loveforthegame
06-28-2006, 12:46 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA062806.1C.spursdraft.1b21673.html
Spurs' needs likely met outside draft
Web Posted: 06/28/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
Barring a trade, the only buzz the Spurs expect to generate in tonight's NBA draft will come not from their pick but from the caffeine they'll need to ingest to make it.
"At (No.) 59, we probably won't even be on TV," Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said. "They'll probably just put a trailer on the bottom of the screen during a commercial."
Not that it matters. For the past seven years, whether it be Manu Ginobili in 1999 or Ian Mahinmi last season, each of the Spurs' draft picks has elicited the same response from fans: Who?
This season, the Spurs could have reason to ask the same question. With only the next-to-last pick — they surrendered their first-round choice to New York in the 2005 trade for Nazr Mohammed — they may not know who's available until midway through the second round.
"When you're sitting at No. 59," Spurs assistant general manager Sam Presti said, "what you're trying to do is figure out what's falling from the top down and what could find its way to you."
The Spurs have explored scenarios to move into the first round — or higher in the second — if a player they like starts to fall. But as of late Tuesday afternoon, their discussions remained hypothetical. Last season, they tried unsuccessfully to acquire a second first-round pick to take either Danny Granger or Joey Graham.
Spurs' pick: No. 59 out of 60 overall (No. 29, second round). The Spurs sent their first-round pick to the Knicks as part of the Malik Rose-for-Nazr Mohammed trade in 2005.
"What you want to do is make sure you're prepared and capable of making a move if there's someone there you think can really help the program," Presti said. "There's some legwork that goes into it, albeit most of the time it gets washed away based on how the draft breaks.
"That's why there's seven phones in our draft room because there's that many conversations going on."
Some of those talks have involved the rights to Argentine forward Luis Scola, whom the Spurs drafted in the second round in 2002. Scola's buyout with his Spanish team, Tau Ceramica, has been negotiated down to $3.5 million, but the Spurs are open to trading his rights given the glut of power forwards on their roster.
After trading Rasho Nesterovic to Toronto for forwards Matt Bonner and Eric Williams last week, the Spurs don't have a true center. Team officials think they would have a better chance to fill that and other needs (a third point guard and an athletic swingman) through a trade or in free agency than in tonight's draft.
"The likelihood of finding an impact player at 59," Presti said, "obviously is not high."
Cincinnati's James White, a 6-foot-7 guard, one of the draft's best athletes, was among the players the Spurs worked out the past two weeks. They had interest in Swiss swingman Thabo Sefolosha last season before he pulled out of the draft.
Sefolosha has improved enough that some analysts have him being taken in the middle of the first round. White is expected to be a late first- or early second-round pick.
Marquette forward Steve Novak, West Virginia forward Kevin Pittsnogle, Minnesota guard Vincent Grier and South Carolina guard Tarence Kinsey are among the players the Spurs worked out who could be available at their pick. California forward Leon Powe, South Carolina forward Renaldo Balkman, Serbian center Kosta Perovic, Russian forward Vladimir Veremeenko, Croatian forward Damir Markota and Israeli forward Lior Eliyahu are other options.
Of the past 12 players the Spurs have taken for themselves, all but two were born outside the United States. The franchise has had particular success drafting international players and leaving them overseas to develop.
In 1999, the Spurs took guard Gordan Giricek, who plays for Utah, and Ginobili with the 40th and 57th picks. In the coming weeks, they expect to sign Lithuanian center Robertas Javtokas, whom they drafted 56th in 2001. Scola also was taken 56th.
Three more of the Spurs' recent draft picks — Mahinmi, Viktor Sanikidze and Sergei Karaulov — will play on their summer-league team next month, though all will return to Europe for at least one more season. The Spurs targeted Mahinmi early last season and convinced him to stay in the draft so they could take him at No. 28.
Drafting 59th, however, offers no guarantees.
