Who is the back-up center for the Spurs?

[Lurker]

Sorry but Willis' 300 minutes were second to last on the team for minutes played.  His contributions on the court were minimal and can easily be replaced with just about any journeyman center.  Based on how Willis did against the Lakers when he was mostly used against Shaq and projecting those few games out for the whole year is a fallacy that you won't let go of.  Willis didn't play much.  He couldn't have been a key contributor.

Now if you want to talk about his locker room presence or his off court leadership then I agree he will be sorely missed.  However the thread's topic was "What will the Spurs do for a backup center".  My point is that we have not had an "official" backup center since the 99 championship.  And over those 5 years the Spurs have done quite well.  There is no problem with a backup center on the Spurs....except in the mind of a couple posters here.

[westkoast]

Sorry but Willis' 300 minutes were second to last on the team for minutes played.  His contributions on the court were minimal and can easily be replaced with just about any journeyman center.  Based on how Willis did against the Lakers when he was mostly used against Shaq and projecting those few games out for the whole year is a fallacy that you won't let go of.  Willis didn't play much.  He couldn't have been a key contributor.

Now if you want to talk about his locker room presence or his off court leadership then I agree he will be sorely missed.  However the thread's topic was "What will the Spurs do for a backup center".  My point is that we have not had an "official" backup center since the 99 championship.  And over those 5 years the Spurs have done quite well.  There is no problem with a backup center on the Spurs....except in the mind of a couple posters here.

Try doing a search for 'Willis' on this board.  You will find a number of posts about this past post season match up with the Lakers when it looked like the Spurs were going to whip the Laker's butts for the second straight year.  Notice the comments made about how well Willis played.  Fellow Spurs fans saying how well he played in a few games  last year in the Lakers series (think he had one bad quarter).  Even fair weather Reality was rooting for him and commenting on his play a number of times.   Skew his minutes played all you want but others disagree with you.  Spursx3 said he wanted to see Willis come back and the team needed the toughness.

Player
Duncan +8.5 +1.6, +6.9
Heal +13.3, +6.4, +6.9
Turkoglu +10.0, +3.8, +6.2
Hart +11.4, +5.4, +6.0
Garcia +12.2, +6.6, +5.6
Ginobili +8.8, +3.6, +5.2
Horry +7.8, +6.1, +1.7
Bowen +6.4, +7.0, -0.6
Parker +5.5, +8.5, -2.9
Nesterovic +4.9, +9.1, -4.1
Willis +2.5, +6.9, -4.4 Brown +2.6, +7.2, -4.6
Rose +2.4, +8.1, -5.7
Ward +1.4, +7.2, -5.9
Mercer +0.2, +8.1, -7.9
Carter -1.1, +6.9, -8.0

Taken from a Ziggy thread about how well teams do with and without certain players

To top if off Lurker...you yourself said that the Spurs and Pop were going to go out to get another big man or re-sign Horry and Willis if they cant find anything better.  If they were fine they why would a comment like that be made?

[Reality]

Willis, as cult member Koast has pointed out, or now without Willis, the Spurs have not addressed the 2nd big man issue yet.  Sure they did great at times (99 and '03), pathetic at other times '00 and '01 and so so the rest.

Dunker would surely benefit from a quality 2nd big man.  
Is continuing to milk Duncan going to result in another Duncan injury.

Hey maybe their draft pic will emerge.

[westkoast]

Willis, as cult member Koast has pointed out, or now without Willis, the Spurs have not addressed the 2nd big man issue yet.  Sure they did great at times (99 and '03), pathetic at other times '00 and '01 and so so the rest.

Dunker would surely benefit from a quality 2nd big man. 
Is continuing to milk Duncan going to result in another Duncan injury.

Hey maybe their draft pic will emerge.

This is exactly what im saying.  It would only benefit Duncan and give him more energy for the long stretch in the WC playoffs.  I'm not saying they will loose their edge as the best team in the west and become a toilet team without one.  Just saying that it would benefit Rose, Horry, Duncan, and Rasho.

He is being asked to pull a huge load.  He can do it, hes the man but if something happens to any of those 3 players while Rasho is out its going to hurt the Spurs.

[Guest_Randy]

Lurker,

When I think of last year and role players making impacts, I think of Willis for the Spurs -- not Rose, maybe a little Horry but definately not Rose.  Willis had some HUGE games -- played a key role in several games and that's the way it has seemed for several years now.  Rose played a key role a couple of years ago but not this year -- and I doubt SERIOUSLY that Massenburg will provide any kind of significant lift off the bench, mainly a "hold your ground" type of player.  

Luke Walton was that for the Lakers in the playoffs -- he didn't play a ton of minutes and didn't put up huge numbers but he WAS huge in what he meant to the Lakers and the lift he provided to the Lakers on the court.  

Some role players mean a LOT more than their minutes and stats reflect -- I contend that Willis is one of those guys.  I would think a guy who is a huge fan of Avery Johnson would understand this concept.