ESPN
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 12, 2010 10:30 PM CST
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So...i'm pretty much fed up with ESPN and the rest of the national media for non stop coveraging of Miami, Boston, LA, Melo, A'm'a'r'e etc. I just want to go to ESPN and read ONE story about the good guys. Maybe 2 a week. Is that too much to ask? After the jump is an email i just fired off to Bill Simmons, who became the target of my wrath after predicting us to only win 49/50 games this year. I just felt like sharing. I needed to get that off my chest.
So...Bill...
Care to revise your revised preseason Spurs forecast? 50 wins means we go roughly 500 (30-29) the rest of the way. Personally, my money is on both the Spurs and Mavs breaking 60 trying to get the 1 seed in the West, whle nobody at ESPN pays attention because everyone is too busy blowing the Heat and LA (who deserve attention because they've, you know, won stuff).
Also, lay off on the whole "Tim Duncan decline" stuff. Yeah, it's happening. We don't run the offense through him anymore. But he's averaging almost 2 blocks and 1 steal per game. In 3 minutes less per game than last year.
The Spurs have the best record in the league (and are off to the best start in franchise history), have the best PF of all time, a top 5 PG in Tony Parker, a top 5 SG in Manu Ginobili, an MIP candidate in Richard Jefferson, a 6th man candidate in George Hill, legitimate depth at every position with guys like Gary Neal, James Anderson, Hill, Blair, Bonner, and San Antonio Mcdyess able to step up and go off on any given night.
Oh, and did I mention that we've got Europe's best player from last year sitting on the bench, not even incorporated into the rotation yet? And hes like a taller, more mobile version of Fabricio Oberto (the last big sidekick of Tim's we won a title with)?
So yeah. I guess this is a big "eff you" email for the entirety of ESPN. I wish yall gave us more quality coverage of the Spurs and less of the garbage "news" coming out of Miami. And don't say it's because the Spurs are boring- we're averaging over 100 points a game. 4th best offense in the league. And Manu is good for at least 5 highlights a game. Enjoy mollycoddling the "big 3" in Miami, and continue to ignore this era's original big 3, who have won more games together than Miami's probably ever will.
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I know- it’s stupid to get upset about that. It’s part of what makes the Spurs the Spurs. I’m just beginning to loathe all forms of national media.
Bonner with the nice box out!
I am completely with you. Even when Miami loses, the media spends it times wondering, “Now let’s break down how Miami lost that game, what will it take for them to win the next game, and what their chances are of winning a championship.” It’s quite ridiculous.
I actually feel bad for the bastards at ESPN. They spend their time watching selfish unproven egotists while missing basketball at its best. Not many teams in the NBA consist of humility, teamwork, sportsmanship, consistency, and dedication night in and night out. It’s a pity and a tragedy to let this era be defined by Lebron when you miss out on a Hall of Fame squad deep in the heart of Texas.
"Rip it and grip it!" -Kevin Costner
by The Augustus on Dec 18, 2010 10:15 PM CST up reply actions
I agree.Other fans or analyst hate SA fans for being the true basketball fans,which the world lack now.It’s like buying a crap well known book than that of a book that has content.It is just BS,since these guys operate to get money and perhaps they should do it that way.Fans bet on who has the most exciting and most wins and most superstars to win a bling rather than of a team,a system,a culture——-a true organization.They are paid to give praises to these guys and yeah they even might forgot that Timmy is playing.I wish all sport writers are Woj
"I cry,but everyone will cry if I'm in the NBA"-Adam Morrison.I know now why fans cry when they see him on the floor.
It’ll be ok—I never go to ESPN looking for good guy stories anymore—I just check the standings and Tim’s minutes played, smile a little smile to myself, and hie me home :)
"You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas." -Davy Crockett
"Give me an army of West Point graduates, and I'll win a battle. Give me a handful of Texas Aggies, and I'll win a war." -Gen. George S. Patton
ESPN is just a quick stat/schedule site for me.
Actual in-depth articles? Pfft…. sometimes.
"We suck on 'D. Both individually and team-wise, we suck. We're pretty consistent that way. I don't know if I have an answer to that. If I did, we wouldn't suck quite so bad." - Popovich
by Aaron "Hirschof" Preine on Dec 13, 2010 7:31 AM CST up reply actions
and thats the problem. thats most of what i use it for (although hoopdata and others actually have larger indexes and more advanced metrics), but every now and then there’s an article that gets my hopes up…followed by weeks of idiocy.
