Comments on: Toros Watch: Pops Throws Up a 39/18

By: pollackj

pollackj — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:18:53 +0000

Woo hoo! All are troubles are over. The championship is ours!

http://www.ridiculousupside.com/2009/2/24/770329/pops-mensah-bonsu-to-the-n

By: D Counts

D Counts — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:40:31 +0000

I heard rumors that Pops has been signed to a 10 day contract. They also said he didn’t play in the Toros game tonight.

By: Timothy Varner

Timothy Varner — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:21:32 +0000

Samm,

Not a bad idea, but this will prove to be unnecessary speculation by tomorrow morning.

By: Samm

Samm — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:56:27 +0000

What about giving Dwayne Jones a shot? He has the actual size we need and some NBA experience.

By: Timothy Varner

Timothy Varner — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:50:52 +0000

Thanks for the careful eye, John. Actually, I corrected a friend this weekend on the March 1 confusion. So I have to give myself a stern tsk-tsk for making the mistake myself.

One of the things I love about blogs is that they’re so democratic. The factual checks and balances, for example, are more direct than with a dead tree edition. And, of course, I’m referring to more than just the petty “you missed a comma” comment. So, if I make a mistake, as I did with the March 1 date, it’s likely that a reader, such as yourself, will call me on it, and thereby call everyone’s attention to it, within the comment thread. With a newspaper, there is no guarantee that such corrections make it to the editor, and if to the editor, to the author. And even if all that happens, the correction is often relegated to a difficult to spot after the fact retraction. The reader loses out. I’m off on a little bit of a rabbit trail here, but I want to say that I’m thankful for all this. Sincerely. Comment threads allow the best sort of writer-reader collaboration.

By: Timothy Varner

Timothy Varner — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:48:59 +0000

Hollywood,

I think you speak for most of us. Most would like to see James White stick in the NBA; everyone basically recognizes that Pops is a long shot, but is showing enough to warrant further investment.

By: Hollywood

Hollywood — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:37:04 +0000

I would like to see JAMES WHITE! on the Knicks. That might actually be a good match, assuming he can hit a jump shot.

Regarding Pops, people who have watched him on the Toros say he isn’t a great defensive player as far as rotations and covering his man. I’d like him on the team but unless he walks on water I doubt he’d sniff serious time in the post season, especially against the Lakers. I just want him to get on the team so we can see if we want to develop him.

By: John Ligon

John Ligon — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:18:18 +0000

Just pointing out (as everyone always seems to get this wrong this time of year) that we DON’T have to sign anyone by March 1; it’s just anyone that we DO want to sign has to not be on any other NBA roster by March 1. That’s how we were able to re-sign Brent Barry in late March last season; the Sonics bought him out in February, then we waited the required 30 days and re-signed him.

By: Timothy Varner

Timothy Varner — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:02:55 +0000

Also, Hoopshype reports that the Knicks brought in a bunch of D-League stars for tryouts. The list–James White, Quincy Douby, Demetris Nichols, Joe Crawford, Dontell Jefferson, Cheikh Samb, and Othyus Jeffers–did not include Mensah-Bonsu.

By: Timothy Varner

Timothy Varner — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:59:18 +0000

Thanks to everyone for their comments. Good stuff, as usual.

You’ll have to forgive me for my lack of response; I’ve been tied up elsewhere for the last few days.

I read this morning Horry may be going to Cleveland (I’m thinking happy thoughts about this), Moore is going to Boston (as previously pointed out in this thread), and Smith wants to stay put. That limits the Spurs options. Rasho is not a sure thing, Pops is available.

By: Duaneo

Duaneo — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:30:39 +0000

I don’t understand why Mikki Moore is so sought after. I think he was part of the “Jason Kidd makes him look a lot better than he really was” group, just like K-Mart.
I would take Rasho back if he becomes available, but otherwise I don’t understand why teams want to overpay for scrubs like Moore, Darius Miles, or possibly Starbury if he became available. There are plenty of people in the DLeague who we could pick up for cheap and probably wouldn’t do any worse than the aforementioned players.

By: pollackj

pollackj — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:59:03 +0000

Despite his craptactular play this season I would still stick Ime on Odom in that situation. He is short, but he plays very physically, which tends to bother Odom. Also, I would not want Bonner out on D. Our D lineup in that situation would be Duncan, Thomas, Udoka, Bowen, and Hill.

By: ChillFAN

ChillFAN — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:06:17 +0000

Some sophisticated points, I especially enjoyed ThatBigGuys realistic breakdown of Pops seemingly monster stats.

D Counts. I thought Gasol would improve most from a full season with LA, but its been Odom that is flourishing. Quick, Bynum, Gasol, Odom, Byant, and Fish are taking the floor in the WCF? What Spurs do you want out on D? Parker, Ginobili, Duncan, Bonner, and…..??? A resonable argument could be made that Pops would be better on Odom than Bowen, Thomas, or Oberto.

As to the Celts signing Mikki Moore, I doubt the Spurs even talked to him. Smith, Rasho and Thomas and Oberto are all better than him and two already know our system.

By: GMT

GMT — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:26:14 +0000

Yep, absolutely no reason not to sign him up. If it doesn’t happen in the next few days, I’ll be disappointed, even if we still manage to get him signed.

By: Samm

Samm — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:20:22 +0000

http://news.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view/2009_02_23_Mikki_Moore_expected_to_join_Celts/srvc=home&position=also

Looks like Mikki Moore is going to Boston, so our big man options include the yet-to-be-bought-out Rasho Nesterovic and Joe Smith, and maybe a D-leaguer like Pops.

Anyone heard of any other possible buy out options?