San Antonio Spurs

[tackielarla]

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Heard from ESPN radio: Blair has a contract.

Links to follow.

[tackielarla]

Our roster so far (guys with contracts):

Tony Parker - PG
George Hill - PG/SG
Roger Mason Jr - PG/SG
Malik Hairston - SG
Marcus Williams - PG/SG/SF
Manu Ginobili - PG/SG/SF
Richard Jefferson - SG/SF
Michael Finley - SF
Tim Duncan - PF/C
DeJuan Blair - PF
Marcus Haislip - PF
Antonio McDyess - PF/C
Matt Bonner - PF/C
Ian Mahinmi - C

The last spot could go to either Gist or McClinton.

[tackielarla]

During the second game of the summer league schedule, RC Buford was interviewed during the third quarter. Here are the notes on what was discussed.

-The Spurs are excited about what they've been able to accomplish this summer. The ownership group really stepped up in a big way and it allowed the Spurs to make some addition that can hopefully really help.

-The Spurs aren't the favorites; the Lakers are the champions.

-George Hill did a nice job of learning this year. Pop gave him some confidence in a couple different directions -- playing with Tony Parker and then playing by himself when Parker was injured. Hill grew a great deal, especially in the playoffs against Dallas when he came in and played well when others weren't playing well. Summer league is another good learning experience.

-The Spurs don't know what to expect this season out of Ian Mahinmi. Two years ago he had a great season in Austin and ended up being the first-team All D-League center. Then last year in Las Vegas he suffered a bad ankle injury and now these are the first games Mahinmi is playing in a year. The Spurs don't know where Mahinmi stands. Due to the age of the team last year, the Spurs weren't able to practice much even when Mahinmi got healthy so they're not sure about what he's capable of doing.

-Buford loves Mahinmi's activity level in Game 2 of summer league. It's a challenge for him because Denver is doing a great job of running the floor. Their big guys are running and their guards push it and throw the ball ahead to the bigs. The pace of play is good for Mahinmi's habits.

-A lot of times during the draft, it takes until the last second of the allowable time to figure out who to pick. That wasn't the case with DeJuan Blair.

-The Spurs have a lot to learn about Blair -- he's very young, he just turned 20 years old. The Spurs need to learn a lot about his body and find out what he's capable of doing.

-Blair could have great opportunities or he could be put into a situation where it's tough to live up to the expectations. Due to the expectations in San Antonio, there's not much of a growth curve that is allowed when every night the Spurs are expected to win.

-It's still to be seen if Blair can fill the toughness void left by trading away Kurt Thomas and Bruce Bowen. Blair is a great rebounder, a great screen-setter and has really good hands. An underrated skill of his is his passing ability. The Spurs will find out what he's capable of doing but they liked what they saw of him in college.

-Replacing the defense of Kurt Thomas will be a taller task than Blair will be ready for in his rookie season since Thomas is one of the post defenders -- maybe ever.

-Spurs are trying to learn about Blair's body so they didn't play him. Plus, the Spurs are trying to get a good read on what they have in James Gist. In forthcoming games, other bigmen might sit to give Blair more minutes.

-Malik Hairston has become a very capable defender. In Austin, he grew as a passer and a leader. Hairston has always been a really high character guy but his role with the Toros gave him the confidence that he could step into an NBA game and be ready to play. In college, Hairston played a lot of power forward so playing in Austin allowed him to get comfortable playing a at a natural guard position.

-Marcus Williams really blossomed this year. Toros coach Quin Snyder did a great job working with him -- not only helping him mature as a player but also helping him mature as a person.

-Williams took great strides. By the playoffs, he was averaging 30+ points, 10-11 rebounds and 10-11 assists. It was a really good learning experience for Williams and the Spurs are excited about what he can bring to the team this year.

-The Spurs have expanded the paradigm on how they are evaluating Williams. He may be able to be a backup point guard -- kind of a utility player on the perimeter playing three different position. He can defend two or three different positions. He's a really good rebounder. Snyder did a great job of expanding Williams' ballhandling ability and getting him comfortable with the ball in his hands. With Austin, he became a really good pick-and-roll player in regards to how to read the pick-and-roll and how to find the right players.

-Hill was 2-for-25 to start summer league last year but the thing the Spurs were most impressed with was his maturity and how he attacked last year's summer. And though last year it didn't play out particularly well for him, Hill didn't bat an eye and instead kept working. He continued to grow and then suddenly -- a half a dozen games into the season -- Tony Parker got hurt and Hill had to play significant minutes. Hill responded by really playing well.

-Hill playing 1,200 minutes as a rookie with the Spurs and with the high expectation level that Duncan, Ginobili, Pop and Parker bring was an incredibly burdensome responsibility. Hill handled it tremendously. Pop normally shortens the rotation in the playoffs and he did that at the end of the season with Mason playing a lot of the backup point. When things didn't go well for Mason in the playoffs, Hill stepped in and was one of the team's better players in the minutes that he got.

-If you don't score points against the Lakers, you aren't going to be able to beat them. You have to get offense and that's where Richard Jefferson can help the Spurs significantly. Jefferson joining the team will give the team four scorers -- with three scorers on the court at all times. But at the end of the day Pop says "we am who we am" and that starts and stops at the defensive end of the floor.

[jasonrey]

Heard from ESPN radio: Blair has a contract.

Links to follow.

this is good news

[menderouv]

hapit na ma complete ang lineup.

[tackielarla]

^ Yup. And since Pops is looking for his own version of Eddie House, most likely McClinton will get that last roster spot. Unless he fails miserably at his remaining summerleague games (first 2 games were a dud).

[vcmov_15]

grabeha sa jefferson na article oie hahahaha pero if the reports were true na gold digger jud siya then she deserves to be dump the last minute hahahaha

[tackielarla]

^^^ Mu lagi. First time naay showbiz article ang SPURS!

[tackielarla]

Tom Reel/Express-NewsSpurs guard Malik Hairston blocks Coby Karl as the Spurs defeat the Denver Nuggets 78-76 at UNLV's Cox Pavilion on Tuesday, July 13, 2009.

[vcmov_15]

Tom Reel/Express-NewsSpurs guard Malik Hairston blocks Coby Karl as the Spurs defeat the Denver Nuggets 78-76 at UNLV's Cox Pavilion on Tuesday, July 13, 2009.

toinks i thought coby carl is a laker?? pwede diay siya muduwa ug lain team sa summer league di man siguro pwede sa? unless gi kuha siya iyang papa hehehehe