SB Nation - Ian Mahinmi

San Antonio Spurs 2010 Season Preview

Wayne Vore (ATS) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:00:34 -0000

The Spurs 2010 season FINALLY starts on Wednesday. I say finally because I have been stoked ever since the trade for Jefferson on June 23rd. I sat and watched us snag DeJuan Blair in the draft. I read about us signing Antonio McDyess. I sat, in an uncomfortable chair I might add, and watched game after game of the Summer League in July as George Hill and Malik Hairston showed how much better they were. Then two months of boring old summer where we signed Marcus Haislip and Theo Ratliff. Lastly, a month of preseason games I couldn't watch. Yet, we made it. All of us together.

The season starts NOW. Holy FSM am I ready for it.

As a Spurs fan, I think we deal with two issues when starting a new season. One, the Spurs organization doesn't seem excited. Do you recall an interview with Pop saying something like "Man, this is going to be a great year! I can't believe the talent on this team. Easily the most talented team we've ever had." No. Me neither.

Two, they will play the regular season without excitement. Not too high. Not too low. How many times over the next 2-3 months do you think we will hear a player or coach say, "We're just trying to get better day-to-day. Each day is a step to the end of the season. We are trying to build on what we learn everyday." 500? At least. You won't hear Tim say, "Man, this team is stacked. We're playing great defense right now and it will only get better. I just can't see how anybody is going to beat us come May." Just business as usual.

News Alert - This Team Is Stacked

Well, I'm here to tell you this team is stacked. Top to bottom, this is a stout team with a great mix of attributes. We have everything we've had in the past and a couple things we have been missing. We have scorers, we have rebounders, we have playmakers, we have 3-point shooters, we have balance, we have depth, we have youth, we have athleticism, we have experience, we have length, and we have Tim.

Me, I have unbounded enthusiasm. I am stoked to the gills. Let me tell you some of the reasons why.

Three

Let's start at the top. We still have the Big 3. You win in the NBA with great players and we have three great players. We have three great players who have been in our system. We have three great players who have won before and still know what it takes to win. We have three great players who are still great. Tim might not be the best he's ever been, but he's not far from it. Manu probably isn't the best he's ever been, but he's not far from it. Tony is still getting better. We have three awesome players who contribute at both ends of the floor.

Four?

Do we have a fourth great? Very possibly. Richard "Rage" Jefferson will fit in wonderfully with this team. He can play off the ball and get shots off the play of others, and he can create shots for himself. He can sit in the corner and bury the open 3, or he can post up his man. He can also take his man off the dribble. He will spend most of his energy on the defensive end bullying the other team's best wing. He'll be a great if he is really good being a bully.

The Quiet Giant

Antonio McDyess is a quiet man and his play will be quiet. His ability to grab tough defensive rebounds, play physical defense, and hit open jumpers will be a huge part of the team's success. I think Antonio is the best big man to play next to Tim since David Robinson retired. He just has a great all-around game that will complement Tim's game wonderfully.

Bomb Brigade

We return three great 3-point shooters, all of whom should flourish with slightly reduced roles. Roger Mason, Michael Finley, and Matt Bonner shot 42.1%, 41.1%, and 44.0% respectively from long range last year. These are fantastic numbers that we want to see replicated. What we don't want to see replicated are 30.4, 28.8, and 23.8. Those were their minutes per game. Due to injuries and a lack of depth in the front court, all three played more minutes than I think is good for the team. I think we had to lean too hard on them. But, they are all back and they should all still be able to shoot.

Cubits, Baby, Cubits

You know I got on the George Hill bandwagon very early during the '08 Summer League debacle. I bought my George Hill jersey just about the time Pop sent him to the bench and declared him not ready for the playoffs. My faith wavered not. I started to really feel good about my decisions at '09 Summer League when George started showing his leadership skills. Now, after a very impressive preseason and effusive praise from Pop, I believe I know what my Halloween costume will be Saturday. Anybody know where I can find some long arms?

Oldies But Newies

The Spurs brought in a couple vets as situational players. Again, these guys are great complements to the team. Theo Ratliff and Keith Bogans were both brought in to play defense. Defense, defense, defense. I don't expect either to play more than about 8 minutes per game, but they should be very effective minutes. Will they score much? No. But if they can harass shooters, bang in the paint, and grab a couple rebounds . . . mission accomplished.

Beast, Man-Child, Freak of Nature

Yep, DeJuan Blair. He of the preseason double-double. He's the great wild card in the season. The greatest point of excitement. The unlimited upside. He can take over a game without ever running a play for him. Will he? On some nights, yes. Other nights, no. Anything he gives us will be a bonus. And I expect him to give us a lot.

Some Things I Will Keep An Eye On

Our defense in the last 3 minutes of games. Who's playing and how effective are we? You know, I know, and my dog knows that Pop will play with lineups during a game. He will play with different defenses. He will see what works. He will see what doesn't work. But, in the last 3 minutes, when it is winning time, he will go with his best. Pop, above all other things, will want to find out who his best defenders are and whether or not they can execute in the crunch. I expect we'll see a lot of Tony, Manu, Rage, Tim, and Antonio at the end of games. Look for George to be a situational substitution for Tony and Manu. Besides who is playing, how they play will be important. Will we play suffocating defense down the stretch of a game? This is the most important question in our season.

Manu's explosiveness. Manu has been the Spurs 4th-quarter master. He's the guy that has found a way to make plays. The 4th quarter is also when he has really looked to be aggressive scoring his own points. He needs his explosiveness to do it. When will he get it back and how much of it will he have? If Manu is able to recapture his 2008 physical form, well, I fear for the league. His explosiveness makes everybody that plays with him much, much better.

The second unit. I completely agree with Stampler. Our bench is the deepest in the league and, unlike the last two years, our second unit will build leads. In fact, as Stampler said, they will blow people out. Last year, everybody after the big 3 was a role player. Somebody that fit in with a particular skill. This year, we have guys that can make plays. Theo can block shots. DeJuan can get offensive rebounds. George can play tenacious defense. Rage can score his own points. This second unit has guys that can run over a team. Oh, and Manu will be leading that nasty second unit. Keep an eye on the second unit. Their ability to open up leads will be a huge benefit. However, their ability to close leads will be even better. How many times last year did it feel like our goose was cooked early in the second quarter? Tim and Tony had started -- Manu was injured -- the other team came out strong and got us down 8 early, then Tim and Tony went to the bench. We were trying to fight our way back into games with Fab, KT, Mason, Ime, and Jacque. This year, it will be George, Manu, FinDog, Blair, and Ratliff (we could also substitute Rage in for FinDog since I think we will rarely see 3 of the Big 4 on the bench). I don't know about you, but that lineup looks pretty damn good. I think it could win some games.

