Mahinmi out for the year.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

What the did I say in pre-season??????

SIGN DARRYL WATKINS. WE NEED INTERIOR DEFENSE. WE NEED A RIM PROTECTOR

ING IDIOT SPURS FO. Everyone in here is like oh no we don't need a rim protector like Watkins we've got Ian Mahinmi. Watkins is too raw. It was obvious we need another big man to battle teams like the Lakers instead of Tolliver. I didn't want Tolliver at all Farmer, Watkins and Hairston were all above him in my list.

The Spurs really dropped the ball on this one as far as the type of player they needed to sign in the off season. You're not going to get another Robert Horry it was a complete waste of time trying to find a player like that. You can't teach anyone what Robert Horry did.

I'm pretty sure SenorSpur was also another poster that said a player like Watkins would be a bigger need for the team. I don't remember the other posters that thought Watkins was a good idea as there wasn't many. Even Timvp wasn't really against Tolliver.

So, we're looking for a 7 footer who :
1. Is a good defender
2. Is a good shot blocker
3. Is good at rebounding
4. Is good on offense
5. Is cheap
6. Is available for a trade for our scrubs

I don't think this guy exists. We'll have to live with what we've got.

[timvp]

Are you kidding on this one?

Watkins was playing VERY solid ball every time he got some minutes with us in the pre season... IMO Tolliver over him was a mistake we had already a shooting big on the roster...

What is making you think (and you sound VERY sure) that Watkins is not ready to play in the NBA today? From what i was able to see during preseason... he should have made it and he actually was VERY close to getting the chance....

Watkins>>>>>>Oberto

What makes me sure Watkins isn't ready for the NBA? Well, a good sign is that Watkins currently in the NBA. Even 17% Tolliver got picked up after the Spurs waived him. When Watkins was waived, he was relegated to the Chinese league -- possibly the worst professional basketball league in existence.

Watkins has good physical ability but his basketball skills appeared to be lacking. Having a shotblocker on defense would be nice but that player has to be able to survive on the court on the other end.

And I disagree that he was "VERY" close to making it. He wasn't much closer than any of the other training camp invitees.

I don't know what Watkins has been up to in China but if he has shown any signs of improvement, I wouldn't be against giving him a ten-day look. But to say that waiving him was some sort of travesty and unforgivable error by the front office is taking it a few steps too far.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Is it worth seeing if Portland will gift us Ike Diogu for whatever dross we have? They are going to have a player squeeze and surely he's one of the odd men out.

I bring him up because I remember seeing him play a year or two ago when he got some minutes and thought he had athleticism and promise. What's the good word about him today?

[HarlemHeat37]

Is it worth seeing if Portland will gift us Ike Diogu for whatever dross we have? They are going to have a player squeeze and surely he's one of the odd men out.

I bring him up because I remember seeing him play a year or two ago when he got some minutes and thought he had athleticism and promise. What's the good word about him today?

I would be interested in him simply based on potential..he hasn't shown much in Portland, but that's partly due to playing behind better players..if it was between him or Frye, I would take Diogu 10 times out of 10 though..

he's one of those dissapointing guys that was expected to do too much in Indiana, and never really got a chance to find his role in the NBA..he could thrive under Pop though, so I wouldn't mind giving him a chance..

[urunobili]

I would be interested in him simply based on potential..he hasn't shown much in Portland, but that's partly due to playing behind better players..if it was between him or Frye, I would take Diogu 10 times out of 10 though..

he's one of those dissapointing guys that was expected to do too much in Indiana, and never really got a chance to find his role in the NBA..he could thrive under Pop though, so I wouldn't mind giving him a chance..

we need to stop dreaming Pricktchard will never do business with us...

[HarlemHeat37]

we need to stop dreaming Pricktchard will never do business with us...

well Diogu isn't exactly a big name..he doesn't even see any time on the floor on a stacked Blazers team, there isn't really a reason to keep him on the team..

[mountainballer]

Is it worth seeing if Portland will gift us Ike Diogu for whatever dross we have? They are going to have a player squeeze and surely he's one of the odd men out.

I bring him up because I remember seeing him play a year or two ago when he got some minutes and thought he had athleticism and promise. What's the good word about him today?

Diogu is in fact a very good idea. he is not very tall at 6-8, but has a crazy wingspan and standing reach. (7'3'' and 9'1'', this makes him equal to many players who are 6'10'' and more)
I also don't understand why he doesn't get a chance in Portland. he is really talented.

