Spurs' 2005 draft pick Mahinmi remains intriguing work in progress
Web Posted: 07/29/2006 11:37 PM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
Ian Mahinmi was 18 years old, 6 feet, 10 inches tall, all limbs and potential.
"Coltish" was how one scout described Mahinmi after seeing him for the first time in France. The Spurs had their own name for him: John Mason.
Not wanting to tip off their interest in Mahinmi before the 2005 NBA draft, the Spurs gave him an alias. "John Mason" sounded like a basketball player, so the name stuck. Anyone eavesdropping wouldn't know the difference.
Or so the Spurs thought. With the draft only two weeks away and the Spurs in the middle of the NBA Finals, general manager R.C. Buford opened the Sports section of the San Antonio Express-News and felt his stomach drop. "When you're talking 'Detroit basketball,'" read the headline stretched across the top of the page, "you're talking John Mason."
Buford relaxed after reading further. The story profiled the Pistons' public-address announcer, who, in addition to popularizing the chant "DEE-TROIT BAS-KET-BALL," also happened to share the same name as the one the Spurs selected for Mahinmi.
"All I saw was 'John Mason'" Buford said, "and thought somebody had found us out."
(Douglas C. Pizac / Associated Press)
Ian Mahinmi, shooting over the Mavercks' D.J. Mbenga during the Rocky Mountain Revue, showed promise this summer.
A handful of teams did learn shortly before the draft of the Spurs' intentions to take Mahinmi at No. 28. But even more were surprised when NBA commissioner David Stern announced the pick. As Stern waited, league officials scrambled to make a placard for Mahinmi. The holdup: Mahinmi wasn't among the 128 players listed in the league's 216-page draft guide.
Neither was John Mason.
More seasoning
Now 19, Mahinmi, still 6-10 and now 210 pounds, isn't quite the international man of mystery he was a year ago. He used the first 21/2 games of his recent summer-league debut to reveal why the Spurs coveted him. His performance in the next 21/2 games showed why he'll be spending at least one more season in France.
Though Mahinmi's stats weren't impressive in the opener at the Rocky Mountain Revue, he ran the floor well, challenged shots and was aggressive with the ball.
"He had a presence," said Spurs assistant coach Mike Budenholzer, who headed the team. "He looked like he knew he belonged out there."
In the next game against Seattle, Mahinmi produced 13 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. After watching him total 14 points and seven rebounds in 13 first-half minutes against Atlanta, one Spurs official asked if David Robinson ever looked so good at 19.
Had he known Mahinmi would collect five fouls in nine minutes in the second half, he would have kept the question to himself. Repeatedly outmuscled for position by Hawks rookie forward Shelden Williams, Mahinmi countered by holding and pushing. Once, he clubbed Williams as they battled for a rebound.
Mahinmi's low point came the next day against Philadelphia. Unable to move 265-pound forward Harold Jamison, he committed eight fouls in 17 minutes.
Mahinmi improved the next two games, though neither performance matched his early efforts. He averaged 8.3 points and a team-high 5.7 rebounds in the six games, but also totaled 38 fouls, seven more than any other player in the six-team league.
"For me, it's just about playing hard and being smart," Mahinmi said. "I don't want to do same mistake two times."
Even after watching Mahinmi's worst games, one scout thought he would have been a lottery pick in this year's draft. Others weren't as complimentary, wondering if Mahinmi will ever be strong enough to compete in the NBA.
Spurs officials were surprised Mahinmi struggled more in his later games than in his earlier ones. But given that he was the second-youngest player in Utah, had never faced any type of NBA compe ion and had less than six years of experience playing the sport, they were fairly pleased with his performance.
"Whether he plays great or whether he plays poorly," said Spurs assistant general manager Sam Presti, "we have to remember this is a process. It's all about development with him."
The right fit
The son of a Jamaican mother and a father from Benin, a small country in West Africa, Mahinmi grew up in Rouen, about an hour's drive from Paris.