Player Expectations

Tim Duncan. King of the Spurs universe. In some ways, I expect this to be a down year for Tim statistically for anybody keeping an eye from a distance. I expect his points will be lower and you know that is 90% of what people pay attention to. I think his shot attempts and free throw attempts will be down. I think this will largely be because his minutes will be down AND that the team will run very little offense through him. HOWEVER, I think Tim is going to step up as a great garbage man. Expect his offensive rebound numbers to be up. Expect his rebounds per minute to be up. Expect his field goal percentage to go up. I think we will see relatively little of a very efficient Tim Duncan. Yeah, I'm worried about his knee and his mobility. But, we'll never know how he's doing. He'll play. He'll run the court. He won't complain.

Tony Parker. Offensive leader of the team. Tony just gets better every year on the offensive end. His one man fast break is one of the most amazing things in the NBA. The other team's need to game plan for him most likely represents itself in the fact that a relatively poor Spurs rebounding team last year was first in the league in defensive rebounding. Teams have to get back. Look for Tony to maintain his scoring average at 20-21 points per game, but look for his assists to get up in the 8+ range. Tony has better offensive players with him this year, and that will result in more passes to open players who can score.

Manu Ginobili. Leader of the second unit. Manu will be the pseudo-point guard of the second unit. George may bring the ball up the court, but Manu will initiate the plays. Again agreeing with Stampler, look for Manu to have great assist numbers playing with guys who can score on the second unit. Keep an eye on his 3-point shooting. If he gets his average up near 40%, he's going to be a nasty cover for teams.

Richard Jefferson. Defensive stopper. Rage's ability to be the primary wing defender will be critical to the team's overall defensive ability. If he can make the great scorers in the league work hard, then the Spurs will be in great shape. I know he'll fit in offensively. He'll sit in the corner and hit the open 3 when the other guys are doing their thing. He'll spend some time in the post when matchups call for it. And, he will be dangerous in the open floor with Tony and Manu.

Antonio McDyess. Veteran. I expect boring and solid. I expect many games where he doesn't do much but play 16 minutes and grab 4 rebounds. Those won't bother me. It's how he plays against the elite teams in the league that I want to see. Will he give us 10 and 10 against the Lakers? Can he lock up Gasol? Can he harass Dirk? Will he pull Shaq away from the basket? That's what we need from him. Don't judge him by a game against the Kings. Judge him by his ability to make solid plays in big games.

Michael Finley, Matt Bonner, Roger Mason. Shooters. These guys are here to shoot. Period. They will earn court time based on their ability to knock down 3 balls. As I said earlier, these guys can all shoot and I expect all of them to have fewer minutes. If any of them find that they don't have a good stroke this year, expect that person to see extended pine time. Don't get me wrong, they all know the system and be where they need to be. But they have to make shots.

George Hill. Backup point guard. The development of George Hill will be great to watch this season. I think we will see him playing 22 minutes per game. 14-16 as Tony's backup and 6-8 at shooting guard. Two things really impressed me in the game against the Thunder. One, he not only knocked down his corner threes, but he shot them aggressively and with confidence. Two, he attacked the rim and made a Tony-style layup where he extended his arm and flipped it up before the help defender could get over. Last year, he would try to get all the way to the rim and flip the ball up wildly off the side of the rim. He made layups harder than they needed to be. It looks like in one year, his offensive game has developed tremendously. But he's still a better defender. He's in the Bruce Bowen mold. He loves to defend. I think George is going to have a tremendous year. I think he'll end the year as one of the 20 best point guards in the league. I don't even think it will be debatable. Maybe, just this once, Pop isn't snowing us and George really is his favorite player.

DeJuan Blair. Wild card. If he gives us nothing, I think we have a great team. However, he's very capable of giving us 20 and 10 on any night. The best thing about Blair, and what separates him from any other Spur in the last 10 years, is that he can do it without ever having a play run for him. He can do it all without taking anything away from the team. DeJuan has something you don't see in very many hustle rebounders. Great touch. He has fantastic touch around the basket which gives him the ability to score. And score a bunch. DeJuan is a natural scorer. He knows how to use his body. He knows how to use the rim to protect against shot blockers. He has great footwork as well. His ability to put the ball in the bucket is what makes him special. He's not just a rebounder, which he will do plenty of, he's a scorer. And he scores off his rebounds. He's all upside. When you get a chance to watch him, watch his feet and watch how he scores. He's Ginobili-esque in his ability to get shots up in traffic and have them go in. I'm telling you. He's special.

Everybody else. Theo Ratliff, Keith Bogans, Marcus Haislip, Ian Mahinmi, and Malik Hairston. This team is so deep I'm afraid I forgot somebody. I think all these guys can help the team. I don't think any of them are 20 minutes per game guys. The contributions of these guys, along with the development of George and DeJuan, is what will keep our big guns fresh. Their ability to play well is what will get us a one or two seed in the West and home court advantage. They are important, but I think there will be small roles for each of them.

Defense

Back to basics. The team needs to get back to being a tenacious group. Our defense slipped a lot last year. Teams shot really well against us and we didn't cause turnovers and we didn't block shots. We need to get back to making teams uncomfortable. I think we have the personnel to do it. Defense is what the team will work hardest on all year. That's why Jefferson is so important. Look for us to be better in all three areas. Our defensive field goal percentage will be lower, we'll have more steals, and we'll block more shots. In general, I think teams will find us to be much more rugged.

Offense

Easy baskets. Our scoring out of our half court sets will be the same as always with a little less Tim. Tony and Manu will run the pick-and-roll. They'll drive. They'll kick out to 3-point shooters. Wash, rinse, repeat. However, I think we will be on the break more. For three reasons. One, we have more athletic personnel that will flourish in the open court with Tony's speed spearheading the attack. Two, our defense will create some havoc. Turnovers and blocked shots, and even stops, lead to more running opportunities. We wont' be the Suns, but we will get up and down the court some. Three, we will be a better offensive rebounding team. We really can't be worse, but I'd like to see us get to the middle of the pack.

My Outlook

I really think this will be the best team of the Spurs championship era. Pop won't push the older guys during the regular season like he used to. So I don't know if we will win 65 games. We very well might though if our second unit is as good as I think they will be. My schedule analysis said we win 56 games. I think that is worst case. I think we'll win 62-63 games. Best case, this team can win 66-67. Seriously, this is a very good team. This team is significantly better than last year. They are significantly better than every team in the West except the Lakers. This team is significantly better than every team in the East except the Celtics, Cavs, and Magic. This team should blow people out this year. I expect our point differential to be near 10 points per game this year through the end of January. We will be a juggernaut.

