Nice interview. I really hope he turns the corner this year and becomes a rotation big. We need the depth and his athleticism desperately.
Hmmmmm, I don't know.
Looks like the interviewer threw Mahinmi a softball and he gave a PC answer.
This suggestive question was teed up for Mahinmi to hit out the park:
Mahinmi gives the stock, "Oh, it was ," answer but then lets slip out:How did you live this last season without playing?
Maybe it's just me, but I remain unconvinced of his warrior spirit.but it happens to everyone
From what I know of Mahinmi, the idea that he was somewhat fine with his injury is plain ridiculous.
What do you know, pray tell?
Please confer your knowledge (as well as your opinion).
Mahinmi is the kind of guy that is extremely affected when he doesn't play or plays bad. He quickly loses his confidence and becomes depressive. He had two rough years (in 06-07 and 08-09) and you could feel how hard for him were these years in all the interview he gave. When he says "but it happens to everyone", it is something he says to himself to stay a little positive.
If you had to have some doubts about Mahinmi's character it should be more "he lacks of self confidence" than "he doesn't care about basketball".
I hope you're right. The Spurs put him in a bad position by over-drafting him and that's not his fault. Hopefully, he can prove me wrong (as so many before him have).
So if Ian played well in the pre-season games, I just hope he could start instead of Bonner. If Pop still bench him a lot then he would lose his confidence and really become another Elson.
Mahinmi a starter on an eventual championship contender? The guy who has played a total of 23 mins in the NBA and who is just coming from two major injuries?
Poor guy will get people jumping on his back because he's been so overrated it's ridiculous. At this moment, if we set the bar for his career being like Elson's, would you go for over or under? Elson's is just about the best case for this kid.
Hope he proves me wrong.
Whatever, anyone will be a better choice than Bonner. 23 mins means nothing. Duncan played 0 mins before he became a rookie. Timmy and Manu are getting older, Bowen,Finley and KT nearly retired, so I'm afraid if we insist on veterans or players like Bonner, we would soon be out of the championship contender like the Suns and the Pistons. He's only 22, and I believe he would be a good role player(though I often expect him to be the SAVIOR).
Duncan had played way more than 23 mins in the first 4 years since being drafted. It's no coincidence.Whatever, anyone will be a better choice than Bonner. 23 mins means nothing. Duncan played 0 mins before he became a rookie. Timmy and Manu are getting older, Bowen,Finley and KT nearly retired, so I'm afraid if we insist on veterans or players like Bonner, we would soon be out of the championship contender like the Suns and the Pistons. He's only 22, and I believe he would be a good role player(though I often expect him to be the SAVIOR
That's because he was our no.1 draft pick and he did not injure himself. Oden played 0 mins in his first year.
Elson is a very good comparison. that's the bad news. hey, can you imagine that once a team thought he could in fact be more than a 3rd striger on a NBA team? yes that's true. they thought he has starter potential. uh, unfortunately it's the same team, that once thought Ian will become a better player than David Lee. or that Matt Bonner will be better than Scola.
hmmm. someone could get the impression, that while this team is great in many things they do, their ability to scout and judge talent got lost at some point. (whatever happened between 2002 and 2003). that's a bit like Tim's FT shooting. ok, however, the difference is, while only a few people will claim that a missed FT by Tim was in fact in, because it's impossible that one of the all time best misses, there are still a lot of people claiming that the FO bricks were in fact nothing but net. oh well.
Last season was the first time Mahinmi had a shot at making the rotation and his injuries derailed that. Yet somehow that's taken as evidence that he is not a quality player.
And the Spurs never thought Bonner would be better than Scola. They thought it would be better to save $10 million by dealing Scola.
Duncan wasn't drafted when he was 18.
Exactly they were not crazy to think bonner>scola but for sure they underestimated the potential of the guy, when you see him playing great against the lakers with no help inside,$10 million is a quite good bargain
Hindsight is always 20/20....that is what the Scola heads can't seem to grasp.
Good posts Marcus Bryant. The bottom lines so far with Ian are:
1. The Spurs (and everyone else) still have no idea what kind of player he will be at the NBA level. Anyone who claims to know anything either way is going on a lot of speculation and guesswork.
2. Along similar lines, no one can say whether he's "injury prone" or not. He's had some bad luck that has cost him some significant time, but it's entirely possible that his string of bad luck is over and he'll stay healthy for 10 years straight. We're not talking about someone who has been hurt 5 times in 8 years (at least, not yet).
3. He's 22 years old (23 on November 5).
Last edited by lurker23; 05-16-2009 at 02:35 PM.
+1
WTF do you want him to be like behind the bench in a suit, Russ? You want KG-lite?
I just saw this in another thread (website originally posted by spursdotcom).
http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/090701_summerleague.html
Ian Mahinmi 6'11" 250 pounds! Looks like he did bulk up a bit. I can't wait to see him play!
I was banned from another site for venting my frustrations about the trade; I told a moderator he should let people vent and stop mocking them for it, and he banned me (no profanity or anything, just daring to argue with him). Please don't say nobody could have known Scola would be good, most people at the time thought he would be.
I think Ian came into the league with unrealistic expectations. Everyone from Spurs fans to commentators thought the FO had made another Parker/Ginobili late in draft order type pick. Its pretty obvious that wasnt the case. Lets just hope he turns into a serviceable big man that can give the Spurs some solid minutes every night. I think that would be more realistic.
The main problem for Mahinmi is that he's faced a logjam in the bigman rotation and when it finally opened up he was out for the season with an injury. No, I don't think he'll ever be a superstar but it's a bit unfair to start writing the epitaph on his career. He has his chance now to get all the minutes he could ever want, at the ancient age of 22.
Agreed. The only unrealistic expectation Ian came into the league with was a hope that he could step in and contribute sooner, as Timvp and I discussed the possibility of having him on the roster two years ago, which we both knew was a pipe-dream. Like you said, Ian's now about the same age as some of the current rookies in the NBA, so with a healthy camp he should be able to show what he can do. The Lakers loved Bynum when he never showed any signs of being great. , a year and a half after refusing to trade him with Kobe, he hasn't shown much more. Ian has at least that kind of potential.
Hopefully his luck will change for the better and make us all look like fools for underestimating him.
Indeed. So who're the four peeps in your avatar?
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