SB Nation User Blog: speedostuffer

First round matchup

speedostuffer — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:04:14 -0000

I was looking at the schedules of teams we might face in the first round trying to predict were teams will end up(with their seeding) and I ran across this poll on the Utah Jazz' website. I was flattered and shocked all at once to see that Jazz fans would rather face the Lakers in the first round than The SPURS. Do they want revenge? Are they really scared of a healthy Spurs team more than the Lakers? Or are Jazz fans just slightly sadistic?

I'm not sure if someone already posted a poll like this or if I just remember it being discussed in a game thread. Forgive me for the redundancy if this is the second poll of its kind but I'm curious....

Please note that the Suns were left out because they will not make the playoffs.

Poll

Who do you want to face in the first round of the Playoffs?

Jazz

3 votes

Lakers

3 votes

Mavs

28 votes

Hornets

8 votes

Rockets

1 votes

Blazzers

12 votes

Nuggets

3 votes

58 votes | Poll has closed

Un-realization

speedostuffer — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:39:15 -0000

Let me start by restating what some others have said about the criticism of players. That is we shouldn't judge a player on how good or bad he plays but the effort he puts forth. If he is maximizing his abilities and is still sucking then it is no longer his fault, it becomes the coaching staffs fault for running him out there. So this is why Finley and, some day Manu, will always get a pass in my book.

At a certain point earlier in the season it seemed as though Spurs coaching staff, specifically Pop, had seen the light on a few things.

1) JV is no longer an NBA caliber player. I like the JV I really do. He's the anti-Iverson which is always a good start as a human being but his playing days are long gone.

2) Over the off season we improved our 2 position by aquiring Roger Mason Jr. He is better at defending, and shooting than Finley. What else is needed in our system for our other(Manu being the primary) wing? Shoot and Defend. Mace does both these things very well when played at his natural position.

3) Rookies can actually contribute. This goes along with the first realization. George Hill has proven he is capable of running the point when Tony needs a blow. Come playoff time it will probably only be 6 minutes a game anyway so how bad can George screw things up? That's not even the point though. He's not a Brad Johnson type quaterback who we can only ask "manage the game, don't turn the ball over." Georgie has moxie and skill set to contribute in playoff caliber games.

By un-realizing these things Pop has sent the team sputtering in recent weeks. JV is seeing playing time ahead of Hill. Mace is also being asked to run the point; he has become an erratic shooter and turnover machine. And Finley is being asked to play far too many minutes. Lord help us if Pop was being serious when he said Mason will continue to back up point into the playoffs.

Manus magic stolen

speedostuffer — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:18:10 -0000

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but this has brought me to a boil. Last night in New Orleans win over the Mavs Chris Paul dribbled between Jason Terrys legs on a fast break and then passed to a trailing Rasual Butler for a dunk. It shocks me how little NBA players actually, you know, pay attention to the NBA. Weird. Tyson Chandler was quoted as saying "I've never seen anything like it..." And sports media professionals (jason smith) haven't either I guess. Freaking damn idiots. Was it not just a year ago that Manu did this, with more fluidness and grace, 4 goddamn times in one season?! Paul does it once and everyone thinks he invents the freaking wheel. I hate Chris Paul. I hate ESPN.

Spurs players to coach??

speedostuffer — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:38:43 -0000

Arg I hate school! It takes away from my precious PTR time- you know the stuff that actually matters in life. So that's my excuse for only being around here and there lately, not that anyone probably misses me. WaaWaaa!

Okay so as I often do I was thinking....this time I was thinking "what current Spur would make the best coach?" another question is "what current Spur will most likely be coaching after his playing days?"

Two seperate questions though they could have the same answer. In fact my answer to both questions is the same. Big Bruce. Obviously he would be a offensive mastermind probably implementing some sort of run and gun system. haha. Okay in all seriousness he has good enough communication and people skills that his players would buy into his philosophies which would be defense, rebounding and a team first attitude. KT might make a good coach when you consider his players would always be motivated out of fear he'll turn them into stone with a death stare. Manu wouldn't be patient enough. Tim too introverted. Tony probably a little too french.

