Ian Mahinmi Could Be Summer's Secret Prize

[SenorSpur]

Dude is only 23, and his weaknesses are things that experience usually fixes. Horrible decision by Spurs to nit keep him around. I'd love to see more of him and less of Bonner. Why do they need a stretch 4 anymore? TD isn't dominant and the offense needs to change to reflect that.

Lol at those who are clamoring for the Spurs to jettison this young, athletic, 2-year-old center, who has yet to be given playing time and a substantial role in the rotation.

Meanwhile, the Fakers boast a huge size advantage over practically every NBA team, with a frontline that is fairly young and averages about 6'10". They ARE the team to knockoff in the West. They are young and not getting any smaller. If the Spurs are to get back to the Finals, they'll have to counter this disadvantage with with increased size and skill, along the frontline, not with a stretch 4. It is so obvious that the Spurs are lacking the necessary rebounding, shotblocking and post scoring that were hallmarks of Duncan's prime years. Now that he's fallen off, so has the overall production in those areas. Yet again, folks are clamoring to see Ian walk. Amazing.

It's also amazing that, after a couple of years of playoff shrinkage, how Bonner gets a free pass. Meanwhile folks are ready to kick out a young, talented, unproven player like Ian.

[objective]

I demand that objective be banned from this thread for fear of his own safety!

That is all. Carry on.

Hey man, some people get it and some people don't.

Any GM out there with a clue will sign Mahinmi and give him an opportunity.

He was completely mismanaged by SA this year. And not just for the purposes of evalauting or using Mahinmi, the blunders hurt Duncan. Maybe Duncan would have had a little extra left had Pop not gone Pop in the regular season. I can think of two games off the top of my head where Duncan played and shouldn't have.

The road games against Toronto and NJ. The Toronto game was a disgrace, bringing Duncan off the bench after sitting him the entire first quarter and then burning him out in about 30 hard minutes to get the Spurs back from a double digit deficit was complete madness. And even if Mahinmi was too hated by the staff to give him a chance, it should have been Ratliff.

Then the NJ game, another one where Duncan should have been given the night off. But no, Pop couldn't sit him for one night, he just had to play him.

And the worst part? They lost both those games. It's not like those games were the absolute key to squeaking into the playoffs, they lost the damn games. They burned out Duncan in games like that for nothing. It sure looks like it was just to spite Mahinmi.

Mahinmi will be a success, the Spurs were wrong to not pick up his option (and I posted that at the time). Mahinmi deserves to go somewhere he'll be given a legit chance and not have the failures of a medical staff be held against him like some terrible vendetta.

[SenorSpur]

Hey man, some people get it and some people don't.

Any GM out there with a clue will sign Mahinmi and give him an opportunity.

He was completely mismanaged by SA this year. And not just for the purposes of evalauting or using Mahinmi, the blunders hurt Duncan. Maybe Duncan would have had a little extra left had Pop not gone Pop in the regular season. I can think of two games off the top of my head where Duncan played and shouldn't have.

The road games against Toronto and NJ. The Toronto game was a disgrace, bringing Duncan off the bench after sitting him the entire first quarter and then burning him out in about 30 hard minutes to get the Spurs back from a double digit deficit was complete madness. And even if Mahinmi was too hated by the staff to give him a chance, it should have been Ratliff.

Then the NJ game, another one where Duncan should have been given the night off. But no, Pop couldn't sit him for one night, he just had to play him.

And the worst part? They lost both those games. It's not like those games were the absolute key to squeaking into the playoffs, they lost the damn games. They burned out Duncan in games like that for nothing. It sure looks like it was just to spite Mahinmi.

Mahinmi will be a success, the Spurs were wrong to not pick up his option (and I posted that at the time). Mahinmi deserves to go somewhere he'll be given a legit chance and not have the failures of a medical staff be held against him like some terrible vendetta.

Well said. As disturbing as it was that the Spurs didn't pick up his option, it even more disturbing that Pop and the coaching staff deliberately stunted his development. Hopefully, they've seen the error in their ways and are committed toward striking a deal with him in July. Again, you're not going to beat a team like the Fakers with old bigs, and slow stretch 4's.

How insulting for the Spurs would it be if the Fakers picked up Mahinmi?

[objective]

Well said. As disturbing as it was that the Spurs didn't pick up his option, it even more disturbing that Pop and the coaching staff deliberately stunted his development. Hopefully, they've seen the error in their ways and are committed toward striking a deal with him in July. Again, you're not going to beat a team like the Fakers with old bigs, and slow stretch 4's.

How insulting for the Spurs would it be if the Fakers picked up Mahinmi?

