Summer League Thoughts: Spurs vs. Raptors - July 14, 2013

[timvp]

Cory Joseph
Overall, I thought he was really good in the first half before fizzling after halftime. He's getting better and better at playing in fast forward, which is a great fit for a backup to TP. His defense was strong all night and he did good work on the boards. He missed a couple easy shots but his ability to generate open looks was above average. He got sloppy in the second half, although there was a stretch of the game that he played like the best player on the court. While he could have played better, he didn't do anything tonight to hurt his standing with the Spurs.

Nando De Colo
Ugh. He's quickly playing himself off the team. I didn't like anything about his play. His D was slightly better from the first game -- but the improvement was from terrible to really bad. Offensively, he's not making plays. He can't create for himself. He looks uncomfortable in traffic. His finishes at the rim were weak. He was too often off balance when shooting from the perimeter. His body language is deplorable; I don't know if he's frustrated with his play or he resents being on the summer league team. Whatever the case may be, if he doesn't pick it up soon, the Spurs will probably end up salary dumping him somewhere by the end of the summer.

Aron Baynes
The good: Great post defense most of the night against Valanciunas, who is widely regarded as the best center in this summer league. A few times he picked up weak fouls or gave up baseline too easly but overall he was excellent. His work on the boards was a plus, he defended the rim better than last game and his effort throughout the night was commendable. On offense, he has soft touch on his jumper, very good form and it looks like his range is quite far. The bad: Did he go to the Tiago-Splitter-in-the-playoffs school of finishing around the basket when we weren't looking? Way too many weak attempts and flip shots. He has to use his large, strong body to finish with more power. He also lost his temper a few times -- and that wouldn't help him earn any minutes under Pop. He needs to control his emotions, stay steady and work on his consistency from possession to possession.

DeShaun Thomas
Another nice showing by the rook. After two summer league games, he definitely looks worthy of a roster spot. Offensively, he's proving he can get his shot off against NBA athletes, which is key for an undersized player. He has the same form whether he's wide open or defended, which is another mark of natural born scorer. He's also a much more willing passer than advertised and his court vision looks to be strong for a forward. His fluidity around the basket is a plus and he can quickly find seams to the rim. Defensively, he corralled a few contested boards and was willing to fight in the interior. He spent much of his night defending a small forward in Acy but we didn't learn much because Acy can't shoot so he just sagged into the paint. It's clear that mobility on defense is going to be his biggest weakness in the NBA but the rest of his game looks about as promising as one could reasonable expect out of such a late draft pick. Let's hope he keeps it up.

Marcus Denmon
His defense was pretty darn good. His energy was contagious. He played extremely hard. Unfortunately, he has multiple fatal flaws as an NBA prospect. Not only is he undersized for a shooting guard, he gets little elevation on his jumper, and his release is both low and slow. As a point guard, he's not a good enough ballhandler or playmaker. He won't make it in the NBA but he should be able to carve out a professional career.

Hollis Thompson
Admirable hustle. Lacks enough skill to be a legit prospect.

Dexter Pittman
Lost a lot of weight but also lost his ability to finish shots around the rim.

[Darkwaters]

As per the norm, nice post LJ. Thanks.

Joseph continues to use the Summer League to his full advantage. Last season in SL is when we realized that he wasn't a total wasted pick. And this year he continues to grow upon that.

De Colo is clearly trending the wrong way. I doubt he survives the offseason at this point. We just have too many guards already, and hes playing himself out of a job.

Thomas is the guy with the most to gain, and it seems hes channeling his inner Gary Neal. I'm actually hopeful that hes signed as our 15th man and spends a year learning to play SF in Austin.

[siraulo23]

yep i thought nando played awful once again and joseph and baynes played pretty well

if thompson can play decent perimeter d, he'll def make a team, could be spurs or another team

[timtonymanu]

Hopefully there's a replay tomorrow, but thanks for the recap.

It sounds like Joseph is going to be even better next season. Really admire him for his maturity and willingness to work hard.

Nando, OTOH, I'm becoming more convinced he needs to be dumped from the team. I would rather his spot be saved for a potential SF backup.

I'm still intrigued by Baynes and definitely intrigued by Thomas.

[Chinook]

Hopefully there's a replay tomorrow, but thanks for the recap.

