I was thinking throughout the season, we need a Kevin Willis type player. Someone who doesn’t play much but can come in and lay some wood on people, and not necessarily in a bad/flagrant way, but just to get the team going. Many times this year the Spurs were flat to start the game or third quarters especially and we were not good enough to recover from that.

I think Manu has that type of energy, he’ll get in there and get dirty fighting for a rebound, getting a steal or taking a charge and energizing the team. Unfortunately he was not healthy and this is where someone like a Rodman/Willis/Insert hustle type player would have made a difference. Some of our young guys probably could have been that one role player, but I think it’s been well documented how that went…

Like, Led Zeppelin Cashmere? That one rocked.

Anyway, you make valid points. Did you just stop short of saying that this has a lot to do with Popovich? Maybe his tactics are getting old, or maybe he’s lost his edge a bit, or players are getting tired of Pop’s old ways that are being left behind by the evolution of the game.

Unfortunately I think you’re right. I think xman130 nailed it. However I think we need more than one guy who’s willing to come in and play while things are going badly and try to turn the game around. Manu is clearly one of those guys, but he can’t do it alone. Clearly we could use some more hustle guys to help toughen us up.

I think you captured the essence of the season barring the injuries part.

In fact Pop seems to have lost his aggressiveness from the early Laker rivalry days. I wish next season we dun play to just survive.

Great post, as usual. I like your analysis and agree. Just because the Spurs got a little older, does not mean they have to stop competing.

   Kind of an excellent/great/awesome post ATS. It hadn’t crossed my mind but perhaps getting older can make a team softer. It certainly seems that way for our Spurs.
   I very much like what you have to say about the psychology of quitting and I couldn’t agree more. If you train yourself to go through hell and back then pushing through an uncomfortable spot is made a little easier. As you said, the opposite is also true; players learn to give up whether it be conscious or not.
   I really think adding a motherf*cker at the 5 spot along with a healthy Manu will completely change the teams psyche and the way we play. These are the reasons I do not support getting a guy like Okur. Too soft.

Great post but I disagree with everyone putting this on Pop. He can’t go out there and hustle for the players and I completely agree with our cruise mentality in the regular season. Look at the injuries we suffered with benching players early. The thing is that our bench needs to have the fire like in the Cleveland home game where Pops, Malik and George played one hell of an exciting come back that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. The problem is Mason has ice running through his veins and is just seems consistently in control of himself and I can’t imagine him going off. Finley has lost some fire since getting a ring. Tim, Tony, and Manu are all fierce competitors so we can count on them. Bruce Bowen is relentless on D and will be trying to kick passes when we are down 20. George Hill seems to get it too which is why he played the minutes he did in our elimination game. Ime doesn’t have the skills to back any fire he may or may not have. I won’t even talk about Bonner. Kurt Thomas is a good defender but his fouls are usually weak shit and he never is aggressive physically on offense. Oberto is more or less the same. Gooden just seemed to get sloppy the more he got fired up.

We need real competitive role players like Horry, Willis, Capt. Jack, etc…Youth also seems to help.

I wrote an extensive reply about our losses on some other thread and we didn’t forfeit many games, especially at the end of the season. We only had 4 double digit losses after the rodeo road trip. 2 to Portland (super young athletic team, Manu never played) and 2 to Cleveland (Manu and Duncan sat our home game and they were lights out in Cleveland). Remember what happened to Cleveland in the Finals after they swept us in the regular season in ‘06-’07? The Spurs play such a calculated game that stupid physical fouls would hurt us. I do agree that we need more offensive aggression from players without rings and not named Hill but I think that can only be done with roster changes not coaching or philosophy changes.

“DUncan for three… HE PUTS IT IN!!!!”
there you have, cheer up :)

Hm. Good post, ATS, but I think you’re being way too negative. We were soft, yes, but I disagree with the part about the team “learning to quit”. This is a team that’s used to winning, so how can careful handling of old players by a clever coach suddenly induce a personality crisis?

Sometimes you lose simply because you’re not as talented as the other team, and the matchups are not favorable. It happens.

… and sometimes you lose because your 2nd best player to injury, right before the playoffs.

yep – i’m definitely on the get off pop’s back bus. the spurs were definitely not as tough as they typically are. soft seems a bit harsh, but i will agree with the overall sentiment.

i think a lot of it has to do with bruce’s limited role and the new guys not being the thumper type. agreed on the need for someone like kevin willis. i was hoping that KT would turn into this guy, but he’s not quite it.

spurs definitely need a new irritant. one guy like this and the league will be crying about us again real quick.