[Grades] Grades v. Spurs 2/24/16

[Bosnian Diehard]

The end result is he's a terrible signing regardless of if it was at the time a good signing or not. Vlade made numerous terrible offseason aquasitions. Has nothing to do with hindsight and everything to do with results.

I completely disagree. Vlade can't look into the future. He signed a good shooter who had his worst season of his career, by far, with us. Not Vlade's fault.

 

[mac]

I seriously doubt it. Here's a video breakdown of San Antonio's offense in the 2013/2014 season. That's the season Marco averaged 43% from three point range.

There's a lot of pick and roll action on the ball with shooters spacing the floor and sliding laterally into open space. This is typical of what I expect from the Spurs. Most of the screening action is used to free up the ballhandler while the shooters stand with their feet set, ready to catch and shoot. There actually are plays run for Marco here to get him the ball off a screen near the middle of the floor at the top of the key but most of those result in mid-range jumpers or quick passes to the screener.

This is really where the problems begin for us this year. Picking up Belinelli isn't a bad idea in theory if you plan to use him primarily as a catch and shoot threat. And with a skilled big and a crafty PG you would think we would excel at exactly the type of offense that San Antonio is running. Only we're not doing that at all. We're running Collison and Rondo together or we're having Belinelli handle the ball and create looks. And then there's Ben, who's always been best as a catch and shoot guy dating back to Kansas, who is basically just ignored most of the time. As much as I bag on Marco for his shot-selection, I do feel sorry for him at the same time. The coach is supposed to reign him in if he's freelancing. This isn't just another example of me pointing the finger at George Karl. Yes Marco is a veteran and should know better so he shares in the blame. But if we're asking Marco to create shots off the dribble -- and he's been doing it all year so I assume that we are -- it's not really fair to place all of the blame on him for the lackluster results.

Earlier in the season it seemed we had Marco handling a lot more and asking him to create. I think that sort of is one of the points of Marco - his ability to create offense with his passing and cutting etc, and the Spurs liked that about him. The key though is that creating offense doesn't mean creating shots for himself, and we have seen good stretches when it's just quick passing/cutting. It's the difference between a Manu Ginobili and a Jamal Crawford. You also don't sign the guy here with the expectation that he will be performing the exact same role as he did in San Antonio. The expectation is that he'll do more for us here than simply stand in a corner and catch and shoot. It's a lot easier to make the offense flow when you've got versatile guys like Boris Diaw and Ginobili playing alongside you instead of stone-hands Koufos and Omri (who is a good finisher but not good at creating for others).

Lately he's been almost purely a catch and shoot player though, but his shot has just been off, so I don't think it's fair to blame Karl for not trying to make adjustments in his usage of Marco.

 

[Sac.1989]

Spurs destruction of Utah on a back to back puts this into perspective. They are a top tier team

 

[Kingston Jamaica]

Willie is up to 61% FGs and 62% TS% and 16 PER! When Boogie was a rookie he had a weak-ass 48.4 TS% and 14.6 PER. So yes Willie will be a better player than Boogie....its science. Willie is averaging only 4.5 FGAs per game. This number needs to double the rest of the season. I would like to see him get 8-10 FGAs per game. Feed the beast.

Going forward there is a lot of potential running plays with Willie in the post. Not only has he been showing a nice touch he can spin move with high release point with either hand. I said back in November within 1-2 years Willie will be a better low post player than Boogie and not only do I stand by the comment, I underrated how good Willie can be because he have some natural instincts to score the ball...without forcing, just using his agility and length to take what is there.

I really believe that Larry Bird was right and Willie will be a 100 million dollar player. He has hardly scratched the surface so far. In a year or two he will be phenomenal.

 

[IfAt1st]

Willie is up to 61% FGs and 62% TS% and 16 PER! When Boogie was a rookie he had a weak-ass 48.4 TS% and 14.6 PER. So yes Willie will be a better player than Boogie....its science. Willie is averaging only 4.5 FGAs per game. This number needs to double the rest of the season. I would like to see him get 8-10 FGAs per game. Feed the beast.

That's simply not going to happen with George Karl as his coach.

He is only getting 18 minutes a game, even with him showing (fairly) phenomenal offensive prowess the last 3 games.

Willie has been progressing at a rate that noone here would have been ballsy enough to predict, and Karl isn;t even following through with his pre-season estimate that Willie would be getting 20 minutes a game.
Again, that's something I would be writing my employees up for, if I were their employer.
How he can continue to short-shrift WCS is mind-blowing to me, given the Kings' need for both offense and defense (but especially defense).

 

[ppine]

Why all of this focus on the one guy that is not playing well?

I would much rather talk about WCS and his rapid rise. He is one of the quickest big men in the League. It is almost as if the fast paced NBA is a better fit for him than college. He is a hard worker and has confidence. I would like to see him get more minutes, because he has earned them.