Two Games In: A Teamwide Assessment Of The Spurs

Bonner, who for years now was being groomed as an outside-shooting big man, can also bring some interior hustle. This is a guy with a severe lack of verticality, and a guy who, with the role he's had so far, has only contributed about six points and short of five rebounds per game.

That's not much better than Oberto's stats for the 2007-08 campaign, but Bonner's five years younger than Oberto, and is supposed to have youth on his side. Bonner is also a guy who's supposed to be making three-pointers. So you'd hope to see at least a little increase in production.

When playing alongside a guy like Duncan, your stats are going to drop a bit. But still, it's not just the offensive production. His ability to defend in the paint has been questioned for a while now, and there hasn't been a lot he's shown to say he's learned his lesson.

Jacque Vaughn is in the same boat. Two or three points per game might be as much as you are going to be able to hope for from him.

Ime Udoka? His five rebounds per game is the only stat that stands out because he is otherwise only averaging two points and one assist per game. To Spurs fans, this has been excusable to the degree that he was supposed to be Bowen's replacement, and Bowen has been infamous for his offensive deficiencies (which, in fairness, have been reduced over the years).

But even Udoka's ability to defend has come into question because his ability to get in the face of his opponents is lacking. He has little lateral movement ability to assist him in his defensive efforts and lacks the length to bother athletic guards who can shoot over him. Udoka creates space between him and his man because he can't move side-to-side the way he needs to in order to stay in front of the man he's guarding.

Kurt Thomas brings exactly what you'd expect—rebounding and defense. He pulls down seven rebounds, to be exact, which compliments his Spartan two points per game and complete lack of assists.

Bet your friends how long it takes for Thomas to get called for a foul because his aggressive nature hurts his ability to stay on the floor. Still, I can't say too much about Thomas as I always expected him to be third in the rotation anyway.

So how would you rate this second line?

We're talking about a group that, as a unit, has not scored more than 12 points together. The burden to win right now is on Duncan, Parker, and Finley. That right there is the scoring bunch for the Spurs, and while that will be relieved with Ginobili's return, it still puts a heavy burden on them to contribute almost all the team's points.

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