JA has definitley more talent than Neal or Green.
He just doesn't have the experience of these two.
JA was the main scorer for his team in college, however hs isn't for the Spurs. He has yet to learn how to be a role player. Neal has always been a one dimensional role player even when he played in Europe. Green is a guy who has experience working in a system and is an all around role player.
It is going to take JA time to figure this out. Maybe that is one good reason to keep his option.
He is cheap, had some bad luck (much like Mahinmi) but has shown a glimpse of what he could become. So I think we should keep him.
But this is not the same situation it was with Mahinmi.
There are hundreds of 6'6 players with similar ceiling.
Not the case with 6'11 athletes.
Moreover, Mahinmi was really considered the top NBA prospect when he played in the D-League.
His injury slowed him down but what he is doing with Dallas is not so surprising.
I definitely think the Spurs should keep his option. At least for year 3. But the question then becomes do you keep him on the roster or move him to another team and let them figure out what to do with him. I actually would be in favor of trading him elsewhere if the Spurs could get good value for him - especially as a smaller chip in a slightly larger deal. But if the trade ends up just becoming a salary dump then thats not a value-added trade, and I'd probably just keep the guy on the team and develop him internally. Regardless of which course we go, I still think you pick up his option.
As far as your comment goes about Anderson figuring out how to be a role player when hes used to being the IT guy...I just don't know that I buy it. The NBA is littered with prolific scorers from the NCAA ranks that were never able to make anything happen in the bigs (think Alando Tucker or Adam Morrison). The fact is that Anderson was primarily a scorer in college with very few other skills to go on. Now, with his primary ability of scoring not coming nearly as easily, he doesn't have anything to fall back on. Players like Kawhi Leonard, who were scorers in college, but had other skills (defense, rebounding) to fall back on will have a better chance of getting on the court with those skills and then letting their offense come to them. Anderson doesn't have that luxury.
Now, thats not to say that a player can't fizzle for a couple of years and then figure it out. Both Neal and Green are good stories of guys that didn't shine out of the gates, but figured it out in the end. I specifically like Danny Green's story as it has good ties to Anderson. Green was drafted (46th?) by the Cavaliers and played sparingly his first year. After not making an impact he was cut. The Spurs signed him last year and cut him within a matter of days, not interested in what he brought. But by the end of the year he was back on the roster and chipped in some playoff minutes. Now, at the beginning of year 3, hes finally on a roster, getting consistent minutes, and leaving an impact.
Anderson has the potential to bloom like Green did. But the number of players that come out of the dark hall of mediocrity to play is eclipsed by the much larger number of examples of players like Adam Morrison, still scratching at relavence.
Mahinmi's problems were always two-fold:
1) Hes always hurt
2) He always fouls
Both of those problems cause him to lose valuable time on the court. So while he might have had talent, he burned precious opportunities to showcase it.
I agree.
My point is just that the situation is not really comparable. So I am not sure what happened with Mahinmi is great help when analysing what to do with JA.
Edit: the lose opportunities was more about bad luck. He was injured when he should have play.
Then the Spurs did not pick his option and he hardly received any playing time.
Edit2: Actually, he burned precious opportunities for the Spurs. For himself... he is still in the NBA, is becoming a solid rotation player and if he is not injured again his next contract should be nice.
Last edited by mathbzh; 01-17-2012 at 08:22 AM.
Morrison was a different case. He was a VERY high draft pick, and his book also may not be closed yet. He had some interest this offseason, but couldn't get a deal done in the short time alotted, and went back to Europe, where he was playing quite well. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see him back in the League in the next year or two.
adam morrison looks like the type whose just happy to make it into the league, but wont put in the hard yards to seperate himself from his his peers....
The Mahimi release by not picking up his contract was I think in part due to Splitter coming here.
It was also related to the salary cap. Its not smart to get rid of a potential player before you really know what they are about. The Spurs learned that with Mahimi and Cleveland learned that with Danny Green.
Mahimi is turning into a legit NBA player and Danny Green has been really important to the Spurs being successful without an All Star caliber player for the last couple of weeks. I do recognize Mahimi is a foul machine at times and struggles at one on one defense at times, but he is good enough now to be a rotation player. From the looks of last nights DAL-LAL game, 9 points and 10 rebounds with two PFs is doing pretty well in 23 minutes. Ian may actually get a decent contract next year (very possibly NOT in Dallas) as he will be an unrestricted free agent.
Not renewing James Anderson with such a limted body of work would also be a salary cap move - the FO would be refusing to pick up a relatively cheap rookie contract.
If they do it again after what happened with Mahimi, it would lead me to conclude that the ownership group has serious budget/money problems.
