I love Gregg Popovich. Let’s just start right there. I idolize the man, and he is arguably the greatest coach of all time. But man does he frustrate the hell out of me sometimes. I mean sure, he’s won 5 NBA Championships, has the 3rd most NBA wins in NBA History, etc. etc. BUT LOOK, THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NO REASON WHY MARCO BELINELLI SHOULD BE EVEN GETTING MINUTES RIGHT NOW. Despite Marco Belinelli playing like complete garbage, he’s still getting about 16 minutes a night.
I mean, who am I to say how Pop should run his team given his reputation and hardware, but I said it in the team preview I had for them. I’d like to see Marco and Mills take way fewer minutes, and start letting the young core take over. Patty Mills has been playing decent so far, so he’s getting a pass from me for the time being. But Marco should not be playing, at all. He is averaging a whopping 4.8 points on 26.3% shooting. That, ALONE, should have you worried why he’s getting minutes, 16 at that. Known as a shooter, this isn’t going to cut it. Lord knows the guy cannot play defense to save his life either. A lot of my frustrations start with Marco Belinelli if you haven’t noticed.
Another thing that irks me is that we sign Demarre Carroll, a great free agent addition, and he’s barely seen the court for the Spurs! He’s better at rebounding and defense and whaddya know, that’s what the Spurs are lacking at the moment. Meanwhile, Marco out there just being a literal piece of garbage. There is enough depth at the guard position to let him just not play honestly. Plus, I’m a big Lonnie Walker fan, and he’s not even playing really at all so far. Gregg Popovich went so far to scold Walker in about 5 minutes on the floor of not hustling on defense or something of that nature, while Marco Belinelli is just getting cardio from running up and down the court for no reason whatsoever.
Gregg Popovich’s stubbornness is ruining the Spurs’ chances to win easy games. They just lost against the Grizzlies tonight, for really no reason. Pop needs to be smart and just do the right thing, bench Marco, play some more Carroll, and for God’s sake, let’s see some more Lonnie Walker.
