San Antonio Spurs

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Bid adios to Oberto
By Jeff McDonald

When Fabricio Oberto was included in the deal that brought Richard Jefferson to San Antonio on June 23, there seemed a possibility the affable Argentine might return to the Spurs at a cut rate after being waived by his new team, the Detroit Pistons.

After all, the Jefferson deal had left the Spurs woefully thin in the frontcourt.

Three weeks later, it appears Oberto will be spending next season at the end of some other team's bench. He is not coming back to the Spurs.

The Washington Wizards are one of about half a dozen teams that have reached out to Oberto, who won championship rings with the Spurs in 2005 and 2007. Oberto's agent, Herb Rudoy, told the Washington Post that his client plans to play in the NBA next season and will take time to mull his options.

At first, it seemed logical that Oberto's next NBA team would actually be his old NBA team. After the Jefferson trade, the Spurs were searching for cheap frontcourt options to help round out the roster. Who better than a team-first, no-complaints guy like Oberto, who also happened to be quite familiar with the Spurs' system?

Now, Oberto finds his return path to San Antonio blocked by 6-foot-7, 265 pounds of DeJuan Blair. When Blair, an All-American rebounder from Pittsburgh, fell to the Spurs in the second round of the NBA draft, it drastically reduced their need for a player like Oberto.

In the days since the draft, the Spurs added a sixth big man to their stable, signing overseas sensation Marcus Haislip to a two-year deal. If the Spurs are to add a seventh big, it would probably be James Gist, the 6-foot-8 forward who is playing with the summer league team.

Oberto will almost certainly latch on with some team this summer. The next time he sees the AT&T Center, however, it will be from the visitor's locker room.

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SA - DEN Summerleague game ongoing.

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We won 78-76.

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This just made my day: Lamar Odom: Contract Talks Break Down - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

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Summer League Recap 2: Averting the Blair Freakout
By Jeff McDonald

A game after rookie DeJuan Blair showcased his rebounding freakishness in his summer-league debut, the Spurs opted to sit him in Tuesday's 78-76 victory over Denver. The official rationale: The Spurs already know what Blair can do. They wanted to see more from other bigs, like Ian Mahinmi and James Gist.

The Spurs also wanted to see how Blair's knees — which are famously without ACLs — responded to his first summer league game before playing him in his second. Blair logged a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double in Sunday's win over New Orleans.

"We were going to sit him tonight anyway, so we figured why push it?" Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said. "We wanted to rotate some guys."

Buford said he did not know if Blair would play Thursday against Oklahoma City.

Rumors abound that Blair, a second-round pick out of Pittsburgh, was held for contractual reasons. As in, he doesn't have one, and doesn't want to risk injury until he does.

Unlike with first-round picks, Blair's contractual terms are not locked in by the league's collective bargaining agreement. As such, he is allowed to negotiate any asking price he wants.

Blair, for his part, says he doesn't expect his contract to be an issue going forward.

"I'm going to be a Spur," Blair said. "They picked me. I'm just negotiating my contract right now. I plan on being a Spur for a long time."

Other thoughts from Game 2 ...

• A big-time bounce-back from Ian Mahinmi. After a rather rough summer-league debut against New Orleans, Mahinmi logged 12 points and 16 rebounds against Denver, and was active on both ends of the court. Now, about those 10 (10!) fouls...

• A second solid outing from both George Hill and Malik Hairston. Hairston led the team with 17 points, and continued to flash the improved, all-around offensive game that gives him a chance to make the Spurs' regular roster. Hill, meanwhile, finished with 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting. More impressive for Hill, for the second-straight game, he had the ball in his hands down the stretch of a close game and handled the pressure well.

• Ty Lawson, Denver's speedy rookie, finished 0-for-7 from the field. Credit for that also goes to Hill, who was most often assigned to guard him.

• A second-straight unimpressive outing from Jack McClinton, the Spurs' other second-round pick. He was 0-for-2 again, still looking for his first summer-league field goal. McClinton was limited to just 10 minutes of action Tuesday, as the Spurs flanked Hill and Hairston with Romel Beck down the stretch.