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 13, 2010 10:59 AM CST up reply actions
Good of you to fight the good fight, even if it is a lost cause. Here is the problem: good guy news does not sell. Controversy does. Not fair, but reality. NBA, ESPN, Yahoo, etc. are all businesses that have to sell soap operas and make money so they are kinda forced to do it this way. This also helps us, as someone has to pay for the NBA and TV infrastructure. Otherwise we could just all follow some local volleyball league or maybe even get lives of our own (FSM forbid).
Lauri: thank goodness I have you magnificent bastards to waste [the offseason] with.
amen. i cant imagine why anyone would ever want a life of their own.
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 12, 2010 11:58 PM CST up reply actions
I wanna get a life, but then who would be here lurking 24/7?
by SaSleepless on Dec 13, 2010 12:29 AM CST up reply actions
Nice letter. I like Bill though. I think he’ll take it well.
"Are you gunna bite all day little doggie, or are you gunna bite?"
he’s funny. i always enjoy his mailbags and most of his season previews and such. i’m just so disgusted with “the heat index” or whatever it is they’ve got. i cant believe that did that. its ridiculous.
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 13, 2010 10:58 AM CST up reply actions
I haven’t heard anything about him running down in any way but i do worry about manu’s min. He is currently on pace for a career high and that would be weird since he has only gotten older. If we light the world on fire and then in the 2nd half he burns out its pointless. I now we need the wins but we also have had great success resting manu for the playoffs. As he is older it seems that would be even more important now.
Agree about Bill though. For someone who claims to be a fan he really didn’t see us coming. Dice is still good, bonner can still hit 3s, Jefferson in 2nd year almost had to look better, splitter/neal, a lot of nba writers who I think know there stuff said both of these were steals (especially for the money), big 3 rested. This adds up to a very good, very deep team. There were a lot of signs Bill missed even though he is "a fan of the suprs".
I wonder if Manu’s minutes will decline a little bit when Anderson gets back. Anderson is, correct me if I’m wrong, bigger than Neal and can help guard the bigger 2’s. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Manu’s minutes decrease with the play of Hill improving. We shall see.
yeah. i think when Anderson comes back he’ll take some (not many) of Manu’s minutes. Anderson is probably our best creator off the bench IMO.
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 13, 2010 2:27 PM CST up reply actions
Most of ESPN admitted in their first-quarter report that they didn’t see the Spurs coming.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 14, 2010 3:00 PM CST up reply actions
I have no links but i do remember a pod cast in the last week or so where Bill S actually said the #2 team in the west was probably SA. Also i recall marc stein saying a lot of good things about us in his power ratings and also admitting that he didn’t see us coming. There are a few more i will try and find links.
Sorry, I was referring to Ed’s recent FanShot.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 14, 2010 6:07 PM CST up reply actions
Perfect.
That’s what I was looking for. I’ve only visited ESPN to see the “Daily Dime” after big wins, and so I completely missed that, and RJ’s interview on the Scott Van Pelt show had some good quotes in it.
Enjoying the trip to # 172 as much as humanly possible
I missed seeing RJ 2.0’s audio interview, thank you for pointing it out!
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 15, 2010 3:03 PM CST up reply actions
The last question of the interview was great (and RJ 2.0’s answer was even better, classic):
SVP: Last thought for you. You guys have a ton of veterans. I can’t imagine that you care whether people talk about you a bunch in regards to where you fit in among the best teams. But would you say that it’s something that you’re at least aware of, that maybe people are waking up to the notion that, oh wow the Spurs have the best record in the league.
RJ 2.0: Well, I think there are a couple of things that go into that equation. One, you’ve got LA. They’re the defending champions. So as far as the Western Conference goes, it doesn’t matter what we do. It doesn’t matter what we do. It doesn’t matter what they do, until you get to the playoffs and someone knocks them out. They’re the three-time defending conference champions, so we’re going to have to do a little bit more than have the best record before we knock them off. That’s the respect they deserve.
Secondly, you’ve got the Miami Heat and they are the trendy topic right now. Everyone wants to see them succeed or wants to see them fail or wants to break down every fast break they have.
People can do and talk about what they want. The Spurs have never been a sexy, popular choice, even when they were winning every other year.
Anyone have any doubts that RJ 2.0 is a Spur?
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 15, 2010 4:42 PM CST up reply actions
pop must have hypnotized him over the summer.
