mazerrackham
07-15-2009, 03:37 AM
I didn't see any timvp game thoughts or anything so I thought I'd put a few of my own thoughts out there. I apologize for the un-aligned box scores but no matter what I did I couldn't get them to line up....frustration...
Malik Hairston
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
7-11 1-2 2-2 2 1 4 0 2 1 17 30:48
To me, Malik Hairston once again proved that he can be an effective shooter. Both games I've seen him shoot open shots with confidence, and he's shot at a high percentage in this summer league. This helps his case for earning playing time next season. If he can continue to put forth the hustle to be a good wing defender like he did last year when I saw him guard Lebron James, then I'm all for lobbying for him to crack the rotation in a bowen-like "cooler" role. I've been impressed overall with Hairston's showing in these two games that he has the ability to score from the perimeter. I'm not sure if this was just my incorrect assumption, but I think last year I rarely saw him shooting from the outside, so this is a good sign.
James Gist
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
2-4 0-0 1-2 4 0 3 0 3 0 5 18:37
For the second straight game, I wish I saw more of Gist being aggressive and showcasing his skills. He only put him 4 shot attempts and for the second straight game he got a dunk/layup attempt emphatically swatted away. He seems to not know how to get his shot up around big defenders. I'm somewhat confused that I haven't seen James play any small forward in these summer league games that I can remember, as in interviews and posts on this forum it seemed to me that Gist's best chance for breaking the Spurs rotation was as a backup 3. As a side-note, this is only going off of a few sample memories, but I remember Gist on a few possessions showing solid trapping and pick and roll defense out on the perimeter. I distinctly remember a few possessions where I liked his defense on the perimeter, but then when he got down and had to guard someone in the post, he was abused.
Ian Mahinmi
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
4-9 0-0 4-6 16 0 10 0 3 2 12 28:10
This game was a much better showing from the big man Ian Mahinmi. He was active the whole game on both the offensive and defensive end, and it showed in the boxscore in the form of 16 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. One of the things I most wanted to see from Mahinmi was his ability to defend the lane, and I thought he showed active help defense and had two emphatic blocked shots, both of which impressed me. Some might be concerned by the 10 fouls that Mahinmi was tacked with, but as has been stated already, the reffing was horrible, and many of those fouls were ticky tack fouls. I didn't see much of Mahinmi posting up on offense this game, the Spurs didn't seem to find him in the post much. However, I did notice he worked to get deep position twice and was rewarded both times with a basket, or at least a foul and going to the free throw line. This is a good sign with the questions that have been brought up about his lower body strength. Overall, I was impressed with Ian's energy and intensity, and am not terribly worried about his fouls. If there's one thing that I think Ian needs to improve on, it's being stronger after the whistle blows. I thought he had at least one or two chances to earn an and-1 but he didn't muscle his way through it.
Jack McClinton
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
0-2 0-1 0-0 1 4 2 0 1 0 0 10:57
I'm not going to spend too much time here, because Jack didn't play a whole ton of time and was essentially a ghost for the second straight game. I thought his two shot attempts were the right decisions for what its worth, but once again he failed to put the ball in the bucket. Overall, I was at least happy that he found some of his teammates in position to score. I thought he had a few nice assists, especially the quick outlet to James gist for the and-1 on the fast break. This is somewhat encouraging. If he can bring the shot-making and defensive ability that he was reported to have, and he shows good vision to be able to make the pass like he did in limited minutes today, he could turn into a good prospect. Not much to see yet, though, as he was once again relegated to the bench in crunch time.
George Hill
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
5-12 0-2 6-7 2 2 5 2 2 0 16 34:03
Overall, George Hill did an effective job of leading the Spurs summer league squad. More than the first game, George Hill shot midrange jumpers this game and knocked them down. He didn't score all that much, but he was the man with the ball in his hands in crunch time, and I thought he made good decisions for the most part. I wish he would show more ability to find his teammates in positions to score, as I've not been overly impressed with his passing ability, but I think his dribbling and scoring ability is improving along with his decisions off of pick and rolls, so he is still progressing. The one thing that worries me from this game, is the full court press situation. The Spurs at one point turned it over three straight possessions to the Denver full court press. That is absolutely unacceptable. It's true that GHill's teammates did not help him beat the press much, as beating the press is a team effort, but what concerns me, is that when Denver showed the press, and put two defenders near GHill so that the ball wouldn't be inbounded to him, GHill seemed to just sit there and accept letting the ball be inbounded to one of the worse dribblers. He needs to show assertiveness and urgency in the press, and continue scrambling to get open and help his teammates instead of just sitting there passively with the attitude of I'm double covered, somebody else get open. Also he made 1 or 2 long long passes trying to beat the press that were really just lobs. Press-beating passes need to be crisp and shorter distance than what he was throwing up. I'm dogging on his passiveness against the press, but I thought he did fine when he was dribbling through defensive pressure, he just didn't make the right passes to beat the press, and was content to sit there and let his teammates try to beat the press at times. Also, as a side note, I saw Hill get a block even though it didn't show in the box score.
