Gist Highlight - Angelico Biella

[benefactor]

Found this highlight reel of a game between Angelico Biella and La Fortezza Bologna that had a few Gist sightings in it. I was played in late January. There are a couple of dunks and a nice baseline fade away. Gist is #15 for those who don't know.

C'mon home James. We need you.

mhqkJr-Hm2g

[poop]

no matter how contovertial it may be among spurs fans, bottom line is, we NEED players who are young, have energy and can play above the rim in order to compete in today's game.

[EricB]

Make the whole team young so they can struggle in the playoffs like the Blazers and Bulls

[HarlemHeat37]

that's the beauty of this team though..we can afford to add young players, because we have a core of experienced champions..now hopefully the FO does this..

this team needs re-tooling, not rebuilding..

[024]

spurs just needs good role players. i don't care if they are old or young. like the celtics last year, and maybe this year if garnett didn't get injured, spurs also need solid role players. celtics' impact players ranged from rondo, perkins, leon powe, all under 25, to a 31 year posey, to pj brown who was 38 years old.

[poop]

Make the whole team young so they can struggle in the playoffs like the Blazers and Bulls

or keep them Old and tired, so they can get Raped by the fuckin Dallas mavericks yet again.

[poop]

like it or not, if we are going to continue to be competitive we NEED YOUTH, period. you can deny it all you want-like popovich-but that will only lead to more early humiliations.

[024]

a team full of veterans also only makes sense when the spurs' core was young. now as the core ages, it makes more sense to surround them with youth to balance the team.

[Buddy Holly]

Make the whole team young so they can struggle in the playoffs like the Blazers and Bulls

Come on TPark, even you're not that stupid to not comprehend what the guy was saying. To even think the Spurs would be the bulls or blazers if they got younger just proves you'll disagree for no reason just to look like an ass.

[Spur-Addict]

Come on TPark, even you're not that stupid to not comprehend what the guy was saying. To even think the Spurs would be the bulls or blazers if they got younger just proves you'll disagree for no reason just to look like an ass.

He is.

[TDMVPDPOY]

if gists can be anything like granger or durant on offense? fkn bring that bacon home boy

[HarlemHeat37]

Granger or Durant? 2 franchise players?..

[biziofromdowntown]

From a Bufords's man in Italy:

James Gist looks great, but his BBIQ isn't exciting...
Great shotblock skill, nice 3-points and runs runs runs, no high post, good low post.
Better thing is his athleticism, worst...he has no idea of rebounding importance.

Ready as 10 - 11 man of the team.

[benefactor]

From a Bufords's man in Italy:

James Gist looks great, but his BBIQ isn't exciting...
Great shotblock skill, nice 3-points and runs runs runs, no high post, good low post.
Better thing is his athleticism, worst...he has no idea of rebounding importance.

Ready as 10 - 11 man of the team.
Nice find. I am not overly worried about his BBIQ. I think that will get better as he matures. If he has a post game and an outside shot he will work as a big in the Spurs system. The rebounding is a concern though.

[Bruno]

People should be careful when they talk about Gist. He is nowhere near a top player in Europe and the most likely case is that he turns into a bust.

Among young players in the Spurs pipeline (Gist, Sanikdize, Splitter, Mahinmi, Marcus Williams, Hairston, Hill...), only 2 should be considered as very good prospects: Hill and Splitter. And the best case for Splitter is that he signs with Spurs in 2010.

All the others prospects are more or less long shots to become a somewhat useful NBA player.

[Spurs Brazil]

People should be careful when they talk about Gist. He is nowhere near a top player in Europe and the most likely case is that he turns into a bust.

Among young players in the Spurs pipeline (Gist, Sanikdize, Splitter, Mahinmi, Marcus Williams, Hairston, Hill...), only 2 should be considered as very good prospects: Hill and Splitter. And the best case for Splitter is that he signs with Spurs in 2010.

All the others prospects are more or less long shots to become a somewhat useful NBA player.


Agree, I see those guys as good 11 or 12 player on the roster. I don't see any of them helping in the playoffs, maybe Ian, if he stays healthy.

[biziofromdowntown]

Not agree:
Splitter n Hill r ready for high NBA matches
Mahimi too in he insn't hurt will be a good add
Gist should be a good player for REGULAR SEASON, far to a PLAYOFF player but he's still young and i see much possibilities to grow faster
Hairston is good too, but i think we saw all his best yet
Sanikidze, Javtokas, Williams r busts

[EricB]

People should be careful when they talk about Gist. He is nowhere near a top player in Europe and the most likely case is that he turns into a bust.