Yeah, wouldn't even give Mahinmi a chance when the choking stretch 4 was injured and out.

I don't know if it'll be the Lakers, but a team with a clue will pick Mahinmi up, they'll get him relatively cheap and lock him up for 3 years.

Now, that's not too many teams. After all, Scola only had two teams interested in even giving up a 2nd rounder for him. All to get Scola on a deal a little over half the the MLE. Insane how stupid most of the NBA was and will be.

Most teams will be scared away from Mahinmi just like they were with Scola. They'll presume that there must be something wrong with the player because they never got time or were signed, and that the Spurs would never make a mistake on a player. If the Spurs who needed frontline help couldn't find a use for Mahinmi/Scola, then he must suck and not have a place in the NBA.

But I'm optimistic that somewhere somehow a team will either get Mahinmi through good decision making or just by dumb luck. And he will become a successful NBA player, and Spurs fans will continue to make excuses and blame the player while refusing to acknowledge truths.

Teams like NY and Miami who burn through most of their caproom on big name free agents but want a cheap starter could get him. I think an MLE limited team like the Pacers are another candidate. Murphy's expiring, Hansborough is too messed up to even play summer league, they don't have any big money to spend. Plus they have experience organizationally with getting a diamond in the rough big man and letting him blossom like Jermaine O'Neal. Similarly why the Knicks are an option with Walsh there.

[smrattler]

Secret Prize?

Reminds me of that scene on UHF... Wheel of Fish!

Ah, red snapper? You can keep the red snapper or go for the "secret prize" inside the box?

KEEP THE RED SNAPPER!!!!

KEEP THE RED SNAPPER!!!!

[Obstructed_View]

We've all seen the movie: a famous owner buys a horse nobody else wants, trains it in secret using unorthodox methods, and goes on to win the Kentucky Derby. Only in our movie, the horse has health problems and a tendency to get there a half step behind his opponents. Ian Mahinmi is Sea Biscuit with bad ankles.

And for the record - that half step delay is the reason Ian picks up so many fouls. And it's not because his feet are slow. That's not likely to change. If the prize winner gets to sign Mahinmi to a two year contract, then second place would be signing him to a four year contract.

It's posts like the above that convince me that some of you aren't even watching the kid play when he does, because there's not anything remotely accurate in it. Mahinmi's rotations are outstanding; you might as well say he has poor hands or that he's not very athletic. A large portion of his fouls are either because the refs don't know him or for moving picks, not because he's swinging with his hands at guys that get past him. Last but not least, he doesn't have bad ankles; resorting to the "injury prone" card on a guy who had undiagnosed floating bone chips in his foot for nearly a year is a sure sign of desperation.

The big question becomes, why do so many Spurs fans seem determined to spread misinformation about Mahinmi? Does it make them feel better that he's not going to be here?

[BronxCowboy]

The big question becomes, why do so many Spurs fans seem determined to spread misinformation about Mahinmi? Does it make them feel better that he's not going to be here?

It's just like when Malik Rose was traded. He suddenly became the most worthless scrub on the team.

[GSH]

It's just like when Malik Rose was traded. He suddenly became the most worthless scrub on the team.

Don't even mention Malik and Ian in the same discussion. Malik defended Shaq at his prime and did a damned good job of it. No way in Mahinmi could do that. If Malik had Mahinmi's height, he would have finished his career here. If Mahinmi was 2-3 inches shorter, he wouldn't have anything to offer a top-tier college team. He's tall. And not only that... he's tall. But the biggest thing he has going for him is, he's tall.

But I like the idea that he draws foul calls because the refs don't know him. I can hear the conversation between the refs:

"Who is the whistle on?"
"I don't know... who is that guy over there?"
"The tall one? I don't know him. You want to just put it on him then?"
"Yeah, sure. And the next one, too, if he's still in the game."

Sounds like Ian's problem is his agent. He needs to raise his profile, so those guys will quit giving him those phantom fouls.

[objective]

But I like the idea that he draws foul calls because the refs don't know him. I can hear the conversation between the refs:

"Who is the whistle on?"
"I don't know... who is that guy over there?"

Yeah, refs having no respect for unknown players and not even knowing who they were, that would never happen. Except for when it happened to Devin Brown and it was caught on tape.

[Chomag]

It's posts like the above that convince me that some of you aren't even watching the kid play when he does, because there's not anything remotely accurate in it. Mahinmi's rotations are outstanding; you might as well say he has poor hands or that he's not very athletic. A large portion of his fouls are either because the refs don't know him or for moving picks, not because he's swinging with his hands at guys that get past him. Last but not least, he doesn't have bad ankles; resorting to the "injury prone" card on a guy who had undiagnosed floating bone chips in his foot for nearly a year is a sure sign of desperation.

