Who is this Ian Mahinmi and why is Cuban trying to sign him?

[DesignatedT]

Lol you act like other coaches in the NBA always find the talent and develop every single decent prospect they come across. give me a ing break.

[coyotes_geek]

Yep, Pop's batting a thousand in player development and retaining players.

When did I say Pop was perfect?

See:

Hedo Turkoglu
Beno Udrih
John Salmons
Raja Bell
Stephen Jackson
Luis Scola
Leandro Barbosa

How exactly is Pop responsible for developing Salmons, Barbosa and Scola when they never played for him?

Beno?

Stephen Jackson left the Spurs a better player than when he got there, so clearly he developed under Pop.

Hedo's departure was a contract decision.

So that leaves Raja Bell. On the flip side, there's way more guys like James White and Pops Mensah-Bonsu who the Spurs cut loose who turned out not to be NBA material, much to the surprise of message boarders who just knew that they would be solid NBA players because they saw a youtube video of them dunking once.

And they just gave Bonner a bloated contract for being the Anti-Horry in the playoffs

Just log off, because you couldn't be more wrong if you tried.

That must be it. It's just so crazy to think that Ian just might not be good enough to play in the NBA. It's so much more logical to believe that the Spurs were deliberately holding back a can't miss big man whom they decided to give a couple million dollars to.

[clambake]

our dumbass coach won't play him.

[Dr. Gonzo]

So that leaves Raja Bell. On the flip side, there's way more guys like James White and Pops Mensah-Bonsu who the Spurs cut loose who turned out not to be NBA material, much to the surprise of message boarders who just knew that they would be solid NBA players because they saw a youtube video of them dunking once.

This board was nuts when Pops Mensah-Bonsu was cut. This board is re ed.

That must be it. It's just so crazy to think that Ian just might not be good enough to play in the NBA. It's so much more logical to believe that the Spurs were deliberately holding back a can't miss big man whom they decided to give a couple million dollars to.

QFT

[Cane]

This board was nuts when Pops Mensah-Bonsu was cut. This board is re ed.



QFT

[Marcus Bryant]

Perfect. Gifting a young athletic bigman prospect to another division rival. For nothing.

Pop has a knack for utterly destroying the confidence of young players. Some survive (Parker, Hill) and others (Udrih) do not.

RC has a knack for sitting on young players who Pop will not play until they have no trade value (Udrih and now Mahinmi).

[admiralsnackbar]

Specifically against Dirk in that series, I'm not sure that a broom would not have done better than Bonner. My comment had little to do with Ian, but more specifically that McDyess should be credited with doing as good a job with Dirk as anybody can do in this league.

I hope Ian does well wherever he goes. I believe the Spurs saw in Blair a kid with more potential and skill and they already were thinking about Splitter, so I can see why they would let him walk. To me, that doesn't necessarily mean Ian is a scrub. I also agree he didn't get the same chances as Hill or Blair, who were handed rotation minutes right off the bat, even when Hill was pretty shaky in his new role as a PG and a fairly terrible summer league shooting wise.

Then I guess we're agreed -- Dice was phenomenally unsung, and Bonner was phenomenally ineffective. Further, I don't think Ian's written in stone as a scrub either -- I just resist the temptation to think that losing him is a catastrophe when there's only so much cap and roster space on the team. He has all the tools, he just didn't put them together in time. Some will question Pop's judgment about that, but the guy's SL play makes me ok with how things played out.

[Marcus Bryant]

How do you not even get a pick back for Mahinmi?

[coyotes_geek]

Keep in mind if we would have signed Diop four years ago to play next to Tim, we'd probably have another ring.

I'm talking about the Desagana Diop who is backing up Nazr Mohammed and Theo Ratliff for the bobcats. Is there some other Desagana Diop out there?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

When did I say Pop was perfect?



How exactly is Pop responsible for developing Salmons, Barbosa and Scola when they never played for him?

You didn't ask that, you asked for guys that we missed on.

Beno?

He's a tool, but you can't argue with the numbers he put up in Sacto.

Stephen Jackson left the Spurs a better player than when he got there, so clearly he developed under Pop.

Um, that wasn't the point. Pop balked at giving Buckets a deal that they just gave to superscrub Matt Bonner. That is ridiculous.

Hedo's departure was a contract decision.

And? It's still a player with talent that we let walk and got nothing back for.

So that leaves Raja Bell. On the flip side, there's way more guys like James White and Pops Mensah-Bonsu who the Spurs cut loose who turned out not to be NBA material, much to the surprise of message boarders who just knew that they would be solid NBA players because they saw a youtube video of them dunking once.

Nope, pretty much that whole list meets the original question of guys that the Spurs let walk or traded who turned out to be players.

That must be it. It's just so crazy to think that Ian just might not be good enough to play in the NBA. It's so much more logical to believe that the Spurs were deliberately holding back a can't miss big man whom they decided to give a couple million dollars to.

