french news this morning
" the major surprise came from Ian Mahinmi. chosen with pick 28 by spurs. he will join TP but maybee not next season. Le havre forward anticipated to keep maturing one more year in europe anyway before making the transition. But the attraction of a conteding team and learning with the best (duncan) might change this"
however from what we heard yesterday he will stay one more year in Europe at 90% chance. he could maybee join as sonn as the season end being in SA for the playoff to see how it works.
La grosse surprise est venu de Ian Mahinmi, choisi en 28e position par les San Antonio Spurs. Il rejoindra donc Tony Parker, mais peut-être pas cette saison. L'intérieur du Havre avait en effet prévu de s'aguerrir encore une année en Europe avant de faire le grand saut. Mais l'attrait d'une équipe candidate au re et la possibilité de travailler aux côtés de Tim Duncan auront peut-être raison de ses hésitations.
Popovich has always liked players like Tyson Chandler who are long skinny quick and very athletic and great defensively. I see this as a type of move that can get him this type of player. My thoughts are also that Pop got a player who will be able to defend Amare Stoudamire.
I think with this guys hops and height, he will be pulling in mad boards on the defensive and offensive side. They analysts last night were complaining about him being a volleyball player till four years ago. So what, Tim Duncan was a swimmer most of his life, and we all know what he turned into. I think the Spurs did the right thing, however we still need a young athletic player to come in and take over for Bruce, im not so sure Linton Johnson is the answer.
If the Spurs are going to leave Mahinmi in Europe for at least a season or two, then he qualifies as a project. No, that's not a bad thing, but a little surprising for a 1st round pick. I would guess at the following reasons.
1. The Spurs did not think anyone available would help them right away.
2. No one wanted to help the Spurs with any kind of trade up or trade down, having been burned before (Claxton, Nazr).
3. With the new CBA, 1st round picks are only guaranteed 2 years instead of 3. This closes the distance between 1st rounders and 2nd rounders.
4. With no 2nd round picks and no 1st round pick next year (don't know about 2nd round next year), the Spurs wanted to put this pick to good use.
5. The Manu-Scola theory of picks is that if you draft enough international 2nd rounders, letting them develop in Europe, you will probably find a few that are good enough. This year's draft pick follows the same reasoning, though it will cost the Spurs 1st round money this time. But if you average it out over all their 2nd round picks, given the success they've had, it's a reasonable cost.
You mean a player with more courage than brains? The only way to contain Stoudemaire is to get in his way and take the charge. Ouch!
You do realize that Mahinmi is the player that the Spurs wanted in the draft, right?1. The Spurs did not think anyone available would help them right away.
2. No one wanted to help the Spurs with any kind of trade up or trade down, having been burned before (Claxton, Nazr).
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20659
You want me to believe the Express-News is a reliable source about the Spurs NBA draft moves?
Sounds like 1st place we need to take him is the all you can eat buffets..
"all you can eat buffets"
WTF is it with you people wanting players to put on fat? Amazing. Let's put 40 lbs on Manu or Andrei Kirilenko or Tay or Rip or Tim or Robert and let's see how much slower they are, how many more problems they have, a la Shaq, with ankles and knees and feet.
The only weight he should thinking about is productive, upper-body muscle, not dead-weight fat.
Seeing as how they have quotes from RC, I'd say so.
when we talk about puttign weighjt on Manu it's because he has lost weight since the begining of the season. His listed weight is NOT his current weight.
this has been explained , let it be.
Even Manu said in one of the Argentinean papers in the last couple days that the Spurs want him to gain weight this summer (because he has lost weight) so he'll be on a diet regimen. So I don't know why Boutons translates that into meaning that fans want Manu to gain 40 pounds of fat.
I live upstate.
Montgomery,NY.
Report was that up until recently the kid was thinking of pulling out of the draft. You can bet that the reason he stayed in was because the Spurs guaranteed him they would pick him at 28 otherwise he would have withdrawn. You can bet since the Spurs guaranteed him they would pick him they had him rated higher than a lot of players taken ahead of him that might have potentially fallen to the 28th spot. We might be surprised at how high they rated him. Maybe they'll say someday.
