McDonald:Decision day for Hairston

[HoopsCzar]

Hairston stays
By Jeff McDonald on Jan 6, 10 06:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) Save & Share Yahoo! BuzzYahoo! Newsvine del.icio.us Facebook Google Reddit Fark
The happiest man in the AT&T Center tonight: Malik Hairston.

Hairston, a second-year swingman, survived the NBA's contract cut day. All players still on a roster by the close of business today have their contracts guaranteed for the remainder of the season.

By not waiving him, the Spurs have agreed to pay the balance of his $736,420 contract. In a general sense, it probably means Hairston will have a job for the rest of the season.

He'll hang on to the Spurs' 15th roster spot, and will probably head to Austin once Michael Finley recovers from his ankle sprain.

"He's worked very hard the last couple years," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He has improved. He has shown the skills we appreciate, so he was rewarded."

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblog...ton-stays.html

Great news for Hairston,..

But beyond that he hasn't developed any shot range accuracy and at his position and what this team needs it's not a plus for this version of the Spurs.

[mountainballer]

I think it's much more than insurance..Finley went down and Hairston still hasn't received any minutes, so I don't think that's the case..

I think it's clear that they view him as a guy that will help the Spurs as soon as next year, which is the only possible reason they would keep him and keep talking about him in such a positive way IMO..

I see him as kind of an insurance, but not for this season and not for injury issues.
he is an insurance for the Spurs bargaining marathon for the wing position in the 2010 off season.
4 contracts expire (Manu, Mason, Fin, Bogans) and to make things even more complicated, the plan A seems to use the MLE (or a big part from it) to bring in Splitter. Spurs would be forced to either sign minimum players as replacements (not good if you want to stay compe ive), or they will be in a weak negotiating position with the own FAs.
Having Hairston under contract doesn't solve this dilemma, but it certainly helps a bit.

[SpurNation]

Good decision IMO. I believe Hairston could be as productive as Bogan's if given more minutes. It's just that it's hard for him to get those minutes when others are playing just as well or better and making more money than he.

Having someone else on the team that makes more money and playing less just to let Hairston get more minutes would be more of a waste than the situation now.

Plus...even after his ankle heals...Finely might not be able to play at a high level anymore. And...If (heaven forbid) Bogan's should get injured...who else on this team could step in to that role?

[Mel_13]

No Mel,..

That piece states that $50,000.00 thousand of Hairston's contract was guaranteed at that time. In non guaranteed NBA contracts there are generally " two " important obligatory time lines in regards to agreement. The first being a partial sum guarantee and the later being the total contract guarantee.

In this case what Stein pointed out was the partial being obligated to fulfill and now comes the all too important remainder of the contract agreement being retained for full payment.

Actually, yes. Read the article in the link.

Stein presented three categories of players:

1. Players with no partial guarantees.

2. Players with partial guarantees who had to make it past Jan 6th to have the remainder of their contract fully guaranteed.

3. Players with partial guarantees who had contract provisions that fully guaranteed their contracts at some point in December. Hairston and three other players fell into that group.

If one believes that Stein has better sources than McDonald then there was no decision to made on Hairston yesterday. That decision had already been made at some point in December.




There was discussion at the beginning of November about Malik's future after the date passed on which the 50K guarantee was fulfilled. The Spurs have apparently made the decision speculated about at that time. That is, the extra expenses this year are justified to insure a cheap rotation player next year.

If everything we thought we knew about Malik's contract situation is true, specifically that the Spurs are now incurring costs beyond the 50K guarantee, what does that say about Malik's future with the Spurs?

I'd like to believe that it means that the Spurs have decided that Malik has a future with the team beyond this season. With Manu, Mason, Finley, and Bogans all in the last year of their contracts, the Spurs may have decided that it is worth the extra expense this year to be guaranteed a cheap wing player for next year.

[timvp]

Props again to Peter Holt and the ownership group. Even though the Spurs aren't off to a great start, they are willing to throw more money into the team in hopes of bringing another championship. $1.4 million is a lot of money to spend on a player who is unlikely to see a meaningful minute this season.

