Blackjack
01-12-2010, 12:57 PM
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mahinmi? (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/2010/01/12/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-mahinmi/)
by Andrew A. McNeil
As a bench player in basketball, you’re told the best way to earn playing time is to play hard in practice and make the most of the minutes you’re given during the game. If this is the mantra that Coach Popovich subscribes to, on Sunday night Ian Mahinmi earned himself some more minutes, somewhere down the road.
As Tim discussed in his recap of the Spurs win (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/2010/01/11/new-jersey-nets-85-san-antonio-spurs-97/) over the New Jersey Nets, Mahinmi, in his first game action in two years, scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 21 minutes of play. He also chipped in a block and an assist. He was the talk of the game, and for good season.
He showed some small flashes of a talented big man throughout the game. Most people will point out the series where he blocked a shot from Courtney Lee on the defensive end and finished the break on the other end with a dunk, but my eyes went to a couple other plays. Both came in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs had built a double-digit lead.
On one, the Nets went to a zone defense and the Spurs rotated the ball around trying to find a soft spot. Mahinmi was able to flash into the middle of the lane and seal off the weak-side guard. He received the entry pass deep in the lane and with that position, it is nearly impossible to stop a big man as athletic as Ian and he finished with a dunk. That knowledge of where to be in spacing is something that a lot of young bigs struggle with, especially when a team switches to a zone defense.
The second play that caught my eye was also in the fourth quarter, when Mahinmi was able to get some space along the baseline after a teammate drove to the basket. He received a kick-out about 12 feet from the basket and drained the jumpshot. It was an extremely slow release, but he showed good form on his shot nonetheless. The jumper from the short corner put a nice cap on Mahinmi’s 6-for-6 night from the field and 3-for-4 from the free throw line.
It wasn’t a perfect night, though. Mahinmi showed nothing resembling a back-to-the-basket game and defensively, he looked a half-step slow in the first half, but that’s something you can expect from a young player who hasn’t logged NBA minutes in two years. That split-second delay in timing led to a several baskets in the lane for the Nets and a couple of foul calls, that a player like Tim Duncan or Antonio McDyess would not pick up.
Though other fouls he committed seemed like the referees were just picking on him, including an illegal screen he was called for in the final period. Mahinmi received his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, but to his credit, he avoided picking up a sixth foul and played the entire fourth quarter.
Mahinmi’s timing improved as the game wore on, and he did a solid job guarding Brook Lopez, one of the Eastern Conference’s better big men. He battled with Lopez in the post and did well to deny Lopez entry passes throughout, though he picked up a couple fouls for his aggressiveness.
One thing I noticed when watching Mahinmi on defense, is that he doesn’t show on pick-and-rolls. When his man sets a screen on the Spur guarding the ball, instead of helping to slow down the player with the ball and allow his teammate to get back in the play, he hangs back and let’s the ball handler come off of the screen free. I don’t know if that’s by design or defensive mistake that he is repeatedly making, but it’s different than how other Spur bigs defend the play. The same quarter McDyess was showing on screens, so it’s something to keep an eye on when Mahinmi plays again.
Speaking of Mahinmi playing, when is that supposed to happen again?
Honestly, it’s hard to say. No one was expecting Mahinmi to be active on Sunday night, and the Spurs were playing the Nets, owners of the NBA’s worst record. Tonight, they play the Los Angeles Lakers, the team boasting the NBA’s best record. Coach Popovich very well could’ve activated and played Mahinmi against the Nets to give some relief to his normal frontcourt rotation; Tim Duncan didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter against the Nets.
Going along with that line of thinking, it’s hard to predict when or if Mahinmi were to play again. The Spurs don’t have a two consecutive games with such a drastic shift in record the rest of the season, obviously. What may be the more likely scenario is playing Mahinmi on the first or second night of a back-to-back, against a weaker team. San Antonio plays the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday and the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, so there’s a possibility we could see more Mahinmi this weekend.
But what are the Spurs doing with Mahinmi? Are they bringing him along slowly, playing him against weaker teams in order to develop him and build his confidence? With the Spurs passing on picking up Mahinmi’s option year (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/2009/10/29/spurs-will-not-pick-up-option-on-ian-mahinmi/) back in October, I think that ship has sailed. I’d speculate that the Spurs don’t think Mahinmi is their type of player and they are playing him now to showcase him as trade bait.
The NBA’s trade deadline is less than five weeks away and if the Spurs hope to get anything in return for Mahinmi, instead of simply letting him walk this summer, they’ve got to prove to other teams that he’s worth taking a risk and trading for. That gives the Spurs a only handful of games left before the deadline to show him off. And if he plays in those games like he did on Sunday night, the Spurs might just get some value in return.
