Summer League Game Blog: Spurs vs. Hornets - 7/12/09 3PM CT

[Behrooz24]

JackMcClintonTough one. We got the win tho.
2 minutes ago from TwitterFon

[ChumpDumper]

Really? ATDHE or ADTHE, or whatever was real good.

The ADHD stream was stalling for me as well as the NBA stream. Pretty aggravating in the fourth. The quality is so much better on the NBA stream; it looks good on my TV. Can't wait to see the archive.

[HarlemHeat37]

Some thoughts..

George Hill..just dominated the game from start to finish..his shot looks a lot better..his athleticism and length is going to make him a special player..another thing I love about him is that he has a role player mentality all the time, even today, where he was clearly the #1 option/star player..he goes after loose balls all the time..

His defense is already good at the NBA-level, which is really what separates him from a lot of young PGs in the NBA right now..this will also allow him to play at the 2 with Tony, which could be huge for us..

DeJuan Blair..great game, couldn't have expected more..his rebounding truly is elite..his knees looked fine..he looked like a seasoned veteran playing against rookies..he had 1 bad move, where he beat his defender but decided to add another move, leading to his attempt being blocked..other than that, he showed very good touch at the basket..

His defensive awareness needs work, but that's expected for a rookie, especially since none of these guys have played together before..

Malik Hairston..he did what most of us expected..his shooting looks better, his defense was solid from start to finish, he's explosive at the basket..he needs to work on his ball-handling, but that isn't going to be a problem, since he's going to be a role player..

Ian Mahinmi..mixed results..his potential is pretty obvious, especially offensively..he has a very polished offensive game for a young project player IMO..his energy was a lot better than last year, but he still needs a lot more to be a rotation player for us this year..I won't judge him too much though, since it's his first NBA game since the injury..

James Gist..he didn't impress me in this game..he had a good move and a couple of strong finishes to the basket, but he looked over matched physically against the other big men..

Jack McClinton..he looked better in the 2nd half, but he didn't look good overall..I didn't like his shot selection on his few shots, and didn't like his energy overall, although it was noticeably better in the 2nd half..

[Bruno]

Blair, Hairston and Hill looked very good. Blair is a beast. Hairston could be a damn good glue guy. Hill could have scored 50.

McClinton looked bad but it was his first pro game.

Gist was bad and will have to play significantly better if he wants to be a Spur next year.

Ian show very little things but he hasn't played for one year. He will need to show more in the next games.

[The_Worlds_finest]

HIS SPOT HIS SHOT?!?!?!?!

[TDMVPDPOY]

The stream was actually pretty damn good for me. It only froze for a couple seconds in the first half when someone was at the line. The rest was smooth. Not very high quality but it wasn't like the 1995 webcam quality it was earlier in summer league.

stream was nice man, too bad i caught a few plays of it, couldnt be d wasting my dl cap on livestream stuff...need it for the poon

GHILL dunk in traffic was fkn nice

[oligarchy]

Beck looks decent, but doesn't have great handles.

Hairston looked good when he wasn't trying to push it too much (E.g., his behind the back moves).

Hill was looking very good. He's going to kill people with his shooting, he J is looking smooth and he doesn't have to worry about people going under screens -- they will pay.

Gist looked lost out there. He seemed to miss too many rotations and didn't know if he wanted to play that far out. He just didn't look comfortable.

Blair.. exactly.

[Russ]

Give Ian atleast 2 more games under his belt then start the critique

Agreed. The one move to the basket was very nice. He seems to have some offensive moves.

But his key will be D, in particular the "basketball IQ" eveyone likes to talk about. Can he be where he needs to be.

He is long and athletic but at time appears to be almost too fluid in his movements. That is a very unusual criticism of a young player.

In Ian's case, it would be nice to see a little more herky-jerky from him, a little more explosiveness rather than fluidity. Perhaps the injuries to his feet have impaired that somewhat.

My expectations were somewhat low, so I thought he did well and showed some potential. He needs to build on it next game. (Blair did so well, they can cut down his minutes if they want -- he has nothing to prove).

[siraulo23]

Im just glad no one got injured!~

[biziofromdowntown]

Some thoughts..

George Hill..just dominated the game from start to finish..his shot looks a lot better..his athleticism and length is going to make him a special player..another thing I love about him is that he has a role player mentality all the time, even today, where he was clearly the #1 option/star player..he goes after loose balls all the time..

His defense is already good at the NBA-level, which is really what separates him from a lot of young PGs in the NBA right now..this will also allow him to play at the 2 with Tony, which could be huge for us..