[HarlemHeat37]

Diogu is in fact a very good idea. he is not very tall at 6-8, but has a crazy wingspan and standing reach. (7'3'' and 9'1'', this makes him equal to many players who are 6'10'' and more)
I also don't understand why he doesn't get a chance in Portland. he is really talented.

he hasn't shown much in Portland, and they choose to play Outlaw at the PF position when Aldridge sits..they don't really need to play Diogu, he doesn't fit what they're doing..they already have bangers in Oden and Pryzbilla, and they're both much better options than Diogu..

[loveforthegame]

As a Warriors fan I was disappointed they let Diogu go. He's gotten lost in the shuffle but if the Spurs could get him cheaply I'd love it.

[Bruno]

Considering that Mahinmi was practicing with the team even after he consulted with the doctor in LA, I doubt that surgery was obvious to anyone. If the LA doctor saw it and found something serious the Spurs missed, Mahinmi would have been shut down right away. Apparently, he tried to play through it but kept experiencing pain so they opted for surgery.

In the article I've translated, it was said that the doctor in LA said that Mahinmi's ankle was far form being healthy.

It's true that it's quite surprising to see Ian still practicing. Now, I'm not sure that he was suiting up to test his ankle. In the video where we can see him, he wasn't even running or jumping. Another theory could be that he is just waiting for his surgery and there are no risks for him to "practice" without pushing on his ankle.

I don't know of many ankle injuries that didn't include a serious rupture that requires the player to miss six months. If there was no major structural damage, the usual protocol is rest and rehabilitation. Surgery on a sprained ankle is rare.

Mahinmi spend more than one month with a hard cast. His ankle sprain wasn't the typical one. When the ankle sprain is that bad, I'm sure that surgery is an option considered. Spurs' medical staff decided that rest was enough, it obviously wasn't the case.

I'm not the only one to be surprised of a surgery 6 months after the injury. The writer of this article, who I guess should be Olivier Pheulpin, is also very surprised of that wait. The "(!)" of "After a six month waiting(!)" hasn't been added by me but was in the original article.

What could the Spurs have done with Ginobili? They wanted him to have offseason surgery but he instead played for Argentina first and then had the surgery.

IIRC, if Manu hasn't re-injured his ankle in the Olympics, Spurs wouldn't have made a surgery.
Manu re-injured his ankle at the end of the Olympics so he could have very well enter in the season with a "bad" ankle if Argentina had lost earlier in the Olympics.
Letting a player enter in a NBA season with a "bad" ankle is quite bad.

Parker's is a bit more questionable but it appeared as if he returned the the floor too quickly the first time and the ankle didn't respond. This year he returned quickly and the ankle responded. It's tough to say how an ankle will react until the player plays.

When Parker returned from an ankle sprain he had in December 2007, Parker had some pain and Spurs medical staff told him to continue playing and that the ankle will be better with time. The ankle went worse. They also talk about bone spurs while it wasn't the case.

It's not like the Spurs had doctors trying to force Parker to play through a broken finger . . .

[Tully365]

It seems that every other d-leaguer is dismissed by Spurstalk as a scrub in a crappy league, but for some reason Mahinmi is seen at having a legit shot at being an effective big man who'll make a big difference. Interesting...

[HarlemHeat37]

I don't really buy the "D-league player is automatically a scrub" neither..a lot of guys in this league just need a shot..more importantly, a lot of these guys just need to find a niche in the NBA, and it would most likely be as a specialist on a team..a lot of these guys could benefit from being around great coaches and great players..

[Tully365]

I don't really buy the "D-league player is automatically a scrub" neither..a lot of guys in this league just need a shot..more importantly, a lot of these guys just need to find a niche in the NBA, and it would most likely be as a specialist on a team..a lot of these guys could benefit from being around great coaches and great players..

Yeah, I agree. It just seems like a lot of people are quick to dismiss young projects like Fesenko, Sims, or other such players while having extremely high hopes for Mahinmi. Watching Mahinmi this summer, he struck me as having the same shortcomings as most young big prospects, and didn't exactly seem to warrant any sort of separation from the pack by his actions... I guess what I'm advocating for is just a little more objectivity, which of course is rare in a sports forum.

