I expect to see him reclaim his spot as our 7th man this series. He has good fundamentals and makes high IQ plays. The rockets bigs were a nightmare matchup. Good luck Joel!
We are really going to need an interior defender to clog the lane to stop Parker/Ginobili getting easy layups.
A surprise that no one has mentioned in any thread is...The Howard-Asik advantage did not materialize. We didn't need Freeland's 6 fouls. When Freeland returned just in time, we said, whew that was close, because Lopez' 6 fouls can't stop Howard and Asik.
Thomas robinson is our most underrated player...ranked like 19th of the sophmores. Then again it depends who is doing the rating.
TRob will help a team out everytime he's in the game. Problem is its the opponent as often as us. Freeland doesnt have that upside but he won't take a stupid shot or blow coverage. Against an unorganized poorly coached but athletic team TRob was a smart gamble. Against a disciplined veteran team like the Spurs Freeland could be exactly what we need off the bench. Someone to fill in minutes for our starters and not lose us the game.
The Spurs are so old that I think someone like Robinson could just shake things up. He's pure energy. Who does San Antonio have that can match that?
Maybe. I just don't think its worth the risk. Now if we are playing flat and need energy or we're behind sure take the gamble. Otherwise let the starters take the shots, I think they can outplay the Spurs starters by quite a bit. Not allowing easy second unit buckets at the rim will be important and Joel is good at that.
I think both T-Rob and Freeland should get minutes. I think they have very different games and if used the right way, can give us a big advantage.
Joel had a tough time in the HOU series because Howard just physically dominated him. That won't be the case with SA. He not only can physically matchup with Splitter, but he knows the Euroleague game that Tiago brings. They only crossed over one season (I think) in the Euroleague, but Joel comes from that system and understands how to play it. I also agree with others that we may see Claver this series, because I think Diaw creates problems for us.
Sure, Joel could get some more playing time. The problem against Houston was that he was physically outmatched. Howard or Asik were both just too big for him to handle one on one as a backup center. SA doesn't have as much size.
This is what I'm talking about. Freeland is a perfectly functional 8th man type, but the Blazers need their reclamation project to string all of those flashes of brilliance that T-Rob occasionally shows into 20+ per game. If he can, the Blazers might have a real difference maker that the Spurs won't be able to account for fully.
Exactly! I think T. Rob could be the real difference maker on this team. His energy and strength can't be matched with anyone on the Spurs bench. We need him to play fluid and free. Stop thinking and be a hustle guy. Maybe he should watch a lot of Brian Grant film. That's exactly the type of player I hope T. Rob can be.
My thought is that Robinson gets fewer minutes this series, with Freeland and Claver getting more. We needed energy and athleticism against Houston. Against SAS, we need smarts. I am more that willing to accept however, that in this case I have no idea what I'm talking about, but it's just a feeling.
You might be right, but I guess the angle I'm coming from is that the Blazers could get good/decent production out of Freeland (or Claver) and it still wouldn't be enough to tilt the court enough for the Blazers to beat the Spurs in a 7 game series without home-court. T-Rob has just as much potential to flame out and get completely spun around as does to do something game changing ... but at least he's got some of that game-changing, court-tilting, ability - The Blazers are going to need to get a little bit lucky to steal this thing.
