timvp
07-17-2009, 02:04 AM
The Spurs got their third victory in three games on Thursday night against the Thunder. As has been the case so far in summer league, the Spurs struggled a bit early on before stepping on the gas at the end of the game. This time around, San Antonio outscored Oklahoma City 29-17 in the fourth stanza to win 85-76.
It took a while but the offense started rolling near the end of the contest. The turnovers were held in check and the summer league stars were able to take over for the Spurs.
All in all, it was another impressive outing and there were a lot of positives that arose from this performance.
George Hill
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.e1d/img/4.0/global/basketball/nba/players/4488.jpg
30 minutes, 20 points, nine assists, five rebounds, three steals, six turnovers
7-for-11 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers, 6-for-7 at the line
To begin the ballgame, George Hill didn't answer the bell. He was sloppy with the basketball and his lack of playmaking was stagnating the offense. But as the game went along, Hill became more and more productive. By the end of the contest, there was no doubt that he was the best player on the court.
In the first two outings, Hill didn't get to show off many point guard skills. Tonight, especially in the final three quarters, he ran the show smoothly. He found shooters in rhythm, hit cutters as they moved toward the rim and fed the bigs on time.
Hill's ability to finish at the rim during these summer league games has been especially impressive. Depending on the situation, he's choosing the correct way to finish -- whether it's a teardrop, a reverse layup, a pull-up jumper or a thunderous dunk.
Defensively, he had another quality showing and his playing of the passing lanes made life difficult for the Thunder. He's also proving to have a knack for picking up loose balls before others can react.
On paper, his turnovers are a concern but the coaching staff has been adamant that they'd rather have Hill turn it over too much rather than play passively. With that in mind, they surely will overlook his six turnovers and smile at the rest of his stat line.
DeJuan Blair
http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2009/06/small_BLAIR.jpg
27 minutes, 20 points, five rebounds, one steal, two turnovers
8-for-11 from the field, 4-for-4 at the line
With the ink dry on his new four-year contract, DeJuan Blair was back in action. Although he's known for his rebounding, against Okahoma City he illustrated that he's not a one-trick beast. This beast can also score.
Surprisingly, his scoring came in a variety of shapes and sizes. He penetrated off the dribble from the three-point line. He authored a few masterful post moves. He hit soft, quick shots in the lane. And, as expected, he powered through defenders have corralling offensive rebounds.
I'm also increasingly more impressed with his basketball IQ. Although he's built like a brute, he understands the game, makes the right pass and plays with a high amount of confidence.
His rebounding wasn't as dominant in this game but there were a lot of long boards in the affair. He usually gobbled up the rebounds in his vicinity. Against more athletic players, he'll need to boxout a little bit better but I'm confident he'll figure that out.
The only other critiques I have are on the defensive end. He doesn't use his strength as well as possible, yet. He also isn't aggressive enough when it comes to coming back into the lane and protecting the rim. The good news is those are correctable issues that should quickly be ironed out.
Overall, Blair is displaying an exciting amount of talent and potential for a 20-year-old second round pick. At the moment, he appears to be destined for the regular season rotation.
Ian Mahinmi
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3954.jpg
31 minutes, 13 points, five rebounds, two blocked shots, three turnovers
3-for-4 from the field, 7-for-8 at the line
Ian Mahinmi continues to make strides in a positive direction. His number weren't as eye-catching as his last outing but this was arguably his best game to date. Perhaps most importantly, Mahinmi totaled only two personal fouls in 31 minutes -- a major improvement from his ten fouls in 28 minutes a couple days ago.
Compared to the first summer league game, his mobility is night and day. He played extremely light on his feet, ran well and his bursts of quickness were impressive. In a matter of a few days, Mahinmi seems to have put the ankle injury behind him.
Rebounding is another area where he showed good potential. He plucked a number of boards out of the air that required a lot of coordination. For a guy whose clumsiness is one of his weaknesses, that's definitely an encouraging sign.
Due to his improved mobility, Mahinmi also was able to alter a number of shots in addition to his two blocks.
Right now, he's rounding into a legit NBA prospect in front of our eyes. He still needs to work on making his game more fluid and not being as robotic when he has the ball in traffic, but he's getting there. It's still difficult to figure out how his game will translate when he's going up against NBA players but at least the rust seems to have been shaken off.
Malik Hairston
http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics9/160/IV/IVQOLVELYDJJECW.20071211235940.jpg
34 minutes, 16 points, six rebounds, one blocked shot, four turnovers
7-for-13 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers, 2-for-2 at the line
In a word, Malik Hairston was solid. He just played 34 minutes of rock solid basketball.
Defensively, Hairston had a few spectacular moments. He's starting to really buy into being a defensive stopper and showed a good amount of promise in that department. He moves his feet well, he's not afraid to body up to his opponent and he uses his explosive springs to challenge shots.
On the offensive end, he's been really good when he has kept it simple. Sometimes he tries to do too much but when he just shoots open jumpers or attacks the rim with two dribbles and a power jump, he's very efficient.
After a pair of underwhelming efforts on the glass, Hairston led the team in rebounding. If he can add consistent rebounding to his repertoire, he has a real chance of carving out an NBA niche.
From here on out, let's see if Hairston can keep up this consistent level of play. If he can, his chances of making the team should be high.
James Gist
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/rivals/full.48103/768d6dbd83e734380a291f9ca8732201/james-gist.jpg
12 minutes, five points, four rebounds
2-for-6 from the field, 1-for-1 at the line
James Gist continues to look discombobulated. Somehow, that season in Europe altered his game to the point that he doesn't utilize the strengths that made him a summer league phenom last year. Instead of being a hustle, energy bigman, he's now a hesitant, unconfident perimeter player.
Here and there, he goes back to the basics and his athleticism allows him to make plays. But those plays aren't occurring often enough and, as a result, Gist appears to be much more of a project than he looked last summer.
After the summer league is complete, the Spurs and Gist need to sit down and figure out whether he's going to be a small forward or a power forward and whether Europe or Austin is the best venue for his development.
Jack McClinton
http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/61/612038.jpg
14 minutes, two rebounds
0-for-4 from the field
The summer league struggles continue for Jack McClinton. He's now 0-for-8 in the three games and has the appearance of someone who is totally overwhelmed.
The Spurs have been running plays to try to get him going but it hasn't worked thus far. One made basket would probably do wonders for McClinton's confidence -- but that one basket is proving to be more difficult than anyone could have imagined.
Defensively, he didn't look very good tonight. He didn't get an opportunity to run the show for any length of time. McClinton's only positive impact were a couple of long rebounds.
Hopefully in one of these final two games McClinton can hit his first shot and find a groove. Until then, it's going to continue to be ugly.
Romel Beck
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l5ZsM8CSuYE/R7KZXxHuLzI/AAAAAAAAACk/_k5W0zJfxaM/s320/79497.jpg
26 minutes, six points, two rebounds, two turnovers
1-for-4 from the field, 1-for-1 on three-pointers, 3-for-4 at the line
Romel Beck was in the starting lineup but didn't do much to justify the promotion. His negatives -- ballhandling, dribbling and passing -- were on full display. His positives -- shooting and scoring -- were missing in action.
For the Toros, Beck could be a very useful piece. For the Spurs? I don't see it.
Stephane Lasme
http://photo.adriaticbasket.net/albums/userpics/other/stephane_lasme.jpg
10 minutes, five points, one rebound, two turnovers
2-for-3 from the field, 1-for-2 at the line
Stephane Lasme played well his last time out. This time, he came back down to earth. Lasme's effort was there but he couldn't sustain any positive momentum.
In one of the final two games, I expect Lasme to get a long run so that he can show more of what he can and can't do.
Donell Taylor
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3998.jpg
13 minutes, two rebounds, two assists, three turnovers
0-for-4 from the floor
Wow. This guy was really bad. How Donell Taylor has played nearly 100 games in the NBA is a mystery. He hasn't shown anything resembling NBA talent so far in the three games. Taylor has literally fallen down while dribbling half a dozen times, routinely dribbles the ball off of his leg and his passing instincts are non-existence.
Let's hope he has at least cashed well in the casinos.
It took a while but the offense started rolling near the end of the contest. The turnovers were held in check and the summer league stars were able to take over for the Spurs.
All in all, it was another impressive outing and there were a lot of positives that arose from this performance.
George Hill
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.e1d/img/4.0/global/basketball/nba/players/4488.jpg
30 minutes, 20 points, nine assists, five rebounds, three steals, six turnovers
7-for-11 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers, 6-for-7 at the line
To begin the ballgame, George Hill didn't answer the bell. He was sloppy with the basketball and his lack of playmaking was stagnating the offense. But as the game went along, Hill became more and more productive. By the end of the contest, there was no doubt that he was the best player on the court.
In the first two outings, Hill didn't get to show off many point guard skills. Tonight, especially in the final three quarters, he ran the show smoothly. He found shooters in rhythm, hit cutters as they moved toward the rim and fed the bigs on time.
Hill's ability to finish at the rim during these summer league games has been especially impressive. Depending on the situation, he's choosing the correct way to finish -- whether it's a teardrop, a reverse layup, a pull-up jumper or a thunderous dunk.
Defensively, he had another quality showing and his playing of the passing lanes made life difficult for the Thunder. He's also proving to have a knack for picking up loose balls before others can react.
On paper, his turnovers are a concern but the coaching staff has been adamant that they'd rather have Hill turn it over too much rather than play passively. With that in mind, they surely will overlook his six turnovers and smile at the rest of his stat line.
DeJuan Blair
http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2009/06/small_BLAIR.jpg
27 minutes, 20 points, five rebounds, one steal, two turnovers
8-for-11 from the field, 4-for-4 at the line
With the ink dry on his new four-year contract, DeJuan Blair was back in action. Although he's known for his rebounding, against Okahoma City he illustrated that he's not a one-trick beast. This beast can also score.
Surprisingly, his scoring came in a variety of shapes and sizes. He penetrated off the dribble from the three-point line. He authored a few masterful post moves. He hit soft, quick shots in the lane. And, as expected, he powered through defenders have corralling offensive rebounds.
I'm also increasingly more impressed with his basketball IQ. Although he's built like a brute, he understands the game, makes the right pass and plays with a high amount of confidence.
His rebounding wasn't as dominant in this game but there were a lot of long boards in the affair. He usually gobbled up the rebounds in his vicinity. Against more athletic players, he'll need to boxout a little bit better but I'm confident he'll figure that out.
The only other critiques I have are on the defensive end. He doesn't use his strength as well as possible, yet. He also isn't aggressive enough when it comes to coming back into the lane and protecting the rim. The good news is those are correctable issues that should quickly be ironed out.
Overall, Blair is displaying an exciting amount of talent and potential for a 20-year-old second round pick. At the moment, he appears to be destined for the regular season rotation.
Ian Mahinmi
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3954.jpg
31 minutes, 13 points, five rebounds, two blocked shots, three turnovers
3-for-4 from the field, 7-for-8 at the line
Ian Mahinmi continues to make strides in a positive direction. His number weren't as eye-catching as his last outing but this was arguably his best game to date. Perhaps most importantly, Mahinmi totaled only two personal fouls in 31 minutes -- a major improvement from his ten fouls in 28 minutes a couple days ago.
Compared to the first summer league game, his mobility is night and day. He played extremely light on his feet, ran well and his bursts of quickness were impressive. In a matter of a few days, Mahinmi seems to have put the ankle injury behind him.
Rebounding is another area where he showed good potential. He plucked a number of boards out of the air that required a lot of coordination. For a guy whose clumsiness is one of his weaknesses, that's definitely an encouraging sign.
Due to his improved mobility, Mahinmi also was able to alter a number of shots in addition to his two blocks.
Right now, he's rounding into a legit NBA prospect in front of our eyes. He still needs to work on making his game more fluid and not being as robotic when he has the ball in traffic, but he's getting there. It's still difficult to figure out how his game will translate when he's going up against NBA players but at least the rust seems to have been shaken off.
Malik Hairston
http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics9/160/IV/IVQOLVELYDJJECW.20071211235940.jpg
34 minutes, 16 points, six rebounds, one blocked shot, four turnovers
7-for-13 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers, 2-for-2 at the line
In a word, Malik Hairston was solid. He just played 34 minutes of rock solid basketball.
Defensively, Hairston had a few spectacular moments. He's starting to really buy into being a defensive stopper and showed a good amount of promise in that department. He moves his feet well, he's not afraid to body up to his opponent and he uses his explosive springs to challenge shots.
On the offensive end, he's been really good when he has kept it simple. Sometimes he tries to do too much but when he just shoots open jumpers or attacks the rim with two dribbles and a power jump, he's very efficient.
After a pair of underwhelming efforts on the glass, Hairston led the team in rebounding. If he can add consistent rebounding to his repertoire, he has a real chance of carving out an NBA niche.
From here on out, let's see if Hairston can keep up this consistent level of play. If he can, his chances of making the team should be high.
James Gist
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/rivals/full.48103/768d6dbd83e734380a291f9ca8732201/james-gist.jpg
12 minutes, five points, four rebounds
2-for-6 from the field, 1-for-1 at the line
James Gist continues to look discombobulated. Somehow, that season in Europe altered his game to the point that he doesn't utilize the strengths that made him a summer league phenom last year. Instead of being a hustle, energy bigman, he's now a hesitant, unconfident perimeter player.
Here and there, he goes back to the basics and his athleticism allows him to make plays. But those plays aren't occurring often enough and, as a result, Gist appears to be much more of a project than he looked last summer.
After the summer league is complete, the Spurs and Gist need to sit down and figure out whether he's going to be a small forward or a power forward and whether Europe or Austin is the best venue for his development.
Jack McClinton
http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/61/612038.jpg
14 minutes, two rebounds
0-for-4 from the field
The summer league struggles continue for Jack McClinton. He's now 0-for-8 in the three games and has the appearance of someone who is totally overwhelmed.
The Spurs have been running plays to try to get him going but it hasn't worked thus far. One made basket would probably do wonders for McClinton's confidence -- but that one basket is proving to be more difficult than anyone could have imagined.
Defensively, he didn't look very good tonight. He didn't get an opportunity to run the show for any length of time. McClinton's only positive impact were a couple of long rebounds.
Hopefully in one of these final two games McClinton can hit his first shot and find a groove. Until then, it's going to continue to be ugly.
Romel Beck
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l5ZsM8CSuYE/R7KZXxHuLzI/AAAAAAAAACk/_k5W0zJfxaM/s320/79497.jpg
26 minutes, six points, two rebounds, two turnovers
1-for-4 from the field, 1-for-1 on three-pointers, 3-for-4 at the line
Romel Beck was in the starting lineup but didn't do much to justify the promotion. His negatives -- ballhandling, dribbling and passing -- were on full display. His positives -- shooting and scoring -- were missing in action.
For the Toros, Beck could be a very useful piece. For the Spurs? I don't see it.
Stephane Lasme
http://photo.adriaticbasket.net/albums/userpics/other/stephane_lasme.jpg
10 minutes, five points, one rebound, two turnovers
2-for-3 from the field, 1-for-2 at the line
Stephane Lasme played well his last time out. This time, he came back down to earth. Lasme's effort was there but he couldn't sustain any positive momentum.
In one of the final two games, I expect Lasme to get a long run so that he can show more of what he can and can't do.
Donell Taylor
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3998.jpg
13 minutes, two rebounds, two assists, three turnovers
0-for-4 from the floor
Wow. This guy was really bad. How Donell Taylor has played nearly 100 games in the NBA is a mystery. He hasn't shown anything resembling NBA talent so far in the three games. Taylor has literally fallen down while dribbling half a dozen times, routinely dribbles the ball off of his leg and his passing instincts are non-existence.
Let's hope he has at least cashed well in the casinos.