Ian Mahinmi is the key..

[HarlemHeat37]

to our season..

I've said this before, but tonight's game(even though it's only 1 game) showed me a little more..

Matt Bonner CAN score the ball..he's a solid 3-point shooter, and he played very well in that regard tonight..but he obviously can't defend, rebound, or score inside..he also lacks confidence and gets down on himself very easily..


I'm not expecting Tolliver to be any different than Bonner, but I'll reserve judgment until I see him..I'm a Kurt Thomas guy, but he should be a backup big..he has to be in for special rotations, but can't be able to get starter minutes EVERY game..Fab is a good finisher, but he honestly doesn't look great when Manu isn't in the game..he would be a very good backup big man as well..

I'm not saying Ian is the key to being a contender, because we are either way..we have the best backcourt in the NBA when healthy IMO, starter and bench combined..but we NEED him if we want to become a favorite again..we don't need him to have a "breakout season" as a star big man or anything, but we need him to block shots and finish..

this might seem like an "obvious" thread, and it probably is, but I feel strongly about this, and I hope Pop can give him minutes with our injuries, when he's able to return of course..

agree/disagree? anybody have faith in the guy? anybody with no hope for him?..

[Mr. Body]

If he's the key, we won't make the playoffs.

Fortunately I don't think he's the key.

[SequSpur]

Good Take.

[angelbelow]

yea bro, ian HAS to step up. i think his role should be an energizer off the bench like robin was tonight.

[THE SIXTH MAN]

Wheres timvp's pic with ian and Jesus at?

[mexicanjunior]

agree/disagree? anybody have faith in the guy? anybody with no hope for him?..

He hasn't shown me any indication that he can step into a role like you described. I would be surprised to see him play more than spot duty during the season. The rotation will still be what we saw tonight, plus Oberto...

[hater]

the only key to the season is 2 of the role players to step up in the playoffs. We'll be fine meanwhile.

either Mason, Udoka, Bonner, Mahimi, or Hill have to step up

[HarlemHeat37]

again, the role isn't complicated..dunking and blocking shots..he certainly has the tools to do both..AT SOME POINT the guy is gonna have to play in the NBA and get a chance..he can't play in the D-league forever..

[m33p0]

:flipoff@Tiago Splitter

[xtremesteven33]

http://i37.tinypic.com/hx7ytk.jpg


i think this guy would be great

[jjktkk]

He hasn't shown me any indication that he can step into a role like you described. I would be surprised to see him play more than spot duty during the season. The rotation will still be what we saw tonight, plus Oberto...

Totally agree with you Junior, He's a impressive athlete, but from what I saw of Mahinmi this summer, he doesn't seem to possess a high BB IQ yet. Maybe Pop can spoon feed him minutes this year, and Mahinmi can develop this season, but he's definitely no savior for the Spurs.

[barbacoataco]

The Spurs could really use someone (Mahinmi?) to defend the Amare, Dirk, West, Gasol type mobile big guys. Right now they only have Oberto and Thomas, who are both slow. That is what they brought Elson in for, but we was too inconsistent. The Spurs have never found that 6'9"- 6'10" type long SF/PF they've been looking for since forever. Haslem could be an option. He plays bigger than he is.

[Whisky Dog]

If Mahinmi can guard mobile bigs, make a defensive rotation on time, and get garbage points on rebounds and inside feeds then he'll be exactly what the Spurs need. Their lack of a front court with Thomas playing like shit and Bonner playing at all is what cost them this game. Duncan was great. Parker was close to great. Mason wasn't aggressive enough offensively but put up double figures and held his own, but the interior defense was horrible.

[xellos88330]

I really do think that if Mahinmi can keep his fouls down (I.E: pay attention on defense), he could be a great asset to this team.

[Spurtacus]

I'm praying Mahinmi will be an asset to this team. Dude needs to bulk up more though.