Among young players in the Spurs pipeline (Gist, Sanikdize, Splitter, Mahinmi, Marcus Williams, Hairston, Hill...), only 2 should be considered as very good prospects: Hill and Splitter. And the best case for Splitter is that he signs with Spurs in 2010.

All the others prospects are more or less long shots to become a somewhat useful NBA player.


Yeah I think Gist has been EXTREMELY overrated by this board.

I mean, this board has NEVER done THAT before.

[biziofromdowntown]

Yeah I think Gist has been EXTREMELY overrated by this board.

I mean, this board has NEVER done THAT before.

Maybe cauz he should be our real steal of the draft, IMHO...or better, he's a player we need very much now. Let ur mind think on a Michael Finley younger, stronger and able to dunk...and by the way, givin 2 or 3 block per night!

:downspin:

[TheProfessor]

People should be careful when they talk about Gist. He is nowhere near a top player in Europe and the most likely case is that he turns into a bust.

Among young players in the Spurs pipeline (Gist, Sanikdize, Splitter, Mahinmi, Marcus Williams, Hairston, Hill...), only 2 should be considered as very good prospects: Hill and Splitter. And the best case for Splitter is that he signs with Spurs in 2010.

All the others prospects are more or less long shots to become a somewhat useful NBA player.
You're no fun :lol

Seriously though, this is the correct way to look at things. But if even one of the long shots pan out, it would be extremely helpful. Hopefully Summer League and camp go a long way towards establishing who that is.

[Flux451]

Agree, I see those guys as good 11 or 12 player on the roster. I don't see any of them helping in the playoffs, maybe Ian, if he stays healthy.

(with our current playoff situation in mind)


BS. With what we have seen in Hairston, he would have been a great cover for Howard. I don't see them getting as many offensive rebounds either.

We need athleticism to keep up with the majority of the NBA. Something GIst and Hairston bring. Hill is must keep at this point.

[objective]

People should be careful when they talk about Gist. He is nowhere near a top player in Europe and the most likely case is that he turns into a bust.

Among young players in the Spurs pipeline (Gist, Sanikdize, Splitter, Mahinmi, Marcus Williams, Hairston, Hill...), only 2 should be considered as very good prospects: Hill and Splitter. And the best case for Splitter is that he signs with Spurs in 2010.

All the others prospects are more or less long shots to become a somewhat useful NBA player.

Honestly, most of the current Spurs on the active playoff roster right now in the playoffs are NOT useful NBA players.

Spurs right now are 2 legit stars (one playing sub-par, either due to age or injury), 1 legit injured star in a suit, and 2 useful role players (Bowen and Hill).

Otherwise it's a total disaster of epic proportions with many guys totalling NOTHING. Guys like Finley and Bonner and Kurt Thomas and even other players like Gooden and Mason who have disappeared. Then there's the complete dead weight of Oberto and Vaughn.

The only difference I'm certain of is if all the previously mentioned worthless players were replaced by questionable, marginal fringe young 'talent' like Gist and Sanikidze and Hairston and nameless 2nd round picks in 09 is that while the Spurs would lose in the exact same fashion (Tony and TD and nobody else), at least the games would be more interesting to see how they would fail, we already know how the current guys do it.

[Bruno]

^ I fully agree with you that a big part of this team is a disaster right now.

Saying that, I damn hope Spurs will significantly improve their supporting cast for the next year. Spurs will only be able to do that if some teams are interested to trade good players for expirings + picks and if Spurs can get a good player with their MLE.

Saying that there is a chance that Spurs basically trash next year. If they don't like players offered for their expiring contracts, they will take the 2010 plan route. Having both cap space in 2010 and a good team in 2009-2010, is nearly impossible.

[objective]

I would argue that there is no way the supporting cast could be worse, so even complete question marks or outright dubious nba-caliber players like Gist and Sanikidze and Hairston filling out spots 6-15 on the roster would be at worst a wash and maybe one of them turns legit and helps out.

Realistically the Spurs probably can't take on more salary than they would ship out (like Vince Carter), and probably can't sign anyone to a large cut of the MLE because of the luxury tax.

And then there's Pop falling in love with useless players and ignoring others.

There's one way to fix that and to realistically fill the roster.

Gut everything not TD, TP, Manu, Hill.

And if that means buying out Finley, Oberto, Kurt Thomas and Matt Bonner than do it.

If possible, package as many useless contracts together (like Bonner and Kurt Thomas) for a single player, regardless of how bad he is. The key is to reduce the number of players from this active playoff roster.