The Sky is Falling

speedostuffer — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:47:14 -0000

On the day of finding out Manus injury could be in fact a serious one, not just Pop dicking around with the regular season, we loose out on a would be good/great fit via trade. The consensus around here was that Vince Carter isn't a Spurs guy, however pretty much everyone felt landing a John Salmons was just what we needed. Come to find out that is squashed now. The only thing left to do as I see is pray for Manus unholy ankle and as SiMA said jump on the Pops bandwagon "there's still room".

I've read some rumors that we've inquired about Richard Jefferson but acquiring him without involving Manu is crazy talk. We don't have the goods to pry him away unless all other active teams make deals leaving Milwaukee no other options but to trade with us. I guess they want to unload him pretty bad.

Heading into the All-star break things were looking so up....this sucks.

Osh kosh bosh

speedostuffer — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:59:54 -0000

Chris Bosh reportedly informed Toronto Raptors GM, Bryan Colangelo, that he will not re-sign with the team in 2010, according to Stephen A. Smith.

Bosh can become an unrestricted free agent in 2010.

"He has no desire to remain in Toronto," said Smith, during a Feb. 1 interview.

Smith mentioned Miami and Dallas as possible destinations.

Bosh was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team and is currently averaging 23.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.

I know some PTRers have mentioned their adoration for Bosh and I for one am on that banwagon. This little report made me happy at once but it's disappointing that Bosh has seemingly confided in Stephen A. Smith of all people, yuck. Something super awesome though is that he mentioned Dallas as a possible destination and one can only assume that Dallas is a possible destination because he's from Texas which would of course give us a chance. And on top of that, we know how to build championship teams.

all your faithless loyalties

speedostuffer — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:23:15 -0000

Two nights ago I sat down with an old friend of mine and we shared a gallon of wine. We were reminiscing about the good ole' days when half of our friends weren't married and the other half didn't have live-in girlfriends. As we went down the through the gallon we went about the usual emotions men go through that I don't need to explain. When we reached the part of overwhelming sentimentality we decided to write a song about our friend Danny who we missed greatly. It wasn't coming along very well because my friend kept talking instead of trying to write down lyrics or keep a tune. So then I told him "shut the fuck up" and he punched me right under my left eye. It left me with a cute shiner and I wore it proud the next day and today too. After the punch it put me in some sort of focus and we went on to write a pretty good half of a song.

I don't know if Manu's life parallels mine but as a Manu lover I like to pretend like it does. Who ever it was that gave Manu the preverbal punch in the face I thank. He on many occasions has spoken about focus-the teams and especially his. There are probably less than 10% of NBA players who are smarter than Manu and even fewer who are more competitive so it is hard to imagine Manu not focused but I think that's what was hampering him. It was his focus above all else. Sure for a few weeks when he came back he needed to shake off some rust but that rust is long gone now and has been for a while. He was just lacking that focus.

I feel so ashamed for ever doubting him. He is my favorite player ever and I began to lose faith in him all the while claiming to be a loyal fan. Guilt is a huge part of being catholic so suffice it to say that I've had a few sleepless nights after saying things such as "Manu is broke..." I know I'm not alone. Stampler is right when he says there are so many other sites that you can go to and bash Manu but this is a Manu loving blog. We don't need to be blind to his sub-Manu play for the first half of the season but I am first to say I have been a bad fan. So I herby apologize to my fellow Manu loving patrons and vow to never have doubt in anything that is Manu again.

basketball mount rushmore

speedostuffer — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:09:15 -0000

Since we(PTRers not the actual players) have a days rest before we head to Phx I thought it'd be fun to have a little debate amongst fellow basketball scholars. That means Ankle Bones isn't aloud to participate. So anyway last night I saw an ESPN thing about voting for your sports Mount Rushmore. Honestly I don't follow football or hockey close enough to be a part of that argument so I thought "who would be on my basketball Mount Rushmore...?" And this is what I came up with:

MJ- I think this is the most obvious one. If you say he's not the greatest ever it's impossible to phathom someone thinking he isn't part of a top four list.

Duncan- This is a spurs blog right? Even if it wasn't though how do you leave the best power forward of all time off the list? I have a feeling Gary Payton would opt for Shawn Kemp though.