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 15, 2010 6:46 PM CST up reply actions
i guess my thinking is that if they’d been watching for like…the past 3 or 4 years, they would have known better. Even with Duncan getting older, we’ve still got 2 of the top 5-10 guys at their positions in the backcourt, a sophomore who nearly averaged a double-double last year (and probably would have if he got more minutes), and the guy who SHOULD have won the MIP last year in George Hill. Throw those in with peanut and any idiot could have predicted we’d probably win 50-55. And Bill Simmons originally had us at 49. It is all so patently absurd.
And thats just the preseason stuff- we’ve been hands down one of the best 3 teams in the league and we havent gotten as much coverage as the Knicks, the Warriors, the Nets, the Mavs, Kings…i could go on. We’re pretty much treated as on par with the Timberpups and Bucks. I get it. We’re a small market- but i guess in my ideal world the teams that win the most get the most coverage. Thats the way its supposed to be, right?
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 14, 2010 11:00 PM CST up reply actions
not necessarily
im not sure where you are reading but i haven’t seen anything on the kings warriors (other then roy talk) or knicks (until their hot streak and above .500)
don’t you see the power ranking every were giving us love or all the stories about TD hitting milestones or the TD Pop relationship, ect, ect, ect
look i had high hopes going into the season and nothing that has happened so far has surprised me but
1 no one thought RJ 2.0 would be this good even if you though he would be better 9and many national media types have mention his resurgence and MIP candidacy, same for hill too in this catagory)
2 neal…i thought he could be and hoped he could be but this was a summer league signing and for super cheap money…im not suprised at all that no one else knew him
3 anderson…again high hopes but he fell to 20 in the draft for a reason he was hurt and no one saw him try out (even so many people didn say we got a steal here and classis spur move getting value)
4 big three not playing over summer and not being hurt…i noticed this and thought it was huge but if you are not just following the spurs i could see how you could miss this
5 TD…hasn’t looked good every game and over all playing less…we need him rested but anyone who thinks he hasn’t slipped at least a little is delusional…we don’t need him to be an MVP any more but people pointing out that he isn’t the same are right
6 we are weak at ball-handler/passers position (from what ive seem, about half the games, our ball movement is key to our success) if manu or tp get hurt/slow down its a serious problem and its not like either is likely to but also its not like they are both iron men either.
strength of shedual counts for something (and ours is about to get alot hard)
also alot gonig on in the nba right now
the main stories of the last few weeks seem to trump our being first in the standings (with a few really hot teams right on our tail)
in no particular order
winning streaks
boston/miami/NY/dallas (until last night)
nba taking over a team (almost never happens and what does it mean for the future of NO and Chris Paul or what does it say about the financial viability of the league or some teams going into the CBA)
defending champs getting back starting center
melo to ny stories
…and miami (they will draw attention no matter what and now that they are playing sooo well people are thinking great things again)
if we are the best team in march then i’m sure we get alot more stories or at least alot more praise.
the funny thing to me is half the people on this site are like why can we get more recognition…and the other half is like i’m not sure i like that so many people are saying we are good (like its a jinks) so the national media cant win here either way :P
by spurs fan on Dec 15, 2010 1:21 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
1. I figured RJ would be a lot better this year, but it’s true he’s surpassed even my expectations. The upper end I had for him was that he could be a match-up nightmare for some teams; he’s done that, but he’s also figured out ways to help the team when he’s not scoring, e.g one-on-one defense, steals, etc.
2. Neal was a surprise to me, but his shooting accuracy should have been noticed. The real surprise is that he’s more than just a one-dimensional spot-up shooter; he brings defense, boards, and assists.
3. &erson was largely regarded as another Spurs draft day steal.
4. Quite a few pundits noticed that Manu and Parker chose not to play this summer.
5. TD is still efficient, but he’s playing fewer minutes in the regular season, and that affects his production. More to the point, the team doesn’t depend on him producing 20/10 18/10 15/10 every game in order to win… they have so much offensive firepower already. And Timmy’s shown that when the team needs him to produce this season, he does so more often than not. When a pundit points out Timmy’s production decline as a reason that the Spurs won’t win, all it means to me is that said pundit isn’t paying attention to how the Spurs are playing as a team.
6. Ball movement is indeed one of the keys to the Spurs success thus far, and I believe the Spurs are second in the league in terms of percentage of made shots coming off of assists. So I’m not sure why you believe that the team’s ball-handling/passing is weak. Of course it would be a problem should Tony or Manu get injured or wear out, but the same could be said of any injury to or fatigue of a key player on a contending team. The Lakers are overworking Gasol, and they went on a four-game losing skid. (And don’t forget, they have had an easier schedule than the Spurs’.)
