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Nicolas Batum will not enter the draft. He Said it yesterday after a french league game.
He wants to continue his learning in France with a bigger role in his team and prefers "play 30 mn in euroleague than 2 mn in NBA".
Wise IMO.
draftn euro scrubs, or we draftin and farmin them?
i prefer we get someone on the damn roster then farmin,
Nicolas Batum will not enter the draft. He Said it yesterday after a french league game.
He wants to continue his learning in France with a bigger role in his team and prefers "play 30 mn in euroleague than 2 mn in NBA".
Wise IMO.
I think the word is out on Koponen around the league. I don't know where he'll slot in the draft, but I'll bet someone will pick him up if we don't. Threre are no more 'stealth' players in the Euro leagues anymore.
A bonus: angel_luv will love him!!!
if we are going to draft a PG....look for someone similar to n duhorn
An article about Mahinmi (in french) :
http://www.sudouest.com/290407/sport...0407a72473.xml
My quick translation :
Mahinmi, successful takeoff
Marc Duthu
Sud Ouest
04/29/07
PRO A (32e GAME)
Engines have started and the rocket has finally taken off, leaving the terrestrial attraction. Last week, at Dijon, Ian Mahinmi has taken off : 20 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, an evaluation of 29 ; the best game of his career. Pau and the former player of Le Havre have waited for it for a long time. One had felt some good things against Nancy, five days sooner when the young center (21 years) had flown over Cedric Banks to do a poster-dunk and fought inch per inch with Cyril Julian at the rebound. At this time, it was unknown if, once again, it was only one good game ...
"I have doubted".
Because the Mahinmi mission has not happened as expected. By moving him from Le Havre to Pau last summer, after having selected him during the 05 draft, the San antonio Spurs have thinked that the puting in orbit would be easier. An ambitious team, the Euroligue, a well known coach (the Canadian Gordon Herbert) : all the trafic lights were green. But the count down has stopped again. Launch as a starter for the first eight games of the season, Mahinmi failed to find his place.
When the american Michael Wright signed with the team, he has had less playtime. During some games, he seems lost and takes three PF in one minute. At Pau, one are very fast worried. " o Houston, we got a problem..". What must we do? Going back to the drawing board? Rebuild everything around a perfect body for this game (size, wingspan, speed, jumping ability) ? No, only wait. And remember that 21 years is only the dawn of a career. That at the center spot, experience is a more efficient and relaible fuel than the enthusiasm of youth.
"At the beginning, I have doubted" said Mahinmi. "I always have always given the best of myself, but nothing happened like I wanted. For some time, I'm feeling better. However I have changed nothing in my game, I haven't felt a turning point has happened and I haven't more the feeling to make great things." Mahinmi is straight and honest, like when he says that he was light years far from what everybody, including himself, expected from him when he came to Pau : "While coming at Pau, I wanted to break everything, but that has not happened like that. This year was made to be ready for Spurs. Without wishing it, I have, without a doubt, put too much pressure on myself."
Landing in Texas.
His misfire ended, he hopes so, Ian Mahinmi is sure that he will remember of everything: "In a career, everyone has some difficult moments. I learned a lot this season with Pau." The next ones, he will be on another planet. His landing with Spurs was planed a long time ago: Summer League at Las Vegas in July, maybe followed by one at Salt Lake City, before starting his rookie season.
A Spurs jersey, Tim Duncan to help him in the Texan paint, Tony Parker to give him the ball,a 6 digits contract, the NBA... Enough to go to someone's head. "I know what awaits me and it creates in me a mix of desire and excitation, said Mahinmi. I try not to think at that too much , but it's difficult. " It's even more difficult now that Spurs play playoffs for one week: "The morning, I throw myself on my computer to see what they did against Denver." He is almost over there. But he isn't fully gone for the moment. "Stakes in french league are high and, since Britton Johnsen injury, I have more responsabilities, I remain focus on what I have to do here, said Mahinmi. I want to finish well with Pau. It's important to me."
Last edited by Bruno; 04-30-2007 at 03:01 PM. Reason: ;)
So Spurs are doing Las Vegas and Utah.
Mahinmi had a pretty crappy game again statstically yesterday.
Apropos very little, I'm actually warming to Nick Fazekas as a Spur. With the Mil. pick, of course.
Rush with our 1st pick and fazekas with 2nd round pick would be nice tandem..
Yes it would.
Fazekas has Duncan's lack of athleticism and isn't as strong, but it would be an interesting tandem at least to try. It depends on who we pull with our own pick, but it's not unreasonable to think Fazekas will be a good NBA player within limits.
20 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, an evaluation of 29
Nice to see Ian had hopefully what turns out to be his breakout game.
Personally, I'm hoping for McRoberts, (by trading Scola + 33rd pick for his rights). I think Fazekas, although very skilled, might have real trouble transitioning to the NBA; he has significant issues when faced with much superior atheletes.
I do think the place to find a "big man" would be the draft if we can..I know we have other weaknesses but if the spurs are to trade up it should be for 4/5 player. We can find a decent 1-3 position player late in the draft due to the depth of those positions. To try to fill pf or c positions during FA season is to simply overpay for these positions.
i don't know why you all want to trade scola
he appeared to be better than a lot of youngs pf's
i don't know what exactly he is doing this year in europe but i think the best thing for us is to bring him to the team
He's setting records and being dominant...as usual.
I agree that the "other" big is a hole that will have to be filled in the near future and Scola is the guy to do it. The only way I see a trade for him working out for the best, is if the Spurs are able to get an immediate starter or key role player that fills another need.....long 3/small-ball 4.
Trading up to get Jeff Green or nabbing Nocioni in a sign-and-trade are two scenarios....