[benefactor]

I don't really buy the "D-league player is automatically a scrub" neither..a lot of guys in this league just need a shot..more importantly, a lot of these guys just need to find a niche in the NBA, and it would most likely be as a specialist on a team..a lot of these guys could benefit from being around great coaches and great players..

Richard Hendrix anyone?

http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfil...ichard_hendrix

[Manufan909]

Ge's a big boy for 6-9, how much does Tim weigh?

[Manufan909]

And I hope getting Jav this summer at the latest is a priority for Pop. Do you think that is so, timvp?

[Bruno]

When I've watched Hendrix during the D-League showcase, he was quite bad. His lack of lateral mobility is flagrant.

[duncan228]

...how much does Tim weigh?

Been listed as 260 for years, this season I've seen 255.

[benefactor]

When I've watched Hendrix during the D-League showcase, he was quite bad. His lack of lateral mobility is flagrant.

I know man...but we are limited on options at this point. He has looked better in his last few games and Chump seems to think that he is probably the best prospect the D-League has to offer right now. Trade options are looking sketchy so I see no harm in bringing him in for 10 days to see what's there.

[SpursFanFirst]

I'm sorry, but this guy is turning out to be the biggest joke.
Will yall still think he's worth it next year?

[timvp]

In the article I've translated, it was said that the doctor in LA said that Mahinmi's ankle was far form being healthy.

Yeah if he is having surgery that will require him to miss the rest of the season, I would be pretty confident that he isn't close to coming back on his own.

It's true that it's quite surprising to see Ian still practicing. Now, I'm not sure that he was suiting up to test his ankle. In the video where we can see him, he wasn't even running or jumping. Another theory could be that he is just waiting for his surgery and there are no risks for him to "practice" without pushing on his ankle.

I saw him doing a little bit of jumping, which tells me that his ankle isn't a debilitating injury. If he were in massive amounts of pain, the last place the doctors are Spurs would allow him to be is on the basketball court.

Mahinmi spend more than one month with a hard cast. His ankle sprain wasn't the typical one. When the ankle sprain is that bad, I'm sure that surgery is an option considered. Spurs' medical staff decided that rest was enough, it obviously wasn't the case.

I still wonder what his initial injury was. First we heard bad ankle sprain. Then there was talk it was a high ankle sprain. But either way, surgery is rare. In the NBA, I'd say less than 1% of ankle sprains require surgery. And even those that due are usually because of a history of ankle sprains.

AFAIK, this was Mahinmi's first serious ankle sprain. If he would have done major damage, I doubt it'd be called an ankle sprain. For example, Monta Ellis required surgery but his injury wasn't classified as a regular ankle sprain.

If I didn't see Mahinmi out on the practice court before and after he got second opinions, I could say that the Spurs' doctors F'ed up but his presence on the practice court tells me that nobody found anything seriously wrong.

I'm not the only one to be surprised of a surgery 6 months after the injury. The writer of this article, who I guess should be Olivier Pheulpin, is also very surprised of that wait. The "(!)" of "After a six month waiting(!)" hasn't been added by me but was in the original article.

Yeah, I'm sure the whole Spurs world is surprised. First Mahinmi was supposed to just miss training camp. Then he was supposed to just miss the first couple preseason games. Then he was supposed to be able to return for the last couple preseason games. Then he was supposed to be back in late November. That turned into middle December. And then eventually they just gave up on pushing back his date.

Even a serious high ankle sprain doesn't usually require this long ... much less the whole season. Hopefully at some point we are told what the final diagnosis. My guess is he got some loose debris in his ankle that flairs up when he starts doing basketball activities.

IIRC, if Manu hasn't re-injured his ankle in the Olympics, Spurs wouldn't have made a surgery.
Manu re-injured his ankle at the end of the Olympics so he could have very well enter in the season with a "bad" ankle if Argentina had lost earlier in the Olympics.
Letting a player enter in a NBA season with a "bad" ankle is quite bad.

You must have missed the Buck Harvey article that debunked that myth. Surgery was decided a couple weeks after the end of the playoffs when the doctors examined the injury and it wasn't getting better. The Spurs wanted Ginobili to get the surgery early in the summer but he wanted to delay the surgery until after the Olympics. The doctors said he couldn't damage it any further so the Spurs eventually let him. But there was no scenario in which the Spurs were going to let Ginobili go into the season with his ankle as is.

