TOROS NEWS: Langford to Italy

[tomcat]

Saw Langford in NOLA this past weekend and he said he was going to Italy March 1st to rejoin his old team at $40K per month.

Good luck to the kid and hate to see the Toros lose him so close to the playoffs.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

:depressed
Oh well.
Good luck, Keith.

[ChumpDumper]

Too bad. I think he's prime callup material now that the trade deadline has passed.

[picnroll]

Langford should be a solid candidate for a roster spot for the Spurs next year.

[ChumpDumper]

I actually thought he might be a good prospect to round out the roster now that the Spurs are under the tax threshold.

[E20]

Holy fucking shit! 40,000 dollars a month for dribbling a ball around WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!! :pctoss

[pad300]

I actually thought he might be a good prospect to round out the roster now that the Spurs are under the tax threshold.

Does this move the Toros up the D-league pick-up ladder, so they can grab Justin Williams?

[AFBlue]

Holy fucking shit! 40,000 dollars a month for dribbling a ball around WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!! :pctoss

An allegedly doped-up Roger Clemens got about SIX MILLION a month last year for pitching every fifth game....

I see your point, but Langford is hardly the case to point at.

[ChumpDumper]

Does this move the Toros up the D-league pick-up ladder, so they can grab Justin Williams?
I don't know exactly how it works with players leaving for Europe. The Toros would need to pick up another guard at any rate.

[tomcat]

Can't say I blame Langford for leaving. Has 2 be frustrating. The only other thing he can do is GROW and we all know he cannot do that.

Just in: Cavs call up 2 Colorado 14ers players: Billy Thomas and Kaniel Dickens.

[timvp]

Good luck to Langford. I still contend that he just doesn't have the build to be an NBA player. If he were taller or more athletic, he'd be an NBA player. He's not so he'll have to live with being rich overseas.

It might be worth bringing him to training camp again next year but I won't hold my breath that he will become NBA caliber over the summer.

[tomcat]

Not sure what you mean by "athletic". Have you seen his hops/vertical and ability to block shots? First step?

If you mean fast from end to end I will give you that but he is deceptively quick.

BTW, plenty on the board say Udoka is athletic but during training camp, Langford consistently beat Udoka in speed drills.

[ChumpDumper]

Keith was there tonight. Justin Reed was out again (ankle and flu), as was Justin Bowen (flu).

DerMarr pretty much ruined solid games from Langford, Williams and Fuqua. Ian didn't get the ball enough to make a difference.

[tomcat]

Langford said he will play until he leaves. He is supposed to accept the offer by this Sunday (hopefully he reconsiders) and report March 1st.

[ChumpDumper]

RC was there again tonight. Maybe he was thinking about a callup. A 10-day or two might keep him in the states.

[Real Tomato Ketchup]

Saw Langford in NOLA this past weekend and he said he was going to Italy March 1st to rejoin his old team at $40K per month.

Good luck to the kid and hate to see the Toros lose him so close to the playoffs.


Good for him, ROCK CHALK Keith!!!

[timvp]

Not sure what you mean by "athletic". Have you seen his hops/vertical and ability to block shots? First step?

If you mean fast from end to end I will give you that but he is deceptively quick.To be Langford's size, he has to be an athletic freak to make the NBA as a shooting guard. He's not a point guard and he's not a deadeye shooter, so he'd need to make up what he lacks in size with world class athleticism. But I have yet to see that out of him.

He can jump, he's pretty strong and he's pretty quick. I wouldn't say he's exceptionally fast or exceptionally powerful. Plus he doesn't make up for his lack of height with long arms or big hands. I just don't see the athleticism or even the physique needed to overcome his lack of height.

I'd classify him as a good to a very good athlete. Problem is he'd have to be a great athlete.


BTW, plenty on the board say Udoka is athletic but during training camp, Langford consistently beat Udoka in speed drills.I haven't seen Udoka deemed "athletic" by too many people. I mean, the guy had his first dunk in the NBA this season :)

[timvp]

Seven turnovers by Mahinmi tonight? What happened?


P.S.

Speaking of Mahinmi, I wonder if Presti wanted him as part of that Thomas trade. I'd be interested to know whether Presti valued the 2009 first round pick more or Mahinmi more.

