San Antonio Spurs: Marco Belinelli Not Just A Streaky Shooter

(NBA.com photo)

Outside of resigning their own free agents , the San Antonio Spurs’ biggest offseason addition was Marco Belinelli.  Not much was thought about this signing.  Among Spurs fans, conventional thinking was that Belinelli would be replacing Gary Neal.  Ostensibly and in terms of the rotation, this is rather true.  Belinelli should take Neal’s spot in the rotation as the second guard off the bench and for the 20 or so games Manu Ginobili will spend on the injured list, Belinelli will be the first guard off the bench.  However, this is where the comparisons between Neal and Belinelli should end.  While these two players are statistically similar, Marco Belinelli brings a unique skill set to the Spurs that is much, much different than what Gary Neal brought.

If you have had the pleasure of watching Eurobasket 2013 this month, you may have seen Belinelli lead the Italian national team to the quarterfinals.  What has been impressive about Belinelli during this tournament is not that he has averaged more than 14 points per game or that he has arguably been Italy’s best player, it is that Belinelli has been  Italy’s best playmaker.  Even though Belinelli is technically a 2 guard, he  ran Italy’s offense the majority of the time.  He was the engine that made Italy’s offense go.

Marco Belinelli has often been described as Manu Ginobili-lite.  This may prove to be an apt description.  While Belinelli is not where near a Hall of Fame level player, he is very good at many of the skills Ginobili has exhibited at an elite level over his career.  For example, like Ginobili, Belinelli is an excellent ball handler.  Belinelli is not a fancy ball handler, but is solid and does not appear to be pressured into making mistakes off the dribble.  Marco Belinelli possess very good court vision.  He has the ability to read a defense and react accordingly.  He is adept at running the pick-and-roll as well as creating off the dribble.  He is also a good, but not great, passer.

The point here, is while Belinelli’s NBA reputation has been one of a streaky shooter, just like Gary Neal, this is where the comparison of the two players should end, regardless of what the stats may say.  The Spurs did not sign Belinelli to replace Neal, but to be so much more.  Please do not misunderstand the tone of this article, Belinelli is not an All-Star, not even close.  But, he has an arguably untapped skill set as a playmaker.   Belinelli has never been surrounded with this much talent and hopefully, if given the freedom, he may develop into the second playmaker the Spurs have sorely needed.  This development would also allow Ginobili to play off the ball, something that is necessary at this stage of his career.

So, the moral of the story is that while the Spurs ostensibly made a lateral move by signing Marco Belinelli, in typical Spurs fashion, they may have filled an extremely large need on the team.  Belinelli may provide enough playmaking skills to take the Spurs up another level, or at least keep them from falling from the level they played at last year.  The Spurs are always greater than the sum of their parts and on his own Marco Belinelli is not more than the eighth-best player on the team.  However, plugged into the right role, he may play much bigger.

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