How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mahinmi?
by Andrew A. McNeil
As a bench player in basketball, you’re told the best way to earn playing time is to play hard in practice and make the most of the minutes you’re given during the game. If this is the mantra that Coach Popovich subscribes to, on Sunday night Ian Mahinmi earned himself some more minutes, somewhere down the road.
As Tim discussed in his recap of the Spurs win over the New Jersey Nets, Mahinmi, in his first game action in two years, scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 21 minutes of play. He also chipped in a block and an assist. He was the talk of the game, and for good season.
He showed some small flashes of a talented big man throughout the game. Most people will point out the series where he blocked a shot from Courtney Lee on the defensive end and finished the break on the other end with a dunk, but my eyes went to a couple other plays. Both came in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs had built a double-digit lead.
On one, the Nets went to a zone defense and the Spurs rotated the ball around trying to find a soft spot. Mahinmi was able to flash into the middle of the lane and seal off the weak-side guard. He received the entry pass deep in the lane and with that position, it is nearly impossible to stop a big man as athletic as Ian and he finished with a dunk. That knowledge of where to be in spacing is something that a lot of young bigs struggle with, especially when a team switches to a zone defense.
The second play that caught my eye was also in the fourth quarter, when Mahinmi was able to get some space along the baseline after a teammate drove to the basket. He received a kick-out about 12 feet from the basket and drained the jumpshot. It was an extremely slow release, but he showed good form on his shot nonetheless. The jumper from the short corner put a nice cap on Mahinmi’s 6-for-6 night from the field and 3-for-4 from the free throw line.
It wasn’t a perfect night, though. Mahinmi showed nothing resembling a back-to-the-basket game and defensively, he looked a half-step slow in the first half, but that’s something you can expect from a young player who hasn’t logged NBA minutes in two years. That split-second delay in timing led to a several baskets in the lane for the Nets and a couple of foul calls, that a player like Tim Duncan or Antonio McDyess would not pick up.
Though other fouls he committed seemed like the referees were just picking on him, including an illegal screen he was called for in the final period. Mahinmi received his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, but to his credit, he avoided picking up a sixth foul and played the entire fourth quarter.
Mahinmi’s timing improved as the game wore on, and he did a solid job guarding Brook Lopez, one of the Eastern Conference’s better big men. He battled with Lopez in the post and did well to deny Lopez entry passes throughout, though he picked up a couple fouls for his aggressiveness.
One thing I noticed when watching Mahinmi on defense, is that he doesn’t show on pick-and-rolls. When his man sets a screen on the Spur guarding the ball, instead of helping to slow down the player with the ball and allow his teammate to get back in the play, he hangs back and let’s the ball handler come off of the screen free. I don’t know if that’s by design or defensive mistake that he is repeatedly making, but it’s different than how other Spur bigs defend the play. The same quarter McDyess was showing on screens, so it’s something to keep an eye on when Mahinmi plays again.
Speaking of Mahinmi playing, when is that supposed to happen again?
Honestly, it’s hard to say. No one was expecting Mahinmi to be active on Sunday night, and the Spurs were playing the Nets, owners of the NBA’s worst record. Tonight, they play the Los Angeles Lakers, the team boasting the NBA’s best record. Coach Popovich very well could’ve activated and played Mahinmi against the Nets to give some relief to his normal frontcourt rotation; Tim Duncan didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter against the Nets.
Going along with that line of thinking, it’s hard to predict when or if Mahinmi were to play again. The Spurs don’t have a two consecutive games with such a drastic shift in record the rest of the season, obviously. What may be the more likely scenario is playing Mahinmi on the first or second night of a back-to-back, against a weaker team. San Antonio plays the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday and the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, so there’s a possibility we could see more Mahinmi this weekend.
But what are the Spurs doing with Mahinmi? Are they bringing him along slowly, playing him against weaker teams in order to develop him and build his confidence? With the Spurs passing on picking up Mahinmi’s option year back in October, I think that ship has sailed. I’d speculate that the Spurs don’t think Mahinmi is their type of player and they are playing him now to showcase him as trade bait.
The NBA’s trade deadline is less than five weeks away and if the Spurs hope to get anything in return for Mahinmi, instead of simply letting him walk this summer, they’ve got to prove to other teams that he’s worth taking a risk and trading for. That gives the Spurs a only handful of games left before the deadline to show him off. And if he plays in those games like he did on Sunday night, the Spurs might just get some value in return.
This one goes out to the ElNono's of the world.
I don't want him traded with that talent only to see him come back and haunt us and we talk about how dumb of a trade it wasIf we can get him in a package deal to get a wing or a big (Defensive wing stopper) then it might pay off this year. I just hate to see that type of talent go, a big man next to Tim has been null and void since D Rob retired, one here and there for a stretch but never mainstay.
I'd be willing to bet that the other 31 teams in the NBA could find use for a player like Ian. However it's Pop's, stubborn, stupid rigidity that is what's holding this kid back. There's no doubt he can play in this league. I only hope that somehow he sticks here.