The big question becomes, why do so many Spurs fans seem determined to spread misinformation about Mahinmi? Does it make them feel better that he's not going to be here?

There are a few here that seem to have a personal vendetta against the Kid. Almost to the point I wonder if he ran over their dog or slept with their wife or something. I don't have any idea why the Kid gets so much hate here.

Not thinking the guy is good sure we are all en led to that opinion but going as far as posting negatively in every Ian thread that they can in attempt to tarnish him is pretty lame..

As for me from what I have seen the kid still has alot of potential. Most of his flaws are fixed with consistant playing time.

[BronxCowboy]

Don't even mention Malik and Ian in the same discussion.

Wasn't comparing the two players at all. Just pointing out that Spurstalk has a history of turning against players, sometimes for no good reason.

Oh, and not only would Malik have finished his career in SA if he had Ian's height, he also would have been welcome to stay in SA if he had Ian's contract.

[Obstructed_View]

Don't even mention Malik and Ian in the same discussion. Malik defended Shaq at his prime and did a damned good job of it. No way in Mahinmi could do that. If Malik had Mahinmi's height, he would have finished his career here. If Mahinmi was 2-3 inches shorter, he wouldn't have anything to offer a top-tier college team. He's tall. And not only that... he's tall. But the biggest thing he has going for him is, he's tall.

But I like the idea that he draws foul calls because the refs don't know him. I can hear the conversation between the refs:

"Who is the whistle on?"
"I don't know... who is that guy over there?"
"The tall one? I don't know him. You want to just put it on him then?"
"Yeah, sure. And the next one, too, if he's still in the game."

Sounds like Ian's problem is his agent. He needs to raise his profile, so those guys will quit giving him those phantom fouls.

Can't wait to see your next anti-Ian post, since they seem to get a little bit more stupid as you go.

[Seventyniner]

Bonner failed the Spurs.
Pop screwed Mason, who then failed the Spurs.
The Spurs failed Ian.

And Ian fouled out.

[underdawg]

It's just like when Malik Rose was traded. He suddenly became the most worthless scrub on the team.

no, mr. 40 ball fakes was on the down slide before he left the spurs

[underdawg]

And Ian fouled out.

you'd think a young player that was given so many minutes (20 for the season right?) to adjust his game would figure out how to stop fouling

[underdawg]

There are a few here that seem to have a personal vendetta against the Kid. Almost to the point I wonder if he ran over their dog or slept with their wife or something. I don't have any idea why the Kid gets so much hate here.

Not thinking the guy is good sure we are all en led to that opinion but going as far as posting negatively in every Ian thread that they can in attempt to tarnish him is pretty lame..

As for me from what I have seen the kid still has alot of potential. Most of his flaws are fixed with consistant playing time.

Bonner's relatives do not like the suggestion that he received too many minutes and possibly a longer player could have helped the spurs this year instead.

[wildbill2u]

Unfortunately, whether Ian makes it on another roster or goes to Europe--he will become another one of the hotly debated players whose partisans will argue for years about his perceived abilities or misperceived abilities, and whether he could have become our next great 'find' as a draftee and player.

Maybe we could just codify the arguments with a glossary attachment and then number them such as "Arguments 101, 102, 103, etc on the Pro Ian side and similarly 201, 202, 203, etc for the anti-Ian crowd to use.. Then all that would be necessary to put into a post is something like:

Poster X: "I call 102, 104 and 116! Take that mother er! You are owned."

Poster Z: "You have nothing. 231 back at you."

[GSH]

Can't wait to see your next anti-Ian post, since they seem to get a little bit more stupid as you go.

It's not anti-Ian, it's pro-Spurs.

Sorry - I didn't know you were looking forward to me dumbing down my posts for you. That explains a lot. I'll give it my best shot:

See Ian. See Ian jump. Jump Ian, jump! Ian is very jumpy. Sometimes when Ian jumps the nice men in the zebra suits whistle. They do not know who Ian is, so they whistle and whistle. Ian looks very happy today. He likes to make strangers whistle.

Ian is a "project". That means that the team likes him, and spends lots of time an money teaching him. Learn Ian, learn! Maybe if Ian keeps learning he can be a project forever. He thinks another team may pay him even more money to be a project for them. A nice man, called an "agent" told him so. Ian thinks being a project is the funnest thing in the world.

Bye-bye, Ian. Bye-bye, agent. Have fun with your new team.


I hope that was worth the wait. If you still need me to dumb it down more for you, let me know.