PHAT TONY,
I'm really high on Marc Gasol. I'd rather take Fernandez, Belinelli, Splitter, and Koponen before him however. But if all those guys are off the board at 28 then I might consider drafting my backup PG there and tryingn to swipe Gasol at 33. Hes a kid that could have a fair amount of talent and is a better shot than most any other foreigner there.
That would break my heart. And unless all those guys flopped and Stanko became a first ballot hall of famer I really doubt that I'd ever recover.I guess all we can do is trust the Spurs judgment regarding James White when they skip over Fernandez, Almond and Byars to pick Stanko
hopefully they draft a euro balla, i know timvp was disappointed markota got traded.
Not sure I follow....
If the Spurs are intent on developing James White, they will likely not look for an immediate contributor such as a Morris Almond/Derrick Byars/Aaron Afflalo/Jared Dudley, and instead will opt for an international guard (such as Fernandez/Belinelli) that they will be able to keep overseas for a year while they figure out a) what they have with White and b) how they're going to handle the departure of their G/Fs (Barry, Bowen, Finley).
I think if the Spurs DO go for a domestic G/F at #28, I think it means they lack confidence in White and it will be an uphill battle for him to keep a roster spot.
I guess what threw me off was the inclusion of Fernandez into your list of people that Spurs would pass over. To me, drafting Fernandez or Belinelli has no immediate impact on White because he would still likely keep his roster spot, get some minutes, and prove whether or not he was in the long-term plans for the Spurs.The only way I see the Spurs drafting one of those three or Splitter is if James White is regarded as a much better prospect than we all think. Assuming the Spurs will draft a point guard (Pruitt, Dowdell, Green, Sessions, etc.) and James White is going to get the bulk of the "new" minutes due to the aging of the swingmen, the only other place to draft is power forward/center.
And while it does seem like the Spurs are pretty stacked in those position, they have a lot of aging parts. Oberto, Elson and Horry probably aren't long-term solutions given their age. Out of Mahinmi and Butler, probably only one will become a rotational NBA player for the Spurs. Bonner is in the mix, but there might still be room for one more big to draft 'n stash overseas.
I guess all we can do is trust the Spurs judgment regarding James White when they skip over Fernandez, Almond and Byars to pick Stanko
I also understand why the Spurs might go international F/C with the pick other than the PG....especially if that PG is domestic (Pruitt/Dowdell)
Question: If the Spurs grab Koponen at #28, where do they go with #33? Do they go domestic G/F or do they go international again?
#28 International PG/SG
#33 Domestic SF/PF
# 58 International C/PG
I agree but i'm not sure that drafting a domestic G/F means that they haven't a lot of confidence in JW
they could have both of them in the roster ,gino-finley- barry and bowen are old so they could prepare the next season
I just don't think it's that simple...
If Pruitt is there at #28 and Fernandez/Belinelli are gone, I think the Spurs would look at him. If they take him, then that would shift #33 to a likely foreign player, such as Fesenko or Barac or Gasol.
Also, drafting a G/F either at #28 (Almond/Byars) or #33 (Afflalo/Dudley) has ramifications for James White, who I'm not sure that they've seen enough of to make a determination of whether he should stay. After all, keeping White AND whatever domestic G/F they take while having Manu, Finley, Barry, and Bowen still on the roster doesn't make much sense.
If the Spurs draft a domestic SF/SG....White should not panic.
White as far as I am concerned is far more polished and ready to play in the Spurs system then anyone they can draft right now.
White has proven himself to Coach Pop and the Spurs organization, and I fully expect him to be at camp and make the opening day roster. Plus, maybe get about 10-15 minutes max this year.
There are only 15 roster spots, and to spend a precious 2 of them with players that play the same position isn't so likely. I see what you mean by stating that Bowen, Finley, and Barry are all much older and more importantly are in the last year of their contracts...but I'm just not sure that both White and whatever domestic G/F is picked are carried on the roster next season.
If they do draft a guy, maybe they know that Finley will opt out, or maybe they plan to deal Barry...but again it seems unlikely that they would carry Manu, Finley, Barry, Bowen, White, AND "domestic G/F" at the same time...
I guess I'm overstating it....they probably could carry all 6, I just know that they didn't last year.
But if I were White and the Spurs drafted Morris Almond with the #28 pick, giving him guaranteed money....I'd be nervous
exactly what i think if a player they are very high on, fall to the no.28 pick they will take it IMO and adjust the roster after but we'll see i can be wrong but trading barry or seeing finley opting out can allow another roster sport at the wing
but like you said they could have 6 wing players in the roster , one will not play and the other a little bit
Here's the other thing though....
It certainly looks as if the Spurs are intent on grabbing a domestic PG, be it Pruitt or Dowdell, with one of these picks. Would the Spurs really draft TWO domestic players and give one of those guys a guaranteed multi-year deal?
