Monroe: Spurs' Mahinmi to miss part of camp

[timvp]

Spurs' Mahinmi to miss part of camp
Mike Monroe

Spurs center Ian Mahinmi will miss at least the first several days of training camp, which begins Tuesday, as he continues recovery from a sprained right ankle he suffered recently in informal workouts at the team's practice facility.

Mahinmi, a 6-foot-11, 230-pound big man from France who is entering his second season with the Spurs, spent the bulk of the 2007-08 season with the Spurs' Development League team, the Austin Toros. He played only six regular-season games with the Spurs, averaging 3.5 points and 0.8 rebounds.

Mahinmi showed up Friday at the team's preseason benefit golf tournament sporting a walking boot on his right leg. Spurs general manager R.C. Buford acknowledged the ankle sprain.

“Everybody wishes he were fit and ready to go,” Buford said, “but he's not ready right now. We're trying to be preventive, as we always are. It's an ankle sprain and a boot, so it's something we're being careful with.”

The Spurs selected Mahinmi in the first round of the 2005 NBA draft (28th overall). He spent the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons in the French professional league before signing a rookie scale contract with the Spurs last summer.

Mahinmi played 45 games with the Toros, averaging 17.1 points and 9.2 rebounds, leading the Toros to the D-League Finals.

Mahinmi was a member of the Spurs' entry in both the Las Vegas Summer Pro League and the Rocky Mountain Revue summer league and had been expected to get significant playing time in preseason games before suffering the ankle sprain. Now his development as a potential backup to both All-Star power forward Tim Duncan and starting center Fabricio Oberto has suffered a temporary setback.

Miceli named marketing chief: The Spurs announced Friday that veteran sports marketer Frank Miceli had been hired as the team's new senior vice president of marketing and sales. Miceli will oversee all marketing, promotional, ticket sales, new media and communications initiatives for the Spurs, Rampage, Silver Stars, Austin Toros and the AT&T Center.

Miceli spent 18 years in various marketing positions with Comcast-Spectacor, which operated the Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Flyers, AHL's Philadelphia Phantoms and National Lacrosse League's Philadelphia Wings.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Mahinmi_to_miss_part_of_camp.html

[T Park]

Way to be on top of it Monroe.

[timvp]

Spurs center Ian Mahinmi will miss at least the first several daysHopefully it is days and not weeks. Although the walking boot makes me doubt it is going to end up just being a few days.


of training camp, which begins TuesdayThank the basketball gods that this offseason is about to end. It seemed like every week brought just more bad news.


Now his development as a potential backup to both All-Star power forward Tim Duncan and starting center Fabricio Oberto has suffered a temporary setback.Props to Monroe for naming Oberto a starter. Pop will appreciate it :tu

[T Park]

:lol

I think its a given Oberto starts.

Thomas doesn't start well next to Duncan, and Mahinmi is too young and obviously hurt, to do so.

[silk]

arg, there's not a week without bad news really....

[SenorSpur]

Thank the basketball gods that this offseason is about to end. It seemed like every week brought just more bad news.


Let's hope this incredible string of bad news and bad breaks ends with the offseason. :bking

[Spurs Brazil]

St>>>>en

[Slomo]

Way to be on top of it Monroe.

:lmao

That was my first thought when I saw the title.

[1Parker1]

At least the spurs got a former Philadelphian for marketing chief. :lol

[SpurSupremacist]

What the fuck is so bad about Oberto? Please, explain. In my estimation, he's played a hell of a lot better than any of the bigs that have played alongside Duncan in terms of chemistry. It wasn't Oberto's fault we were out of the playoffs last year, man. It was Manu's.

[Dex]

I'm pretty sure the Spurs organization needs to give up on the Express News and just let the collective effort of Spurtalk handle the spurs news and media biz.

We're apparently much better at it anyways.

[spurs50_]

What is wrong with Oberto? Well, we already have Bowen who is good for 6 or 7 pts, do we really need two guys that can't help offensively?

[The Truth #6]

What the fuck is so bad about Oberto? Please, explain. In my estimation, he's played a hell of a lot better than any of the bigs that have played alongside Duncan in terms of chemistry. It wasn't Oberto's fault we were out of the playoffs last year, man. It was Manu's.

So you're defending Oberto by throwing Manu under the bus?

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Oberto is just way way way too inconsistent. He had a nice playoff run in 2007, but last season he was AWOL 3 out of every 4 games. It seems like if he isn't getting himself involved in the game early on, he just sort of goes through the motions.

He's a decent backup, but to put him in the starting 5 really hurts this team.
I like him better when he plays with Manu, but then again, Manu always makes these stupid entry passes to Oberto that the entire world is aware of, so they end up getting picked off.

[T Park]

What is wrong with Oberto? Well, we already have Bowen who is good for 6 or 7 pts, do we really need two guys that can't help offensively?

Who is the offensive scoring machine they are holding out of the starting 5 because of Oberto?

