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Now I know they're not drafting any of those guys.
Spurs set to dip into draft's buffet
Web Posted: 06/28/2005 12:00 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
San Antonio Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....14d93828.html
Still aglow from winning their third championship, but not too heady to forget how they won it, the Spurs will pause from celebrating tonight and join their peers at the NBA's annual crapshoot, previously known as the draft.
More smorgasbord than potluck for the Spurs in recent years, the draft produced the foundation for the franchise's most recent le. In 1997, the Spurs took Tim Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands with the first overall pick. Two years later, they found Argentina's Manu Ginobili at No. 57. Two years after that, they used the 28th selection on France's Tony Parker.
Once again armed with the 28th pick, the Spurs hope tonight to find another piece of their future, even if the search leads them to Estonia. Or France. Or Turkey. Or Syracuse, N.Y.
Spurs director of player personnel Sam Presti said tonight's draft is the most fluid of any in his five years with the team. Trying to predict who is going to be available at the bottom of the first round has been a tortuous, if not impossible, exercise.
"You're really going to have to adjust on the fly this year because there will be a lot of surprises," Presti said. "You have to prepare for anybody falling into your lap."
Having surrendered the first-round pick Phoenix owed them this season, as well as their own 2006 first-round selection, to New York as part of the trade for Nazr Mohammed, the Spurs are glad they retained the 28th pick in tonight's draft. The NBA's decision to raise the age for draft-eligible players to 19 figures to dilute next year's talent pool.
The Spurs don't own a second-round pick — they traded it to Atlanta last season in a pre-arranged deal for Georgian forward Viktor Sanikidze — but should still find more than a few undrafted players worthy of pursuing.
"There's going to be teams that feel very comfortable with who they take at the bottom of the first round," Presti said, "and even into the second round."
The Spurs have often been one of those teams in recent years. In addition to drafting Ginobili and Parker, they chose Argentine forward Luis Scola with the 56th pick in 2002. They hope to sign Scola, now one of the top players in Europe, this summer.
Last year, the Spurs used the 28th pick on Beno Udrih. While Udrih struggled in the NBA Finals, he performed well enough during the regular season to back up Parker.
More often than not, the Spurs have looked for help beyond U.S. borders. Of the 11 players they have selected for themselves in the previous six years, only two were born in the United States: Bryan Bracey (2001) and Chris Carrawell (2000), both second rounders. The scout who recommended Bracey no longer works for the Spurs. As for Carrawell, his agent, Lon Babby, also represents Duncan, who, coincidentally, debated that same summer whether to re-sign with the Spurs or leave for Orlando.
Presti and the rest of the Spurs' scouting staff — general manager R.C. Buford, director of scouting Lance Blanks and Danny Ferry, who resigned his director of basketball operations position Sunday to become Cleveland's general manager — visited eight countries this season. Contrary to popular belief, they also scouted their own.
The Spurs are deep enough, with the possible exception of point guard, to take their time developing a player. Whether through the draft or free agency, team officials would like to find an athletic forward Bruce Bowen can mentor. The Spurs have until Thursday to pick up the $700,000 option on Linton Johnson III's contract.
With Udrih still needing to earn the trust of the coaching staff, the Spurs could decide to draft another point guard. Trading Udrih or center Rasho Nesterovic also is an option.
Mickael Gelabale, a 6-foot-7 French forward who plays for Real Madrid in Spain, is among the international players the Spurs scouted this year. He is still raw but has shown promise of becoming a good defender.Turkey's Ersan Ilyasova, Providence's Ryan Gomes and North Carolina State's Julius Hodge, who is more of a point-forward, are among the other forwards who could be available at No. 28.
Louisville's Francisco Garcia and Arizona's Salim Stoudamire, whose lack of size could drop him into the second round, are among the better shooters in the draft.
Now I know they're not drafting any of those guys.
