McDonald: Popovich wants D-League change

Popovich wants D-League change
Jeff McDonald

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Spurs recently assigned swingman Malik Hairston to their Development League affiliate in Austin, hoping to find him more playing time there than he could get in San Antonio.

They would have liked to do the same with third-year center Ian Mahinmi, but the NBA's collective bargaining agreement prohibits it.

Players cease to be eligible for the D-League two seasons after signing an NBA contract. Mahinmi squandered all but 10 minutes of his second season while on the injured list with a variety of ankle woes.

Popovich said before Saturday's loss at Memphis he would like to see the rule changed, perhaps to award an injury waiver to young players such as Mahinmi who lose a full season to factors beyond their control.

“I don't see any downside for a player to be able to go play,” Popovich said. “It just seems to be a good thing. This is a real good start, what we've done (with the D-League). Perhaps we can refine it a little more now moving forward.”

Ineligible to return to the D-League, Mahinmi has played in two games for the Spurs. He played nearly 14 minutes against Memphis, posting a point and four rebounds and committing four fouls.

Clank-a-thon: Saturday was a forgettable shooting night for four of the Spurs' top five scorers. Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson and George Hill combined to go 7 of 32 and total 20 points in the loss to the Grizzlies.

Parker managed just four points. Ginobili had nine on 3-of-10 shooting, his third straight off night. Hill was 2 of 8 for four points.

Jefferson, meanwhile, had three points, all on foul shots. He was 0 of 6 from the field, marking the first time he had been held without a basket since Jan. 6, 2006, when he logged just two minutes for the Nets in a game against Toronto.

McDyess hurt: Forward/center Antonio McDyess was unavailable Saturday after suffering a pinched nerve in his neck Friday in Charlotte. He will be listed as day-to-day.

McDyess suited up, but only due to a technicality in NBA rules. He did not have a jacket at the arena so he had to wear his uniform to sit on the bench.

Southwest rising: Memphis improved to 21-18, ensuring each of the five teams in the Southwest Division have a record at least three games above .500.

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Clank-a-thon: Saturday was a forgettable shooting night for four of the Spurs' top five scorers. Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson and George Hill combined to go 7 of 32 and total 20 points in the loss to the Grizzlies.

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Wow, just wow... I miss the days when Manu & Tony could score 20 points each everyday !
I mean, Tony + Manu + Jeff + George = 20 points and the Spurs lost the game ? I wonder why.
It's really painfull to watch the Spurs games these days. :depressed

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Originally Posted by timaios

Wow, just wow... I miss the days when Manu & Tony could score 20 points each everyday !
I mean, Tony + Manu + Jeff + George = 20 points and the Spurs lost the game ? I wonder why.
It's really painfull to watch the Spurs games these days. :depressed

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Fatigue...that is all.

I'd send Haislip down too if everyone was healthy. It should be an option as long as there is no negative consequence to a player's refusing to go down.

Had there been such a rule, the Spurs very well might've picked up his option. But since there's not, and the expectation of having Duncan, 'Dyess, Blair, Bonner and Splitter in front of him next year (even if Splitter is wishful thinking given recent history), Mahinmi would most likely ride the bench without having the opportunity to get the all important court time to develop; his spot will be filled with a veteran big or draft pick that is D-League eligible.

It'd be great if the rule was changed and Mahinmi wanted to come back with the Spurs after this year, but I just can't see it happening. The guy wants to be a legitimate NBA player and there's bound to be an up-and-comer team out there that's willing to give him the opportunity to play and develop; hate to see potential like that go, but I wish the guy nothing but the best.

what little i've seen of the video the team looks tired.

4 games in 5 nights will do that.

I'm sure thats looked upon as an excuse, but sorry, fatigue is what it is.

Yeah and Pop playing an eight man rotation is just plain stupid when you got five games in a row.

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Originally Posted by BackHome

Yeah and Pop playing an eight man rotation is just plain stupid when you got five games in a row.

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Yeah that Marcus Haislip should be oh so much more integrated cause he's such a jewel....

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Originally Posted by EricB

what little i've seen of the video the team looks tired.

4 games in 5 nights will do that.

I'm sure thats looked upon as an excuse, but sorry, fatigue is what it is.

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Yeah, but don't dare question the guy who's shortening up rotations and resting Timmy when all those jump shots are clanging.

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Originally Posted by Obstructed_View

Yeah, but don't dare question the guy who's shortening up rotations and resting Timmy when all those jump shots are clanging.