As far as Hairston is concerned, he just hasn't played enough to get any kind of read on him. He's play poorly at times in garbage minutes but that doesn't mean much. We'll get a better idea when he goes to Austin.

One skill that Hairston continues to display is his ability to block the shots of jumpshooters. I haven't seen somebody that good at blocking jumpshots since Dee Brown in his prime.

[silverblackfan]

Props again to Peter Holt and the ownership group. Even though the Spurs aren't off to a great start, they are willing to throw more money into the team in hopes of bringing another championship. $1.4 million is a lot of money to spend on a player who is unlikely to see a meaningful minute this season.

As far as Hairston is concerned, he just hasn't played enough to get any kind of read on him. He's play poorly at times in garbage minutes but that doesn't mean much. We'll get a better idea when he goes to Austin.

One skill that Hairston continues to display is his ability to block the shots of jumpshooters. I haven't seen somebody that good at blocking jumpshots since Dee Brown in his prime.

Yeah, he has surprising hops and that gets to the release faster than the shooter expected. One has to wonder if shooters will compensate for this when he is playing more regularly. If only he had the length of Hill, boy would we have a jumping bean...

[DaBears]

I dont ever see the guy be a top player in the league, but he does have his monents and is a capable fill in.. If spurs cut him im sure he'll get a shot later down the road or on another team.

[dbestpro]

I dont ever see the guy be a top player in the league, but he does have his monents and is a capable fill in.. If spurs cut him im sure he'll get a shot later down the road or on another team.

The way the league is right now, his next stop would be Europe. Many teams do not want to be anywhere near the 15 man limit. It does allow for issues regarding trades. His salary does do much for a trade. If he starts to get more minutes then the team could be setting up some of the more expensive players in front of him for a trade. Otherwise, he is just here for practice, If it is just about the future you will see him sent to the D league as soon as he is active. Sure wish Pop would do someting with Ian. Trade him, play him, let him carry the water. Also, Haislip looks like he could be a rotation player and should start getting some time. Actually, our third string is pretty tough when you think aout it.

[Phenomanul]

Props again to Peter Holt and the ownership group. Even though the Spurs aren't off to a great start, they are willing to throw more money into the team in hopes of bringing another championship. $1.4 million is a lot of money to spend on a player who is unlikely to see a meaningful minute this season.

As far as Hairston is concerned, he just hasn't played enough to get any kind of read on him. He's play poorly at times in garbage minutes but that doesn't mean much. We'll get a better idea when he goes to Austin.

One skill that Hairston continues to display is his ability to block the shots of jumpshooters. I haven't seen somebody that good at blocking jumpshots since Dee Brown in his prime.

That block to end the game last night was pretty impressive... on a hook shot no less...

Very few NBA forwards have the tools to do what Hairston did on that one play....

As long as his handles keep improving, and with that type of work ethic... he will continue giving the FO fits... In this case, I believe they made the right choice in keeping him around...

[SenorSpur]

It's too bad the kid is so far down on the SG food chain that he's not getting any minutes. I expect he will head back to Austin once Finley returns. It's very important that this kid continue to develop and keep getting better, so he'll be ready to step into the rotation next season.

[NFGIII]

That block to end the game last night was pretty impressive... on a hook shot no less...

Very few NBA forwards have the tools to do what Hairston did on that one play....

As long as his handles keep improving, and with that type of work ethic... he will continue giving the FO fits... In this case, I believe they made the right choice in keeping him around...

Agreed. The FO made the right decision on Malik. All he needs is time to continue his development.

It's too bad the kid is so far down on the SG food chain that he's not getting any minutes. I expect he will head back to Austin once Finley returns. It's very important that this kid continue to develop and keep getting better, so he'll be ready to step into the rotation next season.

Next year will most likely be his make or break year. Frankly I can't believe what I'm about to write. I want Finley back now so Malik can go to Austin and play more. This kid just needs to play as much as possible.

[Quiet Strength]

I'm glad he's staying. I think if any other team got him and gave him enough playing time he would be a pretty good player maybe better. He would probably kill the spurs like every other player does when they leave. Since the spurs are keeping him.. I hope he gets more playing time.