This one goes out to the ElNono's of the world.:smokin
by Andrew A. McNeil
As a bench player in basketball, you’re told the best way to earn playing time is to play hard in practice and make the most of the minutes you’re given during the game. If this is the mantra that Coach Popovich subscribes to, on Sunday night Ian Mahinmi earned himself some more minutes, somewhere down the road.
As Tim discussed in his recap of the Spurs win (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/2010/01/11/new-jersey-nets-85-san-antonio-spurs-97/) over the New Jersey Nets, Mahinmi, in his first game action in two years, scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 21 minutes of play. He also chipped in a block and an assist. He was the talk of the game, and for good season.
He showed some small flashes of a talented big man throughout the game. Most people will point out the series where he blocked a shot from Courtney Lee on the defensive end and finished the break on the other end with a dunk, but my eyes went to a couple other plays. Both came in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs had built a double-digit lead.
On one, the Nets went to a zone defense and the Spurs rotated the ball around trying to find a soft spot. Mahinmi was able to flash into the middle of the lane and seal off the weak-side guard. He received the entry pass deep in the lane and with that position, it is nearly impossible to stop a big man as athletic as Ian and he finished with a dunk. That knowledge of where to be in spacing is something that a lot of young bigs struggle with, especially when a team switches to a zone defense.
The second play that caught my eye was also in the fourth quarter, when Mahinmi was able to get some space along the baseline after a teammate drove to the basket. He received a kick-out about 12 feet from the basket and drained the jumpshot. It was an extremely slow release, but he showed good form on his shot nonetheless. The jumper from the short corner put a nice cap on Mahinmi’s 6-for-6 night from the field and 3-for-4 from the free throw line.
It wasn’t a perfect night, though. Mahinmi showed nothing resembling a back-to-the-basket game and defensively, he looked a half-step slow in the first half, but that’s something you can expect from a young player who hasn’t logged NBA minutes in two years. That split-second delay in timing led to a several baskets in the lane for the Nets and a couple of foul calls, that a player like Tim Duncan or Antonio McDyess would not pick up.
Though other fouls he committed seemed like the referees were just picking on him, including an illegal screen he was called for in the final period. Mahinmi received his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, but to his credit, he avoided picking up a sixth foul and played the entire fourth quarter.
Mahinmi’s timing improved as the game wore on, and he did a solid job guarding Brook Lopez, one of the Eastern Conference’s better big men. He battled with Lopez in the post and did well to deny Lopez entry passes throughout, though he picked up a couple fouls for his aggressiveness.
One thing I noticed when watching Mahinmi on defense, is that he doesn’t show on pick-and-rolls. When his man sets a screen on the Spur guarding the ball, instead of helping to slow down the player with the ball and allow his teammate to get back in the play, he hangs back and let’s the ball handler come off of the screen free. I don’t know if that’s by design or defensive mistake that he is repeatedly making, but it’s different than how other Spur bigs defend the play. The same quarter McDyess was showing on screens, so it’s something to keep an eye on when Mahinmi plays again.
Speaking of Mahinmi playing, when is that supposed to happen again?
Honestly, it’s hard to say. No one was expecting Mahinmi to be active on Sunday night, and the Spurs were playing the Nets, owners of the NBA’s worst record. Tonight, they play the Los Angeles Lakers, the team boasting the NBA’s best record. Coach Popovich very well could’ve activated and played Mahinmi against the Nets to give some relief to his normal frontcourt rotation; Tim Duncan didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter against the Nets.
Going along with that line of thinking, it’s hard to predict when or if Mahinmi were to play again. The Spurs don’t have a two consecutive games with such a drastic shift in record the rest of the season, obviously. What may be the more likely scenario is playing Mahinmi on the first or second night of a back-to-back, against a weaker team. San Antonio plays the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday and the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, so there’s a possibility we could see more Mahinmi this weekend.
But what are the Spurs doing with Mahinmi? Are they bringing him along slowly, playing him against weaker teams in order to develop him and build his confidence? With the Spurs passing on picking up Mahinmi’s option year (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/2009/10/29/spurs-will-not-pick-up-option-on-ian-mahinmi/) back in October, I think that ship has sailed. I’d speculate that the Spurs don’t think Mahinmi is their type of player and they are playing him now to showcase him as trade bait.
The NBA’s trade deadline is less than five weeks away and if the Spurs hope to get anything in return for Mahinmi, instead of simply letting him walk this summer, they’ve got to prove to other teams that he’s worth taking a risk and trading for. That gives the Spurs a only handful of games left before the deadline to show him off. And if he plays in those games like he did on Sunday night, the Spurs might just get some value in return.
This one goes out to the ElNono's of the world.:smokin