But the main thing that ESPN missed about the Spurs is something you didn’t mention either, and it underlies the themes of RJ 2.0’s resurgence, dominance by our guards, Timmy’s apparent decline, etc. It’s that the Spurs are playing much differently than in the past. Part of it is the faster pace, but it also involves more pesky Bowen-style defense by the team as a whole, and a lot more motion away from the ball on offense. If the (ESPN) analysts had watched the early games, they would have realized this a few games into the season (as most of the PtR community did), or at least they would have noticed that something different was going on in San Antonio.
But I’m OK with the relative lack of attention by ESPN. As Pop said earlier this year, the team doesn’t care or even think about being disrespected or overlooked. In the end, it really doesn’t matter. Wins — and the team improving throughout the season — are what matter.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 15, 2010 2:32 AM CST up reply actions
Ball movement is indeed one of the keys to the Spurs success thus far, and I believe the Spurs are second in the league in terms of percentage of made shots coming off of assists. So I’m not sure why you believe that the team’s ball-handling/passing is weak.
We have a bunch of great shooters that can make the extra pass (and get assists for it) but they are neither great passers or good ball handlers…and 2 people who can handle the ball well and make the offence run (TP, MANU). I love Neal and Hill for what they are but in the games I watch I cringe like 6-8 times a game when there is someone wide open and they miss it struggling to get their own shot. Look its great that they can get a shot like they do especially off the bench in the roll they have but if our best strength is passing this isn’t good.
Both of them could get better in this area and maybe manu can keep up the min all year (this is my biggest concern) but it’s a weakness in our otherwise very deep team.
Also i didn’t bring it up but now that you mention it ive seen a few people mention the pace of the spurs and they great offence. alot of people don’t but they are usually the puff piece writers who you can tell right a way dont know what they are talking about. i don’t read their stuff much but there are at lease a few espn guys who know what they are talking about and have noticed this
If you think about it, few teams have more than one ‘great passers/ball-handlers’ — some don’t even have one — so I think the Spurs are more fortunate than most teams to have both TP and Manu.
And I think we should give Hill the benefit of the doubt. For goshsakes, he’s only just begun his third year in the league! Remember TP’s third year? The Spurs had tried to get Kidd in the off-season before (after beating him in the Finals)? TP went to Coach and told him that he wanted to work and improve.
I see the same thing in Hill. Right now, Pop wants him to be aggressive, stop deferring and take shots. Pop isn’t asking George to be a pass-first PG right now. He’s riding him the same way he did TP, telling him to drive down the lane, disrupt the defense, and look for his shot. If they double-team him and he can find the open man, pass it, but otherwise use your speed to get the basket and/or foul.
The main area where I’d like to see him improve right now is in the PnR. As you say, it is frustrating to see him not pass it to the open big rolling to the basket. It’s just something that he (and the team) need to practice and work on.
I agree that Manu’s minutes are a concern, but if it becomes a problem, one option is to have Hill start at SG and have Ginóbili come off the bench to run the offense for the second unit. But the bench has been playing so well, it’s hard to argue for the need for a change.
Also, you may not think much of the importance of team passing, but in Pop’s ‘good to great’ system (if you have a good shot, the next guy in the ball rotation may have a great one), it’s actually more important than the passing of an individual playmaker. One of the reasons that Tony and Manu don’t rack up the assists like, say Nash, is that the Spurs are trained to make the ‘extra’ pass to get an even better shot. That extra pass means that the primary ball-handler isn’t credited with the assist because the Spurs were trying to get an even better shot opportunity.
Finally… yes, people have noticed that the Spurs’ pace is faster. I suspect though, that they’ve been crunching the numbers and it stood out. But what I’m talking about in terms of the Spurs playing differently goes far beyond pace or statistics. Detailed stats hint at what’s going on, but it’s something that you have to see to truly appreciate. If analysts watched the Spurs’ games this year vs. previous years, they’d see the difference (and attribute it to more than just a faster pace and great offense). It goes to the core of why RJ 2.0 is so much better this year, why our guards are so important, and how Timmy’s role has changed.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 15, 2010 4:27 PM CST up reply actions
In response to your main point:
If the (ESPN) analysts had watched the early games…
This is precisely what they (for the most part) don’t do, but for a handful of teams. We weren’t on their list, and at most they would look at the boxscore or the highlights of a game or two, to try to understand explain the fast start. We’ll see if they view what’s happening in S.A. to be a big enough story as the season progresses, or if they allow us to continue under the radar (as far as persistent, daily coverage is concerned) until the playoffs.