His mother taught preschool and his father worked as a diplomat of sorts, helping African immigrants transition to France. Neither parent, however, was unusually tall; those genes came from his 6-6 African grandfather.
Mahinmi's older brother played soccer well enough to nearly make Jamaica's national team for the 1998 World Cup. Soccer also had been Mahinmi's sport of choice. Basketball, however, chose him.
Mahinmi was attending middle school when the coach of a nearby basketball program saw the 6-foot 14-year-old towering over his classmates. It was about that same time another French teenager (Tony Parker) began preparing for his first NBA season.
Within a couple of years, Mahinmi was playing for the youth team in Le Havre, a port city about 60 miles west of Rouen. Presti first saw him three years ago, while scouting a tournament in Evry. Mahinmi spent much of the night on the bench, but even then he looked intriguing.
Mahinmi made more of an impression at the 2004 Under-18 European Championships in Zaragoza, Spain. Most of the scouts had come to see Johan Petro, who would go on to be a first-round pick of Seattle. Mahinmi, however, played more than expected because of an injury to one of his teammates. He also played well.
Presti liked what he saw and marked Mahinmi as a player the Spurs should continue to follow. Other scouts did the same.
"After that," Mahinmi said, "everybody started talking about me."
U.S. colleges also became interested. Gonzaga saw Mahinmi as a potential replacement for French forward Ronny Turiaf, who was about to enter his final season. Though a friend of Turiaf's, Mahinmi decided instead to join Le Havre's professional team.
Still, Mahinmi didn't plan to enter the 2005 draft. The few teams scouting him projected him as a second-round pick, if that.
Buford, however, had already made his own trip to France to watch Mahinmi. Like Presti, he saw the potential. Mahinmi, though raw, was athletic, aggressive — and young.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich needed only a couple minutes of game film to be convinced. After watching Mahinmi post on the right block, spin around his defender and throw down a two-handed dunk, Popovich stopped the tape.
"That's good enough for me," he said.
The Spurs had been looking for an athletic big man since David Robinson retired. Inquiries about Chicago's Tyson Chandler never went anywhere. Gambling a late first-round draft pick on a 6-10, 18-year-old with some upside, the Spurs decided, was worth the risk.
Spurs officials told Mahinmi's agent, Bouna N'Diaye, they would take Mahinmi if he stayed in the draft. N'Diaye relayed the news to his client. Mahinmi's initial reaction: "Wow!"
"Then he said, 'OK, let me think about it,'" N'Diaye said. "I told him he could have 24 hours, 'til noon on Friday. He called me at exactly noon on Friday."
Although another solid season at Le Havre could have turned Mahinmi into a lottery pick, he and N'Diaye both liked the idea of joining the Spurs. Mahinmi didn't know Parker personally, but he knew he was French, which was good enough. He also knew about the Spurs' successful history with international players.
As a result, N'Diaye didn't make film of Mahinmi easily available to other teams. Commitments to Le Havre prevented Mahinmi from playing in that year's Nike Hoop Summit with Europe's other top young players. Nor did he participate in the Reebok camp, another must-watch event for scouts.
"What mattered to us," N'Diaye said, "was to be with the right team, the right system. The pick didn't matter."
Worthwhile project
The Spurs weren't the only team interested in Mahinmi. One Western Conference scout said he tried before the draft to sell his team on taking Mahinmi in the second round, but couldn't find enough film of him.
Danny Ferry also helped scout Mahinmi as the Spurs' director of basketball operations. After Cleveland hired him as general manager shortly before the draft, Ferry left with the understanding he wouldn't divulge the Spurs' plans to his new team.
So it came as a surprise to Ferry when he saw Mahinmi's name listed on the Cavaliers' draft board among the candidates the team was considering taking with its second-round pick. When the Spurs took Mahinmi, Cleveland officials looked at Ferry. Ferry shrugged.