[urunobili]

http://i37.tinypic.com/hx7ytk.jpg


i think this guy would be great

He would do great with us for a year....

in other order of things...

Go Ian! if he comes close to what Bynum represents to the Lakers we will be in good shape to contend!

[TDMVPDPOY]

i wonder if mahinmi is anywhere as good as nazr or elson?

cause he has busts written all over him....

[timvp]

i wonder if mahinmi is anywhere as good as nazr or elson?

cause he has busts written all over him....If Mahinmi can play 80% as well as Nazr played in the 2005 playoffs, I'd be happy.

[mrspurs]

Ian=waste of time.

[DROB4EVER]

I think he is the key, unless we make a trade. Thomas is not a good moving defender nor is bonner. We need someone who can move his feet and stay in front of his man on pick n rolls.

We need to get back to what made the spurs the spurs and play D. How the Fuck do you give up over 100 points the first game of the season to a team that a half court team now?

[Mr. Body]

How did we get to this point? Where the key to the season is this skinny-ass, injury prone near rookie who is maybe two years from playing in any rotation?

[Chomag]

I think he is the key, unless we make a trade. Thomas is not a good moving defender nor is bonner. We need someone who can move his feet and stay in front of his man on pick n rolls.

We need to get back to what made the spurs the spurs and play D. How the Fuck do you give up over 100 points the first game of the season to a team that a half court team now?

I cant agree with you more. Allthough our post defence is pretty good. Other then Timmy, our front court is way to slow to defend pick in roll type teams. They just cant get over and help in time

[mrspurs]

How did we get to this point? Where the key to the season is this skinny-ass, injury prone near rookie who is maybe two years from playing in any rotation?

Its just spurs fan who dont have a clue. I for one am very hard on our spurs players. Why not? Unlike most I dont pay to watch them, I get paid. Everyone knows we dont have anyone to stop people in the 4th quarter. Thats where we look bad. Without Manu around its even worse. The FO might be able to fool most spurs fans. But not me. Look around the league and its easy to see how far we've fallen behind.

[SenorSpur]

to our season..

I've said this before, but tonight's game(even though it's only 1 game) showed me a little more..

Matt Bonner CAN score the ball..he's a solid 3-point shooter, and he played very well in that regard tonight..but he obviously can't defend, rebound, or score inside..he also lacks confidence and gets down on himself very easily..


I'm not expecting Tolliver to be any different than Bonner, but I'll reserve judgment until I see him..I'm a Kurt Thomas guy, but he should be a backup big..he has to be in for special rotations, but can't be able to get starter minutes EVERY game..Fab is a good finisher, but he honestly doesn't look great when Manu isn't in the game..he would be a very good backup big man as well..

I'm not saying Ian is the key to being a contender, because we are either way..we have the best backcourt in the NBA when healthy IMO, starter and bench combined..but we NEED him if we want to become a favorite again..we don't need him to have a "breakout season" as a star big man or anything, but we need him to block shots and finish..

this might seem like an "obvious" thread, and it probably is, but I feel strongly about this, and I hope Pop can give him minutes with our injuries, when he's able to return of course..

agree/disagree? anybody have faith in the guy? anybody with no hope for him?..

There in lies part of the problem with the frontline. Pop is using bigs (Oberto and KT) in a starter capacity, when both are actually more suited to and serviceable as backups.

[mrspurs]

There in lies part of the problem with the frontline. Pop is using bigs (Oberto and KT) in a starter capacity, when both are actually more suited to and serviceable as backups.

