurs were one of the teams who played Shaq the best because Duncan was strong enough to hold his own in the post while Robinson helped on the weak-side.

Packing the paint doesn't stop Giannis. Teams that tried that were punished, including the Raptors for the first two games of the ECF. The "Giannis Rules" involve sending out three man-walls past the free throw line as he crosses half-court and then funnelling him into a strong paint protector(or Bam whose similar build and agility allowed him to mirror Giannis).

2003 Shaq didn't do much better against Garnett and scraps compared to the Twin Towers and Shaq doesn't really have the lateral quickness to limit Giannis on the other end(at least, not without that 3-man funnel). Without extraodinary aid, Gasol couldn't, and Shaq was not a better defender than Gasol at his peak, let alone in 2003 where we're entering his post-prime.

Should go without saying the Mavs, the Suns, and the Nets aren't stopping ****

Giannis played with different officiating and much better spacing than he would in 2003. This Spurs team wasn't optimized to play that way. Robinson wouldn't space thr floor like Lopez did. If you think Bledsoe made Giannis struggle, then look at Spurs startinf backcourt - sophomore Parker who couldn't shoot and Stephen Jackson who shot 32% from 3P line.

You assume that teams would have to defend Giannis the same way Raptors did, but teams defend teams - Spurs didn't have personel to play Giannis ball.

Then of course there are other things, like Duncan playing full games in the playoffs basically (Giannis plays at high intensity, but doesn't play high minutes), Pop running his offense from thr post (Giannis is much worse post player than Duncan), the value of offensive rebounding being bigger etc. Then there are other factors unrelated to Giannis/Duncan - would Dirk still get injured, for example?

I think you start to overrate Giannis a little bit recently, though that's just my opinion of course.

Pertinent point IMO. Giannis gets an incredibly favorable whistle in today’s game, especially during the regular season. In the playoffs when officials get tighter with their whistle his scoring efficiency has dropped meaningfully. In the early-00s he gets even less benefit here.

[CharityStripe34]

Really hard to say, but I'd love to see a career where a 21-year-old Gianni gets drafted by Pop and develops. I wonder if Pop would embrace his unique ball-handling style and one-man transition work.

I'd imagine it would look quite unusual for a 7ft PF to be bringing the ball up and/or running the floor in 2003. He'd probably have learned a basic post-up game with a couple of go-to moves much earlier than he has (which he still sometimes goes away from). Although his mid-range J would probably serve him well. He's not McDyess or Webber or Garnett, but I'd reckon he would be fine taking 13-17 footers. Fun hypothetical.