San Antonio Spurs: Player Power Rankings Week 3

Spurs Top 5 Player Power Rankings

Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Tuesday Feb 25^th 2014 – Tuesday Mar 4^th 2014

Games this week: 03/06/14 – Win vs MIA, 03/08/14 – Win vs ORL

Spurs +/- weekly total= +33

Rankings are fun. Mostly because they cause debate, but also because it is fun to categorically state something as a fact, even if there is no way of really knowing the truth. Each week I will rank the top 5 Spurs players (that saw the court during the week) by performance, measured by a combination of me watching games and their stats. If I put Patty Mills at number one, I am not saying that he is better than everyone else on the Spurs, I’m just saying he had the best week relative to expectations. 20 and 5 from Patty is more impressive than 20 and 5 from Timmy, because we assume that Duncan will get those stats on a fairly regular basis. Feel free to argue in the comments, but you are probably wrong.

I will try and bring these out every Tuesday, so will include games played from the previous Tuesday up until the Monday night before I post.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com/stats unless otherwise stated.

Individual +/- in ( )

5. Danny Green (24)

Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

This first position was a toss-up between Manu and Danny, but since Manu has spent the last two weeks near the top of my rankings, it was only fair to give someone else a chance. Danny “Icy Hot” Green shot a SCORCHING 60% from three in the two games, taking 10 total. He also showed a nice playmaking side, by averaging 3.5 assists, although they were accompanied by 2.5 turnovers.

The highlight of his week was on the defensive side of the ball. He played his usual great perimeter defence including 5 total blocks for a team leading average of 2.5 blocks per game. His 4.5 rebounds were nothing to sniff at either. His defensive rating of 93.9 was second on the team to Tiago, and the highest for anyone who played more than 20 minutes a game.

4. Tim Duncan (22)

Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Timmy picked up his shooting this week, averaging 50% from the field, on 13 shots per game. Throw in 80% from the line, and he averaged a solid 17 points per game to go along with his usual 10.5 rebounds and 2 blocks. Not only did he flat-out reject shots, but against Miami he was a force in the paint, and impacted many shots and forays to the rim. His ability to be in the right place on defence to both help a beaten teammate and still recover to his own man was critical to putting up the largest margin of victory against the Heat this season.

Duncan had the third best +/- on the team this week, and it was clear that without him the Spurs just don’t function in the same way. As long as he is well rested for the playoffs, San Antonio can definitely reach the finals again, and maybe even better last season’s result.

3. Kawhi Leonard (19)

Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

I wont spend too much time on Kawhi, as we have already broken him down here at Airalamo.com.

All I will say is 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3.5 steals and a block. That’s his weekly averages, and one of those games was matched up with LeBron. WOW.

2. Boris Diaw (21)

Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Boris and his boobs have been on FIRE recently, and has been surging up my weekly Player Power Rankings accordingly.. He shot 80% from the field this week including 67% from three. Throw in 8 boards per game, 3.5 assists and 12 points and it all adds up to fantastic performance, especially when you consider that he spent a reasonable amount of time defending LeBron James.

Boris is a catalyst on offence for the Spurs. His passing and posting ability from a guy with his size is impressive and helps create mis-matches that San Antonio love to exploit. His ability to grab a rebound and push the court himself allows the Spurs to get transition buckets, which is evidenced by their increase in pace.

Boris’s on court pace rating (number of possessions per 48 minutes that he is on the court) is the highest of any of the Spurs’ big men except Tiago. He also has the second highest offensive rating (109.3) of the rotation players, second only to Manu Ginobili (114.1) – arguably the Spurs’ most creative passer. Finally, BoBo is very good at keeping ahold of the ball; his assists/turnover is the best of all non-guards in San Antonio.

1. Tony Parker (30)

Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

This week Parker finally shook off the rust that plagued him in his first few games back from injury. Against Miami and Orlando he looked like vintage TP. He hounded Mario Chalmers around the perimeter, and forced him off the line (only took 1 three-point shot). Chalmers wasn’t any more effective going inside against Tony, as he shot only 1-6 from inside the arc.

Parker constantly got his man and help defenders into foul trouble, as he drew 9 fouls this week, and averaged 7 FTAs per game. This all helped him put up an average of 23.5 points per game over the two games, on only 16.5 shots per game.

Even though he didnt rack up this assists this week, (only 4.5/game) Tony was constantly a positive force for his team on offence, being aggressive and swinging the ball when necessary. His offensive rating of 117.3 points per 100 possessions this week would be almost 10 points higher than Miami’s league leading rating for reference sake. He also kept the turnovers down at 2 per game, which was especially important against Miami, given their ability to score on the break.

All in all a welcome return to form for Mr. Parker. Now that the team is fully healthy we are seeing the damage that they can cause. As long as no one gets hurt (touch wood), these Spurs are going to be very difficult to stop come playoff time. Fingers crossed I haven’t just jinxed it…