It's on now.

[playblair]

[Texas_Ranger]

Joseph - He played OK. At first it seemed like he's gonna have an amazing game, but after the half he kinda couldn't score anymore. I thought today he did a lot of pick n' roles when he wanted to pass the ball but it didn't really work out. Later in the game when the Spurs were losing he also rushed in the paint sometimes and lost the ball, but it's not expected from him to be on a Tony Parker level just yet. On defense he was good like always and his rebounding was also a plus.

De Colo - With one word he sucked. I don't know if it's cause he thinks he's better than anybody else or he's just pissed cause he's got to play the summer league but he isn't helping his chances to play for the Spurs. On offense his shooting was really, really bad. 1-9 from three tells a lot. Pussy finishing around the basket is also not good. He's also a turnover machine and when he gets in the lane you just get that feeling that nothing good is going to happen. Then there is defense. I think the guys he was guarding could do whatever they wanted. He lost his guy a lot of times and his 1 on 1 defense was not that good. So that makes 2 bad games for a player that is supposed to be better than 90% of this summer league. Tonight he reminded me of himself in Europe, a player that couldn't shoot and was not able to handle the ball very well. He needs to put his head out of his ass and start playing much, much better cause it's not that he's going to fall out of the rotation, but he'll fall out off the team.

Baynes - Like I said, give him the ball to shoot it and he'll make some shots outside the paint. His back to the basket game is not that good, but he was playing against a better player in Valanciunas. His first half defense was not that good and Valanciunas could do whatever he wanted and got easy to the basket. In the second half that got better. Rebounding was there but so were the fouls. He also lost his temper at the end of the game what is not good, cause he did that every single game in Europe and he needs to control himself. Overall he played solid. Like for a C+

Thomas - The most consistent player so far. After a good game last night he showed just the same. I like that he isn't trying to do too much, but just plays simple. His outside defense in the first half wasn't that good and his guy could get to the basket by just overpowering Thomas, but for a guy that learns the SF position it was ok. His shooting was once again good and today I think he rebounded better. If he continues like this he'll be backing up Kawhi or at least be on the roster.

Denmon - Well he can shoot the ball. Sucks that he can't make shots. He is really quick but when handling the ball in traffic that won't help him. His energy is there but he's just not good enough.

Thompson - I like how he plays. He does lack some ball handling skills and is not the most athletic guy but at least he's trying. He also won't make the team but could get a contract overseas.

M'Baye - copy paste from first game: ''Athletic but too weak for the PF position''

Pittman - At first I was happy that he can play with his back to the basket, but after I saw him finishing I was disappointed. He did grab 7 rebounds in just 14 minutes and I hope to see more from him in the next game.

Mays, Scott and Richards - The first one played 10 minutes but I had the feeling like he was not really there. Other two just played too little.

Overall I can live with everyone's performance but De Colo's. He really needs to start doing something right cause it will be even hard to trade him if he plays like this.

[racm]

Nando is the odd man out among the guards, even if we don't assume Neal returns.

I mean:

TP, Manu, Cory will be ball-handlers, with some Belinelli in there.
Green and Belinelli are the small wings/shooters.

Either the Spurs give in to the Blair S&T WAS proposed and send De Colo (and even they have a logjam of guards, with Garrett Temple back)

[Chinook]

Some other thoughts:

Joseph has a lot of potential scoring, I think. He's just really raw on his finishing ability. He's deceptively fast, and that allows him to be dangerous on the break. But I'll say again that Pop should try to run Parker sets for Joseph in the regular season. That would help take pressure off Ginobili, and it's a good way to get other players involved. I don't know how Joseph can handle the pick-and-role, but I think he'll be fine with the other parts.

De Colo looks like he's spiraling. I don't think he should stay on the team for everyone's sake.

Thomas definitely looked like he could play with the Spurs' bench. He made a lot of heady decisions. I'd like to see him take a year in Austin to work on his game, but he could probably take the few minutes that Leonard and small-ball leave behind.

Baynes let the officiating get to him. He was good before that, but after his got his T, he was off. The fact that he has a jumper makes him a reliable duel-threat as a screen-setter, but he's still too big and slow to be a power-forward on defense. He might be able to play next to Splitter, though.