If you aren't excited about this season, you might not be a Spurs fan. If you are a Spurs fan, you should be excited about this season. Get ready. Get tickets. Watch games. This is going to be an amazing year. I'm just glad it's getting started. You should be too.

PtR Quick Cap: Spurs fall to the Indiana Grangers, 112-114 in the Preview-less Final Preseason Game

silverandblack_davis — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:16:19 -0000

So much for this season's game preview team, going all Stern on PtR by not putting up a game preview. Hey, it's the preseason and Stern deserved at least one damn boycott, much like how he's been hiding these games from us.

Or maybe, I just screwed it up a bit. My bad. Timezones, timezones, timezones. But I promise I will be back.

And oh, we lost. Right. Let's dive in and discuss that, then.

BOXSCORE.

"See that George kid out there? Damn right that's my favorite player. What's that? What school did he come from? Oooeey-Pee...Eeeyoo-Poowee...Uuu... damn hell, get outta here and stop asking me questions."

I can't even describe how much the NBA is fan-blocking this game. As of this writing, there haven't been any photos yet. I guess that's what happens when the Spurs, the most boring team in the universe, plays the Pacers, the most irrelevant team in the East. Okay, maybe not but I said that just to mess with Larry Legend. And because most of us were on radio getting some color commentary from the henchman from Venture Bros. (thanks, BlaseE for the reference)

[Update 1: Finally added photos, because SB Nation rocks]

The Sum of All Fears

Let's get down to the cold, hard facts. First, defense. We gave up 114 points to a talent-challenged Pacers team. Granger torched us for 29 points, but on the bright side, he had to do it in 29 shots. That's a 1:1 ratio, if you're smart enough with numbers. Not too efficient. The bad news? Five other Pacers scored in double figures. Roy Hibbert Shaq'ed out on us in the third, destroying our post defense. Thank goodness he fouled out early. Brandon Rush had a lot of good looks from the perimeter, too, and the supposedly offensively-challenged Dahntay Jones made several nice cuts inside our porous defense. I'm not sure what Pop is thinking, but I hope this is just a preseason abberation.

Assists. We were badly out-assisted in this game, 16-29. Tim was our top assist man with 6. He's a power forward/center, so think about that.

Rebounds. We did slightly better, 51-49. We were -3 on the offensive end, though.

Three-point shooting. Live and die by the three, eh, Pop? We were 2-16 for a measly 13%, while we let Indiana make 37%. I'd like to say something more about this, but wouldn't want to incur bellasa's wrath.

Consider this game a gift for your team, Roy.

Should we read too much in this game in terms of Pop's plans for the season? It's a mixed bag, if you ask me. The first half rotation might be the one we'll see often during the course of the season, except that DeJuan Blair didn't get to play until the second half. As for that second half, well, let's just be thankful that the bench won't be left on an island to regularly orchestrate comebacks for us.

Notable Performers

Tony Parker played fairly well, but George Hill is a stud. He led another preseason comeback, this time late in the 4th where we were down by as much as 10 points. He finished with 21 pts, 5 boards, 1 assist and 1 turnover. I'd like to see more assists, though, but I'm just nitpicking right now. WVATS also points out the combined stat line of our poing guards for 48 minutes: 35 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 TO’s, 12-19 FG shooting, 1-2 3pt shooting, and 10-13 FTs. We'll give other teams' perimeter defenders hell this season.

George is so fast even for a guy named Rush.

Tim Duncan was a rock out there, nearly finishing with a triple double of 15 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists. I don't even want to highlight his free throw shooting. If not for Timmeh baiting fouls on Hibbert, I couldn't imagine what would've happened to Ian if he had to guard that giant.

DeJuan Blair is Groundhog Day ver.0.8. In 17 minutes, he had 9 points and 6 boards (3 offensive), and 3 steals. He really puts those long arms to good use, eh? He could've scored more if not for the 1-5 FT shooting. Very Spur-like, indeed. Also, he slightly injured himself in the final seconds, but he seems to be okay. The FSM is still smiling upon us.

San Antonio McDyess also had a solid outing with 9 points and 6 boards (2 offensive), and was the recipient of most of Tim's and Manu's passes. The 1-5 free throw shooting is kinda sore on the eyes, though.

I'll also take note of Danny Granger's monster stat line: 29 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists with 5 threes. FG shooting was pretty bad but hey, he carried that Eastern Conference team on his back. Also, someone from the coaching staff of Indiana needs to remind Coach 'O'Brien not to play his starters 40 minutes in the preseason. Or maybe it had to do with winning for the people in Bloomington, Indiana where this game was played.

Update from Wayne - some minutes from other games tonight. Are these coaches crazy?

Trevor Ariza – 40 minutes
Shane Battier – 36 minutes
Michael "coming off a knee injury" Redd – 37 minutes
Richard Hamilton – 34 minutes
Ben "I haven’t had anything in the tank in 2 years" Wallace – 34 minutes
Ben Gordon – 37 minutes
Jason "I’m really old" Kidd – 37 minutes
Dwight Howard – 30 minutes in a 37 point victory
Yi Jianlin – 39 minutes
Chris Douglas-Roberts – 37 minutes
Chris Bosh – 36 minutes
Jose Calderon – 39 minutes
Corey Brewer – 36 minutes
Joakim Noah – 39 minutes
Tyrus Thomas – 35 minutes
Lindsay "wait for it…." Hunter – 37 minutes, seriously Lindsay Hunter played 37 minutes in the preseason?
Deron Williams – 40 minutes
Tyreke Evans – 38 minutes
JR Smith – 32 minutes thru 3 quarters

Just Not Their Night

I'm manning up and telling the world that Manu Ginobili had the worst +/- in the game with -11, after that +28 in the last game. He went 20% on FGs, 0-6 on threes. All three of his assists were very nice passes though (that's what the radio announcers said). Let's give the man some more time to play himself into shape.

Manu's bad game? The Alfajores Effect.

Richard Jefferson was 2-7 and Marcus Haislip was 2-6. They are probably our two most athletic guys on the roster. Haislip still seems lost, although he had a short moment there where he scored 4 straight (his only buckets for the game) and had a block. Not much else to say after that.

The boxscore tells me now that Ian Mahinmi just had 2 fouls. It sounded like it was more during the game. He did show some flashes of potential during the comeback, where he scored 6 points just to remind Fred Silva that he's still alive. But really, that's all there is to it right now, folks. Just flashes.

