Roster Reality For The 2009-2010 Spurs: The New 4 (or 5)

by Wayne Vore (ATS) on Oct 5, 2009 3:52 PM CDT in Analysis

The first pre-season game is tomorrow night. I'm excited to see all the new guys. I think it is time for me to start realistically setting my expectations. The more I can get those expectations in line with those of the organization, the less surprised I will be.

The summer roster changes created a lot of excitement. The Jefferson trade, the draft, and the free agent signings. I think all the excitement leads to some unreal expectations. This became clear to me at the media day last Monday. I shouldn't have been surprised. We'd already seen the first glimpse of our reality smack-in-the-face when Jack McClinton was released. But still, there is nothing like some facts to really open the eyes.

The Spurs have the Big 4now. We all know this. We know that Jefferson is a very strong 4th wheel. The eye-opening thing for me was the New 4. I went into media day thinking about all the new faces and all the young faces. What I wasn't prepared for was the concept of the New 4. The Spurs presented it to me as "the New 4" in describing the day's activities. Manu, in his interview, references the New 4 and then throws in a "five with Bogans".

The New 4 are:

Conspicuously missing, to me anyway, was 48MoH feature of the day Marcus Haislip. The players the team considered to be of media interest were Tony, Tim, Manu, Jefferson, McDyess, Ratliff, Blair, and the very newly signed Bogans. Not the returning contributors. Not Mason, not Finley, not Hill, not Bonner. Not the returning fringe guys. Not Mahinmi, not Hairston, not Williams. And not Marcus Haislip.

I'm reading between the lines here some, but this just tells me that the organization's expectations of Haislip are not high. They don't consider him to be a "big" signing and that they aren't expecting him to be a large part of the rotation. In much the same way, I don't think they are expecting much from Ian, Malik, or the other Marcus.

For the record, I started writing this post on Saturday. I'm not responding to the 48MoH choosing to post their interview with him today as way to dismiss the article . Tim and I get along just fine. His interview with Haislip is very good. You guys should read it. I love me the guys at the end of bench as much as anybody.

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I was talking about this the other day. The Spurs are extremely deep this year and there will be several players that normally would get significant minutes left out of the rotation. Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, Jefferson, McDyess, Finley, Mason, Hill, Bonner, Blair. That’s 10 guys that have to get minutes, without even touching Ratliff, the Marcuses, Ian, Hairston, or Bogans. There just are not that many minutes to go around.

"GINOBILI!" -- Sir Charles

by Fred Silva on Oct 5, 2009 4:16 PM CDT reply actions

If Ratliff gets more than 10 minutes per game Im not going to be pleased. I wonder if they are just playing down all the other guys. There is no reason to make noise for them at this time except maybe if one of them was going to be traded.

"If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert"
- DBG

by LasEspuelas on Oct 5, 2009 4:56 PM CDT reply actions

I think we are going to see games where Ratliff gets 20+ and games where he gets DNP-CD or 5 minutes.

by BlaseE on Oct 5, 2009 6:06 PM CDT up reply actions

I even expect theo to start the games that Pop decides to rest timmy.

by spursfan87 on Oct 5, 2009 6:10 PM CDT up reply actions

Haislip is probably the most intriguing player to me.

I feel like iwht his skillset and potential, he can add the most. He’d be the Robert Horry replacement. I’m not a huge fan of the players that the Spurs retained (Mason, Bonner, and Finley) so I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to trading them. Honestly, by playoff time Pop usually has a rotation of 8 players set, so it’s a matter of who sets himself apart. I personally think the personel we have for reserve wings (Mason, Finley, Hairston, Williams) is too iffy, and I’d like to improve that, but it could work out. We’d also probably have to figure out if we’re really going to need another legit shot blocker that will play in front of Ratliff.

Poor Man's GM @ poormansgm.blogspot.com
Fundamentally Sound: Much Ado About the Spurs @ fundamentally-sound.blogspot.com

by Jaceman on Oct 5, 2009 5:15 PM CDT reply actions

i agree. Haislip was signed for a reason, and if he can be half as good as he was in spain, it would give the spurs a whole another dimension.

by spursfan87 on Oct 5, 2009 5:30 PM CDT up reply actions

I believe this year, Pop might stretch out the playoff roster to around 10 probably. Ahh…it feels so good to have basketball news and strategies again.

I am seriously hoping for some middle of the lane cuts and dunks by haislip including alley oops from manu and hill for this guy. I still like what I am seeing from Hairston. He seems always in control and calculated in his moves. Not too desperate to prove himself and giving a good account nonetheless with quite a bit of toughness.

Marcus : no clue if he is there yet.
How did Bogans do during the scrimmage? I can’t remember anything of note.
Ian : getting tired of this “potential” business.

by LionZion on Oct 5, 2009 6:11 PM CDT up reply actions

I think it’s going to take a while for Haislip to come along, just because he doesn’t know the system. I was at the game and you can tell he just didn’t feel comfortable, he even hesitated on the shots he was taking. Hairston I think will make a contribution right away he knows the system and at times looked like the best player on the Spurs black team.

by JaySo on Oct 5, 2009 7:11 PM CDT up reply actions

I hope Haislip gets adjusted quick. I guess it depends on his defense too. How did that part look?