And fill the rest of the roster with minimum-type players like Gist, Sanikidze, Hairston and the second round picks of this year and some d-league players and hope Mahinmi is able to sneeze without tearing a pec and growing invisible bone chips.

Yes, most of them could be trash. Hell, most of them if not all will be trash. But they will all be able to be signed with the budget at hand. The ones that work out will still be able to be retained in the 2010 plan because of their low salary. If it's a disaster . . . hey, so what, 2010 will still be right there anyway. But if it works, you have young capable role players under cheap contract AND the 2010 plan to work with.

And it forces Pop to play the youth. It takes away his favorite toys.

Maybe it leads to Pop finding himself again. I remember in the 03 dvd Pop early in the season after a loss describing the team making "young type mistakes" and how hopefully they could improve. That's what the Spurs need again, Pop to be forced to let the youth try and grow and succeed/fail like in 03.

So to sum up, my realistic dream roster:

TP/Hill/2nd rounder
Manu/Hairston/2nd rounder
Bowen?/Sanikidze/Hairston/M.Williams
Mahinmi/Gist/D-League
Duncan/maybe Javtokas/Gist/d-league

That's a team that could just as crappily lose to the Mavs in the first round with zero help for TP and TD and everyone else shooting 0-15 or whatever and grabbing 1 rebound and committing crucial turnovers.

They could to it cheaper with more potential to be better.

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

Gist's team has outside chance for Italian playoffs. it will be close but maybe they make it. If they make it wait to see how he does in playoffs against real competition before you judge him.

[mountainballer]

if you just take the overrating and the underrating from this thread and mix it, we might be right there.
of course Gist wouldn't be able to solve our problems if he joins the Spurs this summer and I also don't think he has starter potential long term, but I do believe he can develop into a decent role player within some years.
fact is, the Spurs do need his type of player and it's also obvious they know it.
reportedly they have been quite interested in Travis Outlaw in the last years and Outlaw comes very close to what could be the best case scenario for Gist. both have very similar qualities and also very similar flaws, especially when talking about ball handling and bbiq. Outlaw has developed into a more than decent role player on a meanwhile very good team. Gist might nor have the same upside, but I don't see a reason why he shouldn't play this role on a future Spurs team.
he did devlop quite nice this year in Italy and the fact that Biella is overachieving is also a result of his impact. (they were expected to be one of the bottom teams, but won 4 out of the last 5 and are now almost qualified for the PO). Gist sometimes gets into foul troubles quickly and therefore has some bust games, but it's not that he was the second coming of Ian in this regard. his 13ppg and 6rpg ( in 27 minutes) are very nice numbers, even if the Italian league isn't any more what it was when Manu played there, but it's still light years ahead of the D-league.

overall I think the example of Outlaw showes that you can turn this type of player into something, if you are patient and give him the chance to play, just what the Blazers did. (ok, maybe Spurs should leave him in Europe for another year or two, the chance that he ends up in the D league when he comes in this year is to big and d league usually means lost years for any somehow talented player)

[biziofromdowntown]

if you just take the overrating and the underrating from this thread and mix it, we might be right there.
of course Gist wouldn't be able to solve our problems if he joins the Spurs this summer and I also don't think he has starter potential long term, but I do believe he can develop into a decent role player within some years.
fact is, the Spurs do need his type of player and it's also obvious they know it.
reportedly they have been quite interested in Travis Outlaw in the last years and Outlaw comes very close to what could be the best case scenario for Gist. both have very similar qualities and also very similar flaws, especially when talking about ball handling and bbiq. Outlaw has developed into a more than decent role player on a meanwhile very good team. Gist might nor have the same upside, but I don't see a reason why he shouldn't play this role on a future Spurs team.
he did devlop quite nice this year in Italy and the fact that Biella is overachieving is also a result of his impact. (they were expected to be one of the bottom teams, but won 4 out of the last 5 and are now almost qualified for the PO). Gist sometimes gets into foul troubles quickly and therefore has some bust games, but it's not that he was the second coming of Ian in this regard. his 13ppg and 6rpg ( in 27 minutes) are very nice numbers, even if the Italian league isn't any more what it was when Manu played there, but it's still light years ahead of the D-league.

overall I think the example of Outlaw showes that you can turn this type of player into something, if you are patient and give him the chance to play, just what the Blazers did. (ok, maybe Spurs should leave him in Europe for another year or two, the chance that he ends up in the D league when he comes in this year is to big and d league usually means lost years for any somehow talented player)

perfect!

Outlaw comparision is the closer thing i've in my mind, but i think Gist should be better than Travis too, all depends by his mind.

If we r goin to leave James in Europe i hope we will send him to a Euroleague level team.