Still, I think it's best (and most likely) if he signs with the Spurs and establishes his trade value over here before making him available...which also gives the Spurs the luxury of seeing how their young post players pan out.
I don't see how signing Scola and 'establishing his trade value' helps the Spurs in any real way. First, it solidifies his exact value and makes flexible trades very hard. Second, teams are often extremely reluctant to trade their rookies away before even their first year is out. That, coupled with the fact that the Spurs' best options for SFs are in the draft, not out of it and already in the league (other than Nocioni), I just don't see any sense in signing him with the intent of trading him away. Either you want him or you don't. There's no 'try out' period. Besides, it takes a while for rookies to learn the Spurs system - it took Oberto and Manu the better part of a year - so it's senseless in thinking Scola could be showcased in any meaningful way.
Body, I'm not going to argue the virtue of bringing Scola in. I'm only going to clarify that when I talked about establishing his trade value, I meant over the next two or three seasons, not trading him in his rookie season. A scenario similar to Nocioni, depending on the development of the Spurs' young talent at that position....
I understand, then. All things equal, I'd rather get value for him now, but that's because I don't see him matching a need and believe there is a lot of irrecoverable bad blood between the two sides. If the Spurs do sign him, however, I'll be very happy to have Scola a Spur.
I am not sure his trade value will ever go up once in the nba. Right now he is considered top big man in europe and coming to the end of his contract (I think 1 year left). I think these labels alone may intrigue some teams. Also lets not forget he is 27 years old, so to play him for couple of years may due more harm than good to his value. But, I am with Body on this, if he can contribute and doesnt demand a high salary then I will welcome him.
I propose trading Scola because I think that the team management is not willing to do what it would take to bring him over. I think that they believe 1) He wants to much money for a second round pick(I disagree with them on this point), and they don't want to set that precedent. 2) He will not be a good fit playing beside Duncan. And if he's not playing beside (as opposed to backing up) Duncan, then he's really not worth the salary cap space he wants. This second point I think that they may be correct on (I will discuss my reasoning below). If the management is not willing to bring him over (for whatever reason), I would rather see his rights used as a trade asset to improve the team, rather than sitting on the Spurs back shelf...
Why am I unsure that Scola will be a good fit beside Duncan? Well, my ideal partner for TD has the following attributes. 1) Good Man to Man Defender, to match up with opponents best big when possible by matchups. This allows Tim to play help D much more often. 2) Strong Athelete. I am not a fan of small ball, and for matching up with team with jumpshooting/perimeter bigmen (eg. Dirk, Donyell Marshall, Andrea Barganani, Chris Bosh, Rashard Lewis, Memo Okur), it is very helpful to have one of the two starting bigs to be athletic enough to go out on the perimeter when defending. A strong athlete also greatly improves our fast break. 3) Plays high post. In our offence, Duncan gets the Low-post spot, because that is where he likes to set up. This leaves our other big man in the High post spot. This in turn implies that our 2nd big should have an effective 15 to 18 ft jumpshot. 4) Strong rebounder. Our small players have been pretty weak at rebounding historically. It is a very good thing if both bigs in play rebound strongly, rather than putting the majority of the load on Tim. It allows Tim to save more energy for defense and scoring.
Scola does not fit the majority of these criteria. The core strength of his game is his low post scoring. This contradicts point 3; however he does have a decent jumpshot. He is not reknowned as a strong rebounder in the Spanish league, and he will be matching up against better Athletes in the NBA, contradicting point 4. He is if anything, slightly undersized by NBA standards, which will make rebounding even more difficult. Although he is an acceptable athlete, he is not a strong athlete by NBA standards; can you envision him effectively defending any of the players mentioned in point 2 above. Finally, I am not that impressed with his man to man defense, particularly due to his size. He will have to work very hard to effectively defend a starting NBA PF/C. However, he has demonstrated some proficiency at dealing with NBA PF/C's before (eg. see Scola vs Jermaine O'Neal, World Championships, 2002). So he fits one of 4 criteria for an ideal (in my mind) fit beside TD.
In comparison, McRoberts will be cheaper (rookie contract), has demonstrated superior Athletic ability, and is larger 6'10" or 11". McRoberts likes playing in the high post (and has a jumpshot), and has strong passing abilities. He has also been an effective defender and rebounder at every level he has played at.
If Fazekas were an athlete, he would be great. Very good rebounder, tall, prefers to face up instead of attacking the post, great outside shot, pretty good shot blockers.
McRoberts would be an intriguing pick. People are down on him but as a fourth option on an established team, he could be great. But I don't think 1) he drops to the Spurs, or 2) they would pick him.
Fazekas could be cheaper than trying to resign bonner this offseason. Both prefer outside shots, Fazekas is the better rebounder, bonner the energetic player off the bench.
I want to see Fazekas against NBA athletes before I say he is the better rebounder. I have been dissapointed with Fazekas' ac ulated NCAA tournament performances. Remember, the wolfpack are in a relatively weak conference for the "college regular season".
Yeah, I don't think he drops to 28. I think that we would have to trade up to get him. Currently I would like to see the Spurs trade #33 and Scola for #21 (from Denver via Philly) and select McRoberts and use pick #28 on Dominic Mcguire.
Fazekas was decent statistically against Memphis this year, which was comprised of NBA-type athletes. I wonder how Faze compares to Duncan in the athletics department. Maybe we could get Dudley, too, and have a glacial front line.
PAD - I'd be somewhat intrigued by McRoberts, but I'm surprised at the idea to trade up for him. I'd have to think about the option, but what I do like is the idea of using Scola to move up with the #33 pick. Perhaps it won't go far enough.
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