Your starting five:
Tony Parker
Kawhi Leonard
Danny Green
LaMarcus Alrdridge
Timmy D
Excuse me while I gush.
After the Spurs dominated the 2014 finals with a fast pace offense so majestic the rest of the nba had to try it, they set a precedent for finding the open shooter.
Now it's all about spacing the floor from behind the 3-pt line with small ball tactics. So what do the Spurs do ? Build on the trend they set ? Of course not. They destroy it with a small ball incinerator.
Danny and Kawhi, two elite perimeter defenders, will stand alongside two 7 foot meat grinders in Tim and LaMarcus. As if Kawhi wasnt enough to make sure you wanted to go home by halftime, another huge guy with tat sleeves will be waiting for you down low. Yes, you.
Tony will run a very different offense. One with elevated scoring prowess. LA is clever in the post, but can also hit 18 foot fade-away jumpers just to piss you off. He might get doubled before they realize a 39 year old man who almost has a statue in front of the alamo is giving free bank shot lessons, and a pair of eagle claws is about to swoop in and take your love of the game.
Okay, I know. I'm overreacting. LA is not a great rim protector and a relatively inefficient scorer. But he did carry a much heavier workload in Portland. Their ball movement was OK and he had to create for himself most of the time. With the intelligence of Tim and Tony, LA will get better looks. Not to mention the insane isolation plays Pop will run.
The last guy we ran consistent isolation plays for was Tim Duncan, so it's going to be interested to see what pop does. At this point, I would trust Pop with my life. And it looks like that won't change for the next four years. Reports say he plans to finish out the five year contract he signed last summer. I assume he wants to see a successful passing of the torch from Tim Duncan to LA and Whi; because, let's be honest, it would take two men to fill those shoes.
