Nashty & Cactus: Game 17 vs Minny

[batsmasher]

Standings

How it works

Standings will be updated today at some time.

[LacosteM]

-3 Len : 7 TO's, looked like a epitome of clumsiness today.
-2 Tucker : The day Bender pulls on his jersey and checks in at the scoretable ahead of Tucker will be glorious.
-1 Booker : Hesitant to put him out there, as I'm not sure how much his performance is affected by injury 11/2/2 with 4 TO won't cut it.

+3 Bledsoe
+2 Knight
+1 Chandler ??

[darealjuice]

+3 Eric Bledsoe: Way, way too many turnovers tonight, but he played the best game out of everyone on the team all around, and I thought a couple of his offensive fouls were crap calls. Probably the only player that played a full game tonight.
+2 Marqusee Chriss: Scored well early, played hard, and did a solid job when he was on KAT. I would have liked for him to have been stronger on the boards, I felt like the Timberwolves got a lot of second choice points tonight and we need more than 2 boards from him in 23 minutes.
+1 Tyson Chandler: Got called for some cheap fouls, but he did a good job making things difficult for KAT in the first half. Glad to see him out on the court, he's a rebounding machine and we need that when we usually have undersized 3s and 4s with TJ not playing.

-1 PJ Tucker: Tried to do too much on offense that isn't really in his game. I don't want him trying to take guys off the dribble and taking turn around jump shots off the dribble, I just want him to defend, crash the boards hard, move the ball, and hit the open catch and shoot at a reasonable rate. We don't need him attacking the basket and forcing it into traffic.
-2 Devin Booker: Way too loose with the ball tonight, he kept getting caught in the air trying to pass and would just throw it away. I feel like he stagnates our offense sometimes and dribbles out the clock a lot to go 1 on 1 or run a pick and roll, I'd like to see more shots coming out of the offense for him and less trying to create his own shot so much.
-3 Alex Len: Just when I thought he was turning it around, he lays a terrible game on us. He's not fully to blame for all the moving screens on the ball, our guards need to be more patient and time their attack better, but at some point he needs to figure it out too. Far too many turnovers and low IQ games from him tonight, and he got his soul stolen by Lavine on that dunk.

[Qwigglez]

+3 for Bledsoe - He's been somewhat inconsistent taking some plays off and being the leader of the team he can't do that. But he's still proving to be the leader of the team by getting everyone pumped up and makings plays.
+2 for Bender - He looks good to me every game. I am getting frustrated by his lack of playing time and that nobody passes to him. He has a better shot that Tucker yet Tucker shoots more. Seriously wtf...
+1 for Chriss - Thought he played a good game.

-3 for Watson - Didn't like his rotations.
-2 for Len - His 7 turnovers sucks. But he played good defense IMO.
-1 for Booker - Did he play? I'm assuming he is still injured, he needs time to recover.

[batsmasher]

I watched this game and I'm struggling to come up with votes. It was one of those games that didn't really register with me,

I was disappointed with Earl for going with the BK/LB combo in the 3rd.

3. Bled. Aggressive.
2. Knight. The less we talk about him the better he is playing. Hopefully this becomes his baseline.
1. Chriss. Only gets the point for his offensive improvement. Defensively I swear it was literally 4v5 for a few possessions with him on the floor in the 4th (BAD MAN EARL)

-3. Len. His mistakes hurt us.
-2. Ulis. Killed us in the 3rd with uncharacteristic play. (Harsh... but we're here to judge performance)
-1. Book. AWOL. This turf toe will be blamed for his play all season.

[jcsunsfan]

Len had a lot of turnovers, but he was a positive factor in this game. I was there, center court just a few rows up. Len has an impact you don't see on TV much. He turns alot of players away from the middle just by his presence. I think his career trajectory will be similar to Tyson Chandler.

Ulis really hurt and Booker had very little impact.

[nashrambler13]

I was at this game; it was not as fun as I thought it should've been :'(

+3 Bledsoe: 7 TOs, but he has been the only reason this team is ever competitive. He's a better distributor than given credit for, and goes 100% every game. I don't know if he is part of our future, but there is a special place in my heart for Eric.
+2 Knight: I loathe his game, but there are not many options to choose from.
+1 Chriss?: I can't think of anyone else who deserves it, but at least Chriss played well enough to get more than 20 minutes and was productive.

-1 Ulis: If he's gonna get hella "+3"s from everybody, then he can at least get a couple of "-1"s when he is atrocious. Hopefully he still plays a bit when Warren comes back.
-2 Barbosa: Man, low-key just as bad of a black hole as Knight; he's lucky we all love him.
-3 Watson: There is not much to say really. His rotations are so haphazard it is painful. The offense is an embarrassment.

