I'm frustrated. I feel like Lamar Odom must have when he realized that he married the ugly one. We simply cannot beat good teams. You can see the Spurs' potential because they play 5 minutes of flawless basketball each game. But inevitably, they follow the run with suckitude and it's nearly unwatchable. The worst part is you can see it coming a mile away and there is nothing you can do but absorb the stomach punch. After the jump, my Top 10 Midseason Adjustments.
In no particular order,
1.) Start George Hill
Tim, Manu, and Hill are the only Spurs that I feel we can rely on consistently. He is really stepping up this season and improves our starting five. With Hill on the floor, Tony can hide on the defensive end and conserve his energy. Hill also adds another ball handler and has been hitting the corner three. Plus, more experience can only improve his abilities.
2.) Sit Tony Parker
Tony is playing hurt. It's very evident on both ends of the floor. He needs to rest so his foot can heal. We need a healthy Tony Parker in order to make a run in the playoffs. Plus, it's not like the Spurs are on a roll or anything. Sitting Tony would increase Hill's minutes which would also benefit the Spurs come playoff time. I would use Manu as the backup PG, by the way. Remember, the Roger Mason backup PG experiment failed miserably last season.
3.) Yell at RJ
I have come to the conclusion that RJ is incompetent. He's really just not that smart. His mind is always a step behind his abilities. I have not seen Pop yell at RJ yet. He seems to be treating him in the most gentle way possible. Well, we are midway through the season and he still sucks. I think it's time to try something new. Incompetent people respond to a good lecture. So lecture him, Pop, in the most passive aggressive way possible.
4.) More Blair, Less Bonner
My hate for Bonner has been well documented. But from a completely unbiased point of view, we know what Bonner brings to the table. He is a mediocre rebounder, below average defender, horrible off the dribble, a detriment on the break, and shoots three pointers well. Now, what can Blair do for you? I do not know. I really don't. We have seen flashes of greatness from this rookie. Right now, he is a high energy, high impact guy. But is that all he can be? Is that really his ceiling? We will not know unless Pop force feeds him minutes. From what I have seen, Blair could be a great player. Why not give this rookie minutes now so he has a chance to develop into a player that we can utilize in the playoffs. Right now, I could see this going either way. He may develop into a role player, or Pop might Hill him his rookie season and throw him under the bench.
5.) Run! Run! RUN!!!
We have two extremely quick PGs in Parker and Hill, we have one of the most creative players in Manu, we have a great finisher in RJ, and we have great cleanup guys in Tim and Blair. Why are we slowing the game down? The Spurs should take a page from the 7 Seconds or Less strategy. The Spurs should be taking the ball out of the net and pushing it up the court looking for mismatches. All of our players are offensive minded. Let's start putting pressure on the defense. Allowing our opposition to set up their half court defense gives them an advantage that we should not grant.
6.) The McDyess Rule
Half the time McDyess is on the court I do not even notice. He is the anti-Blair. He seems to be sleep walking. I would like to create a rule that requires McDyess to chug a Red Bull before he is allowed to enter the game. There should be a case of it on the scorer's table waiting for him. When he gets up to check in, the crowd should chant, "RED BULL, RED BULL, RED BULL!" McDyess enters the game amped up by the crowd and the Red Bull and proceeds to go Blair on the opposition. Tell me this isn't a great idea.
7.) No More Small Ball
It doesn't freaking work, Pop. This is exactly what got Avery fired, among other things, (like Dirk's lack of heart.) Unless the other team matches your small ball lineup, our already short team will get dominated on the boards. Last night, Pop went to the small ball lineup against the Jazz. Guess what Sloan did? He played Okur, Boozer, and the alien known as Kirilenko. They killed us on the boards and the best we could do was trade baskets the entire quarter. Trading baskets doesn't work when you're down by 10 points. You're killing me, Pop.
8.) Old School
Our intro music/show suck. Now, you may be of the opinion that this has no effect on the game. But I would argue that it decreases our home court advantage by killing the crowd. I want some, Y'ALL READY FOR THIS?!?! I want a better video on the jumbotron. Show Spurs of the past like David, Gervin, Malik, Avery and Sean to get the crowd riled up. Show nothing but highlights of our current squad dunking. No more of this still frame, anticlimactic song intro. Get the crowd into it from the start.
9.) Less Bogans
I feel that Bogans peaked earlier this year and now we are seeing why Bogans has switched teams 8 times in 7 years. It's because he sucks. He is killing us offensively and although his defense is decent, he is in no way a Bruce Bowen caliber defender. We should be starting Parker, Hill, RJ, Blair and Tim. Hill will match-up with the opposition's best scorer as well as Bogans can, plus he will bring an offensive game to the table.
10.) Get Fined
We recruit good guys. We play with class. We do not complain. Yeah, I get it and I am sick of it. Someone needs to call out the officials. They have been sticking it to us all year. And it's not just Crawford, it's everyone. Pop needs to do something. He needs to make tapes and send them to the league office like Cuban does. He needs to get thrown out of games when the officials are calling them one-sided. There were so many missed calls last night that I felt positive that someone was going to get thrown out. What happened? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Tim gets called for 3 touch fouls in a row to foul him out, and no one gets in the ref's face? What?!? Where is PJ? PJ, for the love of all that is holy, WE NEED YOU!