Well, go ahead and scratch Ilyasova, Stoudemire, Gomes, Gelabale, and Hodge off the list.
trade down for 2nd round pick, take nate robinson.
Gelebale and Gomes would work. Ilyasova is a cypher.
Seeings this is apparently the first time some of you have tried to pay attention to the Spurs and the draft...
There's a reason they call him CIA Pop. Those names were dropped for a reason. My bet would be that we have someone we like, but the Spurs are worried about said person still being around for our pick.
But the five guys mentioned may all fit the need of the one or two teams ahead of us who we think might pick the guy we really want, so by floating their names out their Pop and RC are hoping that these guys get picked up and our boy falls to our pick.
This is correct 99% of the time.
The other time was when the Spurs said they wanted Nenad Krstic and turned out to actually want him. So sometimes Pop tries to keep people honest by telling the truth every now and then.
But the percentages say that AHF is right.
good post
who do you like?
Damn why the can't I spell?
Gotta love that reverse psychology. You watch, Pop will trade down for some low second rounders and we'll see the first Saudi Arabian and Vietnamese draft picks in NBA history.
I like Korolev and Ilyasova, but I doubt either will be available when we pick.who do you like?
I think we either trade significantly up with a deal that involves Rasho, or we trade down.
I actually wouldn't be surprised if we traded with either Golden State or Orlando - both have two draft picks in the second round, I could see us sending ours out for both of theirs.
You really cannot guess the Spurs pick(s). Even Scola a few years ago was a guess at the end of the 1st round by some in here and they were wrong...but he ended up falling to them in the 2nd because of his buyout.
I like the idea of the Spurs trading up. If they trade the rights to Scola...for a top 10 pick, would you be sad? Would the Spurs be crazy? It depends.
The Spurs have more tradeable assets this year, than they have over the past 5-6 years at least. Who wants to risk trading with the NBA Champions though..a team known for being crafty and insightful? That's the only reason I see them trading down for 1 or 2 picks. Not finding a suitable dancing partner or a willing one.
Boston's got #50 and #53, and they could definitely benefit from more than that #18 in the first round.
i could see us trading down for 2 2nd picks, but like AHF said, there could be a chance of a trade up, not likely, but when you look at rasho or scola as trade bait some teams might like that.
The Spurs would be crazy to trade Scola. He's a great talent, even if for chemistry reasons alone you don't trade him.
In a normal draft, I could see Pop throwing all those names out as a smokescreen. But this is such an abnormally deep draft, it's almost guaranteed the Spurs will have a pick of almost every single one of those players. Maybe Hodge goes earlier, that sort of thing, maybe not. But I doubt it's because he's trying to get some other team to bite.
i like this idea, no guaranteed money.
Nate Robinson would be like a minor disaster in the Spurs' defensive system.
Erazem Lorbek - great 2nd round pick with potential 1st round talent.
In 2001 the Spurs selected Tony Parker from France at the 28th pick.
I wonder how Ferry now being a Cavs GM affects the Spurs draft. After all he had insight on how we drafted & the players we've been looking @ this & last yr leading up to the Draft. Makes me a little nervous he'll pluck the player we really want.
Yeah... after Jersey came in and stole Kristic I don't think the Spurs will ever drop hints about who they're interested in.Well, go ahead and scratch Ilyasova, Stoudemire, Gomes, Gelabale, and Hodge off the list.
The Cavs don't have a draft pick (unless they trade for one).
I wouldn't be against the Spurs trade the 1st Round pick for a couple of 2nd Round picks, I like having the overseas pool of players.
Mickael Gelabale was mentioned. I have read a lot of reports and seen some good video of this guys leaping ability and he just makes plays.
Would that explain your "confessions of a Pop hater"??? ha ha haDamn why the can't I spell?
It's gonna be interesting what the Spurs do here, picking someone in the first round means guaranteed money but I think they'll trade the pick for a 2nd round pick.
Just guessing here.
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