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Link to where I said don't question the coach?

Thanks, I'll be waiting.

NBA should could down the schedule to 70 games. Watching a tired team ain't watching quality hoops.

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Originally Posted by timaios

Wow, just wow... I miss the days when Manu & Tony could score 20 points each everyday !
I mean, Tony + Manu + Jeff + George = 20 points and the Spurs lost the game ? I wonder why.
It's really painfull to watch the Spurs games these days. :depressed

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What about in the 2008 playoffs when Tim, Tony and Manu were scoring something like 80 points between them some games.

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Originally Posted by EricB

Link to where I said don't question the coach?

Thanks, I'll be waiting.

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Yeah I can't find one anywhere.

Oh wait, I thought you were asking me for a link to where you've ever questioned the coach. You mean you want me to find you a quote from you that says something about how Pop has won 4 championships and nobody on a message board has the skins to be able to question his decisions? You mean you failed to type that today? Odds are of you just open Notepad and press Ctrl+V something similar to that will appear.

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Originally Posted by Man In Black

NBA should could down the schedule to 70 games. Watching a tired team ain't watching quality hoops.

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How would knocking twelve games off the end of the season help a team that looks tired in game 39? The only thing that might even the playing field is to require all the other teams to only play 8 guys every night lke the Spurs do.

I still can't believe that 8-man rotation, including a lineup where Roger Mason was playing PF..just unbelievable and it ends up hurting the team in these last 2 games..who would have thought?..obviously we're all idiots though, you know, since we don't have 4 rings and all..

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Originally Posted by Obstructed_View

Yeah I can't find one anywhere.

Oh wait, I thought you were asking me for a link to where you've ever questioned the coach. You mean you want me to find you a quote from you that says something about how Pop has won 4 championships and nobody on a message board has the skins to be able to question his decisions? You mean you failed to type that today? Odds are of you just open Notepad and press Ctrl+V something similar to that will appear.

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I'm just curious why your such a vile person.

I've tried to talk to you straight up and you continue with this childish hate.


Again, I'm waiting for the link to where I said "You shouldn't nor ever question the coach"

You avoided the question the first time, please answer if you can.

Thank you.

once again tpark has said it best

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Originally Posted by Ice009

What about in the 2008 playoffs when Tim, Tony and Manu were scoring something like 80 points between them some games.

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That team like you said +Blair +Mason +Hill +Jefferson +Dice...
And Manu was injured against the Lakers, so i don't understand what you mean.
The 2008 playoffs Tim, Tony & Manu + the new additions would be a championship team !
But Tony & Manu are the shadows of themselves right now.
Just 3 months before the playoffs, the clock is ticking.

D-League wouldn't really help Mahinmi.

In his rookie year, he was the best D-League center and was as dominant as you can as the end of the season. I don't see how learning to play when you're double or triple team will help him for the NBA.

Pop is one of the coach that is the most ready to makes some sacrifices short term wise for the big picture. When he limits Duncan playing time or when he postponed the come back of an injured player,it hurts the team "today" to help it for "tomorrow".

If Pop liked Mahinmi, he should have given him some consistent playing time even if it would have hurt Spurs at first. He decided that he wasn't worth that investment. If Ian turn out as good player with another NBA team, Pop will be the one to blame. It won't be because of D-League rules.

Can we send Jefferson to Austin for a spell too?

i wonder if we can send pop to the d league.

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Originally Posted by Obstructed_View

How would knocking twelve games off the end of the season help a team that looks tired in game 39? The only thing that might even the playing field is to require all the other teams to only play 8 guys every night lke the Spurs do.

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Originally Posted by HarlemHeat37

I still can't believe that 8-man rotation, including a lineup where Roger Mason was playing PF..just unbelievable and it ends up hurting the team in these last 2 games..who would have thought?..obviously we're all idiots though, you know, since we don't have 4 rings and all..

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?? I count 9 guys who have played at least 34 of the 39 games, and at least 17 minutes (Blair). That completely excludes players like Finley and Bonner who have only played 20-something games, but rotation minutes. Pop is NOT playing only 8 players per game. No one has more than 32.1 minutes per game. You people are acting like he's Nellie or D'Antoni, and it's just not true.

Yeah, it's the D-League's fault.

Yeah.

If Mahinmi blossoms elsewhere, Pop is going to have egg on his face. How do you not even suit him up for first half of the season? Even Haislip got some trash minutes early on. Mahinmi is the much, much better prospect.