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Ian Mahinmi’s Movement

Jump to Comments I just re-watched Sunday’s game, and my thoughts on the game run along the same line as Graydon’s, with one exception. Unlike Graydon, whose assessment found Ian Mahinmi lacking, I thought the Spurs’ big man played well. But of course the difference in our opinion owes everything to context–Graydon was evaluating Ian Mahinmi in the context of the game (his piece was a game recap, after all), but I watched the game in context of the previous two seasons. So don’t see this as a competing opinion so much as an alternate perspective.

Wayne Vore caught up with Ian Mahinmi after the game, and he confirmed what many of us assumed true: Sunday’s game was Mahinmi’s first competitive scrimmage in a year.

I have watched Mahinmi play on at least a dozen occasions. Probably more. With that exposure as a backdrop, I can say that Mahinmi looked rusty on Sunday. He was a shadow of his pre-injury self, but–and this is the important part–didn’t seemed hobbled. He moved well.

In the past, Mahinmi has seemed lackadaisical showing up top or, say, sealing the baseline with a crisp rotation. He did those things fairly well on Sunday. He drew an important charge late in the game, and on another possession he altered a shot that led to a George Hill block. His value to the Spurs’ roster is not as a scorer–Duncan, McDyess, Blair, Bonner and, perhaps, Haislip can bring offense. The best thing Mahinmi could provide for San Antonio is a player who is able to compliment or spell Duncan for short stints. Functioning within the system is 75% of that struggle. I was encouraged by what I saw.

The best way to think of Ian Mahinmi as a Spur is Francisco Elson with more talent and a higher ceiling. But truth be told, he’s not far from Elson-like production right now.

And while it’s undeniable that Mahinmi was a little bit of a ghost on offense in his first game off the shelf, remember he’s shown a reliable offensive repertoire in the past. During his season with the Toros, Mahinmi dominated several games with a variety of post moves and good roll work off screens. As the summer grinds forward, I suspect we’ll see some of that from Mahinmi. On Sunday, the Spurs did not do a good job of getting him involved.

Let me put it this way: we won’t know if Mahinmi will crack the rotation until late in the preseason. It’s going to take all summer for him to kick off the rust. Don’t pass judgement too quickly. These things take time.

I’m already convinced that George Hill and DeJuan Blair will be part of the regular season rotation, and not without significant contribution. Much like Mahinmi, I watched Malik Hairston carefully when he was with the Toros. By the end of this game, it was obvious to me that he’s taken at least one significant step forward this offseason. He logged a lot of minutes at power forward in college and didn’t seem comfortable on the perimeter for the better part of last season. That’s changed. Unless he lays an egg over the balance of the summer, Hairston is a near lock to make the team, and he has an outside shot at the minutes available behind Richard Jefferson. With Hill, Blair and Hairston, the Spurs already have a good idea of what they have to work with. They need to dig a little deeper with Mahinmi.

Going forward, I’d like to see Coach Newman call Ian’s number early and often. This has the duel advantage of working George Hill through multiple ball screen scenarios each game. Both players need to find a steady rhythm of read, recognize, and react. Going through those motions will shake the injury rust loose.

In the meantime, it’s best to evaluate Mahinmi against the continuum that is the offseason. It’s a process. Right now, Mahinmi is merely a figure standing against a distant horizon. He’s out of focus. His task this summer is to gradually emerge in the foreground. Put simply, I’ll place far more stock in his last two summer league games than his initial two, and October is more important than July.

48 Minutes of Hell Blog Archive Ian Mahinmi’s Movement

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kuyawa aning spurs hilom hilom ra man

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tony p mayneeee idoooooollll

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This just made my day: Lamar Odom: Contract Talks Break Down - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

meaning... mahadlok diay gihapon ka sa lakers kung naa si odom... mao nang nalipay ka... hehehe! well we can always make an excuse kung mapildi mi sa inyong spurs... hehehe! "wala man gud si odom"

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meaning... mahadlok diay gihapon ka sa lakers kung naa si odom... mao nang nalipay ka... hehehe! well we can always make an excuse kung mapildi mi sa inyong spurs... hehehe! "wala man gud si odom"

Let's not kid ourselves. You guys are the champs. Plain and simple.

As for your excuse, not gonna work. It's like saying "injured man si Manu and Duncan was playing on one knee pag '08 and '09" or "if si Kwame Brown naa gihapon ninyo instead of Pau Gasol, you guys will still be 1st round playoff fodder".

Whatever your team does ain't my business. The LAKERS are still the LAKERS; with or without Odom.