DeJuan Blair..great game, couldn't have expected more..his rebounding truly is elite..his knees looked fine..he looked like a seasoned veteran playing against rookies..he had 1 bad move, where he beat his defender but decided to add another move, leading to his attempt being blocked..other than that, he showed very good touch at the basket..

His defensive awareness needs work, but that's expected for a rookie, especially since none of these guys have played together before..

Malik Hairston..he did what most of us expected..his shooting looks better, his defense was solid from start to finish, he's explosive at the basket..he needs to work on his ball-handling, but that isn't going to be a problem, since he's going to be a role player..

Ian Mahinmi..mixed results..his potential is pretty obvious, especially offensively..he has a very polished offensive game for a young project player IMO..his energy was a lot better than last year, but he still needs a lot more to be a rotation player for us this year..I won't judge him too much though, since it's his first NBA game since the injury..

James Gist..he didn't impress me in this game..he had a good move and a couple of strong finishes to the basket, but he looked over matched physically against the other big men..

Jack McClinton..he looked better in the 2nd half, but he didn't look good overall..I didn't like his shot selection on his few shots, and didn't like his energy overall, although it was noticeably better in the 2nd half..

He must start learn to play at the SF or he'll go

[HarlemHeat37]

BTW, I didn't like the plays that were called most of the time..

Too much passing around the perimeter early..we were a lot better when Hill was involving in P&Rs more often..

I'd like to see more aggressiveness in the offense, like we saw in the 2nd half..

[kromediablo]

once again the spurs do not have anybody that can play above the rim

[galvatron3000]

If Beck played more like Reggie Miller and came off lots of curls he' d be nicer but he needs to work on his dribbling

[Spursmania]

Some thoughts..

George Hill..just dominated the game from start to finish..his shot looks a lot better..his athleticism and length is going to make him a special player..another thing I love about him is that he has a role player mentality all the time, even today, where he was clearly the #1 option/star player..he goes after loose balls all the time..

His defense is already good at the NBA-level, which is really what separates him from a lot of young PGs in the NBA right now..this will also allow him to play at the 2 with Tony, which could be huge for us..

DeJuan Blair..great game, couldn't have expected more..his rebounding truly is elite..his knees looked fine..he looked like a seasoned veteran playing against rookies..he had 1 bad move, where he beat his defender but decided to add another move, leading to his attempt being blocked..other than that, he showed very good touch at the basket..

His defensive awareness needs work, but that's expected for a rookie, especially since none of these guys have played together before..

Malik Hairston..he did what most of us expected..his shooting looks better, his defense was solid from start to finish, he's explosive at the basket..he needs to work on his ball-handling, but that isn't going to be a problem, since he's going to be a role player..

Ian Mahinmi..mixed results..his potential is pretty obvious, especially offensively..he has a very polished offensive game for a young project player IMO..his energy was a lot better than last year, but he still needs a lot more to be a rotation player for us this year..I won't judge him too much though, since it's his first NBA game since the injury..

James Gist..he didn't impress me in this game..he had a good move and a couple of strong finishes to the basket, but he looked over matched physically against the other big men..

Jack McClinton..he looked better in the 2nd half, but he didn't look good overall..I didn't like his shot selection on his few shots, and didn't like his energy overall, although it was noticeably better in the 2nd half..

Nice thoughts Harlem

[kbrury]

Ian will get better, as Bruno said he hasn't played in a year.

[HarlemHeat37]

He must start learn to play at the SF or he'll go

Yup..I've been saying this since last year..Gist can't be a successful PF in this league, he will need to be a SF..

[Obstructed_View]

Did they run any four down? That might be interesting to see.

[oligarchy]

Some thoughts..

George Hill..just dominated the game from start to finish..his shot looks a lot better..his athleticism and length is going to make him a special player..another thing I love about him is that he has a role player mentality all the time, even today, where he was clearly the #1 option/star player..he goes after loose balls all the time..

His defense is already good at the NBA-level, which is really what separates him from a lot of young PGs in the NBA right now..this will also allow him to play at the 2 with Tony, which could be huge for us..

DeJuan Blair..great game, couldn't have expected more..his rebounding truly is elite..his knees looked fine..he looked like a seasoned veteran playing against rookies..he had 1 bad move, where he beat his defender but decided to add another move, leading to his attempt being blocked..other than that, he showed very good touch at the basket..

His defensive awareness needs work, but that's expected for a rookie, especially since none of these guys have played together before..

Malik Hairston..he did what most of us expected..his shooting looks better, his defense was solid from start to finish, he's explosive at the basket..he needs to work on his ball-handling, but that isn't going to be a problem, since he's going to be a role player..

