I was thinking to the right of the key 5-6 feet or so. Why do you think he can get his jumpers but not drive on Blair too? I realize Blair is deceptive compared to how he looks but why can't Sap pump fake him and use his body to draw contact before getting his shot off? Sap often looks akward to me but ends up coming out shining in the efficiency column. Also, it might not work excellent but it should draw fouls and put Blair's *** next to Gregg Popapill.
Blair is considered a sub-par defender, and Sap would completely dummy him as a result
-> Due to this, Blair is going to get even less minutes than normal. The Spurs signing Diaw was a big blow to their ;ack of frontcourt depth, from or perspective. Blair won't get nearly as many minutes, seeing as he has a more effective Splitter, and a more-versatile Diaw in front of him rotation-wise.
I think Millsap could definitely school Diaw though, and I also think that he could do an admirable job of defending Steven Jackson, and his ~30% 3P%. Can he defend Leonard? Maybe not as well-it is something we will have to say. Regardless, Millsap will be a HUGE X-Factor in this series, and he will be largely responsible for carrying the offense of our bench throughout the series (assuming Ty resumes his sub-patterns of taking Sap out a bit early, and giving him good burn in the 2nd quarter).
Honestly, we need so many things to fall in our favour, and even after this, we will probably still lose. Harris needs to play out of his mind, Al needs a renewed effort on defense, Sap needs to exploit his mismatches, and Favors needs to stay out of foul trouble. In all honesty, I don't see Hayward having a very large impact on this series, outside of the fast break game. Manu is a stellar defender, and we should focus our offense more on exploiting our strength in the forecourt, as well as dishing open looks to Hayward and Harris when Al is doubled.
