Spurs All "Oops" Team: Popovich Era

[Ocotillo]

A lot of the posters on this board have a high opinion of the Spurs front office and their ability to find quality NBA players in the second round or low first round. I count myself among those. From Shuler to Buford from Popovich to Presti, our guys get a lot of love for finding Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Hell, even Girecek became a servicable player.

What follows are the misses during the Popovich era which may remind us that our guys are not infalliable. I have included only players that were drafted for the Spurs (no free agents or players that were picked using our pick for other teams);

Point Guard: Corey Alexander (1st Rd '95) :depressed
Shooting Guard: Derrick Dial (2nd Rd '98) :oops
Small Forward: Chris Carrawell (2nd Rd '00) :smchode:
Power Forward: Luis Scola (2nd Rd '02) :greedy
Center: Sergei Karaulov (2nd Rd '04) :flypig

Bench:
SF Bryan Bracey (2nd Rd '01) :wtf
SG Romain Sato (2nd Rd '04) :grim:
PG Beno Udrih (1st Rd '04) :dramaquee

[freemeat]

it could be worse -- http://youtube.com/watch?v=rZxNeFLuY98

Those have all been pretty bad, but you gotta consider that the Spurs haven't exactly been at the top of the order when it comes to their picks the last decade or so...I also haven't given up on Scola yet. If they don't sign him this summer, I expect him to be moved (which seems more likely since they want to get younger and more athletic).

[zeleni]

I just do not get you. You think of players you didn't even look, and look down on them?

and then there is even stranger names... even from Slovenia. :lol:

[Mr. Body]

You say you give the Spurs FO eternal love for the Parker and Ginobili picks, then list practically every other pick they've ever made as a sign they stink?

[Ocotillo]

Those have all been pretty bad, but you gotta consider that the Spurs haven't exactly been at the top of the order when it comes to their picks the last decade or so...

And I make reference to that in the original post. I am of the opinion that for the most part, the Spurs have done a good job drafting in the Popovich era. This list just shows they aren't perfect. As far as Scola is concerned, he may still pan out in someway, if not for us, someone else, but the clock is ticking on that dude.......

[Solid D]

Javtokas and Scola were good players, from a talent evaluation standpoint. Javtokas had the unfortunate accident and he is miraculously still a decent player, without the extra hops. Scola was unfortunately signed to a 10-year deal when he was a teen.

[Ocotillo]

I didn't include Javtokas because he may still become something in the NBA although the clock is ticking on him too. Scola may prove me wrong but I need a power forward for the "Oops" team and I am sticking with him.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

You have 6 second round picks on your list.

If we're going to look at 1st and 2nd round picks and go all the way back to 1995 I'd bet the house that EVERY team would have a list like this.

What's the point here? How does this differentiate the Spurs from any other franchise?

[Extra Stout]

How about the "guys they could have had" draft list?

Or the "free agents they tried to go after and are darn lucky they didn't get" list?

[ChumpDumper]

I don't get why folks expect every low 2nd round pick to be a solid NBA player.

[VaSpursFan]

not sure about the point of this thread. drafting is not a science where you can input certain variables and come out with the correct answer every time. sometimes it's just pure luck like TP and Gino.

but, the spurs definitely need to do a better job of scouting domestic talent. i think their M.O in the past was to get all the diamonds in the rough in Europe before anyone else. this was done at the expense of domestic talent and their success brought other teams into the mix drying up the pool of Euro diamonds.

missing out on J. Howard should have driven this point home to the FO. that was one of their biggest misses since, supposedly, Timmy and Pop wanted him.

[Marcus Bryant]

Point Guard: Corey Alexander (1st Rd '95) :depressed


Low first round pick who was still in the league after 5 years. Not exactly a horrible pick. About the only thing Pop was guilty of was comparing him to Tim Hardaway.



Shooting Guard: Derrick Dial (2nd Rd '98) :oops


Low second round pick. Actually played in multiple NBA seasons. Not a horrible thing for that position. The only way Dial was a bad pick is if you believed a certain "journalist" on the internets about Dial's impending stardom.