Enjoying the trip to # 172 as much as humanly possible
Maybe the losses will be so few and far between that they won’t be able to ignore the story any longer. I remember during the Bulls 72-win season, a story came out that spring detailing how the teams that did defeat the Bulls did it. Wouldn’t that be a fun read of our Spurs…
We’re a long way away from discussing epic win totals imho.
And… in the greater scheme of things, I’m more interested in the Spurs improving so they have a decent shot at a 5th ring for TImmy and Pop, and a first one for Dice.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 15, 2010 4:44 PM CST up reply actions
Good point about analysts not watching all the games. It never occurred to me that, if someone was getting paid to provide commentary on a national network or newspaper about the NBA, that he wouldn’t watch every game, especially these days, when they’re easily available (compared to the days before NBA TV and the Internet).
I’m a stat hound (one level below a stat junkie) but am painfully aware how box scores (and even advanced stats) distort our perceptions of basketball games and how players performed in them. You don’t get a true sense of how well a team or a player is playing without watching them… how many times have we been surprised that the Spurs were only up by 10 points, or that a player had (a quiet) fifteen points, etc. How many times have we thought that so-and-so had a great game despite a terrible stat line, because he played with energy, shut down his man on defense, and came up with critical 50-50 balls. How do you measure player movement without the ball that creates easy open shots without watching the game?
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 15, 2010 4:57 PM CST up reply actions
You just can’t measure it outside of simply getting a feel for it by watching. It’s impossible.
Enjoying the trip to # 172 as much as humanly possible
Today’s game was a perfect example of this. The Anomaly (Manu) had a team-leading 26 points, but his ± was a big fat zero. Zero. If he hadn’t hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer, his ± for the regulation 48 minutes would have be a -2. (Admittedly he would have had a chance to raise it in overtime, but that’s beside the point.)
Yet, anyone who watched the game would say that Ginóbili — despite his mistakes (e.g. 4 turnovers) — made key plays that decided the outcome of the game. Not just the buzzer-beater, but a critical three point shot at around the 1:30 mark, and a steal and a fast-break assist to Parker with less than 5 min. to go. And him fighting like crazy to win on every possession, every defensive stand. You just don’t get that kind of information from the box score stats, or even the play-by-play and GameFlow charts.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 16, 2010 2:14 AM CST up reply actions
And him fighting like crazy to win on every possession, every defensive stand.
Actually, I thought he loafed some on D earlier in the game. Not something I’m used to seeing. I agree +/- can be misleading for a single game, but I don’t find Manu’s zero particularly inaccurate. It’s easy to remember the buzzer-beater, the tie-breaking 3 at 1:31 and the steal with 5 minutes left. Those were great Manu Moments. But he also got stuffed twice at he rim in the last minute, basically two straight turnovers though they’re not recorded that way. He also had a real TO and a couple missed FTs in the last 5-6 minutes. He’s special but it wasn’t a great game for him.
by doggydogworld on Dec 16, 2010 8:46 AM CST up reply actions
Oh, I agree 100% that his game was not mistake-free. But I felt he was in there going after 50-50 balls and never giving up, even after losing the ball, getting blocked, getting beat by his man on D, etc. My point is that his ± suggests that his time on the floor was neither helpful nor hurtful (net) to the Spurs. And it’s undeniable that he made at least three, maybe four key plays in crunch time.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 16, 2010 10:45 AM CST up reply actions
plus/minus is much better stat over a larger sample. the biggest problem in single games or small samples is that if the other tema is really hot no matter how good your defense is then you could have a bad +/- or if one of the players you are on the floor with at the time goes 0-5 with 3 to whiel you are ont he floor then it effects you.
these anomalies are even out over time.
so, when ± is used to ‘prove’ that player X had a better game than player Y, it’s being misused? Doesn’t that undercut the argument that Bonner had a good game because he had the highest ± on the team? Or call into question using it as the most important statistic in the box score?
My point is that ± is a statistic… maybe better than most in terms of evaluating a player’s importance to the team, but at the end of the day, it’s still just a number. It doesn’t capture all that a player does or does not do to help (or hurt) his team in the way that actually watching games does.
