The Official Prospects Watch Thread

[yourtehclay]

I thought it might be useful to have a thread where updates on all our domestic and overseas prospects. I have trouble finding a lot of their stats myself.
Post updates on all of our prospects ; Robertas Javtokas, Ian Mahinmi, James White, Luis Scola, Vicktor Sanikidze, Sergei Karulov? Or any others I'm missing out on.

[Marcus Bryant]

Sanikidze.

[Leetonidas]

I doubt Sergei will ever play for us.

I wonder what Damir Markota is up to...

[yourtehclay]

Thanks Marcus, edited it.

Markota has basically been a scrub for Milwaukee this year.

[objective]

The Spurs drafted Karaulov on Presti's say so even though he had never seen him play. Not just in person, but never even seen tape on him or even knew what he looked like.

-----------

There's a thread in the NBA forum about the Euroleague and ULEB that has updates on Spurs draftees Mahinmi, Scola and Javtokas

[Mr. Body]

Karaulov was a big -up.

Funny, they could have had Jackie Butler with that pick, who went undrafted.

[ChumpDumper]

White is playing right now if you want to listen.

http://www.nba.com/dleague/games/200...livestats.html

[objective]

James White - 17 & 7 rebounds, 3 assists

[Mr. Body]

White with 17 and 7 boards so far. Doesn't list shooting stats.

[ChumpDumper]

It does but they can't keep their formatting straight.

[ChumpDumper]

They were down like 24 in the 2nd quarter.

[Mr. Body]

White airballs clutch three attempt.

[T Park]

The Spurs drafted Karaulov on Presti's say so even though he had never seen him play. Not just in person, but never even seen tape on him or even knew what he looked like.

Link?

[exstatic]

Link?

Dude, link your ing brain.

[T Park]

??

I simply haven't heard that, I was wondering where he had heard that.


No need to be hostile about it....

[exstatic]

??

I simply haven't heard that, I was wondering where he had heard that.


No need to be hostile about it....

You're like a ing parrot with your "link?" This isn't SpursReichPort. You do know how to use google, right? Here's a head start...


A Google search, cross referencing Presti and Karaulov

[Kori Ellis]

For anybody who has seen Javtokas this year, did his play go downhill or is it just cir stantial that he's not getting minutes?

[Bruno]

http://www.draftexpress.com/blogs.php?blogid=4

Robertas Javtokas was considered the best defensive big man in last year’s edition of the Euroleague. After impressive showings for Lietuvos Rytas, considered the Cinderella story of the compe ion, Robertas was very close to signing a contract with the team who owns his NBA draft rights—the San Antonio Spurs--but in the end he ended up with Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos Athens.

Even if Javtokas was regarded as a major boost to PAO’s le bid and one of the top free agent signings of the summer--given that he was the long and athletic big man they desperately lacked last season-- he has pretty much been in Coach Zeljko Obradovic’s doghouse all year despite being one of the most expensive players on the roster.

The probable reason for it—ignoring the whispers of not seeing eye to eye with the coaching staff-- is Javtokas’s inept offensive game. He has a very modest skill-set and is considered a liability on that end of the floor. Robertas has bad hands and struggles to convert anything outside of two feet from the basket. All of his points come from assisted dunks, offensive rebounds or in transition where his speed running the court helps him.

Maybe Obradovic will use him more later on in the season, when he will need more rebounding and shot-blocking the likes of the Luis Scola’s, Matjaz Smodis’ and David Andersen’s of the League.

Javtokas get more playtime in the greek league (around 15-20mpg agaisnt 7mpg in euroleague). It's a weaker compe ion and 50% of the games are blowout for his team. I guess that he gets more playtime in this compe ion because his coach wants to rest players who plays a lot in euroleague and because he uses this "weak" compe ion to work with Javtokas on his game.


Sanikidze seems to enter in estudiantes regular rotation. They have lost by 40 points sunday in the spanish league but Sanikidze has had a good game (8 points, 4 rebounds in 18 min). He seems to be now in the rotation (8 points, 3 rebounds in 21 min for yesterday's game) but I'm not sure for how long because a good player who plays at his spot just come back from an injury.

Nothign new for Spurs' other players : Mahinmi struggles with Pau but will get more playtime (if he plays better) because Pau will soon trade a PF, Scola is still one of the best player in europe and no news about Karaulov (I even don't know for what team he plays).

[TDMVPDPOY]

this bs is goin to backfire on us, draft all these clowns, get hype about it from the media, and we dont bring them in allowin them to erode in europe, ending up a busts, karma is a biatch.