Like I said earlier, I think the right move would have been to start Mahinmi for about a dozen games early in the season. That would have allowed the Spurs to get a look at him and evaluate their asset.

Now I don't see a winning outcome with Mahinmi. It's too late to legitimately work him back into the rotation. Especially with the Spurs struggling, they can't afford to have a young big learning the game of basketball on the fly. November? Yeah. Halfway into January? Too late.

I guess the best outcome would be to have a team get desperate for a big with a high ceiling and the Spurs trade Mahinmi and actually get an asset in return.

I would think at this point that for Ian's development even just practicing with an NBA team and going up in practice against Tim Duncan would be more beneficial than playing in games in the D-League. If Pop really wanted to find minutes for Ian, he would have.

I always felt the D-League would eventually expand in scope. I personally would like to see any player be able to sent down there on a voluntary basis, such as for injury rehab (similar to MLB). However, I can see why the players union would fight hard against that; 8-year vets being subtly forced to go down to the D-League or be waived would be a very bad situation.

As far as non-NBA players in the D-League, I think there's a few changes that would benefit the league as a whole:

1.) Salaries need to be improved across the board to make money closer to at least the low-to-mid level European leagues. Right now the D-League is only a viable alternative to Europe for players who a.) have extenuating circumstances, real or imagined, for why they can't leave the states, or b.) are (for good reasons or not) convinced that they can be a legitimate NBA players in 4 months or less, and don't want to risk that chance for a longer-term commitment in Europe. I'm not saying these guys should make half a million dollars; I'm just saying the quality of players you get could potentially rise a lot if you changed the salary range from $27,500-40,000 to $50,000-150,000.

2.) The league should continue to expand until it is a true minor league, with one team per NBA team (or, at the very least, there should be no more than 2 NBA teams per D-League team). I think this is already in the plans.

3.) Teams in general need to move to bigger cities to become more financially viable (see #1). I'm not saying every team should have their D-League affiliate in their own town (see LA D-Fenders) or the absolute largest markets they can find, but they should be in decent sized markets in the same general vicinity as their parent club. The Toros/Spurs set-up is perfect. I'd like to see more teams follow that model. Examples: The Wizards should have a team in Baltimore, the Grizzlies should have a team in Nashville, the Cavaliers should have a team in Akron, etc.

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Originally Posted by timvp

If Mahinmi blossoms elsewhere, Pop is going to have egg on his face. How do you not even suit him up for first half of the season? Even Haislip got some trash minutes early on. Mahinmi is the much, much better prospect.

Like I said earlier, I think the right move would have been to start Mahinmi for about a dozen games early in the season. That would have allowed the Spurs to get a look at him and evaluate their asset.

Now I don't see a winning outcome with Mahinmi. It's too late to legitimately work him back into the rotation. Especially with the Spurs struggling, they can't afford to have a young big learning the game of basketball on the fly. November? Yeah. Halfway into January? Too late.

I guess the best outcome would be to have a team get desperate for a big with a high ceiling and the Spurs trade Mahinmi and actually get an asset in return.

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Agree completely. As I said in a previous thread, unless you're convinced Mahinmi can be a championship piece come April, there's little to no upside to actually playing him at this point. The best "get-out-of-Dodge" solution is to get a 2nd rounder for him or include his salary in a bigger trade.

Good points, lurker23.

As it stands, the D-League isn't competitive enough. Measures have to be taken to address that. Allowing veteran players to voluntarily go down there and upping the salaries could do the trick.

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Originally Posted by timvp

Good points, lurker23.

As it stands, the D-League isn't competitive enough. Measures have to be taken to address that. Allowing veteran players to voluntarily go down there and upping the salaries could do the trick.

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The more I think about this, the more I think it could be a great idea. How much money could the teams make just from rehab assignments alone? "For two nights only, come see Tim Duncan play for the Austin Toros." Even if he only plays 10 minutes a night to get back into some kind of game-rhythm, they'd sell-out the house and make a ton in concessions and merchandise.

well, i guess there's a consensus about Mahinmi situation. We've all seen some flashes of a solid NBA center and would like to see if he can be one for this team rather than for another one.


but there's room for only 4 bigs in a PO rotation.

Behind Tim, Dice, as a vet, is a lock. Bonner, as a 3 pts shooter too. And to choose Blair over Ian as the young Big isn't a crazy choice.


still, i think Pop should have seen if he could take some minutes from Tim in RS. If he could, and even if he would have been benched come PO time, his contract was really reasonable for a RS rotation player who could have helped keep Tim and even Dice fresh for PO.