Romel Beck
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
6-11 1-3 1-2 2 0 2 0 2 1 14 26:19
I'll conclude with Romel Beck as he's the only other guy worth mentioning. I'm not going to spend a lot of time analyzing him, because I think there's not much to see. He's proven to be a good-looking scorer, but I don't think he can bring much else to the table. He shoots jumpshots with confidence, and takes advantages of openings that let him attack the rim as well. However, as others have noted, he cannot dribble unless he has a straight line to the basket, and I don't think his defense will ever be effective enough at the NBA level. I'll pretty much end here, because however good he's looked, there's not going to be a spot for Beck on the Spurs roster, though I suppose he might get an invite to camp.
To finish, I think Hill still needs to work on his assertiveness against the press, I think he has the ability and has shown the ability to keep his dribble against pressure defense, but as the ball-handler, he can't sit back and let his teammates try to beat the press, he needs to take control and make the decisions. Ian Mahinmi seems to be working off the rust and had a very active game with little negatives except for the many fouls (most of which were undeserved). Denver liked to run up and down, and Mahinmi did a good job of staying with the frantic pace the whole time. I hope the Spurs run a few plays to just let Ian work in the post next game, just so we can continue to see that part of his game, and I hope he gets stronger in finishing moves. Comment and tell me where I'm wrong as I'm sure I've probably made some evaluations that could be improved on, but as I love reading other people's game thoughts I thought I'd put this out there for the Spurstalk enjoyment.
:flag: :downspin: :lobt2:
Malik Hairston
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
7-11 1-2 2-2 2 1 4 0 2 1 17 30:48
To me, Malik Hairston once again proved that he can be an effective shooter. Both games I've seen him shoot open shots with confidence, and he's shot at a high percentage in this summer league. This helps his case for earning playing time next season. If he can continue to put forth the hustle to be a good wing defender like he did last year when I saw him guard Lebron James, then I'm all for lobbying for him to crack the rotation in a bowen-like "cooler" role. I've been impressed overall with Hairston's showing in these two games that he has the ability to score from the perimeter. I'm not sure if this was just my incorrect assumption, but I think last year I rarely saw him shooting from the outside, so this is a good sign.
James Gist
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
2-4 0-0 1-2 4 0 3 0 3 0 5 18:37
For the second straight game, I wish I saw more of Gist being aggressive and showcasing his skills. He only put him 4 shot attempts and for the second straight game he got a dunk/layup attempt emphatically swatted away. He seems to not know how to get his shot up around big defenders. I'm somewhat confused that I haven't seen James play any small forward in these summer league games that I can remember, as in interviews and posts on this forum it seemed to me that Gist's best chance for breaking the Spurs rotation was as a backup 3. As a side-note, this is only going off of a few sample memories, but I remember Gist on a few possessions showing solid trapping and pick and roll defense out on the perimeter. I distinctly remember a few possessions where I liked his defense on the perimeter, but then when he got down and had to guard someone in the post, he was abused.
Ian Mahinmi
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
4-9 0-0 4-6 16 0 10 0 3 2 12 28:10
This game was a much better showing from the big man Ian Mahinmi. He was active the whole game on both the offensive and defensive end, and it showed in the boxscore in the form of 16 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. One of the things I most wanted to see from Mahinmi was his ability to defend the lane, and I thought he showed active help defense and had two emphatic blocked shots, both of which impressed me. Some might be concerned by the 10 fouls that Mahinmi was tacked with, but as has been stated already, the reffing was horrible, and many of those fouls were ticky tack fouls. I didn't see much of Mahinmi posting up on offense this game, the Spurs didn't seem to find him in the post much. However, I did notice he worked to get deep position twice and was rewarded both times with a basket, or at least a foul and going to the free throw line. This is a good sign with the questions that have been brought up about his lower body strength. Overall, I was impressed with Ian's energy and intensity, and am not terribly worried about his fouls. If there's one thing that I think Ian needs to improve on, it's being stronger after the whistle blows. I thought he had at least one or two chances to earn an and-1 but he didn't muscle his way through it.