[TDMVPDPOY]

mayeb oberto should treat every fukn playoff game as an olympic game...fukn wanker seems to perform better on the international stage than spurs champioship basketball

[T Park]

mayeb oberto should treat every fukn playoff game as an olympic game...fukn wanker seems to perform better on the international stage than spurs champioship basketball

mayeb u shld stp pusting.

[SpurSupremacist]

What is wrong with Oberto? Well, we already have Bowen who is good for 6 or 7 pts, do we really need two guys that can't help offensively?

So you would rather have Kurt Thomas taking 15 foot jump shots that could have either been a post shot by Tim, or a drive by Tony? Oberto can score, he just doesn't have a post game(neither does KT). He can make a little standstill jumper from time to time on pick and pop, and he's great moving without the ball. Bottom line, he just knows how to play the game, great basketball IQ.

[BuzzerBeater]

Oberto is a known and proven asset, things are as they are with him.
He needs help rebounding when playing against LA type teams.
Mahinmi sets out to show how he can contribute, let him team up with Oberto and let the competition begin between those two for PT.

[mrspurs]

Ians feet are still concrete. Maybe 1 or 2 more seasons he may help the spurs out. But from what Ive seen during the summer league, he still is a wasted project. Fab is the biggest choke artist we've had in many years. And Kurt is old, slow and short. Most of the west teams have 2 so called twin towers. Yao and Scolla, Gasol and Bynum, Shaq and Amare, Tyson and West, Oden and Aldrige, to name a few. We cant compete with those teams with Timmy and Fab. I dont like to say it, but those are the facts. We will live and die from beyond the arc.

[anakha]

Fab is the biggest choke artist we've had in many years.

Game 4 of the 2007 Finals proves that you're talking out of your ass, yet again.

[AC#21_TD ERA]

What the fuck is so bad about Oberto? Please, explain. In my estimation, he's played a hell of a lot better than any of the bigs that have played alongside Duncan in terms of chemistry. It wasn't Oberto's fault we were out of the playoffs last year, man. It was Manu's.

I'll mail you the series of last years WCF and you can see for yourself. Oberto got exposed, he got exposed real bad. How many boards did he avr that series? Pau Gasol even significantly out rebounded him. But when Gasol went up againts Perkins in the finals he got taught a lesson on the boards.

[Bruno]

he continues recovery from a sprained right ankle he suffered recently in informal workouts at the team's practice facility

:lol
Funny how he try to hide the lack of Spurs' coverage by calling a 1 month old injury recent.
If Mahinmi has still a walking boot, he should miss more than "several days". I highly doubt it will be less than the two weeks he said to french newspaper.


Right now, Oberto starting is what makes more sense for Spurs. Against some matchups, Thomas could start but Oberto is the most suited to start against the majority of teams.

[Spurtacus]

In other words, we may not see him for another three weeks.

[AusSpursFan]

Oberto is a bench player, end of story.

[mrspurs]

So you would rather have Kurt Thomas taking 15 foot jump shots that could have either been a post shot by Tim, or a drive by Tony? Oberto can score, he just doesn't have a post game(neither does KT). He can make a little standstill jumper from time to time on pick and pop, and he's great moving without the ball. Bottom line, he just knows how to play the game, great basketball IQ.

Fab is a panzy. He plays like a scared wolf. The San Antonio Biggest Choke Artist Ever..........We lose games because of Fab and Kurt. And we bring them back. Easy to see whats gonna happen again. Timmy will be doubled and while Fab is under the basket all alone, he will look to pass cos he plays like a panzy.:wow

[temujin]

If this Mahinmi guy had played for the Spurs a second for every mention of his name in this forum,
he'd be in the Wilt Chamberlain's class.

[pad300]

If this Mahinmi guy had played for the Spurs a second for every mention of his name in this forum,
he'd be in the Wilt Chamberlain's class.

I suspect you are wrong - consider the following google search

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&as_q=Mahinmi&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spurstalk.com%2Ffor ums%2F&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images

generates only 673 hits...

While these are entire threads, there are only so many times his name can be mentioned in each thread...Assuming an average of 100 per thread (which may be generous, considering threads like this : http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-80238.html )
This implies 67300 seconds of basketball, approximately 19 hours or 1122 minutes. This is less than 1 season as a backup. That ain't gonna make him Wilt...

[SenorSpur]

Oberto is a bench player, end of story.

Sad, but true. He's a damn smart player, but he's gravity challenged, can't rebound, or block shots. He's simply not a presence as a low post player. If I see him tap another missed shot out to the foul line, I'm going to choke on my own vomit. :sleep

[SenorSpur]

Ians feet are still concrete. Maybe 1 or 2 more seasons he may help the spurs out. But from what Ive seen during the summer league, he still is a wasted project. Fab is the biggest choke artist we've had in many years. And Kurt is old, slow and short. Most of the west teams have 2 so called twin towers. Yao and Scolla, Gasol and Bynum, Shaq and Amare, Tyson and West, Oden and Aldrige, to name a few. We cant compete with those teams with Timmy and Fab. I dont like to say it, but those are the facts. We will live and die from beyond the arc.