To end on a positive note, our bench once again performed admirably in trying to win this game. I like that attitude, and it says a lot about how much our players want to win. I'm sure Pop is taking notice.

We kick-off on the 28th, against Scrappy-Doo and the Hornets. Time to get your groove on. It's gonna be a killer start to the season.

Last Night in the Preseason

Jon L — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:00:42 -0000

More photos » by Darron Cummings - AP

2 months ago: Houston Rockets guard Will Conroy, center, is drives to the basket against Indiana Pacers center Solomon Jones (44) and guard T.J. Ford during the third quarter of an NBA preseason basketball game in Indianapolis, Friday, Oct. 16, 2009. Indiana won 119-104. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Browse more photos »

I know this isn't every game from last night, but not every team has former D-Leaguers on their roster (at least not anymore - thanks a lot, Knicks), and there were some teams that have just one guy who didn't play well. While I'm perfectly willing to call guys out who struggle (as you'll see below), I just don't see the point of making that the only thing I talk about with a particular game.

Indiana Pacers 119, Houston Rockets 104

Will Conroy and Romel Beck finally got in the game for Houston after spending the last few games on the bench. Conroy didn't have the best shooting night, 2-8 overall and 2-3 on three-pointers (which is good, but 0-5 on two-pointers is not), but he made eight of his 10 free throws, picked up nine assists and five rebounds in 26 and a half minutes, and best of all he had only one assist. Fantastic all-around game (aside from the missed two-pointers). Beck didn't shoot the ball particularly well either, with nine points on seven shots, but with Beck you don't get much in the non-scoring categories. Two offensive rebounds and, well, that's it, in 16 and a half minutes. Pops Mensah-Bonsu followed up his fantastic game on Thursday with nine rebounds (six offensive) and four blocks in 20 and a half minutes. But remember when I said he had a problem with scoring efficiency? Yeah, he needed eight shots to get four points. I'm guessing a lot of those offensive rebounds were off his own misses.

San Antonio Spurs 105, Cleveland Cavaliers 98

Rob Kurz hasn't played much this preseason and hasn't shown much when he has, but he played well last night, scoring 10 points on 4-6 shooting and three rebounds. Oh, he also fouled out in a little over 15 minutes. Well there goes that. Ian Mahinmi ran into some foul trouble of his own, picking up five in 11 and a half minutes. Coby Karl shot the ball pretty terribly, 1-7 overall and missing all six of his three-pointers. He's versatile enough to contribute in other areas when his shot isn't falling, but he didn't really do that either, collecting a pair of assists and one rebound. Russell Robinson shot the ball well, 3-5 from the field and 4-4 from the line, but he also paired his three assists with two turnovers. Malik Hairston did a good job of getting to the free throw line, where he made all five of his shots and was able to finish with 11 points on six shots

Chicago Bulls 94, Minnesota Timberwolves 90

Derrick Byars got a fair amount of playing time in this one, 19 and a half minutes, but he needed five shots to get five points, and while he had three rebounds and a steal, he also had three fouls and a turnover. I'd really like to see Byars make this team, but his performance hasn't been as eye-popping as it probably needs to be.

Last Night in the Preseason

Jon L — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:01:11 -0000

More photos » by Hannah Foslien - AP

2 months ago: Chicago Bulls' Chris Richard (32) shoots against Minnesota Timberwolves' Oleksiy Pecherov (4) as Kevin Love (42) watches on during the second quarter of a NBA basketball game at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. Bulls defeated the Timberwolves 99-94. (AP Photo/Hannah Foslien)

Browse more photos »

Fair warning, the format of this thing may change a few times as I figure out how I want to write it. But for now, let's take a look at some former or future D-Leaguers/European players who played well (and in some cases not so well) last night on a game-by-game basis.

Phoenix Suns 110, Portland 104

The only "our guy" who played in this game was Carlos Powell, and he did very well. Starting and playing just over 22 minutes, Powell finished with 12 points on six shots, including 2-3 from long range, and three rebounds, along with zero turnovers and only one foul. The main thing holding him back so far has been his attitude rather than his talent, so if he keeps this up (including the improved outside shooting) either the Suns or some other team will take notice.

Washington Wizards 109, Cleveland Cavaliers 104

Jawad Williams hasn't had the best preseason so far, but he had a solid game last night for Cleveland. Getting the start in LeBron James's absence, Williams put up in 21 points on 12 shots, shot 4-6 on three-pointers and 5-7 on free throws, and grabbed five rebounds and passed out a pair of assists as well. Hey Cleveland, if you're really serious about making sure you have bench scoring, keep this guy around. The other standout of sorts for the Cavs was Andre Barrett, who outplayed his competition (Russell Robinson) by collecting eight assists in a little over 26 minutes and grabbing three rebounds, though he did need nine shots to score eight points. Paul Davis played just under nine minutes in this game, and while Mike Prada from BulletsForever may have a soft spot for the guy, I just don't see it. 0-2 shooting, one rebound, one assist, one block and one turnover...what am I missing? Luke Nevill, on the other hand, actually scored with four points in just under nine minutes, and he at least picked up three rebounds. 12-per-36 is a lot better than 4-per-36.

Boston Celtics 106, Toronto Raptors 90

Sonny Weems came back to earth a little bit, with 12 points on 10 shots and three turnovers, but he is banged up a little bit, and he's still getting a fair amount of playing time, which is encouraging. Holly MacKenzie thinks the team will find a place for him, and quotes Chris Bosh as saying

"if we continue to work with him and get him polished, I think he'll really help us out."

The J.R. Giddens Rebounding Machine is still working, with four in 13 and a half minutes, though he's still having a hard time scoring the ball. Lester Hudson wasn't, though, with 12 points on seven shots in the same amount of playing time as Giddens, and he picked up a pair of steals and a pair of rebounds as well. If Boston could just put those two together they might have something.

Oklahoma City 96, Miami Heat 91

I'm only mentioning Carlos Arroyo because Erik Spoelstra decided to sit both John Lucas and Chris Quinn to see what the team's newest point guard candidate can do, and he responded with, well, zero points, three rebounds, two assists, a turnover and four fouls in 16 minutes. Just stick with Lucas. Both Shaun Livingston and Kyle Weaver struggled a little bit for the Thunder, combining for five points, all of which came at the free-throw line. Weaver's calling card is his defense anyway, but he certainly hasn't been helping matters with his shooting so far.