The "it's a good thing Manu played in the Olympics because he got hurt and it's better to be hurt in the summer than in the middle of the regular season" line of reasoning turned out to be BS.

When Parker returned from an ankle sprain he had in December 2007, Parker had some pain and Spurs medical staff told him to continue playing and that the ankle will be better with time. The ankle went worse. They also talk about bone spurs while it wasn't the case.

Parker had pain when he returned this year too. He himself said he wasn't 100%. But rare is it that a player waits until being 100% before returning from an ankle injury.

[Bruno]

If I didn't see Mahinmi out on the practice court before and after he got second opinions, I could say that the Spurs' doctors F'ed up but his presence on the practice court tells me that nobody found anything seriously wrong.

I'm sure Spurs' doctor are competent enough not to do major mistakes. If something was really wrong with Mahinmi ankle, they would have find it and a surgery would have been made months ago.
However, there is a little thing that avoid Mahinmi's ankle to fully heal.

Spurs send Manu in LA to have his surgery. Spurs' medical staff doesn't know what exactly was wrong with Mahinmi ankle and it looks like the doctor in LA knows what is wrong since he is suggesting a surgery. While Spurs' medical staff is surely really competent, the specialist in LA seems to be one level ahead.

At the end, it's fully logical to wonder if the doctor in LA would have come to the conclusion that rest wasn't enough to heal Mahinmi's ankle if he had seen Ian in August. I don't have the answer to that question, I'm just wondering if Spurs and Ian could have avoided to lose 6 months like that.

You must have missed the Buck Harvey article that debunked that myth. Surgery was decided a couple weeks after the end of the playoffs when the doctors examined the injury and it wasn't getting better. The Spurs wanted Ginobili to get the surgery early in the summer but he wanted to delay the surgery until after the Olympics.

I don't remember of that article, do you have a link?

Parker had pain when he returned this year too. He himself said he wasn't 100%. But rare is it that a player waits until being 100% before returning from an ankle injury.

No, it wasn't just the usual pain you had when you came back early.
Spurs' medical staff let him play more than one month with a painful ankle and told him that time will help. They also have a bone spurs diagnostic.
It's hard to argue that Spurs' medical staff hasn't made a mistake on that one.

[Bruno]

Some additional news :
http://www.lnb.fr/index.php?pid=50&i...cursor_start=0


Translation of the interesting part :

The French player of San Antonio Spurs Ian Mahinmi will have a right ankle surgery in LA on Friday. It will mean the end of the season for him, said his agent on Tuesday to the AFP (Agence France Presse).

A ligament, that created a pain in his ankle, must be cleaned by arthroscopy. He will then have to follow a two months long rehab.

[tav1]

A close friend of mine is an orthopedic surgeon and I followed up with him regarding Mahinmi. What he said should be taken with a grain of salt because he was merely responding to the information I fed him. But here is gist of what he said:

1) high ankle sprains really have everything to do with stretching the ligaments around the *outside* of the ankle

2) it would be highly unusual for any such sprain to cause blood to pool up inside the joint, let alone 6 months later. basically, that's not a sprain.

3) if there is blood inside the ankle, especially so many months later, then Mahinmi is probably dealing with cartilage damage, which can range from not a big deal to very serious

4) it's possible that Mahinmi actually did have a high ankle sprain in conjunction with an undiagnosed, or misdiagnosed, cartilage issue---in other words, a serious high ankle sprain may have masked the underlying issue

5) because of his young age, surgery to repair cartilage might involve moving cartilage from one part of the body to another, or it might simply be a matter of going in a "shaving" out the damage

Like I said, that's an opinion rendered from an arm chair. But I thought it was helpful. If I ever get specific information on Mahinmi's injury, I'll follow up.

Edit: Somehow I missed the post from Bruno directly above this one. If it's a ligament, then it's a sprain. You can pretty much disregard what I've written above.

[Spurs Brazil]

Some additional news :
http://www.lnb.fr/index.php?pid=50&i...cursor_start=0


Translation of the interesting part :

The French player of San Antonio Spurs Ian Mahinmi will have a right ankle surgery in LA on Friday. It will mean the end of the season for him, said his agent on Tuesday to the AFP (Agence France Presse).

A ligament, that created a pain in his ankle, must be cleaned by arthroscopy. He will then have to follow a two months long rehab.

2 months?

So he'll be ready for the playoffs