We paid three times more for Bonner than Dallas is getting Ian for. You don't let young, athletic big men walk for nothing in return.

But again, this is a front office that just paid Matt Bonner starter money to be their 'fifth' big.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I'm talking about the Desagana Diop who is backing up Nazr Mohammed and Theo Ratliff for the bobcats. Is there some other Desagana Diop out there?

With Larry Brown as his coach. And we all know Larry gives young players opportunity

[Marcus Bryant]

As for Beno, how do you manage to get nothing more than a top 50 protected second round pick from Minnesota for a player who within a year ended up inking a five year full MLE deal? This is not to say that deal was wise, that's besides the point. The point is how do you get no value in return on a player who could come anywhere close to commanding a deal like that in the league?

[SenorSpur]

Beno, Scola...and now Ian. Wonder how this will turn out?

Again, there was no apparent evidence the guy couldn't play. In fact, in the brief minutes he was given, there was something there.

I knew some team would take a chance on Ian. I just didn't think it would be the Mavs. Now he'll be in a situation as the primary backup center and we'll all probably finally get to see why everyone here thinks he's trash.

[coyotes_geek]

With Larry Brown as his coach. And we all know Larry gives young players opportunity

Diop at 28 years old is still a young guy?

[Marcus Bryant]

I knew some team would take a chance on Ian. I just didn't think it would be the Mavs. Now he'll be in a situation as the primary backup center and we'll all probably finally get to see why everyone here thinks he's trash.

You hope.

[SenorSpur]

You hope.

Of course, I can practically smell the meldown that will occur when yet another player the Spurs prematurely got rid of (without adequate compensation), comes back to stick it in their faces.

[ElNono]

Then I guess we're agreed -- Dice was phenomenally unsung, and Bonner was phenomenally ineffective. Further, I don't think Ian's written in stone as a scrub either -- I just resist the temptation to think that losing him is a catastrophe when there's only so much cap and roster space on the team. He has all the tools, he just didn't put them together in time. Some will question Pop's judgment about that, but the guy's SL play makes me ok with how things played out.

I don't think anybody here is claiming that it's a catastrophe to lose him. My read is that some people think it's a travesty we will be spending circa 16m and 4 years on Bonner, supposedly as a 5th big, when you could have had Ian for 4m/2 seasons. Now, Ian could very well be cut before the ASG for all we know. But if he does pan out to be a serviceable big, the fact that the FO picked him, developed him, and was unable to even get anything out of him would be pretty frustrating.

[cantthinkofanything]

There's a very good chance we'll all get to see Bonner cover Ian at some point this year.

[Marcus Bryant]

I don't think anybody here is claiming that it's a catastrophe to lose him. My read is that some people think it's a travesty we will be spending circa 16m and 4 years on Bonner, supposedly as a 5th big, when you could have had Ian for 4m/2 seasons. Now, Ian could very well be cut before the ASG for all we know. But if he does pan out to be a serviceable big, the fact that the FO picked him, developed him, and was unable to even get anything out of him would be pretty frustrating.

Dropping Mahinmi makes sense if the braintrust feels that Richards could end up being a better prospect and they are doing what they can to win now and Bonner's 3 point range is more of an asset than a player Pop won't play. Much better to sign Richards to a small contract and let him play in Austin than pay Mahinmi more to sit behind the bench. I can understand that. What I cannot understand is letting young talent go without getting anything in return.

[ducks]

Ian wanted guaranteed minutes
he said playing time was going to be a major factor where he goes

pop is not going to promise him playing time
most coaches will not
so ian said YOU

[ElNono]

Ya, Carslile is going to guarantee Ian minutes...

[My Fault]

This board was nuts when Pops Mensah-Bonsu was cut. This board is re ed.

Yet, where is he now? People on this board can be completely stupid. Makes you wonder if they even watch basketball.

[SenorSpur]

How do you not even get a pick back for Mahinmi?

MB brings up a good point.

We'veready have seen that this summer FA period has been a boon for players. When Johan Petro gets 3 yrs & 10 mil from the Nets, you know it's a players market That said, you just had to know someone was going to bite on Ian.

Even if the Spurs didn't want to keep Ian for themselves, surely they could've done a S&T so as to get back something (draft pick, future considerations) for him. Since when is stockpiling assets a bad idea?

[Dex]

Maybe I just never understood the Mahinmi fascination, but even with significant minutes, I'd be surprised to see that guy pan out to be more than a 10/10 type player. Between watching him in Austin and seeing his limited time in the Spurs schemes, he always seemed so incredibly raw and awkward, even after three years. And it's not like he wasn't soaking up minutes down on the Toros.

Maybe Pop really did just shatter his confidence by not giving him a chance, but I gave up on Mahinimi being a breakout star a while ago.

[ElNono]

In general lines I don't have a problem with this development, just as long as we don't hear this quote again in the future:

"It kills me to have him on that team," Popovich said. "Enough to make you spit."