All of this, of course, could be much to do about nothing. If Mahinmi proved anything in Salt Lake City, it was that he's going to have to get stronger to have any impact in the NBA. Most of his rebounds came from running down the ball after it had been tipped. Rarely, did he go up in a crowd and take one.
"He's skinny, but (Dallas' Dirk) Nowitzki is also skinny and he knows how to create space to get a defensive rebound," said a Western Conference coach, who watched Mahinmi in Utah. "If (Mahinmi) can learn to do that, (the Spurs) might have something."
An Eastern Conference scout said Mahinmi looked how one would expect a 19-year-old to look — inconsistent. The scout liked that Mahinmi had active hands on defense. But he also thought Mahinmi was thinking too much — instead of reacting — when he received the ball in the post.
"He needs more development," the scout said. "But he will get better because he's not afraid."
Mahinmi proved that when Dallas' first-round pick, Maurice Ager, threw down a dunk so vicious it sent the Spurs forward staggering backward into a courtside table. The play brought the Mavericks — and most of the fans — to their feet, but Mahinmi looked unfazed. On the ensuing possession, he quickly called for the ball and drove inside to draw a foul.
Spurs officials were merely happy Mahinmi tried to challenge Ager's dunk. In Europe, where the game is populated by jump shooters, he rarely gets the opportunity.
"If you had walked away and seen him play the way he did in practices and the first 21/2 games, we would have been thrilled to death," Buford said. "Whatever happens, we need to maintain patience and balance and a long-range projection."
Though he's returning to France for another year, Mahinmi will move up a level in compe ion. After averaging 9.7 points and 5.2 rebounds for Le Havre last season — numbers good enough to earn an All-Star selection — he signed a contract with Pau-Orthez. In addition to being one of the best teams in France, Pau also plays in the Euroleague, affording Mahinmi the opportunity to go against many of Europe's top players, including two of the Spurs' other former draft picks — Luis Scola and Robertas Javtokas.
Mahinmi's new coach, Gordon Herbert, already has a good relationship with the Spurs, having previously assisted their summer-league team. The strength and nutrition program in Pau also is more developed than in Le Havre. Mahinmi, who has been listed as weighing anywhere from 210-230 pounds, said he didn't have much time to lift weights last season because he was too busy working on his game. That won't be the case this season. The Spurs plan to have a strength coach visit to monitor his progress.
Mahinmi wants this to be his last year in Europe. The Spurs also would like to get him into their program as soon as possible.
"But he can't assume he's going to be ready to come over," Budenholzer said. "If he works diligently, both in the weight room and on the court, it's very reasonable to think he can come over and be a part of the team."
"Being a part of the team" is different from "being a contributor." Even if Mahinmi joins the Spurs for the 2007-08 season, team officials consider it a reach to assume he'll have a significant impact in his first year. Indiana All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal went straight from high school to the NBA — then spent his first four years sitting on the end of the bench in Portland.
The Spurs are optimistic Mahinmi won't have a long learning curve. One of his former Le Havre coaches nicknamed him "The Sponge" because he quickly absorbed everything they taught him. The Spurs saw some of the same traits this month: After Budenholzer cursed at him in practice for failing to protect the rim, Mahinmi picked up his effort.
Mahinmi also has a good sense of humor, which is important when playing for Popovich. When Mahinmi arrived for practice the day after France lost to Italy in the World Cup, one of the coaches walked over and gave him a head-butt.
Said Mahinmi: "All I can say is, what about the U.S.? Was it just like a little trip (to Germany) for them?"
Language also doesn't seem to be too much of a problem. Asked if he spent any time with Parker, Mahinmi nodded. "I meet him at his crib."
Mahinmi doesn't have a crib yet or an NBA contract. Unlike Parker, he can walk the streets of France — and San Antonio — without being recognized.
Ian Mahinmi? John Mason? For now, they're still one and the same.
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