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o Salim!
Jeff McDonald: Say o to Salim
After a nearly three-week wait, the Salim Stoudamire era begins tonight for the Spurs.
Stoudamire, who has been out since injuring his groin on the first day of training camp, said after this morning's shootaround that he expects to play in tonight's game against Indiana at the AT&T Center.
Stoudamire was cleared after enduring the light one-hour workout unscathed. Coach Gregg Popovich called him into the office, asking the backup point guard to gauge his readiness with a thumbs up or a thumbs down.
"I gave him the thumbs up," Stoudamire said.
Stoudamire is in camp on a make-good contract, meaning he will have to make the team in order for it to become fully guaranteed. The Spurs took a flyer on him after his tumultuous three-year career in Atlanta came to and end, with hopes Stoudamire could fill the instant-offense-off-the-bench role Eddie House did for the NBA Champion Boston Celtics last year.
Sidelined with a strained groin, Stoudamire has so far had difficulty showing his stuff to Spurs coaches. The final 11 days of camp and three preseason games are pretty much make or break for him, and he knows it.
"It's do or die for me," Stoudamire said.
Not that Stoudamire is nervous about his chances.
"I'm not concerned once I get on the basketball court," he said.
For the first time tonight, it appears he will finally get his chance.
o Salim!
Nice.
If Stoudamire and/or Watkins plays well over the final three games, this becomes a very intriguing camp.
I wonder if Buford is working the phones trying to find a European team for Hairston to play for this season? Maybe the recently hired Spainard is the Spurs' Johnny on the Spot for that task.
I am still wondering how this is going to work out. Are we going to carry three PG's or is Vaughn going to be inactive? Stoudamire is way too small to play the two...unless we are toying with the idea of some super small ball.
You pair Salim with a taller playmaker like Manu or Mason. They initiate the offense and guard the 2, he guns and guards the 1. You couldn't play him with Bowen and Finley on the floor together.
The Spurs carry 3 PGs most of the time. Why would that even be a mild surprise?
TP,NVE,Beno
TP,JV, Beno
TP,JV, Damon
Last edited by exstatic; 10-18-2008 at 12:22 PM.
Hmm...didn't think of that. That could work out well during our offensive slumps. You could have Manu handling...Stoudamire, Bowen, Tolliver(assuming his shot comes around) and Duncan on the floor. That would give us a playmaker handling and Duncan down low surrounded by shooters.
Actually its 4 PG's...TP, Hill, Vaughn and Stoudamire.
Ah, but Stoudy's not really a PG, is he?
You have TP, Hill, Vaughn at PG.
You have Manu and Mason as SGs who create for themselves and others.
You have Fin and Salim who pretty much just shoot/score.
It's just a matter of pairing a shooter with an appropriately sized creator. I don't even think of Salim as a hybrid. He's a SG who needs a bigger creator on the floor with him. I think that will always limit his minutes. Parker plays 33-34 and they really can't play anything but extremely limited minutes together, so his only chance to ever play more than 15 minutes is a blowout.
Stoudamire ain't a point guard.
So that being said...is he really worth a roster spot? It is intriguing because if he shoots well he could be good offense with a creator like Manu, but would his size and lack of defensive play cancel that out? In dealing with teams like the Lakers, Rockets and Hornets, I would think keeping a big like Watkins would pay higher dividends than a player like Stoudamire.
Salim's worth keeping if you can find minutes for him in a lineup with players who's skills and size allow him to play SG. Otherwise, no.
He'll fail like so many others if you try to convert him into a PG.
It will be interesting to see how Pop uses him tonight and if he sticks to those types of lineups you mentioned when he is in. I wish the game was televised so we can get a real feel for him all around. With the time he has already missed he had better shoot lights out these last few preseason games or I will be pretty critical of his usefulness to this team.
Stoudamire doesn't have the ability to play point guard by can he pretend to play point guard? Players like Eddie House and Jannero Pargo also can't play point guard but they survive at the position because they can at least dribble the ball up the court and initiate an offense. If Stoudamire shows enough ballhandling ability to bring the ball up, that will likely be enough for the Spurs to consider him a "point guard".
In the Spurs offense, you don't really NEED a true point guard anyways.
I'm not 100% sold on that yet. The Spurs have never relied on a point guard with as little point guard skill as Salim Stoudamire. We'll see if the offense is functional or whether Stoudamire has to play shooting guard.
way to use your brain
And again that raises the question...is it worth it? That's 4 pretty small players in our back court in a division where the primary compe ion all has solid front courts. It really is a waste of a roster spot IMO to keep a player like that when we could probably benefit more in keeping another big.
Stoudamire will play sparingly, but when he does play it will not be dish out assists. He'll allow Parker to play off the ball, or keep defenses honest when Manu penetrates or Duncan is on the low block. Between Parker, Hill, Mason, Ginobili and Finley, he won't see the court much so his ability to play point in really beside the point. He can dribble and shoot, that's enough.
He'd be more worth the spot if JV wasn't on the team, but he's a big upgrade over Damon Stoudamire.
I think Parker will register career highs in scoring this season. Ginobili's injury plus the glut of points the Spurs have brought in should put him in the 23 ppg range.
And it's pretty obvious from where I sit that few teams amass more 3 point attempts than San Antonio. Pop has already issued the green light.
who do you think would be better as a 13-15 man
We already have 13 players under contract so its only 2 spots.
It's pretty obvious Pop and Timmy are sold on Tolliver so there is one. I think he would have to look beyond horrible in the next few games to be out. Its hard to say on the other one. None of the swingmen have been outstanding. I am worried that Watkins isn't really getting a fair shake. At this point I would take him over Stoudamire because I think he would be more useful to us against the teams we really need to be concerned about. The Ian injury has really screwed things up this preseason as far as our front line goes...because it difficult to gauge what Watkins true value for us is right now. I am trying to be open minded about Stoudamire until we see him in a few games, but I just don't feel great about using precious roster space on a player that is so incredibly one dimensional and can only play in certain lineups.
A 7th big is forever inactive. For that reason alone--not to mention an injured Manu and an over the hill Finley--I give Farmer, Hairston and Stoudamire the leg up on Watkins. The only way they sign Watkins is if they salary dump Matt Bonner for no one. Who is simply willing to absorb Bonner? And who can?
I want another shot blocker too, but I don't see it.
Bonner and a 2nd round pick to somebody is the only way to keep Watkins...Compared what the spurs picks have looked like lately, might not be a bad trade...
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