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LJ, I'm not guaranteeing anything about a player I know next to nothing about, but have some faith! Let's see how this guy pans out in the regular season.
That's probably a bad sign right there.
Good luck with that. The last team who supposedly had interest was Philadelphia, and they called the newspaper source and forced them to correct the mistake.
Just because he's a Long Three (more like a small four, though) doesn't mean that he should make the team. Melzer was more of a three than Smith was but that didn't help him.
Smith reminds me of a poor man's Noel Felix.
Yeah and Stephen Graham was cut earlier than others last year and he ended up in the NBA. The Spurs' domestic scouting is pretty shaky.Somehow that was enough for the Spurs to keep him over Melzer.
You said that after the Spurs signed him.I said I thought he needed at least one more year in the D-League, but he could might be the kind of guy who could benefit from a season learning the system here on the IR.
The Spurs have won three championships without a Long Three. Not having a decent backup point guard has killed a couple seasons. In 2005 Beno was barely decent ... but that's better than being out with idontwanttoplayintrainingcampbecauseiwouldratherju stcashmycheck-itis.I simply think the point guard situation is a little better covered on this team than the long small forward situation.
If you have a better solution for it going forward from here, I'm all ears.
LJ, I'm not guaranteeing anything about a player I know next to nothing about, but have some faith! Let's see how this guy pans out in the regular season.
I'm sure Pop knows he's trying to make silk purse from a pig's ear.
What other choice does he have?
He certainly has a pig's ear of player in Elson
Publicly believing and supporting Elson as ploy to increase his confidence can't hurt.
Pop knows the Spurs big men are really weak next to Duncan.
I'l really curious to see him. In the first game in France, he looks fat but he has done too some good things.Popovich said Williams hopes to play Saturday against Miami.
If he isn't done, he can really help spurs.
Pop is embarrassed the Front Office screwed this up so badly. There's nothing that can be done about this team until next summer. Why not goad Elson into playing above his station? But the guy's a dog. A real dog. It was a bad pick-up. Pop knows it, and this stuff about getting him to play some new way is never going to work. Isolate him - - when we have three dominant offensive players already?
Isolate him on offense - because we realize he can't rebound and can't block shots?
I realize some chowderheads on this board, like MannyIsGod and that AggieHoops guy, were really big on Elson and were happy with the money we gave him, but I fail to see how we couldn't get Javtokas - a rebounder and shot-blocker, probably stronger on the post, a guy with the same full-court speed, and with a good at ude.
I will never get this. The guy is four years younger, too. And scoring? Javtokas just scored 11 points in a quarter the other day. Elson won't score 11 points in a game all year. A senseless, stupid mistake.
Pop has said " I think I can isolate him in certain situations with the right people."
He hasn't said that isolate Elson will be a play that Spurs will use a lot.
Just an example of what Pop says :
A Spurs-Heat game. Shaq make a foul on a Manu pentration after 2 minutes. Spurs will run a play where Elson will be isolated against Shaq with the goal of drawing a second foul on Shaq. Even if Elson isn't a great offensive talent, he is quick enough to give some troubles to Shaq.
Do you realize that what you says make no sense ?
You don't block shots when you are on offense and you don't grab defensive rebounds on offense.
Isolate Elson won't be a play often used, it has nothing to do with rebounding and shotblocking.
I take Elson 21 points / 11 rebounds game against Lakers last year over Javtokas 14 points / 6 rebounds game against Aris Salonica.
alot of people on this board need to cry already and get it over with
Elson looks like a poor pick-up.
Bruno - read again. Pop is trying to find good things to say about the guy. He picks his offensive potential (as if that's what we need) because he doesn't look to block shots or rebound much.
Melzer played last night and was 2-3 and made his only trey.Melzer being in the first wave of cuts is pretty surprising. As I said after summer league, I didn't think he was an NBA athlete. That said, I was hoping that the Spurs had found their Long Three. Guess not.
Is he cut already?
