Person of interest: Ben Woodside
By Jeff McDonald
In a sense, May was an uncharacteristically slow month for the Spurs. For the first time in a long time, there were no playoff games for them to play, having suffered their first first-round ouster since 2000 when Dallas beat them in five games.
In another sense, May was as busy as ever for the Spurs, with a steady stream of prospects darkening the doors of their practice facility for pre-draft tryouts.
The NBA draft is June 25. Between now and then, we here at Courtside will take a look -- in no particular order -- at some of the players the Spurs have auditioned and could be targeting with one of their three second-round picks.
We start today with Ben Woodside, a point guard from North Dakota State.
At 5-foot-11, scouts rightly wonder if Woodside has the physical tools to make in the NBA. He is also a tad on the old side for an NBA prospect, slated to turn 24 not long after draft day.
Still, Woodside produced in college. Boy, did he produce. A scoring point, Woodside carried career averages of 18.2 points and 5.1 assists per game, all while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range. He was considered to be one of the quickest college guards in the nation last season.
The guy can flat score. He dropped 60 in a game against Stephen F. Austin last season, impressive no matter the level. Woodside also produced against the big boys, pumping in 37 against Kansas in the NCAA tournament. Those numbers are difficult to ignore.
Scouts will also wonder about the compe ion Woodside faced on a nightly basis at North Dakota State, but it should be noted that the Spurs found a legitimate NBA player in the Summit League -- IUPUI's George Hill -- in last year's draft.
Backup point guard was a sore spot for the Spurs last season. Though they would prefer to have a traditional, past-first point behind Tony Parker, Woodside has played his way onto their radar.
It remains to be seen where he goes from there. The point-guard crop is fairly deep this year, stocked with players with more size and more length and who might be more NBA-ready.
Geesh... that first paragraph needs work... Phoenix beat the Spurs in 2000 (when Duncan was injured). McDonald makes it sound like it was Dallas that ousted SA in 2000 ... Even though I know he is referring to this year's playoffs...
Do they not have an editor???
I'm glad the Spurs are addressing their need for an under-sized, unproven backup PG. One less thing to worry about.
The Spurs need a back-up playmaker who can score and be an efficient floor and clock manager. George Hill did not show enough scoring nor floor leadership last season to make Pop comfortable.
If a player can score, show floor leadership and a third eye, why not give him a shot?
not going to find that most likely in rookie
SF is the biggest need but I don't mind the Spurs looking for a backup pg either. We need someone who can run the team and even help with the scoring while Parker is on the bench.
Hill and Mason (especially) couldn't do so.
Hopefully they draft a sf player at 37 and pick up a couple pgs with the later picks if they're unable to swing a trade.
hill could do much better with more playing time
dude did ok when tp was hurt with manu out there to
most rookies do not even get lots of playing time to run backup point
they watch a year on the bench
saying hill is useless for that is like saying tp never improved since he was a rookie
True, although he is almost 24 years old. Marcus Williams instead of Ramon Sessions was unfortunate.
I think we all know what Hill is capable of. Its just a matter of what the Spurs are wanting him to play. Do they want him as a backup PG or a backup SG?
When Parker went down early last season, Hill got consistent minutes at the point guard position (25 plus minutes per game) and look what happened. Fact is whoever is playing back up point guard won't really have a stand out year ever because of the lack of playing time that position has. Hill will be just fine as our back up pg and with some minutes at the 2. The only reason Pop tried out Mason at back up pg is to have the best spacing possible on the court at all times to enhance our offensive game especially when Manu was hurt, not because Hill was horrible at it.
Spurs need length and athleticism more than anything else. Last thing they need is an undersized point guard to develop.
I saw this guy play against the Jayhawks and he can definatly play ball..What made him tough is not only does shoot well, the guy is fearless and will not hesitate to drive the ball. Speaking of undersized, Barrea did pretty well against the spurs if I remember right..
FWIW: Woodside was not at the Draft Combine. The NBA invites those whom their GMs say have the highest liklihood of being drafted. Woodside was at a workout with at least 3 other player and is probably a better candidate for the Toros to draft. Maybe he's one of those off the radar Spurs picks, but I doubt it.
Whoever is the back-up PG he will never get the opportunity to work through his mistakes because Pop will pull him and put TP back in or put in some old 3rd string guy. It's not the players; it's the way they are handled.
Yeah that Pop has to go, they won't win with him as the coach.
Woodside is a player Spurs "could be targeting with one of their three second-round picks" ?
Offensively speaking, the back-up PG should be effective in the 2-man pick n roll/pop...knocking down shots to keep the lane open instead of collapsed. Anyone can run at the 1, if they are running pure motion offense. Not so with the 1-5 rub.
George Hill has to show more consistency and show a much better +/- differential when he's out there at the 1. Granted, Chauncey Billups was not impressive his first year, nor was Kevin Johnson. Can Hill really transform to a solid floor leader and playmaker? Not sure, yet.
It's hard to show a better plus or minus whenever you play 10-13 minutes a game and the majority of those minutes is when your best 2 players are not on the floor. Fact is whenever he did get significant minutes, he put up some great numbers and was also ranked 4th in the espn rookie rankings at the time.
ahahahahaha
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