If Pop is truly still "throwing up in his mouth" whenever he sees Scola in a Rocket uniform, I wonder what he'll do when or if Ian comes back to haunt him in the uniform of another team - provided he's dumb enough to let him walk. I'm throwing up in my brain just thinking about this travesty.
If Elson was worthy of court time...
Yeah, some of that had to do with the personnel on hand at the time, but I fail to see how Mahinmi couldn't fit.
And you "solve a problem like Mahinmi" by playing him.
Imagine that.Mahinmi’s timing improved as the game wore on
The Spurs will have effed up with yet another young bigman prospect.
<insert glowing puff piece about the Spurs' braintrust here>
MB, you brought up a good point yesterday in that if the Spurs ARE indeed willing to ship out a promising big man, what do they want in return? Another promising bigman?
Sounds like a question better left to a pack of Austrian nuns.
Its sad because players of lesser ability get more minutes and develop to regular contibuters for there respective teams while we watch our young big rot away due to pops stubborness. There's no excuse.Experience is the best teacher. I bet ian would be doing wonders for us if he got the chance some other bigs have gotten in this league. Let him make a few mistakes and see if he finds his way. At this point it won't hurt to see what he's got. I sense we will let him go and he will really get a shot with another team and play his best against us. Not saying ian is one but the FO have really developed a list of misses with talent.
Although the game was against the Nets. He was playing Lopez who like Ian, is a young center. Ian certainly did not have the size to defend him, but he did the best he could and it was more effective then either Blair or Dice would have done. I would like to see a little more playing time for Ian at Dice's expense right now. Give Dice some minutes, but lets see if Ian can bring what we really needed this off season, Youth.
With Blair, you have the inside power player. Mahinmi gives you the open court shotblocking big to complement him off the bench. I have no doubt that if Mahinmi had any kind of 3 point stroke he'd be playing from day one. So instead we end up with Bonner after the Haislip experiment failed. Awesome.
lol
you just know that when Mahinmi is making money somewhere else, playing and contributing the media will ignore the burying of Ian by Pop and company and play it like . . .
just like how Stephen Jackson needed to learn what it meant to be in the NBA in streetclothes when Steve Smith was choking and Terry Porter was falling on his ass."What Ian needed was to learn to be part of the NBA life. We needed to see how he would react when he was in a sportcoat for 18 months. It was only through those trials that he learned how to play. I'm very proud that he's now able to take what he's learned here and use it where he is now" said Coach Gregg Popovich"
If the Spurs didn't run on breaks as often as they do might I buy that Mahinmi couldn't fit. Or place such an emphasis on transition D.
Even more curious that Mahinmi appears to be headed out, considering that he would be a prime example of the value of the investment in the Toros.
I know how to solve the problem of Mahimi.
PLAY THE GUY DAMNIT! Find out for sure if he is a bust or not.
Nice read !
I suspect that other GMs will shy away from taking him in a trade, figuring they can sign him at the end of the year. Unless they have a trade they have to make to get rid of someone on their team.
Just wish we'd seen more of him. Hard to make a good estimate of his ability without compe ion on the floor.
"The same quarter McDyess was showing on screens, so it’s something to keep an eye on when Mahinmi plays again."
Dice shows on the pick but is too slow to stop the penetration and does not have the length to alter the shot. When Ian stayed back the NJ guards still tried to penetrate and Ian altered several shots that did not go in the basket. There is no stat for altered shots and if that was bad defense by Ian then a little bad defense by Ian where the opposing team doesn't score is better than good defense by Dice with the other team scoring.
It was definitely strategic IMO..he was doing it all game..there were plenty of dead-ball situations where Pop would have told Ian to adjust, but he clearly didn't since he continued to do it..
It was probably partly due to Ian's ability to recover AND that Dooling is a poor mid-range shooter anyways, so backing off would be the better strategy..at least IMO..
IMO, if Mahinmi was "ready" to play sooner he would have been playing. The problem isn't in what to do with him. The problem is what can the Spurs get out of him either by remaining on the roster or in trade value.
He's been a project ever since being drafted. Many in his position and talent level have not had such luck in remaining on a roster. It's almost as if he's been that proverbial pet that one doesn't want to let go hoping they will some day become the vision they had when first getting them regardless of their pedigree.
It would be nice if he becomes something on this team that movies are made of. And then again...he just might not be what was hoped for from the beginning. Either way the team hasn't spent that much money keeping Mahinmi around so it's been worth the investment regardless of how the story ends.
The only way for this guy to contribute is to let him play. The guy has freakish gifts that need to be used. If other players with less talent have more playing time, this guy should play as well. Sad to say but he's going to be the French version of Scola once he's in another uniform
...and if that happens Pop will be outed as a damn fool - for the 2nd time in 3 years.
Well, you can start by not picking up the option on his contract. Solves the dilemma of whether or not to play him next year.......
Just when everybody had all but forgotten about him, Ian comes up with a great performance to tease Spurs fans. Maybe the planets were in alignment or he had something different for breakfast but he deserves another chance to strut his stuff and I'm hoping he plays against the Thunder.
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