I'm interested about Williams too. Yeah he looked fat, but if he can try to get even close to 2004 form, he'll be useful.
Neither a point nor a long three. The only thing that will come of a Brown signing is a bunch of phone calls to game night react asking why he doesn't play. Thin the herd and maybe there would be a place for him.
Pop is known to be a coach who tries to say good things about his players. Last week, he did a great job by going that with Beno.
Yes, they cut him yesterday.
I think that Spurs won't keep a 15th player.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Yes, Elson is a person who good things can be said about. Same as Udrih. It still doesn't make up for the fact they got the wrong player.
Pop is known to be a coach who tries to say good things about his players. Last week, he did a great job by going that with Beno.
Javtokas would be just as lost as this point. Anyone who thinks this team is going to fly out of the gate in preseason has a screw lose.
It's not that they lost badly - it's realizing how weak this team is, after the Big Three. It's not like it materialized in my head all of a sudden that Elson was a sub-par player and that Javtokas should now be a Spur. (I detect a bout of "Javtokas is not that great" arguments - that's not the point, he has better tools than Elson does.)
All summer we were waiting for the F.O. to add some youth, athleticism, and talent to the bench. It never happened. Why are we suddenly supposed to be happy about it? They recognize what most of us do at this point - this team is geriatric and has tons of holes, and they didn't get the job done in the offseason.
How much did you want to give Javtokas?
What did you want to do be done with the rest of the money?
Same as they gave Elson. He probably could have been had for less. The posters that have claimed he would have been more expensive, in my opinion, are making up.
The F.O. boxed themselves into a corner with the relatively expensive Oberto contract, for a player who doesn't produce much, and did the same exact thing a year later with Elson. Neither player can be traded, at least Javtokas would have attracted some attention as a cheap shot blocker, if he didn't work here.
After the brilliant drafts of Manu and Parker, this Front Office has barely lived up to its reputation. The Finley and Barry pick-ups were decent, but the last several years has been barren of young, athletic talent.
Let me explain this point more clearely.
You've said :
Pop isn't the kind of coach who "try to find good things to say". Just look at what he said to Udrih one week ago : "we have to move on and look at other people because we can't count on him because he's so injury-prone.”
Most of the time, the simplest explication is the right one : Pop has said that Elson offensive upside was better than what people think just because that is what he thinks.
If he was the Greek league MVP so far, I might agree.
Bruno, fine. I never said Elson didn't have untapped offensive capabilities. My take was: who cares? We don't need offense from him. We need strong defense, good rebounding, and shot-blocking. None of which he does exceptionally well, or even average.
Don't expect big applause for this idea that we can spend lots of time this season developing Elson's offensive repertoire. How many lost possessions does that equal?
Having a quick first step for a big man is great, but if the opposing Big drops off and basically gives the jumpshot away...then that quick first step doesn't figure-in unless he has can be a threat from at least 12-15 feet.
Elson was 52/111 (46.8%) for 16ft - 24ft jumpshots last season
Irs funny that some people have given up on Elson after 3 preseason games but want to bring back a guy who got cut from a crappy team coz they think he can stop Dirk
Elson will get better when he knows the system, its the same with most players
As a starter last year he doubled his ppg and rpg but only played an extra 11mpg when starting.
He wont be a star this season but he will be solid and reliable, thats all the Spurs need from that position, isnt it?
Irs funny that some people have given up on Elson after 3 preseason games but want to bring back a guy who got cut from a crappy team coz they think he can stop Dirk
Elson will get better when he knows the system, its the same with most players
As a starter last year he doubled his ppg and rpg but only played an extra 11mpg when starting.
He wont be a star this season but he will be solid and reliable, thats all the Spurs need from that position, isnt it?
Im sure TIMVP or others will shout you down, and tell you how absolutely pathetic and horrible he is and how they should have brought in an undersized power forward who grabs nuts, or a buzz cut lithuanian who looked pahtetic in the world championships.
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