LA Clippers 93, San Antonio Spurs 90

DeJuan Blair has been making Ian Mahinmi's job tougher by grabbing most of the rebounds in sight, but Mahinmi still managed to pull five down in 19 minutes, along with seven points on four shots and only one turnover. Speaking of turnovers (you see what I did there), Marcus Williams has struggled with them so far this preseason (and to a certain extent in Austin last season), and he had three last night in 18 minutes, which spoiled an otherwise solid night, 11 points on 4-8 shooting, two rebounds and two assists. Much better was Malik Hairston, who got the start and played 23 minutes, and finished with nine points on five shots, five assists and two steals. The assists are a nice bonus from him, as he's a decent passer but not a prolific one.

Chicago Bulls 99, Minnesota Timberwolves 94

The story of this game is Chris Richard, who led all scorers with 17 points on nine shots, made seven of his nine free throws and added 13 rebounds and two blocks, both of which also were game highs. Minnesota was the team that initially cut him, so there was probably some extra motivation (he's played pretty poorly so far), but maybe he can at least trick the Bulls into keeping him on, then show them that while he's not usually that spectacular, he's at least pretty solid. Mark from Sham Sports and Chicago Bulls Confidential is still skeptical that'll happen, though. Derrick Byars had a nice little game, with five points on three shots, three rebounds and a block in a little over 15 minutes.

Atlanta Hawks 111, Memphis Grizzlies 96

Like Jawad Williams and Chris Richard, Courtney Sims broke out last night after a rough preseason, scoring 12 points on 4-6 shooting in 13 minutes and blocking two shots. He only had three rebounds and added two turnovers, but he was one of the more talented players in the D-League last season and several NBA teams are known admirers, so anything he can do to help his case at this point would, well, help. Hamed Haddadi had three rebounds in six minutes, because that's what he does. And not really anything else.

PtR Quick Cap: Los Angeles Clippers knock off Spurs 93-90: Pop Ians

Wayne Vore (ATS) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:25:13 -0000

In a battle of the two best players from this year's draft, the Blake Griffin led Clippers beat the DeJuan Blair led San Antonio Spurs 93-90. Both power forwards had big games, but so did a pair of veteran small forwards from each team and I bet the coaches liked what they saw of them.

Box Score

"You sober?"

"Hell no. It's the pre-season, Mike."

via cdn1.sbnation.com

Richard Jefferson had his best game as a Spur with 15 points on 9 shots. He was 7-9 from the floor with a 3-pointer. Exactly the kind of game we want from him.

For the Clips, Al Thornton had 18 points and 4 rebounds on 8-11 shooting. If his role is going to be bench scorer, he excelled tonight.

DeJuan Blair put up another double-double -- he leads the team -- tonight with 11 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes. You sure have to like his rebound rate. Every game I see him play I think back to what Jonathon Givony of Draft Express told me at the Summer League. "He's really good. Those dumb ******* GMs let their doctors tell them what to do." Ok, that might not be a direct quote. But it was something like that and he was just shaking his head in disgust that Blair got drafted where he did. He said we would love him. You know, I'm starting to think that Givony guy might be right. There are some GMs with some problems. Speaking of Draft Express, they are getting ready for the start of the college basketball season with their conference previews. Check it out if you want to know who to watch as far as draft prospects for 2010.

Blake Griffin was very efficient with his 10-14 shooting in 29 minutes. I'm not sure how he was scoring in the half court and who was covering him, I listened on the radio, but he's a hellion on the break.

George Hill got a ton of minutes at the point with Tony out. George logged a team-high 29 in the game. He was solid with 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists including 2-3 from 3-point land. He tied with a team-high 3 turnovers.

Marcus Williams had his best game of the preseason which he needed in his attempt to hold onto a roster spot. Unfortunately for him, Malik Hairston had another strong game. Marcus had 11 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists (and a team-high 3 turnovers) while Malik had 9 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals, and a team-high 5 assists.

Ian Mahinmi was solid, if not spectacular, with 7 points and 5 rebounds.

All-in-all the Spurs pulled down 16 offensive rebounds in the loss. I'm going to be very interested in following the offensive rebounding as the season gets going for real. If we can improve significantly in that area, it would be a huge boost for the team.

Your 3 stars

George Hill -- Pop's favorite player did a good job at the point tonight and Baron Davis shot 2-9.
DeJuan Blair -- He just does what he does. Rebound and score. Oh, and he's a crowd favorite already.
Richard Jefferson -- Nice to see RJ looking more and more comfortable.

Video Highlights From Spurs.com

Preseason Game Thread #3: San Antonio Spurs @ Miami Heat

Tim C. — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:00:29 -0000

More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

Manu eez not here today. Now who will I talk about Eva and zee other housewives with? (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Browse more photos »

The Spurs have a game today in Miami and there's some good news and bad news. I'm going to get the bad news out of the way first: Tim Duncan and His Manuness aren't even at the game, and won't play. Don't worry, though... Pop is just being cautious, and wants them to stay in SA to work on their conditioning - it's preseason, after all. The good news? Miami is likely without their two best players, so maybe it's a wash. Preview after the jump.

San Antonio Spurs @ Miami Heat (Preseason)
Where: American Airlines Arena - Miami, FL
When: October 11, 2009, 5:00 PM Spurs time
Watch: This one might be airing on local TV in Texas, but the rest of us are out of luck.

How They Stack Up


0-0	Home	0-0
0-0	Road	0-0
0.0	Offense	0.0
0.0	Defense	0.0
0	FG%	0
0	3-pt%	0
0	FT%	0
0	Rebounds	0
0	TOs	0
0-0	Last 10	0-0
N/A	Streak	N/A


	PG
	SG
	SF
	PF
	C
	Bench
	Coach
	Intangibles
	Mojo
	Winner

Spurs
(0-0)

Vs

Heat
(0-0)

Matchups

Tony Parker

Mario Chalmers

Tony played in the last game, and we can expect him to be back again tonight, in full dominating form. Chalmers is no spring chicken, but he's also not anywhere close to being on Tony's level. We'll probably see a lot of Chris Quinn and George Hill battles tonight as well, with George winning that matchup pretty easily. Isn't depth a wonderful thing?
Advantage: Spurs

1337 Player

Good Player

Keith Bogans

Dorell Wright

Keith started the last game against Olympiacos, and one would assume Pop will repeat that today. He's very solid on defense, and we'll already have enough offense in the game with Tony, RJ, and Bonner/Ian. However, his defense may not be as neccessary, since Dwyane Wade is sitting this one out(I would assume this has something to do with Manu not being at the game as well). Dorell Wright is just a guess - they might also start Q-Rich in Wade's absence.
Advantage: Tied

Big Head

Err... who?