And thats the biggest disappointment. Thats why we wont go far. And the FO did nothing imo to help Timmy out. They brought in Roger Mason. Wow, likes he's really gonna help this team out. I dont think so. Nothing against Roger but he's just another jump shooter. The man who needs help more then anyone with respect to the other NBA teams was and is Tim Duncan. Tony is still young and can run with the younger guys. Even with Manu not playing 100percent. He can still play good enough ball to get us through rough games. But when it comes down to it in the end, you have to make stops. And those stops come from inside the paint. Last night I saw that same face Timmy had last season and mostly in the PO's. And thats not good news. When Amare was unheard of until the 4th and then noone could stop him. There came that look on Timmys face. Its a shame too, he played a great game.(he wont have those every game). Another thing that woulda been nice is instead of wasting so much time on tweaking TPs shot they shoulda been teaching passing skills. 32 points 5 assists. Not good when you lose, and when in the end your shooting a shot your not known for. Same goes for Timmy. Just one game but basically making the same mistakes as last season. Kinda reminds me of the cowboys bragging about there great o-line when anyone who knows football could see how dumb this group of guys really is. And there right back where they ended last season. Same old mistakes, by the same old guys.

[DPG21920]

And thats the biggest disappointment. Thats why we wont go far. And the FO did nothing imo to help Timmy out. They brought in Roger Mason. Wow, likes he's really gonna help this team out. I dont think so. Nothing against Roger but he's just another jump shooter. The man who needs help more then anyone with respect to the other NBA teams was and is Tim Duncan. Tony is still young and can run with the younger guys. Even with Manu not playing 100percent. He can still play good enough ball to get us through rough games. But when it comes down to it in the end, you have to make stops. And those stops come from inside the paint. Last night I saw that same face Timmy had last season and mostly in the PO's. And thats not good news. When Amare was unheard of until the 4th and then noone could stop him. There came that look on Timmys face. Its a shame too, he played a great game.(he wont have those every game). Another thing that woulda been nice is instead of wasting so much time on tweaking TPs shot they shoulda been teaching passing skills. 32 points 5 assists. Not good when you lose, and when in the end your shooting a shot your not known for. Same goes for Timmy. Just one game but basically making the same mistakes as last season. Kinda reminds me of the cowboys bragging about there great o-line when anyone who knows football could see how dumb this group of guys really is. And there right back where they ended last season. Same old mistakes, by the same old guys.

So if it has been like this for a while, then how do you explain winning the finals in 2007 and getting to the WCF last year?

[TJastal]

And thats the biggest disappointment. Thats why we wont go far. And the FO did nothing imo to help Timmy out. They brought in Roger Mason. Wow, likes he's really gonna help this team out. I dont think so. Nothing against Roger but he's just another jump shooter. The man who needs help more then anyone with respect to the other NBA teams was and is Tim Duncan. Tony is still young and can run with the younger guys. Even with Manu not playing 100percent. He can still play good enough ball to get us through rough games. But when it comes down to it in the end, you have to make stops. And those stops come from inside the paint. Last night I saw that same face Timmy had last season and mostly in the PO's. And thats not good news. When Amare was unheard of until the 4th and then noone could stop him. There came that look on Timmys face. Its a shame too, he played a great game.(he wont have those every game). Another thing that woulda been nice is instead of wasting so much time on tweaking TPs shot they shoulda been teaching passing skills. 32 points 5 assists. Not good when you lose, and when in the end your shooting a shot your not known for. Same goes for Timmy. Just one game but basically making the same mistakes as last season. Kinda reminds me of the cowboys bragging about there great o-line when anyone who knows football could see how dumb this group of guys really is. And there right back where they ended last season. Same old mistakes, by the same old guys.

Mason is gonna help out alot, but I agree with your other assessment. The front office has failed miserably to obtain a decent starting quality big to pair with Duncan, and must be held accountable to this. How are these other teams like the rockets and lakers able to load up on highly talented big men and the spurs FO can't manage to snag even one? It's ridiculous. And Peter Holt should have dug into his wallet to hold onto Scola, that was really fucking stupid on his part. Even Ginobili wanted Scola and knew he could have helped a ton. Ahh well, gonna be painful watching the best few years of the Big 3's career wasted playing alongside washed up scrubs or much too green rookies.

[tmtcsc]

Yes....a key to a bicycle.