Spurs: Second-year players aim for breakthrough

tinysands · 2007 年10 月 6 日 05:07

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA100507.Spurs2ndyear.en.343f909.html

Web Posted: 10/04/2007 11:38 PM CDT
Jeff McDonald
Express-News staff writer

Spurs guard Brent Barry compares playing basketball to riding a bicycle. To perform either pursuit well, you have to do so naturally and effortlessly.

For most players, coming to the Spurs for the first time can be akin learning to ride a bike in the middle of the Tour de France.

The Spurs’ offensive and defensive systems are so complex, and so unlike most other teams’, players often spend so much time thinking about when and where to move their feet that other riders pass them by.

It’s why even the cagiest of veterans tend to struggle in their first season with the club. And it’s why most first-year Spurs players can hardly wait for the day they become second-year Spurs players.

“You get to ride the bike again,” Barry said, “instead of just thinking about when you’re supposed to pedal.”

Last season, centerFabricio Oberto became Exhibit A of the power of the Spurs’ second-year syndrome. After spending his first year mired on the bench, Oberto emerged as a key contributor to the Spurs’ title run last June.

Members of the latest class of second-year Spurs — Francisco Elson, Matt Bonner and Jacque Vaughn — are hoping to pedal that same path to playing time this year.

Elson, a 7-foot athletic center, is expected to see heavy minutes in rotation with Oberto. Bonner, a sharpshooting forward, could siphon time from an aging Robert Horry. Vaughn, who provided a steady hand behind Tony Parker at point guard last year, is positioned for a similar role this season.

Three days into training camp, the second-year Spurs are reporting a greater comfort level than at this time a year ago.

There is good reason for that. The Spurs boast one of the largest offensive playbooks in the NBA, while their defensive system can also skew toward the exotic.

“It takes some time to become familiar,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “That familiarity is important.”

Just ask Bonner, who at times last year felt as if he were being forced to learn a foreign language on the fly.

There were occasions when he seemed on the brink of co-opting Horry’s role as a 3-point specialist off the bench. Bonner never did, mostly because he never quite became fluent in the Spurs’ system.

“It’s a lot to learn,” Bonner said. “There are so many rules, and if you don’t know them, or you have to stop and think about them, it’s too late.”

Elson can relate. He opened the season as the team’s starting center but gave way to Oberto as the campaign moved along.

After three freewheeling seasons in Denver, Elson struggled to learn not just the Spurs’ system, but any system.

“In Denver, we didn’t really have a system,” Elson said. “It was just go out there and play.”

By year’s end, the only first-year player contributing much was Vaughn, and that was because the Spurs had few other options behind Parker.

For the trio of Spurs angling for a second-year breakout, Oberto is the ultimate object lesson.

He languished on the bench in 2005-06, his first season with the club. Most of his development that year came behind the closed doors of the Spurs’ practice facility.

“I was thinking all the time,” Oberto said. “In basketball, you’ve got to play. You don’t have time to think.”

For the most part, all thinking went away for Oberto by the end of last season.

He was simply playing basketball. His production spiked, culminating in three double-digit scoring efforts and two double-digit rebounding nights in the Western Conference Finals.

The Spurs hope Elson, Bonner and Vaughn can enjoy the same breakthrough this season.

Between them, there should be less thinking, more reacting and, in the context of Barry’s bicycle metaphor, more happy mindless pedaling.

xinsuimadong · 2007 年10 月 6 日 13:23

Spurs: Second-year players aim for breakthrough
香瓜今天 01:09 PM
由tinysands发表 3 4

bug??

香瓜 · 2007 年10 月 6 日 19:45

这叫 owned…

香瓜 · 2007 年10 月 7 日 04:24

Spurs: Vaughn comfortable as mentor

Web Posted: 10/06/2007 09:55 PM CDT

Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA1000707.BKNspurslede.en.2f7144e.html

The first week of Spurs training camp has been an opportunity for untested point guards Anthony Lever-Pedroza and Darius Washington to showcase their skills.

With Tony Parker being held out of most of the scrimmages to give a sore ankle time to heal and an overworked body time to rest, and with Beno Udrih wearing a cast on his broken right hand, the two youngsters have received plenty of repetitions as they try to learn the complicated offense.

They have had a good on-court mentor in Jacque Vaughn, a player whom coach Gregg Popovich believes will go straight to a coaching career after his playing days are over. After one season with the Spurs, Vaughn feels he has learned the system well enough to explain it to any player at any position, including impressionable point guards.

“I’m very comfortable with the system,” Vaughn said after the Spurs’ final practice of their first week of camp, “to a level where I can almost sit down with each individual on the team and explain what we’re trying to do offensively and defensively at each position, whether it’s knowing what Timmy (Duncan) is supposed to do on this play, or what Manu (Ginobili) is supposed to do on that play. I’ve always prided myself on that, and I think I’m getting to that point here.”