[yourtehclay]

^^^
Thanks for the updates

[yavozerb]

PLAYER POS MIN FGM-A 3GM-A FTM-A OFF DEF TOT AST PF ST TO BS PTS
BJ Elder 41:39 10-22 0-1 6-7 2 2 4 3 1 1 1 0 26
Troy Bell 37:32 7-14 2-4 0-1 2 5 7 6 4 2 3 0 16
James White 34:34 6-16 0-1 5-5 2 5 7 3 1 0 5 0 17

[VaSpursFan]

damn...is javtokas the second coming of nazr with his hands of brick????

[MoSpur]

I'm liking James Whites stats so far.

[mountainballer]

here are two articles from DraftExpress, I just posted the parts about Scola and Javtokas, because the articles are long (but quite interesting for those who care)

http://draftexpress.com/blogs.php?mod=comment&p=704

Who`s Hot?

LUIS SCOLA 6-9 PF Tau Ceramica 1980
24.6mpg 15.8ppg 5.4rpg 2.1apg 60.0% FG 66.6% FT

You keep hearing Scola’s name related to the NBA year after year, but
he never makes it because of the mammoth buyout Tau Ceramica is asking.
Next year could be the year Luis Scola finally steps on the NBA court
after being the top player in international basketball for years—or at
least that’s how the mantra goes. San Antonio still has his rights,
although there have been rumours that they might trade them to another
team.

There is nothing new about him this season-- he is still the same
scoring machine who torches opponents in the post with his wide array
of skills. Scola’s presence is crucial as Tau makes another bid at the
Euroleague crown.

Standing 6-9, Scola is a solid athlete with good strength and
footspeed. He doesn’t have great size, nor is he particularly explosive
though. Scola is a very intelligent and skilled player with a wide
array of low post moves. He is also an above average shooter from
mid-range and a good passer.

A solid man-to-man defender, Luis is an average rebounder and below
average shot-blocker due to his lack of length and leaping ability.

no news. Scola remains to be probably the best PF in Europe. he delivers as usual, despite being not 100% healthy at the beginning of the season.
probably even a bit more effective, shooting over 60% FG. usually he looks as if he could switch even to a higher gear, when PO time comes. his rebounding numbers are a bit lower, but this is also be a result of Splitter getting more minutes.

overall it always gives me a pain when I see him play and think he could be a Spurs this season. (for 3 million a year). he wouldn't sove our problems regarding the lack of athleticismn and rebounding, but compared to what Horry and Bonner do, he IMO would be a huge upgrade as the first back-up PF.

http://www.draftexpress.com/blogs.php?mod=comment&p=722

WHO IS NOT?

ROBERTAS JAVTOKAS 6-11 C Panathinaikos 1980
7mpg 2.1ppg 1.1rpg 0.3bpg 5/17 FT

Robertas Javtokas was considered the best defensive big man in last
year’s edition of the Euroleague. After impressive showings for
Lietuvos Rytas, considered the Cinderella story of the compe ion,
Robertas was very close to signing a contract with the team who owns
his NBA draft rights—the San Antonio Spurs--but in the end he ended up
with Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos Athens.

Even if Javtokas was regarded as a major boost to PAO’s le bid and
one of the top free agent signings of the summer--given that he was the
long and athletic big man they desperately lacked last season-- he has
pretty much been in Coach Zeljko Obradovic’s doghouse all year despite
being one of the most expensive players on the roster.

The probable reason for it—ignoring the whispers of not seeing eye to
eye with the coaching staff-- is Javtokas’s inept offensive game. He
has a very modest skill-set and is considered a liability on that end
of the floor. Robertas has bad hands and struggles to convert anything
outside of two feet from the basket. All of his points come from
assisted dunks, offensive rebounds or in transition where his speed
running the court helps him.

Maybe Obradovic will use him more later on in the season, when he will
need more rebounding and shot-blocking the likes of the Luis Scola’s,
Matjaz Smodis’ and David Andersen’s of the League.

the article doesn't mention, that Panathinaikos goes without a real center most of the time.
the other center is Dejan Tomasevic, who used to be one of the best centers in Europe, and Tomasevic also averages only 11 MPG in Euroleague games.

from the few moments I can say, that Javtokas just isn't a part of this team. different to last season, he is just lost out there. it is sad, because last year it looked as if he has improved also on offense, showing some nice hook shots. this year he seems to have forgot how to do this.

overall it was a bad decision to sign with Panathinaikos. this has also destroyed any trade value his rights might have had in the summer.

[Mr. Body]

Scola is regularly listed as a Top 5 overseas talent.

Tau is probably ing our championship chances with their crazy buyout demands. That's their right, but it's still ing us.

No doubt the Spurs will identify the players they want to shoot for in the '07 Draft, try to use Scola to trade up about 10-15 spots to get him, fall short of trading, and punt their ing first round draft pick again.