Richard Jefferson

Michael Beasley

RJ's had some trouble getting involved in the offense the first two games. With Manu out, Pop may have Tony force feed him or call more plays for him. Beasley is still an awesome player, despite the substance use. He's very tall for a SF, and there's no way RJ can post him up. And hey, at least we're not putting Finley up against him.
Advantage: Heat

Princess Peanut

Rehabbed & Ready

Ian Mahinmi

Udonis Haslem

Either Ian or DeJuan Blair should get the start tonight. I'm guessing it will be Ian, since he started our first preseason game. Hopefully we'll get to see Ian's good side tonight, as well as a lot of Blair rebounds/putbacks, since the Miami frontcourt is on the small side. The key difference here is that our guys are faster than theirs. If Ian and DeJuan are at their best, this is one matchup we have in our favor.
Advantage: Spurs

Jekyll... or Hyde?

Decent PF.

Matt Bonner

Joel Anthony

Matty and RJ are the only two players to start both preseason games so far. Joel Anthony might actually be worse than him. Keep in mind that the Heat will probably have Anthony guarding Timmeh, so Matt's likey to match up with Haslem. Our backups will destroy theirs, since Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff are likely to be coming in off the bench again. Who else has players like that on their bench?
Advantage: Spurs

New Hampshire's finest

Plumbing the Depths

George Hill

Bench

Jamaal Magloire

Magloire is the tallest player on Miami's roster, along with Jermaine O'Neal, who probably won't be playing tonight. That's not saying much, but "You can't teach height". George Hill will probably continue looking like he's good enough to be a starter on a lot of teams. In fact, I'm sure the Heat would love to have him. Let's just be glad he's ours.
Advantage: Spurs

OoeyPooey

No Emotion

Gregg Popovich

Coach

Erik Spoelstra

I don't feel the need to explain why Pop is better than Spoelstra, for some reason...
Advantage: Spurs

Nice Brain

Nice Hair

images via yahoo.com

Intangibles: The Spurs are the smartest team in the league, and they're essentially playing against scrubs. Advantage: Spurs

Mojo: A team that made no significant roster moves in the summer against the team that made the best roster change. Advantage: Spurs

Winner: It's preseason.. who cares? But the Spurs would win this in the regular season, so let's just go with that.

Keys To The Game

Avoid a letdown - Just because this should be an easy win doesn't mean the Spurs should treat it as one. But losing a preseason game isn't the end of the world.
Dominate the frontcourt - The biggest mismatches in this game will be in the frontcourt, and the Spurs need to take advantage by relentlessly feeding the ball to the bigs, and letting them bring down the hammer.
Bench Play - Miami has nobody that can match Hill or Blair off the bench, and our bench goes way deeper than just those two guys anyway. Most of these guys are fighting for minutes and/or a spot in the rotation, so they would be wise to make good things happen out there for the Spurs. Malik Hairston could be an X-factor again tonight.

Last Time They Met

The Spurs last played the Heat in Miami on January 5th, winning 91-84. I wonder if there were any interesting things that happened in that game involving players who won't be on the court tonight...

Some Other Reading

Heat

Peninsula is Mightier - Miami's SBN blog, with a lot of good information. Stop by and say hi, and let them know nicely which team is going to win. :)
Hot Hot Hoops - This is the TrueHoop network blog for the Heat. The more of the TrueHoop Network I see, the more thankful I am for Tim Varner and Graydon Gordian.

Spurs

48 Minutes of Hell: Speaking of Tim and Graydon, they're still doing their thing over at 48MoH. This is required reading for any Spurs fan... right after PtR, of course.
Project Spurs: This is a pretty slick fan blog, and they usually have good content about the Spurs.

The (sort of) Daily Twitter

manuginobili I won't be at the game tmrw. Just wanted to let u know. Had to stay in SA working out ... http://bit.ly/aOpcI

DeJuan45 Just woke up still tired getting ready 4 MIA

Some Other Viewing

Other things of possible interest

Addicting Things - This one is ~~not~~ more constructive, Mr. Beasley.
Playboy Covergirls - This is umm, different. But I promise you the link is safe.
Random Nostalgia comes out of nowhere.

Where to Tune In

TV

Spurs.com doesn't list anything, but since this is an away game, it might be on FSN. No blackouts for away games.

Online

Please don't post links to illegal game feeds in this thread. Links to illegal feeds are not permitted on SBNation, but you can probably find them out there on the internets if you're resourceful and desperate. In fact, nobody can stop you from googling "atdhe". You can also shoot an email to dmenendez@gmail.com for more assistance.

Spurs League Pass audio is still free this year, but won't be working until the regular season. Bookmark it now, especially if you don't have the video league pass.

Radio

If you're in the San Antonio area and aren't near a TV, tune in to WOAI (1200 AM). Yahoo might have an audio link at gametime, and we'll post that here if it becomes available.

Poll

Who will be the Spurs' biggest contributor tonight?

Tony Parker

14 votes

Richard Jefferson

15 votes

Antonio McDyess

0 votes

DeJuan Blair

103 votes

George Hill

29 votes

Ian Mahinmi

6 votes

Someone else (use comments section)

2 votes

169 votes | Poll has closed

San Antonio Spurs Season Preview

Wayne Vore (ATS) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:08:26 -0000

I know what you are thinking. Why today, ATS? Why today for a team preview when the preseason has just started? Well, today is my day. As part of blogger preview organized by Jeff at CelticsBlog, I've got the Spurs on Saturday, October 10th. So let's get down to it.

With the Spurs offseason acquisitions putting them well into luxury tax land for the first time, there is only one sufficient outcome to this season. Winning it all. Will they do it? Let's take a look.

Front court

The front court is where the Spurs have the most significant changes. I'm considering small forwards to be part of the back court. This may sound strange to non-Spurs people, but the Spurs use their 2's and 3's interchangeably. Roger Mason, Manu Ginobili, and Michael Finley are just as likely to be on the court as a shooting guard as they are as a small forward.

The Spurs have seven players on the roster for the two front court positions. Of those seven players, two played in a game for the Spurs last season: Tim Duncan and Matt Bonner. The Spurs added Antonio McDyess, Theo Ratliff, and Marcus Haislip in free agency. They picked up DeJuan Blair in the draft. Ian Mahinmi missed the season with an injury and has played about 23 total minutes in his NBA career. Those five guys will be replacing the contributions of Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto. With so many people around, minutes are going to be hard to come by. I expect Tim's minutes to be down, but not by much. Expect stiff competition for playing time in the Spurs front court this year. AND, a really big and, that stiff competition presupposes that Popovich doesn't play small ball with either Finley or Jefferson at the 4.

