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Semantics. He's not an NBA player. That's basically all you can tell from summer league games, who's got NBA talent and who doesn't. Hairston doesn't. Hill, Mahinmi and Gist do. It actually reflects well on the front office.
The Hairston is a bust talk is a little bit ridiculous. We got a 2009 second rounder with him, and cash... any thing he does is a bonus.
Semantics. He's not an NBA player. That's basically all you can tell from summer league games, who's got NBA talent and who doesn't. Hairston doesn't. Hill, Mahinmi and Gist do. It actually reflects well on the front office.
Mahinmi had 7 points and 3 rebounds (2 offensive) in the 1st half. Ian's 2nd half was much better, ended up with 18 and 8, so I agree that he looked pretty good, all-in-all. He showed some better footwork, a couple of baseline jumpers, and seemed much more under control, less like a newborn colt.
G-Hill quarterbacked the team pretty well in the 2nd half. He provided the glue and composure to get the lead and keep the lead. As others have said, George didn't finish well but he took the ball to the hole, got to the line, and made some things happen to get positive trips. I would like to see him drive and pull up for the short jumper, a la Hamilton with Detroit. He's got the quickness and the stroke to do it...and it will neutralize the more physical players defending him.
Let's see more of Gist! So far so good.
Hairston is known for underachieving one game and lighting it up the next. After one game, he looks like the last guy from Oregon the Spurs drafted, Bryan Bracey.
I don't think it's right to call any 2nd rounder a "bust". Seeing how so few of them ever have productive NBA careers.
Yeah, in build he's a carbon copy of Bass.
In his play, he's a Maxiell/Bass/Powe type energy bench big man that that plays athletic around the rim.
It's been a long time since the Spurs had a guy like him.
Tough crowd.
Did Sequ post about it? "got damn shoulda drafted Van Horn"
No doubt the Spurs did well there, but Hairston is a footnote. The score was cash and decent pick next year. I'd rather Bill Walker, a pick and cash, but you can't win them all. And Walker might end up stinking too.
When's the next game?
Ahem...that would be, summer league game.
You can't always tell that from summer league play. We have gone to some summer league games and watched players fill up the stat sheet, and never make an NBA roster. And watch others play horribly, then make an NBA team that same year. It's a little early to throw a 21-year-old's chances of making the league out after one summer league game. Guys like Bruce Bowen didn't even make the league til they were 26-27.
I don't think Hairston has a chance to make the Spurs this year, but you can't just call say he'll never make the league.
Man, one summerleague game and it's all over. Oh well.
Fortunately there's a game a day for the next 3 days. In total, these should give us a better idea of what these players are made of, though not necessarily definitive.
If he can perform like Outlaw did for the early-2000s Magic, he's an absolute steal.
I can't believe so many people are saying who's a bust and who's not after one game... that's crazy.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow, 3 PM I think.
Probably.
Nice that folks are already digging in so they can try to defend their premature judgments on Wednesday. This is how we end up with idiots like ducks that bad mouth Manu.
Tomorrow is the Hornets. Hill versus Bobby Brown should be a good matchup. Brown has been playing well. Mahinmi versus Hilton Armstrong should tell us a lot about whether Mahinmi is ready. If Julian Wright and Gist get matched up, that'd be an exciting athleticism display.
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/...ue&sort=oldest
Greg Ostertag's Legendary Domination of Tim Duncan
Henry Abbott
July 11, 2007
It has been the best line of summer league. Maurice Cheeks has used it. P.J. Carlesimo has used it. Every journalist here, practically, has quoted it.
It's a story about how great players can have terrible games in their first summer league. And the story is that Greg Ostertag killed Tim Duncan in his first summer league appearance.
I linked to such a quote, from Cheeks, the other day, and enterprising TrueHoop reader Cyn spent a day at the library going through old newspaper stories proving Cheeks wrong.
Cyn writes:
As for Ostertag 'killing' TD ... that's a matter of opinion.
Certainly the Utah team killed the combined summer league team of the Spurs and 76ers, as the final score was Jazz 85 and Spurs/76ers 59. Ouch.
Ostertag was a second year player. The article describes Ostertag as going up to slam a dunk on Duncan, but he hit the back rim instead.
Ostertag did block some of Tim's shots. The article doesn't specify how many but Ostertag had six blocks in the game.
Anyway, here are the boxscore lines from both players:
Tim Duncan 14 points/6 of 10 FG/8 rebs/3 assists/2 blocks
Greg Ostertag 21 points/7 of 12 FG/10 rebs/0 assists/5 blocks
Tim fouled out of the game getting his sixth foul at 2:52 of the fourth quarter. Maurice Cheeks got the game wrong (fifth not first) and while 'killed' might be harsh; Ostertag did get the better of Tim.
I appreciate the legwork, Cyn.
This story has been used to laugh off performances like Kevin Durant's 4 for 19 in his second game. I'm not worried about Kevin Durant's future. But I am worried about using a tale of a player who shot 60% from the floor to explain a player who shot 21%.
UPDATE: Tim Duncan spoke about that experience with Slam's Lang Whitaker: "Jermaine (O'Neal) destroyed me. He was with Portland, was real young ... and Tag threw my stuff into the first couple of rows a few times."
The Slam Link:
Lang Whitaker
http://slamonline.com/online/2007/07...-has-problems/
When Greg Oden struggled early, everyone brought up the story of how Tim Duncan also struggled during his first summer league appearance. I actually asked Duncan about that last summer, and he said…
ME: I heard before your rookie season you played summer league and Ostertag killed you in a game. They were talking about how some guys come out of college and it takes them time to adjust.
TIM: He threw my sh*t into the first and second row a couple of times. Jermaine (O’Neal) destroyed me. He was with Portland, was real young…
ME: But he’d already been in the League for a while?
TIM: Yeah, he destroyed me, and Tag threw my stuff into the first couple of rows a few times.
ME: It takes you time to adjust to the speed, or what?
TIM: I don’t even know what it was, to be honest with you. I just wanted to get the experience of playing against NBA players. I’d been in college for four years and that was great, but it’s a different speed, it’s a different strength, it’s a different set of players, and I wanted to play as much as possible, so I jumped in the league and I thought it helped me a bunch, it helped me tremendously.
ST wouldn't be ST without such overreactions.
Maxiell had something like a 9'0" standing reach... something crazy, so technically hes not really undersized seing as most guys at the 4 are about there.
Gist is a shade under 9'0" too so he has the length to defend 4's, and hes a good 6'8" in shoes which will allow him to go out on the perimeter.
Brandon Bass is more of an out and out 4 man.
A poor mans Maxiell is probably the best way to describe Gist right about now.
He's the one player who comes to mind as a 4 with the body of a 3 who was generally a hustle player who rebounded well, blocked a few shots, and shot for a high percentage due to most of his shots being putbacks and dunks. Gist did knock down a 20 foot J in this game.
Still, way too early, but if Gist is going to make it in this league he's going to make it as an Outlaw type player.
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