The Spurs signed Vaughn to a free-agent contract on July 12, 2006, and he went into last season as something of a safety valve at the point. But during the second half of the season he supplanted Udrih as Parker’s primary backup. During the 20-game playoff run that produced the Spurs’ fourth title, he averaged 10.6 minutes playing behind NBA Finals MVP Parker.

Vaughn re-signed for two years and $5 million in early July. Even if Udrih had not suffered an injury, Vaughn figured to enter the regular season in the same role.

Entering his 11th season, the quiet man from the University of Kansas is using the additional playing time during camp as something of a graduate course in the Spurs’ system.

“The great thing is we’re very fortunate Beno and Tony will be back soon,” Vaughn said. “They’re short-term injuries, nothing serious. But it gives me an opportunity to get more reps with more guys and puts me in a more comfortable situation than I was in last year. Just having the year underneath me and being in this system I’m much more comfortable and confident in everything we do, and that’s a good feeling.”

Vaughn was in the same 1997 draft class that brought Duncan to the Spurs, and they feel a kinship as rookie classmates. They are proud to be members of a class that includes Finals MVPs Duncan and Chauncey Billups, as well as perennial All-Star Tracy McGrady.

“It was a pretty good class,” Duncan said.

“I do keep track (of the class), and I know Jacque was part of it. It’s fun to be able to say to him, ‘Wow, we’re going into our 11th seasons,’ knowing we were in the same class. There’s a bunch of us left.”

Of the 28 players taken in the first round, 14 remain in the league. Vaughn, the 27th pick, Boston’s Scot Pollard (19th) and New Orleans’ Bobby Jackson (23rd), are the only remaining players among the final 10 first-rounders. Three 1997 second-rounders remain on NBA rosters.

Duncan said he was not surprised Vaughn became as valuable to the Spurs as he did late last season and into the playoffs.

“Seeing him pick up the offense as fast as he did was no surprise,” Duncan said. “He’s that kind of player. He’s got a good head on his shoulders and understands the game. He showed how valuable he could be to us down the stretch. He gave us energy on the floor, made some big hustle plays for us and ran the show and controlled the offense the way it should have been.”

Vaughn’s humility prevents easy acceptance of such praise, but he promises he will match Duncan in one area.

“My body feels great,” Vaughn said, “my mind feels great, so as long as Tim wants to keep playing, I think I can play that long, too.”

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Former Spurs players on the sidelines <table border=“1” cellpadding=“0” cellspacing=“0”> <tbody><tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” colspan=“3” valign=“top” width=“583”> <a name=“X_01283_0001_0001”>Gregg Popovich believes Jacque Vaughn will go into coaching after his playing days are over. He wouldn’t be the first former Spurs player to choose that career path. Here are some examples.</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“98”> <a name=“T_01284_bold”>Name</a> </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” colspan=“2” valign=“top” width=“485”> <a name=“T_01285_bold”>Spurs yrs.</a><a name=“T_01285_bold”> </a><a name=“T_01286_bold”>Teams coached, seasons</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“98”> <a name=“T_01287_bold”>Allan Bristow</a> </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“80”> 1975-79 </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“405”> Hornets, 1991-96 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“98”> <a name=“T_01288_bold”>Maurice Cheeks</a> </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“80”> 1989-90 </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“405”> Blazers, 2001-05; 76ers, 2005-present </td> </tr> <tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“98”> <a name=“T_01289_bold”>Mike D’Antoni</a> </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“80”> 1976-77 </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“405”> Suns, 2003-present </td> </tr> <tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“98”> <a name=“T_01290_bold”>Mike Dunleavy</a> </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“80”> 1982-83 </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“405”> Lakers 2000-01; Blazers, 1997-2001; Clippers, 2003-present </td> </tr> <tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“98”> <a name=“T_01291_bold”>Marc Iavaroni</a> </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“80”> 1984-86 </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“405”> Grizzlies, first season </td> </tr> <tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“98”> <a name=“T_01292_bold”>Avery Johnson </a> </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“80”> 1990-93, ’94-2001 </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“405”> Mavericks, 2005-present </td> </tr> <tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“98”> <a name=“T_01293_bold”>George Karl</a> </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“80”> 1973-78 </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“405”> Cavs, 1984-86; Warriors, 1986-88; Sonics, 1991-98; Bucks, 1998-03; Nuggets, 2004-07 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“98”> <a name=“T_01294_bold”>John Lucas</a> </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“80”> 1983-84 </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“405”> Spurs, 1992-94; 76ers, 1994-96; Cavs, 2001-03 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“98”> <a name=“T_01295_bold”>Terry Porter</a> </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“80”> 1999-’02 </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“405”> Bucks, 2003-05 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“98”> <a name=“T_01296_bold”>Doc Rivers</a> </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“80”> 1994-96 </td> <td class=“sidebarcat” valign=“top” width=“405”> Magic, 1999-03; Celtics, 2004-07 </td> </tr> </tbody></table>

xinsuimadong · 2007 年10 月 9 日 10:36

叫狼来了吧 -_______________-1