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Originally Posted by EricB

I'm just curious why your such a vile person.

I've tried to talk to you straight up and you continue with this childish hate.


Again, I'm waiting for the link to where I said "You shouldn't nor ever question the coach"

You avoided the question the first time, please answer if you can.

Thank you.

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You don't try to talk to anyone "straight up". Asking for links is a lame attempt to derail the conversation, and you know it. If you can't be bothered to remember that you defended Pop's decision to rest Duncan and shorten the rotation four games ago, but now you mention the team suddenly looks tired, then I'm not going to try to show you because you clearly aren't man enough to admit it anyway.

You're welcome.

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Originally Posted by kace

but there's room for only 4 bigs in a PO rotation.

Behind Tim, Dice, as a vet, is a lock. Bonner, as a 3 pts shooter too. And to choose Blair over Ian as the young Big isn't a crazy choice.


still, i think Pop should have seen if he could take some minutes from Tim in RS. If he could, and even if he would have been benched come PO time, his contract was really reasonable for a RS rotation player who could have helped keep Tim and even Dice fresh for PO.

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To expand on your point, when Bonner is out, Dice is banged up, you've got 4 games in five nights and you're trying to rest Duncan, and it's still relatively early in the season, finding out if Mahinmi is going to be able to help in that playoff rotation would be beneficial as well as helping keep everyone's legs fresh.

And hey, if Mahinmi turns out to be better than one of the current guys in the big rotation, isn't it better for the team if he plays this season?

You guys think Ian has never been evaluated as a player at any time.

It's cute.

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Originally Posted by timvp

Good points, lurker23.

As it stands, the D-League isn't competitive enough. Measures have to be taken to address that. Allowing veteran players to voluntarily go down there and upping the salaries could do the trick.

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You could allow coaches to punish players for missed rotations by having to do a week in the D-League. :)

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Originally Posted by timvp

Like I said earlier, I think the right move would have been to start Mahinmi for about a dozen games early in the season. That would have allowed the Spurs to get a look at him and evaluate their asset.

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I have to say, with the other roster turnover that had to be dealt with as well as Blair's development, that's a pretty unrealistic strategy for a team that wants to play for a championship.

Pop should have been vocal about this last year and over the summer if he really believed this. To bring it up now is just trying to make an excuse for letting Ian get away should he blossom.

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Originally Posted by dbestpro

Pop should have been vocal about this last year and over the summer if he really believed this. To bring it up now is just trying to make an excuse for letting Ian get away should he blossom.

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RC has always been on about this ever since they bought the Toros. It's probably something that needs to be worked out in the next CBA with the players' union.

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Originally Posted by ChumpDumper

I have to say, with the other roster turnover that had to be dealt with as well as Blair's development, that's a pretty unrealistic strategy for a team that wants to play for a championship.

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I agree. The realistic strategy is now since Blair seems to be established. When a rookie is adapting to a starting role faster than any of the big free-agent acquisitions seem to be adapting to the team and you've got a couple of bigs injured, Mahinmi needs to be pushed off the boat to see if he can swim.

I don't care about what's fair to Mahinmi, I care about whether or not he can help the team, and there's only one way to find that out, regardless of what so many of you want to believe.

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Originally Posted by spurs50_

i wonder if we can send pop to the d league.

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:rollin:hat:downspin: Hellz yes PLEASE!!! With a cherry on top :blah

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Originally Posted by Obstructed_View

I agree. The realistic strategy is now since Blair seems to be established. When a rookie is adapting to a starting role faster than any of the big free-agent acquisitions seem to be adapting to the team and you've got a couple of bigs injured, Mahinmi needs to be pushed off the boat to see if he can swim.

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He has, and he's doing about the same as anyone could have expected.

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Originally Posted by ChumpDumper

You guys think Ian has never been evaluated as a player at any time.

It's cute.

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It's like since they've never seen him in a game that he hasn't been evaluated, in spite of the fact that they've had three training camps, plus a full Toros season to look at him.

No fucking effort.

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Originally Posted by ChumpDumper

He has, and he's doing about the same as anyone could have expected.

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By "He", to whom are you referring? There's clearly not anyone doing what anyone could have expected here.

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Originally Posted by Obstructed_View

By "He", to whom are you referring?

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Ian.

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There's clearly not anyone doing what anyone could have expected here.

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Sure he can.