Personally, I got so tired of seeing Tim going 1 against 2 on both ends. And that's even with Fab or KT on the court. It's not their fault. At this stage of their careers, KT and Fab are ill-equipped to go up against the taller frontlines of the Western Conference.

I'm sure Tim misses having a guy like 5-0 as his running mate.

[tp2021]

I'm sure Tim misses having a guy like 5-0 as his running mate.

That makes sense. Who wouldn't?

[duncan228]

Sprained ankle to leave Mahinmi on sideline (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/29921764.html)
Mike Monroe - Express-News

Missing from most of the Spurs' media day activities Monday: Second-year forward Ian Mahinmi, last seen walking with trainer Will Sevening from the team's practice facility to the nearby Texas Center for Athletes for an MRI exam of his sprained right ankle.

Mahinmi sprained the ankle in a workout session last week. Coach Gregg Popovich said Mahinmi appears likely to miss most of training camp. Having planned to play the 6-foot-11, 230-pound forward-center at least 30 minutes in each of the Spurs' preseason games, Popovich called Mahinmi's situation a disappointment.

“He's hurt again,” Popovich said, “and those 35 minutes, or so, that I wanted to see him play each game isn't going to happen. They're doing an MRI again today to see if he can take the cast off and go the next step. Obviously, at this late date, he's not going to be ready to do anything in training camp.

“It will be tough for him, because once we start the season, interjecting players who haven't been in the program really is difficult. That's a disappointment, without any doubt.”

Mahinmi played only six games with the Spurs as a rookie, spending the bulk of last season with the team's Austin Toros of the Development League.

Thinning down: Veteran forward Michael Finley may need a tailor to take in the seams of his No. 4 uniform. A completely new approach to nutrition resulted in a loss of 15 pounds over the summer, and Finley said he feels better at the start of camp than at any time in many years.

After finishing the season at 235 pounds, Finley showed up Monday weighing 220.

“No more fried food and very little red meat,” he said of his new nutritional regimen. “Lots of fresh vegetables and fresh fruit, and I eat four or five times a day.”

Gray intimidation: Popovich on Monday still was sporting a full, somewhat unruly, gray beard that Tim Duncan insisted was so intimidating that he scrapped his own plans to show up for camp with a full beard.

“I like what he's going for, an intimidating look,” Duncan said. “I actually had a full beard going, but I came in and saw his beard and was intimidated by his beard and shaved it off.”

Popovich said he hasn't decided if he will keep the beard for the season but said Duncan could have the final say.

“Whatever Tim tells me to do,” he said, “I'm going to do. If he tells me he wants it gone, it's gone. If he wants me to leave it, I'll leave it. If he wants me to trim it, I'll trim it.”

[Manufan909]

Unruly my ASS!!! And is Finley losing weight going to change anything at all?

[Ice009]

Unruly my ASS!!! And is Finley losing weight going to change anything at all?

hmm this is very interesting. I had no idea Finley weighed that much. You never know it might make a difference.

lol What would you do if Finley in his first game just rocked in and dunked on 4 guys like he used to do back in his older days? ;).

[Manufan909]

Be very confused... yet happy inside.

[SenorSpur]

Unruly my ASS!!! And is Finley losing weight going to change anything at all?

Not a damn bit. Spurs are in trouble if they're going to rely on consistent night-in and night-out production from this guy.

[Manufan909]

You think Fin and Udoka are going to get more PT than him the first 5 five games?

[SenorSpur]

It's certainly frustrating to all because he's injured. It couldn't have occured at a worse time, as Ian will miss valuable training camp and preseason time. I just hope Pop doesn't become so frustrated with Ian that he confines him to residence in his personal doghouse, which will stunt his growth even further. Then later ships his ass outta here before he even realizes his potential.

[Bruno]

Some news :
Mahinmi should practice again in a couple of weeks. He said "Until then, I will focus on lifting weights and I hope to come back as soon as possible because these preseason games are really important for me."

[DPG21920]

Some news :
Mahinmi should practice again in a couple of weeks. He said "Until then, I will focus on lifting weights and I hope to come back as soon as possible because these preseason games are really important for me."


A couple of weeks, as in at least two? The first preseason game is the 9th. I just hope he gets to play in at least 2 preseason games, but that seems to be stretching it.

[Bruno]

A couple of weeks, as in at least two?

I meant that Mahinmi will be back in pratice in two weeks.

[tav1]

Some news :
Mahinmi should practice again in a couple of weeks. He said "Until then, I will focus on lifting weights and I hope to come back as soon as possible because these preseason games are really important for me."

Thanks.

[DPG21920]

This blows