"We're in a position this year," Presti said, "where we're really at the mercy of the rest of the league."
Spurs' needs likely met outside draft
Web Posted: 06/28/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
Barring a trade, the only buzz the Spurs expect to generate in tonight's NBA draft will come not from their pick but from the caffeine they'll need to ingest to make it.
"At (No.) 59, we probably won't even be on TV," Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said. "They'll probably just put a trailer on the bottom of the screen during a commercial."
Not that it matters. For the past seven years, whether it be Manu Ginobili in 1999 or Ian Mahinmi last season, each of the Spurs' draft picks has elicited the same response from fans: Who?
This season, the Spurs could have reason to ask the same question. With only the next-to-last pick — they surrendered their first-round choice to New York in the 2005 trade for Nazr Mohammed — they may not know who's available until midway through the second round.
"When you're sitting at No. 59," Spurs assistant general manager Sam Presti said, "what you're trying to do is figure out what's falling from the top down and what could find its way to you."
The Spurs have explored scenarios to move into the first round — or higher in the second — if a player they like starts to fall. But as of late Tuesday afternoon, their discussions remained hypothetical. Last season, they tried unsuccessfully to acquire a second first-round pick to take either Danny Granger or Joey Graham.
Spurs' pick: No. 59 out of 60 overall (No. 29, second round). The Spurs sent their first-round pick to the Knicks as part of the Malik Rose-for-Nazr Mohammed trade in 2005.
"What you want to do is make sure you're prepared and capable of making a move if there's someone there you think can really help the program," Presti said. "There's some legwork that goes into it, albeit most of the time it gets washed away based on how the draft breaks.
"That's why there's seven phones in our draft room because there's that many conversations going on."
Some of those talks have involved the rights to Argentine forward Luis Scola, whom the Spurs drafted in the second round in 2002. Scola's buyout with his Spanish team, Tau Ceramica, has been negotiated down to $3.5 million, but the Spurs are open to trading his rights given the glut of power forwards on their roster.
After trading Rasho Nesterovic to Toronto for forwards Matt Bonner and Eric Williams last week, the Spurs don't have a true center. Team officials think they would have a better chance to fill that and other needs (a third point guard and an athletic swingman) through a trade or in free agency than in tonight's draft.
"The likelihood of finding an impact player at 59," Presti said, "obviously is not high."
Cincinnati's James White, a 6-foot-7 guard, one of the draft's best athletes, was among the players the Spurs worked out the past two weeks. They had interest in Swiss swingman Thabo Sefolosha last season before he pulled out of the draft.
Sefolosha has improved enough that some analysts have him being taken in the middle of the first round. White is expected to be a late first- or early second-round pick.
Marquette forward Steve Novak, West Virginia forward Kevin Pittsnogle, Minnesota guard Vincent Grier and South Carolina guard Tarence Kinsey are among the players the Spurs worked out who could be available at their pick. California forward Leon Powe, South Carolina forward Renaldo Balkman, Serbian center Kosta Perovic, Russian forward Vladimir Veremeenko, Croatian forward Damir Markota and Israeli forward Lior Eliyahu are other options.
Of the past 12 players the Spurs have taken for themselves, all but two were born outside the United States. The franchise has had particular success drafting international players and leaving them overseas to develop.
In 1999, the Spurs took guard Gordan Giricek, who plays for Utah, and Ginobili with the 40th and 57th picks. In the coming weeks, they expect to sign Lithuanian center Robertas Javtokas, whom they drafted 56th in 2001. Scola also was taken 56th.
Three more of the Spurs' recent draft picks — Mahinmi, Viktor Sanikidze and Sergei Karaulov — will play on their summer-league team next month, though all will return to Europe for at least one more season. The Spurs targeted Mahinmi early last season and convinced him to stay in the draft so they could take him at No. 28.
Drafting 59th, however, offers no guarantees.
"We're in a position this year," Presti said, "where we're really at the mercy of the rest of the league."