This post is in regards to “What could have been?”, specifically, what would have happened if the Pistons and Spurs advanced to the Championship?
Also, what does these mean for both teams, as their “superstar” talent is slowly aging?
——————————————————————
Position breakdown:
Center: Antonio McDyess (Age: 33) vs. Francisco Oberto (33)/ Kurt Thomas (35): Advantage McDyess
McDyess showed great poise and commitment to the Pistons in the playoffs this year. Round by round, his performance improved favorably, as did his minutes. On a team that has greatly missed Ben Wallace’s leadership in the middle, McDyess stepped up to the plate this year and added two dimensions which they lacked in Wallace’s tenure (Inside-out scoring and clutch free-throws).
Oberto, on the other hand, was clearly overmatched in each round of the playoffs. In fact, the Spurs brought Kurt Thomas to man the middle in match ups in which the Spurs faced a more powerful center (i.e. Shaq). Even with a poor shot, the Spurs gave Thomas the majority of the minutes in the middle for the first round and slowly phased him out for the next two (due to smaller oppositional frames).
Power Forward: Rasheed Wallace (33) vs. Tim Duncan (32): Duncan
Wallace: This would probably have been the match up everyone would keep their eyes on. Rasheed is a force anywhere on the court. His range is comparable to that of a young Robert Horry/Dirk Nowitzki, and his intensity has single handedly been the heart and soul of the team. However, this years playoffs was not Rasheeds finest performance. Round by round his scoring decreased (from 14.5 – 12.0) and his consistency from outside became a non-factor. On top of this, his lackadaisical attitude shined through (1 technical away from a 1 game suspension).
Duncan: I may be biased, as I find that Timmy is one of the more boring players in the league, but his performance in the playoffs weren’t up to par. Yes, he was scoring (averaging 20.2 PPG), but he shot an abysmal 44.8% from the field. He did make up for this with good defense as well as rebounding, but anyone can tell that he has become the 3rd option on offense. (Yes, I said good defense, but the Spurs as a team play GREAT defense, but if you look at the numbers on the 3 PF he had to play in the playoffs this year, 2 of the 3 managed to score quite a bit. Stoudamire: 23.2; West 20.1; Gasol 13.2
Small Forward: Tayshaun Prince (26) vs. Bruce Bowen (36): Prince
Prince: This may be the one reason why the Pistons lost out to the Celtics this year. Prince CLEARLY could not shoot at all in the 3rd round (32.4%), where as in previous rounds he shot 56.2%.
Bowen: Bruce on the other hand improved with each round offensively, possibly due to weaker defensive match ups in the 2nd and 3rd round (Peja against the Hornets; Radmanovic againsts the Lakers). Also, his role as the defensive stopper became more imperative, which is reflective of his increase in minutes.
Shooting Guard: Rip Hamilton (30) vs. Manu Ginobili (30): Rip (due to Ginobili injury)
Another one of the match ups which would be examined under a microscope.
Hamilton: Rip clearly made up for Rasheeds lack of scoring (21.6 PPG) in the playoffs, as well as stepping up his defense with Chauncey Billups sidelined with a hamstring injury. In fact, if it wasn’t due to Rodney Stuckey coming alive in Chaunceys absence, Rip would more than likely have to take control of the ball on set plays (minimizing the amount of screens set up for him to score). If it wasn’t for an elbow injury, Rip would have had 3 rounds of untarnished ball playing.
Ginobili: Straight up, he is the reason why the Spurs lost control of the Western Conference Finals. His sore ankle killed his slasher role and all but removed him from the team as a clutch performer. For someone who shot 46% from 2 and 40.1% from 3 in the regular season, Ginobili’s numbers REALLY tailed off in the playoffs (42.2% and 37.3% respectively). Had he not tweaked his ankle, the finals this year could have been a completely different story all together. What’s more ironic about the situation, is that in Game 4, Ginobili was not the player with the ball in the clutch, in fact, it was his backup Brent Barry (whom was traded from the Spurs to the Sonics, only to be picked back up by the Spurs once he was released by the Sonics… and Popps was talking about the Gasol trade being “stupid”).
Point Guard: Chauncey Billups (31) vs. Tony Parker (26): Parker
Billups: I have been rockin’ a Billups jersey since he was drafted by the Celtics in 1997 with the 3rd pick. He has long been one of my favorite players (even with him playing for the Pistons) and I feel really sorry for him this year. He is such a clutch performer and is really great with sharing the ball. Unfortunately, these playoffs were Stuckey’s year. He had to perform under pressure and really showed that he will be a starter one day for this team. However, in the Billups/Parker match up, Chauncey’s weak hamstring would clearly be a factor.
Parker: With both Duncan and Ginobili shooting terribly in the playoffs, Parker really took the reigns of this team. However, it wasn’t enough. His scoring tailed off as the playoffs pushed on and the lack of an offensive presences from Ginobili allowed teams to double down on Tony. Tony has a bright future in the NBA, however he clearly needs at least 2 other scoring threats around him in order to truly shine.
Coach: Flip Saunders vs. Gregg Popovich: Popovich
I won’t go into detail, but the Pistons decision of not seeing Flip as the coach of the future, is a good indication of how I believe this match up breaks down.
Bench: Spurs
Currently the average age on the Spurs team is 31.6, compared to the Pistons 28.2. However, the playoff experience the Spurs have with each other is the sole reason why I have come to my conclusion. The Spurs could easily field Jacque Vaughn (33)/Damon Stoudamire (34), Michael Finley (35)/Brent Barry (36), Robert Horry (37), Ime Udoka (30) and Kurt Thomas (35) on the court at the same time if they needed to. Each one of them has the skill set similar to someone in the starting line up ahead of them.
The Pistons, on the other hand, have the team of the future. Rodney Stuckey (22), Amir Johnson (21), Jason Maxiell (25), Aaron Afflalo (22) and Jarvis Hayes (26) (Cheik Samb (23)…), have proven that they will become up and coming players in the NBA. Unfortunately for the Pistons, these players run a completely different offense then what their predecessors run. So if anyone has heard the news lately (coach axed; Billups and Wallace potentially out; McDyess retirement on the forefront…), it looks as though the Pistons could be a completely different team in the future.
——————————————————————
Final vote:
My vote goes to the Spurs in this match up. With Billups and Ginobili kind of cancelling each other out with injuries, I feel the bench players on the Spurs bring a lot more team camaraderie to the court. However, this year would be the Spurs last stand, and now that they are out, I feel that 2008-2009 will be a far cry from what could have been this year.