Anderson has hardly played here and some people want to jettison him sooner than the Spurs actually have to? It would be foolish not to pick up next year and get a much better read on Anderson with a regular, full offseason and a non-compressed regular season. The guy has maybe 25 games of actual NBA experience.
Let's face it, the Spurs need as many young, potential players as they can get going forward in the next 2-3 years as their current star players get older and move on. Dumping a potential player prematurely is not a good idea if you don't have to.
Last edited by Harry Callahan; 01-17-2012 at 08:46 AM.
The fact he played 8 min (4pts/7 rbds I think) in the 4th quarter says a lot about how he evolved into a legit NBA player.
word.
at this point it doesn't make any sense to discuss if he has a future with the Spurs. b/c there isn't a need. to pick up his 3rd year is a no brainer.
many very good players struggled in their 1st and 2nd year. if he can't make it within 3 years, well that's a different story, then it might be better to let him go.
if they move him for another player, who is on a rookie contract as well, but plays a different position. ok, fine. if they dump him for a 1st round pick. also fine.
Mahinmi being labelled as injury prone has a lot to do with Spurs medical staff misdiagnosing him. Ian missed a full year because of that.
Yeah, watching Mahinmi out there against LA was pretty painful, he was working the offensive boards, playing good D (a few lapses) and even hit a midrange J. Amazing what opportunities can do for your confidence.
This type of decision is different than other seasons. There was no summer league, there was no training camp and there are very few practices. Judging the potential is more difficult because the only option is either to be thrown into NBA games and sink or swim or in James' case, he can go play for the Toros once Manu is back and work on his game there.
The cost is low so you pick up the option and roll the dice.
Very nice work in this thread, Darkwaters.
Complicating matters regarding picking up JA's option is that De Colo is now saying it's now or never for him to come to the NBA (Bruno posted the interview in the Think Tank). Going forward, it appears to me that the Spurs would have to decide between JA and De Colo for that spot in the future roster. (Or obviously they could decide neither.)
cant de colo play some form of pg/sg role?
Mahinmi was good. It was the Spurs could not offer him playing time.
I doubt the idea that the Spurs shouldn't pick Anderson's option. It is not a lot of money to keep him and Anderson would be much better with a offseason-training, a summer league and a training camp.
Anderson would need what the success stories mentioned already had.
As well as Anthony Parker and Bruce Bowen, mentione about Green.
A good, couple of years in Europe, in a Euroleague team.
You play solid minutes twice a week (instead of watching from the bench), you practice and learn a lot. Specifically, you learn many more things than just shoot the basketball on a court.
And, if you are lucky, you end up playing in arenas (Pionir, Tel Aviv, Athens) with some serious basketball fans. You are not the same if you survive them.
Another good example of that is Malik Hairston.
Right now, I would pick Hairston over Anderson anytime.
Interesting take. But for each success story, you also have players who were great in Europe and could not succeed in the NBA.
From the top of my head: Jasikevicius, Rigaudeau, Spanoulis, Navarro... the list is probably long.
Yeah, it's pretty painful. Ian has continued to work hard, improved his game and has become a solid contributor off the bench - for another team. Which is exactly what I feared when the Spurs made the collosally-stupid decision NOT to resign him. Looking at the deficiencies in the Spurs frontline and it certainly makes the FO decision to let Ian walk even more incredibly stupid.
Whatever, Greek T-Mac is elite NBA player. He only not play at high level in NBA because his coach not play him right. Spanoulis greatest player all time.
[/KBP]
RE: Mahinmi and fouls.
1. People here used to froth at the mouth over his fouls. Whatever became of the concept of a hatchet man who was sent into a game with '6 fouls to give"?
2. On a more serious note, it took Mahinmi a while to understand that he didn't have to make a defensive stop on every play that went into the lane.
3. He's obviously getting better coaching in Dallas because he's been taught how to play a consistent 20 minutes without being a liability on fouls and a very good rotation player on both ends of the court.
All European, all big egos, all stars in the previous, and future, teams back in Europe.
They either couldn't adapt to the NBA peculiar system, to life in the US, didn't have time to.
The players mentioned are alla Americans, and believe me, any of these kids would have a lot to learn to work abroad. A lot.
Spanulis AND Buroussis.
Only Borussis don't get along well with Popovich when they met with Parker in that restaurant in Athens.
Tha's because it was a french restaurant not a greek exquisite cuisine.
Popvich was sick, sources say, and that's because of french wine: with greek wine, chances are Borussis would be Spur instead of never-Euroleague MVP Splitter.
I agree with the overall premise of your post, but I disagree with the notion of Ian's release being due in part to Splitter. Personally, I believe Ian's release was due to Pop electing to re-up the red-headed Ginger. After all, his contract was up two summers ago - same time as Ian - and Bonner was the first FA the Spurs talked to.
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