BTW, I do know that looks can be deceiving, especially when it comes to the Spurs draft (
That's the question , with the workouts i saw that they are high on a guy like dowdell , they will workout a lot of others domestic pg's like sessions , pruitt ... IMO they will take a domestic PG with the no.33 pick
they could pick another domestic player with the first pick but the spurs always surprise me during drafts maybe it will depends on the workout they have with guys like almond, afflalo.... or with who is still available with their pick (Bellinelli ?? Byars ...)
Also they can take a big , it depends on mahinmi , scola , oberto situations this summer.....
Yeah, the Spurs could go with Belinelli or Fernandez at 28 instead of the big. However, it just doesn't seem like the Spurs are aiming to do that. Their workouts seem to be players who could slip to 33 instead of players who are going to be at 28. Almond is probably the highest rated player they've worked out that we know ... but even he could possibly drop to the second round a la Michael Redd.
If the Spurs were working out Byars and Cook who could somehow fall to 28 but won't fall to 33, that'd be a different story.
Maybe I'm reading into it too much, but to me it seems like the Spurs know what they are doing with 28. Whether it's a promise or a trade, I'm not sure.
If it's a promise, I don't think it can be Fernandez (he'll probably be gone) or Belinelli (he wouldn't be working out if he had a Spurs promise). If it's a promise, it's probably someone like Stanko, Fesenko or Gasol.
That's a good question. I guess it depends on their view of James White. If they see White as a borderline prospect, they might draft a wing to give him compe ion. If they see him as having a good future, they might go international again.
But I don't think Koponen is their guy at 28. He's working out for teams that pick before and after the Spurs, so I highly doubt there's a promise.
For those who hope the Spurs don't have a promise at 28, remember what happened the last time the Spurs didn't have a promise?
They picked Chris Carrawell over Michael Redd. And they did so even though they didn't even bring Carrawell in for a workout.
Yeah it's somewhat frustrating that the Spurs always seem to reach (sometimes BIG <<cough Mahinmi cough>>) for players that they're almost positive will be there when they pick rather than banking on hypotheticals for players that were slated to go higher but fell for one reason or another.
Basically it seems like they're one of those teams that contributes to a player's freefall because they didn't expect him to be there, hadn't done their homework on the player, and had sort of told someone else that they would look hard at them if they were at that spot.
So, as much as it frustrates me, I could totally see the Spurs go with Dowdell/Pruitt and Fesenko/Stanko even if Fernandez/Belinelli/Byars/Almond fell to them...
Side Note: I hope it's not Koponen with either pick, and rather Pruitt or Dowdell. I want to see a player come in and challenge Vaughn (or FA PG) for minutes behind Tony and I don't see Koponen as ready for that, or to be on an NBA roster for that matter, as of yet.
What do you make of the supposed Pruitt promise? I understand that he's continuing to work out for teams, but do you think it could've been more like this...For those who hope the Spurs don't have a promise at 28, remember what happened the last time the Spurs didn't have a promise?
They picked Chris Carrawell over Michael Redd. And they did so even though they didn't even bring Carrawell in for a workout.
"We're still in the process of working players out and are still keeping our options open, but if you're there at #28 we'll strongly consider you"
Whaddya think? It's not exactly a promise...but it's better than Chris Carrawell.
It could be something like that. Although a weak promise like that would probably do more harm than good. In such a scenario, Pruitt's agent can go around telling teams that the Spurs will pick Pruitt at 28 unless they trade up and get him.
The only way a promise really makes sense is if the Spurs agree not to pick anyone else and the player agrees to disappear until after the draft.
They might have told Pruitt that they liked him but will look at players like Dowdell, Sessions and Green.
6 more days and all of our questions will be answered.
I just want to go to sleep and wake up on Thursday.
Agreed. The only time I enjoy more than mid June in odd numbered years is in late June when we get to oggle all of the potential "future Spurs superstars". But as much as I enjoy it, the suspense is too much and I just want to know the answer now!
Can't wait...
And as I told my wife at dinner tonight...while I rambled on and she lovingly listened so intently despite being mostly disinterested
I say "almost" because I'm praying that the Spurs don't trade away either pick, because that would piss me off....something is better than nothing.
More Hoopsanalyst evaluations - PF's this time:
http://www.hoopsanalyst.com/0607ew11.htm
In particular, Fazekas sticks out; according to most mocks he will be in the vicinity or later than #28, and maybe later than #33 ...
Also, a couple of quick questions about draft pick valuation:
A) Would you trade Scola's rights For a 1st round pick, to a team that might be in win now mode? to the Pistons for #27? To the Rockets (#26)? The Lakers (#19)? The Nets (#17)
B) Would you trade down from #33 to move Beno? Consider something like
SA trades Beno, #33
LAC trades Singleton, Conroy, #44
With an understanding that Conroy will be released from his non-guaranteed contract to resign with the clippers (I believe that they were happy with him last year...It's why his contract includes this year; when they had to lock their roster last year, they offered him more than just the remainder of that year)
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