And I say all this as a guy who loves numbers and statistics.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 16, 2010 2:19 PM CST up reply actions
well i dont think any stat “proves” anything all by itself. my point is in one game a player on your team can tank or a player on the other team can get really hot, but over the course of many games this would even out.
Right. But I see people sometimes use it to say things like “X had the best ± so he should get one of the three stars of the game” or “Y’s ± today shows that he spaced the floor even if he’s not shooting well.” I don’t mind game stats being used to bolster one’s argument, but it drives me nuts when it’s used as the primary basis for an argument — instead of actually watching the game.
Take last night’s contest. All of the Spurs starters except Manu (anomalous as ever) had negative ± values, and all of the Nuggets starters except ’Melo had positive ones.
A stat-hound might take that to mean that the Nuggets starters (except Melo) outplayed the Spurs starters (except Manu), but that’s not the game I watched.
Yes, the Nuggets outplayed the Spurs starters in the first quarter, but our starters either played even or better than theirs for the remaining three quarters. Except for Manu, who really had a horrid game until George Hill found him all alone for an ‘easy’ basket (reverse layup?) that got him started on a personal 7-0 tear in the 4th quarter.
And yes, the bench were largely responsible for the Spurs catching up late in the third quarter and extending the lead in the fourth, but they weren’t playing particularly well imho. Strangest of all, RJ 2.0 had a team-worst 21, yet I recall he was the only starter on the floor with the bench during the stretch that the Spurs caught up with the Nuggets. And several people noted that they liked his “D” on ’Melo - yet the ’drama scored 31 points.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 17, 2010 12:44 PM CST up reply actions
argh, tag fail. The SB parser apparently interprets short dashes as the strikeout tags. The last two sentences should have read:
Strangest of all, RJ 2.0 had a team-worst -21, yet I recall he was the only starter on the floor with the bench during the stretch that the Spurs caught up with the Nuggets. And several people noted that they liked his “D” on ’Melo ─ yet the ’drama scored 31 points.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 17, 2010 12:48 PM CST up reply actions
SF, this is a truly great take on the entire situation. In fact, I think it’s fanpost worthy. I just hope your excellent points don’t get lost in the mix of this discussion.
Well done.
Enjoying the trip to # 172 as much as humanly possible
i saw 3 lines in the power rankings, a couple of quotes in the daily dime about TD’s milestones/relationship with Pop, and thats been it. And i wasnt really talking about the way we are covered, just how much coverage. The quotes and things in the daily dime- cellar dwellars are just as likely to get those as good teams.
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 15, 2010 12:48 PM CST up reply actions
btw spurs fan, you can put me in the camp as one of those who is fine with the lack of attention by ESPN… I don’t go there for Spurs information anyway, I come here. :) I don’t even like to watch Spurs games on ESPN; if some other channel is available for the game, I’ll watch that instead.
What bugs me is when they get things wrong. If you’re gonna cover the Spurs, at least get it right. Stuff like “The Spurs are old” which gets repeated by a gullible and undiscerning public. I know it’s silly for me to care about it; it may actually even help the Spurs if other teams believe what ESPN says.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 15, 2010 5:13 PM CST up reply actions
Enjoy mollycoddling the “big 3” in Miami, and continue to ignore this era’s original big 3, who have won more games together than Miami’s probably ever will.
This.
My 2 cents on Bill .. I don’t think his effeminate references to Jersey Shore and Angelina Jolie belong in sportswriting. I suspect he drops them in to try and grab more readers.
He is often completely wrong, but never admits it. He’s a fan of the Spurs when we’re winning, and only after retracting previous harsh words.
Several people on this site could do a better job.
Sabre
i really just wanted to use “mollycoddle”.
definitely agree about a number of people on this site doing a better job.
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 13, 2010 2:28 PM CST up reply actions
Y’all are perhaps forgetting what ESPN stands for… remember, the “E” for “Entertainment” comes first, before the “S” for “Sports.” They’re just being true to their name…
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 14, 2010 1:27 AM CST reply actions
No…the E is for Eggheads….the S is for Spouting……the P is for Poop….and the N is for Non-Stop!!!!
by titansfan4ever on Dec 14, 2010 3:28 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
GOL
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 14, 2010 4:17 PM CST up reply actions
ESPN Basketball coverage sucks
But they actually do pretty good with other sports.
Their coverage of the NFL has been great this year, with statistical attacks on hyped teams and big games covered in advance on both sides of the ball. Up-and-coming teams like Houston and Atlanta have gotten detailed coverage from the beginning of the season.
