2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Luka seems to think he can play with Austin pretty well, I think I trust him over some internet experts.

 

Austin is to Luka as Jack Haley is to Rodman lol

 

i don't recall this? there's a lot of correlation and causation issues here, though. like, durant and dejounte murray both tore achilles and aren't stepback guys. thompson, too. don't think ddv is, either. we're getting near a 50/50 split on style of play and guys who tore an achilles in recent years, right? harden's taken a zillion stepbacks and not had any calf problems at all that i can recall.

my money would still be on general style/pace of play, particularly on defense given how much everyone has to move now. in the 90s, you kinda sat around a lot. i'd also guess some sorts of training (and overtraining?) are implicated.

and i'm no physiologist, but pretty much every achilles tear event occurs when a guy is planting and exploding low and forward, pushing off that back leg. seems pretty obvious that damage is probably cumulative (as the calf strains precede the achilles tears), but it is odd that it's almost always that exact motion that ruptures it.

i don't think the reaves/luka fit is that awkward, and i'd argue reaves's style of play is similarly reckless and he should be limited to the low 30s in mpg as well. and while ginobili was a plus-defender, i think he's being remembered as better there than i remember him. they started the original 3 and d bruce bowen next to parker in part because parker wasn't a strong defender.

 

this is what i meant. you could go at him on-ball with either pgs or sgs.

i actually think some of reaves's defense is undersold in the same ways you're talking about, too. he gets his hands on passes, gets his body into guys on the defensive boards, etc. like luka, everyone focuses solely on what happens when he gets switched onto a pg in space, and not, like, every other play. this is why the defensive metrics like both guys more than the eye test, too.

 

I’ve been rambling on how Reaves’ half court defense has been really good this season and especially since March. Reaves is ELITE, at using his body on offense and defense. Offensively, he bumps into you to create separation and uses fantastic body control to get a balanced shot off - very hard to do and why he’s such a good finisher.

Defensively, he uses his anticipation and IQ to get in front of the ball path and bumps players to slow them and then siphons them to help defense.

When he is left on an island, fast guys abuse him. But you can’t have it all.

 

And just like with Larry Bird, abeer, you’re remembering Manu worse than he was - he was one badddddd man.

He is significantly better than Reaves.

 

1. continue to disagree on bird. not that he wasn't great, but that he wasn't as great as you think he was
2. never said reaves was as good as ginobili. i gave reasons why you could deploy him similarly for similar reasons.

 

Ginobli just like Tony Parker just like Sean Elliot benefited playing with Tim Duncan who was a brilliant passer and took so much of the defensive attention. Kawhi was the one who was basically doing it by himself when Duncan was declining toward the end of his career. He was still 19-10 but not nearly the 28-10 beast he was.

When Duncan declined so did Parker and Gibobli.

I saw it. Ginobli was a bad man. But if we want to have the conservation in 2001 When Kobe was the best player in basketball nobody was f***ing with him. Kobe ran through and destroyed Ginobli and Derrick Anderson and Tony Parker and that spurs team during the playoffs when we swept. During the regular season that spurs team was great.

in his era. It Was Kobe Ray Allen and Mcgrady

I would put Ginobli with the Richard Hamilton and Vince Carter Duwayne Wade. Steve Smith

Reggie Miller I put him more in Jordan era. Penny Hardaway


That’s just my opinion.

 

To me it did not seems like OKC got pushed. They seem to toyed with Lakers and just hit the peddle when needed . If Luka and A ustin played then thats less minutes for those who played. It dont really help their defense but improve on offense. 0-7

now we talking Even if not for Austin I would not mind if Pascal replaces Lebron.

 

"Gregg Popovich started Bruce Bowen over Manu Ginobili to establish elite defensive continuity in the starting lineup and to stagger Ginobili’s offensive creation for the second unit. This tactical alignment was a cornerstone of the San Antonio Spurs dynasty from 2003 to 2007, serving three strategic functions.
Elite "3-and-D" Spacing: Bowen was an elite perimeter defender Popovich relied on to lock down the opponent's best offensive player.
Second Unit Engine: Popovich recognized that the Spurs' starting unit often became stagnant when heavily reliant on Parker and Duncan. Coming off the bench, Ginobili acted as the primary playmaker and energetic focal point for the reserves, essentially guaranteeing that the team maintained relentless offensive pressure even when the starters rested." Yep i agree Austin has the skills to play a similar role.

 

This is turning into a 2000s Spurs tangent, but they didn't start Bowen over Ginobili. They started Stephen Jackson or Steve Smith over him in 2003. Ginobili started in 2004 and 2005. Then in 2006 and 2007 they started Finley or Barry over him.

I actually don't think it's awkward either and agree that Reaves is probably best around 30 mpg. I thought the other poster was implying that Reaves should be in a "Ginobili role" to mitigate a perceived awkward fit with Luka, but that wasn't why Ginobili came off the bench.

Austin coming off of the bench would help with some things. It would allow LeBron to step back into a more prominent role for a few extra minutes per game. He can be the secondary creator at the beginning of each half when his legs or fresher, then fall back into the tertiary role in the closing lineups. Maybe it becomes more palatable once he's signed his new deal.

 

Reaves/Luka fit is not awkward Austin/Luka/Lebron kind of. Splitting up those 3 to stagger them helps. Ayton Rui are just two players that felt left out. Van who was one of the teams best defender fell out the rotation. This is why Smart emerged as one of the most important pieces.

 

well, bowen started almost all the games he ever played in SA, so he started over someone!

i've believed reaves coming off the bench could work for a while now. i think part of the problem has been simply not having the sg/sfs to allow for it. as you mention, the spurs had bowen and sjax or barry who could defend and play lower usage roles around duncan/parker/center. we really haven't had that since reaves emerged as a starting-quality player.

 

Yeah they started Bowen AND Ginobili or another SG. It was never start Bowen in place of Ginobili.

 

Does anyone really believe LeBron is coming back? I believe he’s going to get pushed out.Still a top 30 player but the Lakers won’t want to/can’t pay him that much and move forward as a team.Probably tell him to try and find a deal for himself or just let him walk.Either way not ideal

 

I wonder what it would look like if we started Smart/Luka/LeBron/Rui/Center and then brought Austin off the bench. Would really depend on the center. The LeBron/Rui forward tandem has been pretty hit or miss. If we signed someone like Ayo, maybe you put him in that starting backcourt and bring Austin and Smart off the bench.

 

quibbling, but: stephen jackson only overlapped one year (and he started over ginobili that year), he and bowen started together for two years, then michael finley was the other wing starter with bowen (and apparently roger mason, whom i completely forgot, lol).

 

So Spurs were talented and A player who IMO was better than Austin was not a Max player and also played off the bench.

 

forgot all about that dirty POS bowen