Kori Ellis
07-20-2005, 01:53 PM
Summertime: Spurs Representing Well
By Emmett Shaw
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Jul 20, 2005, 07:28
http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_13456.shtml
TAYLORSVILLE, Utah -- Scott Church and I are covering each game of the 6-team RMR summer league here. Look for our Day 4 coverage in a couple of hours elsewhere on the HOOPSWORLD home page. For the Revue column, my Spurs recap began to run a little long on yesterday's 84-62 thumping at the hands of the Charlotte Bobcats. In keeping with the Revue format we are using, it made more sense to turn the long recap into a short San Antonio Team Report. So here you go.
Back to earth. Undefeated in two games coming in, San Antonio met its match in Sean May and the Bobcats' defense. The Spurs were the NBA's leading men last June, but they were bit players in the “May Show” yesterday, as Sean unleashed a performance that could go a ways to getting himself named RMR Player of the Week. (A game high 22 points on 14 shots, 7 rebounds, and three assists.)
The Bobcats just have the better team – probably the best team here, because they defend the point well with 3 or 4 different little defenders, make the fewest turnovers, have two serious bangers (in May and Antonio Meeking) who bring their lunch pails every day, and have all they need on both ends in their swings Matt Carroll, Bernard Robinson, and Alan Anderson. This team has very possibly 5 or 6 guys who will be in the NBA this year, some of whom will get good minutes every night. Against Charlotte, the Spurs couldn’t get the quality shots that they manufactured in their previous games and simply got smoked, but at least the Spurs got to look at a lot of their players.
They got their first look (in a game) at guard EJ Rowland, a 6-1 PG from St. Mary’s (California). James Borrego, Spurs video coordinator, is assisting the summer team’s coaching effort. James says that just a numbers game cast Rowland as the 3rd point guard on the team, but don’t let that knock EJ. “EJ has some tools and some skills that I think a lot of teams will look at. He has a defensive mentality and he comes from a defensive minded program at St. Mary’s. He played for coach (Randy) Bennett there; he has a defensive mentality, so if he can bring along the other side of the floor, he’ll be OK.” Rowland liked to take the ball into the paint with his dribble moves. He made 4 trips to the FT line and had 3 assists in his 13 minutes. EJ needs to cut the turnovers...he made 4 of them. He is playing behind a somewhat established NBA player in Andre Barrett and a guy, in 6-3 Justin Hamilton, who played for the Spanish champs.
Sergei Karaulov, whose name I’ve been slightly misspelling in my previous reports, got his most burn of the tour, 18 minutes. Said Borrego, “I think Sergei’s been a really blessed surprise for us this week. He works real hard. He doesn’t know the concepts of the Spurs, but he flies around like he does. He makes things happen; he blocks shots, has energy. We’ve seen some things out there that make us excited for the future.”
How many times do you see a 7-footer who has active energy? Not that much. Even Charlotte is missing that kind of player, or they would be a pick to go undefeated here. Sergei’s English language skills are alright at this point in his young life. Karaulov had 4 rebounds in his 18 minutes yesterday. For some reason, he went up unsure of himself on a couple of shots, finishing with 2 points on a nice jumper in the paint.
The scorer didn’t credit him with any blocks, but he made a couple and altered several more. Like most young bigs, Sergei needs to handle contact better. He allowed an offensive rebound on a free throw one time. Of Karaulov said Gordie Herbert, the coach of Paris Basket Racing who is assistant coaching SA here, “You gotta remember he missed three days of training camp. So he came in a little bit behind. But (he is) very athletic, active, great attitude, wants to learn.”
Gordie’s team in France plays against STB Le Havre, the club that has Ian Mahinmi, SA’s recent #1 pick. Here is Herbert’s take on Ian: “Young. Very athletic. Lot of upside. Good attitude. He doesn’t think he’s big-time. He wants to get better. And he’s in a good situation, I think. He played with the 2nd team this year and a little bit with the 1st team. Next year, they’re building the team around him. So it’s a very, very good situation.” Gordie expects that France will not rush Mahinmi onto the men’s National Team for their big qualifier in Belgrade this September. But he says the kid is certainly NT caliber in the future.
Speaking of Charlotte, have you noticed that it’s a team that has capspace that hasn’t been tied to a lot of FA rumors? Pop and Bernie Bickerstaff were chatting backstage for a little while yesterday. I sure wonder if these two teams couldn’t do a mutually beneficial transaction this summer, straight up or with another team.