Backcourt

Richard Jefferson is the big new name. Bruce Bowen is now in retirement. Ime Udoka and Jacque Vaughn were not resigned. The Spurs just recently signed Keith Bogans. With the holdovers from last year and the signing of Malik Hairston this summer, the Spurs back court now consists of: Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson George Hill, Roger Mason, Michael Finley, Keith Bogans, Marcus Williams, and Malik Hairston. Yes, that is 16 players on the roster. Williams and Hairston are both on unguaranteed contracts and one of them won't be on the team. Still, that's a lot of depth. How deep?

Well, George Hill IS the backup point guard. He and Tony will get all the point guard minutes this year. Manu and Jefferson will get the bulk of the minutes (I'm calling over half "the bulk") at the 2 and the 3. That leaves about 40 minutes per game for Finley, Bogans, and Mason with the winner of the Williams/Hairston battle getting nothing.

Offense

The end of the Bruce Bowen era and the addition of Richard Jefferson gives the Spurs a completely different look on offense. We no longer have a player the opposition can ignore on defense. That's not quite true. Teams couldn't ignore Bruce because he could bury that corner three. However, they could hide their worst defensive player very easily. You just had to be warm to be able to guard Bruce. Gone are the days where Steve Nash would spend his game covering Bruce. Now, he gets Richard Jefferson? I don't think so. The offensive balance and ability to attack mismatches will be something new for Spurs fans. We might see some different looks this year and a reduced role for Tim.

In his media day interview, Manu flat-out said Tony Parker is the offensive leader of the team. I don't think this year's Spurs will be running nearly as much offense through Tim in the low blocks. We had been moving away from Tim in the last few years, but I expect him to be much less of a focus this year. I think Tim will be getting the ball a lot more on the move and in the high post than as a set play down in the blocks.

The last couple years the Spurs have lived and died by their 3-point shooting. When they were on, they were hard to beat. When they were off, they couldn't win. Michael Finley, Roger Mason, Bruce Bowen, and Matt Bonner are all spot shooters. We routinely had at least two of them on the court at one time. Add in a Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto, who doesn't really shoot at all, and the Spurs played large chunks of games with three guys on the court who specialized in standing still and shooting.

This year, I think the Spurs will be able to be more consistent scoring the ball and less reliant on 3-point shooting. I'd like to think the additions of Jefferson and McDyess as guys who can put the ball in the hole will keep teams from forcing the ball out of the hands of our stars and putting it in the hands of one dimensional shooters.

Oh, and having Manu back healthy will be a huge lift on the offensive end. His ability to drive and create for his teammates IS what he brings to the team. This team will be good offensively. In fact, I think they will be one of the most efficient offensive teams in the league.

Defense

Defensively is where I have the biggest question mark for the team. Last year was a huge step back in team defense for the Spurs. Perenially one of the best defensive teams in the league, the Spurs in '09 were nothing but ordinary. Will the addition of Jefferson and a longer, stronger, defensive focused front court players turn that around? I'm not sure. I hope so, but this is the one thing the team will have to prove on the floor this year.

The additions of McDyess and Ratliff give the Spurs some extra rebounding and shot blocking ability. Shot blocking, or even shot challenging, was something we didn't get last year out of Thomas, Oberto, and Bonner. The addition of Jefferson adds some size and athleticism on the wing.

Last year, the Spurs didn't make teams uncomfortable. They played smart, position defense. If a team could hit the jumper, we were content to let them take it. Hopefully, this year, we can start making teams uncomfortable again.

Athleticism, Length, and Energy

Where I hope we see the biggest improvement in the team is in the intangibles. The new roster changes infuse the team with desperately needed athleticism, length, and energy. The additions of Jefferson, Ratliff, McDyess, and Blair; and the emergence of George Hill, should help the Spurs with all the smaller things we didn't do well last year. A team that scraps for offensive rebounds. A team that tips rebounds. A team that challenges shots in the paint. A team that collects loose balls. A team that creates turnovers. A team that gets some easy baskets. A team that can win a game against a good team without playing a perfect game.

The Spurs will be good this year. They will be very good this year. But, they will need to be great. Will we see greatness? That is the question to be answered and I really like our chances.

PtR Preseason QuickCap: Olympiacos is Not an NBA Team

Tim C. — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:46:02 -0000

That weaksauce? Get it outta here.

OK, let's make this live up to the whole "quick" thing. All I have to go by is a box score, and several PtR members were at this game, so one or more of them should be able to drop a full recap on us.

Tonight the Spurs squared off against Olympiacos B.C., and beat them in convincing fashion(did you expect anything less?), 107-89. One look at the box score will tell you a few things:

The Leaders

George Hill is awesome. Cubits had 17 points, 3 board, 2 assists and shot 5-8 from the field in his 22 minutes of play. Rock on, Cubits, rock on.
Josh Childress is still a really good player. If he ever decides to come back to the states, the Spurs would be wise to provide a home for him.

The Rest

Tim Duncan(10 points, 5 boards, 3 assists) and Tony Parker(12 points, 3 assists) had a better +/- score than anyone else who played in this game. Big surprise, I know.
Manu Ginobili was pretty lackluster, but still chipped in a team-high 5 assists. It's OK Manu, you're still the Manuest, or something like that.
The Spurs got 5 blocked shots tonight: 2 from Timmeh, 2 from Malik Hairston(who was quietly effective again), and 1 from Theo Ratliff.
Richard Jefferson was again not very involved in the offense(going by the boxscore), but managed to get 2 steals on the defensive end to go with his 4 points on 2-2 shooting.
Roger Mason shot 4-5, including 2-3 from long range, for 10 points. It's good to see Roger back in midseason form.
Ian Mahinmi had a redemption game of sorts, coming away with 7 points, 2 rebounds and zero fouls, even though the game was already decided by then.
DeJuan Blair must have switched brains with Ian, as he had 4 fouls to go with the 9 points(mostly on FT's), 2 boards, and 2 steals he picked up.
Every player on the Spurs camp roster played tonight, and all but Marcus Williams and Dwayne Jones scored.
On the Olympiacos side, Von Wafer and Sofoklis Schortsanitis(leading scorer for the Greeks tonight) scored in double figures, though Schortsanitis got in foul trouble.
Linas Kleiza sucked. I wonder if this is because Keith Bogans started and SHUT. HIM. DOWN. Somebody who was at the game might be able to elaborate on this a bit more.
Ioannis Bourousis, of rumored-to-be-offered-a-deal-with-the-Spurs fame, had a less than stellar outing, but still managed to get 7 points, 4 board, and stole the ball from Manu at least once.