I'll assume the pick because if Presti would have held out for Mahinmi, I'm pretty sure the Spurs would have done that deal.

[ChumpDumper]

The refs were allowing a lot of hacking when Iowa collapsed on Ian. Snyder almost got tossed again bitching at the refs -- not that I blame him.

I thought it was interesting that they pulled Ian even though he only had four fouls. I think they had just seen enough crap and decided to start over tomorrow against the impressive frontline of the Wiz.

[picnroll]

Is Mahinmi consistently drawing doubles when they feed him the ball? Looks like he's upped his rebounding a bit of late.

[Bruno]

It seems that Mahinmi struggle on the offensive end since he came back to Austin after the first leg of Spurs rodeo road trip.

[picnroll]

P.S.

Speaking of Mahinmi, I wonder if Presti wanted him as part of that Thomas trade. I'd be interested to know whether Presti valued the 2009 first round pick more or Mahinmi more.

I'll assume the pick because if Presti would have held out for Mahinmi, I'm pretty sure the Spurs would have done that deal.
We'll never know. It's plausible that Mahinmi was off the table or that the Spurs considered Mahinmi more valuable than a future first and could make a lesser offer of the pick. The best deal the Sonics had appears to be a first and expirings. If reports are to believed they looked to top the SA offer asking the Magic for expirings and two firsts but Orlando said no deal.

I'm pretty sure Presti wouldn't be asking for the rights to Vasquez,

[tomcat]

The thing that hurt Langford most is going UNDRAFTED after injuries marred a great Kansas career after his soph year.

Like RC said, he can play in the league, comparing him to guys like Celtics Tony Allen, Milwaukee Charlie Bell, Phila Willie Green who are all listed at 6'4 and had similar college careers but have not become explosive scorers in the league.

I hope the kid carves his niche in the NBA. I really like him, Ian and Squeaky. :clap

BTW, If Coby Karl can make it in the league, anybody can. :rolleyes

[Bruno]

Being labeled as an undersized player should hurt Langford a lot.
IMO, NBA teams look at his size, say "you can't teach size" and don't call him up because of that.

When you look at NBA players with a good career and a difficult start, a lot are undersized like Malik Rose, Ben Wallace or Earl Boykins. GMs are reluctant to give a chance to undersized players.

The best for Langford is maybe to try to do like Charlie Bell: becoming a star in Europe before trying to come back in NBA.

[FirebatMIV]

Oh look, Justin Reed's back.

I swear he has one offensive move - hold onto the ball at about 18 ft from the basket. Give a couple of fakes and then shoot. Why isn't that guy cut yet?

[picnroll]

Mahinmi a nice line at the half. 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks

[FirebatMIV]

I hope I wasn't the only one watching because Ian just made some guy look foolish by blocking his would-be jam.

[Bruno]

Yep it was an awesome block on Rod Benson.

[Bruno]

This game is really fun to watch. a lot of nice plays.
Mahinmi has a monster game.
Williams and Johnson were great in the first half. Langford has had a great 3rd quarter.

[FirebatMIV]

7 blocks for Ian, including a couple of 1 on 1 straightup blocks.

[ChumpDumper]

Ian was ridiculous tonight and there was a good crowd to see it. I'll try to write a little about this weekend's games later today. A few pictures I took with my non-beerholding hand came out ok.

http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee139/tasteoflog/08-02-23%20Toros-Wizards/?albumview=slideshow

[biba]

Thank you Chump for these pictures. :)

Seems this was a good game.

I ain't no time by now for Bball though I like the D-League concept.

How is Mahinmi? Does he grow?

And what the state of the Toros team? Do they play together and get better or do they showcasing?

Thanks.

[Bruno]

Mahinmi was fucking great in this game.
He did a very good job at rebounding the ball and on the defensive end.
His offensive game seems to be more varied than before.
He can become something special down the road.
Even if it's "only" the D-League, it's hard not to be excited about Mahinmi when he plays like that.

Marcus Williams looks good in this game. When you consider his young age, signing him could be a good idea for Spurs.

[picnroll]

Great to see Mahinmi dominate in so many areas. Hopefully he can string a few strong games together. If he and Splitter both pan out, offensively, defensively or both the Spurs will be in great shape. Maybe even eventually trade the lesser of the two for a dominant swing player if needed.