Thursday, August 6th, 2009...7:55 am
Mahinmi to Join National Team
Tony Parker has rejoined the French National Team after being recalled to San Antonio for a medical examination and short rehab stint. In his absence, the team lost Joakim Noah to Chicago (as planned) and upset the Italian team. So long as they perform well against Finland, the French are in prime position to advance.
This is all good news for the team, we have reason to pay close attention over the coming weeks. The French team features Parker and Nando De Colo, each of whom have a future with the Spurs organization. And now, according to reports, it will feature Ian Mahinmi.
Ian Mahinmi is set to join his countrymen for the balance of international competition. Even if he only practices with the team, this will be a great boost for his offseason training routine.
Obviously, the Spurs and their fans get a little anxious because of the possibility of injury to Parker and/or their project bigman. But this is a perfect opportunity for Mahinmi to extend his strong summer league play and continue to shake off the rust after the lost, injury-plagued 08-09 season.
Count me in with those who hope that Mahinmi is able to play heavy minutes with the NT in advance of Spurs training camp. If we’re lucky, he and Parker will find opportunity to sharpen their two-man game. Parker’s vote of confidence is certain to curry favor with Coach Popovich. One assumes Parker has already cast his vote in the hearing of Coach Collet.
Collet comments: “I decided before the match against Italy to call Ian Mahinmi. I was prompted to make this choice due to the problems of tendonitis Ronny Turiaf. The latter seems to have fully recovered. However, it seems interesting to integrate quickly Ian and create some competition in this sector of the game (inside). I am very pleased with the return of Tony with us today in training. We must return quickly in the preparation and focus to address the best possible match against Finland, it will certainly not be taken lightly.”
Tony Parker, Nando De Colo, and Ian Mahinmi. That’s three reasons to watch.
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30 Comments
August 6th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Awesome news. Hope they can stay healthy..
August 6th, 2009 at 8:55 am
I’m excited for Ian. It’s a great opportunity to step up and get some quality minutes in a really competitive, playoff type atmosphere.
Not sure how much he’ll play though, Turiaf is kind of a beast when it comes to D-ing up and blocking shots.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Honestly, I’m more worried about Ian’s health than about Parker’s, because a bad injury at this point would be a disaster for Ian’s career.
…And I’m not that worried about Ian.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Latin_D,
First, I’m glad to hear you’re making a trip to the States.
Second, you’re worries are appropriately placed. If Parker is injured, it ruins the Spurs’ season. If Mahinmi is injured, the Spurs will be fine. But it will likely ruin his career.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:36 am
when is this match up? and will we be able to watch it here in the states?
August 6th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Given all the things that have happened off the court prior this France/Finland game, its importance to France’s advancement, the return of Tony after this mini injury, and the addition of Ian, and the fact that I am counting the seconds until this season begins… I’m actually reasonably interested in this game, does anyone know when it takes place and how an American might watch it?
August 6th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I hope these guys make the best of their playing time. Its also good to hear that Parker is ok. Maybe Parker and Mahinmi can get used to playing together. I cant wait for the season to start.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Guys,
The France-Italy game was broadcasted as a live stream. I’m sure you’ll be able to find the rest of France’s games, including the September contests, on the web.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Thanks, Tim.
You live in Chicago like Graydon? I imagine you making the get-together and joining us for one of those Spurs home games is out of the question, right?
August 6th, 2009 at 11:39 am
[...] that I am counting the seconds until this season begins… … Here is the original post: 48 Minutes of Hell » Blog Archive » Mahinmi to Join National Team Share and [...]
August 6th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
[...] Go here to read the rest: 48 Minutes of Hell » Blog Archive » Mahinmi to Join National Team [...]
August 6th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
[...] the rest here: 48 Minutes of Hell » Blog Archive » Mahinmi to Join National Team Tags: decided-before, latter-seems, playoff-type, problems, ronny-turiaf-, some-quality, [...]
August 6th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Good to hear this… at its also good news that France won against Italy minus Parker…. (this puts everybody at ease). I hope Ian and Tony stays healthy and play good minutes together (play on their two man game) and win against Finland…
August 6th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Question, when will spurs Training camp start? i’m eager to hear how the team is doing… hopefully we can get bits of info. on how the new look spurs mesh… can’t wait to hear about TD , Manu and Co. specialy RJ, Blair, Hill and Haislip…
August 6th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Well said Tim regarding potential injuries to Tony and Ian. I would rather Ian get the experience at this stage of his career.
August 6th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I’m also excited for Ian’s potential development playing overseas this summer for France, he has tremendous upside.
And on another note, I just found a website of an analyst that says based on his calculations of schedules and other factors that he predicts the Spurs will win the title this season. You should check it out.
http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=723
August 6th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Great post, guys. Particularly the coach’s comments, in spite the mangly translator (learn French—language of the Spurs’ future/future Spur!)
Eurobasket’s (right tourney?) turning out almost like a bonus summer league for us.
Y’know, in spite of Ginobili’s injury last offseason, I think international competition has contributed significantly to his swagger over the years. It didn’t hurt that he played for one of the elite national teams, of course.
Of course of course, ‘course I don’t think this will necessarily help Mahinmi prepare for the NBA. But a call up to the national team after a year off the court can only boost the young man’s confidence.
August 7th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Some PT against quality competition can only help Mahinmi for the nba. Not sure Finland’s frontcourt really counts as “quality competition”, but Italy surely does. If France advances their opponent will probably be Belgium (with Lakers M’Benga and Real Madrid PF Hervelle who is a really good Euroleague player) or Bosnia (which is pretty much a ballers factory like its Balkans neighbors Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia).
For a guy like Ian who wasn’t playing a lot in Euroleague with Pau and then spent a lot of time in the D-league, it’s the opportunity to see the floor against nba players, draftees, prospects or good euroleague PF/C.
For Spurs fans, it’s almost a preview of what he could do against nba backups this season. As great a program as Austin is, it’s still a D-League team. Even if some of the undrafted guys can help a team win in Europe, it’s not uncommon for them to be buried on the bench there. Rod Benson held the 1 game D-league rebounding record but sit a lot before being waved altogether by his French Team (who got absolutely killed in Euroleague play btw).
My point is, Ian hasn’t faced good frontcourt competition consistently yet and it’s exactly what he needs to translate his potential into production
August 7th, 2009 at 4:48 am
The French has a pretty decent team with the likes of Mihinmi, Turiaf and Noah in the frontcourt and Parker and Nando in the backcourt. Is Batum playing for the French Nationals to?
August 7th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Batum is playing for the French NT and was actually the key to the win against Italy.
August 7th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Hey, where can we watch the eurobasket games?
August 7th, 2009 at 7:12 am
The French must be pretty good cause so for we haven’t even mentioned Boris Diaw and I thought Mikael Peitrus was on the team, but it looks like they’ve got his older brother Florent Peitrus playing forward, wonder if he’s any good.
August 7th, 2009 at 7:30 am
He does and was huge in the win vs Italy (20pts, 8rbds).
France has some good players but to sum up their troubles in international play, you can say that they have basically the same qualities (athleticism, Defense, slashing) and drawbacks (distance and free-throw shooting, off the ball movement) as Team USA, only the talent is obviously inferior.
They came close to qualify for the 04 and 08 Olympics and also lost to then powerhouse Greece on a Diamantidis buzzerbeater in the 05 Eurobasket semis. They also managed to finish 6th at the 06′ World championship, without an injured Parker. France fielded good squads repeatedly and basically dreamed of european titles everytime. But the problem is, when they lose an elimination game they just don’t have the mental resilience to gather the effort necessary to win the ensuing games, which determines the final rankings and thus the berths for global tournaments.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
This is off topic, but I thought that a few here would find this article interesting: http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=3140#more-3140
This is a list of the most underrated and overrated player seasons of the 2000’s. I thought that you guys would be interested to know that the Spurs took down the 1st and 2nd spot! Also, the 7th spot I thought would be very illuminating. Everyone here always gets on me because i site the +- on off stat for Jefferson. His was very bad last year for the Bucks. In reply, you guys will point to Bonner this last year who had a very high +- and say: see the metric you are using is flawed. Well, Bonner’s 2009 season got the 7th most underrated season of the 2000’s! That’s pretty high i must say. And he is using a different metric (explained at the link) than +-, but still came up to the same conclusion. Matt Bonner had an excellent and very under-rated season for you guys last year. And on the flip side, +- is as good a stat to use as any…and now back to RJ, lol…just kidding.
Spurs in the top 10 under-rated list:
1) Oberto 2008
2) Brent Barry 2007
7) Matt Bonner 2009
August 8th, 2009 at 5:16 am
Oh Kaveh,
As much as you Lakers fans get underneath my nails, you are one funny AND persistant dude. Interesting article. Imma miss Oberto. He had some nice passing skills, and he knew the system well. I wouldn’t go as far as saying +- is as good a stat as any.
August 8th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Kaveh, i do admire your persistance, even if i dont agree with everything you say.
but i also dont see RJ’s name on that second list, which makes me happy- i think if he was TRULY as much of a volume shooter as you claim, either one of his seasons with the Bucks or Nets would be on there.
I still say its a great move.
August 8th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
and i agree with Red. Oberto was an excellent fit in the system. He was Scola light, they both even look like cavemen.
August 9th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
spursfansteve, no jefferson was not on that list. I think I may have given you guys amisconception of my opinion regarding jefferson. you guys seem to think that I believe jefferson is a slouch. I think jefferson is a good player. I just don’t think he is as good as you guys think. in my opinion rj is slightly above average. and he may not fit in as well as you think with the spurs. you guys needed an athletic wing player who plays great D. trevor ariza would have been perfect.
August 11th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Kaveh, i think he is probably overpaid. I’ve said before hes not a superstar. But he is athletic. I dont know of any other teams who have a 4th option on offense as good as him, lakers included. Ariza would have been good, i definitely agree, but i’m one of the few who see George Hill as the athletic wing guy that plays D. he might not can guard big 3’s, but he can guard anything smaller than that. Hes great on ball and hes pretty good at helping off the weakside as well. Same with his transition D. By the end of the year, if Pop will play him (and theres no reason for him not to), he’ll be pretty close to lockdown. And theres no reason for him not to end up as good as Bowen or better in the near future. He’s a few inches shorter at only 6′2, but hes quicker and way more athletic. I’m not sure about his wingspan, but the way he plays, it looks about the same as Bowen’s.
I still dont see how RJ wont fit with the Spurs. The guy has always been very professional. Coming here, he knows he’s not going to be “the man” and hes had career bests when he didnt have to be (in NJ with Kidd and Kmart). I think hes going to accept his role and be happy to have a chance to compete. Hes better than previous role players we’ve had. If he ends up being anywhere near Sean Elliott, i’ll be happy.
August 12th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
i’ll also be happy if Mahinmini gives us a good Malik Rose impersonation. Or Nazr Mohammed’s good year. Anything close to a 10/10 for his first year seeing real minutes will be great.
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