Blame
by Wayne Vore (ATS) on Jun 7, 2009 10:17 PM CDT
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PrintFrom the comments of Cashmere:
Did you just stop short of saying that this has a lot to do with Popovich? -- silverandblack_davis
No, I didn't stop short of it. I didn't want to go there. Why? Why didn't I want to go there? Come on in. Enter the mind of the devil.
The softness of the team is something I had wanted to write about for quite some time. Lack of clarity had held me up. I didn't know how to contain it. I didn't know how to frame it. What were the boundaries for what I could illustrate? Where did my ignorance begin? Trying to capture all my intuitions into a single post was daunting.
I was having a hard time figuring out how to take my impressions of the season, put them to words, then proffer solutions. I didn't have solutions because I wasn't comfortable placing the blame.
Blame is a many splendored thing. Who's to blame for the bird's egg falling out of the nest? The nest builder doing an insufficient job? The wind? The arborist who prunes the tree robbing the tree of stability? The kid who threw his ball into the tree and shifted the nest?
Who's to blame for the erosion of a beach? The land developer? The politician who approved the development? The condo owner who purchased it? The hurricane that devoured it? The Saharan wind the birthed the hurricane?
Who's to blame for the wasted life of the alcoholic? The liquor company? The spouse who refused to help? The weak compulsive mind of the alcholic?
When you enter that intersection and the stupid high school kid t-bones your car and puts you in the hospital or ends your life, does blame make a shitload of difference? Not to me. There's no solace in being dead. It's incumbent upon me to do everything I can to not be the victim. I won't ever find piece of mind in being right. Not when I'm in a hospital bed. Not when I'm dead.
For the 2008-2009 Spurs, the fact is we weren't that good. We were soft. It doesn't matter why. The record shows we finished third in the West and lost in the first round. No volume of ALL CAPS ARGENTINE RANTING will change those facts. Every one of us has an opinion why that might have happened, but those opinions don't matter. They won't change the facts.
The path of the season threw obstacles at the Spurs. In 08-09, they weren't able to overcome the obstacles to win a championship. The front office chose the roster. It could have been better. Manu was hurt. It could have been related to the Olympics. Tim was awesome in stretches, hurt in stretches, and maybe he is getting old. Tony was good most of the time and seemed to be his best ever. MudButt had a hot streak. Cubits was uneven and might have been too much of a rookie. Bruce's role was reduced and maybe he's done. Pop played it differently and nursed them instead of browbeating them.
We were what we were. We finished the way we finished. I don't need to blame someone.
Blame is the outcome of somebody looking for an excuse. I don't need an excuse. I just know what I saw.
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Of course it doesn’t matter to the 2008-2009 Spurs, but knowing where the blame lies (even if it is spread over several different areas/people) is the only smart way to prevent it from happening again.
Going back to your analogy about alcoholics, think about the people who go to AA meetings/rehab to get “better”. The first step of recovery is admitting you have a problem – but the more difficult part is figuring out where that problem is coming from, and keeping it from being a problem again in the future. The success stories are all people who found out how to take their weaknesses out of the equation. The only way they could do that is to know why the weaknesses existed, and do something about them.
I guarantee you the FO saw the same thing you did – this is why they went to Europe to seek out a bruiser immediately after the season ended so miserably. They are actively seeking to rid the 2009-2010 Spurs of this weakness. But I doubt the FO cares about what we say on a fan site, they’re obviously pretty observant already.
Free James Gist!
Pounding the Rock - where ochlocracy happens. Eat your heart out, California.
while i agree with the basic premise, i think blame (if done correctly) can be useful – namely in determining flaws in people’s actions or thinking that are addressable. shifting the idea from looking for an excuse to constructive criticism. for example, pop’s reluctance to trust rookies…
free george hill!
by sleep research facility on Jun 7, 2009 11:55 PM CDT reply actions
If only...
there WERE a volume of All Caps Argentine Ranting that was sufficient to change the aforementioned dismal facts.
And if there were, what would that volume be?
I want my Manu!
JUST WATCH THE WORLDS QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENT; SCOLA WILL PLAY FOR ARGENTINA, HE IS A BIG WHO WILL MAKE THE ALL STAR TEAM NEXT SEASON BUT THE SPURS LET HIM GO AWAY, JUST LIKE NIKE IGNORES CABRERA AND GOES WITH THE UNTALENTED TIGRE WOODS. ALSO LOOK OUT FOR MATIAS SANDES, HE IS LIKE LEBRON BUT ARGENTINIAN….. WE GET NO RESPECT. <———————-you where asking for something like this right?
"It's a basic truth of the human condition that everybody lies. The only variable is about what."
If Rodney Dangerfield had been Argentine, this is what he would have said. Great stuff, Chilai.
Free James Gist!
Pounding the Rock - where ochlocracy happens. Eat your heart out, California.
Too much punctuation
I like it, Chilai, but you need to borrow the stylebook argentinosaurus777 used. Then you’ll be on your way.
I want my Manu!
I NOTICED THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG ABOUT MY FELLOW ARGENTINEAN WRITING AND YOU ALL MOCKED HIM ABOUT IT, IT WAS PUNCTUATION, NOW IM A WRITER LIKE SHAKESPAERE BUT FROM ARGENTINA.
"It's a basic truth of the human condition that everybody lies. The only variable is about what."
I NOTICED THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG ABOUT MY FELLOW ARGENTINEAN’S WRITING, AND YOU ALL MOCKED HIM ABOUT IT. IT WAS PUNCTUATION – NOW I’M A WRITER LIKE SHAKESPAERE, BUT FROM ARGENTINA.
THERE, I FIXED IT. YOU ARE AN EMBARASSMENT TO ARGENTINA, JUST LIKE argentinosaurus777(WHICH IS ALL IN SMALL LETTERS FOR SOME STRANGE REASON).
Free James Gist!
Pounding the Rock - where ochlocracy happens. Eat your heart out, California.
From my point of view I think it’s superfluous for us to point blame. It would be nice to see somebody from the Spurs take responsibility for last years collapse. That being said, I don’t know that I need my team to come out and publicly blame someone. If Pop and the FO know they need to do better and the players know they need to toughen up, then that’s all I need. Time will tell what the Spurs think of the last season, from the early reports there will be personnel changes.
i agree
this season i was hoping that they’d be the ones putting down LA, as tony can torch fisher/brown/farmar, like how aaron brooks did, but on a much bigger scale.
in the back of my mind though, when i saw how much bonner was being played, no matter how many frickin 3s he’s making, that was NOT a good sign. but hindsight is always 20/20
so how about that bourousis guy from the olympiakos? featured on 48MoH.
13 points in 39 seconds. Enough said.
Welcome to the party, D'uhoh.
"If I was the kind of guy who posted a signature line, this would be it from now on." -SiMA
by SgtinManusArmy on Jun 9, 2009 4:48 PM CDT up reply actions
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