They’ve got the only international soccer coverage available in the US, the only mainstream UFC coverage not owned by Dana White, and a minimal number of idiots covering college football.
Finally, several ESPN commentators have been blowing the TCU-Boise-Utah horn much longer than the BCS.
Really, the only commentator on ESPN who sucks across several different sports is … BILL SIMMONS, For an example, here’s his latest article, which pretends to talk about football but is actually an advertisement for his book.
Week 14 NFL Picks – Bill worries that his book tour means he’s headed for a bad week of picks
I find it greatly ironic that ESPN put’s Bill’s writing next to Rick Reilly on their homepage, since Reilly is fantastic and Bill sucks donkey balls.
Sabre
of course, less than a week after i write this, i see references to Spurs or Spurs players in at least 4 different articles on ESPN. talk about timing. Mostly its just little one-liners, (Like Wilbon throwing TP into the MVP discussion with about 5 other people), or Billy King saying he is trying to stockpile assets until his team becomes the Lakers or the Spurs competing for championships, but still no real articles. I guess one-liners will have to suffice.
Bonner with the nice box out!
i can remember when ESPN first went on the air. yes i am that old. it was awesome. all sports all the time. it was pretty much all games and short breaks here and there for this show called “sports center.” it broke up the all games programming for 30 minutes here and there to show highlights – and that was about it.
can you imagine a sports center without Coors Cold Hard Facts? (gag)
one of the many problems with these folks now is that they spend way too much time and effort giving us their opinion on stuff……like we don’t have enough jack-ass opinions of our own.
i will admit that i watch it a lot and use their website a lot too, but like many of you, its mostly for live games (and recording those overnight replays) and checking schedules, results and stats. i cant even bear to sit thru an episode of sports center, let alone some of the idiot programming they run instead of games.
bring back the CFL and aussie rules football before giving me E:60 or 30 for 30 or jim rome or whatever other non-sense they are putting on there these days…….
and i have a whole different diatribe about how they use their own reporting and programming to feed the muck-raking beast they have created, but that would take forever and colossal amount of time would be wasted writing it up…but two recent examples are the LeBron decision (obviously) and they way they just happened to pop on this 30 for 30 show about cheating at SMU in the 70s right after the Heisman Trophy was presented to SCam Newton………..but again, that would take all day and probably wouldnt make me feel any better.
but yeah….if you want anything decent in the way of news about the spurs, dont go to espn.
For anything decent in the way of news about the Spurs, I come here.
Thank goodness for PtR!!!
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 15, 2010 4:59 PM CST up reply actions
i’m glad you called him sCam. where are you from?
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 15, 2010 6:50 PM CST up reply actions
i’m from Ohio, but don’t have any particular axe to grind with Auburn or whomever….but I do wonder how he got cleared AND even more, i also wonder if the NCAA even considered those pesky situations that occured while he was at Florida…..you know the theft and academic fraud stuff……..wonder where all that went? just sayin.
Some of Auburn’s boosters own the casinos in Alabama. They got caught trying to pay off some politicians (the FBI is involved) and most everyone suspects the reason nothing has happened yet is because the FBI doesnt want to ruin their investigation over something as trivial as college football (clearly none of the agents are from Alabama). The booster that is believed to have paid the Newton’s is also the one the FBI is investigating.
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 17, 2010 5:01 PM CST up reply actions
WE GOT PRETTY MUCH THE ENTIRE DAILY DIME TODAY!!!
(Well, 48MoH did. But they are us too, right?)
Bonner with the nice box out!
Well, there were only 3 games. And none featured the Lakers or the Heat.
I smell death... everywhere.
damnit.
way to ruin that for me.
IGNORANCE IS BLISS!
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 17, 2010 5:02 PM CST up reply actions
On Sports Shouting Around the Horn today, the Denver guy went apoplectic in claiming that the the charge shouldn’t have been called because it was the last play. Meanwhile, the LOS ANGELES and DALLAS guys believed the Spurs earned the win. Mad world.
thats a shame. I usually like the Denver guy, if only because he’s typically the most outrageous.
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 17, 2010 5:02 PM CST up reply actions
The fouls shouldn’t be called on the last play proxy just doesn’t make much sense to me.
Enjoying the trip to # 172 as much as humanly possible
It’s a rationalization. They see that ‘Melo charged, don’t want to admit that their team lost, and rationalize it away by saying that the foul shouldn’t have been called because “you don’t want the refs deciding the game.”
