McDonald: Popovich wants D-League change

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.