Some notes, positive and negative:
+: Even though he turned the ball over a comical amount of times, I thought Len was alright tonight. Moved well, competed very hard, and got past getting absolutely yammed on by LaVine.
+: I am probably a homer, but it just seems like Dragan doesn't make many mistakes? He's almost always in the right spot defensively, and he is a smart passer... am I crazy? Has he ever been a real negative on the court? I know +/- is a very rudimentary stat, but he outpaces the team (when comparing his +/- to the final score) in EVERY SINGLE GAME. Can someone give me a reason why he is "not game ready" and can't get more minutes?
-: Earl, that last question was for you.
-: My friend mentioned this: When was the last time we had a Spurs-gasm on offense? Obviously there is very little going for our offense, but the ball-movement is sad. Some of it falls on Earl, and some of it is having so many players (BK, Warren, Devin) whose first instinct is to look for the shot. This kills the flow, and it's even more apparent live: players are open via a quick ball reversal, but this never happens, and potential looks are snuffed out.

[LacosteM]

+: I am probably a homer, but it just seems like Dragan doesn't make many mistakes? He's almost always in the right spot defensively, and he is a smart passer... am I crazy? Has he ever been a real negative on the court? I know +/- is a very rudimentary stat, but he outpaces the team (when comparing his +/- to the final score) in EVERY SINGLE GAME. Can someone give me a reason why he is "not game ready" and can't get more minutes?

I had this thought earlier which I dismissed because I expected for Bender to soonly see increase in PT, but now I'm starting to believe that Watson possibly has certain bias towards him just because he's European. If Bender was American and went to college, I'm almost certain that his and Chriss PT would be inversed.

I'd be willing to bet he'd be getting at least 15 minutes per game on any other lottery team for 2 simple reasons:

- he came into the league ready defensively, understanding defensive schemes and playing great positional defense
- his catch&shoot ability.

Also I've seen some suggesting that Watson turned to Chriss more because of his finishing ability. Well according to his shotchart he's shooting only 49% at the rim, which is pretty meh for a guy whose forte finishing at the rim was supposed to be. So I honestly don't know what Watson's justification is.

[kennydorglas]

+3 Bled
+2 Knight
+1 Chriss

-1 Barbosa
-2 Booker
-3 Len

[nashrambler13]

+: I am probably a homer, but it just seems like Dragan doesn't make many mistakes? He's almost always in the right spot defensively, and he is a smart passer... am I crazy? Has he ever been a real negative on the court? I know +/- is a very rudimentary stat, but he outpaces the team (when comparing his +/- to the final score) in EVERY SINGLE GAME. Can someone give me a reason why he is "not game ready" and can't get more minutes?

I had this thought earlier which I dismissed because I expected for Bender to soonly see increase in PT, but now I'm starting to believe that Watson possibly has certain bias towards him just because he's European. If Bender was American and went to college, I'm almost certain that his and Chriss PT would be inversed.

I'd be willing to bet he'd be getting at least 15 minutes per game on any other lottery team for 2 simple reasons:

- he came into the league ready defensively, understanding defensive schemes and playing great positional defense
- his catch&shoot ability.

Also I've seen some suggesting that Watson turned to Chriss more because of his finishing ability. Well according to his shotchart he's shooting only 49% at the rim, which is pretty meh for a guy whose forte finishing at the rim was supposed to be. So I honestly don't know what Watson's justification is.

Yeah man, I don't know if I'm ready to accept the "Watson is anti-Euro" viewpoint yet, but that is one of the only explanations that seems legitimate. I am not saying Dragan is by any means some sort of superstar in the making, I just have not yet heard a basketball argument that validates the spot-minutes treatment he is getting.

[bwgood77]

-3 Ulis Not a good game. 3 turnovers, 1 assist, 20% shooting
-2 Barbosa 0-6 Terrible. He would be worst but at least he didn't turn it over.
-1 Booker Just bad D, 4 turnovers with only 2 assists, poor shooting night

+3 Chandler Did what he is supposed to do. Hit his shots, 7 boards in only 11 minutes
+2 Chriss Edges out Dudley because he didn't turn it over, and was active, coming up with 2 steals and a block. Could have rebounded a bit more, but rebounding wasn't our problem in this game with a +9 there so not a big deal
+1 Dudley Decent game with fewer mistakes and fewer turnovers than most

Of course Bender, once again with the best +/- and the least minutes

[batsmasher]

Final.

3. Bled
1. Knight
1. Chriss

-3 Len
-2. Booker
-1. Ulis
-1. Watson