The truth is most people want the refs to make the right call. (Hence the instant replay review.) No one wants the refs to make a mistake on a call that decides the game against them. But the refs got it right, and ’Melo’s charge was so egregious that, not only did two refs blow their whistles, all three former players on TNT agreed that the call had to be made. Heck, the refs even got special kudos from Charles for having the courage to make the call.
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 17, 2010 8:37 PM CST up reply actions
the refs even got special kudos from Charles
And it probably make their day — no, their year!
Enjoying the trip to # 172 as much as humanly possible
GOL
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 18, 2010 3:47 PM CST up reply actions
More from the files of DrumsInTheDeep Watches ESPN so You Don’t Have To™, Wilbon and Kornheiser agree that it was a charge, and Manu may be a real MVP candidate but can never win because “the league HATES the Spurs.”
by DrumsInTheDeep on Dec 17, 2010 5:38 PM CST up reply actions
i like PTI. Those guys are funny, even if they arent always right. Wilbon at least tends to argue things intelligently.
Bonner with the nice box out!
by SpursfanSteve on Dec 18, 2010 12:45 AM CST up reply actions
Replay from behind shows that manu lifted his feet(while running?),but even before melo hits him his heels are lifted, not only that,look at other angled replays(as what I’ve seen in the nba live recap,manu was way too far from the circle,in short if he isn’t wise enough and just want to bump melo,he still could have gotten the charge,but that man wants to make things sure.Is this game up for grabs for the top 5 or even the best 2010-2011 best game of the season?This was sure exciting.I really hate people saying manu flopped,like people commenting on the yahoo article,it’s pissing me off.“Hey guys,we got this thing could replay,maybe if you won by the buzzer you’ll love it,but losing in a bizarre or rare call that was correct is hard to admit,so yeah I understand.So just continue on hating on Manu ’cause spurs fans sure know that you all hate us for having him”….that’s what I felt about BS comments on that call.
"I cry,but everyone will cry if I'm in the NBA"-Adam Morrison.I know now why fans cry when they see him on the floor.
Thank you for telling him or them that.And now that you’ve told them,they’ll still praise Mia,LA and Bos,don’t worry about it,we’ll prove to them that we are the Truth(yes pierce,but this is not you),the original and thus cannot be replaced.I’m excited to see if he is brave and tough enough to answer that one.I guess not.They’ve always been mainstream if we talk music, so for the money and stuff.So yeah,they’re paid to be mollycoddling those triumvirate.
"I cry,but everyone will cry if I'm in the NBA"-Adam Morrison.I know now why fans cry when they see him on the floor.
Can RJ get the MIP?I mean he has been stellar until his first year with SA.I heard before there was a best comeback season award,well yeah that’s not in the list anymore,RJ would have won that easily.
"I cry,but everyone will cry if I'm in the NBA"-Adam Morrison.I know now why fans cry when they see him on the floor.
btw, one of the stupidest things I’ve seen in Simmons’ writing is his proclamation that he’s the “Picasso of the Trade Machine.” Or rather, some of the trades that he’s come up with to demonstrate his mastery are some of the stupidest things.
The Trade Machine is useful to determine whether a trade meets the rules governing trades and salary caps. But the game of going to the tool first to see what trades you can come up with that meet the rules but that no sane nor insane GM would ever consider is as much a waste of time as playing Sudoku or Minesweeper. It’s an intellectual exercise that really accomplishes nothing. Simmons might as well say that he’s the “Monet of Minesweeper.”
Hey, if posting a sharp, insightful, yet non-sarcastic comment were that easy, even olf would do it.
Mike Monroe: ...the uninformed presume Parker is expendable.
by freshtunarightofftheboat on Dec 18, 2010 4:38 PM CST reply actions
maybe he needs a real virtuosos of the front office in POP,RC and the team.Those guys doesn’t even proclaim anything.The best praises is when people genuinely praise you and you yourself humbly accept it.
"I cry,but everyone will cry if I'm in the NBA"-Adam Morrison.I know now why fans cry when they see him on the floor.
And yeah,since he is sstupid, no doubt he roots for the heat,since it has Lebron.One guy nor three can’t win rings,it takes 12 or even 14(including the coach and in general all the staff working for the team).That’s why so many people bet on regular season winners since they bring money,money and yes money.Never do people bet on real teams,since 50-32 or 55-27 can’t win championships than that of a 66-16-we-suck-in-the-playoffs team.
"I cry,but everyone will cry if I'm in the NBA"-Adam Morrison.I know now why fans cry when they see him on the floor.
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