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06-29-2005, 03:55 PM
Ian Mahinmi: Who is this strange Frenchman with David Stern?
link (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...ft.night/1.html)
The Hidden Gem From Le Havre?
Ian Mahinmi: Who is this strange Frenchman with David Stern?
Until Tuesday I only knew Le Havre, France, as a place I ended up while getting lost road-tripping in Normandy this April, accidentally driving across its bridge, which had a 5 euro toll, and then having to go back across it and pay the toll again because I was an American tourist whose French wasn't good enough to explain my costly navigational error. It was a magnificent bridge, a real modern architectural marvel, but I couldn't appreciate it properly because I was so pissed about losing the 10 euros.
Anyway. Le Havre made a return into my consciousness on draft night, when the Spurs called the name, "Ian Mahinmi, STB Le Havre (France)" at No. 28 in the first round. Because of this pick's obscurity and San Antonio's esteemed reputation for identifying international talent, Mahimni was a draftee worth investigating. Consider that:
• It appeared the draft organizers did not have a nameplate prepared for Mahinmi on the board at MSG, as it took an extended period of time (at least five minutes, while the other picks appeared instantaneously) for "I. MAHINMI" to slide into the Spurs' slot.
• Mahinmi had no page in the NBA's draft media guide or on its draft Web site.
• He did not appear on a single mock draft I read -- on any Web site -- until SI.com's Ian Thomsen made an 11th-hour update Tuesday.
So I tracked down Mahinmi outside of MSG's interview rooms -- unlike many of the other prospects he was sans entourage, with no agent (his rep, Bouna Ndiaye, was with another other client, Johan Petro), no hangers-on and no translator. His mother, he said, was supposed to come to NYC but "had a little problem in France with her passport." He spoke decent English -- much better than my French -- and we talked for a few minutes. I spared him the bridge-toll story (but you, the readers, were not as lucky).
Mahinmi was probably the least surprised person in the building by the pick -- he made the trip to New York from France because "the Spurs talked with his agent and he had word that really made him confident" he would be selected. He said the deal he signed with Le Havre this season, where he averaged 6.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 16.8 minutes per game, was his first pro contract after playing on the French junior team.
"I'm supposed to stay in France for one or two more years before I'm ready to play [in the NBA]," Mahinmi said. "But I'm happy to play on a team [the Spurs] that will feel familiar with some European players. With Tony Parker, I can speak French, so it will be really good."
Mahinmi said he was pretty sure other NBA teams had watched him play, "but I can't recall who" -- perhaps an indication that the Spurs grabbed a guy in the first round who might otherwise have been undrafted. It'll probably take until 2009 to find out if this nearly anonymous Frenchman is San Antonio's latest steal, but the names Manu Ginobili, Parker and Beno Udrih (and soon, Luis Scola) have earned the Spurs the right to be trusted.
link (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...ft.night/1.html)
The Hidden Gem From Le Havre?
Ian Mahinmi: Who is this strange Frenchman with David Stern?
Until Tuesday I only knew Le Havre, France, as a place I ended up while getting lost road-tripping in Normandy this April, accidentally driving across its bridge, which had a 5 euro toll, and then having to go back across it and pay the toll again because I was an American tourist whose French wasn't good enough to explain my costly navigational error. It was a magnificent bridge, a real modern architectural marvel, but I couldn't appreciate it properly because I was so pissed about losing the 10 euros.
Anyway. Le Havre made a return into my consciousness on draft night, when the Spurs called the name, "Ian Mahinmi, STB Le Havre (France)" at No. 28 in the first round. Because of this pick's obscurity and San Antonio's esteemed reputation for identifying international talent, Mahimni was a draftee worth investigating. Consider that:
• It appeared the draft organizers did not have a nameplate prepared for Mahinmi on the board at MSG, as it took an extended period of time (at least five minutes, while the other picks appeared instantaneously) for "I. MAHINMI" to slide into the Spurs' slot.
• Mahinmi had no page in the NBA's draft media guide or on its draft Web site.
• He did not appear on a single mock draft I read -- on any Web site -- until SI.com's Ian Thomsen made an 11th-hour update Tuesday.
So I tracked down Mahinmi outside of MSG's interview rooms -- unlike many of the other prospects he was sans entourage, with no agent (his rep, Bouna Ndiaye, was with another other client, Johan Petro), no hangers-on and no translator. His mother, he said, was supposed to come to NYC but "had a little problem in France with her passport." He spoke decent English -- much better than my French -- and we talked for a few minutes. I spared him the bridge-toll story (but you, the readers, were not as lucky).
Mahinmi was probably the least surprised person in the building by the pick -- he made the trip to New York from France because "the Spurs talked with his agent and he had word that really made him confident" he would be selected. He said the deal he signed with Le Havre this season, where he averaged 6.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 16.8 minutes per game, was his first pro contract after playing on the French junior team.
"I'm supposed to stay in France for one or two more years before I'm ready to play [in the NBA]," Mahinmi said. "But I'm happy to play on a team [the Spurs] that will feel familiar with some European players. With Tony Parker, I can speak French, so it will be really good."
Mahinmi said he was pretty sure other NBA teams had watched him play, "but I can't recall who" -- perhaps an indication that the Spurs grabbed a guy in the first round who might otherwise have been undrafted. It'll probably take until 2009 to find out if this nearly anonymous Frenchman is San Antonio's latest steal, but the names Manu Ginobili, Parker and Beno Udrih (and soon, Luis Scola) have earned the Spurs the right to be trusted.