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How come Parker's name is not in the box score, even as a DNP-CD?
with timmy and antonio inside and parker getting so much attention all of these players will look about 100% better when they are in the games.
How come Parker's name is not in the box score, even as a DNP-CD?
You can only have a certain amount of players that are "active" (able to play).
First of all, I'm just glad everyone is healthy. No injuries w/c is priority No.1. Its just the 1st game and we'll see how individual players progress/regress as each game unfolds. No reason to be disappointed at this point in any individual player.. will wait to see their entire training camp performance before passing judgement.
My annual "thanks for the excellent writeup, TIMVP!" post.
Jesus. 19 Rebounds in 22 minutes is good for just shooting around a gym by yourself.
Granted it's just pre-season, but with his history of being a beast on the boards, this is a really positive sign of it translating.
WTF?? did the rockets play with midgets or something?
And let the Timvp slobbering begin!
Good Read!
Timvp, I have been thinking about this:
It seems like you are expecting a lot from Malik. Sure, he could improve his ball handling an play making skills on the perimeter, but he is a league minimum type guy. Mason cannot defend very well or make plays on the perimeter, yet he has carved out a spot. Bonner has trouble defending (though not as bad as he seems) and he has a nice niche.-In his first few stints on the court, Malik Hairston played well. His defense was on point and he used his body well on the offensive end. Unfortunately, he played much worse as the game wore on. He started trying to do too much on both ends and it was a train wreck. All in all, Hairston still needs to prove that he can shoot against NBA defenders and show enough ballhandling skills to play out on the perimeter. He has good tools but he still has a ways to go to put it all together.
With how good Malik can defend, finish around the rim and now seemingly hit 3's, I don't see why you seem to think he is that far off.
Tim Varner pretty much summed up my thoughts in his blog.
People who were disappointed with this game need to take a deep breath. There were 13 players who played for the Spurs last night. Out of those players, only 4 spent any meaningful time in a Spurs uniform last season...and out of those 4 only one played more than 18 minutes in last nights game. So the fact that is was sloppy is easily justified by the lack of knowledge within the majority of the team. Knowledge of the offense...knowledge of the defense...knowledge of each other. Even with a player like Haislip who got abused on defense, you really can't knock the guy that much. Heck, if Blair wasn't such a gifted rebounder(the rest of his game is pretty raw) he would have probably had the same type of game as the rest of the newbies.
There are a couple of players that don't get as much of a free pass. Namely Hairston, Mahinmi and Williams. Of the three, Hairston looked the most ready. He still has to learn to understand his limitations and play within the system, but I think that will come when he plays more with the vets. TBQH, I think he was forcing it so much last night because he was the most experienced of the new players and he probably felt like he needed to make something happen to get the team back in the game. He'll be fine as he learns his role more within the offense.
The jury is still out with Ian. BLACKJACK21 made some excellent observations regarding him in the game blog:
Mahinmi is a lot like Bonner...in that he sometimes overdoes things and does unnecessary things that make him look like a bonehead. Once Bonner figured out all he had to do was let it fly when he was open he was fine. Mahinmi needs to take this same approach with his game. He needs to play good help defense(which he did last night), get on the boards and take the offense that is given to him. If he settles down and does these things he will find a spot in the rotation.
Marcus Williams....I stand by what I said in another thread...he is just not an NBA player. He has some good traits but his lack of athleticism for his size just kills him. The fact that he can't do one thing really well hurts him with this team...as the Spurs like thier bench players to specialize in something. Combine that with him not being strong enough to defend players his same size and the cards are stacked pretty high against him.
Hopefully Pop stresses defense in practice these next few days and the new guys start to show some continuity. Sure is good to see some Spurs basketball...even if it wasn't quite Spurs basketball.
I think it was the case for the whole São Paulo state, I followed the game through the game blog on my black berry. I have to confess I was pretty pissed about that.
oh and
I don't think y'all want my thoughts from the game. I was drunk and belligerent.
I don't think Hairston is far away from making it but his flaws right now are fatal flaws. He played PF in college and right now he doesn't handle the ball well enough to play guard in the NBA. He'll need to become a better ballhandler to make it.
Shooting is another area that Hairston needs to prove himself. He doesn't jump much on his shot and he's relatively short so it's not a guarantee that he'll be able to get his shot off on the NBA level. There are plenty of players who can shoot well at lower levels who can't get clean looks in the NBA (Tolliver and McClinton are two recent examples).
Mason and Bonner have flaws but they aren't fatal flaws. Plus they have a strength (shooting) that is elite. Hairston has strengths but none of them are elite at this point.
I have hope for Hairston but he's definitely a work in progress. Right now, if I had to guess, I'd say he doesn't make the team. Thankfully for him, there are plenty of preseason games for him to show the Spurs that he needs to be kept.
pop seemed to think the exact opposite of hill, as he went out of his way too indicate how impressive he has been.
I just think that Hairston's defense is at an extremely high level. He seems to be a good scorer, but I guess we won't know until we see him against NBA talent. I have seen him, when he was getting minutes with the Spurs, lock guys up defensively and get to the rim and finish, but his 3 point shooting is the real question mark.
I know the pressure is on Ian to demonstrate to the Spurs that he's worth them picking up his 4th year option, by 10/31. He may have a good game here and there, but inconsistency is the hallmark of most young players and this kid is truly STILL learning the game on the fly.