Ok, I lied about only going by the boxscore - there's also some video highlights. And photos.

I have no idea why there are no second half highlights as of this writing, which sucks.

all images below via yahoo

Oh man, I hope I don't get me the Bourousis from this.

Hey Josh, will you be my backup next year? OK, fine, I'll back YOU up instead... just come to SA.

Didn't I just beat you last month?

So, the Spurs won a game they were supposed to win, got good performances from most of the guys we're concerned about, and nobody got hurt. Seems like a good outing to me. Next up, the Spurs play in Miami on Sunday night.

An Open Letter to Ed Stefanski

Jon L — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:01:02 -0000

An Open Letter to Ed Stefanski, GM of the Philadelphia 76ers

By Jon L, Sole Proprietor (Apparently) of Ridiculous Upside

Dear Ed -

May I call you Ed? No? Great. Look, Ed, I read the answer you gave to Liberty Ballers (and occasional RU commenter TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsMichaelBourn) regarding your attitude towards the D-League, and if you don't mind my saying so, there were so many things egregiously wrong with it that I felt the need to write write this blog post and pretend it was a letter to you.

You see Ed, you're a lazy man. I get that. You hired Eddie Jordan because you already know him and so you could hire a decent coach without doing any real work. You're bringing Dionte Christmas and Jared Reiner into training camp because they're familiar, not because they've done anything to inspire confidence. Like I said, I get it. I'm a lazy man myself, in fact. But I'm not in charge of running an NBA team.

You see, the thing about being involved with the D-League is that it requires you to pay attention to more than just "when will Elton Brand finally not be injured." And if you don't want any part of that, just come right out and say it. Don't blame it on the D-League, and paint the situation as something that's not worthwhile. Let's go through your answer point by point.

We have had the opportunity to go into a couple places, I don't see personally the advantage of owning your own team right now since you can always send down players you have on your roster for two years of service.

Here's the number of players the Philadelphia 76ers have sent down to the D-League since 2005: two. Bobby Jones and Louis Williams. Jones, who isn't with the team anymore, and Williams, who still has a ways to go to become a competant point guard. So when you say that "you can always send down players you have on your roster," let's not pretend that that's what's actually been happening. If you were operating more like the Utah Jazz, who sent three different players down to the D-League multiple times last year alone, then I'd have no quarrel with this. It's also not the case that Utah has had more assignment-eligible players. By my count, since 2005 you've had 11 players who could've been sent down, and that's not even including guys like Deng Gai who was waived after a handful of games. And sure, Kyle Korver or Andre Iguodala might not have needed to play in the D-League, but there are several players on that list who could've benefited. Guys like Rodney Carney and Shavlik Randolph and Willie Green. But Ed, you're not sending anyone down. So please don't pretend that you don't want to own a team because you're already assigning players as it is. Let's move on.

Until they change the rules where you can have some sort of farm system like baseball then I would maybe say that it makes more sense, but where it is right now I don't see the expense of having your own management team, your own trainers, your own coaches, and everything for one guy.

We've moved beyond lazy. This is just dumb, Ed. Really, really dumb. So as I understand it, you don't want to have your own D-League affiliate until there's a system in place by which NBA teams have their own D-League affiliates? How does that work? We all want the D-League to become "some sort of farm system like baseball," but that's probably not going to happen until enough NBA teams have their own affiliates. Which you don't want to do because not enough other teams have their own affiliates.

There's also the matter of your statement about "one guy." First, if you were sending down "one guy" per year we might not have a problem, but for that see above. The thing about owning or even just running your own D-League affiliate is that it's not just about "one guy," Ed. There's not just "one guy" on a team. Let's look at some examples of other teams that do own their own affiliates.

I've used this example several times around RU, Ed, but I'm going to assume you're not a regular reader. Consider the San Antonio Spurs. This year they're bringing three players to their training camp who played for the Austin Toros last season, two of whom weren't even under contract for the Spurs. But, they played well enough to warrant a call-up in the case of Marcus Williams, and the waiver of another player in the case of Dwayne Jones. Plus they have Ian Mahinmi, who played in the D-League the year before that, and likely would've played more than a game there last season if he hadn't gotten injured. So that's four players right there, or about a quarter of the players coming to training camp. Now let's look at the Thunder. They signed Shaun Livingston after the good work he put in with a few different D-League teams. They have several players who spent time in Tulsa last year, including D.J. White and Kyle Weaver. Even if a few of these players don't make the NBA roster this season, the team will have had a chance to evaluate them in actual game settings, away from the pressure of making sure that, say, Russell Westbrook gets his minutes. The point is that the D-League isn't just about making sure that "one guy" per team improves its game. It's about helping NBA teams manage their rosters more effectively and make the best use of the talent they have. Alright, final quote.

In essence, last year, Mo Speights would've been the only guy we would've sent down because we weren't going to send Thaddeus down.

Sigh. So you didn't send Marreese Speight down because you didn't want to send Thaddeus Young down? How does that work, exactly? I get that you used that example to justify your "one guy" statement, but it's only "one guy" because of choices you yourself made, Ed, not because of the system in place or any rules that were forced on you. Instead of having a solid backup center now, you have a guy who had one monster game in Summer League then was terrible the rest of the way. Terrible in Summer League.

Like I said up top, it's fine to be lazy. I'm lazy. But at least I own up to it, and when I don't get something done, I usually allow that my laziness was the reason. I don't try to blame "rules" and "systems" that don't exist, or cite misleading facts. Don't blame this on the D-League, Ed. It only wants to help you.

Eurobasket '09: France and Spain Get It On

Wayne Vore (ATS) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:08:09 -0000

What a tough draw for a France team that has dominated the tournament. This should be a hell of a war. Tip off is 2:00pm Spurs time (I think).

You can find links to the box score and updates for the game at EuroBasket's home page.

I don't have time to give you a proper LatinD style preview, but I can tell you this: there are a lot of NBA players in this game. France, as we know, has Tony Parker, Rony Turiaf, Nicolas Batum, Boris Diaw, Ian Mahinmi (if he's healthy yet), and SpurNando. Spain has the Geico cavemen (Marc and Pau), Rudy Fernandez, former NBA-baller turned I'm-getting-the-hell-out-of-Memphis Juan Carlos Navarro, former NBA-baller Jorge Garbajosa, Raul Lopez (who I think played a couple years in the NBA, but it could be a different Raul), and three young guys who were all drafted this last year. Sergio Llull, Victor Claver, and some dude named Ricky Rubio.

You can bet the BlazersEdge guys will be watching this one with both Batum and Fernandez playing.