Merry Christmas, SpursTalk, and a Happy New Year if I'm not back before then.
Christmas Wish: Play Ian Mahinmi
by Tmiothy Varner
Okay. This one has taken me by surprise.
When the Spurs declined Ian Mahinmi’s contract option, I didn’t expect it to mean he wouldn’t play. You know, as in not at all. Zero minutes through 25 games.
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Tmiothy (sic) needs to realize that the REASON they didn't pick up his option was they saw no future for him here. Playing that type of player makes no sense, and unless there are three simultaneous injuries, even dressing a player like that makes no sense.
lol 48MOH in denial
I think they're only keeping him on the 15 man roster in case they need him for possible trade salary ballast. They may even cut him after the trade deadline.
maybe because he doesn't deserve any minutes???
If playing him makes no sense, doesn't keeping him on the roster make no sense either? They can't send him back to the D-League, he's maxed that out. I agree with 48, give him a few minutes and see if he can raise some interest as a trade chip.
Ian has a guaranteed contract, so there are no cost savings to be gained by releasing him. Unless the Spurs need the roster spot to sign another player, there is no reason to cut Ian.
As it stands, he retains value as:
1. Part of a potential trade package
2. A practice player
3. Insurance against multiple injuries to players ahead of him in the rotation.
the point of the article was not that he might show himself to be good for the spurs, but just for the spurs to let him play a little just in case he plays decently and maybe other teams might be slightly interested.
that "can't hurt" according the the article.
Sorry, but I don't trust the Spurs evaluation of this kid. I know that's blasepehmous to say, but there have been no specifics about what he does or doesn't do well. Are we to believe that he simply can't play or is it the Spurs no longer have the patience to continue developing him? Which one is it?
The fact remains is that young, athletic, 6'11", 230lb centers are not falling out of the sky. I'd hate to see the guy catch on and become a player somewhere else, simply because the Spurs gave up on him. I just hope they get something in return for him.
I dont care anymore, I don't think hes ready to help this year and he probably won't be here next year.
I don't buy the argument that "if he deserves minutes, he would get them"..it MIGHT be true, but we've seen it many times in the past where it wasn't the case..going into this season, Hairston had outplayed all the wings on the team other than Hill in preseason, but they signed Bogans(a good signing, but you get the point) and have him behind Finley..last season, Hill was obviously better than Jacque Vaughn, but Pop refused to play him for most of the 2nd half of the season..luckily he had to play him in the playoffs with no other options, and he produced..
I think it's obvious that the organization has given up on Ian..it was obvious when they declined to pick up his option..I think there's more to it than just basketball, something must have happened..when they active the horrible Haislip over him, than you know something is wrong(not right now, since Haislip replacing Bonner makes sense..but in the previous games where they needed to activate 2 players, Haislip was chosen instead, which is sad)..
The odds are that Ian couldn't help and probably isn't good enough to make the rotation, but I don't see the harm in trying him out..Ratliff hasn't even played most of the time this season, I don't see how it would hurt to have Ian active and letting him play if one of our bigs is in foul trouble or struggling..it's not like we don't know what we have in Theo..
I think Pop seriously hates this kid. As in can't stand the sight of him.
Who knows if he hates him (I won't go that far), but I definitely think Pop "pays him no mind" as a real positive to this team. I remember a Pop quote around the time of the Vegas summer league, when Ian I believe re-injured himself, saying basically "I'm not thinking about him at all". That's a pretty strong and straight forward statement at a time when talent/prospect assessment is at it's highest point in the basketball world (off-season). The fact that they didn't pick up his option, pretty much sealed the deal. I was very much on the Mahinmi-support team the past couple years (he has great qualities physically and is probably a .50 FG% kind of player) , but I'm not necessarily sure I want him playing anymore if he's not in the big picture for us. Sure, we could showcase him for 10 minutes a night for a future trade (wouldn't bother me at all), but with so many new faces I'm ok with going with rotations we're actually going to be using down the line, even if that means giving a no-name like Haislip a shot over Ian.
I'd rather see more minutes go to Ratllff or Blair, not the unproven guy who has otherwise been ineffective. The last thing we need is another player who's trying to figure things out.
I have the feeling Pop is just holding Theo back for the late season and playoffs, though.
The only time you will see Ian is when the spurs need to take foul because thats all he's really good for. I'm pretty sure he will be up on the trading block seeing how the spurs have very few tradeable assets
It's not that I don't trust the Spurs since they have a proven track record ( everyone makes mistakes - Howard/Scola/Nocioni - but they have done a very good job overall IMHO) but it does seem that they have given up on him for unknown reasons. I say that since I have yet to read anything specifically stating why he isn't good enough to get minutes. Pop is a tough guy and maybe there is a little of the "Beno" effect - that is injuried too often, not tough enough to play through some of the minor ones and isn't available to contribute when Pop needs him to. After awhile some people get tired of waiting and want to move on.
I just hope some team out there wants him and we can get something out of this.
Portland?
Right now they could use another big real bad and wasn't Pric here when the spurs drafted Ian and is somewhat familiar with him? But this probably wont happen since there seems to be bad blood now between the two organizations.
Howard? Nocioni? What mistakes did the spurs make?
Sorry, I disagree. The sense it makes is that playing him might increase his trade value. Like 'Tmiothy' said, he currently has 0 trade value beyond his expiring contract. There's plenty of fans hoping the front office makes another move before the deadline. This is the opportunity they should be cheering for- create some interest for Ian Mahinmi and hope to send him on his way while getting something in return. There are definite skill sets that we need to cover-interior defense and big-man-perimeter defense(aka Dirk). So if we're gonna part ways with Ian why not get something useful in return?
'Tmiothy' might be underestimating the level of compe ion we'll face tonight but he's spot on that tonight's matchup is a great opportunity for Ian to play. The absence of Oden and Pryzbilla creates an opportunity for him to crash the boards, maybe block some shots, and hopefully stay out of foul trouble.
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