That said, it's quite possible that the Spurs may have a definitive answer by then.
It's too bad Ian missed all of last year. That lost time really set back his development.
2nd unit should include Hairston, Hill, Blair, Manu and a tall centre
Bonner, Halslip, Mason should be packaged to trade for a defensive tall centre or wing (Does Orlando have a surplus backup centre?)
William should be cut and make room for a pass first PG (who will definitely take the 2nd unit to a higher level)
Cook or Chase Budinger should be in SPURS team to be the 3pt shooting big man (daydreaming though)
RJ contribution is not as good as expected but this is the 1st preseason game
Bah....he's long, you know that. But yeah, they are the shortest team in the league now.
Blair reminded me of a young smaller Moses Malone, tip, tip, tip......and aggressively go and get the ball.
If his knees hold up he is going to beast for you guys.
DD
Awesome recap Timvp!!
This game was eerily similar to the one played on October 6th!
Thanks for the notes, timvp.
You must be some judge of talent to be able to tell that one game into the preseason from a boxscore!
You continue to prove yourself the most ignorant poster in the forum.
Good point.
I don't think you're way out of the ballpark in your analysis of Hairston, but I think you're a bit off the mark in the conclusion you come to; especially in terms of 'fatal flaws.'
Hairston has always been pretty good hitting the seams and going from point-A to point-B off the dribble when the opportunity presents itself, but he gets into trouble when the destination isn't predetermined or he's forced to improvise off the dribble.
His shot is pretty much the same way, in that, if he's got his feet set and in position to shoot the ball, say like Bowen made a living off of, he's actually been pretty good and looks to have even improved upon from what I've seen. I think you're getting a little too caught up in the scouting aspect of a talent and not as much as how he'll look playing alongside the A-team. -- The Big 4 and co., not B. A. Baracus.--
Malik wouldn't be coming in here to play the 2 as much as he would be to defend 2's and 3's. More of a Bowen role than shooting-guard. His offensive game only needs to consist of playing off the Big 4; corner 3's, dive-cuts/movement off the ball, hitting the boards, and attacking the basket while the defense is on their heals and looking to recover after doubles and/or penetration.
Like you, I'm not certain Hairston makes the team. But that's not an indictment on Hairston as much as it is a preference I've picked up on from Pop and the crew.
I had the same impression and reading this particular comment of yours had me wishing I would have actually prefaced my Game Thoughts comments to provide a better context.
Not unlike Pop and the staff are for the first couple of presesaon games, I'm more in the evaluation/scouting-mode. For instance:
Watching Haislip and Hairston, ball-handling was a glaring weakness that both would need to considerably improve upon. And in doing so, their ability to create for themselves and others would allow them to become quality, well-rounded offensive players.
That's simply scouting a particular aspect, ball-handling, of both Hairston and Haislip and coming to a conclusion on what they need to do to improve individually, though.
But in terms of how detrimental their ball-handling would be in relation to the role and players they'd be playing with, the flaw in considerably lessened. After all, periphery players don't garner the type of attention that would force them to have to create or make a lot of decisions. They'd simply be asked to finish. And if you've already got a defense on it's heals, a suspect handle all of a sudden becomes an adequate and effective one.
That's just one example of one certain aspect, and I could do it with every newcomer looking to contribute this year, but it's the context I take in approaching the evaluation process.
It's the difference between a team's finished product and an individual player or player's.
Your right in that Hairston has a good power dribble when he's going in a straight line to the basket. But we've seen last year, in summer league and in this first preseason game that he has a pretty substantially hard time controlling the ball in traffic. His ball security in traffic is poor -- which especially hurts because he's best offensively when he's in the lane.
He also doesn't dribble it very well when coming up the court. Defenders can easily make him turn his back on the action. Even though I think Hairston is better than Williams, Williams looks like Magic Johnson when you compare their open court ballhandling.
The good news is that poor ballhandling is correctable. Bowen, for example, went from a horrible ballhandler to an adequate ballhandler by working at it.
When he's open, has his feet set and has time to release his shot, Hairston looks really good. From long twos to three-pointers, he's accurate in with those cir stances.
But while you get those types of looks in D-League and summer league, those types of looks are few and far between in the NBA. 95% of the time a player is going to be defended or at least have a defender rotating to him -- even in the Spurs' system. With an NBA athlete closing out on his shot, that's a big difference than any level of compe ion he has faced.
That's why I want to see Hairston knock down some outside shots on the NBA level. He has proven to be a good shooter when open or going against lesser athletes. But given his lack of elevation, lack of height and his relatively slow release, he'll probably have to make an adjustment.
For the record, I like Hairston as a prospect. He's a bulldog defender in one-on-one matchups -- especially on the low block. He's deceptively a pretty damn good athlete, a willing rebounder, unselfish and plays a physical style of basketball. I really do hope that he can prove that he's improved enough to keep him around.
BLACKJACK makes a good point. The team concept allows an individual player's personal weaknesses to be masked by other players or the system itself. While a player might not be able to do everything well it's only a serious problem if the team is going to ask him to. Clearly a team wants everybody to be well-rounded and capable of doing everything. But it's just not always realistic. Thats why we have specialists.
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