Manu Ginobili needs to stay on bench for Spurs

My column on why Manu should re-take his Sixth Man role for the Spurs this season.

3 months ago Mark Travis 13 comments 0 recs |

Comments

Disagree. The starting lineup has on many occasions, looked inferior to the bench. Manu instantly solves that problem and the Spurs still have an excellent bench afterwards.

A man gets the eye of a Tiger, but a Tiger gets the eye of a Manu.

by alamobro on Feb 13, 2012 4:52 PM CST reply actions

The only reason Manu ever came off the bench is when the bench sucked. That is no longer the case.

A man gets the eye of a Tiger, but a Tiger gets the eye of a Manu.

by alamobro on Feb 13, 2012 4:52 PM CST up reply actions

The Spurs had the best bench in the league in 2006-2007, the year before Manu became the Sixth Man. Pop just wanted a different look and it worked out.

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by Mark Travis on Feb 13, 2012 5:00 PM CST up reply actions

Actually , when Manu began coming off the bench, Pop was asked why. Pop said, (quote on quote) " I am trying to build a bench". Sounds like he thought the bench sucked.

A man gets the eye of a Tiger, but a Tiger gets the eye of a Manu.

by alamobro on Feb 13, 2012 5:14 PM CST up reply actions

Here are the numbers:

http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/teamstats/07/7/diffeff/1-1

Nine points better than any other bench in the NBA that season.

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by Mark Travis on Feb 13, 2012 5:43 PM CST up reply actions

It actually says the spurs were second behind toronto for pts per game. ( The Spurs bench also lead all others in minutes per game.

A man gets the eye of a Tiger, but a Tiger gets the eye of a Manu.

by alamobro on Feb 13, 2012 11:28 PM CST up reply actions

that stat is amazine. our coaching staff is really doing great, not to mention our bench is really that good

by rank on Feb 14, 2012 4:51 AM CST up reply actions

I’d wait until TJ is back to make that move. Honestly, the starting lineup could be improved by getting Bonner in the game sooner. Don’t start him as that would kill the rotations, but if he’s one of the first off the bench, the spacing because ways better for Parker and the shooters.

Winter is coming

by grego21 on Feb 13, 2012 4:57 PM CST up reply actions

Its going to be a mess when TJ comes back. Neal over thr last few games has started to look good running the point, the pnr of Neal and Splitter is becoming lethal.

"He was just a young skinny guy who looked like a winner. We didn’t know he was going to be as good as he is."
—Popovich on Manu Ginobili

by spursfan87 on Feb 13, 2012 10:00 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

But its a good problem to have

"He was just a young skinny guy who looked like a winner. We didn’t know he was going to be as good as he is."
—Popovich on Manu Ginobili

by spursfan87 on Feb 13, 2012 10:01 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

more is better than less in this case.

Winter is coming

by grego21 on Feb 13, 2012 11:19 PM CST up reply actions

He’s shown his passing to improved, but he’s sitll not a PG. He’s best when he’s a secondary passer, scorer first. It’s good the Spurs have passers, but TJ on the pure ball handler/setting up offense is a much better choice.

I don’t think it’s a mess though. If anything, this puts less pressure on the big 3 to put in big numbers. This includes Manu as well. With Green, you get Manu like abilities for instance. So you don’t always need Manu in.

If Neal is in, he can play more minutes if RJ is struggling or Green, if they need more offense.

The only area where this depth doesn’t seem to help is the front line, where Dice would have been awesome.

Winter is coming

by grego21 on Feb 13, 2012 11:18 PM CST up reply actions

I agree with some points but

I think that RJ and Blair need manu more than the bench

The bench with Bonner, Splitter, Neal, Green, Anderson is good (even if you dont have a point guard, neal is creating his chemistry with splitter and thats good

by cuentaluis1 on Feb 13, 2012 7:20 PM CST reply actions