People (reporters, scouts) knew that the Spurs were interested in a French player, probably from Presti, Buford, et als. scouting pattern. Some knew or suspected toward the end it was this kid probably because he was French, 18 and didn't pull his name from the draft. The biggest risk likley was some parasite like Thorn grabbing him before the Spurs pick.
I read on a board somewhere that Utah was also interested in Mahinmi. No credibility to that however.
Fortunately for the Spurs they were able to do some name dropping and dangling to get some people grabbed ahead of their pick. Also, there were several French players available which could only help their chances of nabbing him.
Let me be the first to say . . . Ian Mini-me?
Birthdate November 5, 1986
Position PF/C
Height 6-10
Weight 220
Team STP Le Havre
Hometown Rouen, Francis
Last Updated 6/26/05
Strengths: Young, athletic big man who could be a real sleeper in this year's draft. Mahinmi, not Johan Petro, is the most athletic French big man in the draft. At the moment, he looks very uncoordinated and awkward running the floor, but make no mistake, he is very athletic. He runs the floor like a gazelle. Very long and has great leaping ability for his size. His long arms and quick leaping ability make him an excellent shot-blocker. He has the physical ability to block shots and snatch rebounds like few others are capable of. He also has solid lateral quickness and very quick hands for a big man. Uses his quick hands and long arms to tip away entry passes to the post.
On the offensive end, he is a very high-percentage scorer in the paint. Does a great job establishing position deep in the post. Has above-average footwork and is developing some nice post moves. When he gets the ball deep in the paint, he has the explosiveness to finish with authority. He is only 18 years old, and with his raw athleticism and shot-blocking potential, he could turn out to be a productive NBA player in the future.
Weaknesses: Very raw offensive skills. He has solid footwork so he does have the foundation to develop a good post game, but it is not there yet. Needs to refine his moves in the post. His shooting touch could use improvement and so could his range. Does not yet have the ability to score outside of the paint. He needs to develop a consistent jump shot from more than five feet away, which he currently does not possess. Has very limited shooting range, ball handling, and passing skills.
Mahinmi needs to get stronger in order to hold his position better in the paint. He can get pushed out of position rather easily. Grabs a lot of rebounds because of his athletic ability, but he needs to work on positioning himself and boxing out for the rebound. Still learning the fundamentals of the game. Could really use a few more years in Europe to develop better basketball skills to go along with his outstanding length and athleticism.
None of the players you just mentioned will ever have a prayer of defending Amare - it's not even a possibility. Ian, on the other hand, has the potential to be the long four with defensive instincts that could help contain Stoudamire. Unless you think an opponent dropping 37 ppg in the playoffs on the Spurs is a good thing, this pick makes a lot of sense given the relative rarity of long, athletic fours that are defensively inclined.What gets me is that there were better bigs and tweeners with more potential still available last year like Anderson Varejao, and in the 2003 draft with Zaza Pachulia, Kyle Krover and even Luke Walton. At the very least if the Spurs wanted to wait for a big to develop they should have grabbed Sofokalis Schortsanitis, or baby-Shaq, last year.
I guess you could believe RC.
"He was our target," Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said of Mahinmi in a telephone interview Wednesday. "Where we draft, we don't get a chance to see many 6-10 plus athletes with that type of athleticism. You just don't see that at the end of the first round, so consequently, having an opportunity to get that type of player was a priority."
I hope he's the guy in Red that's headed up to the ceilingo guys... i am a new member
i found this pic of our new SPUR... so i decided to share it w/ you guys, hope it's not been posted before
Just remember this dude was a volleyball player previous to being a basketball player. My point in volleyball you have to jump pretty nicely to e the ball over the net, that clip that somebody posted early was awesome it shows his aggressiveness towards the rim. His athletcism will be welcomed here in the great city of San Antonio.
That guy sucks. I can't even pronounce his name. Phucking Phrenchy.
Does he get any compensation from Spurs while he works in Europe? I wonder.
did he suck your daughter or something?
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