Ian Mahinmi..mixed results..his potential is pretty obvious, especially offensively..he has a very polished offensive game for a young project player IMO..his energy was a lot better than last year, but he still needs a lot more to be a rotation player for us this year..I won't judge him too much though, since it's his first NBA game since the injury..

James Gist..he didn't impress me in this game..he had a good move and a couple of strong finishes to the basket, but he looked over matched physically against the other big men..

Jack McClinton..he looked better in the 2nd half, but he didn't look good overall..I didn't like his shot selection on his few shots, and didn't like his energy overall, although it was noticeably better in the 2nd half..

The thing with Malik is that he looks to have extended his range. He had a decent mid-range game to start, but looks to have even cleaned up that a bit.

Jack looked horrible. He definitely looks too small out there and he definitely IS NOT going to be a back-up PG.

Gist may have said he was going to be on the team, but unless he turns it around in the rest of the 4 game, I don't see it.

[Spurs Brazil]

david b. thorpe Mahinmi is a talent. But he still does not get much done. 6 and 4 with 6 fls in 22 mins. Remember-mental is to physical as 4 is to 1. Knight]
david b. thorpe Collison is really nice. I see why Holiday played the 2.
david b. thorpe Manu and Tony are going to make Blair's Christmas very special. He's going to be crushing guys on ballscreens and pin downs.
david b. thorpe Blair with the double-double in 17 mins.
david b. thorpe Collison can run a team. As Ben Howland knows.
david b. thorpe Julian Wright has horrible shot selection. At this point in his career, that's disappointing.
david b. thorpe McClinton just not a pg. Struggles as a playmaker.david b. thorpe Blair can not afford to hunt shots after being well defended inside.
david b. thorpe Jack McClinton getting outplayed by Thornton.
david b. thorpe Thortnon filling it up. Shoots a lot but he can shoot. He'll be a nice Eddie House option off the bench.
david b. thorpe Malik Hairston playing well this half. 7 pts.
david b. thorpe Beaubois has been the best pure pg I've seen this summer. Until George Hill. Westbrook is the most explosive game changer.
david b. thorpe Marcus Thornton is playing well, defending and playmaking.
david b. thorpe Julian Wright has great activity. With confidence I don't see how he couldn't be in the rotation.
david b. thorpe George Hill was the 2nd worst player of all the first rounders last summer. He's fantastic now. Credit him, and his organization.
david b. thorpe But not surprising.
david b. thorpe Both teams have been practicing their team d. Impressive.
david b. thorpe He directed them to the right spots and then split the ballscreen.
david b. thorpe George Hill just had a monster dunk, but it was the least impressive play of the sequence. He set up the entire set by talking to his guys.
david b. thorpe DeJuan Blair. 1 minute. 3 boards.
david b. thorpe Hill is a tough matchup for Collison. Almost as quick, but way longer and very crafty.david b. thorpe And then almost did it again, with a backtip steal and a missed layup that was dunked home. He has a nice and compact game.
david b. thorpe Thornton made 2 plays! Block and finish.
david b. thorpe Mahinmi is someone I've always been intrigued with. His lack of leg strength has always been a major issue. Just can't stay balanced.
david b. thorpe Thornton vs. McClinton is a good matchup too.
david b. thorpe Collison does a nice job attacking the ballscreen. Pressures the show guy.
david b. thorpe Collison vs. Hill is a good matchup. George can defend.
david b. thorpe Spurs Hornets.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/...er-League.html

[Obstructed_View]

Yup..I've been saying this since last year..Gist can't be a successful PF in this league, he will need to be a SF..

Yeah, kind of a tweener. He can play smallball four better than anyone recently, though.

[HarlemHeat37]

Did they run any four down? That might be interesting to see.

Only a few times IIRC..there wasn't much posting up in general..

Blair had 1 or 2 post-up clear outs, and Ian had 1 IIRC..that actually might have been it..

[HarlemHeat37]

The stream that I was watching on was very good btw..it didn't get cut off at all..

[FvckMavs]

I want to thank Steve Kerr again for giving us both Hairston and Blair.

[coyotes_geek]

The thing with Malik is that he looks to have extended his range. He had a decent mid-range game to start, but looks to have even cleaned up that a bit.

Jack looked horrible. He definitely looks too small out there and he definitely IS NOT going to be a back-up PG.

Gist may have said he was going to be on the team, but unless he turns it around in the rest of the 4 game, I don't see it.

Agree on all 3 counts.

[spectator]

a lot of people mention malik's shooting has improved; i suspect this is in regards to the limited minutes he was offered with the spurs, because his percentages with the toros are impressive: http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfil...malik_hairston