Might be early to finalize. But my gust instinct is, Hairston might actually be quite important this season on the second unit in a Brandon Bass sorta way. That is if he makes the cut to begin with.

by LionZion on Oct 5, 2009 7:19 PM CDT up reply actions

Hey dude, you need to lay off the spicy food and beans if you have gust instinct. Just saying.

We specialize in misinformation around here. Facts and stats just get in the way.

by Wayne Vore (ATS) on Oct 5, 2009 10:26 PM CDT up reply actions

haha. Damn, my life has been consumed by gusts. Just wrote a paper on gust response of MAVs.

Guess I see it everywhere now.

by LionZion on Oct 6, 2009 7:01 AM CDT up reply actions

the biggest question to me is who’s gonna take the final 2 spots in the active roster and who’s going to be in the inactive list.

by spursfan87 on Oct 5, 2009 5:16 PM CDT reply actions

It’s odd how we’re suddenly so deep on paper that we’re already arguing over minutes. But I guess that’s the kind of trouble you want to have.

Straight from the No-Stat Zone to your computer!
Dunkin' Cheerleaders

by LatinD on Oct 5, 2009 8:01 PM CDT reply actions

the keywords are “on paper” Im sure many of the new guys are going to be instantaneous Pop’s dog house inhabitants.

"If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert"
- DBG

by LasEspuelas on Oct 6, 2009 11:44 AM CDT up reply actions

Wayne, since I am too lazy to dig up the relevant thread, I will ask you here :P

I haven’t been perusing the PTR iphone app that much. But the last time I checked it out, I was able to posts comments, although not under my login or reply to a specific one. But at least one was able to see previous comments and type in a new one I believe. I started that app today and I can only read the articles. No can see comments. Did they change it or something?

Without the ability to respond, its pretty much a pointless app. Moreover, the icons at the bottom of the app are kinda unresponsive and you gotta ‘touch’ them for a while for anything to happen. Just wanted to confirm with you that this is the state of things and I am not missing anything.

by LionZion on Oct 6, 2009 12:05 PM CDT reply actions

No, nothing changed. You can’t see comments. You are probably thinking of the mobile version of the web site. Not sure if it makes the app pointless, but a lot less useful. Especially if you are a chronic comment reader like myself.

The icons at the bottom are a funny bug we haven’t quite figure out. It’s not that they are unresponsive and it has nothing to do with touching them for a while. You have to click on the image part of the icon, not on the word part of it. It’s really strange. It’s like only the top half of the button works. I saw what you are seeing for a long time and I had to play with it for quite a while to finally figure out the behavior.

We specialize in misinformation around here. Facts and stats just get in the way.

by Wayne Vore (ATS) on Oct 6, 2009 1:01 PM CDT up reply actions

Ah gotcha! So the mobile website is what I saw. Its still hard on there to navigate through comments though.

The image part is where the magik is eh. Lol, that I prob wouldn’t have figured out since its such a small area anyways.

by LionZion on Oct 6, 2009 1:40 PM CDT up reply actions

I downloaded it last night, and it was useful to read the Austen post comfortably away from my computer. Also since I’m not logged in, it leaves all the comments nice and yellow for when I’m on my computer and can flip through them with the z key. I felt like the fanshots section was kind of a waste though. I like the text notifications too.

by BlaseE on Oct 6, 2009 1:46 PM CDT up reply actions

I fell the same way about the mobile app. I use it to read the posts when I have time out and about, then I can cruise the comments and join the discussion when I’m at my machine. For that, it’s been a great find, b/c sometimes I find that I put off reading an article that already has a number of comments — b/c I don’t have time to read/comment right then.

So, it’s a perfectly useful app for me.

From under the radar to hanging in the rafters - Big50
5 in 10

by J.R. Wilco on Oct 7, 2009 2:25 PM CDT up reply actions

Thanks for the clarification. Sometimes it’s hard to know how others fell.

9.20.21.24.34
ACLs are like crutches. They’re only for the weaklings who can’t get along without them. -jollyrogerwilco

by Tim C. on Oct 7, 2009 8:58 PM CDT up reply actions

Thank you, sir. May I have another.

From under the radar to hanging in the rafters - Big50
5 in 10

by J.R. Wilco on Oct 7, 2009 10:58 PM CDT up reply actions

I fill you?

Superman wears Manu Ginobili pajamas to bed. - CMoney

by bellasa on Oct 8, 2009 10:13 PM CDT up reply actions

Thank you, ~~sir~~ ma’am. May I have another.

From under the radar to hanging in the rafters - Big50
5 in 10

by J.R. Wilco on Oct 9, 2009 3:54 PM CDT up reply actions

Aha. Well, if I am going to use a mobile app per say(rather than just use a ‘not logged in’ browser) then I would like it to be more flexible and well, just more than just having the posts. The PTR shortcut for the browser has existed on my phone since the beginning of time :P

If I can do it quickly and easily and conveniently on my more mobile screen, its just more useful to me than being deskbound and scanning the comments. I have numerous seminars which necessitate alternate measures to skiving off.

by LionZion on Oct 8, 2009 12:58 PM CDT up reply actions