Denmon absolutely deserved to remain in the game during the fourth quarter. He just kept making impact plays. I hope he doesn't try to force a camp invite this season. I honestly think his hustle can keep him on an NBA roster for a least a few years.

Richards once again flashed in his short time on the court. His put-back was nice, and he immediately got another rebound after that. His only post-up attempt ended with him trying a turn-around fade-away which missed but would be completely unguardable with his size. He also made a nice play to get back and stop a fast break. He also hedged pretty well on screens, and his defensive stance when defending a small looked really good. However, he just didn't seem to have much of a sense of what to do on the court. He kept posting up when it was clear he wasn't going to get the ball, and that left him out of position for the rebound. His help was late, because he really didn't seem to realize until it was too late that it was his responsibility. Another tease game. Get him to Austin so the team can find out one way or another already.

M'Baye's really athletic, and he looks like an intriguing prospect. But the Spurs have too many guards to even think about him. Same goes for Pittman.

In general, I didn't really understand the rotation. In my opinion, the actual draft picks/roster members should get some priority when it comes to minutes. Especially Denmon and Richards, because they cooperated with the Spurs and played in Europe instead of McClintoning themselves to training camp. They least the team could do is give them the time to show what they can do, especially because they won't be able to play in preseason.

[playblair]

^props chinook................... agree..............................

[kobyz]

David Stern make us play back to back, that's why we lost... And on a serious note, Thomas should be a lock to making the team, he is a player, playing off our leading guys should make good for him and he could contribute roughly immediately... As far as Nando I tell you from the start he is trash, should be called Garbage De Colo, what a waste of money...

[dylankerouac]

Thanks for the grades timvp, and everyone else thanks for your thoughts! I look forward to watching this tomorrow.

[Johnny RIngo]

DeColo was never very good. He's already in his mid-20s and has a lot of flaws in his game. I never really understood why the Spurs took such an interest in him when anybody could see he wasn't an NBA calibre guard when he was playing in Europe.

[Darkwaters]

[The_Worlds_finest]

What about Ryan Richards!

[Captivus]

Baynes received some bad calls too. It happend in the RS also. Valanciunas got more calls than Durant yesterday.
This Thomas guy was perfect IMO.
He didnt force anything, just played his position. His shooting was good, got rebounds, runs the floor faster than I thought, very good, promising.
I also think he could get a few minutes as backup SF.
CoJo...well...he is an NBA playerm, and in these kind of games you can tell that, the differences between an NBA player and a summer league/Dleague player are big.

[TheGoldStandard]

Spurs will bump up De Colo's minutes..

[benefactor]

Kidd K
De Colo getting first crack at backup PG

I agree with pretty much everything. I didn't think Thomas would be as good as he his but looks like he might make the team. Potentially another nice surprise with a late pick.

[Chomag]

Pop probably told him power dunking = no minutes. Probably didn't happen but it would explain why Bayens is trying to play soft pussy ball around the basket.

Nice to see CJ's improving play. He is moving up the depth cart and should pass Colo if he hasn't already.

As for Colo, the dude really needs to step it up. Does he not realize that he is competing for a roster spot?

[TheGoldStandard]

Pop probably told him power dunking = no minutes. Probably didn't happen but it would explain why Bayens is trying to play pussy ball.

You gotta be more like Tiago or If I play soft I'll get minutes, look at Tiago.

[Mr. Body]

DeShaun Thomas is a guy who innately knows how to score. I was really impressed we got him that late in the 2nd. I can see him digging out a Jared Dudley type role on some team - a player who isn't gifted athletically but knows spacing, positioning, and how to get things done.

[ace3g]

Like everyone else said, Thomas just knows how to score, makes simple moves to get open (that pump fake to draw foul near 3 pt line), and doesn't really force anything. One play that really impressed me last night was when he was in the paint and looked like he was trapped but found space between defenders and got the layup.

[TXstbobcat]

Decolo was garbage last night. Would rather have Thomas taking up a roster spot.

[ohmwrecker]

I like Thomas. I really do, but I'm not sure if he will turn out to be a legit NBA player. He might just be another Hairston or Anderson.

[Juggity]

I like Thomas. I really do, but I'm not sure if he will turn out to be a legit NBA player. He might just be another Hairston or Anderson.

Before injury, Anderson was a legit NBA player, imo