Magic- Arguably the greatest point guard ever in the body of a power forward. Yikes! I could list all his statistical accolades but I think the most impressive is 3 time finals MVP and 5 chips in all.

Russel- This man I did not have the pleasure of watching except for on ESPN classic but I can't ignore 11 rings. Can you?

Spurs Lakers Recap

speedostuffer — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:12:00 -0000

First off sorry for the huge delay in my recap. After the Spurs big win over the Lakers I celebrated my tail off leaving me feeling like crap the next day; I had time only for sleep and work. Seems like most recaping points have already been discussed but I still feel obligated to add my 2 cents since.

Durring the 2004 series against the Lakers I was working valet at some nice hotel. Working with a bunch of Lakers fans it was acceptable to not work that day and just watch the game as the line of cars piled up all night. So there I was watching the greatness that is Tim Duncan as he hit an increddible turn around falling down bank shot. (by the way at any other point in the game that would have been a foul on shaq) I flipped out and ran to the nearest person who happened to be a guest checking into the hotel and hugged her. I picked her up and hugged her. The crazy thing was she didn't get mad at me, no she was excited with me when I told her what happened because she too was a spurs fan. Then the horror came. The .4 bull crap. Being the superstitious person that I am I blamed the lady. It was too coincidental that another spurs fan was checking in to a hotel in southern ca at the same time Duncan hit his shot and so what else could I do but blame her?

Wednessday night a funny thing happened. I was at a bar and I ran into another spurs fan. It is impossible to exagerate how rare it is to find a spurs fan in southern Ca. It's rare I find a sports fan that even knows much about the local teams so you can guess how often I find a spurs fan. When the lakers mounted their comeback I felt sick. After every Powell and Gasol and Kobe shot they made durring that come back the camera would catch Parkers face and Tony already looked defeated. I was so sad. I thought "game 1 of the playoffs last year all over again..." Then the Duncan shot happened. I was elated! "Oh my fucking god!" I cried. Then sitting next to the spurs fan I got an earie feeling. "We're not going to win..." I thought. Kobe is going to do something-I know it. Sure enough he did. I don't know how he managed to get that shot off with his balls dragging on the floor and all. Poor guy. But he did. Then like everyone else I thought "one last shot...give the ball to Manu" Kobe did a great job of denying him the ball much the way we denied Kobe the ball in the 2004 series. Luckily we have players with testies too. Oh how I love thee Mason. This is his third game winner for us of the season. No one would have blamed him if he had gotten the ball and drove the basket hesitantly looking for one of the big three. This is his first year with us he shouldn't be taking and making these big time shots.

This was the type of game I wish we would have won in the playoffs. This was one of those momentum changing, spirit breaking games. Much like Game five in 2004 when we were crippled and much like game 1 against the suns last year when they were mentally crushed. The Lakers may be the most talented team in the league but aside from Kobe they are among the mentally weakest in the league.

It only counts as one win but everyone knows this was huge. The biggest thing was Manu played like Manu. He didn't worry about his shot-he just let it go. If he got step on someone he went hard to the basket. And his three steals on kobe in the first half were great too but that's nothing new as he's been doing a lot of that stuff lately. He still doesn't have his vertical explosion back yet. His open court dunk was old man esq. He kind of sqeaked it in. But the most important thing was his confidence was there. As he's talked about that was the biggest thing missing. His physical atributes will continue to get better.

3 Stars:

3. Tim for being Tim. 20 and 10. Big shots in the 4th.

2. Manu for carrying us in the first 3 quarters of the game

1. Mason. The game winner. 18 pts. A nice little leg shimmy dance.

Headless Chicken-Wolves

speedostuffer — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:39:49 -0000

How frustrating it must be to coach a young immature team like the T-Wolves. If Pop were to inherit a team like that I think he would go Bobby Knight on someone. Anyway, McHale was praising Duncan after the game and one of the things he talked about was Tims efficiency. This made me laugh out loud.

“He doesn't move around a lot. He's very efficient. Conversely, our young guys move around like chickens with their heads cut off and don't get much accomplished. Then, they don't understand why they're tired and Tim is not.