By Emmett Shaw
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Jul 20, 2005, 07:28
http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_13456.shtml
TAYLORSVILLE, Utah -- Scott Church and I are covering each game of the 6-team RMR summer league here. Look for our Day 4 coverage in a couple of hours elsewhere on the HOOPSWORLD home page. For the Revue column, my Spurs recap began to run a little long on yesterday's 84-62 thumping at the hands of the Charlotte Bobcats. In keeping with the Revue format we are using, it made more sense to turn the long recap into a short San Antonio Team Report. So here you go.
Back to earth. Undefeated in two games coming in, San Antonio met its match in Sean May and the Bobcats' defense. The Spurs were the NBA's leading men last June, but they were bit players in the “May Show” yesterday, as Sean unleashed a performance that could go a ways to getting himself named RMR Player of the Week. (A game high 22 points on 14 shots, 7 rebounds, and three assists.)
The Bobcats just have the better team – probably the best team here, because they defend the point well with 3 or 4 different little defenders, make the fewest turnovers, have two serious bangers (in May and Antonio Meeking) who bring their lunch pails every day, and have all they need on both ends in their swings Matt Carroll, Bernard Robinson, and Alan Anderson. This team has very possibly 5 or 6 guys who will be in the NBA this year, some of whom will get good minutes every night. Against Charlotte, the Spurs couldn’t get the quality shots that they manufactured in their previous games and simply got smoked, but at least the Spurs got to look at a lot of their players.
They got their first look (in a game) at guard EJ Rowland, a 6-1 PG from St. Mary’s (California). James Borrego, Spurs video coordinator, is assisting the summer team’s coaching effort. James says that just a numbers game cast Rowland as the 3rd point guard on the team, but don’t let that knock EJ. “EJ has some tools and some skills that I think a lot of teams will look at. He has a defensive mentality and he comes from a defensive minded program at St. Mary’s. He played for coach (Randy) Bennett there; he has a defensive mentality, so if he can bring along the other side of the floor, he’ll be OK.” Rowland liked to take the ball into the paint with his dribble moves. He made 4 trips to the FT line and had 3 assists in his 13 minutes. EJ needs to cut the turnovers...he made 4 of them. He is playing behind a somewhat established NBA player in Andre Barrett and a guy, in 6-3 Justin Hamilton, who played for the Spanish champs.
Sergei Karaulov, whose name I’ve been slightly misspelling in my previous reports, got his most burn of the tour, 18 minutes. Said Borrego, “I think Sergei’s been a really blessed surprise for us this week. He works real hard. He doesn’t know the concepts of the Spurs, but he flies around like he does. He makes things happen; he blocks shots, has energy. We’ve seen some things out there that make us excited for the future.”
How many times do you see a 7-footer who has active energy? Not that much. Even Charlotte is missing that kind of player, or they would be a pick to go undefeated here. Sergei’s English language skills are alright at this point in his young life. Karaulov had 4 rebounds in his 18 minutes yesterday. For some reason, he went up unsure of himself on a couple of shots, finishing with 2 points on a nice jumper in the paint.
The scorer didn’t credit him with any blocks, but he made a couple and altered several more. Like most young bigs, Sergei needs to handle contact better. He allowed an offensive rebound on a free throw one time. Of Karaulov said Gordie Herbert, the coach of Paris Basket Racing who is assistant coaching SA here, “You gotta remember he missed three days of training camp. So he came in a little bit behind. But (he is) very athletic, active, great attitude, wants to learn.”
Gordie’s team in France plays against STB Le Havre, the club that has Ian Mahinmi, SA’s recent #1 pick. Here is Herbert’s take on Ian: “Young. Very athletic. Lot of upside. Good attitude. He doesn’t think he’s big-time. He wants to get better. And he’s in a good situation, I think. He played with the 2nd team this year and a little bit with the 1st team. Next year, they’re building the team around him. So it’s a very, very good situation.” Gordie expects that France will not rush Mahinmi onto the men’s National Team for their big qualifier in Belgrade this September. But he says the kid is certainly NT caliber in the future.
Speaking of Charlotte, have you noticed that it’s a team that has capspace that hasn’t been tied to a lot of FA rumors? Pop and Bernie Bickerstaff were chatting backstage for a little while yesterday. I sure wonder if these two teams couldn’t do a mutually beneficial transaction this summer, straight up or with another team.