Being as good as Duncan-Splitter should be the first step...

[Patman]

...for Dwight and Pau.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... K-pA3Zvgf4

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8757066/tim-duncan-tiago-splitter-greg-monroe-andre-drummond-more-nba-frontcourt-odd-couples

Yes, I know Thiago and Tim have had more experience together. I'm just saying if that can work for SA, then Dwight-Pau can still work. They have a much more diverse skill set than those two. And there's not many frontcourts slower than San Antonio's, so you can't say Dwight-Pau can't work b/c of a lack of speed.

[Slava]

Didn't Duncan and Splitter play like 120 mins together?

[dockingsched]

they've played like 80 minutes together. pau, despite missing the past 8 games, has played well over 300 min next to howard.

[Patman]

It's not a large sample size, I agree. But still, in the limited time they're played together, they've done really well. Of course, there are downsides to this line-up, which is why Pop has been cautious with it, but they're conscious about trying to play them together more:

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnatio ... r-pairing/

And everything Pop does is geared towards winning a title, even if it means sacrificing a few wins here and there right now. Clearly, Pop thinks playing two traditional bigs will pay dividends in the playoffs.

Now, I do think the Lakers would also benefit from staggering Dwight and Pau. If they play 32 minutes a night, and you have at least one of them on at all times, then it breaks down like this:

16 min: they play together
16 min: Dwight's on, Pau's out
16 min: Pau's on, Dwight's out

I've advocated moving Pau to the bench before.