Small Forward: Chris Carrawell (2nd Rd '00) :smchode:


The worst pick out of these 5, but, again, he was picked in the mid 2nd round (#41). It's a bit much to be blaming the FO for every 2nd round pick who doesn't pan out. The worst thing you can say is that they passed on Michael Redd and Brian Cardinal.



Power Forward: Luis Scola (2nd Rd '02) :greedy


Not a bad pick at all, especially at #56. They still have his rights and I suspect they will get some value out of him at some point.




Center: Sergei Karaulov (2nd Rd '04) :flypig


Again, low 2nd round pick plus they still have his rights.




Bench:
SF Bryan Bracey (2nd Rd '01) :wtf


Last pick in the '01 draft. BFD.



SG Romain Sato (2nd Rd '04) :grim:


Low 2nd round pick (#52). Again, nothing to really knock the Spurs over. No player who was drafted after him that year has developed into anything special, if are even in the league now.




PG Beno Udrih (1st Rd '04) :dramaquee

Not a horrible pick at that spot. He's a NBA player. The worst thing is that they passed on Varejao and Ariza. Of course, a lot of teams passed on Ariza.

[ChumpDumper]

I don't like the Karaulov pick because he wasn't scouted in any way at all. The rest are your basic low picks.

[Marcus Bryant]

Here are some real 'oops':

1. Passing on Josh Howard & Barbosa in the '03 draft for nothing. Mo Williams and Kyle Korver too.
2. Giving up two #1s and a big built to beat Dallas for a year's rental of Nazr Mohammed.
3. Losing Jack.

I'd also say that losing Hedo is a borderline 'oops'. It was quite nice to have a big swing like him who played solid D and could board. His price was slightly steep for him, but right now he's 27 and has 3 years left on his contract with a current year salary a few hundred grand over the average NBA salary.

[Marcus Bryant]

Also serving up Dennis the Menace to the PJ/MJ Bulls sucked hard, but is tempered by the fact that he was mental.

[ShoogarBear]

Losing John Paxson to FA, but the Spurs had no real hope of keeping him.

[MI21]

Cutting Shane Heal.

[ArgSpursFan]

I think the only wrong move was not to bring Scola in the off-season,he is the natural back up Power Forward for Tim,And also could play with him just fine.And also Finley,He used to be a great player but he is too old ,and has no legs left.Them Barry and Horry are just spot up shooters;they´re old too,but You can use them at the playoffs if a 3 pt is needed at the end of a game,or just to give the team some ball movement when going small ball.
The team starting five is just fine the way it is,If you look at it, 4 out of the 5 starters have been playing together for 4 years now.But our bench really SUCKS.

[Phenomanul]

Cutting Shane Heal.


On that same line... cutting Matt Carroll, trading Barbosa, letting Raja Bell and Udonis Haslem sign elsewhere even though they were evaluated with our summer league teams....

[ShoogarBear]

Cutting Shane Heal.:lol

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Here are some real 'oops':

2. Giving up two #1s and a big built to beat Dallas for a year's rental of Nazr Mohammed.
3. Losing Jack.



Good lord. Not again.

[ploto]

On that same line... cutting Matt Carroll, trading Barbosa, letting Raja Bell and Udonis Haslem sign elsewhere even though they were evaluated with our summer league teams....
Actually, Matt asked the Spurs to release him that summer because he knew he would never get any playing time at all on the Spurs. So, he went back to the NBDL to get experience and got called up by Charlotte later that season. Too bad the option did not exist at that time to assign a player to the NBDL.

[Phenomanul]

Actually, Matt asked the Spurs to release him that summer because he knew he would never get any playing time at all on the Spurs. So, he went back to the NBDL to get experience and got called up by Charlotte later that season. Too bad the option did not exist at that time to assign a player to the NBDL.


I see. Thanks for the info. A catch 22 really.... it was MJ who inspired Carroll to play up to his potential. I don't know who would have filled that role in SA.

[Bruno]

Scola is a great pick, calling him a "oops" pick is wrong.