Ian played well last night. He took advantage of the opportunity to post up against some decent size. Too bad he missed that awesome bullet pass from Tony in the 3rd. That would have been an awesome wide open dunk.
So most of us are aware of the Minnesota's frontcourt(if not all-court) problems.
-Jefferson and Love don't work well on the court together
-Jefferson is undersized at the 5 anyway
-Is Darko really the answer? What if he gets pissed that he's playing 20-25 mpg and then they're stuck with locker room drama?
Who really cares about these issues? But after watching Ian go to work on Darko and Al Jeff, I wonder if the Wolves will go after him this offseason. What do you think?
Someone's going to pick him up and he's going to be a pretty good player for them. If and when he figures it out and makes the next step in his development, there's no telling how good he can be.
I'm hoping Pop starts him against Dallas in the finale. It gets him some burn and a last chance to audition for the postseason while not showing a single card to Rick Carlisle.
6 fouls in 20 minutes.
If he could cut that, he'd be a pretty nice pickup for somebody.
I can see Presti going after him.
Saw him play last night...the refs were pretty rough on him..he was pissed and rightfully so...his sze is an asset we can definetly use imo.
His P'R D isn't all that good and of course he fouls way too much. If he straightens these things out he will be a very productive player. He also had been imjury prone so I can see Pop's hesistency towards giving him significant minutes. But he does have much upside so I can see teams going after him this off season. Hopefully TP's French connection will persuade him to come to the Spurs training camp unless he gets that nice offer from some other team. I think the Spurs are trying to get Ian on the cheap. If so then the gamble may or may not pay off. We'll see but the gut feeling is someone will throw money at him. With his athletic ability and height it probably would be worth the gamble.
al jefferson's not undersized for a center. he's 6'10" and 260 lbs. chuck hayes is undersized. dejuan blair is undersized. ike diogu is undersized. jason maxiell is undersized. not al jefferson
Ian Mahinmi played well last nite, I think he can become a pretty damn good player. It's too bad that our Spurs don't have a bit more time to invest in his development. Oh well, his fault... HE DID have 5 years to improve and is still kindof foul prone.
...Unless we can re-sign him for peanuts......
Ian does not foul too much. He gets called for fouls too much. He will not get the respecitble call until he gets some consistant PT. It is the same for every big man in this game.
A game like yesterday make me mad at Pop for not giving Ian a try in the November/December. He'd be another great option now. But with so little experience he can't play in the playoffs
It is indeed too late for him to contribute this year, but Ian would certainly make for another good frontcourt option next year. If for no other reason than the Spurs do not have another player on the roster, who can block shots, defend and score in the post, other than Duncan.
It's silly having to justify why this guy is worth keeping around. By now, I would hope that Spurs have seen enough to warrant offering him an inexpensive, 2-year contract this summer.
Otherwise, I predict he'll end up in OKC, contributing to an already young, athletic roster that is devoid of a post player, of his ilk.
He alters shots!
He already has a 10X better version of him in Serge Ibaka
"for another good frontcourt option next year."
IAN (yawn), we were saying that a year ago.
Pop said months ago Pop isn't picking up his option, so Pop doesn't care if he walks.
Unfortunately, I missed the game last night. Did Ian get any minutes with Duncan on the floor? I think Ian would be even better if he played significant minutes with Duncan on the floor. He could take a lot of defensive pressure off TD if they could learn to play together.
where all the Ian haters at?
Ian is legit. i have no idea why he isn't used more often.
its too late....where all the Ian haters at?
Ian is legit. i have no idea why he isn't used more often.
i don't think it's too late. there are nights when Bonner and Blair look like crap and what he provided last night would be welcome in ithe case they aren't bringing their games. granted, it was against Minnesota, but if he plays against Dallas we'll be able to measure his worth a littel more. i doubt he plays much though.
Sure has been a fustering year with Pop. Now will see Ian florish somewhere else.
All you need to know about Minny's front court is that they let Matt Bonner put the ball on the floor and drive in uncontested for a two handed DUNK. I wouldn't be boasting about any accomplishments against that front line.
Oh, and Ian does foul a lot. They're called fouls because they're fouls, and it's every ing game.
I hate to say he looks less athletic compared to two years ago. He's still rusty but that's to be expected by not getting legitimate playing time. I don't think even he knows what his niche in the NBA is yet.
Some other team will probably pick him up but that doesn't mean he's guaranteed success. For him to have a career he's going to need to play on a crappy team where he can get minutes. Hopefully he's developed some fundamentals here that will carry with him wherever he plays next.
No he doesn't, unless you think Ian is going to be as good as Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard, and the 5 other players who have met that standard in last ten seasons.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...rder_by=season
Ian needs to learn to foul less, absolutely. But...it's not like the refs are completely fair. They are prejudiced against rookies. Stars get the calls. I didn't think there was much debate about this.
I was at the game--half his fouls were BS.
His size and quickness made a big impact in the paint.
He wasn't bad, but the Wolves were terrible, so it wasn't a game that tells you much about him.
He would not be our saviour but by not picking his option, we may miss out a chance to keep a big man at a reasonable cost.
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