Jack McClinton
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
0-2 0-1 0-0 1 4 2 0 1 0 0 10:57
I'm not going to spend too much time here, because Jack didn't play a whole ton of time and was essentially a ghost for the second straight game. I thought his two shot attempts were the right decisions for what its worth, but once again he failed to put the ball in the bucket. Overall, I was at least happy that he found some of his teammates in position to score. I thought he had a few nice assists, especially the quick outlet to James gist for the and-1 on the fast break. This is somewhat encouraging. If he can bring the shot-making and defensive ability that he was reported to have, and he shows good vision to be able to make the pass like he did in limited minutes today, he could turn into a good prospect. Not much to see yet, though, as he was once again relegated to the bench in crunch time.
George Hill
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
5-12 0-2 6-7 2 2 5 2 2 0 16 34:03
Overall, George Hill did an effective job of leading the Spurs summer league squad. More than the first game, George Hill shot midrange jumpers this game and knocked them down. He didn't score all that much, but he was the man with the ball in his hands in crunch time, and I thought he made good decisions for the most part. I wish he would show more ability to find his teammates in positions to score, as I've not been overly impressed with his passing ability, but I think his dribbling and scoring ability is improving along with his decisions off of pick and rolls, so he is still progressing. The one thing that worries me from this game, is the full court press situation. The Spurs at one point turned it over three straight possessions to the Denver full court press. That is absolutely unacceptable. It's true that GHill's teammates did not help him beat the press much, as beating the press is a team effort, but what concerns me, is that when Denver showed the press, and put two defenders near GHill so that the ball wouldn't be inbounded to him, GHill seemed to just sit there and accept letting the ball be inbounded to one of the worse dribblers. He needs to show assertiveness and urgency in the press, and continue scrambling to get open and help his teammates instead of just sitting there passively with the attitude of I'm double covered, somebody else get open. Also he made 1 or 2 long long passes trying to beat the press that were really just lobs. Press-beating passes need to be crisp and shorter distance than what he was throwing up. I'm dogging on his passiveness against the press, but I thought he did fine when he was dribbling through defensive pressure, he just didn't make the right passes to beat the press, and was content to sit there and let his teammates try to beat the press at times. Also, as a side note, I saw Hill get a block even though it didn't show in the box score.
Romel Beck
FG 3pt FT REB AST PF ST TO BS PTS Playing Time
6-11 1-3 1-2 2 0 2 0 2 1 14 26:19
I'll conclude with Romel Beck as he's the only other guy worth mentioning. I'm not going to spend a lot of time analyzing him, because I think there's not much to see. He's proven to be a good-looking scorer, but I don't think he can bring much else to the table. He shoots jumpshots with confidence, and takes advantages of openings that let him attack the rim as well. However, as others have noted, he cannot dribble unless he has a straight line to the basket, and I don't think his defense will ever be effective enough at the NBA level. I'll pretty much end here, because however good he's looked, there's not going to be a spot for Beck on the Spurs roster, though I suppose he might get an invite to camp.
To finish, I think Hill still needs to work on his assertiveness against the press, I think he has the ability and has shown the ability to keep his dribble against pressure defense, but as the ball-handler, he can't sit back and let his teammates try to beat the press, he needs to take control and make the decisions. Ian Mahinmi seems to be working off the rust and had a very active game with little negatives except for the many fouls (most of which were undeserved). Denver liked to run up and down, and Mahinmi did a good job of staying with the frantic pace the whole time. I hope the Spurs run a few plays to just let Ian work in the post next game, just so we can continue to see that part of his game, and I hope he gets stronger in finishing moves. Comment and tell me where I'm wrong as I'm sure I've probably made some evaluations that could be improved on, but as I love reading other people's game thoughts I thought I'd put this out there for the Spurstalk enjoyment.
:flag: :downspin: :lobt2: