duncan228
10-08-2009, 12:32 AM
Popovich: First few games all about evaluation (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Popovich_First_few_games_all_about_evaluation.html )
Mike Monroe
The Spurs won't worry about honing their games to regular-season sharpness until the final few preseason games. For now, the games are all about evaluation.
Fourteen Spurs players have guaranteed contracts, but it appears the club intends to go with the NBA-allowed maximum roster of 15 players. Between now and opening night, the basketball staff must decide among the four non-guaranteed players in camp: Malik Hairston, Marcus Williams, Curtis Jerrells and Dwayne Jones.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who despises having to tell players they've been waived, relishes the opportunity the first few preseason games afford him to make personnel judgments.
“I love these first few games because all I do is evaluate,” he said. “We need to make some tough roster decisions about some of these young guys, so all I worry about is evaluating them.”
Indeed, Popovich didn't even suit up Tim Duncan, Michael Finley, Tony Parker, Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff when the Spurs opened the preseason against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday at the AT&T Center.
All four of the “bubble” players logged at least 151/2 minutes. Hairston, who played 15 regular-season games with the Spurs last season, made four of seven shots, scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds.
“I thought Malik played well last night,” Parker said. “I thought he was aggressive, and he didn't force anything.
“That's the main thing when you're a young guy. You want to make sure you understand the system, and Malik did a good job of that.”
Rating camp: New big man McDyess declared after just one week that the Spurs' training camp was the best in which he had participated in 13 years in the NBA.
New small forward Richard Jefferson wasn't quite as definitive but nonetheless pleased with the camp's structure and professionalism.
“Obviously, Pop knows what he's doing,” Jefferson said. “The guys here work extremely hard. He doesn't feel the pressure to feel, ‘Oh, I've got to get this guy in shape; or this person didn't do this or that; or this person doesn't work hard, and if we're going to get him what he needs, we're going to have to get extra shots in practice.'”
Mike Monroe
The Spurs won't worry about honing their games to regular-season sharpness until the final few preseason games. For now, the games are all about evaluation.
Fourteen Spurs players have guaranteed contracts, but it appears the club intends to go with the NBA-allowed maximum roster of 15 players. Between now and opening night, the basketball staff must decide among the four non-guaranteed players in camp: Malik Hairston, Marcus Williams, Curtis Jerrells and Dwayne Jones.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who despises having to tell players they've been waived, relishes the opportunity the first few preseason games afford him to make personnel judgments.
“I love these first few games because all I do is evaluate,” he said. “We need to make some tough roster decisions about some of these young guys, so all I worry about is evaluating them.”
Indeed, Popovich didn't even suit up Tim Duncan, Michael Finley, Tony Parker, Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff when the Spurs opened the preseason against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday at the AT&T Center.
All four of the “bubble” players logged at least 151/2 minutes. Hairston, who played 15 regular-season games with the Spurs last season, made four of seven shots, scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds.
“I thought Malik played well last night,” Parker said. “I thought he was aggressive, and he didn't force anything.
“That's the main thing when you're a young guy. You want to make sure you understand the system, and Malik did a good job of that.”
Rating camp: New big man McDyess declared after just one week that the Spurs' training camp was the best in which he had participated in 13 years in the NBA.
New small forward Richard Jefferson wasn't quite as definitive but nonetheless pleased with the camp's structure and professionalism.
“Obviously, Pop knows what he's doing,” Jefferson said. “The guys here work extremely hard. He doesn't feel the pressure to feel, ‘Oh, I've got to get this guy in shape; or this person didn't do this or that; or this person doesn't work hard, and if we're going to get him what he needs, we're going to have to get extra shots in practice.'”